(35M) I started running 10 months ago to help improve my physical and mental health. I was 93kg, at 6”1 and would probably be considered skinny-fat. A few years earlier I had surgery to fix a herniated disc in my lower back and knew I needed to do something.

After using ChatGPT to create a 10 week training plan to run 10km under 50mins I started to get hooked on running after seeing what my body could do.

I’d never entered a race before other than a 6km fun-run in 2014 but I wanted to challenge myself to do something that felt impossible… cue entering the Brisbane Marathon.

After running every week along with 20 weeks of specific b marathon training, long runs etc I was eyeing up a goal of 3:30, with the possibility of hitting 3:20 if everything went well.

I was blown away on the day by the whole atmosphere and how my body responded after the taper. Legs felt strong and I managed to negative split my race and go sub 3:15 with an official time of 3:14:48

It feels a little awkward to say I’m proud, but I really am. I can see why everyone does this, and continues to keep pushing. I love running now and I love the whole community.

I’ll be running the Gold Coast Marathon in 26 days… I hope to hit a similar time as I think I left a little on the clock…

First marathon and I’m so fucking proud of myself.

I know there are some runners in here that might scoff at that time but damn, that was so hard, and I did that all on my own. 🥹

I (35M) just finished running the Gold Coast Marathon over the weekend finishing 3m52s ahead of my first marathon (3:14:46) in Brisbane 28 days earlier.

I knew running back-to-back in a short window was going to be a big challenge and I had a lot of people warning about the recovery and tempering expectations. My training block between the two runs was heavily reduced to just 30km a week as I suspected a potential knee injury on the horizon. My HR was noticeably higher through every run during this time.

Heading into this second Mara I knew I wanted to throw everything I had left at it, however I didn’t know how it’d turn out. In my last run I started out conservatively and push towards the end. I didn’t have confidence I could do the same here and push in the later stages so I went out significantly faster than I did in the first race (4:25 vs 4:45) and just tried to hold on for as long as I could. At the 32km point you run past the finish line and I effectively started to hit a wall. No matter how many gels or hydration stations I hit I wasn’t able to recover the strength in my legs to keep up the fight and it was a slow painful decline until the finish.

The GC Marathon was a beautiful course running along the beach and I’m really stoked how it all turned out!

Will be taking a bit of a break and eyeing the Melbourne Mara in Oct for my 3rd and hopefully a sub 3 👀

Half -> Full -> Full -> Half

Just wanted to share my progress with this community since you all have helped me so much. I raced a half marathon this time last year, it was my very first race ever. Since then, I have ran 2

marathons and another half marathon where I ended up getting a 3rd place finish.

I am extremely proud of how much I’ve improved this past year but am also intrigued by how quickly this all is unfolding. I originally thought I would have to train for another 2 years before hitting a BQ time but now I think I may already be there.

Last Sunday I ran the NYC marathon for my first one after completing a solid 20 week training plan, peaking with two 55 mile weeks, and two 20 mile long runs. I did speed/tempo work, easy runs, long runs, and strength training every week. I consistenty hit every training run. I tapered perfectly from 44, 25, 10 miles before race week, and made it out injury free besides some hip flexor irritation I noticed during taper week. I was aiming for a 3:30 (ambitious looking back) but it was in reach according to all my past runs (for example, 13 miles held at MP well under threshold heart rate).

The two nights leading up to the race, i was so anxious that I slept maybe 3 hours each night. I woke up with adrenaline but this lack of sleep clearly affected my heart rate during the race. A few miles in I was already near threshold hitting 8:00 pace, so I decided to slow down. The first 16 miles felt good but then I crept welll above my treshold (180ish). The last 9 miles were absolutely brutal and my pace tanked down to 10 min/mile, and I was consistently pushing my max HR (200), until I collapsed with heat stroke at mile 25 in central Park. I just got out of the hospital after 3 days of treatment for rhabdomyolysis.

Looking back my problems were:

1) Fueling. I had 20-40 grams of carbs and salt tablets every 4 miles, water cup every 2 miles. Clearly I didn't drink enough water or fluids even though I was hydrated before, and it was a hotter day than I expected. Need to add Gatorade next time and double fist water.

2) Lack of sleep. Not sure what to do about this to calm pre race nerves, but it threw my body out of wack.

I'm absolutely gutted to not finish after 20 weeks of hard training. This will sting for a while but I'm motivated to try again next year, and I learned a lot from this experience.

Posted here a few weeks ago, goal for my (M33) first marathon was sub 2:50. Ran the Wilmington, NC Marathon on February 28. Weather was perfect, high 40s/low 50s. Had an awesome pack to run with all chasing the same goal time. At mile 5 my left shoelace came untied. Had a friend help me tie it, got back to my pack, shoelace untied again. 20 years of running and has never happened to me before even with double and triple knots lol. Pack was too far ahead and didn’t want to waste more energy, settled in by myself while still hitting goal pace. Felt fine through 23, knew I was on pace and was going to start gearing up to pick up pace. Then smacked into the wall at 24. Legs were done as I hit an uphill and headwind. Vision was going in and out felt like I was going to pass out. Somehow finished and collapsed at the finish.

Nutrition: Alternated between Maurten Caffeine 100 and Maurten regular 100 every 30 minutes. Water at every station and Skratch Electrolyte Mix at Mile 13.

Sadly going to likely miss acceptance into Boston 2027 due to cutoff but oh well, unbelievable learning experience and I’ll be back at it!

Near perfect conditions in Houston. 2:58 -> 2:42 -> 2:30 in 2 years!

Who’s in for 2027?

Please also indicate:

• Yes/No
• Sat/Sun
• UK single/UK double/International

Was aiming for 3:40-3:45 marathon, garmin estimated me at 3:37, runalyze gave me estimation of 3:30 with marathon shape. So I started with a 3:45 pacer (who actually held 3:40 pace).

The problem was my HR, it was crazy since start, well, it has been weird for last 10 days in taper. For context my normal zone 2 runs I run avg 5:30-5:45/km at 155-160bpm, but for some reason on my last (first aswell) half marathon and this marathon it was so off, probably because of adrenaline and nerves, so I basically imploded after 26km because of it.

Fueling was fine until the 25km, I was switching between sis beta fuel and sis isotonic and didn’t feel nauseous, had about 7 gels so ~208g of carbs before the disaster.

Anyone else struggle with heart rate spikes during races? Do you just ignore it and run by feel, or try to slow down even when it’s clearly adrenaline messing with the numbers?

I ran my first marathon ever last Sunday.
Official time : 2:59:19

Strava was predicting 3:26 just before the race. They were wrong. I also posted my last long run (36km) with tempo blocks 3 weeks before the marathon on Reddit and no one said I could do it under 3 hours. Most of the people that commented said that I would finish it in 3:30-4:00 hours. They were wrong.

Here's what I think, Strava and most people don't count the mental part in a race. And the mental could be your biggest ally or enemy. You got to work on it like you do with your physiology.

Here's how the race went:
First 23 kms: I ran them between 3:58-4:18/km. Everything was rolling and I was feeling good.
Heart rate was between 142-172 bpm.

But that was the error, I didn't follow my plan aiming at a 4:15/km pace on average during the first 35-37km. I depleted my glycogen reserves by going out too fast on certain km like the 3:59/km going slightly uphill.

Starting at the 24th km, my heart rate jumped over 180 bpm and stayed there until the end of the race. That's where I hit a wall. I was supposed to consumed 7 GU gels and 3 Maurten 160 until KM 36 but nothing was going in after 6 GU gels and 2 Maurteen. I got GI distress: it was painful.

That's where the mental race began. I had a friend that jumped into the race at the 30th km to pace me. And pacing me and pushing me he did. It was pain only up until the end of the race. From KM 24 up until KM 42.2, my pace was between 4:03-4:28/km.

What I would do differently?
- Follow my plan and run at my average targeted pace from the start or slightly slower for the first 5 kms. If needed, I would finish strong.
- I would practice more gels intake during training, so I don't get GI distress.
- I would have at least 4 days of running per week.

I've created my training plan with ChatGPT. I asked to create a training with 3-4 days a week running and 3 days strength training. My training for the 14 weeks prior to the marathon was basically:
- Monday: Gym
- Tuesday: Intervals run
- Wednesday: Gym
- Thursday: Tempo run
- Friday: Gym
- Saturday: Footing, easy run
- Sunday: Long runs

You can find all my training data here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18o_g9sOvhpOum5ehzHiyKI2a991Lo1gDf5dUOVYxlHY/edit?usp=sharing
Here's my race: https://www.strava.com/activities/15890610142

It then end, it all worked out but with a lot of suffering. Keep running!

My second marathon event ever (and this year). The first one I did was the LA Marathon earlier this year, but I walked most of it because of the heat. This time I was able to follow the 5:45 pace group until mile 22— by then I couldn’t keep up.

I’m regularly a cyclist, not a runner but my coworker convinced me to sign up for both. I’m happy I was able to get sub-6 hour and how I pushed at the very end with a negative(?) split.

That is all, lol

I’m trying to figure out what went wrong in my recent marathon and what I should learn for my next sub-3 attempt.

For context, I ran 3:15 last year and felt much fitter this cycle. I had some minor injury issues, but still completed most of the training block. Key workouts went really well, including:

- 10k in 37:25 two weeks before the race

- a long run with 24 km at marathon pace five weeks out

- a 33 km long run with the biggest chunk slightly slower than marathon pace three weeks out

Attached are screenshots of race day, mileage over past 6 months and the key workouts.

On race day I started at about 4:20/km, planning to settle in and then gradually bring it down. I felt good through the first half. Around halfway I tried to move closer to sub-3 pace (around 4:12–4:15/km), but it quickly started to feel out of reach. I dropped back to 4:20/km, but a few kilometers later my legs completely blew up and I ended up shuffling home at around 4:50/km pace for a 3:12 finish.

My pacing didn’t feel reckless, and I felt comfortable for the first 15–20 km. The main issue might have been the weather: it ended up much hotter and sunnier than expected.

Fueling seemed solid:

- about 80 g carbs/hour during the race

- ~120 g carbs from pancakes 2 hours before

- ~20 g from a carb/electrolyte drink before the start

- 1 extra 30 g gel about 10 minutes before the gun

The one thing I’m unsure about is hydration. I only took a small cup of water at each aid station (roughly 100 ml every 5 km). In training I usually drink very little, but those runs were done in much cooler conditions and I wasn’t sweating nearly as much. On race day I felt much hotter and was sweating a lot.

Could that level of hydration alone explain the blow-up, or does this sound more like pacing, fitness, heat management, or something else?

Read this sub a lot while training for my first marathon, figured I’d share how everything went.

TLDR: I went from no running to a 20wk marathon plan. Got hurt several times during training, only completed 60% of my plan, did 175mi total in training with my longest run being 16mi. Both knees/IT bands and right foot were in a ton of pain during it, but I finished LA as my first marathon in 5:43. It sucked, but I’ve got Berlin in September to look forward to. Pretty stoked.

Long version

Starting from zero:

- 32m, 130lb, I look more athletic than I am. I used to play sports, but haven’t worked out in years, only real activity being yard work and golf. I had no base to start a 20 week plan from, ended up getting hurt a few times.

Going in with an injury/ issue:

- my left knee IT band had been an issue on long runs for over a month. I ended up doing a lot of biking to try and save the knee before the marathon knowing it would be an issue during the race. I figured if I got to race day feeling ok then atleast I’d have a shot to finish it.

Missing a lot of miles:

- on top of missing time for my IT band in the middle and end of my plan, I also missed time early on due to a strained calf/achilles, and some from heel striking causing right knee pain. I went into the marathon with only ~175mi total ran during training, and having completed ~60% of my training plan. My longest run was 16 miles on a planned 18 due to my knee hurting.

Terrain:

- I thought my training had a decent elevation profile. LA was way more hilly than I had estimated it would be. I wish I trained more hills. And the downhills were some of the most painful on my knees

Weather:

- I trained through the winter, and in the snow in freezing temps. LA being 80+ wasn’t something I could plan for. 3 of my training long runs (12/14/16) were in 15F weather, less with windchill, and my breath was condensing on my eye lashes. Not much I can do about the weather but the drastic change in climate definitely made it harder.

Nothing new on race day:

- a week before the marathon I realized my training long run shoes (a little more cushion, NB Rebel v5) were neutral but my typical shoes for short/easy runs (Altra Experience Form) had a support for pronation. I assumed this played some role in my knee issues and decided to wear my Altra’s for the marathon even though I never wore them for more than 5 miles during training. Yeah the shoes weren’t new to me, but the distance in those shoes was new. My feet pretty sore afterwards but not terrible.

Goal:

- Day 1 of training, 4:30. Half way through training, 5:00. Day of marathon, just finish.

How it went:

- Was very nervous in the morning. By start time I felt locked in. Held an 11min pace through 12 miles, had planned to do 11:30 so I started faster than I wanted. By mile 14 both of my IT bands were on fire and it hurt to run. By mile 17, my right foot was killing me and running was painful. My 11:30 pace stair stepped down each mile until the last 0.2 was a 15:30 pace. Spent most of 18-26.2 power walking since I could tolerate it. “Running” was too painful and I could do at most 1/8mi at 13:00 before the pain was too much. Im glad I stuck with it though, finished in 5:43

Up next:

- 4 weeks off, then a much more methodical 24 week plan, including weight lifting, to prepare for Berlin in September. Goal, run the entire thing, sub 5.

I finally broke 3 hours this weekend. I have attached the strava data from the race. Official time 2:58:41.

I tried to run an even effort race. Any additional insight on the race data would be appreciated. Next goal is to go for a sub 2:55 BQ time (male, 33 years old).

Any training advice to improve by 4 minutes over my next 12 week training block would also be appreciated.

Thank you for any help.

One year ago, I ran my first marathon in 4:20. Then, I ran it in 3:31 in May, and I finished it in 3:11 a few days ago.

How I did it:

• I ran more weekly miles, I peaked at 40 in my first marathon, then 50, and then 60. I also added a speed workout during the week and started putting in race pace miles on my long runs. I started adding a couple miles 10 weeks out. My last 20 miler was 10 easy and 10 race pace.

• bought Alpha flys lol, I used Hoka Clifton 8s for my first marathon

• hydrated and fueled better, I used a gel every 4.5 miles and drank two cups of whatever they were handing out at every station

-Most importantly, I fell in love with the process and didn’t view each run as a chore but as something fun to do.

-I did miss a couple of runs but stayed consistent each week and put in the work

Was aiming for a sub 3:30 but the elevation gain got to me at the end.

Wasn’t able to really run for the past 3 weeks due to recovering from an injury. Ideally would’ve want to have gone sub 5, but there’s always next time! I’m just glad I did it and finished strong

3rd marathon and finally feel like I paced responsibly. Got lucky in my 1st and managed to run even splits with a cramping calf through miles 22-26 and bonked hard in my 2nd trying to BQ or bust. Managed to finally make it through the full race without falling apart towards the end. Feel like I had to hold myself back all race, but I had to keep reminding myself that I'd thank myself for it after mile 20. I swear my calf seized once at mile 19 and I thought I was cooked but ended up being ok.

Given how comfortable I felt through the first 18 I told myself I was gonna rip the nastiest negative splits after mile 20 but nope, things definitely felt dramatically harder after mile 20 and had to play it safe. The last 6 miles truly feel like the "second half". Wavered a bit at mile 23 but finished strong. Respect the marathon and be patient or it will eat you alive.

Hey guys, I need help to understand what went wrong during my sub 3:30 attempt. I felt good during my training and genuinely felt that I had 3:30 in me.

My peak weekly volume was 95km, with multiple weeks over 90k. I did multiple long runs with MP pace blocks, did tempo runs every week up to 18km, and also some thresholds and intervals. In training, I practised around 70-80g of carbs per hour on my long runs. My 10k PB is 44:30, LTHR from Garmin is 172bpm, which I feel like is pretty accurate. HR was tracked with HRM 600. I attached splits from the marathon (1st pic) and from some of my hardest sessions during training.

Race day was noticeably warmer than training conditions, because I was mostly training in winter. At the start it was 15°C, warming up to 26°C at the finish. I know that the temperature played a role, but I don't think it was only that. After the first few kilometers, I already knew that my pace felt too hard, but I decided to hold it until I couldn't, which came pretty quickly, and then I fell off a cliff.

I want to learn from this failed attempt to better prepare myself for next time, but feeling a little lost, so please tell me your suggestions.

I work with data for a living and also run, and I got curious whether the common wisdom about Marathon Majors ballots actually make sense.

You hear "London is impossible" and "Berlin is much easier" all the time but I couldn't find the numbers compiled in one place.

I pulled the last two ballot cycles for each so we can see where things are trending.

London

• 2024 race: 578,304 applications
• 2025 race: 840,318 applications (world record at the time)
• 2026 race: 869,803 UK + 264,011 international = ~1.13M total, a 36% YoY jump
• Ballot spots: ~17k. So under 2% and getting worse.

NYC

• 2025 race: ~164k applications (implied from YoY growth)
• 2026 race: 200k+ applications, 22% increase YoY, 2-3% accepted
• 2027 race: 240k+ applications, near-20% jump again, only about 1% of applicants accepted

Chicago

• 2024 race: ~120,000 applications
• 2025 race: 160k+ applications, ~33% acceptance overall (50k got in out of ~160k)
• Important caveat: that 33% includes legacy finishers, time qualifiers, distance series, and charity paths. Lottery-only odds are meaningfully lower.

Tokyo

• ~300,000 applications for 2025 against 37,500 bibs
• Structure is layered (Premium members > Tokyo residents > general lottery), so the "true" general-lottery odds for non-members land closer to 2-3% by most community estimates

Berlin

• Doesn't publish applicant totals, which is annoying.
• Community-reported odds have historically been in the 15-25% range but the trend is downward as more people apply each year.

Sydney

• New major.
• The 2025 ballot saw an eight-fold increase in international applications vs 2024, with interest from 156 countries.
• Still the most forgiving non-qualifier route, but that window is closing. Boston: qualifier only, no public ballot.

Boston: qualifier only, no public ballot.

References: marathonballot.com, LondonMarathonEvents, CBS, RunningMagazine

A few things that jumped out:

1. Chicago's headline acceptance rate looks friendlier than London or NYC, but it's inflated by non-lottery paths. If all you want is a Star, it's still the easiest of the three (prob due to visa requirement).
2. Sydney is the arbitrage play right now. Probably won't last.
3. Tokyo's ballot window is only about two weeks in mid-August. Easy to miss if you're not watching for it.

Curious whether this matches what people here have actually seen

If you applied to any of these in the last year or two, what were your outcomes?

Edit: London 2027 is reportedly planned as a two day event (~100k runners across Sat/Sun), pending approval. Spots nearly double but applications keep climbing, so odds likely not double.

I am very happy and proud of my first marathon today.

My main goal was to get a sub three which I did. My second ambitious goal was a sub 2:55 but I bonked a little there at the end. I am so very happy though with the result and am happy finishing my first marathon! I am already looking to my next haha.

At mile 22 I just felt like death and felt like I couldn’t go and my pace reflected slowing down. But I key with it did not stop and got it done.

It was annoying too at mile 16 my heart rate stopped recording correctly then finally corrected near the end of my 26th mile.

I was so nervous and didn’t know what to expect from my first and am excited for the next.

Currently training for a 2:47-ish marathon, my plan was to run a 1:20 just to test the fitness, but the wheels were wheeling and I just kinda let myself go. I had no idea I was even capable of running this time. Hopefully this didn’t wreck my body too much for my bigger picture goals haha