For me it was around 31.5 km three months before my first marathon. After that I only ran up to 2x kilometres on my long runs.

I didn’t follow any training plan. One part was because I felt I wasn’t disciplined “enough” and that if I messed up one day, I knew I would view that as a huge failure and that I might as well not even try to continue training for the marathon. I can recognize that this is a very catastrophizing or all-or-nothing mentality and I‘m trying to overcome this but it often feels like taking one step forward and two steps back.

Another part was because in the past I’ve had unhealthy relationships with food, exercise, and following self-imposed rules. I was actually very regimented and good at following my self-imposed rules but it was very unhealthy for me mentally and I didn’t want to potentially put myself through that again. As I’m thinking about it, both these reasons actually seem like two sides of the same coin.

Anyway, instead of following a strict training plan, I just tried to do one long run a week and a few shorter ones. I even got interrupted by travel and took nearly three weeks completely off running less than two months to the race. I finished my first marathon in under 4.5 hours but because of my very loose training, I know I can do better if I actually follow a training plan next time.