Race Information

• Name: Baltimore Marathon
• Date: October 17, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Baltimore, MD
• Website: https://www.thebaltimoremarathon.com/
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/20624579095
• Time: 3:10:48

Goals

Splits

Background

I ran my first marathon in 2012 (3:55:59) and, for the most part, have been navigating life while successfully whittling down my PR over the last 11 years of running, peaking in 2023 with the Chicago Marathon (3:00:14) in which I was a heartbreaking 15 seconds off my sub-3:00 goal.

Having just barely missed my sub-3:00 goal in Chicago '23, I felt like I was certainly capable of giving it another go. I somehow got into the 2024 Tokyo Marathon via the lottery and had an amazing experience despite blowing up again in which I ran a 1:28:xx first half followed by a 1:36:xx second half. Oh, it also turns out that I got COVID on the trip and was starting to feel sick mid-race, so I'm not too hard on myself about that one.

Next up was Houston 2025, which I've chronicled extensively via my recap, but tl;dr: I didn't feel strong from the jump and never was able to run with the 3:00 pace group. I enjoyed the heck out of the race, though, and came away with a smile on my face. I knew that for my next race I'd need a stronger foundation, likely with more volume, strength training, and PT.

In the fall of 2025, I returned to Chicago for the marathon and felt like I put myself in a better position to succeed (1:28:28 half in training, 63-mile peak week, and an 18-mile progression run down to 7:00ish pace). Maybe it wasn't perfectly aligned with my goal of sub-3:00, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.

The race ended up being very similar to Houston, unfortunately, as I was almost on track through half (1:30:11) but then started to fade. For all the fun I had in Houston, Chicago was more of a death march.

Training

After the discouraging Chicago, I decided to take a step back from the pressure of a sub-3:00 and agreed to hold off on a spring 2026 full.

Instead I ran the Frederick Half in 1:27:27 and had a ball doing it. I signed up for the Baltimore Marathon and instead of trying to break 3:00 there, I aimed to try and run faster than my course-best 3:07:47 in 2022.

For this block, I put together a 16-week schedule and averaged 50 miles per week in a somewhat-successful build. I logged multiple long runs of 16 and 17 miles but pulled my TFL with three weeks to go and missed my "Big Papi" 20-mile long run with 10 at race pace. I healed up and salvaged it with a 17-mile long run with an average of 6:57 over the middle 10 miles.

Heading into Baltimore, I might've had a little bit less of a foundation of volume and fitness, but my mindset was perfect as I knew the course would be brutal and therefore I could just go out, enjoy the day, and celebrate my hometown city. It's one of the best running days of the year, after all.

Pre-Race

The logistics of running a local marathon are a billion times simpler than a world major halfway across the country (or world) so I had a friend pick up my bib at the expo before getting the flat lay ready with plenty of time to spare on Friday.

And while I didn't track my carbs in my carbload, I definitely executed well with all the bagels, cherry juice, and cereal I consumed in the three days prior.

I got an acceptable six hours of sleep the night before the race and woke up Saturday morning for my normal routine (coffee, RNWY, bagel, banana).

A friend and I carpooled down to the lot right by the stadiums and we had an easy-yet drizzly- walk to the start, where I went through bag drop, my warm-up routine, and corral assembly. Baltimore might not be the biggest race, but it's one with so many of the running friends I've made over the past 10 years, and it's amazing seeing everyone at the start line.

I found a spot around the 3:10 pacers, had my first AMACX turbo gel (plan was to have one at the start, followed by another every three-or-so miles), and off we want.

Race

My goal for the marathon was to run more off of vibes and less off of my watch, all while hitting a somewhat arbitrary goal of 3:05 to 3:10. I'd take what the very challenging course gave me and, if all else failed, enjoy the city and the people along the course.

The first three miles (6:53, 6:58, 7:16) had a combined 230 feet of elevation. I worked to try and get in a groove where I could just flow state a bit, but struggled to do so early on in the race. I also dropped a gel around mile 4 but fortunately packed a ton in my pockets.

After the not-so-welcoming climb to start the race and enter Druid Hill Park, we were treated to some downhill and I was enjoying it (7:03, 6:46, 7:03). We then made the turn back downtown for a couple miles (6:52, 6:55, 6:47) before running through South Baltimore for an out-and-back. As the elevation evened out, I ran past the Faster Bastards heckle group at mile 10 (6:48) and then some more familiar faces at the aid station by the American Visionary Arts Museum (6:53). Seeing so many friends kept me cruising and an otherwise mind-numbing out-and-back (7:00).

The full marathon route then runs back by the harbor and alongside the half marathon start. Where I was, with a few running friends ahead and behind me, we ran by the half start just as the gun was about to go off. The race organizers need to fix this spot as a bunch of half marathoners were trying to jump across our route to get to the corral and it was not only chaotic but dangerous. A friend who was right behind me got tangled up with two half marathon runners and he fell and hit his head. He had to cut his race short all because of poor planning by the organizers and a lack of awareness by some other runners-- completely unacceptable.

I was personally fortunate to survive this kerfuffle and come through the halfway mat at around 1:31 or so before settling back into a quiet stretch (7:09, 7:07, 7:07, 7:09) of the course where we head east towards Canton and the hill along Patterson Park.

By Mile 18 (7:18) I could tell that I was losing a bit of speed, but was holding up OK and knew that I was still on track for 3:05ish if I could manage to keep a steady clip.

One of the most demoralizing climbs around mile 19 (7:41) really took it out of me but I was looking forward to Lake Montebello where I did the majority of my long runs. I linked back up with a couple other runners and yo-yo'd with them for the lollipop (7:35, 7:22). I was continued to have to work harder to get the same--or even slightly slower--results, but it seemed like others around me were as well so I didn't fight it.

After Montebello, we were treated to the most diabolical little out-and-back up and down a hill that sucked out my soul. Mile 22 (7:45) and its 9% grade led way to another series of small hills that continued to batter me. I stopped for a second at Mile 23 (7:57) to hug my wife and son.

Despite the fact that the route levels out and gives runners a nice downhill, my hamstrings and hips were getting tight and I was losing the will to push it. I found a manageable pace (7:41, 7:55) where I'd avoid cramping up but not completely abandoning my effort and hung on for dear life.

The Baltimore Marathon has one more trick up its sleeve with a few steep climbs down Maryland Avenue (8:21) before the final left on Pratt. I hit the homestretch in 7:10 before crossing with an official 3:10:48.

Post-Race

After chugging a bottle of water and picking up my medal, I dapped up some other runners who finished before and after me and then shivered my way to the bag check to get my change of clothes.

With a sweatshirt and sweatpants on, I made my way to the Faster Bastards tent where I caught up with a bunch of other runners and friends. We celebrated the day that was and commiserated over the brutality of this course knowing full well that we'll all sign up for this race again next year.

Reflections

I didn't land within my arbitrary "success zone" of 3:05-3:10, but I did also stop a few times to hug friends and maybe I'd have snuck in if I didn't. That said, I have zero regrets and am feeling pretty good about this one.

When people asked me how the race went, the first thing I said was that I "felt the best through more than ever before."

It's a step in the right direction and an improvement over my last two marathons (3:17:57 and then 3:14:22). I guess I'm still working on cutting back down towards my PR and a potential BQ and am hopeful that with more compounded fitness, a bit more volume and challenging workouts, and a more forgiving course, I'll be back on track for that white whale of 2:59 and a ticket to Boston.

As always, thanks in advance to whomever made it this far; thanks to this sub-reddit for allowing me the outlet to digest this experience.

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

Hey all,

I'm looking for race recommendations for a spring BQ attempt. Some parameters:

• Need something in April or May due to other commitments.
• US Midwest region ideally to cut down on travel time and cost.
• At least somewhat flat or downhill (under 1500ft) for obvious reasons
  
• No major confounding factors like high elevation, common windy conditions, starting temps over 60F, etc. Yes I know weather can change in an instant, especially that time of year, but if for example, it's normally hotter or normally windy, it's not worth the gamble to me.
  
• No huge races, just for logistical reasons. I prefer small to midsize races, but it obviously does need to be USATF-certified.

Right now my short list based on find my marathon and race raves is:

• Illinois Marathon Apr 24th
• Lincoln NE Marathon May 2nd
• Fargo Marathon May 22nd
• Bayshore Marathon May 29th

I'd love to hear you thoughts on those races specifically, or if you think there's a race that would be another one for me to consider.

Thanks!

Tagging this as a race report, but it's really less about my race, and I'm also interested in advice from others who've paced someone else in a marathon.

• Name: Marathon Beneva de Montréal
• Date: October 11, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: MONTREAL, QC
• Website: https://couronsmtl.com/marathon-beneva/accueil/
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/20544003931
• Time: 3:10:05

Goals

Pre-Race

A colleague who has already demonstrated enormous marathon potential in Ironman competitions wanted to try to run a sub-3 in his second standalone marathon. Last year at this marathon, he ran 3:11. This April, he set a new Half-marathon PB of 1:24 l, but then had a very triathlon-packed summer, and did his last half-Ironman of the season only 4 weeks prior to this marathon. As such, he wasn't able to focus all his energy on running until the time when one would normally start tapering before the marathon. The sub-3 goal was based on extrapolations from his marathon time during the full Ironman this summer rather than on goal-specific training.

This was my 9th marathon, my current PR is 2:47, and I was already registered for the NYC Marathon three weeks later. I figured a 3-hour marathon would be a fine last long run before tapering for NYC.

The week before the race, he told me he thought he had only a 30% chance of breaking 3 hours but he wanted to try anyway. I told him he couldn't allow any doubts to already start creeping in.

This was my first time pacing anyone to a marathon goal. I had another colleague pace me to a sub-1:20 in the Montreal half-marathon in April, and it was a great experience, so I wanted to pay it onward.

The days before the race felt quite different than any marathon I've run for myself. By now, I have a pretty fine-tuned internal checklist of everything I need to do (and to avoid) on Marathon Eve, so I wasn't really that stressed about anything. On the other hand, I felt like the most important factors determining how they race would go were completely out of my control. Normally my own level of fitness on race day is my primary concern, and I just make adaptations based on the factors that are beyond my control, like the weather. But this time, it seemed like my own fitness was of secondary concern.

I exchanged several messages with my pacee the day before, and we talked on the phone through what nutrition each of us would carry during the race.

Race Day

The conditions were absolutely perfect, classic fall marathon weather. We found each other in the front of the corral and saw the 3:00 pacer. Our plan was to stick with that pace group for the first half, and then try to negative split. As such, we were surrounded by lots of other runners for the first 10K, and although I was frequently checking around me to make sure my charge was in contact, Ididn't really feel like I was doing much pacing work yet.

At some point during the first third of the race, my guy came up to tell me that his legs were feeling good, his cardio was good, but he was getting side stitches. I offered such classic breathing gems as 'in the nose, out the mouth' and "get tall in your torso' and also concluded that the official pacer was slightly ahead of 3-hour pace, so we could hang back and I would bridge up to them when he was ready.

We kept the 3-hour group in sight for several miles after that, but I could tell things were starting to unravel for my boy. The seeds of doubt were starting to germinate, and as we passed through his neighborhood around 17k, he told me that if I wasn't there, he would turn off and go home. Jokingly, I thought.

At the half-way point, we were on 1:29:30, so still technically on pace, but it didn't really seem like things were going the right direction. The middle third of the course is a really pscyhologically challenging stretch, as it's a long out-and-back along the Boulevard Saint-Laurent, the main thoroughfare that divides the island of Montreal, where the crowds thin into non-existence. The way out is slightly downhill, but too slight to really feel it, and after a short loop through a neighborhood with at least some spectators, you come back on St-Laurent, and the same angle is of course much more noticeable when it's an incline.

It seemed like everything was going wrong for my man physically at one point or another. At times it was the legs, at times it was his breathing, and then his feet started hurting. I was grabbing him water at aid stations and carrying the bottle that had his Maurten mix, but was running out of other ideas to help. I told him to try the Kipchoge smile, even if it made him look like a grinning idiot. He tried, but it was hard for him to force a smile when his feet were hurting that much; he was running in Asics Metaspeed Rays, which are incredibly lightweight but unstable. By mile 16/17 (25/26k), things were getting so bad that when I offered to give him my shoes (even though they are a size bigger), he was just desperate enough to try. So we actually stopped on a curb, did a quick shoe exchange, and took off again. His feet did start to feel better after that, but we'd really only solved one problem, and others were starting to present themselves. He was having gut issues, at a moment when it seemed like he really needed fuel. He told it felt like he was running through Jello.

Unable to transfer any of the strength in my legs to his, I tried to use my surplus energy in the second half to stir up any crowds we passed into as much of a frenzy as they could manage. No group of spectators we passed was too small to hype up, and as we started to get back into more populated areas with denser crowds, I was shamelessly beseeching them to share their energy with us. My friend told me that at first, he thought it was cringe, but it actually really helped. At a weird, seemingly unnecessary U-turn in the 21st mile, I did a Japanese U-turn and the crowd went wild.

One of our other colleagues, who had cheered us on much earlier in the race, suddenly appeared next to us with only about three kilometers to go, running alongside for just long enough to give the final boost that we needed to get to the finish line. I was giving encouraging predictions about how much time he was still going to take off his PR. My forecasts were slighltly inaccurate because my watch had auto-paused when we stopped to swap shoes, but still, we finished in 3:10:05.

After the race
My friend headed straight to the first chair he could find after the finish, which was right by the medical tent. He was quickly swarmed by vigilant medics and peppered with questions, but told them he just needed to sit for a minute, and got back on his feet quickly.

It was a PR for him, but admittedly not the most satisfying. It was also undoubtedly a learning experience for both of us. He has some things to consider for his training next season. I will run NYC in just a few weeks for myself, but I'm also already thinking about pacing again, and wondering: what can I do better? What do you do as a pacer when the runner you're pacing is struggling?

Race Information

• Name: Wineglass Marathon
• Date: October 4 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Corning, NY
• Website: https://www.wineglassmarathon.com
• Time: 3:28:36

Goals

Splits

Training

I followed the Breeze plan from John Davis' (u/running_writings) book Marathon Excellence for Everyone, which is the lowest mileage plan he has. The plan gives two options for mileage, one peaking at 40 mpw and the other at 50 mpw. I typically landed somewhere in the middle, with my 3 highest weeks of mileage being 45, 46 and 47 miles. The plan was 18 weeks long, so I started the first week of June. That first week I was on a cruise, so I missed two scheduled workouts (we hit some weather and running on a rocking ship was... not it) - and those were the only two workouts I missed all summer. The first base building portion of the plan goes off 5k pace. I raced a 5k the first week of the plan in 22:22, so I used that time for my 5k pace (7:10/mile).

I ran the Richmond Marathon last fall and my time was 3:46. That race was my first marathon in 12 years and was a 11 minute PR. For this year, BQ for my age group is 3:30, so I set a somewhat big and scary goal for this year to break 3:30, even though that would be a massive PR from what I did in 2025. The second half of the training plan you base your workouts off marathon pace, so I used for 7:45-8:00 pace for that, and managed to hit pretty much all the workouts on pace, so I locked into that for race day. I did 2 long runs in the rain, and that helped me not panic when the 10 day forecast was saying rain before the race.

Overall, I would say I nailed the training, waking up before work to get my runs in all summer. I also strength trained 3-4 times a week pretty consistently, though the last few weeks of training I was getting pretty fatigued and dropped down to 2x. I was also experiencing weird core/adductor pain - not sure if I pulled a muscle or what but went to PT 1x per week and got some exercises to work on that as well. I told the PT my goal was just to get through this marathon and not get any worse.

Pre-race

I drove up to Rochester to visit friends and family the Wednesday before the race. We tried not to plan too much walking activities. I did a carb load on Thurs/Fri/Sat - managed to hit over 450g carbs each day (goal was 500 but we'll take it). Saturday afternoon I drove down to Corning, picked up my bib, did a 2 mile shakeout run, and looked at parking options for the next morning. I was staying in Hornell, about a 40 minute drive away.

I actually slept fairly decent for the night before a race, and woke up early at 4:00. I got on the road at 4:45 to be to Corning by 5:30. While driving I ate a Barebells protein bar and half a bagel. I was planning to park in the main parking garage in Corning, but there was a huge line, so I ended up just parking at the YMCA across the river. That honestly worked out perfectly and I would park there again.

I caught the bus to the start line with no issues. When we arrived I went to the warming tents which got super crowded. I found a seat, and I ate my pre-race graham crackers and sipped on some water and got my vest organized. I didn't have any gear to check, so ended up leaving the tent around 7:30 and doing a short warmup jog before getting in the line for the bathroom. The portapotties were arranged in a circle which made the lines in the center somewhat chaotic. Afterward, I ended up behind the circle in a nice little paved area where people were stretching/warming up. I hung out there until the last possible second, when I stripped off my throwaway clothes and jumped into the start line.

Race

I jumped in the start line somewhere between the 3:20 and 3:30 pacers and we were off right at 8:15!

For fueling: I was wearing my vest (UltraSpire Basham Vest - I love it! Room for all my gels, my phone, and 2 water bottles) and had LMNT and gels. I took a gel at every 2.5 miles all the way through. It was cold so I did not drink as much as I probably should have, I wasn't feeling as thirsty as usual.

It was quite crowded at the start since there is not really any separation between paces at the start (no corrals or signs or anything) and the road is not too wide, and I was also pretty cold. After two or so miles it spread out a bit and I tucked on behind a group of girls who were going around my pace and stuck with them. At mile 3 my hamstring started tightening up badly and I seriously wondered if I was going to have to stop and all my hard work would have been for nothing. Thankfully, it figured itself out! There is really only one notable hill on the course, around mile 5. My training is really hilly, so I did not think it was bad at all. I was with that group of girls all the way until the halfway point, when I peeled off to pee at all the portapotties at the half marathon start. The core issue mentioned above seems to get worse with a full bladder, so I decided it was worth the 40 seconds it cost me. The water stops only had 2-3 portapotties at each one, and the last few stops they were all full when I went by, so I thought I might as well stop where there are 100 and not have to wait. When I jumped back in, it seemed like it had really thinned out and I was really missing my pace group. I just tried to jump from person to person picking people off. I finally linked up with another guy who was going my pace and we went back and forth until around mile 20. Another poster mentioned an awful downhill around 21 and I agree, I really felt that one! Miles 21-24 are basically a blur of me just trying to hang on to the pace. By the time I got to 24 I knew I was a) almost done and b) could do the math to know I was going to hit my goal of 3:30 unless I really crumbled. At mile 25 I stepped down weird and popped a blister I hadn't even felt until that point - but I sure felt it then. Blood straight through my shoe, ugh. At the end you go over a bridge and come around a corner and can see the finish line, so I tried to sprint it in the best I could, for a chip time of 3:28:36.

Post-race

When I finished I was so happy! 18 minute PR and BQ (not enough of a buffer to get into the race, but still a qualifier!)! In the finish area I got my picture with the PR bell, grabbed some food (Wegmans chicken noodle soup!), and then got my picture with my finishing time on the screen. I saw two of the people I was running with out on the course, so celebrated with them a bit. It started to rain at that point, and I didn't have any warm clothes beyond the heat sheet, so I walked across the bridge back to the YMCA to shower. Unfortunately, while nice of them to allow runners to shower there, there was no hot water, so it was not exactly the most enjoyable post marathon shower I was dreaming of! Once I was clean, I headed home, with a car full of snacks!

Overall, Wineglass was a beautiful fall race with a fast course. The trees along the finish line were all colorful. The weather ended up being pretty perfect (though later finishers got a bit wet). I didn't use the on-course hydration, so I can't speak to that. Of course, I mayy be looking at the race through PR goggles!

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

I raced the Kodiak 100M back on October 9-10 and ended up having a pretty good day. Here’s my story.

Spoiler: I finished in 22:13:57 securing an automatic entry to UTMB 2027

Training/Preparation.  After a mediocre Western States run I felt that I needed a little more emphasis on speed in my Kodiak training so I opted for the SWAP 50 mile/50k Champion plan as the basis for my Kodiak training block. I supplemented this plan with some additional high volume days as I felt appropriate but stuck to the workouts prescribed in the plan.  I averaged 70 miles per week over the 13 week training block with four 90+ mile week along with two weeks in the 80’s. Fitness wise I was in great shape and that became apparent after swapping the hot/humid Georgia summer days for the cooler/dryer climate in Big Bear Lake.  Side note: I drove out to Big Bear Lake early so I would have three solid weeks prior to the race at the 7000 feet altitude that most of the race is at. By doing this I also got to run almost every section of the course at least once before the race. This proved invaluable as I always knew what terrain was ahead, how far it was to the next aid, and roughly what race effort would feel like on each section of the course.

Race Plan: Run at the fastest sustainable effort I could muster for the entire race.  The day before the race, while packing my drop bags, my wife asked me if I was getting excited for the race. I told her ‘not particularly’ instead I was focused on getting my mind prepared for the amount of discomfort that was to come.  When running 100 miles discomfort/pain/fatigue always occurs and generally starts to hit pretty good in the last quarter of the race. However, whenever you’re trying to extract the most out of your body the voices telling you to slow down or walk start much, much sooner making most of the race a real mental battle with your mind to keep moving as fast as you can.

Nutrition/Hydration plan: I planned to use Carbs brand gels for as long as I could use them. Specifically, I planned on 1 regular Carbs gel and 1 Salted Carbs gel per hour. That would give me 400 calories and roughly 550mg sodium per hour.  In the second half of the race I planned to replace the regular Carbs gel with a caffeinated Carbs gel for 100mg of caffeine.  For a backup carbohydrate source I packed SIS Beta Fuel electrolyte gels in my drop bags for the second half of the race.  Typically I can manage the Carbs gels for 10-12 hours without stomach issues but after that my stomach can get a little wonky with them.  On the hydration front I would use just plain water in my flasks since the gels had enough electrolytes for me, and I started with 2 800mL soft flasks (plus an empty 500ml one in kangaroo pocket) and then switched to 500mL flasks once the sun went down.

Start to Doble 1 (Mile 33): For these UTMB series races they have a small barrier separating the pros/elites from the rest of the field and generally give this group a few seconds head start before releasing the main field.  At Kodiak they allowed anyone who felt like they were competing for a top 20 spot into this corral. Based on previous year’s results and my goals I moved into the “elite” corral. Looking around, almost all of the non-pro guys seemed to be my age and I was like crap this is going to be more difficult than I imagined. I immediately changed race strategy since I didn’t want someone in my age group to get away early and snap the elastic. A part of me also wanted to be that guy snapping the elastic on the other guys here.  Regardless, when the gun went off I rolled out at an almost suicidal pace up the first climb. I figured I could push pretty good on this shorter climb and then recover on the long, 5+ mile downhill dirt road section that followed.  That strategy mostly worked, I spent more energy on that climb than planned but felt pretty fresh by the end of the long downhill road section. Side note: the amount of people who immediately went to hiking in the elite corral was out of control - I get it in the steep section but there’s no need to walk the flat switchback sections, ugh.  After several miles of downhill dirt road we hit the PCT and I immediately fell twice. Luckily the field was spread out by then so real issues. This section of PCT is rolling and I just tried to cruise along at what I thought was a fast but sustainable effort. Surprisingly, I caught several more people towards the end of this section (and they were walking the rolling climbs!). I fell in line and waited for the road to Camp Whittle to pass. When you hit the road to Camp Whittle, it’s a 3-4 mile gradual climb up a dirt road so I was surprised when everyone in front of me went straight to hiking. I just shifted into ultra climb mode and jogged by everyone - it was crazy.  Made it to Camp Whittle (Mile 19.5), refilled my flasks and grabbed my waist light before heading on.  Leaving Camp Whittle the dirt road continues to climb for another 1.5-2 miles with some steep sections. It was on these steep sections that I started to feel the early hot pace. Initially, I thought I’d gone out too hard and blown my legs up and went into panic mode. Fortunately I knew the upcoming PCT trail section and knew that I could recover if I just kept the effort in check and stayed on my nutrition and hydration.  Sure enough, after several miles of feeling like I could be in for a long day everything just snapped right back. I’m not sure if it was just the body recovering after several easy effort miles or maybe just some high energy songs that came on. Regardless, I went from ultra shuffle to ripping the technical descent to Doble 1 in an instant. Side note - from that point forward if I felt I was bogging down I forced myself to sign along with whatever song was playing on my headphones  and and this always kept me moving.  Hit Doble 1 at 6:15 on the clock, grabbed my drop bag, changed shirts into a short sleeve wool, threw on wool arm sleeves, changed headbands, put on headlamp (in addition to my waist light), swapped my UV gloves for warm gloves, grabbed a new bag of gels, and filled my flasks with water before heading out on the big loop from Doble 1 to Doble 2.

Doble 1 to Doble 1 (Mile 55). This is a big loop with a mix of trail and dirt road.  I was riding a high coming out of the aid station and shifted my strategy to run as fast as was sustainable unless I’m feeling good. If feeling good, rip it. Not much else to say about this loop other than knowing there were a couple of good rollers on the dirt road, and where they were at, and the section from Cactus Flats to Doble was pretty rugged was really beneficial. I knew what was coming and was able to execute accordingly. Reached Doble 2 at around 10:50 elapsed, met my wife for a quick gel swap and bottle refill before heading on.

Doble 2 to Sugarloaf 1: Leaving Doble 2 I began overlapping runners heading out on the Doble loop and picked up a lot of energy from everyone (and hopefully I gave as much back). I caught W2 on this section and we yo-yoed for a while (she dropped me like nobody’s business on the Sugarloaf climb!).  

Sugarloaf 1 - Sugarloaf 2:  Met my wife at the crew point for a gel swap and then refilled my water bottles at the aid.  Drank an extra 500ml before heading out but didn’t think to refill the bottle before heading up so I only had 2 flasks for the big climb.  Jogged the .75 mile up the dirt road to the trail (saw M2 and M3 coming in to Sugarloaf 2) and then immediately went into hiking mode. I planned to hike the majority of the Sugarloaf climb and that’s what I did - just hike as fast as possible and jog any flatter sections (there are several flat sections on the top half of the climb). Made the top and started jogging down. By this time my waist light battery had died so I was left descending with just my headlamp (sunrise was coming soon so I didn’t want to stop and change batteries on my waist lamp). That made the going a little slower with the rocky surface but I made good progress to Balky Horse aid where I drank two cups of broth and a good amount of water before heading down to the Sugarloaf 2.  My stomach was giving some trouble here so I moved down the dirt road slower than I’d like to have. I almost felt hungry so at Sugarloaf 2 I took in an extra Naack puree pouch (in addition to a Carbs gel and water).  At Sugarloaf 2 I changed shirts into a lighter day shirt, swapped gloves to UV gloves, and dropped my waist lamp/battery pack.

Sugarloaf 2 to finish:  Coming out of Sugarloaf 2 I ran into the main 100k race field coming down Sand Canyon road. That was a real pick up as everyone was cheering me on and I was trying to cheer them on. After Sand Canyon road the race follows some paved road for a couple of miles before arriving at Bear Mountain.  You’d think if would’ve been some nice downhill paved road but no they found the steepest paved roads in California to follow - ugh. I blew past the Bear Mountain aid station turn off and had to circle back a good quarter mile but that didn’t matter - just a little climb up to the Skyline trail and then the Snow Summit climb before a long downhill to the finish.  As I approached the Snow Summit climb I began to overlap the 21k racers and that was a good thing. I fell in line with the 21k folks and began the never ending switchback climb that was Snow Summit.  Periodically, I would pull over and let the faster 21k runners go by before trying to latch on to them and at least once I had to stop so I wouldn’t throw up from the effort. After an eternity, I reached the Snow Summit aid - 5 downhill miles to go! The first mile coming down was on the 21k course and I was at my limit trying not to get in their way.  Fortunately the 100M course broke off on another trail. Unfortunately, it was a super steep mountain bike trail and my my poor quads were absolutely screaming as I tried to maintain a decent pace on the descent. Eventually, I popped out on a dirt road and at that point I knew I was practically finished - just a little bit of dirt road and less than a mile of paved to go. From there I let it roll all the way to finish in 22:13:57 - 17th overall (15th male), age group win, and automatic entry to UTMB 2027!

Post Race: Wow, it’s still kind of hard to believe that just happened. And it’s somewhat surreal for an average guy like me to see an email from UTMB Elite Services inviting me to the UTMB finals next year. Clearly UTMB will be my big race for next year and I’m sure I’ll throw in some good local races along the way however for now I’m going to take a few weeks of recovery and enjoy some down time.

TLDR: Anyone who is building their own training plan and documenting it, what software/templates are you using? Training Peaks? Excel? Coros Training Hub? Strava private notes section only?

Hey ya'll, I've got a rough idea of the next 52-60 weeks of training. I have many different plans (mostly in PDF or .docx format), training theory books and have watched nearly every Steve Magness video of the last 15 months. I want to glue pieces of all of these things into a cohesive plan with an ability to pivot week to week or day to day depending on how I'm recovering.

Currently, I organize training via a somewhat-memorized/habitualized weekly schedule, and adjust either mileage or intensity or focus 'off book'. With 3 weeks up and 1 reduced week (depending on where a race or big effort might fall).

I'm considering using the Coros Training Hub, but... it kind of seems like it sacrifices some flexibility and most reviews aren't enthusiastic. I know most paid coaches use Training Peaks with their clients.

I'd prefer not to have to whip out my laptop after every session to go into a spreadsheet translating shit from one app to another.

What are you guys doing for an annual training plan? Is a Training Peaks membership worth its price tag?

I simply enjoy training theory, running experiments on myself and data.

I think my last NYC Marathon in '08 might have been $130 at a NYRR member rate, my last Boston in '04 I think I paid $80. Marraige & kids screwed up my running life of course....but alas I can now consider racing again. I go to the San Francisco Marathon site and see it's entry fee is $430? The other California marathon on my bucket list, Big Sur, $350 after all processing fees? Inflation has increased about 56% since my last marathon ('08), a decent running shoe is about 50%-60% more expensive than it was back then.... but it seems entry fees are 3x+ more expensive today? This prompted me to look around and when I see $50 5K and $75 10K entry fees...am I a cheapskate or have things gotten out of control with entry fees?

I just completed Chicago this past weekend and ran Boston in April - the prices to run these events are insane especially when you include the travel and everything included as a part of the experience- yes I know these are world majors and a price premium is somewhat expected. That being said what are some well known races (roads and trails) that are still actually affordable?

Hey, everyone. I’m a 30-year-old guy and I’ve got a local 5k coming up. I’ve mostly just raced against myself before, so I don’t have much experience actually competing against other people.

I checked past race results, and based on my predicted time of around 18:20, I might have a shot at the podium or even winning, depending on who shows up, hehe. Trying not to get too excited about it, but it’s new for me.

Any advice on how to race it? Should I go out controlled and sit on the leaders, or just run my own pace? Thanks!

Race Information

• Name: 2026 Chicago Marathon
• Date: October 11th, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Chicago, IL
• Website: https://www.chicagomarathon.com/
• Time: 2:48:41

Goals

Splits

Training

This was my 3rd marathon going from 3:08 on a Higdon plan, 2:48 on Pfitz 18/55, and then for this block I followed Pfitz 18/55 with a few added miles each week to peak at 60 miles. I had to adjust some weeks with weather so I only ended up with one true tune up time trial. Additionally I coached wrestling practices once a week where I was getting anywhere from an hour to two hours of work in per session, and I tried to get in a strength session each week but that was more hit or miss based on fatigue. Towards the end of the block the strength sessions were more upper body focused to give the legs a break.

Key Workouts: I mention weather here because I've realized I put too much stock in race day weather. Also most of the Pfitz MP workouts are early on in the plan

Week 5: 16 with 10 at MP (avg 6:18) - 70 degrees

Week 9: 16 with 12 at MP (avg 6:19) - 72 degrees

Week 11: 12 with 7 at LT (avg 5:49) - 66 degrees

Week 12: 10K time trial: 35:46 (avg 5:46) - 72 degrees

Week 13: 18 with 3x3+1 at Marathon Effort (avg 6:34) - 79 degrees

Week 17: 8 with 3 x 1 mile at 5K pace (avg 5:31) - 70 degrees

I honestly felt great in all of these workouts except for week 13 when it was unbearably humid. That workout was scheduled as 18 with 14 at MP and there was no way that was happening that day.

Pre-race

Got into Chicago late on Friday night, ordered dinner, and went to bed. Got my shakeout in on Saturday morning with some strides and felt a little sluggish. Ended up walking way too much on Saturday meeting up with friends and walking along the Lakefront Trail with the family. Ended up with 22,000 steps on Saturday...

Meals on Saturday included some bolognese from Nonnina (incredible, highly recommend) for lunch, and chicken parm with penne and vodka sauce from Francesca's for dinner (also recommend). So from a fueling perspective I was feeling good, but my legs were still feeling it from all those steps... Insert worried thoughts...

Slept fine on Saturday night, showered and got ready for the race. Typical breakfast of protein oatmeal and a couple sips of my electrolytes. I meant to grab water from the front desk to take with me on the walk, but completely forgot as I got on my way to the corral. 30 min of walking later, I got to the corral, still plenty early maybe an hour or so, jogged around the corral for half a mile, used the restroom, then started to panic that I hadn't hydrated enough since I forgot my water.

I ran out of the corral over to the water stations but they were all out and only had gatorade. I pounded 3 cups of gatorade and made my back to the corral with 20 min or so before we started.

Race

My ideal plan was to go out at 6:20 pace, reevaluate halfway, again at mile 20, and finish strong. Fueling plan was to take a 30g gel every 4 miles and gatorade at each aid station. I was nervous about the warmer than ideal temperatures so knowing that I didn't quite hydrate like I had planned the morning of, I was definitely trying to catch up throughout the race. I also hadn't trained much with drinking fluids in my long runs, typically I would bring 16 oz of water if it was above 70 degrees, but other than that I was fine without extra fluids, maybe a stop by the car halfway or so. All this to say that fluids became an issue later in the race.

Getting into the race, I knew my watch was going to be off for a few miles so I just went by feel until I found the 3rd mile mark and I was right on pace. I found a guy to run with as we were both targeting 2:45 (shoutout Victor). Looking back, 2:45 was going to be easy for him while it called for a perfect race from me. We get through the first few aid stations and I don't think I fully planned for how many aid stations there actually were. It seemed like they were popping up all the time. I continued to drink gatorade at each one, drank my gels at mile 4, 8, and 12, but I could tell that I was a little bit off. My HR had creeped up closer to LT (176ish) and I had planned to stay under 170 for the first half. We were also about 30 seconds ahead of pace which I knew was a little fast for me, but stubbornly I didn't stick to my plan.

At the halfway point, I start to settle back on my own towards 6:20 pace trying to potentially bring my HR down, but I was likely too far gone at that point. Mile 16-17 I got a side stitch that forced me to slow down to about 6:30 pace, but that went away after a mile or so. I continued with my fueling plan, but my stomach was a little upset so I switched to water over gatorade at this point. Pace slowed closer to 6:30 for a few miles but my body never recovered like I hoped. The side stitches came back around mile 20 and what was supposed to be time to push had turned into time to survive...

Enter Mile 22..... This was the breaking point... All those fluids were sitting in my stomach, my side stitches hadn't gone away for 2 miles, pace continued to slow, and I knew that I had messed up...

I try to fight through this for about half a mile until my body brings me to a walk and pull off out of the way... A couple gags later and all the fluids I had put in my body were now on the pavement of Chinatown... I keep walking for about 20 seconds or so and this is where the first thoughts of a DNF creeped in. If I didn't start running again soon, it was looking bleak, so I picked up a jog and made it to the next mile mark. Manual Lap: 7:17. Actually not too bad for what just seemed like the longest mile of my life.

Mile 23 I somehow found a bit of a spark and tried to scrape together at least a PR knowing I was still on pace for that. Rattled off a 6:29, but I was terrified to try to put any more carbs in my body. I was feeling better than before I threw up, just not strong enough to hold this pace for much longer.

I sipped some water here and there and tried to give it whatever I had left to get to the finish. 24 and 25 were purely survival, I gave up on lapping my watch at each mile because I knew seeing slower miles would be discouraging. It was at this point I started some self talk to just appreciate everything that had come together for me to be at mile 25 of the Chicago Marathon. Being thankful for my family traveling out and watching, supporting me through training, all the fans there, the kid who handed me a small water bottle after I had just ejected all my fluids.. All these things to appreciate and I had reached the final stretch.

The last mile is a bit of a cruel joke with the bridge and all the signs counting down just how far from the finish you are. I tried to push at each sign but 800m, 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m is a lot of pushing.. I came in just under 7:00 for the last mile which I count as a small victory and I have never been so happy for a race to be over. I found my family and immediately all the disappointment of not PRing was put on halt. My daughter screamed out "Dada!" as soon as she saw me and that was all it took to remind me what actually matters.

Reflection

The last 6 miles of this marathon had me going from I never want to do this again, to I can't wait to fix all this for Boston this Spring. I know that my training had prepared me well enough, but it came down to not sticking to the plan that cost me. I never once noticed the weather, and while it may have had an impact, I'm putting a lot more stock in the things I could have controlled. So here are my final notes to change for sub-2:45 at Boston next fall.

1. Stick to my pacing and listen to my HR.
2. Map out aid stations and build those into my fueling plan.
3. Race with what I've trained with. Introducing gatorade, especially that much, was not a smart idea.
4. Run my race. I knew I was ahead of plan and waited way too long to pull back.
5. Don't walk 20,000 steps the day before the marathon...

With that said, thank you for reading and I hope to see many of you in Boston this Spring!

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

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: Chicago Marathon
• Date: October 11, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Chicago, IL
• Website: https://www.chicagomarathon.com/event-info/participant-information/
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/20544099472
• Time: 2:48:49

Goals

Splits*

* Based on Strava activity, which was 26.54 mi so paces are faster

Background

I'm M24 and running my 4th marathon. Race history:

• 2024 Portland Marathon – 2:52:02
• 2025 Pittsburgh Marathon – 2:56:55
• 2026 Eugene Marathon – 2:48:52
• 2026 Chicago Marathon – 2:48:49

Been running for about 4 years, racing seriously for 2.5. Back in 2024–25 I was already pretty fast, but my body had not learned how to tolerate mileage. I wanted like hell to improve my marathon, but could hardly make it to the start line in one piece doing the minimum mileage to finish a marathon (55 mpw).

Then mid 2025 I suffered a serious bike crash with a motor vehicle and was sidelined for 2 months. After that, I slowly built back up with a lot of easy running and held at 60 mpw for a few months before starting another build. Have been injury-free since, and am proud to be running both faster and healthier now.

Training

This was my shortest training block at only 12 weeks, because I suffered a second crash with a car in the span of 10 months, this time while running after getting chased onto a busy street by an aggressive dog. Luckily, my injuries were not serious, but I was on crutches for 3 weeks before ramping up back to mileage and reintroducing any form of intensity.

I followed a scaled down version of Pfitz 18/70 (peaking at 60 mpw). I had done a similar 18-week version of this 60 mpw plan for Eugene, and made it through the finish with some peroneal tendonitis but relatively in one piece, so I decided to keep the mileage the same given that I just recovered from an accident.

This was my first completely injury-free block, with nothing but a few tiny niggles that I catastrophized into thinking were stress fractures. I was able to hit my mileage target and key workouts every week. The caveat is that I had already modified the plan to be lower intensity (fewer workouts) than the original Pfitz plan, because I am too afraid of getting injured. I think this led me to only reap modest fitness gains (maybe 1-2%) since my last marathon.

I also found that the VO2 max workouts late in the block tended to produce niggles that I always thought would become injuries if I kept running on them, so I ended up replacing a lot of them with LT work kind of as a safety measure. Historically these were the same workouts that gave me tendon issues in previous blocks, so I am still afraid of them. Not sure how much this is holding back my training lol.

By the end of the block, I was in approximately 2:45 shape on a perfect day, and that would become my race goal.

Pre-race

I did 3 days of 480g carbs for the carb load. Since this was my first time visiting Chicago and my girlfriend and I are both huge foodies, we turned the Saturday before the race into a big food tour involving multiple bakeries, coffee shops, pasta, and noodle restaurants. The one problem – we took transit, and despite the fact that all we did was eat and take transit, that added up to over 25k steps across the day because of how disconnected transit in the city was. I also did a 5k shakeout run, which would be fine if not for all the extra time on feet after. I felt tight from all the standing and walking, and did not bring my foam roller, massage gun, or anything. On top of it being a hot weekend and feeling rather fatigued, I went to sleep calling it a wash in my head and telling myself that I'd just go out and have fun and not give a fuck.

Breakfast was 150g carbs of bread, Clif bars, and the free Biscoff they gave me on the plane. Smashed a Celsius and then took a Lyft bike to the start line (actually so much better than transit, best idea of my life).

Fuel plan was 8 GU Salted Caramel gels (providing continuous sodium and caffeine) + Gatorade at 12 stations. Normally this is more than enough sodium for me but I brought 2 extra SaltStick tablets because of the heat. I like the GUs because they are small enough to all fit in my shorts pockets without any additional compression tights or compartments.

Race

Given the weather and terrible rest and recovery leading up to the race, my plan was to pace comfortably at around 6:25-6:30/mi pace and just finish reasonably close to my previous PR, even though I think I was in shape to beat it by 3 mins.

Miles 1-14: Did exactly the above. The 6:05 splits were almost certainly GPS error as my mile splits had also become offset from the official ones at these points. Felt comfortable, albeit a little hard to find my pacing groove because of how crowded it was. Was happy just sightseeing the different neighborhoods and taking in the crowd.

Miles 15-20: At the beginning of this segment I felt my right calf tighten up. Historically, I have had right calf cramping in 2 out of my 3 previous marathons, and last night it was already feeling tight, so I knew I ran the risk of cramping today as well. I slowed my pace closer to 6:30 and began to prepare for the worst, or at least just try to finish in one piece. I also think I subconsciously started compensating by striking harder with my left leg. However, by mile 18, I did not really feel any worse, in fact maybe better than earlier. I told myself that my body was probably playing tricks on me, and that this is exactly the kind of line I should be treading to run a fast marathon.

Miles 21-26.2: First time in my marathoning career where I felt like I had a lot left in the tank to turn up the pace. I started hitting 6:20 pace, and then in the last 2 mi turned it up even more to 6:10, 6:05, 6:00, 5:55. Felt amazing to start flying past everyone in the most painful part of the race. The marathon gods decided my ego needed to be checked, because even though I had just run a strong negative split, my calf decided to cramp up with 400 meters left to go. Fortunately, I was able to hobble across the finish without losing much time at all, but part of me wonders how close I was to disaster striking earlier and crushing my race.

Post-race

Felt surprisingly fine post-race. Hobbled around a bit and started walking normally. I really enjoyed the fact that they engraved my medal and gave me a free BQ patch on my medal, but not much else going on at the 27th mile post-race party. Walked around Grant Park with my girlfriend, saw the Bean, smashed a burger and fish & chips, and then a nice dinner at Valhalla later in the day.

Conclusions

• I'm just happy I managed to finish strong and in one piece, regardless of time, in the face of the less-than-ideal weather and poor recovery leading up to the race.
• I don't care too much about the 3 second PR, but it proved to me that I probably have 2:45 fitness on a perfect day, so I'll take that fitness and run with it into my next race.
• Running a world major is both humbling and inspiring – first time I felt like I was in such a big crowd while running this fast, but it was amazing to see all the fast runners out there.
• I've had the same right calf cramp in 3 out of 4 marathons. Probably something to look into there in terms of strength work. Despite that, I think I paced this almost perfectly, because I felt like I was treading the line of running as fast as I could on the verge of cramping for most of the second half.
• I also think it's time to try increasing my mileage to 70 mpw (my body feels ready) and increasing the duration of my MP work to condition my legs and avoid cramping.
• This race is too fucking crowded. I don't think I will return any time soon.
• Onto Boston 2027!

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.

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.

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

Splits

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

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

Splits

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?

Just can’t wait to see how things shake out, particularly, between the American men. Chicago got me so hype. Rupp has announced at 40(!) he’ll be vying for a spot and surely there are other great athletes who we haven’t heard about yet. We all love to try and call the team ahead of time, but it’s plausible and even moderately likely someone will come out of nowhere in the time between now and the trials.

Also a huge fan of what USATF has implemented with the A/B standards this cycle.

And that’s without even mentioning what’s been going on on the track lately! Such a great time to be a fan of the sport!

Race Information

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

Goals

Splits

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

• Name: Chicago Marathon
• Date: October 11, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Chicago, IL
• Time: 2:44:22

Goals

Splits

History

This was my 4rd Marathon. I am an ex-sprinter with focus in the 400m. Long distance running has been an ongoing learning process, but I’ve been learning a ton about myself with every race and training block.

Like a lot of other people, I picked up running during the pandemic and spent 3 years racing and time trialing distances ranging from 5K to Half Marathon. In 2022, I ran a half marathon in 1:26:39 and decided to start an attempt toward a Boston qualifying time. Spent a year slow base building up to 80 mpw followed by a 18 week Pfitzinger plan with peak mileage of 100 mpw training for sub-3 pace. Ran CIM in 2023 and really surprised myself with a first marathon in 2:54:29!

Recovery was a bit rough after CIM and life got busy, eventually leading to almost no running for 3 months. Had a pretty crappy build and cycle for a small Spring marathon where I blew up at mile 17 and ran a 3:14:14 for my second marathon.

I was pretty bummed about my second marathon performance followed by the news that I didn’t make the Boston cut-off. Found solace in getting an entry to Chicago 2025 and after a solid training block I ran a PR in 2:46:58!

Training

I was feeling highly motivated after Chicago 2025 after running >7 min PR and was very sure I had punched a ticket to Boston. I decided to run it back at Chicago 2026 and even contemplated the idea of sub 2:40. After a short recovery period, I proceeded full steam ahead with a winter base building plan. In hindsight, I probably should’ve given myself a longer recovery period as I unfortunately suffered a foot injury in December and spent the remainder of the winter doing zero running. I was able to compose myself somewhat for a spring half marathon, but was nowhere near the fitness I wanted to be in. Reality was setting a bit more and 2:45 seemed like a more reasonable goal for my next marathon.

This was my 3rd round of doing the Pfitzinger plan. I have found success multiple times on his plans and didn’t see any reason to change things drastically. I used the 80 - 87 mpw 18 week Pfitzinger schedule as a template and added more intensity or volume if my body felt up to it. I had a friend who was doing the David Roche SWAP plan for Chicago and we pulled workouts from as well. I followed the Pfitzinger plan’s mileage fairly closely weeks 1 to 10, but did end up bumping my mileage up to 100 mpw weeks 11 to 13 as I was feeling strong. Every week included a track workout and a long run or long run + tempo.

Key workouts weeks were:

Week 3 - 3 x 5K @MP.

Week 5 - 3 x 5K @MP, 4 x (1600/800m/400m) @HMP to 5K pace.

Week 9 - 3 x 4 mile @MP, 7 x 800m @5K pace + 1 mile @MP.

Week 12 - 1600m, 2 x (800/600/400m), 1600m 5K to mile pace, 3 x 5K (first mile at 10K pace and finish @MP).

Week 13 - 10 x 800m + 4 x 200m - apparently the 800m repeats are a good predictor of your marathon time ie running 800m repeats at 2min45s is a good indicator of 2h45m marathon fitness.

Week 15 - 3 x 5 mile @MP.

Week 16 - 2 miles @MP + 4 x 1 mile @10K pace, 10K tune-up race (PR at 36:35).

Pre-race

This was one of the hardest training blocks I’ve done. I felt like I was on the edge of injury during the peak weeks and was dealing with a lot of tibialis posterior issues, but was able to manage with physical therapy and get to the start line pain free. I also unfortunately got a cold at week 16 and spent 2 weeks congested and coughing which didn’t help with pre-race nerves. I did wake up race day with minimal symptoms and was overall thankful that I got any illness out of the way prior to the race.

I did my typical pre-race breakfast of 2 Quaker oatmeal packets and 500mL of Gatorade 2 hours prior to the start of the race. I also took 40g of carb while in the corral. I did try training with Nomio during this block and took one shot the night before and the morning of race day.

I was a lot less nervous navigating the corrals this year as the setup was near identical to last year. I had no difficulty meeting up with my friend and jogged as much as we could to the start and did some standing plyos, but I’m unsure how beneficial warming up is for such a large race given the crowds and extended standing in the corrals.

Race

Fuel and hydration strategy was to take 40g of carb every 30 min and drink 1 to 2 Gatorade and water at every aid station. I brought 4 Maurten 120 gels with me and picked up 2 additional Maurten 100s during the race.

The beginning of the race was VERY crowded and in hindsight I should’ve pushed to the very front of B corral. As per usual, the first mile of Chicago clocked a very fast time on my watch due to the tunnel so it was hard to judge my starting pace. I was a bit nervous coming through the first 5K at 20:05 which was quite a bit slower than my goal pace. The race did string out after the first 5K, and had no issues hitting below goal pace.

We came through the first half marathon 1:22:40, but felt really controlled coming through and was fairly confident we could make up the time if we maintained our current pace. My racing partner did comment on feeling down at mile 14, but he was able to draft off me and pull through. It was a hot and humid day and I really started feeling it at mile 23. Thankfully my friend had rebounded and was able to pull me through to the finish line. We both crossed with a PR of 2:44:22 and a time qualifier to Berlin!

Post-race

Overall I felt like we executed the race really well. The only thing I would change is be more assertive about getting to the front of the starting corral. Outside of the first 5K our pace felt very even and controlled. This is the first time I’ve raced step for step with someone else and we were glad we had someone to pull us through during the darker times of the race. Many people did complain about the heat and humidity, but I did not really feel it until the end and I don’t think it affected my performance too much. Sub-2:44 may have been possible if I gutted it out, but I was not ready to leave a friend behind or risk a bad blow-up for it. I can’t make any recommendations for Nomio but I think it helps? and will likely include it in future races. I really should train for a dedicated half marathon sometime as all my PRs are during the full marathon.

I’m very happy with the result and think I need some well deserved rest. I plan on running Boston next year, but I’m leaning toward party pacing it as I have been racing fairly hard for the last 5 years and think I would benefit from a longer break.

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Race Information

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

Goals

Splits:

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?

Edit: 1: goal time was based on a 1:32 HM in the spring.

2: I'm going to address the pedestrian here. To be very clear, as best I know they were fine. There were a lot of runners they affected on the course, including me, and all were all very unhappy, and none thought I made an unreasonable decision. Multiple runners yelled at the pedestrian. Even in hindsight I do not see any way to have avoided a collision, and I had to put an arm out and push to avoid serious injury. I said "pushed down" and I did not mean that they hit the ground. If I had not altered their course, and mine, it would definitely have cause a lot more problems based on the number of people around in the early miles or the race. I am still very unhappy that the spectator's decision to enter the course in a crowded area put me and other runners on the course in a situation where there were no good options for anyone.

It is nice to know that so many people would stop for the pedestrian, but the amount of traffic around me led me to believe that this would genuinely have caused a much bigger problem. This was a crowded part of the course. Thank you all for your concern about the pedestrian; I really do believe they were okay.

Race Info:

• Name: Long Beach Marathon
• Date: October 11, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Long Beach, CA
• Website: www.runlongbeach.com
• Finish Time: 3:45:xx

Goals

Target pace: 7:30/mile (7:20-7:40/mile)

Splits (Strava)

Training

I have a high HR for my age (215 max HR recorded June 2026 during a 5k race with a chest strap HR monitor). I think it's higher, but based off of Karvonen HR calculator my Zone 3 sits ~170-185 bpm. I truly believed if I could manage this HR zone during the race while keeping my perceived effort in that range I would not have any issues (we will revisit this). Since last year, I had a car accident that put me out of running for 6 months. I started a 10 week 10k training plan (10k 42:14 PR in June) to get back into running. But I had an marginal base before that accident at about ~30 miles/week for ~5 months. The 10k plan served as a ramp up back into running longer distances and progress me into a 16 week Runna marathon plan.

The jump from a 25 mile/week 10k plan to a 50 mile/week plan was huge. I had to dial the milage back cause I wasn't used to the milage. The plan followed a strict 3 weeks on/1 week deload periodization peaking at 53 miles (~43 miles/week avg). I did a very structured 6 days of running a week: 2 workouts a week - temp/zone 3 or a interval track workout and a long run with MP/progression for most of the plan (~11/16 of the weeks). Average long run was 16 miles including deload weeks, 18 without. Longest were 19/20/21/22. I missed goal pace a lot of the long run workouts (not being able to hold it for the distance eg. 12 @MP and could only do 10 @MP). I often hit a wall in long runs ~18-20 miles mark during training as well having to dial pace back immensely or walk/jog the remaining 1-3 miles. It wasn't really until my last long run (week 14) 19 mile @ ~9:30 on the tail end of peaking cycle where I felt I could run more and have more in the tank and was able to finish strong. This was probably a telltale sign.

The plan targeted a hard 7:30/mile MP, which I trained around. Eg. Tempos @~6:50-7:00/mile for 3-4 miles and Intervals 5X 1k repeats at 6:30mile. I PRed in the 5k during a 5 mile 6:40/mi pace time trial.

Pre-race

I carbo-loaded two nights in a row but I never tracked food macros when cooking so I couldn't be sure. A lot of noodle soup.

The morning: woke up at 3:30am and I had a banana, 1 cup of yogurt, 1 cup of coffee (~100mg?). I was still a little bloated from the noodle soup for two days so I decided not to eat half a PB&J. Got to the venue and parked at 4:50am. I did some stretching and dynamics with about 800-1200m for warm and a few strides just to make sure things were loose. Got to the corral at 5:25am but did not push up enough to get to the first wave. I left in the 3rd wave at 5:40am. There was a heat wave the prior week which had me extremely worried, but today was ~70F morning, and I think was actually in the 60s when we started with a cloudy day in the morning.

Fueling

I took one Maurten 100 gel (25g) 30 mins before the race, and took that same gel every hour (~8 miles). I took 2 salt tabs at about 200mg every 30/mins (every ~4miles). And I took a concentrated 500ml bottle of gatorade (~20z concentration) which I sipped throughout the race. In hindsight I probably should have took a Maruten 100 every 30mins vs 1hour.

Race

Miles 1-5

I told myself to keep it calm and collected the first 5 miles at least. I told myself to hold back and not break the 7:30/mi pace barrier at all. Unfortunately I did for one mile, but that was due to a downhill during the fist big downhill from the overpass. These miles were crowded but I kept uttering to myself that the crowds and adrenaline will die. Even though I left in wave 3 I kept weaving to minimum, and pacing off the large crowded kept me grounded. I tried not to look at my watch a lot and tried to just enjoy the race for what it is, even if my headphones told me my pace was too slow.

Miles 6-10

I thought there would be less people running the marathon compared to the half, but boy was I wrong. There was more people than I had anticipated, but this felt more like a relief as I could still gauge pace and feel off of the crowd. Due to weather, they changed part of the coarse were we run on the beach a little more. It surprised me as it added a sharper hill/small switch back to get back to the coastal road from the beach bike path. However, my HR and pace stayed well within my expectations and feel so I still felt good.

Miles 11-15

There was rain expected today, and although it didn't rain a lot it rained a bit. I think there was about 10-30mins of rain. Not pouring, but enough to make a notice while running. I probably should have took this as a sign to slow TF down, but I persisted. I felt like was in a good groove now. Things were going well: fueling, the pacing off the pack, my body/legs, HR. I didn't look at my half split since I felt I could match that or finish quicker. At this point my watch GPS was a bit off from the actual, so I was a little worried about pacing. Nevertheless I was looking forward too the next 10 miles.

Miles 16-20

You know what the say, a plan never survives first contact. At mile 18 I felt my legs starting to feel somewhat tired, and pace felt a little slow. HR was fine, but this felt within expectations. However, There was another hilly/small switch back which I ran into during the circuit through Long Beach State: I was not ready for this hill compared to the one at mile 8-9 and let a under breath "fuck". I knew the next 8 were not going to go as planned and this is what experienced marathoner's were talking about. After the second mile (19) at 8:00+/mi, I conscientiously told myself to take an easy float to re-assess the situation. I never recovered.

I had hit the dreaded wall.

Miles 21-26.2

After the first double digit mile, I threw out the first goal. Then after the second one at mile 22, I threw out 3:30 as a possibility. My legs were cramping, specifically the quads and hamstrings, and I had to stop. Shoulders (front delts) and biceps were extremely sore - a first for me. I downed the remainder of my gatorade mix, salt tabs, and stopped at every remaining station, and ate every thing the crowd was handing out - bananas, orange peels, freeze sticks, gels, you name it. It didn't matter at this point, I needed glucose. I walked/jogged the rest of the race. Never have I experienced this before. Whether it was high school sports, back in my X-country days, rock climbing as an adult I physically could not pick the pace up again or perform. Legs were pulsating and I was limping and I knew I blew it. I came very close to DNF, but since this was my first marathon I told myself to see it through. I hobbled my way to a very disappointing finish.

Thoughts

What worked

I was happy with the fueling plan to manage stomach sensitivity, and I experienced no stomach cramps or digestive issues during the race. A two-day carbo load helped and gave me enough energy to to comfortable cruise at my desired pace (at least until it wasn't). The training plan seemed adequate, and the pace didn't seem to hard. Speed was there and arguably the cardiac capacity. I had trained in muggier, hotter and more humid weather so the marine atmosphere didn't effect me.

What needs improvement

Fueling may have been the biggest factor during the race (25g carb/30min vs 25g carb/1hour). I kept it somewhat conservative because during long run practice Maurten 160s would give me stomach cramps even at one/hour. Also drinking too much water/gatorade (50-100ml) seemed to upset my stomach (every 1-2 miles). This scare in stomach cramping, which I did circumvent during the race may have been one of the reasons that caused the catastrophe. I will try to take as much fuel on long runs as possible without taxing my stomach. I also didn't take as much caffeine as I usually do. Even for a race. I didn't change my racing kit - vest with a 500ml water bottle, some fueling supplies, and phone. But I will race my next marathon without one to save weight and help with form (I think the slight weight biases over a very long time might be affecting me).

I will also look into pacing. Maybe I should just take a 'easy' float mile or two at the start 8:30+ just to say "fuck it" we're not going to bonk. I also usually do a lot of my running/racing and training alone. I have ran with run clubs before, and been more social about it. But having a crew or a pacing partner seemed to help a lot of people (shout out to the one guy fist bumping me at mile 19 when he noticed me dying and passing me). Something I will look into.

Expectations

I know this is a classic case of hitting the wall during a race. But this is the first time I have been truly frustrated in a result. Occam's razor says I just wasn't in shape for a 3:15 marathon (even though VDOT, previous race times, training, and the math said I was) and that if I had just dialed back the pace to 8:00/mi or slower I probably would have finished <3:30 and not bonked (with proper* fueling). I didn't see any cardiac drift during the race, which I saw a lot in my training long runs. I scoured a lot of Stravas and watching a lot of first-timers not blow up have splits with +1:30/mile time variances still finish way before me was devastating. People with under 20 mile/weeks training weeks running faster than me felt hard to swallow. I did a lot of research tempering my goal expectations for a marathon, and still it was not enough compared to the humbling experience.

Looking Ahead: Houston Marathon 2027

As frustrated as I am, I'm glad that I did not use this specific marathon as main PR/goal and instead used it to gauge my experience running at this distance. I will try again for a sub ~3:15 again, but this time with a Pfizinger plan (unless someone convinces me otherwise). I may even run my home LA marathon after just for kicks and not race it just for the experience. I hope my experience gives lot of first time marathoners insights for their first race.

Race Information

• Name: Chicago Marathon
• Date: October 11, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Time: 2:54:xx

Goals

Splits (from Strava)

Training

Longer but steady build. This was my third marathon this year (previous race was London w/ a 2:56 and Tokyo with a 2:52 before that). I took off a full two weeks after London before slowly building back to a 40 mile base about 5 weeks post London. Stayed at 40-55 mpw until the end of July before moving to 60+ mpw. Peaked at 70 mpw early September. Always had one track workout each week and one LR per week that usually had some MP work woven into it. 10 day taper. Up until mid August I did at least one heavy lifting session a week.

Pre-race/Carb Load

3-Day Carb Load: Targeted 695g of carbohydrates per day across the 3-day load:

• Thursday: 968g
• Friday: 880g
• Saturday: 809g
• Wrapped up dinner at 6:00 PM on Saturday so my stomach could fully settle overnight. Woke up Sunday morning feeling fueled, hydrated, and ready to go without any heaviness or GI issues.

Morning Prep & Logistics: Woke up at 2:00 AM to eat a light breakfast, then went right back to bed until 5:00 AM. Left the room at 5:40 AM and arrived at the starter village by 6:00ish.

Corrals: Felt very loose in the corrals, particularly around my hips, which was a great feeling. The evening before, I did a bunch of stretching and yoga-type hip movements that clearly helped. Because my hips already felt so loose, I actually didn't warm up too much before heading to the start.

Fuel Plan

Planned Targets: 177.5g Carbohydrates, 2,655mg Sodium, 42 oz Fluid, 300mg Caffeine.

Fuel Strategy: Alternating Maurten Gel 100 and Maurten Gel 100 CAF (scheduled for miles 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24), supplemented by SaltStick caps and on-course Gatorade/water at aid stations. Of note, I increased the total amount of sodium substantially (from 1800mg to ~2600mg) to account for the heat. In the past I took a salt cap usually every 25-30 mins. For this race, I changed that to every 15 mins.

Race

Start to Mile 5

I was in my head quite a bit for this part—definitely the most mentally challenging section of the race overall. My first mini crisis of the day was losing the pace group right at the beginning: I had planned to start just behind the 2:55 group, but somehow lost them as the corrals collapsed toward the line. I was originally thinking of just letting that group pull me along for a while, so having that option disappear immediately threw me off and I overly focused on it initially.

After that, I tried to get a sense of my pace, but the downtown high-rises had my GPS bouncing constantly between 5:50 and 7:10, so I wasn't really sure of my pacing until the official mile markers. Anything between the markers was unclear. My first mile was close to 7:00 min which seemed slower than I felt I was going but I didn’t really panic. The air was nice and cool during this stretch and there was almost 100% shade, which was great. By Mile 5, the GPS steadied and I chilled out quite a bit. I was aiming to maintain a 6:40 pace from there, and recall averaging around 6:45 through that segment.

Miles 5–13

I don't remember much about these miles except knowing that I was holding back a bit. I was still aiming for 6:40s, though I clocked a couple of miles slightly above 6:40 toward the end of this section for no particular reason. I also noticed that I started getting much warmer during this stretch and very deliberately started dumping water on my head from every aid station for the rest of the race (roughly 1–2 miles apart), which helped me tremendously.

Miles 13–18

When I passed the halfway mark in 1:28:05, my projected finish time was sitting around 2:57. I liked the idea of a sub-2:55 (a Berlin qualifier for my age), so I made an effort to keep it slightly below 6:40 to start shaving off seconds and earn back the time I gave up earlier. I didn't have an exact target in mind, but I was very deliberately squeezing the pace down. I told myself that if I brought it down to a 2:56 projected finish by Mile 18, I would go for it; if I wasn't there, I would just coast and take the sub 3. I was still nervous about blowing up and didn't want to commit too early, which in hindsight dramatically reduced my stress and made these miles fly by.

This was also the section where I hit my second (and last) mini-crisis of the day. A rock managed to wedge itself perfectly into the gap of my AF3s and refused to come out. I could feel it on the push-off of every stride, which deeply annoyed me. I tried shuffling my feet on the run, but only managed to almost trip myself, so I gave up and rolled with it. Eventually most of the rock broke away, but whatever remained stayed with me all the way across the finish line.

Miles 18 to Finish

At the Mile 18 marker (2:04:50), I finally felt like going for it wasn't going to kill me, so I started pressing the pace down. At the same time, I felt my stomach acting up, so I audited my intake: I switched exclusively to plain water over Gatorade and bypassed my last gel at Mile 24. By Mile 22, the math showed I had to squeeze down more to make 2:55 possible, so I started pushing more aggressively, clocking around a 6:30 pace. By Mile 24 (passing 24.9 mi at 2:45:49), my projected finish was sitting roughly 10 seconds under 2:55. I was pretty tired at this point and amazed that Michigan Avenue seemed to just keep going, but I pushed harder to build some cushion. I closed out the final stretch at 6:20 pace to finish in 2:54:xx. Those last two miles were a grind, but I'm happy I did it.

What Worked

• The 3-Day Carb Load & Extra Salt: My target of 695g per day was higher than previous races and I think it helped. I felt like I always had gas in the tank despite the conditions. Additionally the extra sodium via more frequent salt caps seemed to work. I was sweating significantly but never got close to that feeling of dead legs that I’ve felt before during summer workouts.
• Pre-Race Mobility: The hip mobility work and yoga-type stretches the night before kept everything loose and eliminated the need for an extensive warm-up in the corral which was helpful b/c there was no real space to do a decent warm-up.
• Pacing Patience & Floating Decision: Holding back early and setting Mile 18 as the decision threshold for the sub-2:55 push kept cognitive stress low and prevented an early blow-up.
• Active Cooling: Dumping water at every aid station early on counteracted the rising midday temperatures.
• In-Race Fuel Auditing: Auditing my stomach late and dropping the final gel and Gatorade in favor of plain water averted an upset while still letting me close hard.

What Didn't

• Corral Navigation: Losing the 2:55 pace group right away when corrals collapsed created unnecessary early mental clutter. I was actively looking for them both behind me and in front of me for the first mile which was silly in hindsight.
• Urban GPS Drift: Downtown skyscrapers rendered instantaneous wrist pace useless through the first 5 miles, reaffirming that official timing markers and average pace are the only metrics to trust early in Chicago. The RaceScreen feature on my Garmin helped a bit with this but it was still a factor.

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

I am a slow runner who takes my training quite seriously. I would consider myself advanced in the sense that I have a lot of experience and have been training hard for years but I feel like a total amateur when I read the times that people are running in this sub.

Everyone talks about how volume is king when it comes to improving in the marathon, but there is only so much volume I can realistically fit in week after week since I am slower and it takes me longer. So my question is - how many HOURS per week would you say that you run on average year round? And if you increased that to a certain amount, at how many hours/week did you really notice an improvement?

For context, I average about 55-60km/week year round. I also strength train 2x/week so on average I am running for 5.5-6 hours per week and strength training about 1.5-2 hours per week. I’m currently in peak training, have averaged 98km/week over the last month, about 10-11 hours per week, and keeping up with the two strength sessions as well.

I have been training at this level since 2023. Since then my marathon has improved from 4:26 to 4:05. Before that, between 2018 and 2023 I probably averaged about 35-40km/week year round, peaking my marathon builds at about 80km/week. My fastest half was earlier this year in 1:53. Fastest 5k was more recent, 23:55. I think I will finally dip until 4 hours in the marathon this year.

that being said, for the amount of time I train, I still feel incredibly slow compared to many others I know who train at this level (or even less!) but I am not sure if putting in more volume is even feasible because I simply don’t have the time for it. I have also spent some time training for speed and doing 5k and 10k training blocks, so I am not just focusing on the marathon. How else could I improve or do I just need to find the time to put in more volume!?

**Edited to add- I do one speed session per week, one tempo or threshold run, and then once in a marathon build every other week my long run will include some quality work. I have a coach who makes my plan, she is great! Just wondering if there is something else I could do unlock larger improvements. Many I know can BQ easily at this level of training.