The Physiology of Endurance Running Podcast · Dan Nash and Owain Zerilli

Road to Valencia 2025 - 6 weeks to go

·1 hr 41 min·5 clips

Jen’s Stroud Half marathon produces a 1:12:58 PB after a 3:13 opening kilometer and a hard early climb.

Road to Valencia opens with Jen and Dan six weeks from Valencia and settles straight into their usual training chat. Jen is on a down week and jokes that she has loads of free time and nothing to put into it. Dan says he has come out of a dark hole and feels much more positive and excited about the marathon ahead. By Tuesday morning, one of them has already finished a full week of the six-week block, and mileage is up from the week before, which feels like a decent place to start. The episode also folds in a sponsor mention and a chat about Saw doing an event in New York around marathon weekend. That leads into a progression-run idea and a slightly suspicious reaction to being dropped. The conversation then turns to a recent race effort that mattered more than it might have looked from the outside. Part of the goal was practical, to move up a pen at Valencia. That made the race feel useful, even if it was not the main event. They talk about how hard it can be to feel proud of something when the bigger goal is still coming. The point lands without much fuss. A gel stayed in a pocket the whole time because it never felt needed. The race itself sounds good enough to recommend, apart from one odd section that forced a path detour and a U-turn. There were a few listeners at the finish, including one runner who recognised the podcast right away. That prompted the usual post-race hello, plus apologies for forgotten names. They also compare it with Cardiff Half, where hanging around after the finish made sense because there were athletes and familiar faces to see. Here, the social part was shorter and the departure was quicker. The episode keeps things loose and a bit self mocking while still landing on real training detail. No one is pretending the next few weeks will be calm. The closing mood is about being factual from here on in, with no more emotional Strava titles. The plan is to lean on the work, the lactates, and maybe a hit list. They leave open the idea that the next wrap-up may be another long one.

As heard by us

A grounded six-weeks-out check-in on training, race nerves, and unfinished business.

Six weeks out from Valencia, the episode sits in that awkward middle stretch of marathon training where the work is real but the finish still feels distant.

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Why you'd press play

For your own six-weeks-out wobble, this is the honest Valencia check-in.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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