I'm 50 and still train as if I am participating in the Olympics and am totally exhausted at the end of every race I compete in.

I am thankful my body seems to cope well with the stress and dread the moment it will stop one day.

How about you?

Happy Monday runners!

How was the weekend? What’s on for the week? Warm up those chatting muscles and tell us all about it!

The Li’l Race Report Thread is for writing a short report on a recent race or a run in a new place. If your race doesn’t really need its own thread but you still want to talk about it, then post it here! Both your good and bad races are welcome.

Didn't run a race, but had an interesting run to talk about. Post it here as well!

So get to it, Runnit! In a paragraph or two, where’d you run and how’d it go?

Race Information

• Name: Valley Harvest Marathon
• Date: October 13. 2024
• Distance: 21.1 KM
• Location: Wolfville, NS
• Time: 1:39:11

Goals

Splits

Background

I grew up in the Annapolis Valley where this race was held, and have a firm memory of what an iconic fall day can be like here. When I first signed up for last year’s race, I’d been hoping to have the weather co-operate. Instead, a tropical storm blew through the night before and the race started in rain and high winds. It was still a wonderful experience, but in this second attempt I was foolish enough to hope for another one of those iconic days. And I’m happy to report we had it!

I actually wasn’t planning to run this race again this year. But earlier in the year I ran the Bluenose half and got a PB on what is regarded as a challenging course. So of course I had to see what I could do in a slightly more forgiving race!

Training

This was my third half-marathon, and the first one where I followed a more rigorous training plan. The goal for my first ever half a year ago (also the Valley half) was to finish. The goal for my second half earlier this year was to finish and feel uncomfortable doing so because I pushed myself to really race it. For this one, I knew I wanted to set a PB and really focus on trusting a training schedule.

That said, I still didn't follow a strict / specific run plan, except what's generally accepted to be common sense - one tempo run, one quality run, one long run and 2-3 other easy runs, combined with some strength training. I tended to do intervals for my quality runs, favoring either 4x800m with warm up / cool down, or 8x400m. I really enjoyed doing some ladder tempo runs in this cycle in the first few weeks, but over the last month went with a more traditional approach of warmup, 40-50 at tempo, and cool down. My initial target for this race was going to be sub 1:45, which would be a PB over my prior half-marathon, but on my last tempo runs, I was consistently hitting ~4:40km and feeling pretty good so started to consider the sub 1:40 target.

Two weeks before the race I did a trial race, and finished at 1:42:01, which is when I knew I had to set 1:40 as my stretch goal. If I'm being honest, I was slightly annoyed that I did so well in my training run, mainly because I was scared I couldn't repeat on race day. But per the above comments, I really wanted to leave it all on the road for this race!

I had one slight injury during training in early August, a minor irritation to my left ankle, definitely from overtraining and walking my dog in flip flops (I did a 12km tempo that morning, weights in the afternoon, and a 5km walk with the dog after that - I no longer where sandals for walks!) It thankfully resolves with a few days of rest, and didn't cause further issues through training.

Pre-race

I ate oatmeal, pasta and lots of bread the day before the race. I actually got to do a slight shakeout run with my 4 year old who ran in the kids fun run the day prior in what was horrible, cold rain (proud of my kids for running through it!)

I had to drive about an hour to get to the race, which meant a wake up time of about 4:45am to have time to drink coffee, hit the bathroom and eat some peanut butter toast. With the alarm set at 4:45, this meant I started to wake up at 1:30am, and didn't really get back to sleep after that - a combination of race nerves and alarm won't go off nerves. I kept myself in bed until 4:30 to at least be resting.

I hit the road around 5:30, ate a Lara bar and a banana and lots of water on the way. Got to the race with plenty of time to hit the bathroom again (and again), and do some warmups.

Race

The race started at 7:40, ten minutes after sunrise. And my gosh, it was a beautiful day for a run! It was 6C, with a slight breeze making it cooler, but it was nothing short of ideal for a fall run! At about 2km in I regretted wearing my Airshed pullover, but later on the clouds came out for a bit and the wind picked up, so it was nice having sleeves and a wind breaker. The rain from the day before had mostly left the course dry so it was great running conditions.

In order to hit 1:40, I planned to keep it around 4:50 the first few km. Per the splits, I had one slow km (traffic on trail), but actually came in a bit faster than planned. But I was feeling good, and was keeping my eye on the 1:40 pace bunny with the intent to stay close if I had it in me to run negative splits in the end.

The Valley half doesn't have nearly the hills of the Bluenose, but there are a few places with some decent ups / downs. I took advantage of the downs by letting my pace get a bit faster (that's the 4:31 at 8km), and then stay even going up. My normal training runs have a ton of elevation, so I felt ok that I wouldn't blow up by staying at pace uphills.

I was starting to feel the first signs of fatigue around 15km. But the last part of the course has a really nice downhill and then stays pretty level, so I decided to push for it and catch up with the 1:40 pacer!

Per my split times, I was successful running negative, but I was suffering in the final couple km. I started to have tingling / numb toes and fingers, and could feel my form going from stable to leaning forward for some extra momentum, more of a lurch at times than a run. I had passed the pacer right around 18-19km, and was trying so hard to stay at a sub 4:40km pace. The last few km of the race goes back on a narrow trail where the full marathoners were circling back around, so you need to stay close to the side. I was overtaking some people in the half but also the full, and I had to do 4-5 short sprints to go out and around which was hard but helped with hitting my goal.

As we got near the end, I was starting to question if I could make it. I knew I'd finish the race, but really felt like I might need to pull up and content myself with a PB (yay!) but not a sub 1:40. When suddenly, inspiration hit. At about 20.5km, a gentlemen stood by the side of trail playing the bagpipes. I know these aren't for everyone, but I've always loved the pipes and they truly gave me a jolt of adrenalin. I yelled out "That is just what I need right now!" and picked my pace back up for another few hundred meters.

Eventually the trail turned back into the stadium where the start / finish line was, and I made it across with some time to spare!

Post-race

I have never felt as exhausted and elated as I did crossing that line. I never could have believed when I started running a few years ago that I would ever do more than a 10km or even be capable of a half. My time today was almost 20 min faster than the same race last year, and I'm a bit shocked at what training consistently can accomplish.

I'm really happy I was able to hold it steady through the race and run negative splits over the last 5km (minus 19km which is where I wasn't sure I'd hold on). After this race, I'm ready to settle in to a period of running for fun as winter sets in. And then in 2025, maybe my first marathon!

As for the rest of race day, it's Thanksgiving in Canada and we have a 20lb turkey that just came out of the oven, with mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, fresh rolls and two pies, apple and pumpkin. You better believe I'm gonna replace every single calorie I burned off this morning!

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.

Race Information

• Name: Nike Melbourne Marathon
• Date: October 13, 2024
• Distance: 42.2km
• Location: Melbourne, Australia
• Website: https://melbournemarathon.com.au/
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/12640886223
• Time: 3:37:09

Goals

Splits

Training

On a whim in April, I'd signed up for the ballot to register for the Melbourne Marathon. To register, you need to enter credit card details, so they can take out the race fee if your name is drawn. I got lucky and I got in first go. My wife is always keen for a weekend away, so we booked flights and accommodation in an afternoon.

I'd been training pretty hard to improve my 5k time, and hadn't run a marathon since September 2023 (Race Report). My weekly volume was fairly good, and I knew that I could transition to a marathon plan pretty easily after I ran another 5k in June (Wollongong Running Festival).

I took a little while to decide what my training plan would be. Eventually, I settled on Jack Daniels' 2Q 18 week plan from the Third Edition of his book (Jack Daniels' Running Formula). I chose 75 km (~46.5 miles) as my peak weekly volume. The plan consists of 2 weekly quality workouts (Q runs), and the rest of your weekly mileage is made up with 3-4 easy runs. Peak workout distance was 29km (18 miles). Let me tell you, running in miles hits different.

The workouts were some easy miles, mixed in with efforts at marathon pace, or threshold pace, or fast reps. The two sessions per week were very rarely less than 22km. The interesting thing about this plan is that you hit peak volume pretty early, at 12 weeks out. You then bounce between 90% and 100% of peak volume. I've run this far in a week before, but not for so many weeks.

The first four weeks of the plan, my wife and I were on holiday in Europe. It was pretty special running in all of those foreign places. A good way to speed run sight-seeing. Some of the quality workouts were definitely affected by me stopping to take numerous photos. No regrets. The flight home caused me to miss a few runs, but nothing too serious that early on in the plan. I also got sick when I returned home, so that caused me to miss a couple of runs as well.

Once I was back to real life, I settled into the grind that is a marathon training block. Most of my runs were done in the morning, before sunrise. Often with my run club (@neverlazyrunclub), but often by myself, from home.

In the middle of August, 9 weeks out from race day, I did City2Surf in Sydney. It's a 14km fun run from the centre of the city to Bondi Beach, notorious for its hilly course. As an indication of my improving fitness, I set a 10k PB in the first 10km, and then beat that in the last 10km. Confidence was building.

One hiccup occurred six weeks out when a pair of new shoes gave me blisters that were bad enough that I had to miss a long run. I bought a new pair of Kayanos, because they were on sale, and my tibialis anterior did not like those at all. I eventually developed significant pain in my right shin that I worried was a shin splint. A visit to the physio confirmed that it wasn't that, and the new shoes were likely the culprit. So I had to buy another pair of shoes. I did miss a few runs, and had a forced down week 5 weeks out from race day. Fortunately, I recovered well and was able to jump back into training where I left off.

My workouts from that point felt very strong. My confidence was high heading into race week. I was entertaining thoughts of decreasing my goal time of 3:40.

This plan has a short taper. Three and two weeks out were 90% of peak (67.5km) and the final week was almost 60km, though this was heavily loaded to earlier in the week.

Pre-race

Flew down to Melbourne on Friday. My wife and I had decided to make a weekend of it. Carb loading in Melbourne was pretty nice, though refraining from the local beers was a punish.

Tried to stay off my feet as much as I could. Woke up at 5am for a 7am race start. Ate a peanut butter and honey roll, an apple and a Powerade. The 20 minute walk to the start line was my warm-up. Managed to make use of the ports-loo before the race start, which was a great relief.

I was a rookie and didn't have a throw away jumper on, so I was shivering in the corral.

Race

There aren't any starting waves here. It's all self-seeded and everyone funnels through together. I'd managed to get a spot just behind the 3:40 pacers. I had to be patient as I made my way through the starting masses. The first km was perfectly on my goal pace of 5:13.

By km 3, I'd caught up to the 3:40 pacers. I put them behind me, just to be safe. The course then takes us around Albert Park. I got chatting to one of the Spartans (this was his 37th Melbourne Marathon) at 7km. I remember thinking at km 12 that I felt relatively comfortable, but it wasn't easy per se. I had been going faster than my goal pace since that first km. I made several conscious efforts to slow down, but the pace of the pack around me, combined with the pacer group not being too far behind (or so I thought) prevented me from mentally being able to.

There are a lot of straight sections on this course. I thought I would hate that, be it actually helped me get into a bit of a rhythm and get lost in my head.

I took a SIS gel every 30 minutes. The third and fifth gels were caffeinated. I took water at every aid station, and Gatorade when I could grab some.

My Garmin was ticking off the kilometres about 300m before the on course markers. So I wasn't ever really sure how far ahead I was. But then the halfway marker came up, I was able to work out that I was 1:18 ahead of goal time.

The second half seemed to go by quicker than the first. The course joins up with half marathon race after heading away from St Kilda, past Albert Park. I previous races, I've really enjoyed having the half-marathoners there to help beef up the field. But I could see the 2:30 pacer for the half, and I had great a bit of pace over these half-marathoners. So I had to do a lot of weaving through the field, which was the last thing I wanted to do.

After 30km, my legs got a bit heavy and my left knee got quite painful. I'd had no knee issues in training, so this was a surprise to me. Fortunately it went away after a couple of minutes.

I'd read about the ascent along Birdwood Avenue at 37km, and how it breaks people. A lot of the people near me slowed down, but I'm happy to say I ate my vegetables during training (and ran those hills). I managed to power up the hill with very little time lost.

After that, it's mostly downhill, and it was all about hanging on. Apparently my wife was shouting at me outside the MCG, but I don't remember hearing anyone calling my name. Dug in for the half lap of the MCG and finished strong.

Post-race

Took in the crowd atmosphere, made my way underneath the stands of the MCG to grab a drink, a banana and my finishers shirt. Met up with my wife on the grass outside the stadium, and stretched down. Did a shoey, and gingerly walked to the tram to the hotel.

Enjoyed an afternoon at a local brewery. We head home on Monday (today). I'm a little sore, but I can tell my recovery won't take too long.

I think I maybe could have pushed for sub 3:35. There were definitely moments in the last 10km that I could've pushed a bit harder, but it would've been tough, and I didn't want to risk blowing up. Overall, I'm very happy with the race day effort, and the training block overall.

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.

Hey runners, it's another day and it is time to post your accomplishments you'd like to share - big or small.

Note: No need to preface YOUR accomplishments with something like, "this may not be an accomplishment to most of you...". Be proud of your achievement.

Race Information

• andName: Melbourne Marathon
• Date: October 13, 2024
• Distance: 42.2km
• Location: Melbourne, Australia
• Time: 3:28:40

Goals

Splits

Training - This was my third Melbourne Marathon (3rd marathon ever). Previous efforts. 4:30 (2021) and 3:59 (2023).

In between the last marathon and this years I really caught the bug and was running quite consistently the whole year. My aim was to hit at least 50km per week every week which I did except for one week in April around another shorter race, and during the taper.

Through ramping up I loosely followed the Hal Higdon Intermediate 2 program though usually I was exceeding the weekly distance. A bit of speed work was included as I had my eye on improving my 10km time. Throughout this prep I hit 30km or more on 6 runs though never more than 32. My usually training pace was 5:20-5:30 min/km which usually felt easy. No injuries at all in training which helped a great deal. Peak weekly distance was around 80km.

Pre-Race - Through race week I cut all dairy as it doesn’t agree with my guts. Also tried to carbo load more than normal as I saw Aussie Olympian Brett Robinson talk about it so I tried to eat as much white rice as possible in the 3-4 days leading up. I also drank bulk Powerade and upped my magnesium a bit. I got myself some Nike Alphaflys and only lightly broke them in with a brisk 10km.

Race - It was a cold start at 0700 to but turned into a breezy warm day. I had payed up for the VIP package which got a cool place to get ready and a preferred start just behind the elites. No bag drop to deal with either.

The first half of the Melbourne Mara tends downhill as you run away from the city. There was also a slight breeze at our backs. For the first 5km I felt like I was over racing slightly, clocking splits of about 4:40min/km. The heart rate was high but my legs were fresh so I decided to go with it. Once I got to about 7km my mindset shifted from “slow down”, to a solid mantra of “just travel”, aiming to cruise between km 7 and 30 without any real mental energy expended. Pace in this period was consistent 4:45-4:50 and while heart rate remained solidly in zone 4 and pushing into zone 5 I was feeling quite good so decided to stick with the pace.

I stuck to my race plan of a gel every 5km and to walk briefly at each drink station so I could finish my cup. At the 30km (where the race starts) the course turns away from the beach and trends uphill. This coincided with running back into the breeze which was warming and stiff. I took the first of two Crampfix sachets as was my plan. These things taste like death but I swear by their effectiveness. Pushing on back towards the city I was starting to feel good about being able to run the distance out solidly. Around 9km to go I got my first hint of cramp in my hamstrings which can be a problem for me. I tried to be mindful of it, acknowledging the issue but not dwelling on it and pushed on, maintaining a solid pace of about 4:50. With about 7km to go the only real hard hillls arrive with one solid 1.5km slope slowing me down a bit and I had my slowest split of around 5:35. This area is also problematic with half marathon runners mixing in. The group I caught up to were 2:10 HM pace so fairly busy and tricky but thankfully no issues. I also drank my second Crampfix about then. Through this period I believe the Alphaflys earned their price tag. I could still progress at a decent pace without getting into a slog.

With 4km to go I was doing the sums and realised I would get my goal time unless I had a major issue. I had one bad hamstring cramp and stopped for a couple of seconds but managed to run it off. The last two kms are slightly downhill before turning and finishing in the iconic MCG. Not worries about pace or fatigue I maintained pace to finish in good shape. Achieving my goal time felt like a stretch pre race but a good all round run and being prepared to go with the flow early paid off. Good to finish without feeling ruined. I could take it all in and enjoy it.

This was definitely the best I’ve pulled up from my three marathons. Slightly sore knee and the obligatory sore quads but no calf, hamstring or foot pain or any chaffing. The shoes worked a treat, I am super glad I spent the money.

Key learnings from this for me is that you can’t buy a good prep. You have to earn it. I did way more than previous years and it really paid off. Also a taper which I was stressed about. I thought this week I may have started it too early. I gained a couple of kg pre-race and I thought that might hurt me but the big prep and big taper lead to a good slingshot into the race.

If I was to think about how I could get faster it’s just more speed. I am planning to try and break 40mins for 10km (current PB 43:21) and will put in some time on the track with fast 1km repeats.

I’m glad I didn’t stress about heart rate. Garmin watch said I had 2hrs 30 in zone 4 and 1 hr in zone 5. I see a lot of people wanting to race in zone 3. That’s a rookie mistake IMO.

Also the thought that running faster doesn’t mean it’s harder. Less time on your feet, in the sun and wind can counteract with the additional stress of going faster.

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.

### Race Information

* **Name:** Iron Horse Half Marathon

* **Date:** October 13, 2024

* **Distance:** 13.1 miles

* **Location:** Midway, KY

* **Website:** https://www.ironhorsehalfmarathon.com/

* **Strava:** https://www.strava.com/activities/12646015980/overview

* **Time:** 1:45:33

Goals

| Goal | Description | Completed? |

|------|-------------|------------|

| A | Sub 1:50 | *Yes* |

| B | Sub 1:51:30 | *Yes* |

| C | Sub 1:53:40 | *Yes* |

| D | Sub 2 Hour | *Yes* |

Splits

| Mile | Time |

|------|------|

| 1 | 8:24

| 2 | 8:03

| 3 | 8:08

| 4 | 8:13

| 5 | 8:11

| 6 | 7:55

| 7 | 7:58

| 8 | 7:53

| 9 | 8:16

| 10 | 7:57

| 11 | 8:14

| 12 | 8:06

| 13 | 7:48

Background

53M, consistent treadmill runner for the past 5+ years as I have brought my weight down from 204 to 142, the last year especially with the help of Intermittent Fasting (IF). Three years ago, a few months after turning 50, I decided to run a HM to prove to myself I could do it and "celebrate" getting old. I ran a HM close to home (central Kentucky) the weekend before Thanksgiving, 40s and rainy, and ran a 1:53:40. Before that, my last real race was in the late 90s - a 5K.

Training

I really haven't been much for races or any outdoor running, so when I run, 99.5% of my running is on a treadmill. I know, a dirty word in most running circles. I will say, though, that the iFit system from NordicTrack has been a gamechanger for me. Rather than just get on a treadmill and mindlessly running a few miles while watching TV and not really pushing/training, the iFit system has workout series for pretty much everything - and really works you. My fitness has soared since I started using it. My treadmill goes from -6 to 40% incline, so the endurance/speed work and overall fitness gains from using these programs can be great if you want to push yourself. Specifically for this race, I did Tommy Rivs' HM training program - 48 workouts (split into 2 parts, one in Bolivia and the other in Japan). With that, I supplemented his program with about a half-dozen or so outdoor runs to acclimate myself to running outdoors.

Pre-race

I've been on IF since January and lost 40 pounds while getting down to about 11.5% body fat. It's been unbeleivable. So in preparing for this race the past week, I needed to change things up and eat more often and more carbs, which I did. The race was only 15 minutes from my house, so logistics were pretty easy. Plan was to take 4 Gu - one for 10 minutes before the race, and then at water stops at Mile 4, Mile 7 and Mile 9. Breakfast was a bagel with PB and J and a cup of tea. I felt like my prep was right on point (as little real experience I have with race prep goes), and this morning I hit every pre-race schedule point in my prep within like a minute or two of what I planned. Brought a banana and bottle of Propel with me to the race and finished about 30 minutes before the start.

Race

Conditions were pretty damn great today, a little warmer than I would have liked at 62 degrees, but partly cloudy and breezy made up for it. Wind concerned me, and it hit at the wrong time on a couple of the hills, but overall, it was a net positive to keep things cool. I set my watch with a pacer goal of 8:30/mile, which would put me right on a 2+ minute improvement from 2021. The race was in a small horse farm community about 15 minutes north of where I live. The race was 2 out-and-backs from the downtown area through horse farm country. Absolutely beautiful. Somewhere around Mile 3, coming up a hill, we watched about 2 dozen horse being run, and as we crested the hill and came up close, they came back toward us and ran along the fence line in the opposite direction. So cool.

The race started at 7:50am. First mile I did slightly better than pace goal, somewhat dragged down/held back by a slow start getting through the crowd until it thinned out and I had some space. Miles 2-5, I was really feeling it, running between 8:02 and 8:13 miles. I was concerned about burning out early if I pushed the pace, but it didn't happen as I decided to roll the dice and "ride the wave." Miles 6-8 I did under 8 minute pace. Looking back, I don't even remember those miles (other than they crossed back past the start/finish area) and was surprise by the pace. Must have been in a zone. Miles 9 and 11 had some decent hills that "slowed" me to an 8:14 pace, but Mile 10 I ran under 8 minutes again. Mile 12 included the last of the hills and I was able to recover to an 8:06, and then the last 1.1 miles, I ran at just over a 7:45 pace.

Post-race

So, I blew away my pace goals. Funny enough, I confused myself with the pace/mile numbers and thought the 1:45 pace (8 minutes/mile) was my goal pace to get under a 1:50. It wasn't until I hit Mile 11 that I realized my 8:06 average pace didn't mean I was going to be on the edge of getting under 1:50 - it meant I was pretty damn close to 1:45. I wish I had known that sooner, lol. I ended up at 1:45:33, a little better than 8 minutes faster than 2021. I placed 4th in my age group (50-54) out of 16, but I wasn't close to top 3 - they ran a 1:31, 1:34 and 1:39. Still, overall, ended up 57 out of 369.

Loved the race and the course. Beautiful views. Only downsides - avoiding all of the horse "stuff" on the roads and in one particular section, a nasty mix of manure smell and fragrant bushes nearly made me sick to my stomach (twice - out and back in the 10-12 mile area). Also, they handed clear, hard plastic cups for water/Liquid IV. Impossible to pinch and I either splashed myself or nearly drowned trying to drink. I assumed most races use paper cups? That was what I was expecting. I choked myself twice trying to get anything into my mouth.

But overall, I loved it! I had already signed up for a full marathon next May in Cincinnati, so I'm glad this went well as it has me really pumped to try a marathon. According to my Coros Race Predictor, it suggests I could do a marathon in under 3:45. I was planning a 4 hour pace, so we'll see how training goes.

Made with a new [race report generator](http://sfdavis.com/racereports/) created by u/herumph.

Hey runners, it's another day and it is time to post your accomplishments you'd like to share - big or small.

Note: No need to preface YOUR accomplishments with something like, "this may not be an accomplishment to most of you...". Be proud of your achievement.

Race Information

• Name: Melbourne Half Marathon
• Date: October 23, 2024
• Distance: 21.1km
• Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Time: 1:56:56

Goals

Splits

Training

21F ran mediocrely in late high school (last in every cross country because I ran maybe 10km a week without a coach.) otherwise very inactive person no natural ability and no childhood sports lol.

Last year did a 10km running about 10km a week (56:10) for 2 months. had not touched running since then October 2023. Then signed up for this half in Jan 24’ and began running again end of June!

Followed Nike half by doing their long runs but modifying it so I did 2x 18km and 2x20km long runs instead of their (15,16km, 16km and 20km) long run sequence and I feel much better for it! Mentally on the day but also physically I know where I get tired (17-18km) and I think it’s much later than if I hadn’t taken it that far.

Got into zone two running looking at my very high HR think that helped with not getting injured as well!

Did a few intervals from runna app and with a run club but was nervous coming into today because I really lacked speed work. Did a tempo every week though (give or take)! Worked from 4km to 10km adding a km each week

Longest: 2x4mi (6.2km) @5:30mins/km

My final long run was a tempo run with 10km slower (6;30) and 10km at race pace tempo (5:30) ended up being a bit faster 5:27, making me do a 10km PB (53:20) and a 5km PB! Felt confident after this because a 10km tempo is the ultimate test but also wondered how I was supposed to do that twice over.

Pre-race

My last long run was a week prior (12km) and I had not run much within the last 2 weeks. The week prior to the race started with a sore throating and I got progressively worse (coughing, headache - coughing so much I got sensation of itchy lungs). I have a background of asthma so my throat was so tight and I had to go back to medication as I had trouble breathing. Stressful week with uni also 😅 so much for a relaxing taper!

3km run day before to see if smart to race - 200bpm my heart was racing for a 7:00min/km run. Ignored and decided to race 🤣

Race

All in km!!

1km: took off at 5:36 hit the first hill struggling at 6:15 ish and had given up on the sub 2 dream. I just wanted to finish - not in an ambulance because I didn’t listen to my body.

2-5km: told myself it was okay to hold around 5:55-6 as there was a long way to go and promised myself at 5km I’d start speeding up. My average pace was showing 5:59 (after though it turns out my 5km split was 5:44!!). HR was through the roof due to lungs being affected. The race app for the event was showing that my predicted finish was 2:12 - I felt absolutely nothing and focused on the fact that I was enjoying my run and hadn’t dropped out.

5-10km:ran steady, was slowly pushing average pace down to 5:40, keen to dip below 5:40 but sticking around 5:48. Felt like I was really hanging on for the 10km half way mark BUT felt so encouraged when I looked down at my watch and saw “only” 14km to go (for some reason my watch was in this mode today). On the other hand when I looked at the big 8km sign I felt discouraged knowing I’d come that far and felt like this. There were also so many runners to weave through- I understand weaving is time/energy wasting so avoided it BUT there comes a time where if you don’t you’ll be running 7:00mins/km not because your can’t go faster and has reached its limit but because there’s no where to go!

10km-15km: told myself at 16km is when I’ll fly off with 5km today! Kept steady took another gel. Asked myself what I’d seen advised on here- “evaluate if you can hold pace for kms you have left” and I honestly felt confident I could hold it for the 9.8 km left or later the 7km and 5km left. For some reason at 10 I had doubts and maybe at 9. Stopped for water at 9km (as I wasn’t going for time I figured getting what I felt I needed was okay) At 10km mark I reiterated “mind over matter” to myself over and over! My legs were getting fatigued but my chest felt fine despite the sickness.

At 14km headphones stopped working when I really needed a boost but tapped into the positive thinking that of everything that could go wrong this is the best worse case scenario - my body is still moving, I’m still breathing and I’ve made it THIS FAR!

From 14-16km is me just running maybe trying to turn it up but also not sure because I made my watch no show my current pace just the average for the race (which was about 5:35 but wasn’t moving when I sped up!). Kind of given up on sub 1:55 at this point. Just prepping to take my gel at 15-16km and wash it down with water at 16.1km. (Water station was not in right place!! None of them were where they said they would be 😂😂)

With 3km to go I told myself I’ve got this and broke the race into 500m chunks! At 2.5 I still was too scared to speed up, same with 2 and 1.5 to go. I just worried I’d give it my all and have nothing left! I think the sheer amount of people also made it difficult. I could’ve perhaps made 1:55 but I didn’t have enough time to potentially burn out, walk and make 2:00.

*16-20km * Between 3.8 and 2.3km to go is when I stopped looking at my watch because I wanted it to be over not because of pain or fatigue just because of boredom (yes I like running but also it does get boring sometimes 😂) glad this feeling was so late in the race! Also suprised myself by stopping for water at 19.1km 😂 after ignoring the 18km water because I needed to finish!

20.1km: With 1km to go i thought we’d have to run straight then turn around but sped up to leave energy for the turn around - turns out I should’ve listened to the fact my watch said we had 400m to go and put the gas on. I turned it on maybe far too late as we were 500m from the finish! Again many bodies to pass. The last hundred metres I ran in 4:39mins/km.

Post-race

Overall was happy with what I’ve achieved in the 4 months since I started running (June 21st) and the fact I’d been off sick the past 1 week.

I want to thank all of you for giving me a healthier approach to running. Having several goals (A- finish, B- time, C - time) and remembering it’s no MEAN feat completing these distances even though in runner communities a sub 2 is seen as beginner benchmark and nothing special.

Also WEAVING IS SO HARD! Like not even weaving maybe just running with 14,000 people, it’s hard to speed up if there’s nowhere to speed into! I’ve learned my lesson and will start on time next time to avoid the bottleneck 😅

Also suprised I didn’t 10km PB today as I did in my final long run, not suprised about 5km though.

Aiming for that 1:55 next March or April (maybe even 1:50 as my goal 👀)

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.

Race Information

Name: St. George Half Marathon

Date: October 5, 2024

Distance: 13.1 miles

Location: St. George, UT

Strava: https://strava.app.link/bz2w92JCENb

Time: 1:29:56

Goals: Goal Description Completed? A Sub 1:45 Yes B Sub 1:30 Yes

Splits Mile Time

1 7:39

2 6:45

3 6:42

4 6:50

5 7:04

6 7:27

7 7:11

8 6:33

9 6:40

10 6:51

11 6:33

12 6:31

13 6:25

0.1 0:36

Background

I’m 19M, College Student. Played Basketball and Tennis in High School but that was about as much running as I had done was conditioning for my seasons. My dad is a longtime Marathoner, Iron Man, and Mountain Biker who always tried to get me into stuff like it growing up, but never really stuck. One morning in May 2023 I decided I was going to go for a run. I went our and ran until I didn’t want to anymore, and ended up running 9 miles. I got back and my dad said “That’s great! Wanna do the St. George Marathon with me?” and I obliged. I then ran about 9 miles a week until July, when I moved for college. Between July and the race on October 7th, I ran 2 times, for a total of 7.2 miles. I went in hoping for a Sub 4, but put up a 4:38 (in hindsight, I’m surprised I was even that fast.) My dad and brother-in-law also ran, while my mom and uncle ran the Half. My mom had a great time, and decided that for 2024, the whole family should do the half-marathon together, so we did!

Training

So for Fall 2024 I signed up for 3 races - Big Cottonwood Half on September 14th, St. George Half on October 5th, and Big Bear Full Marathon on November 16th. My plan was to have my training plan for Big Bear just include the Halves as high effort long runs, which threw me off a bit in practice. Full disclosure, ChatGPT helped make my training plan (I did a lot of research and decided to just use it so I could tailor it to my own abilities and what it spat out seemed good enough). So training split into 3 parts: A moderate 4 weeks before Big Cottonwood - 3 weeks of balancing recovering from BC and tapering for St. George - and 6 weeks of rigorous training for Big Bear. The first 4 weeks were solid and on track, running about 20-30 miles a week with Intervals and Cross Training Mixed in. At Big Cottonwood I posted a 1:29:38, which crushed my goal, but I was ahead of pace by Mile 10 and barely held on the last 5k. It shredded my quads (as downhill races tend to do, I hear), and I had a longer recovery period than I anticipated. I ran about 8 miles in the week after the race, then 12, then 6 in my taper week. I was not feeling super prepared, but because of how burnt I was at the end of Big Cottonwood, and because this was a family function, I was okay with not running a killer time.

Pre Race

Our AirBnB was awesome, got my grandparents home cooked meals for 3 nights, and vibes were super strong between everybody. Everybody was hyped for the race and chatting about running which for me (a recently turned running geek), was awesome. Not to mention there was playoff baseball so my spirits were high. Made sure to hydrate a lot in the days before, had some OSMO Preload (if you’ve never used, get on it). Night before I got in bed around 9pm, struggled to sleep a little bit but managed to slip under around midnight. Wake up call came around 3:30 AM, got all my gear ready - was running with Apple Watch, Polar H10 HR monitor, Wired Apple Headphones, NB Fuelcell Elite V4s, and some KT Tape for my achilles that had been acting up. Ate a pop tart and got some more hydrating in. Fuel of choice is Pineapple Roctane GU: 1 in the chute, 1 at mile 5, and 1 at mile 10. Got bussed up to the top and felt great, was very alert and conditions were solid - the marathon last year was absolutely freezing but this year I didn’t even need to put on my sweatpants. Stretched a bit, got a bathroom break out of the way about 1 hr pre gun. As it was time to load the chute, I needed to pee again, but I chocked it up to pre-race jitters and lined up. Took my Gu and took off.

Race

My original plan was to start with my brother-in-law, who was shooting for an equal 1:45 to me. We were going to try and start with an 8 minute mile to get our legs moving then speed up from there. As you know, the pre-race adrenaline gets to you. The first problem was that the chute was crowded, and the course had a 0.2 mile long, narrow dirt road that merged onto the marathon course. This was right after the start so, trying to keep a solid pace, I had to weave through lots of people and find openings - and in doing this, I completely lost my BIL. I also ended up running my first mile a little quick, but not too bad. Felt pretty great until halfway through mile 4 when my achilles starting hurting pretty bad. I wasn’t too sure what to do, so I just slowed down and started heel striking until it went away: miraculously, it did, and I was able to run the rest of the race without much issue. While this race too is predominately downhill, there are pretty solid rolling hills throughout that you have to manage, and I figured this is what would prevent me from going Sub-1:30. In practice, I had a lot of fun managing these hills, and taking downhills easy to preserve my bursts of energy for the uphill. Before this I’d never really experienced strategizing while running, and it’s an awesome facet of the sport that just added so much to my enjoyment. At the mile 5 aid station I take my 2nd GU, and I’m starting to feel my energy fade. I’m not necessarily fading super hard, just thinking I shouldn’t be this tired only 5 miles in. Adding onto it, this was probably the most difficult part of the course - miles 5-7 have the least elevation drop in the course (i’m pretty sure, it’s pretty close with the last 5k anyway). While I’m keeping a strong sub-7 pace until then, I see 7:04, 7:27, and 7:11 roll across my watch and think I’m pretty much cooked as far as going sub-1:30. It’s at this point I start just enjoying the course instead of worrying about my pace, something I wish I could do more. I don’t think I looked at my watch once between miles 8 to 10, and just allowed myself to enjoy my music and the view. I got a huge second wind from this. At mile 4 I remember thinking, “yeesh, it’s only mile 4?” but then at mile 10 I was thinking “wow, already mile 10?”. Mile 10 I decide to look back at my pace to see where I’m at. Right after I cross the marker, my clock hits 70 minutes, meaning I need (give or take a few seconds) a 20 minute 5k to clear 1:30. My 5k PR was 19:44, set in miles 4-5-6 of Big Cottonwood, when I was just flying down a downhill with fresh legs, so my initial thought was, “welp, shoulda sped up some of those middle miles and you coulda had it”. I still gave it my effort though, and chugged along through the last, more flat, 5k. I wasn’t really sure what pace I needed to keep, but I knew the gun time would read something like 4 minutes past what my chip time was. I crushed off a 6:33, then a 6:31, then a 6:25 before seeing the finish line and looking at my watch - I had about 25 seconds to get there. It took me about 20, and I was very fired up when I got there. Ended up being 4 seconds under, and I felt amazing!

Post Race

I absolutely adored this race, and despite it only being my 3rd one, it was probably my favorite. I didn’t PR, but I this race was in nearly every way better than the Big Cottonwood one was. It was a tougher course and my pacing and fueling was much better, I felt fresher at the end, and I had a lot more fun during as well. At the end of the day this race, more than anything, made me question this: Is BQ a realistic goal for my upcoming marathon? My 2 times added up would be just under 3 hours, and my BQ time is 2:55. However Big Bear has a bigger elevation drop than either of the 2 and I’ll have even more time to train for it. Even if it’s lofty I’m going to push for it, and worst case it shouldn’t be too hard to beat my Marathon PR of 4:38. Great race, great city, great view, and great times! Running is fun!

Race Information

* **Name:** Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon

* **Date:** October 6th, 2024

* **Distance:** 26.2 miles

* **Location:** Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota

* **Time:** 3:34:xx

Goals

| Goal | Description | Completed? |

|------|-------------|------------|

| A | 3:40:00 | *Yes* |

| B | No Injuries | *Yes* |

Splits

| Mile | Time |

|------|------|

| 1 | 7:25

| 2 | 7:59

| 3 | 7:58

| 4 | 8:14

| 5 | 8:15

| 6 | 8:05

| 7 | 8:14

| 8 | 8:14

| 9 | 8:06

| 10 | 7:59

| 11 | 8:06

| 12 | 7:52

| 13 | 7:59

| 14 | 8:17

| 15 | 8:03

| 16 | 8:03

| 17 | 8:12

| 18 | 8:09

| 19 | 8:18

| 20 | 8:05

| 21 | 8:08

| 22 | 8:09

| 23 | 8:20

| 24 | 8:09

| 25 | 8:15

| 26 | 7:56

| .5 | 6:43

(I believe miles 1-3 aren't accurate due to gps in downtown minneapolis, which contributes to the extra .3 at the end)

Training

I'm a 37-year-old male who finished my first marathon in February with a time of 4:27:xx using a hal higdon novice plan. Lots of my reading on here pointed me towards the Pfitz plans and I settled on trying the 18/55 plan for my next block leading up to this October marathon. I used the Months of March-May to build up my mileage to 50ish miles per week. All easy miles, just focused on building weekly mileage with no injury! When June came I started the Pfits 18/55 plan. The first several weeks actually were less mileage than I was used to running, which was good because the plan immediately introduced me to the threshold runs and marathon pace long runs. I live in Texas so compounding this is 90-100 degree days by about 10am, so it was crucial for me to get out early. Even still, I found my paces to be quite stagnant throughout the summer with this plan. I thought it would be great to run sub 4 as an early goal target, and 9:00 even pace was my marathon pace for most of the summer.

Twin Cities Marathon is known for it's elevation gain towards the end. So I created a route for my long runs that would include a 2 mile stretch of uphills more drastic than what the actual race would contain. This destroyed me for most runs. I often had to stop and walk in the TX heat, or call my wife to come pick me up as soon as the hills were done because it was just brutal. This piece of my training would prove crucial for the actual race!

Once I got to the speed preparation phase, it was like my whole world of running changed. I had never before gone to a track, or done any sort of interval work like that before. I had to come to this subreddit a lot and search for exactly what I was supposed to be doing. But I figured it out and fell in love. Running fast is FUN! Running fast HURTS! Oh my gosh it hurts! But then I'm done and I feel SO GOOD. I don't know how else to describe this, but the adaptations that this phase of the training plan made to my body felt like I was becoming a superhero. I saw muscle tone and definition, my resting heart rate decreased, my easy runs became faster at the same zone 2 heart rate. And then I approached my first tune up race 10k with permission to run it all out and ended up on the podium, 3rd place overall (it was a small local 10k, but my kids thought I was an olympian) with a time of 47:58. Reading these subs helped me know I could plug that number into a Vdot calculator and see equivalent race times and I was shocked to see a 3:40:xx time pop up. I thought there was no way something like that would be possible for me.

As September came my area of Texas experienced a "false fall" where the temps cooled down dramatically into the 50's and 60's. I flew through my runs that week and began to understand the phrase: "Summer miles bring fall smiles". I had a marathon pace run that week of 12 miles where I decided to drop the pace down even further to 8:45 and see how it felt, and it felt great. I started to wonder if a 3:40 was truly within reach, or if I was being too ambitious about the gains. I closed out the block with another 10k tune up race of 46:00 and decided I would try for the 3:40 time. Vdot was telling me 3:32, runalyze had my marathon shape prognosis at 3:31, so I thought 3:40:00 would be a great ambitious learning experience.

I had a one week stretch about halfway through of significantly lesser mileage due to family vacation, and a week of illness due to respiratory infection that knocked me down. In the moment I was really concerned about this, looking back it seems not that big of a deal.

Pre-race

I arrived a couple of days before the race and explored the expo for a little bit, enjoyed a shakeout run on with some strides, and started carb loading. I'm not a huge eater so for me this meant focusing my meals around carbs more (noodles, pasta, rice, etc.), trying to snack in between (cookies, chips, breads), and add in some liquids (gatorade, non-alcoholic beer).

My plan had me doing a 4 mile run on Saturday, but I felt like a walk instead so I enjoyed the brisk Minnesota morning and spent most of the day off my feet relaxing and chatting with family. In the evening, I laid out all my gear and got all my breakfast items out and ready to go.

Morning of I woke up at 4:30 (race start is 8am), slammed 16 oz of water, ate peanut butter and honey toast with fruit juice, 12 oz of coffee, and then hit the bathroom. I arrived on site at 7am. Plenty of porta potties and everything was well spaced out. I found my corral and jogged, skipped, and haphazardly moved my legs so I could look smart and fit like everyone else around me was doing :)

Race

I'm fairly certain I was blessed with the best marathon weather I might ever experience. 49 degrees at race start, 50's throughout the race, decent tailwind most of the way. Absolutely perfect weather!

My fueling strategy was to use Gu Roctane every 35-40 minutes, with water at an upcoming water station. In training runs I couldn't get my gut to handle it every 30 minutes without feeling too heavy, but 35-40 seemed to work. There were a couple of times the timing didn't work out great and I had to wait a mile or so between the Gu and the water station, but it didn't bother me. This strategy worked great and my gut handled it well all the way to the end.

My plan was to go out with the 3:40 pace group and see how I felt at the last 10k. The corral filled up pretty tight and I got separated from the pacer when I went to discard my outer layers in the donation bins. Lots of fence hoppers from other corrals I noticed happening, right up to the gun. I had the pacer sign in my sights for the first mile, but only just. It had me a bit anxious because I didn't want to start out too fast, which I've noticed through race tune ups definitely happens to me every time. My nerves were further compounded because I'm quite sure my gps was messed up during the first couple of miles in the city. My watch logged the first mile at 7:25, but there was still a good .2 miles away from the first mile marker. This made me feel uncertain about my pacing, but I tried to breathe and calm down and make it a goal to catch up to them by the 5k mark, no sooner.

There was a small bit of elevation leaving Minneapolis, and my heart rate climbed a bit during this time, but settled down as I caught up to the 3:40 pace group right around the 5k mark. The fans were great and the entire course was filled with encouragement, fun signs, and people cheering for every racer, not just waiting for their own family! So fun!

Between 5k-10k I started pulling away from the pace group, I wasn't out of control, but each mile I looked back and saw them a bit further behind. I felt my splits were rather even so I didn't stress out about it too much. I thought I might just end up coming in a bit before them. That ended up not being correct as 10k-20k my pace trended quicker with a slight net downhill during this stretch as we got closer to the Mississippi river. My effort felt easy, and something I would be able to sustain long term. When I noticed some sub 8:00/mile splits I did have to consciously pull back. It took a lot of discipline as I was feeling really good, but in the back of my head I knew the elevation increase on the St. Paul side was coming and I needed energy for that.

Once you get on the St. Paul side of the Mississippi, Miles 20-23 is about 200ft net gain of elevation, with 100 of that straight up Summit Ave. from Mile 21-23. This was my crowning moment of the race. My long run training route contained a 200ft elevation gain towards the end, so I had months of wrecking myself in TX heat on a final hill during the long run. I hit this moment strong with the goal of not slowing down. Indeed mile 21 and 22 stayed consistent, 8:08 and 8:09. Mile 23 showed a bit of a slow down at 8:20, but I felt and looked good. The fans were electrifying at this section which helped so much, and at one point on this hill I heard: "WOW [my bib number]!! YOU LOOK LIKE YOU JUST STARTED! GO WIN YOU CRAZY ANIMAL!!" Flying by all the people who slowed down to walk was really motivating, especially when I noticed a few people who went flying by me earlier on in the race. 

When I reached the top of the hill, I got a bit emotional remembering this point in my first marathon when at the 24-mile mark I promised I would never do this ever again. I found my wife at this point in the race and I said: "Oh my gosh I feel so good!!" The rest of the way is downhill towards the capitol. I allowed myself to pick it up and see what was left in the tank. It was brutal on my quads, but the crowds were stacked on each side and absolutely roaring which gave me so much inspiration. Furthermore, I saw on the finish line the gun time showing 3:35:00 as I was getting close, which made me realize if I really push it I might come in with a 3:34:xx time! So I hoofed it across smiling and feeling strong! I just completed my second marathon and did it was grace and strength!

Post-race

First marathon I nearly vomited and couldn't get any food down for awhile. This time, I gladly ate the banana, the beef stick, the chocolate milk, and everything else they handed me. I found my family and did hugs and pictures and heard my 3:34 time and couldn't believe it! 3:40 felt like a stretch, but I crushed it!

I smiled the rest of the day, enjoyed all the food and accolades from family at a cookout on that beautiful day, and just enjoyed the victory!

Made with a new [race report generator](http://sfdavis.com/racereports/) created by u/herumph.

Post your training for this past week. Provide any context you find helpful like what you're training for and what your previous weeks have been like. Feel free to comment on other people's training.

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Race Information

• Name: Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon
• Date: October 6, 2024
• Distance: 42.195 km
• Location: Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
• Time: 3:19:xx

Goals

Splits

Training

I am one of those covid runners who only really got into the sport in 2020. Weirdly enough, my only real in-person races before this year have been non-standard distances: a 14M, a 25K (DNF, sad), and a 13K. I figured I had enough of those and so earlier this year I ran a proper half marathon at the NYRR RBC Brooklyn Half in May and clocked in a 1:37:48. In June, I ran the Under Armour Toronto 10K at a 44:30. Feeling pretty good about myself after those two, I decided to make completing my first marathon my goal for the fall.

I did not really know what I was doing. For my half and 10K I had just used the training plans on Strava and felt pretty satisfied with the results, so I figured I would just give the Strava full marathon plan a go. I was doing around 5-6 runs per week including 1-2 workouts and a long-run. My highest weekly volume was around 65K and my longest long run was at 28K. In my last month of training I started going to spin classes on my rest days. The weekend before the race there was a local 5K where I live; I treated that as one last speed workout and also clocked by 5K PR at 20:18.51. Felt pretty good after that.

Pre-race

I originally planned to fly in the day before the race, but I got overly paranoid about flight cancellations so I decided to go one day earlier. There were 5K and 10K races on Saturday and since I was already there I figured I would run the 5K as a shakeout run. After that I spent the day mostly resting and then had a lovely bowl of tagliatelle with foie gras meatballs for dinner. Might have had a glass of wine or two at dinner to calm the pre-race nerves as well.

I stayed in a downtown Minneapolis hotel just a few blocks away from the start line, so that made getting to the race pretty straightforward. Despite not being an official race hotel, they had breakfast out early for runners anyways, which was really helpful to not have to go grocery shopping, etc.

Race

I did not really have any goals going into the race beyond finishing, not dying, and having a good time. I had a rough idea based on my training paces that if everything went well I probably had it in me to run around a 3:30-3:40 so I lined up around the 3:35 pacer at the start. The weather was a lovely 10C and overcast at the start. This is precisely why I traveled to Minnesota. It had been almost two hours since breakfast so I decided to take my first gel.

Start-10K I felt pretty good from the start. The funny thing that happened was that the 3:35 pacer I lined up with at some point in messy pack of the first two miles overtook the 3:30 pacer, which meant I accidentally started running in front of the 3:30 group. I felt pretty good so I just continued to stay there right as we rounded Bde Maka Ska. This is also a good time to say that the spectators along the entire course were amazing. I had expected the crowds to be mostly in downtown Minneapolis and then in St Paul, but was never really a fully quiet stretch even along the lakes.

10K-Half At this point I think I tried to start sandbagging my own race in my brain. I did not really have much confidence that I could hold on to this pace forever. Because of that I took my second gel at 10K even though I had originally not planned to do so until around 15K. The extra boost in energy was nice. After leaving Lake Harriet the course went through a few neighborhoods which was a welcomed change of scenery. I appreciated all the Vikings fans giving score updates along the course. I took another gel around 19K.

Half-30K Since I was approaching the my longest distance I have done in training, during this stretch I mostly focused on trying to stick to my pace and started looking at my watch more frequently to check my heart-rate. To my surprise I was mostly still comfortably in Z3 and so I mostly did more of the same as the course went along the Mississippi. I took a gel around 25K.

30K-35K Crossing the bridge over the Mississippi was quite the treat. I made sure to allow myself to enjoy the beautiful scenery and thankfully the bridge was not really a steep one on either end. The hill was coming though. Everything I have read online and people I talked to at the Expo warned me that the hill at 20-23M is the real challenge on this course. I put my head down to focus on the climb one step at a time and mentally told myself to think of it as a challenging 5K. I was so locked in that I totally missed that Governor Tim Walz was out there right in front of his mansion cheering on the runners. I took my final gel sometime during this stretch.

35K-Finish A chicane after Coach Walz' house brings the course to the final stretch down Summit Ave headed for the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul. At this point I was really grateful that the race organizers had placed aid-stations at every mile instead of every two miles up until now. I wished I had another gel with me, but there was nothing I could do about it at that point. Ever since I had gotten ahead of the 3:30 pace group all the way at the beginning I had more or less been running this race in no man's land without much of a pack around. At some point on Summit Ave. I saw the 3:20 pacer flag and it was right then that I found one last gear to finish off the race. I caught up with the pack and overtook the pacer, but then I started losing pace again around 40K. Right when I was slowing down, I saw a downhill ahead and had the Capitol in sight. The pacer yelled to everyone in front of him: "don't let me pass you." I had a side-stitch in the final 200m and somehow sprinted to the finish without really being able to breathe. I crossed the finish line and did not see the pacer in front of me. Somehow I had just run a sub-3:20 for my first marathon.

Post-race

I ate the world's most delicious banana and inhaled a box of chocolate milk. The race came with a beer ticket for the Biergarten which was brutally an uphill walk from the finish line. I opted for some Minnesota hard apple cider instead, which was absolutely lovely. The race organizers smartly had a merch tent at the finish as well and I of course went on an adrenaline-fueled shopping spree. I had restrained myself at the expo since I was so nervous and did not want to jinx myself by buying all the merch before having actually run the marathon.

Overall I was really impressed by how well organized this race was--everything from the expo to the start to the aid stations to the finish line. The spectators were amazing along the entire course and I really enjoyed the midwestern charm. I would absolutely recommend the Twin Cities Marathon to anyone looking for an urban race yet logistically simple and has the community feel to it.

One marathon down, hopefully many more to go!

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.

With over 3,575,000 subscribers, there are a lot of posts that come in everyday that are often repeats of questions previously asked or covered in the FAQ.

With that in mind, this post can be a place for any questions (especially those that may not deserve their own thread). Hopefully this is successful and helps to lower clutter and repeating posts here.

If you are new to the sub or to running, this Intro post is a good resource.

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And please take advantage of the search bar or Google's subreddit limited search.

I’ve run a couple marathons, but never had my name visibly on me like some people do where the spectators can actually pick you out and cheer for your name specifically and that seems so fun. I was thinking a good way to do it would be to either get it on the front of a racing singlet or on some arm sleeve for easy visibility and so it’s like of a permanent part of the kit, but when it comes to getting something like this I’m unsure where to start. Lots of Etsy type stores advertise stuff like custom arm sleeves for football and that seems decently reputable, but if I wanted to get a custom singlet, has anybody had a good process to get something when running a long race like that really requires comfort with your kit and not just something poor quality/cheap? Thanks!

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Note: No need to preface YOUR accomplishments with something like, "this may not be an accomplishment to most of you...". Be proud of your achievement.

Race Information

• Name: St. George Marathon
• Date: October 5, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: St. George, UT
• Website: https://www.stgeorgemarathon.com
• Time: 3:34:45

Goals

Splits

Background

I did XC/track in high school, coming in from a very unathletic childhood. I always hated most sports, but I grew to love running and how it made me feel. Unfortunately, I often felt discouraged due to being the slowest on the team. My times improved a lot, but I was always dead last in so many races -- especially in track, where I would routinely get lapped in the 3200m. In college, I had almost stopped running altogether as I was too slow to make my college's team, only getting out to run 1-2x a week. I ate tons of junk to cope with stress, and gained lots of weight.

When I started getting serious about running again, I developed a much more healthy approach. And I dropped all the fat I gained. These days, I love running again. I don't beat myself up for missing my time goals anymore, and yet...I'm faster than I have ever been before.

I am currently 5’9”, 134 lbs., and 10% body fat.

Training

I peaked at about 50 miles per week. I usually ran 6 miles a day M-F, with long runs on Sat from 16 to 20 miles. I took Sundays off to just do a 5-mile walk. I made three 20-milers before St. George.

I also lifted 6 days a week directly before my runs, following a PPL/abs/full-body program that I jerry-rigged myself. I also walked about 2-3 miles a day, utilizing work breaks and lunchtime, and did some light swimming a few times a week.

I loved this training cycle. I am grateful to say that I never felt burned out! It was time consuming, but it was also awesome. At least once a week, I ran 2-3 easy miles in the afternoon heat (95F or so). Most of my runs were early in the morning, though. One day a week, I’d either do hills, tempo, fartlek, or some combination of the 3. The rest of my runs were easy pace with the occasional burst of speed.

I ran plenty of tune-up halfs, ranging from 1:42 at Disney Princess to 1:23:59 at Revel Big Cottonwood.

I ate according to CICO and generally tried to get 80% of my bodyweight in grams of protein. I actually was in a 400-600cal deficit most of the time in order to try and make my abs pop for summer. Vanity, I know. :’)

I also stretched almost every night of the week for about 15 minutes, usually while watching a show. As part of these stretching sessions, I also did arch work, toe strengthening, IT band work, ankle strengthening, intensive foam rolling, balance board, and the like. For me, only lifting and running is not sufficient to prevent injury.

I didn't taper much. Just one final period of ~10 days where I sliced all my mileage in half, ran everything easy, dropped my long run to 12 miles, and slashed all my weights to 50%.

Pre-race

I stopped all caloric deficit stuff on Wednesday, with the race on Saturday. I started carb loading on Wednesday as well, and downing lots of electrolytes.

I took Friday off of work and we drove down to St. George that morning. The night before the race, my cousin and I did a 5K for the Desert Double challenge, to get an extra shirt and 2 extra medals. Since we had the marathon the next morning, we jogged it at a conversational pace. Finished in like 28 minutes or so. It was wicked hot — about 100 degrees F.

We grabbed some Olive Garden after the 5K. I ate the spaghetti with 3 meatballs and 4 breadsticks, plus a bit of cheese on top. I downed a lot of electrolytes (mostly Gatorade Zero and Propel) and water too. It was so good.

I slept about 6 hours as I got to bed by 9, so not ideal, but not too bad either. I still had to pack everything for the race and make sure I was 100% good to go with my clothing, food, drop bag, etc., and I wanted to take a nice relaxing shower.

The morning of the race, I woke up at 3 AM and ate a PB&J, drank a protein shake (Orgain, I am not vegan but I can’t have whey), and grabbed some Crystal Light energy for the bus. I did some quick core work, took another shower because feels good man, and we were off.

We got on the bus at 4:30 and then hung out at the start line. I used the restroom twice, sent off my drop bag, did some swings and lunges, did an easy jog of around 0.25 miles, and then it was time.

Race

The race was preceded by a short drone show. As the drones moved in the shape of the number 26.2, it was a very surreal moment for me. Like holy crap, I am actually doing this. And then the gun went off.

The race started at a comically easy pace, as I was determined to run around 8:30ish for my first mile. I figured I could pick it up after that, and see how I felt. Kinda warm up into it.

It was a very hot day, and I was drinking a lot of fluids. By mile 3, I already had to pee again, even though I had just done so maybe 25 minutes before the race started. So around mile 4 I popped into a port-a-john.

I started eating on and off maybe 5 miles in, mostly Honey Stinger caffeinated chews and Skippy peanut butter balls (the latter were a mistake, even though I had eaten them on long runs before without issue). My pace increased to below 8 minute miles, so I thought that maybe I’d be able to swing a sub-3:30, if everything went right.

The scenery was, of course, beautiful. Around mile 7 was when we hit the big uphill, going up a volcano. After that mile, I realized that my fallback goal of 3:45 was going to be a safer bet, as 3:30 was going to take a bit of a miracle. I talked to a few other runners for a brief time but otherwise just kept grinding out the miles and downing my electrolytes and water, both those on my person and those at aid stations.

At the beginning of mile 14 I had to pee yet again, so that’s why that mile was 9:06.

Around mile 15, it was super downhill so I managed to snag a 7:24 mile, but I started to feel like I was going to puke. The smell of peanut butter, normally one of my favorite foods, started to seem really gross. So I pulled back on the pace and stopped eating the Skippy balls.

Around mile 20 was where it started to kinda hurt. Not the full-blown wall per se, but I could feel some soreness in my legs. Some dude near me was talking on the phone saying that he felt like he was going to poop his pants. I heard some other groans of agony from runners beside me. I got a brief cramp in the arches of my feet, but it quickly went away. Paranoid of truly hitting the wall, I downed a Honey Stinger waffle at mile 21. Not sure if this was a good idea. Mostly, my stomach hurt from eating too much, and I was sore. However, I had a bit of energy and was still enjoying myself, especially since there were lots of spectators around by this point. I slapped one kid’s sign that said “tap here for a free energy boost” and managed to speed up my pace a little bit there.

I’ve gotten super sick after half marathons due to insufficient glycogen, which is why I was so cautious with eating enough during this race, however I may have overdid it slightly!

Mile 22 or so was where I just stopped taking in chews. I couldn’t do it anymore. I was going to puke it all up. I ran through every mister I saw and started to pour cups of water on myself at every aid station I passed.

I tried to pick it up for the last 5K, but my body just wasn’t having it. In the end, I mostly just kept the same pace until I saw the finish. Towards this point, I started to hear and see multiple ambulances, and also saw a dude who collapsed near the finish line getting picked up by some medics.

No one was really racing me at the finish, but I forced myself to pick it up slightly and pumped my fists into the air as I crossed the finish line! My time said 3:35 on the clock, but turns out my chip time was 3:34:45, and either way I had achieved my B goal! Then I walked straight through the final set of misters, and it felt SO good. And in the end, I managed to avoid puking.

Post-race

I staggered around after finishing, feeling somewhat sick to my stomach, but overall happy. I grabbed a bunch of food and forced myself to eat a slice of bread and butter. I should have cooled down and stretched but I didn’t until much later that evening, where I did a brief stretching session. I was just too tired! I collapsed underneath a tree for a while after getting my bag, forcing myself to eat some more food as I stared at the sky. My cousin met up with me -- she had finished in 3:07, only a minute off her PR. My energy was slowly coming back to me, and my appetite came back too, so after a while we went and got some sandwiches and chips from Jimmy John’s, plus Orange Peel smoothies.

After that, and a brief recovery period indoors, we went swimming (or rather, floating) in the pool all day. I sat upright in a pool toy that allowed my legs to dangle in just the right way. This felt SO good. We got Chili’s for dinner and I ate about 3000 calories in one sitting. Went to bed before 9 pm and slept 10 hours straight. I was back to running 3 miles a day by Wednesday (well, I did run 0.25 on Tuesday), with only some slight soreness and a bit of an IT band niggle which is just about gone. And peanut butter tastes good again, hooray!

This will only be the first in a series of many marathons to come. I still think the half is my favorite distance, but the marathon is a completely different animal. It’s SO cool! I have dreams of getting faster and maybe even qualifying for Boston even though these days I’d have to improve to like a 2:45. Who knows what the upcoming years will bring? Even if I don’t get to that crazy fast of a time, it’ll be a ride.

Made with a new race report generator created by u/herumph.

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Race Information

• Name: Maine Marathon
• Date: October 6th, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Portland Maine
• Website: https://mainemarathon.com/
• Time: 4:01:47

Goals

Splits

Training

I (25M) started running about a year ago exactly, in the fall of 2023. I had tried starting to run many times before, but for some reason I started to fall in love with it for the first time. It was an amazing de-stressor, I felt awesome afterwords and overall better about my self when working it in. Less depressed, gave me confidence and energy - just so much better mentally. I also felt calmer and less anxious due to having an "energy-releasing" activity. Once I was able to run the length of my local park in full (7 miles) I knew I was ready to take on some new challenges since achieving that felt so good! I had a friend who had picked up running at around the same time and we both signed up for halfs and fulls, to give ourselves something to work for throughout the next year.

I signed up for my first half in April of 2024, and subsequently my first full (this Maine Marathon). I thought if I had a year I'd have enough time to train, and it'd keep me running throughout the year. My first half came by and I got a time of 1:57:54 - following the 'Alien Method' in Jack Daniels book. I kept base building at around 30-40 mpw as I looked around for plans to do for my full marathon. I was between Hanson Beginner and Pfitz 18/55, and ended up going the latter since it usually had 5 days of running instead of 6. Starting off the block, I became a little nervous and thought I was over my head with picking this plan. The workouts (especially LT) were HARD - but I stuck with it. I missed a week or so in the start with vacation, but the amount of days missed fell within Pfitz range of being okay. The real block started after that, with 50+ weeks and 20 milers. Honestly, those weeks were good most of the time besides some brutal summer runs. I kept reminding myself that this would help with fall PRs!

I trained for a 4:10 MP, doing 9:20 to 9:30 miles for my marathon pace workouts. As I got closer to the race I thought that I could push this, and make my stretch goal 4:00.

In the last 8 weeks of training, I missed about 2 days so I felt pretty good going into the race. Unfortunately, I look at my watch too much - and was getting discouraged with some of my vo2 max going down and race predictors going up. It also said I was "peaking" a couple weeks too early but I trusted my training and tried to ignore all these fancy metrics!

Pre-race

We drove up to Portland on Thursday night, relaxed for a couple days and explored a bit before the race day.

The morning of the race I woke up to pee around 4:00AM (race wasn't till 7:45) and as you could guess I could not sleep again after this! The adrenaline was pulsing and I was ready to go. I ate some bread with peanut butter, banana, and honey and got a bit of coffee going. Once my friend who signed up with me was ready, we walked over to the starting line! It was a crispy 40 degrees and sunny, I was cold but knew this was perfect running weather. We got to the start line and I aligned myself in between the 4:00 and 4:20 pacers, and my friend headed closer to the 5 hour pacers. The national anthem played, and we were off!

Race

The first 6 or so miles were great, crowd support was fantastic and everything was going smoothly. I was freezing to start, so it felt great to get moving. By around Mile 5 or 6 I felt like I was in a groove and finally warmed up. My first thought was that this course was not as flat as I thought. We moved up and down through rolling hills throughout 6 through 13 and I knew I'd be cursing some of these on the way back. In my head I split the race into 3 9 milers, and wanted to try to push the pace whenever we got to the next 9.

At 14mi-15mi I saw my friend since it was an out and back, and we let out a loud cheer for each other which gave me a nice boost. I made sure to drink water at every single aid station, and ate either a Honey Stinger, or Clif Bloks every 45 minutes. Additionally, I took a saltstick electrolye pill every 45 minutes. This fueling did me well I think, as I never really hit the "wall". I kept trucking along and eventually hit 20, the most I'd ever ran. I knew this is where the real race would start.

I remembered one section of Pfitz that mentioned that with our superior training, we'd be ready for the last 6 miles. He mentioned to pick a victim in the distance, and try to pass them. Continue this with more people for the last 6 miles. I envisioned this moment for a while, and he was completely right. I figured if I had anything left in the tank, I should leave it all in these last 6 (as you can see from my splits) thankfully, most of the last 6 was a nice downhill as well so I was letting the momentum take me. I must have passed 15+ people in this last stretch, and I really felt great that I was able to push! Pfitz was correct, haha. The bibs noted if it was our first marathon, and hearing a stranger go "yeahhhh get that first one" gave me a nice push. The pain really started around 22-23mi. I started feeling some cramps coming up everytime I slowed down, in my foot and in my hamstring. I knew that I just had to keep running to stop this from happening so that was another motivator! Also felt a small blister coming in a common spot I'd gotten before in these shoes, so just tried to adjust my gait a bit and fight against that.

At around 24-25mi, I got a notification from racejoy that my expected finish time was 3:59:59 - and I pushed with everything I had left. I still thought that sub-4 may be possible after the halfway point, but didn't think it was this close to in range. I sprinted as much as I could the last two miles, somehow hitting 7:30 paces for small stretches and finally crossed the finish line!

Chip time was officially 4:01:47, although Strava seems to think I broke sub 4. I think I may have with some weaving around and adding (watch and strava said 26.52) but I will go with the chip time. Honestly I smashed my goal from starting (4:10) so I couldn't be mad at all. An official sub-4 is def in my future!

Post-race

I went it to a short state of emotional and physical shock after, just being thankful and not believing that I actually ran a marathon. My fiancee was at the finish line which was amazing, and we sat for a bit and got the post-race snacks. After feeling relatively back to normal, I headed to the beer garden and waited for my friend to finish! Once he crossed, we all relaxed at the finishing area for a bit before going back to our AirBnb, and relaxing on the couch. After some hours of doing nothing we all destroyed a Mexican dinner later at night. The feeling of finishing this feat was awesome, and I did have a strong emotional moment back at the Airbnb after the finish. I was just so happy so many of my friends & family wanted to track me and support me on this goal. Their words after meant so much. I started thinking about myself from a year ago, 2 years, 10 years ago. If you told that guy he'd run a marathon someday he'd be really confused and shocked, lol. As an asthmatic who never really thought they could do anything like this it was quite surreal. So that held a lot of weight for me and I was super thankful and proud of myself.

Unfortunately, as a person who watches my watch too much - somehow my fitness is apparently declining and vo2 max is going down. Not sure how that's possible with running an almost sub-4 marathon. Oh well - this happened during the transition to summer too so maybe my body doesn't do too well with the weather changes.

Now, I'm following Pfitz recovery schedule and giving myself some time to think of a new goal. I love running so I defintely want to continue. Maybe I'll get my half time down, or work to a 50k distance, work in some trails, not really sure. I'll let myself rest a bit before deciding that. Since I technically PR'd my half on the second half of the marathon I think it makes sense to maybe work on my half time! Again, going to rest on it a bit before committing to anything. Thanks to anyone who read! Appreciate this community so much. <3

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.

Preface

On 2024/03/03, I completed my 7-month training block with a half marathon PB. During this period, I ran 3 half marathon and I finished my first ever marathon race with a time of 3:31:44, I shared on this sub about how the training and the races went. After that, I planned zero races within the span of 6 months, not only because I was in my 2nd year of Master’s and I need to put more effort in the last semester for graduation, but also I wanted to give aerobic / zone 2 / MAF training a try. Now that the 6 months of training have passed, I want to share on this sub on how it went.

MAF Training

I first got to know about MAF training after listening to the Extramilest podcast, and during my last training block I already got to try out a few MAF workouts. According to the formula, my aerobic limit would be 180-Age=157bpm at that time, but I found myself going above 157bpm too often, and knowing that it is just an empirical formula, I didn’t want to risk going above too much. So from the start of this “2024 Resting” block, I adjusted my training HR to 152bpm and have been using it since. At the start of the training block, I did my first ever MAF test (warm up -> run 5km at max aerobic HR -> cool down) and got an average pace of 6:09/km, which was slower than expected and could be affected by 5 days of resting, bruised toes and sore legs, but this also meant there’s more room for improvement. Then, I was ready to start.

At first, the MAF runs were quite unbearable because they were slower than what I’m used to, and sometimes due to fatigue or after days not running the pace might got slower, but after listening to all of the episodes from the podcast I know that patience is key, so I persisted, I started running 10k or more for my workouts, I found myself a good route and concentrated on just running, and I did a MAF test every month. Slowly but surely, improvements were made. 

My first encouragement was in April’s MAF test where I improved by 8 seconds, then in May I ran a 5:29/km MAF workout, and even though I suffered from the heat at the early stages of summer and my pace slowed down sometimes, my MAF test results were still very promising. MAF training also affected other aspects. I used to have resting HR around 51bpm, but after April the HR was lower and I’m having 45, 46bpm of a 7-day average resting HR; I also noticed that my HR would go up slower than before at every start of the run, and my HR in other activities are also lower as well, allowing me to recover faster than ever.

Running w/ Groups & Clubs

In most of my runs now, I was running alone because my runs are typically very early, I always listen to music or podcasts so I wouldn’t get too bored. I haven’t run with others for a long time (other than races), but so much has changed in this period.

In mid-March, right when I still had the Marathon high, me and my friend decided that we would run a Dragon Strava art we drew that was 42km, it was hot, unbearable, and it took so long we ran through noon, my friend wasn’t feeling the best so he went on a bike ride with me after we completed the head of the Dragon. Despite all that, it was one of the most fulfilling thing to do and what an accomplishment it was for us.

I occasionally share my runs with my friends, and some of them were influenced and actually started to run, and in April the 4 of us decided to run together on every Tuesday after work. Since not all of us are at the same fitness level, we set the goal to just run 30 minutes. During each run, we were not going after any distances or paces, we all just chat and talked about what’s been going on. Running around school with friends was something I haven’t done for quite some time, and I’m glad that we did because it was just very relaxing and fun, it’s good to just run and not think about any of the stats. Now, 3 of them have registered for the Taipei half marathon in December, we’ll see how well we can prepare ourselves for it!

In late-April I joined our school’s new marathon club, where they have 3 group runs weekly: easy + interval + long run. The club is made up of people who are also pursuing the marathon distances, and from here I learned more than I’ve expected. I learned Mach drills for the first time and I started doing it before hard workouts, and after some weeks I noticed how my stride and form has improved, now I am more conscious on how my foot lands; I run with others who run at the same pace, for interval sessions or harder long runs I found it easier to finish when you see others not giving up; I made new friends who shared the same hobby as I do, which is a bonus for any occasion!

Plan for Weekly Mileage

From the last training block, I’ve learned (painfully) that the mileage increase should be taken with care and not jump too much within a week, had it not been for a long vacation weekend my legs would’ve been absolutely destroyed in the last training block, so this time I made sure not to make the same mistakes. Starting the first week, I ran 51.54km and I used the 10% rule to plan my runs for 6 weeks. However, I found that the 10% rule is too slow for my liking and it doesn’t dictate how much is too much, plus I decided I would want to try get the “run streak” badge from Garmin in May, the 10% rule would be too hard to follow along. That’s when I tried another method where I increase the goal mileage every 3 weeks and adjust the upper limit according to how many sessions I ran last week. From there, I gradually increased the mileage to 80km and just hovered somewhere between 80 & 100km, and after a week or two I scheduled my runs and formed a new routine to hit my weekly goals:

🗓️ Monday club easy run.

🗓️ Tuesday MAF + occasional recovery run w/ friends.

🗓️ Wednesday MAF.

🗓️ Thursday club interval.

🗓️ Friday Recovery.

🗓️ Saturday club long run.

🗓️ Sunday individual long run.

With the careful supervision, this time I didn’t have any noticeable discomforts, the back-to-back long runs are not too tiring, and because I would find Strava segments or draw challenging routes, I wouldn’t get bored by this schedule. Slowly but surely, my legs got comfortable with the mileage, I ran over 300km for 3 months, and I had my highest mileage in July (408.91km, how the hell am I going to beat this 😂).

Towards the End of the Training Block

Even though I’m in my last semester as a Master’s student, I still managed to squeeze time for running in my busy schedule. I would wake up at around 05:30, get ready and go out for my run at around 06:00, and then got home before 08:00, by the time I finished showering, have breakfast, and wash up my running clothes, I would be ready to go to the lab to do my work before 09:30. After a full day of work, I would have dinner and try to get some early rest in order for the cycle to continue. If I don’t have my run in the morning the I would just get to the lab earlier and go home earlier as well to prepare for that day’s workout.

I had my thesis defense at the end of July, a month before that I cut off anything that is unrelated to graduation, I’ve limited my free time and I worked harder to prepare for my presentation and thesis. Nevertheless, the one thing I didn’t cut off is running. I figured if I don’t have any stress-relieving activities to do I would not hold on for long, and the good thing about running is that I could do it at any time, even if I run on my own, I could still get the benefit of that day’s workout. Plus, I still wanted to have some social interaction, and that’s what being in part of a club does best for me. In the end, I successfully defended my thesis, and now I’ve graduated from Master’s degree, I was so happy I ran a 1km interval after the presentation, to let out the stress that I’ve been having and to also determine my fitness level.

The start of August also indicated the need for a new training block. I got a spot in the Taipei Marathon through the ballot (Thank God! Finally!), and this time I want to run a good PB. From the 1km interval I did in July, I’ve determined that 4:30/km is a decent, not too tiring pace for me, so this time I’ve set my goal to break 3:10:00 and I know I need to run more than last time to make sure I’m fit enough to cross the finish line.

It’s 16 weeks before the marathon if I start a new training block on the last week of August, so for the rest of the month I just decreased the mileage down to 80km where I would start my training block for the marathon, I’ve also inserted rest days, just to make sure that I would recover better when I have more interval sessions in a week. I did my last MAF test and got an avg. pace of 5:28/km, which gave me an idea of how my easy pace is at the time. Lastly, I also signed up for a few other half marathons within the training block, some are just for fun, and some of them are meant to be used as a check-up race to see how I would do for the half distance.

Lessons From the Training Block

After a long and tedious explanation about what happened in my training block, I think I could summarize what I’ve learned from this period and my reflections upon it.

1. There are benefits when you go slow. 

You learn to not compose yourself, you resist the urge to compete with others even on your recovery runs, you have time to reflect on the small details like your foot strike and form, and you learn to know what easy feels like. It’s not just about training your aerobic capacity, it’s about making yourself to get used to what easy feels like. I feel like after I started using a watch rather than Strava to record my runs I’ve become obsessed with data, but after this period I’ve learned to listen more to my body.

1. Mileage isn’t built, it is calculated. 

As I’ve said, I’ve learned the hard way not to increase my mileage too much, so this time I was extra careful about my weekly mileage, but there’s more to it than just calculating the total mileage. To meet my weekly goals, I had to arrange my mileage on certain days, I had to estimate how much I would be running on harder workout days so I could set how much I’m running on easy days, and I had to be careful not to put too much on the next day after the interval session. There’s so much more than just running the total mileage, if I wasn’t careful enough I could’ve got injured again.

On another note, you have to think ahead as well. It isn’t just about this week’s mileage, but how you do this week could also affect your performance next week, and after a training block ends a new one will start, if you plan ahead you could make sure you have a good start for the next block.

1. Run with friends.

There’s nothing needed to add to this. Running with friends or in a club has its benefits, you’ll feel easier on your easy runs, and you have the motivation to complete your harder workouts. Even if sometimes the easy runs are slower than what you run, it doesn’t mean it’s not beneficial, the only way to improve is to commit to running. I would say training my aerobic capacity and deciding to run with friends are definitely the two best things I’ve done during this period.

Conclusion

Procrastination has got me finish typing this on the 7th week of my next training block 😂, but the training right now is heading at the right direction, thanks to the build up during this phase. I hope that this could be motivating for some people, since so many of the race reports have done the same for me. I wish everyone a good day and hope that everyone is improving in the direction they hope!

Last time, on Photo Friday:

/u/hdanish grabbed the top spot.

I ran my first marathon in Berlin last weekend and I have this picture under the Brandenburg Gate https://imgur.com/a/i0AxPoX

Honorable mention goes to /u/KrakenClubOfficial .

I did a run this morning through the River Arts District in Asheville, NC. I brought my phone to take photos of what my usual routes had become post-helene, I just didn't have the heart to take any. Carnage and debris as far as the eye could see. Felt like I should be out volunteering, not on a leisurely run.

Rules of the Road

• Post your running photos of any kind! Beautiful running route? Post it! Race photo look great? Post it! Nobody really reads this! Basically if it is running related you can post it.

• Next Friday I will take the top photos and give them special attention.

Howdy runners, it's Friday!

You know what that means -- what's on this weekend. Who's running, racing, tapering, hiking, cycling, baking, knitting, reading, kayaking, camping, mountain climbing, pickle balling, sewing their Halloween costume, basking in the afterglow of the aurora borealis that made a surprise appearance for a lot of US folks, ... ? Tell us all about it!

What can I get my girlfriend who will be doing the Chicago marathon this weekend. I'll be going to cheer her on so anyhting I can either fly with and conceal or get while I'm there would be awesome. I'd like out of the box ideas. Not just pasta, etc...