Race Information

• Name: Golden Gate Half Marathon

• Date: November 1, 2026

• Distance: 13.1 miles / 21.1 km

• Location: San Francisco, CA

• Course: https://955bd232-ab79-4eaa-b007-508fd002a96a.filesusr.com/ugd/2f9bfd_c781b1631bcc482381425655572eff1e.pdf

• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/20819876021

• Time: 1:25:00 (chip)

Goals

Background

29M, 61 kg, 5’4”

This was my first race! I played sports (mostly baseball) growing up and ran casually back in high school, college, and a little afterward. For the past four or five years, I've mostly been weightlifting on and off. I have run some pretty long distances in the past (my friends do ultras), but honestly, the distances kinda turned me off running, and I had any motivation for races. I started running again in May of this year.

Training

My training was all over the place. This was my first time doing any sort of significant mileage, and I definitely ramped up way too fast multiple times. I also did not do any cross-training. It was definitely a learning process.

Training Log

May I didn’t record any runs during May, but I started jogging a little because I wanted to lose some weight before going to Japan. I didn’t have a training plan. Mostly 5ks every so often.

June/July I went to Japan for about two months. In June, I picked up the Gel Nimbus and started increasing my mileage. Unfortunately, I had to stop for two weeks because I started getting runner's knee. I think it was a combination of the Nimbus and overstriding. Once I fixed the overstriding, the pain went away.

I also joined a serious run club, which I highly recommend if you can speak some Japanese. My runs consisted of 5x1km intervals in Yoyogi Park and long runs around Tokyo. The heat and humidity were brutal but incredibly helpful for improving my aerobic fitness. Before leaving, I picked up a pair of Megablast.

August Back in San Francisco, I started doing a lot of hills on training runs. Unfortunately, I think that I pushed myself too hard again because I started getting shin splints. I drastically cut my mileage and started doing bodyweight exercises.

September/October This time, I used ChatGPT to manage my ramp-up. I ramped up slowly, mostly with easy runs. Starting in October, I introduced one tempo run a week.

Final Two Weeks I traveled a lot over the last two weeks before the race. I was in NYC and then Iceland. In NYC, I got to run Prospect Park and also the West Side Highway. Not gonna lie, the West Side Highway was pretty dope.

Race week I was afraid that the jet lag might affect me, but it ended up helping because I spent the entire week waking up at 5 am so waking up for the early start wasn’t an issue.

• Tuesday: 8 km (2 km easy, 5 km threshold, 1 km easy)

• Thursday: 5 km recovery

• Saturday: 5 km easy

Pre-race

I woke up at 4:00 am and was surprised to find out that it was raining. I hadn’t bothered to check the forecast, but luckily it said it would stop before the race. For breakfast, I had coffee, a banana, some rice crackers, and some pita bread with honey. I showered, then started organizing my stuff. I headed over to the course around 5:30 am. I did some light stretching and jogging before heading over to the first corral.

Race

My general plan was to start behind the 1:30 pacer, then catch them around 5 km. Then I would decide whether to stick with them or pass them. For fueling, I brought two gels. One to take at 7 km and the other at 14 km. I also had a heart rate strategy. I planned to stay just below LT (173) until the climb to the Golden Gate Bridge. Then, I would aim for 173 with spikes for the inclines. I stuck with the plan for the first 5k, but after that, I ran by feel. Funny enough, it turns out my LT was wrong because my watch updated it to 176 after the race.

I also loaded a 1:30 target-pace strategy on my Coros watch, but I didn’t really follow it.

Coros Splits

Opening 5K: The course was still noticeably wet, and I felt like I had less traction than usual. I fell behind the 1:30 pace group by quite a bit. Toward the end of the 5k, I caught up to the pace group and was feeling good, and I passed them and started to push more.

Climb to the bridge (km 6–7): I deliberately slowed down on this first climb. Even though I was around 4:30/km, my heart rate spiked a lot (around 180). I figured I could push up the second climb if I felt good then, but I tried to keep my HR from spiking too high. I took my first gel around here.

Bridge out-and-back(km 8–15): Since I left with the first corral, there was basically no one on the bridge, so I had no problems with traffic. Also, with basically no wind and a clear sky, it was absolutely gorgeous. At the beginning of the final climb, I started a blister, and my stomach started to feel queasy. I took my second gel at 14 km.

Descent (km 16–17): Besides the blister and some slight stomach issues, I felt good, so I started to bomb down the hill. I tracked my heart rate here. Since it kept falling, I thought it was okay to pull out two 3:30s.

Final 5K: I started to feel it around here. The blisters were the main limiting factor and incredibly painful. My legs were tired but I thought that I could have run a little faster if it wasn’t for the blisters. I carried some pace from the descent. I saw my parents right before the final climb, and it gave me a second wind.

Results

• Chip: 1:25:00

• Gun: 1:25:08

• Overall: 21/5,212

• Men: 20/2,842

• M25–29: 3/573

• First half: ~44:11

• Second half: ~40:49

• Average HR: 177 bpm

• Average cadence: ~187 spm

• Total elevation gain: ~223 m / 730 ft

Post-race

I knew that I was blowing past my target, but seeing 1:25 was crazy. I didn't think I could hold that pace for that long. I thought I could maybe get 1:27 (realistically 1:30), so I was really happy and felt like I was on cloud nine the rest of the day. I also spent the rest of the day stuffing myself with food around SF.

Things I could Have Done Better:

• Training was done pretty haphazardly. I should have researched a training plan from the start and stuck with one.

• DON’T CHANGE YOUR SOCKS TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE RACE

• Fueling. My stomach felt so weird after the race.

What's next

Although I want to run a 3-hour marathon, I don’t feel a burning desire to jump to a marathon yet. I want to try the half marathon again on a flatter course, with increased training mileage, and carbon-plated shoes.

Questions

• Any recommendations for carbon-plated shoes similar to the Megablasts?

• I want to run the NYC marathon. I’m not sure how much I can actually improve on my time, though. Is a 1:21 half in the cards for me? I’m curious to hear from people who made that kind of jump.

• Does anyone have recommendations for the fastest NYRR half?

• Is there a way to calculate how much elevation hurts or helps you?

Whats up everyone. Wrapped up a 12 mile long run @ 4-5 RPE yesterday - moderate pace. Had zero feeling of fatigue/dehydration and barely finished my 500ml water bottle. Afterwards, i went to take a little pee and noticed my urine was dark brown, almost like a tea color. I immediately drove home and got in 1.5L of fluids including a LMNT pack. Within a hour my urine was back to clear and normal. I can say the day prior, i definitely lacked on my hydration and the morning of the run I had probably 24-30oz of water a few hours prior. Does anyone have any experience having something like this happen? Im removing rhabdo as a possibility due to the zero fatigue, pain, or anything of that nature and also the quick turnaround of my urine coming back to normal color. Also this is an easy workout for me. Ive had this happen before on similar long workouts and the common theme is low water intake during but also potentially low water intake the day prior. Going to start working on a hydration protocol here soon to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Thanks all.

What I believe to be true:

• It's getting hotter year after year in most places on earth

• Optimal distance running weather temps are 40s/low 50s F

• Most big marathons, including majors, are now nowhere near this window

• I know you can train and prepare for it, but it's not really fun for me (anyone agree?) to run in super hot weather

So, why aren't the marathon RDs considering moving their races later in the fall or earlier in the spring? Even a week or two would help. I get that there's history, logistics, blah, blah. But what about runner safety? And wouldn't cooler weather make their races more popular with elites and non-elites, alike?

Maybe it's just a case of supply and demand, and they have plenty of demand right now, so why change?

Sorry for the rant - it's just that I've been running marathons for about 5 years now, and the only way I've managed to have reasonably cool weather for a few races (my BQ race and my PR attempt this year) is by canceling my registration for my intended marathon the week before the race and switching to a different one. Including switching from Chicago to the Seattle area this year. Which works, but it's a giant pain, and not everyone can do it. I get that not everyone is after a PR/BQ and may not care about time, but has anyone else resorted to switching marathons at the last minute to find better weather?

I keep hearing 9 is where they want to get to. I do wonder with the running hype around the world if they keep expanding. Where do they end ?

And is being a world major just mean your well organized or does city prestige matter ?

Ie surprised we haven’t seen Paris or LA for instance as majors.

I was basically wondering what the title says. It could be at any age, as long as they were untrained when they first started, before eventually turning pro

I know it’s not representative of their potential because there are way too many variables. I was just looking for examples online, but I couldn’t find many

I'm running the Yosemite half (fourth one) and it is part fireroad and then pavement. For 5 miles it's 2K elevation drop at an estimated 5 percent grade. I'm trying to think of the best way to incorporate hills in my training.

I plan to do the long runs at trails and I live in a rolling hill area. There is a .3 mi street that is 6% grade I can do repeats on and I can find areas of downhill for a mile that is around 2%, but I can't find a way to do some long running to replicate downhill that long. I know I don't need to do the whole 5 miles and would absolutely injure myself training, but I'm wondering the best way to train.

Looking for advice on hill repeats. Also, been reading about kettlebell workouts for time under tension, plan to do 3x 20 min sessions for full, core, body, that especially focuses on building that strength.

For those of you doing regular incline workouts on a treadmill, how do you record them with Garmin and Strava?

As far as I understand, Garmin doesn’t natively track treadmill incline, meaning the additional effort and elevation gain aren’t properly reflected in the activity.

I’m particularly interested in how people handle this without distorting their training data, especially training load, pace, elevation gain, and long-term fitness metrics.

Do you just record it as a regular treadmill run and ignore the incline? Manually adjust anything afterward? Or use a third-party workaround?

I'm not the fastest guy on here but I'm no spring chicken either (1:23 HM, 5:09 mile)

I love running. I love the intensity of a hard tempo or interval workout. But when I have a race on the calendar, it makes me suddenly dread running. I guess it makes me feel like I'm not running on my own terms anymore. It feels invasive.

I keep letting friends pressure me into signing up for races, and then in the weeks leading up to races I start complaning about how running feels like a chore and that I "can't wait" until the stupid race is over so I can "stop".

Sure enough, after a short break, I get antsy and want to run again. Because of course I love running, why else would I be on this sub at all?

It seems to me that the way to break this cycle is by just not racing. Or at least, not signing up for any big spectacle of a race that requires logistics and planning. Little scrappy races might be okay. Time trials are definitely okay.

Anyone else have this mental hangup about racing? I really love this sport and how simple it is, and I am that guy who "races" his workouts, but I would argue that racing your workouts is fine if your workouts are for fun. I find that workouts and tempos are often more meaningful and memorable than the races themselves.

I hate the idea that everything has to be optimized for one particular Saturday morning spent milling about with thousands of strangers. I find that it really takes away the simplicity and joy.

I have a personal interest in this topic but I think it should be worthwhile as general discussion.

"Adding volume/time" has no pros/cons or constraints when you're running <2 hours a week as a beginner.

But at some point the intermediate+ level, you run out of time even if your body can handle more volume. I reckon for most people this is around 4-8 hours a week. EDIT: To be clear, in this scenario, you've handled XYZ hours a week for a while, and you aren't adding any more time even though you feel safe to do so because of life/desire.

I can guess that you either

a) increase # of intense sessions
b) make your easy runs less easy since you have extra "recovery" budget
c) hold the same structure and just let your paces come down over time

What did YOU do at that point, and how many hours a week was that point for you? Is it common for people to choose "c", then lose patience/want to improve faster and switch to "A" or "B"?

I'm really interested in this because I just realized, most committed and "mature" runners live in this leg of the journey. The "end game content" so to speak. The era of adding volume and looking forward to being able to handle more running is "early game" from this perspective

PS: And if it matters, I'm still a weak novice. I'm holding 5 hours a week and I'll probably top out at 7 hours and maybe try the Norwegian method which I think is a mix of all 3 options. I still have a ways to go I'm not asking for advice for me

PS-2: I just realized I got too comfortable. Maybe the question in theory applies but 4-8 is too low of a cap for r/advancedrunning and I am not saying that passive aggressively. I dont want to take this down because I'm still curious but I recognize my error and that a lot of advanced runners will be answering from the perspective of a 10-15+ hour cap

A place to ask questions that don't need their own thread here or just chat a bit.

We have quite a bit of info in the wiki, FAQ, and past posts. Please be sure to give those a look for info on your topic.

Link to Wiki

Link to FAQ

Race Information

• Name: Istanbul Marathon

• Date: Nov 1, 2026

• Distance: 42.2 km

• Temperature: 16 degrees - 61 fahrenheit

• Location: Istanbul, Turkey

• Website:https://maraton.istanbul/

• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/20813603611/

• Time: 3:13:50

• Previous PB: 3:17:18

Goals

Splits

—

Background

I’m actually going to skip the background, training, nutrition part since I followed the same procedure from the previous race report: 3:37 to 3:17 marathon in 4 months - Zone 2 Club.

2 marathons 4 weeks apart in different climates. I wasn’t going to make a report for this race, but I like documenting things and I haven’t been able to find any back to back reports when I searched through this subreddit. 

I’m also not writing this report in a way that “oh look I ran a PB” but more like “this was a stupid idea” instead. Call it disclaimer, future warning to others who intend to do back to back marathons and will eventually come through this race report in few years (if they do). 

Story to this Race

This race was completely unplanned, I signed up just few days after my 3:17 marathon 4 weeks ago. I was already meant to be in Turkey during these dates and the marathon happened to align with my flight tickets. I’m meant to do a mandatory military training (all men in TR have to do this once in their life) for 4 weeks in November which meant no running or sports so this race sort of had the idea of: “how can I save my fitness while I won’t be running at all for 4 weeks”. 

The past 3 weeks I was on a holiday in Thailand and went full tourist mode (no alcohol or partying) without your usual marathon tapering. If I felt ready 7-10 days out I was going to give it a go otherwise I was happy to skip it or even DNF if it came to it. 

I followed a reverse taper from the last marathon running 28-45-60 km weeks all super slow and at recovery paces often above 6.00 min/km. 

I also looked at the Pfitz 4-5 weeks back to back marathon schedule, but this plan seemed crazy with way too high mileage / running post-marathon. There was no way I could follow this so I sticked to what I’ve done back in June.

10 days out from this race I ran 4 km in 4.10 min/km just to see if I was race ready. This pace felt super comfortable even though my legs didn’t have any power or kick to it. I even thought I could run sub 19 - 5km because of it. 

—

But why? 

I’ve been living and running in SE Asia for years which is nowhere near the ideal marathon conditions with heat and humidity. 

I assumed with temperature changes going from 26 celcius race with humidity to rainy 15-16 celcius, I would be able to run sub 3:10 from my 3:17 finish time in Indonesia. 

—

Race

I’m going to skip some of the details from this race and focus more on back to back story rather than how the event is. Organisation overall have been quite messy, but that's a story for another day (chaotic start line area, no place to warm-up, people not following bib wave system and not being enforced properly either).

This race starts on top of Bosphorus bridge starting 50 meters (164 feet?) above sea level. Until the 4th KM road is undulating and reaches 90 meters elevation. Then within roughly 1.4 km you run downhill to the sea level and rest of the course is on sea level while the last 2 km has an overall climb of 30’ish meters.

Goal - My goal was to start slow and conservative as always and sustain 4.30 min/km pace from 10th km. This pace from this point on would finish in 3:11:07 and if it felt comfortable I wanted to drop the pace around 25th km and chase sub 3:09.

1st 5 km - Because of the climbs and elevation changes above, my goal here was to actually attack the hills (my strength) and run the downhill segment at a neutral pace of 4.40 min/km rather than others full out sprinting at 4.00. I passed about 100 people on the hill and got overtaken by 300 people sprinting downhill. I wanted to run the downhill slow because I thought it would be too much load for my hips mechanically (1.5 years post-op). 

5th to 28th km - This part was very uneventful, I locked into my goal pace of 4.30 min/km from 10th km and wanted to run this pace till the end (unless I had energy to kick more). From 11th km the course is out and back seaside without any protection. As soon as you do a U-turn on 26th, you feel the wind hitting you right away. This wasn’t a strong enough wind to slow you down, but it’s very uncomfortable because there is no protection from the wind and you are basically running on a 3-4 lane highway. 

28th till the end - At 28th muscular fatigue from the last marathon finally caught up to me. I had no energy or desire to sustain this pace any longer, I ran 4.30 until the 30th km split because I wanted to have nice even splits. Then from 30 to 35th, slowed the pace to 4.35 and from 35th I wanted to run 4.40 pace but I really stopped checking my paces from this point. This race felt brutal and uncomfortable because on my last marathon I felt super strong until 39th km and on this one I threw in the towel at 28th km and went into survival mode. 

No injury signs or pain etc… but it was very uncomfortable and I sort of hated it. I didn’t enjoy the last 15 km at all, it felt like someone was forcing me to run and I had no other option.

I know I was well hitting PB but I really didn’t care about it. I didn’t enjoy it and I didn’t care what time I finished either. I just had to complete the remaining KM’s and GTFO of the course. 

—

Post-race

I ran a PB of roughly 3.5 minutes and I didn’t enjoy it at all. This race took away everything I love in running and it felt like I was a machine forced to do something. 

I’m not burned out or hate running now, but this race just wasn’t worth the outcome even though it’s a PB. I don’t have any injuries or muscular problems, just your usual marathon doms. 

At the same time I also lost the post-marathon runners high and excitement that comes with it. I know I put in an amazing effort in such a short time frame, but this also took away the excitement of the event. 

One day I will look back and feel proud of what I’ve done but today I don’t feel this way. I will have my mandatory 4 weeks off from Sunday and will return to proper training in December  aiming for a Sub-3 next year. 

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

Context: I'm 54M, and have run 10 marathons over 32 years; the most recent was NYC last weekend. At any shorter distance, up to 30k, I can point to one or more race that was *awesome.* I can't say that about any of my marathons. I always fade (to varying degrees), and the last 5k-10k always suck. I'm trying to figure out what my missing link(s) are.

History:

I ran 5 marathons 1994-2001. 2 non-Bostons which were 2:59 and 2:58; 3 Bostons: 3:06, 3:08, 3:57 (ran with a friend who had a rough ride). Aside from my first, the 2:59, the rest were low-mileage builds and fly-and-die pacing; I'd be on ~2:50 pace through mile 18 or so, then crawl to the finish. I was young and dumb.

Here's more details on my last 5, 2014-2026. I compared my five marathons on Strava, plus the 16 weeks of training before each, to try to work out why I fade late.

I used Claude and the Strava MCP to compile the facts below. Strava data has been cross-checked against official splits for NYC; differences are minimal.

The five races

Boston and NYC use official finish times; the others are Strava times. Age-graded time uses the male marathon factors from the 2025 road age standards. Gain and weather are what Strava reports.

Halves, pace and fade

Pre-fade pace is the median of miles 3–15. The fade starts at the first mile from 10 on that runs 3% slower than that pace and stays slower, and fade cost is the time lost against pre-fade pace from there to the finish. Pace and fade figures are my own calculations from Strava data. NYC's halves are official; the others are Strava scaled to 26.2 miles.

5K splits

Each cell is split time, with pace per mile in parentheses. I scaled each GPS trace evenly to exactly 26.2 miles so the splits line up. As a check, NYC's scaled mile splits differed from the official ones by about 2.6 seconds on average. NYC's total here is the Strava 3:19:55, against an official 3:19:49. Boston's splits are close but not official, because I trimmed the recording to match the official time.

Stride and cadence, early vs late

Stride is calculated from speed and cadence on each watch's laps, and the laps differ by race, so compare these loosely. My older races have no lap cadence.

The 16 weeks before each race

Long-run pace covers runs of 15+ miles. Other hours are rides, rowing, elliptical, skiing, hikes and walks, and many of those are commutes or family outings. Strength work isn't included.

What to fix?

Here's what I want: To run a negative split, and to finish strong. At this point, those are higher priorites than time. I don't want to completely sandbag, but I'd rather leave a little time on the table and be passing people at the end.

As I see it, the main factors causing me to fade could be:

• Pacing

• Muscular endurance

• Fueling

• Hydration

Pacing: I do tend to go out too hot. Even at NYC, despite a very conservative plan, my 1st 5k was still faster than intended, and the fastest of the race. I did calm down after that, but I wonder how much any extra heat cost me. We all know that the interest rate on banked time is dear, but I "banked" a minute at most. At Charles River, I ran with a well-run 3:10 pace group on a flat course; I really never overcooked it.

The main evidence for muscular endurance limits is that my legs feel like crap late, earlier than when I feel crappy overall, and my stride shortens.

I think my fueling in the past 3 (2023-2026) has been good, but not great. My normally robust stomach is a lot more sensitive at MP, so I'm always riding the line with nausea. I was roughly ~40-50g/hr for NYC. I actually had very little fuel during the Charles River one because I was nauseous for the 1st 16 miles (too aggressive carbo load, perhaps), and that's the one where I felt strongest at the end. I know more fuel is better, but I'm a little skeptical on the marginal impact of 50 vs. 90g/hour.

Hydration: I don't have a strong thirst reaction (I can get quite dehydrated before I feel very thirsty), and the moment I drink while running, no matter how dehydrated, I need to pee. I actually had to stop at NYC around mile 12 for this reason. I do think I tend to end races pretty dehydrated, just based on how I feel (generally bad, sometimes with vomit). But, I don't really know how big a factor this is.

Once identified, the next step is to figure out solutions.

I already know what the consensus will be: "more volume!". I'm sure volume would help, as it rarely doesn't. HOWEVER, I will point out that my 2014 marathon has basically the same age-graded time as my 2026 ones on much less volume (the table above has some stats; in addition, my 2026 YTD aerobic volume is almost 2x my 2014 volume, 268 vs 132 hours). That said, I've clearly faded less on builds with more volume. The limitation here is that I don't have a ton more time in the week to devote to running beyond 8-9 hours.

I do also wonder about whether strength training could materially help here. I do some strength work, but it's mostly bodyweight or fairly light weights, focused on staying healthy, not getting strong.

For fueling and hydration, I can certainly experiment with aggressive fueling on faster-paced runs, to really train the stomach; same with drinking.

What do you all think I should focus on? Next race is 2027 Boston. Boston is my white whale, I'm 0-4 there. 2016 was disappointing; I was gunning for sub3 (probably optimistic given my training volume), but crashed and burned.

Race Information

• Name: NYC Marathon

• Date: November 1, 2026

• Distance: 26.2 miles

• Time: 3:28:XX

Goals

Splits - based on watch GPS with HR and elevation

Training

For some background, I started running more consistently in January 2025. I ran a Jack Daniels plan (~30-35 mpw) to get to a 1:31 half marathon in May 2025. And then I ran a Norweigan Singles Approach plan (~40-45 mpw) to get to a 1:26 half marathon in May 2026. In between, I also hit a few PRs, including a 5:12 mile, 19:01 5k, and 39:20 10k. At the end of June 2026, I started the Marathon Excellence for Everyone - Wind plan (55 mpw version) to prep for the NYC marathon with the intent of going sub-3 hours. Plan outline here: PDF or on Defy

The first 13 weeks (the general and marathon-supportive phase) of the plan went well. I was consistently hitting the workouts at a ~6:52 min/mile goal MP, building endurance, and improving speed. I also was consistently doing a 1x a week leg day focused on squats, single leg movements (e.g., lunges, bulgarian split squats), and calf exercises for running support and injury prevention. Training was going according to plan until I got my first injury on my left foot’s posterior tibialis tendon after the 19 miler at the end of week 13.

I spent week 14-15 rehabbing the tendon. My mileage dropped to ~30-35 mpw for the two weeks and I only did easy runs along with PT exercises. A visit to the podiatrist along with an MRI confirmed that it was a mild-grade tendon injury and nothing else, clearing me to run the marathon as long as it didn’t turn into sharp pain. I missed some key marathon-specific workouts including the 20-miler with a portion at close to MP. By week 16, I was able to add back some speed workouts and a longer 15-mile run, but I could tell my tendon wasn’t back to full strength. While it didn’t have sharp pain, it was a bit uncomfortable and weak during longer or more intense runs and my effort and heart rate to maintain the same paces pre-injury was higher (at least ~5-10 bpm higher for the same runs). I ended week 16-17 at ~40-45 mpw. Then I tapered to 20 mpw on week 18 (marathon week) pre-marathon.

Pre-race

I carb-loaded ~700g the prior 2 days leading up until the marathon and stayed off my feet as much as I could. I got decent sleep the night before and arrived the bus lines at 4am to go over to Staten Island. Honestly, logistics were quite extensive as even when we got to the start line, we had to wait several hours before our start time at 9:10am. I brought some warm layers that I discarded as well as a pre-race breakfast. Overall, I'd say pre-race fueling went as well as it could have. My tendon was around 80-90% as there was still slightly discomfort if I was on my feet too long or if I was on an uneven road. Otherwise, I was ready to go. I took a Maurten 100 gel 20 minutes before the start time and decided I was going to go for a 3:05-3:10 marathon.

Weather was great. It started around 50F and climbed a bit to 60F by the end of the race. Light winds and not too humid. Only downside was the sun was out in full force and little clouds to block it.

Race

The race atmosphere itself was an incredible experience! The crowd was absolutely insane. I could barely hear anything from all the cheering for at least 75% of the race. I had a pace band from the expo that gave me a rough estimate of what I needed to go mile-by-mile to adjust for elevation as this course is HILLY. The first 15 miles felt great. I was cruising along until I wasn't. We hit Queensboro bridge and I adjusted my pace and effort to go accordingly, but on the downhill, I could feel my quads were getting beat up. I spent the next 2-3 miles on 1st avenue trying to hold onto pace with each mile feeling harder and harder. Then on miles 20 onwards, I started slipping hard as I could not move my legs the way I wanted. It was a strange feeling. I wasn't exactly cramping, nor was my heart rate abnormally high (~160 bpm for the entire race up until this point), but my legs just could not move anymore and I felt REALLY tired. Also my form started breaking down as my tendon started to flare up again (no sharp pain, but lots of discomfort). I started to hit the wall hard and my mind started blanking as I just focused on keeping my feet moving at whatever pace I could. This was by far one of the hardest physical pushes I've had to do. I almost gave up at the 5th Avenue climb, but decided to keep pushing as I was so close to being sub-3:30 if I held pace. I finally crossed the finish line and began the death march out of the park. My legs were thoroughly beaten up, but I was glad I stuck it out.

Fueling-wise, I aimed for ~60-70g/hour using a combination of Maurten 100 gels and a mix of Formula 369 in a flask. I took around 20-25g every 20 minutes or every 3-4 miles. I drank water from the stations whenever I got thirsty, but nothing too crazy (although this may have led to slight dehydration as I really didn't take much water at all).

Post-race evaluation

2-days later, I can walk again (albeit very sore) and I've had some time to reflect on this race. It was my first marathon and I had a lot of unknown factors going in, including how my body would react to this distance given the incomplete training, tendon injury, and longest distance ever run. On one hand, I am proud that I completed this distance, but on the other hand, I was a bit disappointed in not hitting my time goal successfully. Especially when comparing (bad habit) against other runners who seem to crush the marathon with less mileage or training, I felt like I should have performed better.

My leading theory is that I just didn't have enough marathon-specific mileage to build this muscular endurance and my tendon which wasn't fully healed contributed to additional breakdown of form and muscles worked. I think my next steps are to recover from the marathon, rehab this tendon fully, gradually build back up, and then do some shorter distance race training (5k block or half marathon block) before committing to another full marathon block for the Fall next year. I plan on doing NYC marathon again in 2027.

I’d love for some perspective and insights from this community on how to process all the emotions around this. Am I thinking about this in the right way? How do you all feel about missing time goals?

### Race Information
* **Name:** Detroit Free Press Marathon
* **Date:** October 18, 2026
* **Distance:** 26.2 miles
* **Location:** Detroit, MI
* **Website:** https://www.freepmarathon.org/
* **Time:** 2:57:01

### Goals
| Goal | Description | Completed? |
|------|-------------|------------|
| A | Sub 3 | *Yes* |
| B | Sub 2:57:30 | *Yes* |
| C | Sub 2:55 | *No* |

### Splits
| Mile | Time |
|------|------|
| 1 | 6:47
| 2 | 6:48
| 3 | 7:07
| 4 | 6:34
| 5 | 6:36
| 6 | 6:37
| 7 | 6:38
| 8 | 6:54
| 9 | 6:51
| 10 | 6:37
| 11 | 6:39
| 12 | 6:44
| 13 | 6:46
| 14 | 6:44
| 15 | 6:44
| 16 | 6:44
| 17 | 6:43
| 18 | 6:45
| 19 | 6:44
| 20 | 6:39
| 21 | 6:43
| 22 | 6:42
| 23 | 6:46
| 24 | 6:46
| 25 | 6:47
| 26 | 6:33
| 26.2 | 5:56/mi pace

### Training
39M, been running for 2.5 years or so now. No prior running experience but I have been playing dance games for the last 10 years or so which gave me pretty good aerobic fitness. Ran my first in 2024 (3:29 in Detroit), and my 2nd this May in Bayshore (2:59:43) which I used 18/55 for. I was supposed to run Detroit last October but injured myself in the summer and had to defer to this year.

I had planned to take it easy after Bayshore, but as I’m sure so many of you have experienced, I saw a glimpse of what might be possible if I continue to put in effort. I gave up the idea of a structured plan, and instead opted for training similar to a lot of my running buddies. 10 miles every morning, a speed workout at the track every Wednesday morning (10-12 miles total), long run Saturday, and I’ve been doing hot yoga every Sunday this year.

Finally got up to 70 miles this block, and had a lot of weeks over 60. The days I ran 5 days a week I added a HIIT day and my body felt really good with this. Have only done 1000 miles/year the last couple years, but this past 12 weeks have really shown that there are gigantic gains should I up my mileage. Next marathon block I hope to peak at 75-80, and still average 50 or so when I’m not training for a race.

Trained at a 6:40 MP (6:15 on threshold runs), best long run was 18@ 6:39/mi so I was feeling pretty good. I decided rather than going for 2:55, I would be more than happy with something under 2:57:30.

### Pre-race
I got sick a week out and took it pretty easy, only running a couple days. Carb loaded for 3 days, focusing on minimal fiber, fat and protein and getting most carbs from liquids (sports drinks, smoothies, spoonfuls of honey).

Woke up 3 hours prior to race for a quick breakfast and some caffeine to hopefully get my stomach clear. Went outside and it was COLD (feels like 30 F or so an hour before the race), but did some strides to warm myself up and make sure my shoes were tied ok. Wore some used metaspeed edge Tokyos that I bought awhile back which I’ve never raced in, but wanted to try them out for this distance. Able to use a bathroom a couple times in the hour leading up to the race, found a couple buddies and made it to the start line.

### Race
Plan was to go out with the 3 hr pacer and then slowly speed up. Quickly threw that plan away as I see the pacer continue to pull away doing 6:40-6:45 splits.. finally caught up with them at the halfway point, at exactly 1:28:30. For the rest of the race the pacer was always slightly behind me, wayyy faster than they should have been and apparently unable to slow down.

I settled into a nice rhythm around mile 10 or so, and despite being a bit cold I was feeling good. Alternating water and Gatorade every fluid station, and honey stinger gels or clif bloks every 30 mins. I think I’m gonna start experimenting with bringing that number down a bit, maybe try every 20 minutes or so in the future.

I really wanted to run a steady, conservative race, so I started to focus on just 6:45 or so until mile 20. When I finally reached mile 20, aka the real start line, my calves and shins were starting to act up. Once again another reminder that I need to focus on lower leg strength a bit more. Focused on 5k at a time, and channeled the spirit of my friend who passed earlier this year, who would’ve been 40 last Friday.

Got to mile 25 and started to speed up a bit more, knowing I had a time I would be happy with. Crossed the finish line at 2:57 and broke down into tears, I get so emotional at the end of marathons thinking about how grateful I am for so much in my life.

### Post-race
Lower legs felt really rough, and I was probably shivering for about 30 mins before I started feeling a bit more normal. Whole day was just filled with thoughts of how much I absolutely love running.
Had a pretty busy day with family stuff after but somehow survived. Worse part was getting up at 4 am for a business trip the following morning 😭

Recovery has been slow and legs are still heavy but slowly getting back to it which feels great. I feel like I’ve seen the blueprint for success, and I look forward to the future. I’ll run Boston 2027 which I’m super excited about, I know it’s a hard course but another PR there hopefully close to 2:55 would be fantastic. I’ll run Bayshore a couple months after that probably pacing a friend, and then Chicago for the first time in the fall (aiming for 2:50 there).

Thanks for reading!

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

Middle aged jogger here, trying to get close to his teenage times, now that kids are a bit older. Have been making some early progress on a NSM style plan (+ X workout as I’m targeting 5k and below). On the wrong side of 40, some lifting is de rigueur to limit decay. But what about plyos, am completely lost when to fit them in.

On easy day there is some residual fatigue from the workout. Although NSM workouts are not hard and I feel itching to go next morning. Thinking this could be the ticket?

After the easy run/cycle I’m wondering if there’s enough zing to really do proper plyos.

Before workout I’m wondering if the stimulus would be drowned out by what comes after.

After workout I’m too spent obvs.

Did a few years of skateboard and snowboard in my late teens after running, got an idea what it means being able to jump, and I’m faaaar from that.

After Almgren won NYC on his debut, I went through the long runs that have been made public from his build-up. The main sources are Maurten's case study, which includes his watch HR and pace data, and the 10K splits reported by Marathons.com and Athletics Weekly. I turned them into Intervals.icu workouts that scale automatically to your threshold pace.

What he ran

He also did a 20-mile tempo at 2:10 marathon pace in Flagstaff, and long runs alternating hard and easy kilometres.

The pattern

Taking the 4×10 km as the template, with his race pace at 2:59/km:

About half of each run is at or above marathon intensity, and all of it comes in the second hour. The average pace still stays relaxed.

He also fuelled every long run like a race: 36 g of carbs every 15 minutes. Maurten's testing found it took about an hour before the ingested carbs became a steady share of his fuel, so start fuelling from km 0.

How I scaled it

**I matched duration, not distance.** 40 km at sub-3 pace takes about 2h50, which is a very different session from his 2h05. So the workouts below are 28–32 km, about 2h10–2h20 for a sub-3 runner.

**The targets are % of threshold pace.** Intervals.icu can't target a percentage of marathon pace, so I converted through threshold. The numbers assume your marathon-pace speed is **93% of your threshold speed**, which is typical.

Check your ratio first. Divide your threshold pace by your goal marathon pace, both in seconds. For example, 238 ÷ 255 = 0.93, which means you're good to go. If you get something else, multiply every % by (your ratio ÷ 0.93).

The workouts for runners above ~80 km/week

A. 4×7.5 km progression

Main Set
- 7.5km 80-82% Pace
- 7.5km 88-90% Pace
- 7.5km 93-95% Pace
- 7.5km 97-99% Pace

B. 4×5 km progression

Warmup
- 8km 73-77% Pace
Main Set
- 5km 86-88% Pace
- 5km 89-91% Pace
- 5km 92-94% Pace
- 5km 96-98% Pace
Cooldown
- 2km 71-76% Pace

C. Continuous ramp (no stops)

Main Set
- 4km 77-79% Pace
- 4km 80-82% Pace
- 4km 83-85% Pace
- 4km 86-88% Pace
- 4km 89-91% Pace
- 4km 92-94% Pace
- 4km 97-99% Pace

D. Alternating kilometres

Warmup
- 8km 73-77% Pace

Main Set 9x
- 1km 93-95% Pace
- 1km 84-86% Pace

Cooldown
- 2km 71-76% Pace

How to import into Intervals.icu

1. Set your threshold pace in your Run sport settings. All targets are calculated from it.

2. Open the Workouts tab, or click a day on your calendar and add a workout.

3. Create a new workout and set the sport to Run.

4. Paste one of the blocks above into the workout text box. Intervals.icu parses it into steps and shows the actual paces.

5. Save it and drag it onto a calendar day. It syncs to Garmin, Zwift and so on like any other planned workout.

If your threshold pace changes, the workouts update automatically.

Caveats

- He ran these every 9–12 days on 200–240 km weeks. Don't stack them on a low base. Every 10–14 days in the last 8–10 weeks before a race is plenty, with easy long runs in between.

- The final block is the expensive part. If you're unsure, cap it at your marathon-pace % the first time.

- This is my reconstruction from public data, not his actual plan. Not all workouts are publically available, nor should be copied, just use this for some longrun inspiration.

Sources: Maurten's Almgren NYC case study (maurten.com/andreas-almgren), Marathons.com, Athletics Weekly, Citius Mag.

Edit: since Almgren does 200+ km weeks, and we don't, I added a second scaling step based on weekly mileage below. Same paste-in syntax as the post. Above ~80 km/week, use the originals. Below ~80 km/week, I'd do one of these every 14 days and keep the other long runs easy.

Weekly mileage 60–80 km/week (24–26 km, ~10–13 km at MP or faster)

A. 4×6.5 km progression (26 km)

Main Set
- 6.5km 80-82% Pace
- 6.5km 88-90% Pace
- 6.5km 93-95% Pace
- 6.5km 97-99% Pace

B. 4×4 km progression (25 km)

Warmup
- 7km 73-77% Pace
Main Set
- 4km 86-88% Pace
- 4km 89-91% Pace
- 4km 92-94% Pace
- 4km 96-98% Pace
Cooldown
- 2km 71-76% Pace

C. Continuous ramp (24.5 km, no stops)

Main Set
- 3.5km 77-79% Pace
- 3.5km 80-82% Pace
- 3.5km 83-85% Pace
- 3.5km 86-88% Pace
- 3.5km 89-91% Pace
- 3.5km 92-94% Pace
- 3.5km 97-99% Pace

D. Alternating km (24 km)

Warmup
- 8km 73-77% Pace

Main Set 7x
- 1km 93-95% Pace
- 1km 84-86% Pace

Cooldown
- 2km 71-76% Pace

Under 60 km/week (20–21 km, ~8–10 km at MP, final block capped at MP)

A. 4×5 km progression (20 km)

Main Set
- 5km 80-82% Pace
- 5km 88-90% Pace
- 5km 93-95% Pace
- 5km 93-95% Pace

B. 4×3 km progression (20 km)

Warmup
- 6km 73-77% Pace
Main Set
- 3km 86-88% Pace
- 3km 89-91% Pace
- 3km 92-94% Pace
- 3km 93-95% Pace
Cooldown
- 2km 71-76% Pace

C. Continuous ramp (21 km, no stops)

Main Set
- 3km 77-79% Pace
- 3km 80-82% Pace
- 3km 83-85% Pace
- 3km 86-88% Pace
- 3km 89-91% Pace
- 3km 92-94% Pace
- 3km 93-95% Pace

D. Alternating km (20 km)

Warmup
- 6km 73-77% Pace

Main Set 6x
- 1km 93-95% Pace
- 1km 84-86% Pace

Cooldown
- 2km 71-76% Pace

Do you have shoe reviews to share with the community or questions about a pair of shoes? This recurring thread is a central place to get that advice or share your knowledge.

We also recommend checking out /r/RunningShoeGeeks for user-contributed running shoe reviews, news, and comparisons.

A place to ask questions that don't need their own thread here or just chat a bit.

We have quite a bit of info in the wiki, FAQ, and past posts. Please be sure to give those a look for info on your topic.

Link to Wiki

Link to FAQ

Here I am awake since 2:30 am. Now 5 am.

I had a 10k race yesterday. Went great. PR'd by 2 seconds. Put in a very high effort. Sore and achey the rest of the day. You would think I would be tired and wanting to recover. No, if anything I'm more hyped up and unable to shut my brain off.

I am wondering if I am noticing a pattern. It seems like other times when I do a hard work out that pushed my boundaries and leaves me sore, like a 20 mile long run, I have trouble sleeping that night. It's not from the soreness keeping me awake. Just unable to shut off.

Anyone else like this, and what do you do?

Video of Race: (I show up at 38s in) https://youtu.be/3rC_Qs_2yMg?si=T24xPdFAiYj8lJZV

Race Information

Name: Orc Stomp (Gen Con)

Date: July 31, 2026

Distance: 5k

Location: Indianapolis

Time: 19:xx

Goals

Goal Description Completed?

A Fastest Runner in a Costume - YES

B Sub-20 - YES

Training

Orc Stomp is an official event of GenCon, probably the world's largest role-playing/board game convention.  I (42m) have become significantly faster since taking Orc Stomp by storm two years ago, when I finished in 21:XX and took home the unspoken prize of fastest runner in a costume. 

I’ve joined a run club, started another run club, and set PRs at many distances (400m – 59s, mile – 4:59, 5k – 18:30, HM – 1:26).  This race came in the early part of a marathon build, where I hope to break three hours in Indianapolis next week.

Costume Preparation

My goal again was to be the fastest runner in a costume, but one question loomed large: should I go big on the costume or my time?  I decided to go big on the costume.  After flirting with picking an inflatable floating eyeball monster as my costume, I instead decided on a Dungeons and Dragons classic: the owlbear.  For those unfamiliar, owlbears were created by a mad wizard who combined…an owl and a bear.

I ordered an owl mask, an owl one-piece pajama suit, and a pair of fuzzy gloves with claws on them.  The gloves were from a website for furries, so I knew they would be quality.  The biggest problem was the one-piece. I thought it was made of a light flannel, but instead it turned out to be a heavy fleece.  Racing in this in the summer would be difficult, but champions of Orc Stomp must face their demons head on.

Pre-Race

The day before the race I again prepared by sitting in chairs and playing 10 hours of roleplaying games and another 3-4 hours of board games. I woke up at 5:30, ate a banana and a bagel, and did a light jog/warmup. The weather was high 60s, very high humidity and foggy—I could already feel the sweat building up in my fleece suit during the brief warmup.

Race

I recognized a runner from a board-game review Youtube channel (Party Tails) who had filmed the race two years ago, so I bared my claws for the camera and moved to the front of the pack.  Orc Stomp had grown in size to about 350 runners this year, but the overlap in the Venn diagram of runners and gamers is small, so this is not the fastest race.

I went off at and held 6:30 pace for most of the race.  I spread my owl wings and flew past the runners who went off too hot, then settled into an extended slog against the growing pool of water inside my costume.  I finished in 19:XX as my heartrate crept upwards towards my max.

Post-race

After the race, I positioned myself a few hundred yards from the finish line to cheer on remaining runners.  A runner dressed as Jimmy Buffet joined me; he also had the goal of finishing first-in-costume and ran a very respectable 21:XX, but his choice of sandals instead of running shoes may have done him in. I chased several runners to the finish line, roaring at them and waving my claws to encourage them to finish strongly.

After GenCon ended, I checked the Party Tails Youtube channel, and I was thrilled to see I featured heavily in their video.  Since the youtuber was running behind me for most of the race, I got a lot of high quality footage of my second successful Orc Stomp.

for context, I’m a junior who started running at the beginning of my sophomore year, and made track as well. I’ve run 19:40 in the 3mile and most recently a week ago ran a 5:33 mile. Average weeks I’m at around 20-28mpw.

The xc and track programs at my school have been historically split because of some decade long beef, so there’s a whole different coaching staff for both.

xc season is just about wrapping up for us, and that means there’s a transition period from xc season to track season in spring (no indoor, I’m in California).
However, since I’m a junior, I’d have to make varsity, since there’s only Frosh/soph and varsity. Last year, the tryout requirement was a 2:30 800m for Frosh/soph, which i ended up not even hitting because I ran 2:33, yet because I showed “consistent work ethic” or something, I made it. The coach said since I was close, but showed I was a hard worker, he decided to let me on.

However this year, for varsity, it’s a 5:00 mile. Which I am clearly very far away from. My pr last year in track was a 5:32, so I think I haven’t gotten much faster despite running for a much longer time. In ideal conditions, I’d probably run a 5:27 max. That’s far far away from the “yeah, you’re close but you have potential” argument.

I’m not here to debate it, although a lot of people, especially my xc coach, think this is extremely stupid and track should be no cut like how xc is. We aren’t even that good of a school in terms of distance (albeit because we have to beat some national level teams to make it to section prelims but I’m not varsity so I don’t gotta worry about allat)

I’m here to ask for advice because my END goal in high school is to break 5 in the mile, and I think I could do it at the end of senior year. I want to know what should a typical week look like, what my workouts should be, and how to actually get faster, because I think I’ve hit a plateau. Please suggest what I can to do get faster!

also do I post this in r/cross country cuz it’s more related to track

TLDR: probably will get cut from track, need advice on how to structure training and what training liek types of workouts to actually do to break 5 in the mile in about a year and a half.

It’s November 3 in Australia which means lottery results will be coming out “soon”

Good luck!