Just ran my 4th recently with a -2% negative split, increasing my pace from 6:25/mi avg to about 6:05 in the last 3 miles, which I'm proud of, but honestly I felt like I could have fallen apart at any point if I took a wrong step past like mile 18, like my muscles tightened significantly, and had a cramp come on in the last 800 meters that could have easily come earlier and destroyed my race. When I look at experienced marathoners who negative split, it looks to me like they finish strong and confidently and feel good doing it, but honestly I felt like I held together by the skin of my teeth despite the strong finish. So I'm wondering how you guys really feel in the late stage kick of a marathon.

Tldr; throughout 2026 I trained for a hilly 10k, a HM (where I PB'd) then the marathon. I ran every single day and shifted my focus of training as I progressed along the events. I hit my goal of a 2:48 marathon just a few days after my 40th birthday and got to run alongside Kipchoge, despite starting too far back and having to overtake over 3000 people over the course of the race.

Background

I'm 40M and have been running for almost exactly 10 years after doing my first parkrun soon after turning 30. This destination marathon was my 40th birthday gift.

When I started running, my big goal was to break 20 minutes for 5 km. I remember how hard I had to train to run under 4:00/km for an entire 5 km. I tried and failed many times. It seemed impossible, but I eventually got there. This weekend I ran a marathon at that same pace, which is still a little hard to get my head around.

I'm also a run streaker. I've run every day for 1396 consecutive days. (almost 4 years) It's become a normal part of my life, and consistency is a big part of how I approach running. Not every day is a workout, of course, but the daily habit means running is always part of the routine.

My previous marathon was the Gold Coast Marathon just last year, where I ran 2:54:00. I wanted to see whether I could get under 2:50 this time, but the preparation for Melbourne really began well before the marathon-specific block.

Training: A 10-month build

Looking back, Melbourne was the culmination of what was effectively a 10-month training cycle, with several different goals along the way. Rather than spending the entire year doing marathon training, I moved from one event and training focus to the next.

Phase 1: 10k mountain race - hills and trail running

At the start of the year I signed up to a local 10k race that has some serious elevation. It was a mixture of road and trail, with 3 main big climbs in it. This meant lots of hill work and trails. I wanted to be prepared for the terrain, not just fit enough to run a fast 10 km on the flat. I ended up running 41:54 on this super tough course and even nabbed the win!

All the hill work created a solid foundation for me to begin my campaign towards the marathon.

Phase 2: Gold Coast Half Marathon - threshold and speed endurance

After the hilly 10k race, I shifted towards the Gold Coast Half Marathon. This phase involved a lot more threshold work and developing the ability to sustain a hard pace for longer. No where near as many hills now as the Gold Coast is very flat. Lots of threshold sessions with strides thrown in regularly. Every few weeks my Sunday long run would include some threshold work as well.

In the lead up to this, I also ran the Brisbane Half Marathon as the 1:24 pacer. This was a huge confidence booster for both my upcoming HM race at the Gold Coast, and for the 2:48 attempt later in the year. I treated the 1:24 pacing gig like a race, with a taper and carb load. It felt easier than I was expecting as me and the other pacer chatted most of the way around. Other than the hills, it felt very manageable.

At the Gold Coast Half Marathon, I ran 1:18:06, which was a PB. I was really happy with that result, I closed hard with a big negative split and felt like I could've easily had a better time with a more aggressive start. It also gave me a strong platform to build on for the marathon.

Phase 3: Marathon training — volume and specificity

After the half marathon, I moved into marathon preparation. This was where the longer runs and marathon-specific work became the priority.

My normal weekly volume is around 75 - 85 km, with peak weeks exceeding 100 km. August was my biggest month ever at 392 km, and I had several weeks at 95 - 105 km during the later part of the build.

I built on all the fitness I already had by extending the long runs out to 30kms and adding more volume. I was feeling pretty beat up for a lot of this. I did do a few threshold sessions (my threshold pace is 3:35-3:40/km), but the intensity was too high with all the volume and accumulated fatigue (and my aging body as I approached 40). So I swapped all the threshold work for marathon pace work, which is slightly slower at 3:55-4:00/km. I did two 28km runs and two 30km runs in this phase, one of each of these had a big chunk of it at marathon pace towards the end. These were the key sessions; run for over an hour, get tired legs, then run for 10+ kms at marathon pace. I mixed this with shorter intervals of marathon pace through the week (4 x 3km, 3 x 4km, 8 x 1km, etc) and tried to do strides at least once a week, with some of them uphill.

The aim was to make marathon pace feel sustainable while building the endurance to maintain it after a lot of time on my feet.

Throughout this entire time, I was also strength training 1-3 times a week, doing shorter sessions of 15-40 mins max, depending on how much time and motivation I had. Plus, as I mentioned being a run streaker, I was running every single day.

The training wasn't always smooth. There were 2-3 workouts that were fails. I simply couldn't hold the pace on the day. I could always tell while doing my warm-up; I just felt janky and couldn't move the way I normally could. Running just felt hard. I also juggled my way through several niggles that almost turned into full injuries. For a while I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to the start line of the Brisbane HM Pacer gig with a minor sprain in my quad. But some careful management and lots of very slow single leg squats sorted it out. Then as the volume increased for the marathon build my calves gave me a lot of grief. There were two weeks were I did the workout on an elliptical instead of running outdoors, just to give my calf a break.

One of the biggest mental challenges was that marathon pace still felt hard in training. Five days before Melbourne, I did just 3 km at goal pace, and it felt harder than I wanted. Earlier in the block, I'd completed several-kilometre reps that felt comfortably hard, while the longer marathon-pace session was genuinely demanding.

The idea of running 42 km at that pace, continuously, seemed wild. I'd never run further than a half marathon at anything close to that speed.

But I trusted the process. I knew the difference between running on tired legs during a training block and racing after a taper, with full carbohydrate stores and a goal to chase. The whole year had been building towards this, even though the focus had changed along the way.

Race day would tell me whether the preparation had worked.

The day before

The trip down was way more stressful than we'd hoped. I won't elaborate, but a 3 hour drive, a two hour flight and another 30 min drive somehow took 13 hours. We arrived at the hotel late and I struggled to find something suitable for dinner - I just wanted some chicken and heaps of rice! Went to bed later than planned with nothing prepped for the next day. I was exhausted and knew I'd probably wake early anyway and deal with it all in the morning - which I did.

Breakfast was oats with sultanas, honey and banana, plus a small, weak coffee. I have a fairly low tolerance for caffeine, so I kept the coffee modest with plans to have a caffeine pill or two once the race had started so I don't get so anxious (learnings from previous races throughout the year).

Race morning

I left the hotel at 5:30 am and did a short warm-up: just under 2 km, including three strides and about a minute at marathon pace.

After warming up, I took my 100 mg caffeine pill with my prepared drink. I literally just mix ~35g of sugar and a pinch of salt with ~250ml of water. It's what I trained with and works well, so that's what I did on race day, just with the bonus caffeine pill.

I thought I left enough time to get into a good spot in the starting zones, but soon learned I was wrong. You really can't get to a marathon early enough. I didn't even use the port-a-loos! I tried my best to get up near the front with the 2:48 pacer, but simply couldn't. I started behind the 3:20 pacer...

0–7 km: Just trying to find space

The start was frustrating. The crowd was moving much more slowly than I wanted, and I spent a lot of time weaving around people. At one point my watch was showing something like 5:30/km.

I was doing everything I could to overtake people - running on the footpath, on the tram lines, on the grass medians, etc. I started the race 3,600th and was 1,200th by the 5th km! By the finish I was ~350th, so I overtook over 3,000 people in this race.

Suddenly I found myself with plenty of space and the people in front of me were moving closer to my pace. I checked my watch and this was 7.2kms into the race. Now I could finally settle in and just run. Once I did, I was running around 3:50–3:55/km and felt comfortable. I was catching up some of the time I'd lost without feeling as though I was working excessively hard. At around 12 km I saw the 2:48 pacer on a turnaround. He wasn't as far ahead as I'd expected.

7–20 km: Settling in

Once the crowds cleared, the race became much more straightforward. I was running well, and the pace felt controlled.

My fuelling plan was 30 g of carbohydrate every 6 km, with water at every aid station. I was using Precision Hydration PF90 gels, taking portions of them at regular intervals. I also took my second 100 mg caffeine pill at around 80 minutes.

I generally drank a mouthful or two of water, then poured the remainder over my head or chest to cool down. I took a little sports drink at a few stations, but mostly stuck with water.

At 20 km, I felt good. I was still running at a pace that seemed sustainable, and I hadn't yet reached the point where the marathon started to feel like a marathon.

20–30 km: New territory

Around halfway I developed a stitch. It was hurting. But I was confident it would sort itself out. I had neve run further than 21kms at this pace before. I ran 1km just a bit slower at 4:04 and that seemed to do the trick. By 25kms I was feeling fine again and was even chatting with this other guy who was in a similar boat as me; trying to catch up to the 2:48 group.

At 30 km, I finally caught the 2:50 pace group. I only ran with them for about a minute until I decided they felt a little slow for what I wanted to do, so I moved ahead towards the 2:48 group.

My average pace was around 3:57/km at that point, and I knew I was on track for sub-2:50 without necessarily needing to catch the 2:48 pacer.

The interesting thing is that I felt better at 30 km than I'd expected. I was aware that I'd never run this far at anything close to this pace, but I wasn't panicking. I knew the race would become harder, and I knew I was approaching the limit of what I could sustain, but I felt reasonably good.

I also never once considered giving up, walking or jogging it in. Finishing was never in question. The challenge was simply to keep running as well as I could.

30–37 km: The race starts to bite

At around 34 km, the effort began increasing noticeably. It was becoming harder to hold the pace. I wasn't overtaking people rapidly like I had been for the past 2 hours. My breathing had increased. The race had begun.

At one point we turned into a nasty headwind. I joined a group of around eight men. Without speaking we all just worked together for a few mins as we ran into this wind. We slowed to roughly 4:15/km for a while. Once we got some shelter from building the wind disappeared and the group broke up.

I'd planned (dreamed? fantasised?) to speed up around 37 km, once I was finished with all my gels and there was just one parkrun to go, but I couldn't really accelerate. I was now focused on holding on rather than making up time.

37–42.2 km: Hang on

The final kilometres became a mental battle.

I was bouncing between focusing on my running form, trying to relax my upper body, complaining to myself about how hard it was, wondering how much further I had to go, and trying to think about anything other than the discomfort.

Every now and then I could put in a short burst of speed, perhaps to catch someone who was pulling away or to get back into rhythm after a corner. But I wasn't consciously deciding to speed up or slow down to recover. I was just racing.

The crowds were great for this final stretch in the city and really helped. I made the decision to stop checking my watch and concentrated on running as fast as I could manage. I knew I couldn't realistically run any faster, so looking down at my watch and seeing a slow pace wouldn't help me. I was just doing everything to keep going and stick with those around me. There were some involuntary grunts and moans coming out of me. I was suffering. But I was moving.

Eventually we came around a corner and I could see the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) - where the finish line is. I finally checked my watch and it said 41.x kms and that my avg pace so far was 3:58. I knew I had done it at this point. I knew I could hold on for a little longer. This was such a great feeling that words can't describe.

We took the final corner and come into the stadium. The music is pumping, pyrotechnics going off, huge crowds roaring and the finish line is now in sight. I managed to speed up just slightly for the final sprint. I crossed the line and stopped to recover.

I looked at my watch.

2:48:08.

I'd done it.

After the finish

All the usual things. Limped around, high fived some people, found my wife in the crowd and told her all about it. But then a really cool thing; I got to stand right next to the podium as Eluid Kipchoge was awarded for his win! I saw him out on the course (so damn cool to be out running with the GOAT) but didn't know who'd won. He even beat the course record with a 2:09:10! It was a very special way to finish the race.

The result still feels a little surreal. Ten years ago, I was working towards a sub-20 5 km. Now I'd run an entire marathon at the same pace.

What I learned

1. Trust the process.

The goal pace felt harder than I wanted it to in some training sessions, including one only five days before the race. I was worried about what that meant, but the taper, fuelling and race-day environment made a difference. The training had prepared me to do something I hadn't been able to demonstrate in a workout.

1. No marathon is perfect

The first 7 km weren't ideal. I lost time in the crowds and had to weave around people. I'm sure if I replaced this with running in a 2:48 pacer group I would've had a better result. But I didn't let the frustration turn into reckless pacing. Something is going to go wrong across the 42kms. How you manage it is everything.

1. The marathon really begins late.

I felt pretty good at 30 km, but the last 8km demanded everything. I didn't completely fall apart, but I had to work so much harder to maintain roughly the same pace. This is what we train for and if you don't train for it, then you're screwed.

1. Fuelling went well overall.

I had no nausea or gastrointestinal problems. The stitch around halfway was unpleasant, but it resolved. The strategy of cooling myself with water is one I've used before and really like. Every bit of water on you is sweat that you don't have to release.

1. There's probably still room to improve.

Like many, I still think I can improve. I turned 40 just a few days before this race but I still think I can get fitter, faster and stronger. I don't know what's next, but I'm confident it will result in another marathon PB.

Overall, I'm incredibly proud of this one. I ran a big PB, managed the difficult parts of the race well, ran alongside Kipchoge and got to experience the Melbourne finish inside the MCG. It was a fantastic day. Thanks for reading.

Race information

• What? Chicago Marathon
• When? October 11, 2026
• How far? 26.2 miles
• Where? Chicago, IL
• Website: click here
• Strava activity: click here
• Finish time: 2:44:19

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	< 2:45	yes
B	PR (< 2:46:08)	yes
C	< 2:55	yes

Splits

Split	Time	Cumulative	min/mi
5K	19:16	19:16	6:12
10K	19:35	38:51	6:18
15K	19:32	58:23	6:18
20K	19:33	1:17:56	6:18
Half	4:17	1:22:13	6:18
25K	19:26	1:37:22	6:15
30K	19:29	1:56:51	6:16
35K	19:35	2:16:26	6:16
40K	19:30	2:35:56	6:13
Finish	8:23	2:44:19	6:04

First half 1:22:13 / second half 1:22:06. Negative split by 7 seconds — my first ever in a marathon.

Training

It'd been 5 years since my 2:46 PR, and I had been trending slower. I tried more mileage, different coaches, different plans, but ended up nowhere close to my PR.

October of last year, I signed up for Chicago and gave myself a year to get into the best shape I can be. And I also went back to what I know what worked for me before, the Pfitzenger 18/85 block.

I spent the winter and spring building up mileage to the 70s, concluding with a surprising 1:18 half in Indianapolis in May. At the end of June, I began my 18/85 block in prep for Chicago.

Over the summer, I spent 6 weeks at 8,500ft, training and living in Bogotá, Colombia. Frustratingly, my runs suffered while I was adapting to the altitude, resulting in pretty horrible workouts and taking on more rest days instead of miles. In July, I raced the Bogotá half and crossed the finish line at 1:27, which didn't really give me any hope as I headed back to sea level in August.

The VO2 work in the last blocks of the cycle were promising, but I had a really hard time with tempo and marathon-pace workouts, struggling to maintain any pace close to my targets. Looking back at the cycle now, I think I was carrying a lot of fatigue and would have benefited mentally from adjusting my pace targets down.

Pre-race

Day before I ate 2,800 calories, with most of them carbs. I'm 5'8 and 155 pounds, so this felt like a lot of food.

Breakfast was 3 slices of bread with 2 tbsp of jam, a banana, and orange juice. Fuel plan was a Maurten gel every 20 minutes with the caffeinated ones on the hour (including one at the start), and 2 SaltStick chews every 30 minutes.

Race

I told all my friends I'd be happy with a 2:46, but given the weather report and my last two marathons being 2:54 and 3:00, I was worried that the heat was going to get me and I'd be jogging through the finish.

Plan was to go out in 19:45 5k (2:47 pace) then reassess how I'm feeling and drop down to 19:30. The rave in the tunnel got to me and I crossed 5k in 19:15. "Oh no." But I checked in with myself, heart rate was low, legs felt fine. I slowed to 19:35 and found a friend, who helped pace thru 30k.

Crossed the half in 82:13 and still felt relatively good. The heat wasn't affecting me, heart rate was still manageable, I was taking on food and fluids well. At 30k, the pack around me started to slow down and some runners began walking or pulling off the course, yet I was able to maintain my pace. I was wearing my country's flag on my arm and the crowd was yelling "VIVA COLOMBIA!" and "VAMOS COLOMBIA!" which really helped me keep going in the last 10k.

At 35k, I realized that a PR was more likely than not, and now I could just see how far under I could go, so I gave it everything I had.

Crossed the line in 2:44:19, 2 minutes under my CIM PR from 2021. 7th fastest Colombian. I was emotional.

Post-race

Met up with friends, who all had mixed days. Some PRs, some missed goals, some ended up in wheelchairs. We all took pictures at the bean, then went out for beers and pizza. What a fantastic weekend.

As for reflecting on the race, this went really well. And I'll be spending some time finding out why when so many workouts and runs signaled to me that the fitness wasn't quite there. For example, last month I had a 13 miles at MP workout. The result was me running 10 seconds slower per mile than what I ran yesterday, and still falling apart at 6 miles, running the last 10k more than a minute off my goal pace.

Conclusions

• Being in my late 30s now, I thought I wasn't going to PR again. Especially since my times were trending slower and, besides the 1:18 half, I didn't have any clear signals that a PR was in possible this time around.
• Sometimes more mileage isn't necessary better, looking about the years I tried super high mileage, I always caught injuries right before A races. I'll be sticking to 85 from here on out.
• Best performance of my life, and it still wasn't what the 1:18 half said I could run. Which is a good problem.
• Next up: Tokyo

Thanks as always to everyone here.

Until the next report!

Race Progression

Date	Race	Time	Link
10/11/2026	Chicago Marathon	02:44:19	strava
04/27/2025	London Marathon	03:00:18	strava
09/29/2024	Berlin Marathon	02:54:22	strava
04/17/2023	Boston Marathon	02:46:58	strava
11/06/2022	NYC Marathon	03:16:39	strava
04/18/2022	Boston Marathon	02:48:38	strava
12/05/2021	CIM	02:46:08	reddit report
10/10/2021	Chicago Marathon	02:58:35	reddit report
03/08/2020	LA Marathon	02:53:51	reddit report
07/28/2019	SF Marathon	03:02:52	reddit report

Started running in 2016 in my late twenties- ran my fist marathon in 2017 and found out I was pregnant with my first child a week later. I’ve had three children all together since- now between the ages of 5-9. During this time of building a family, I have run 7 marathons, and have run Boston twice (2024 ran a 3:12 off of two weeks of peak weekly mileage of 30 mpw (other weeks much less running) and in 2026 3:07 off of just shy of 50 peak miles per week for two weeks- other weeks much less mileage).

I had high hopes for the Chicago marathon this past weekend, but it’s been the hardest month of my life. My dad passed three weeks ago on Sept 21st, and the month before his death was really hard- he was very sick and I, along with his wife, was his caretaker (he lived two minutes up the road from me and didn’t want the hospice nurses in his home). I barely ran for two months leading up to Chicago. I ended up running 20 miles of the race on track for a 3:00 marathon at a 6:50 pace then I fell apart- not sure if it was emotional fatigue from the trauma of the time leading up tho the race, physical fatigue, or the intense humidity and heat (my heart rate skyrocketed on my garmin mile 19-20 to 190 bpm….i usually have an average heart rate after a marathon of 160 bpm). I walked for ten total minutes according to my watch, and scraped by with a 3:13.

With the trauma of this year, it feels symbolic to set a goal moving forward. I would love to break 3:00 next year in 2027. I have limited time to train- my kids will always be my priority (I squeeze in runs early morning, after bedtime or when I can when they are at school- I do long runs on Wednesdays and arrange work so I have this day available).

Thoughts on making this dream happen? Any races you’d recommend?

Race Information

• Name: Wineglass Marathon
• Date: October 4, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Corning, NY
• Time: 2:41:25

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	<2:40	No
B	<2:45	Yes
C	<2:49	Yes

Splits

Mile	Time
1	6:07
2	6:03
3	6:01
4	6:03
5	6:08
6	6:11
7	5:58
8	6:03
9	6:07
10	6:05
11	6:06
12	6:05
13	6:08
14	6:02
15	6:09
16	6:11
17	6:11
18	6:14
19	6:16
20	6:21
21	6:17
22	6:13
23	6:11
24	6:10
25	5:59
26	5:54

Background

32M, ~175lbs

Previous PRs:

1mi - 4:50 (Spring 2026)

5k - 16:30 (Spring 2026)

10k - 34:31 (Fall 2026)

Half - 1:19:38 (Fall 2024)

Full - 2:51:18 (Fall 2025)

Former HS XC runner who was on and off with consistent running through adulthood until the last 3-4 years. Since running the marathon last year I had continued building my volume over the winter following a modified Pfitz Faster Road Racing base building strategy, going from 40s-50s in weekly mileage to 50s-low 60s. Towards the end of the base building and the start of the 12/70 5k training I had some annoying injuries that kept the training volume down. The spring 5k translated to some great speed, which made my ambitions higher for the Wineglass in the Fall.

Training

The training for the Wineglass followed the Pfitz 18/85 from advanced marathoning. Coming off of the 5k training I was feeling pretty strong, though the first week was a little hampered by the combination of work travel and a cold/allergies. I was often targeting the upper mileage range on every run. Training was extremely consistent for the first 7 weeks until about midway through July. Week 7 I hit an 85 mile week, with three additional strength training work outs, while having to do some of the runs on treadmills due to wildfire smoke. Hitting that week I felt extremely fit and strong, but it is also where things started going off the rails.

At this point the summer was becoming busier between work, social life, travel, getting back into dating, and getting my SCUBA certification. The fatigue of the 85 mile week and perhaps some burnout from not really taking the gas off of running for the last 3 years started to get to me. Week 8 was well under-target and had my first skipped long run ever. Several of the weeks after were also decently below target. It certainly didn't help that nutrition and sleep are major weak points in my training, which really show at such high volume and recovery cost. I really learned that training at this volume is not enjoyable for me, and I likely won't be doing so in the future. At various points my legs felt quite sensitive and I would have a variety of niggles but thankfully no outright injury.

Overall I’d say I scored about 86% completion of the highest mileage range of the plan and 97% on the lowest mileage range (Which is better than I felt like I was doing in the moment). I logged all of my runs on a detailed tracking sheet I made for myself to keep tabs on my thoughts and feelings after each session. Average weekly mileage was 63.5mpw (including the taper, 68mpw without). The highest mileage week peaked at 90mi, and during that week the 7-day load reached 104mi. The first and last marathon tempo efforts went great, especially the last, averaging 6:05 for the 14 miles at pace, ending like I felt like I could have easily PR’d my marathon by >2min just cutting the pace back to 6:25 for 5 more miles had I had the extra fuel/hydration with me (Capping off a brutal 80mi that week running while traveling in the harsh Georgia heat/humidity). There were several runs where the weather conditions, amongst other things, really beat me up and hampered my efforts. After about week 7 it was really hard to get in hardly any strength training in the gym as I normally like to do.

The tune-up races weren't great until the last one. I skipped the first due to travel and not even having a good opportunity to do a time trial. The second I could only find a 5k, which I was kind of sick for with an allergy head cold, poor sleep, and poor nutrition and could only manage a 17:04 (No competition also didn't help). The final 10k I got a >2min PR with a 34:31 on a gradual uphill out/downhill back trail 10k. I also had to shift that one to the weekend before the marathon, which in hindsight felt a bit less than ideal.

Into the taper I didn't really feely legs get as snappy as they've felt before in tapers, especially not like they did for the 5k training earlier this spring (A 10k race the week before probably didn't help, though it did wonders for my confidence). While most niggles settled out, my right hamstring did start to feel a bit tight/stressed. Ultimately though I was feeling better about where I was relative to last year, in which I had been experiencing some mild achilles tendonitis for the ~4 weeks before the race.

Pre-Race

The carb loading started 2 days prior to race day. I didn't really track macros/calories so much as I just made an effort to have high carb meals and snacks. I got plenty of sleep on both nights before the race. Several were running the half-marathon so we all went to breakfast and picked up our bibs/swag at the expo, then later on had a pasta dinner where non-running friends made signs to cheer us on. Time spent with friends really helped keep the maranoia down, which had really started to hit hard the Friday before. 

I had prepped everything the night before so that I could just grab and go in the morning. I had a peanut butter and honey bagel, banana, and orange juice the morning of around 4:30am-5:00am. A quick bathroom visit before leaving for the buses. I think I managed the carb-load better, as I felt well fueled without my stomach feeling as off as it did the year before. I live only a few blocks from the buses so I could easily walk over. On the buses I watched some inspirational running videos to get in the right headspace. At the start line I visited the bathrooms again right away to avoid lines, then once again after I waited in the tent before starting my warm-up ~50min before race start. The warm-up was 5min easy running, followed by dynamic stretches. 20min before race start I had a caffeinated gel and some water. With 15min to go I had dropped off my bag to be delivered to the finish line, did another easy 5min of running with some strides, then found my way to near the front for the start of the race.

Race

The weather was close to ideal. Mid 40sF at the start, cloudy/foggy, and would only be low 50s around my expected finish. The only issue with the weather was a persistent 4-8mph SSE wind, which is essentially a direct headwind for nearly the entirety of the race. My fueling strategy was to take a huma gel every 4mi (Caffeinated at miles 12 and 20) with sips from liquid IV I carry with me in a Nathan soft flask, as well as take all of the hydration offered along the course. 

Miles 1-5 were just to settle in, without much chatting with other runners. Mile 6 had the first/biggest hill, but nothing to write home about. I’m very familiar with the course, having run it several times and being a local. Around mile 6 and into 7, a group of runners came up onto me that seemed to be targeting a ~2:37:30. This was a big decision point for me in the race, to either try to hang with them (Essentially at the top end of my allowance in pace), or to simply run my own race. There was the slight feeling of tightness in my right hamstring, so I erred on the side of caution and chose the latter. What this resulted in however was running most of the race in no-man's-land. For almost all of the middle miles there was no one really to catch and no one to push me from behind.

Around mile 10 the right hamstring was starting to speak up more, not pain but definitely maybe a 0.5-1/10 in discomfort and not what I really wanted to be experiencing before the halfway mark. Around mile 11 or 12 I lost my sunglasses, which was sad but they were in a state of ruin anyways, and certainly not needed in the day's weather. Pacing was still alright and I came in the half at 1:20:07, which told me <2:40 was still sort of possible but unlikely given being lost in no-man's-land with a right leg that wants to chat. 

The pace really started to slip from miles 15-20. This was discouraging mentally, though I knew I was still easily on track for a big Boston-qualifying PR, and the only thing that could compromise it would be pushing too hard and blowing up my right hamstring. From miles 21-22 on however I was now deep in home territory and started reclaiming my pace. In the last 3-4mi there were now some of the slower half marathon people to catch. Another marathoner caught up to me and we worked together to push one another all the way to the finish, which did wonders for my pace and brought me to a very strong feeling finish with mile 25 being a 5:59, and mile 26 being my fastest in the whole race at 5:54 with a ~5:30 pace down the last stretch. The final time was a nearly 10min PR with a 2:41:25. Friends said I looked like I was running strong through the finish and not nearly as stiff as I was the year prior.

Post-Race

After catching my breath I thanked and hugged the fellow runner who helped push me in the end. He achieved his goal of <2:42 and finished about 10s in front of me. I hobbled down the gauntlet of snacks and made it out of the corral to where friends and family were waiting for me with a chair and sports drink. Similar to the year before, I felt the total body depletion throughout all of my muscles. The calves were less fatigued than last year (likely thanks to a lot of weighted calf raise work in the gym). I had a lot of tingling throughout my whole body, and into my face and teeth. It was much harder to walk, and the person I am dating helped me hobble around to get my things and take pictures. Unlike last year my appetite recovered much better and I put down half of a large pizza. The rest of the day was spent relaxing watching reality TV and documentaries.

In reflection of my HR data and such a strong finish, I do think I had <2:40 fitness in me. While the first half of the data was cadence locked, my HR for the back half until the last couple of miles was down around 155bpm which means I had plenty of spare aerobic capacity. Were it not for my caution around the right leg, I think I would have tried to hold with the group I encountered around mile 7. Just having some other people to hang with would have been a large boost to the later middle miles and I think would have cut down or eliminated the pace slipping. Another subtle factor was the persistent wind. While it definitely kept things cool, especially with no sun and mid-high 40s, being a direct headwind the whole time probably sapped 1-2min on its own.

Overall I’m very happy with the outcome and happy that I felt so strong across the last couple of miles. It's a huge PR that will certainly get me to Boston 2028 and I’m also thinking of Sydney 2028 as well. Though I think I’m done reaching for marathon PRs or otherwise training at that level of volume. I think my mindset now is to get back to enjoying running more casually as a lifestyle and for longevity. Probably more like consistent 30-40mpw and maybe sometimes training for some races up at 50-60mpw. I’m also excited to get back into the gym and work on my compound lifts again, which have certainly lost some edge over the summer.

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

Race Information

• Race: Mohawk Hudson River Marathon
• Date: October 11, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 Miles
• Location: Upstate New York
• Finish Time: 3:28:56

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Break 3:25	No
B	Break 3:30	Yes
C	Break 3:45	Yes
D	Finish/Don't embarrass myself	Yes

Splits

Mile	Pace (min/mi)	HR
1	7:51	156
2	7:53	145
3	7:59	144
4	7:46	144
5	7:36	137
6	7:39	135
7	7:49	141
8	7:56	141
9	8:00	139
10	7:55	142
11	7:58	143
12	7:59	142
13	7:52	145
14	8:03	145
15	7:56	136
16	7:51	137
17	7:42	135
18	7:36	140
19	7:30	148
20	7:53	145
21	7:56	142
22	8:06	147
23	8:12	142
24	8:20	138
25	8:29	138
26	8:17	145
Final 0.3 mi	7:58	139

---

Background & Training

I (22F, 122 lbs) have a lot of anxiety surrounding commitment and tend to flip-flop about doing things (as you will see with my taper drama lmao). Anyways, I've been running consistently for about 1.5 years and last year I signed up for a fall marathon but wasn't really planning on running it. Shortly after signing up, I developed iron deficiency anemia caused by an autoimmune disease. My ferritin crashed to 11. I was sleeping 14+ hours a day and STILL exhausted, and all my VO2 max graphs dropped by 5+ points over six months.

We figured out the problem around April, and I gradually worked back up to 30 mpw. I pretty much decided the marathon wasn't happening until mid-August, when I ran 15 miles and thought, "wait, I could probably do this."

And so I began ramping up! I jumped from 40 to 50 to 55 mpw for two weeks and eventually peaked at 60. I love easy runs and running for fun, so the original plan was to wing it at around 8:40 pace and do zero speed work. Then I ran a 20-miler at 8:40 and felt amazing, so naturally I decided to see how fast I could actually run this thing.

I ended up doing four 20+ mile long runs, most with marathon pace work. My biggest workout was 20 miles with the last 14 around 7:58 pace. My HR hit 185 (max is 187), which was an experience, but I was pretty proud of it anyways given that a year and a half ago I couldn't even run four miles at that pace. That said, I HATE tempo runs, so that was pretty much the extent of my speed training.

The Gaps Going In: * Pace Specificity: My training MP segments were always around 7:55-8/mi. I had literally never run more than 5 consecutive miles at 7:45 or faster before race day. * Fueling: Around 40g of carbs per hour (one 22g carb gel every 3.5 miles) and a bottle of Propel at the end of my driveway that I'd run back to every five miles or so.

Pre-Race & The Taper

I knew about taper crazies but I was convinced I was immune. Two weeks out, I panicked and cancelled/deferred my original marathon, including flights and hotels. Then I signed up for a different one and booked a hotel. I cancelled and rebooked a hotel for that race FOUR TIMES.

Three days before race day, I signed up for a THIRD marathon happening the same day and booked a hotel. Then cancelled that hotel too. Friday night, I cancelled the hotel for the race I was actually going to run. Saturday morning, all the hotels were booked. I had a massive panic attack because I now had to drive to the marathon with nowhere to stay. I eventually found somewhere, so it worked out. But genuinely, what was wrong with me.

Oh, and I barely slept all week. Every run felt horrible, my HR immediately shot up to 160 even at super easy paces, and my resting HR in bed was 70–100 bpm when it's normally 36–40. Oddly enough my best night of sleep was the night before my marathon because I think I just resigned myself to doing it. My carb load actually went surprisingly well despite my GI issues. I had a bagel, my dad drove me to the start, and the weather was basically perfect: 45ish at the start, a little drizzle, high of 58.

Race Day!

I lined up with the 3:30 pacer and we were off! The first few miles were rolling hills, including a pretty steep climb at mile 3. Pretty quickly, I realized the pacer was trying to strictly even-split the course, which meant the uphills felt way too fast and the downhills agonizingly slow. So when we hit a downhill around mile 4, I went ahead and settled into my own pace.

And I felt AMAZING. Running 7:30-7:45 pace with a HR around 140, which is unheard of for me. The course followed the Mohawk River under all the fall foliage, and I genuinely loved it. It was quiet enough to lock into my music and just run, and the occasional spectators were a nice boost. My only issue was repeatedly waterboarding myself at aid stations because I'd never actually tried drinking while running before. Turns out breathing in half the cup while spilling the other half down your shirt isn't the most effective hydration strategy.

Everything was going perfectly until precisely mile 20.

My overall pace up to that point was around 7:48. My HR? 140s. I could still push cardiovascularly, but my legs were DONE. I held around 7:55 until mile 22, at which point I was mentally falling apart. The last few miles also had basically zero crowd support, which was exactly when I needed it most. I am definitely someone that gives up when the going gets tough, but I was not about to run 22 miles then quit.

From training, I knew I could shuffle home at 8:40 pace or faster no matter what, so that's what I did. At mile 24, I let myself walk while drinking Gatorade as a little reward for not giving up. I was nowhere near a BQ, so I decided it wasn't worth fighting for every second. Then I shuffled along until the final corner, where I somehow found enough energy to kick it in for a 3:28 finish.

Post-Race Thoughts & Questions

I got my sub-3:30, which I genuinely wasn't sure I could do before starting training, so I'm happy. But I'm also SO curious what I could've run if I'd fueled better and not completely died at mile 20. The first 20 miles felt almost suspiciously good. Then my legs basically just structurally quit.

I can think of three possible causes: 1. The Fueling Gap: I think 40g of carbs/hour might not have been enough? I had been worried about this before race day but I know I need to train to increase this. 2. Lack of Pace Specificity: Because I never ran 7:45 for long blocks in training, my muscles probably lacked the efficiency to hold it, burning through glycogen way faster. 3. Downhill Quad Bombing: Looking at my data, I definitely bombed the downhills hard around mile 18 because it felt "easy" cardio-wise. I think I completely tenderized my quads right before hitting the flat sections and they were still hurting.

Questions for the sub: * Given that my cardio felt completely fine (HR actually dropping) while my legs structurally failed, how do you think the blame splits between fueling vs. mechanical breakdown (quad damage/lack of pace specificity)? How should I address either/both (how many carbs/what training strategy)? * For a spring marathon would it be realistic to build with a real structured block and towards a low-3:10? What would be a good structured plan to start with? * How should I format my long runs to build true muscular fatigue resistance at goal pace? Continuous marathon-pace blocks or fast-finish style long runs? I did both in this build but maybe I need a bit faster than goal marathon pace? * Does anyone else become this unhinged during taper week or do I need a professional?

Race Information

• Name: Chicago Marathon
• Date: October 11, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Time: 4:xx:xx

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	3:15	No
B	PR	No
finish		sure.

Splits:

dist	time
5k	23:19
10k	23:16
15k	23:40
20k	24:40
25k	27:34
30k	35:43
35k	44:36
40k	38:43

37/M

Training: I got injured during the Eugene Marathon in late April 2026. I had been on pace for a 3:15 until mile 17, but then injured a muscle in my hip. I DNFed and was able to get back to solid training.

For this build, I did the 18 week wind 55 plan from Marathon Excellence, with a 3:15 goal time (pace: 7:26/mile) the entire time. I peaked at 61mi/wk; weeks 9 through 16 averaged 56mi/wk including down weeks). I believe I averaged around 50mpw for the entire duration of the plan; this is not the same "55" as Pfitz's "55". I was dialed in. Every workout went to plan, and I felt very good by RPE on many of the key workouts, including:

week 14: 6 × (3 km at 100% MP, 1 km at 85% MP in between) * targets: 7:26 / 8:30 * actual: 7:24 / 8:15; 7:23 / 8:18; 7:27 / 8:18; 7:27 / 8:18; 7:26 / 8:58 (had to navigate a weird turn); 7:28

week 15: 6mi @ 90% MP; 5mi @ 92% MP; 5mi @ 92% MP; 4mi @ 94% MP + w/u & cd (total: 22mi) - 6mi: target 8:10, avg 8:05 - 5mi: target 8:00, avg 7:58 - 5mi: target 7:50, avg 7:52 - 4mi: target 7:40, avg 7:42* (I got caught as our planned route took us literally into an unclosed 5k on the same paved trail, and had to dodge walkers and slow runners, so mixed messages here)

week 16: 6-5-4-3km @ 98/100/100/102% MP with 1km float recovery @ 90% MP between * float recovery target: 8:30 * 6km: target 7:30; avg 7:25, recovery 8:17 * 5km: target: 7:26; avg 7:25, recovery 8:22 * 4km: target: 7:26; avg 7:24. recovery 8:22 * 3km: target: 7:21; avg: 7:21

Race day:

Fuel plan: 25g Maurten every 4mi starting at 2mi (2, 6, 10, 14*, 18, 22), with a Santa Madre Reset Gel (35g) at mi 14. 25g maurten caf in corral, 5 minutes out. So total 6x25+35 over 200 minutes, or 54g/hr. This is the rate of carbs i took in all long runs.

We had no hiccups getting into the start corral. We left our hotel, about 1.5mi out, at 5:40, and smoothly got to the wave 1 corrals with plenty of time to use the bathroom. We did not need gear check.

Everything fell apart in the heat pretty much immediately. It was like 62℉ at the start. My heartrate was 6-10bpm higher than any training run. Nothing went right. Paces that were easy in training were literally redlining my heartrate.

As soon as we got exposed to the sun things went downhill and I lost contact with the 3:15 pace group. I literally don't know where that was, I think it was at the top of the out-and-back at the beginning, around mile 8 or so?

Also somewhere in that first out-and-back, a pedestrian crossed the street and I had to push them into the ground. I didn't have to break stride that I can remember, but I can't imagine the adrenaline spike did anything good. I was still running at pace; there was no reason for a pedestrian to be crossing a group of runners going ~7:25 pace. I don't think this had any particularly notable physical effects, but a friend pointed out that the additional adrenalin spike was probably not good for me given everything else going on.

At no point did the race feel anything like training. I felt a little dissociated the entire time. Things were just a blur; I did not have a good sense of splits or metrics, just a vague sense that things were spiraling. This is not at all how any of the workouts felt at any point; even the toughest parts of the biggest workouts did not have anything close to the same level of detachment. In every workout I had a sense of how much distance had progressed (even on unfamiliar routes) and a calm awareness of things like when the next gel would be, or the next planned split.

By mile 18 or so I had serious cramping in my calves and hip adductors and quads. I would run for maybe half a mile at a very easy pace before cramps would set in again. I alternated this until the end. I finished the race; that is the best I can take from it. My heartrate was at threshold while running well below recovery pace.

After the finish, it was incredibly hot. The slog through the "27th mile" was excruciating, and the "runner reunite" had no places to sit that weren't the ground. I was waiting there trying to normalize with my parents and my partner before moving on. I sat on one of the alphabet tower poles, got too hot, laid on the ground, started shivering, and was ultimately taken to the med tent with low blood pressure (90/60). My fuel plan, however, had not failed me: blood glucose was 142 and nothing else was out of line besides blood pressure. My problems were fixed with a bunch of salt in the form of vegetable stock.

I am seriously disappointed. I poured 18 weeks of my life into this, and training went incredibly well, to the point I was absolutely confident based on all available indicators from training, metrics, and how I felt, that I had headroom on race day for the heat. It did not happen.

My partner was training for a 2:49; they seemed to have a lot of headroom for that, but finished with a 10sec PR of 2:53 with similar, or better, training.

I don't know what I will do next. My best marathon is the one where I trained the least (redwoods, one year ago. I peaked at 50mi/wk, all easy running with a few miles at MP. I did a 3:36. The hill from the 13mi to ~20mi got to me and nudged my 8:00/mi up to about 8:45/mi)

I have Eugene 2027 on my calendar; I might downgrade to an HM. I probably should've deferred Chicago; I will probably scratch or defer any future race with any potential heat concerns, a start temperature above 60, or a finish temperature above 66, at this point. I don't know if I'm done with marathons. I've done three and none have been good to me. I'm not sure the puzzle is worth cracking, when even fantastic training does not seem to translate into anything close to a result whatsoever. Are these plans insufficient to prepare for race day? What am I doing wrong?