This NEEDS To Change | Abingdon Marathon Training WEEK 5 - The FOD Runner

Aug 13, 2025

Intro

This is a quick summary of “This NEEDS To Change | Abingdon Marathon Training WEEK 5” from The FOD Runner. It’s a great watch — we’re breaking it down so you can try the workout today. Be sure to watch the full video for all the details.

Key Points

Week 5 is a race‑week with a 10 km race at the end, so the training focuses on a long run plus a specific mid‑week quality session.
The long run consists of a steady 60‑minute run, followed by 60 minutes at marathon pace on a flat, out‑and‑back route, finishing with a 15‑minute cooldown.
Fueling strategy: use 160‑calorie gels every 30 minutes during the long run to practice race‑day nutrition.
Thursday’s session is a 24‑minute quality workout: three sets of 4 min on / 1 min off at half‑marathon effort (≈ 5:30‑5:39 /mi) followed immediately by 2 min faster intervals (≈ 5:20‑5:29 /mi).
Practical tip: use a free nutrition calculator to target roughly 88 g of carbs per hour; adjust gel timing and consider adding a drink mix for extra carbs.

Workout Example

Long Run (Week 5)

6 min easy warm‑up.
60 min steady run (easy pace).
60 min at marathon pace (target ~6:38 /mi if that matches your goal; adjust based on your own marathon pace).
15‑min cooldown.
Fuel: take a 160‑calorie gel every 30 minutes (e.g., at 30 min and at 60 min) to practice stomach tolerance.

Thursday Session (24 min total)

3 × (4 min @ 5:30‑5:39 /mi, 1 min easy)
2 min faster @ 5:20‑5:29 /mi (no rest after the 2‑minute interval).
Total work: 18 min of quality effort (12 min at half‑marathon pace + 6 min faster).
Finish with strides or a short shake‑out on Saturday.