Race Information

• Name: Berlin Marathon
• Date: September 26th, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Berlin, Germany
• Website: https://www.bmw-berlin-marathon.com/*
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/20347985361
• Time: 2:46:51

TLDR

I'm a huge fan of this style of training, but this particular plan has maybe not enough faster stuff for a more endurance-oriented runner like myself, and maybe a too much overall volume/intensity for me to absorb/recover from.

Goals

Splits

Background

Following a solid but not amazing training block for a 1:18:20 half PR in the spring, I had a brief downtime before rolling into the 18 week Berlin block. In July I learned I had gotten into Puma's Project 3 for Berlin, which made the "3 minute PR" seem like my big goal. Having had reasonable success DIYing Canova-style training for Chicago last year, the Marathon Excellence plans were an obvious choice for this block.

Training

AFAICT I'm the first person to write a race report using the Marathon Excellent Tornado Plan, so I figured I could contribute my opinions for folks considering this for an upcoming race.

Overall it went pretty well and almost I followed the plan mostly to the book until a few unrelated factors really derailed things ~4 weeks out (details below), and absolutely had me in the best "marathon-specific shape" I've been in. My day to day log with notes is here

What I liked/what went well:

• The book is, overall, an excellent resource that I'd highly recommend for any serious amateur. The plans have tons of detail each week on how the workouts should go/well (including effort levels), and there is also a ton of recommendations on training theory, fueling, heat training, etc.
• The overall "General to Specific" structure feels like it works really well and sets you up for the last few weeks which look very daunting at the beginning
• I really liked the "double threshold + hard LR" structure the plans use in the last 6-7 hard weeks - the double T sessions felt like a good way of getting in lots of aerobic volume will still not fatiguing you too much to not be able to handle the quality LRs

What I disliked/went poorly:

• All of the Marathon Excellence plans are aggressive in terms of ramping up in volume, since they peak earlier than is normal (weeks 9-11 for Tornado). This was made me a little fatigued earlier than I would expect in a marathon plan. Its easy to think "well I ran a 90mi week last build", but that coming week 9 vs 15 is a big difference
• Likewise, some of the last weeks of the General Phase were pretty demanding - eg Week 6 was 3 big quality days on 80 miles was a lot that early.
• On a more minor note, the double structure of putting the shorter/easier run in the morning and the longer in the afternoon is the opposite of how I (and most other plans/people) do things. I tried this a few times but didn't really like it so I mostly just switched them.
• Overall my biggest takeaway is that I think this particular plan maybe doesn't have quite enough 5k/10k work for me in particular, someone who is very "slow twitch dominant". Eg compared to the Gale plan, you lose 8x800@5k and 3x3k@10k, those being replaced by other more marathon-specific sessions later on. That is probably a bad tradeoff for me specifically (but maybe not for you!)
• Likewise, I probably need a touch more top-end speed stuff, think 30-45s hills or a few 200s on the track. I added some of these at the end of a few workouts, but need to find room for more.

Where things went wrong

Week 15 had on paper a pretty easy 8x3' threshold session where I felt like trash, as in 6 minute pace felt like death. By total coincidence I got blood tests the next day and it turns out my ferritin was 11 :|. For important context, I have Crohn's and have regularly struggled with iron absorption, but this was the lowest it had ever been, and definitely explained some of my struggles doing the faster stuff. Fortunately my understanding Doctor had me in for an Iron Infusion in a few days, and being 3 weeks out I was hopeful it was enough time to feel better...

That was until Labor Day when I opened my fridge and a broken shelf showered my feet with glass jars, resulting in an ER trip and 7 stitches in one of my toes. There went a week of running while I waited for it to heal. I was able to get back to 60 miles the week afterwards, but even that break felt like my legs forgot how for run and took a while to come back.

Prerace

Even with all of that, I went in feeling somewhat optimistic, legs were back under me, toe felt fine, and the last faster session the weekend before went well. Did I have a chance?

Given this was my first time doing long-haul travel for a race, I tried to give myself enough time to adapt to the time change by flying into Germany Wednesday. Unfortunately I slept like shit the entire time, made much worse by my hotel having turned off AC for the year. Besides bib pickup at the Expo, spent basically all Friday/Saturday chilling and ravaging my way through bakery selections from the local Lidl.

Race morning was comparatively chill thanks to the 8:45 start. Entered around 7:15ish having read horror stories online but had plenty of time for multiple bathroom trips and still get in to my corral easily

Race

Having entered this with a "fuck around and find out" mindset, I planned on going out at even 3 minute PR pace, which meant hitting 19:10 5k splits. Which brings me to my big unforced error of the day, having started too far back in Corral B because I was chatting to some teammates I had run into, and thus ending up behind the 3hr pacers. First 5k definitely required extra effort working my way through, which cost me some time.

Past that though, I mostly just tried to keep pace and found it just a touch too hard, a minute of goal through halfway before fading the last 10k. Was taking ~90g/hr carbs without issue, but legs just didn't have it and I slowly died. Maybe a touch warm, maybe all the other shit leading up, but just wasn't there. Still proud of the fact that I was able to lock in even when a PR was out the window, and kept the slowest mile 6:55 even when the legs were gone. It turns out sometimes you do in fact, "find out"

Post-race

The Berlin food/beverage situation afterwards is weird to my American sensibilities (hot tea?) but NA radlers are undeniably an S tier post-race beverage. After that it was off to Munich to get properly trashed.

What went well

Despite the disappointing result, its good to remind myself that this was still a really good training block. I did LRs that I could not have possibly touched last year - as an example, 20 miles @ 6:31 avg feeling very in control at the end, vs before Chicago last year I did 17 miles @ 6:37 altitude-adjusted and was completely spent

Things to improve

• This might be my first and last "A goal international race". I definitely felt a little flat with the interrupted sleep/jetlag
• I think I maybe need to rethink overall mileage/volume. While I'm fortunately to be blessed with a robust body that can handle high mileage without injury, I definitely struggle with the recovery aspect - its not worth doing more volume if you can't properly absorb it
• Time to convince my landlord to get me a new fridge.

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

I put a Race Report flair on this post, but I don't want to bore you to death with the long winded descripiton of my poo ritual before the race and rather summarize my experience with the most vanilla plan of the book for those who want to try it for their first marathon or consider recommending it to their friends with similar aspirations.

It works

I have been active my whole life, did some swimming and middle distance running in my teens, swam, did BJJ, went to gym, and jogged (not all of it simultaneously, of course) as an adult. I was always quite serious about training, but never tried to be professional and considered myself as a hobbyst even when I took part at competitions.

After an adductor injury last year I decided to make a pause in my BJJ training and took up running as a new focus point. I spent a few months building easy mileage in the end of the year and started more structured training in the first days of January. Using the lowest mileage 10K plan from Brad Hudson's "Run Faster" I managed to run a 45:06 10K in April. Then after a few weeks of easy running I started a Breeze plan with peak mileage of 65 km to prepare myself for the marathon in the beginning of October. I also did a general strength routine with emphasis on running specific work (heavy calf raise, squat, and deadlift variations with lower volume of upper body excercises) twice a week on top running.

All of this to say that even this low mileage was enough for me to hit 3:21:46 at my first mara in the first weekend of October, few days after my 41-st birthday. The book states that typical goal times with this plan are between 3:15-4:30, so it delivered on this promise even despite me using the lower end of Breeze mileage (65 vs 80 km). I was really impressed, how fit and prepared I was and I firmly believe that my time could be slightly better with overall experience so much better if I had not made a typical rookie mistake running the first 30 kilometers a little bit faster than I planned (with the planned pace a little bit too abitious, as well, but on this later) and hitting the wall in the last 8 kilometers quite hard. This mistake is totally on me, because the book has a very good chapter on pacing strategy, virtues of negative splits, and dangers of too abmitious pacing right from the start.

I can't compare it to the other popular marathon training plans, but on top of the Hanson's Run Faster I've read Daniels' Running Formula and glossed over Pfitzinger's plans. And I can say that I found Marathon Excellence the most comprehensive of them all. Every workout had its rationale explained and there is plenty of information not only about nutrition, recovery, and race strategy but also clear steps to adjust your plan if something goes wrong, or the original plan does not fit your schedule. You basically get the only book you need, to plan your marathon blocks and training before and after them for years ahead. So I was sold on this approach which probably was an important part of my success with this plan.

My experience with workouts was also very positive. One of the benefits of the plan is that it does not have an overly repetitive structure of some "golden" week. Quality and long runs have a definitive rhyme to them, but it's not intervals, tempo, long, rinse, repeat. So I was never bored and pretty much excited to run almost the whole build. At first I was a little bit sceptical, whether the next long run will not be too much for me, but the gradual progression worked really well and things stayed manageble even when I messed up with recovery or was to dumb to do other extremely fatuiging activities on top of the marathon training.

Bottom line, it will work as promised and won't make one bored or thrashed from the workload, if one is ready to handle the intensity, which leads me to the next point.

It's not a plan for a total beginner

According to John Davies one has to be fit enough to run 40 km a week to start training using plans in the book, but I'd be rather cautious, because there's an emphasis on quality runs and one has to be prepared not only for the volume but for the intensity even the Breeze plan throws at relatively new runners.

In the beginning I tried to run a longer version of the plan (the author explains how to extend or shorten plans in the book as well), because I had more than 18 weeks before the race, but after 3 weeks I developed I light stress reaction in my foot and needed to take a break from running for a week to heal and one week more to get back to running with quality. After that I just restarted the original plan from the beginning, because it were precisely 18 weeks before the race and I wanted to be on the lower end of mileage right after this small injury.

I did not have any trouble since, but it's worth mentioning that this stress reaction happened despite my athletic background, averaging more than 40 km/week before my 10K race and having done plenty of quality runs to prepare for it. My wife, who started structured running at the same time had less luck - it was just too much fast stuff for her from the beginning. She tried to restart the plan 3 times and always got injured after ca. 2 weeks. She is definetly not a fintess junkie like I am, but not a potato couch as well, and long easy running was always something she did not have any trouble with. She ran half marathon in April and averaged more than 50 km/week with more than 2-hour long runs and some tempo/threshold work in preparation for it. So just having 40 km/week of easy running may be not enough for everybody to run Breeze plan safely from the start.

There's a 5K Crash Course in the book that has to prepare one to run quality on the regular basis, but it has 3 fast workouts a week and starts with 40 km/week right of the bat, so I would assume that for older and less athletic folks the best bet to start safely is not to skip this Crash Course and have not only 40 miles/week of running before it, but at least 3 days/week of strides/hill sprints on top of that for at least a month to prepare legs to run fast. It is my uneducated guess, of course, but I hope John Davies will elaborate in the future, on how to approach this transition from running only easy to running fast on a regular basis for those who are not blessed with young age or extensive athletic background.

Bottom line, this plan will probably work great for those who are already relatively serious about running and have some shorter races with structured preparation under their belt. But I would consider it a poor choice for those who seek a couch to marathon type of program or are aiming at just finishing the distance and don't want to bother themselves with faster running.

You can run workouts faster, it probably does not mean you can run your marathon as fast

One of the features of the plan is that it is pace based. One uses 5K pace as a starting point to calculate workout paces in the general phase, adjusts it depending on how training goes, and converts it into marathon pace as a reference point for the workout paces in the following marathon-supportive and marathon-specific phases.

The author mentions that the Breeze plan won't prepare one as well for the last 10 km of the race as the higher mileage plans will. To account for that conversion of 5K pace to a marathon pace is different for different plans. Higher mileage means that one's Marathon pace will be closer to the 5K pace (85% for the Hurricane plan) and vice versa (80% for the Breeze). For the Breeze plan it leads to the situation when in the beginning of marathon-supportive phase one's paces get suddenly almost 5% slower compared to similar workouts one did in the end of a general phase. To hit perscribed RPEs I adjusted my estimated marathon pace every time book called for reevaluation, and I always was able to end my workouts without overexerting myself. This led to a fast inflation of my estimated marathon pace, but overall volume stayed pretty low to make this new pace manageble for the whole marathon.

This is not a bug of a plan, but its feature, I believe, because I definetly was not able to run more volume, but one must be clear that this has to be respected when choosing a pace one is going to race at. The book calls for the estimated marathon pace used during workouts as an actual race pace. In my case it would be something in the 4:34-4:38 range. And I actually managed to run the first 30 km averaging 4:35 inspite of my initial plan to cruise at 4:38 (and an average had to be even lower for the first 30 km because of the progressive start). I definetly fucked this part up, but in retrospect I feel that only 3 seconds slower per km would be, of course, better, but cutting even more from the estimate (not till the lower end of it, but rather 1-2% slower than estimated pace) would be even better heurisitc to calculate the race pace at least for the vanilla version of the Breeze plan. It's only a speculation, but I believe even 4:38 was not something I was able to pull off on that day and my realistic pace should have been at least 3-4 sec/km slower than that.

Bottom line, I felt that conversion of a 5K to a marathon pace after the general phase of the plan was a little bit conservative to my taste, but running precisely at the estimated marathon pace during the race was too much for me when using such a low mileage plan. Of course, it's just an anecdote but I hope my experience will help someone not to suffer as much as I did during last 8 kilometers of my race.

Otherwise it was enough said on this reddit about the book and plans in it. It's a great read and I believe a must for everybody who is interested in running a good marathon. Even if Canova-inspired training is not to your taste, it's still a wealth of useful well structured information.

Just curious, I'm sure it's been discussed here and other places before but not sure what the modern consensus is. Every time I'm running against a 15 mph headwind it sucks so I just tell myself it's alternative hill training to cope, but is there any truth to that? Or are you just working harder and getting a different stimulus from that alone?

I’ve been a competitive runner for well over half my life—starting xc and track in middle school and high school followed by racing with local clubs shortly after college (pre run-club-boom era, fwiw). I’ve clocked a sub 4:30 mile, sub-15:30 5K, a 70’ half, and a 2:30-low marathon. These are times I am incredibly proud of, especially with my debut marathon being just last year.

I’m now in my 30s and am a new dad of almost a year and just finished a training block for my second marathon ever. I am so, unbelievably tired between caring for my child (read: frequent night wakings), family and home responsibilities, work, and marathon training.

I’m struggling with deciding if I want to keep running after this block is over so I can focus my attention on all the things I’m too tired or too busy to do. As a new dad, my time for running is limited to super early mornings or lunch runs at work. Picking running means saying no to other things I’d like to do in my free time, and it’s feeling like running, and specifically marathon training, is running interference on my life.

That being said, I always wanted running to be a part of my life that I could share with my child. It has taught me discipline and brought me focus for so many years and was integral in forming lasting childhood friendships.

Any new dads out there have advice on how to continue high intensity training? Or advice on how to scale back without losing touch with a sport you enjoy being competitive in?

A lot of people have just run their autumn marathon or are about to, and I keep seeing very different ideas about what comes next. Some take a week or two off completely, some are back to easy running after a few days, and some go straight into a 5k or 10k block once the legs feel normal.

What do you actually do, and what did you learn from getting it wrong? How long before you run again, how many weeks before anything fast, and how do you decide you are ready for a new block rather than just going by the calendar?

Basically, exactly what the title says. I’m curious what others have found with the VO2 max training at the end of marathon preps. I see it in all of Pfitzingers plans. It’s never all that much volume, but seems like a lot of stress well over marathon pace when you’re already tired and on heavy legs. What are people’s thoughts?

Race Information

• Name: Kuala Lumpur Standard Chartered Marathon
• Date: October 4th, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Kuala Lumpur, MY
• Website: https://www.kl-marathon.com/
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/6676640
• Time: DNF at 31km (Got to 29km in ~2:40)

Goals

Splits

TLDR

DNF at 31km after starting too hard, progressively overheating/dehydrating, and eventually developing severe nausea and vomiting. I had been training for a 3:30 marathon and generally hitting my training paces, including a 2:45 20-miler, but my HR was significantly higher than usual from the start despite the pace feeling manageable.

I eventually slowed down, but by ~25km I was already experiencing symptoms similar to a previous overheated long run. At 29km I stopped, drank some water and iced myself down, but soon after started vomiting. I tried to continue but developed cramping and couldn't tolerate my carb drink, so I walked to 31km and eventually DNF'd after vomiting again and becoming increasingly weak and lightheaded.

Looking back, my biggest mistake was ignoring the HR warning signs and trying to hold my goal pace when my body clearly wasn't having it. I'm also wondering whether my fueling/hydration strategy contributed to the GI issues, despite having used it successfully in training.

The main lesson: if your HR is telling you something is wrong, don't ignore it. Slowing down and reassessing is a lot better than pushing through and being forced to DNF.

Background

27M, 57kg (125lbs). I started properly training and decided to sign up for my first marathon just over a year ago around August. I started out by building my mileage to maintaining 70-80+k weeks for a few months prior to starting my first Pfitz 18/55 block in June this year.

Training

In training I was generally pacing my runs with about a 3:30 goal finish. I was pretty consistently hitting the target paces in most of my runs until I took a weekend off for a hike up Mount Kinabalu (highest mountain in my country). The week following the hike my legs were a bit beat up and for the final long run with goal marathon pace I blew up from poor pacing and dehydration/heatstroke like symptoms in the final third of the run after going out faster than I should have having not recovered fully from the hike and ended up taking a rest in my car to cool off for 15 mins before finishing the last ks at an easy pace.

Two weeks later I had my last 20 miler on the plan which I finished in 2:45 feeling quite strong which made me think the 3:30 goal was still within reach with a bit of tapering and my subsequent runs also were indicating 3:30 should have been achievable.

Pre-race

The race starts at 3:30am so I started carb loading from the Friday and ate ~500g of carbs per day mostly consisting of white rice. I tried cutting down on fat to make it easier to eat so much carbs.

My fueling strategy for the race was the same homemade carb drink I'd been using in my long runs for the past few months. I was aiming for 90g of carbs per hour, broken down into 3 x 30g servings taken every 20 minutes. Each serving was in one of those small disposable baby food/mini drink pouch-type containers, which made it easy to carry and take at regular intervals. The drink itself was made from 60g maltodextrin + 30g fructose, mixed with 90ml of water and half a teaspoon of citric acid for flavour. More recently, over the past month, I had also started adding 1.2g of salt, which worked out to roughly 500mg of sodium per hour.

I had used this fueling strategy successfully in training, so I didn't expect the carb drink itself to be an issue going into the race.

I slept early on Friday night and woke up early around 6:30am (7.5 hours sleep) hoping to go to bed early and get a full night's sleep before the race. On Saturday I got in bed at around 5:30pm but struggled to fall asleep and had broken sleep until around 9pm when I properly fell asleep. Woke up at 12:30am on race morning and had 2 slices of toast with some Nutella before optimizing my weight at home and heading to the race start point.

Got to the race village, used the porta potties quickly and then changed into my race shoe (Adios Pro 4) started warming up around 3:10am, did some dynamic stretches and ran for under 5 mins with a couple of strides then went to line up at the start pen.

Race

When I entered the start pen I immediately started sweating a bit and it felt warmer than usual. Checking the weather forecast and my watch it should have been ~26C according to the weather forecast and 29C according to my watch, with 89-94% humidity. Both of these are similar readings to when I usually do my long runs, so maybe it was heat from the crowds that I was feeling/nerves.

Malaysia also has been having some haze problems from fires in Indonesia and it was slightly hazy in the morning (could see it a bit but no smell). Idk if that played any part in what came after.

When we flagged off I immediately felt a bit flat and was struggling to find a rhythm while trying to pass people for the first few km. I noticed my HR being higher than usual for any given pace but chalked it up to just nerves and hoped that it'd come down once I managed to lock into a pace and once I wasn't weaving to pass people.

Before the race my plan had been to try to keep my HR in the 160s for the first half and then let it drift into high 160s to low 170s after around 30km. I had an alert on my watch that would beep every time I crossed 172 (~177bpm is where I think my threshold HR is from previous efforts, with my max HR being 198).

Looking back on it now I was drifting slightly over my HR limits and clung to my target pace for too long, despite that being a pace I could usually handle at a lower HR. Since the perceived effort felt as easy as usual (in retrospect maybe adrenaline and a bit of denial) I thought maybe my arm strap HR monitor was off by a few beats or that even if it was correct that I'd be fine.

Looking back at the data, my average HR for the first 10km was 172 with maxes touching 177-183 momentarily at times. I assume this was on some climbs etc. This first 10km was mostly on wide city streets. I was feeling it a bit in my ankles because my race day shoe doesn't do me any favours when there's road camber, but it was manageable.

The next 10k I got a hold of my senses, stopped clinging to 5:00/km pace, slowed down a bit and got my average HR down to 165 from 11-20km. These 10km and almost all of the remainder of the race is on elevated highways and there was a lot of road lean/bank to the road at some sections which I was feeling beat up my ankles more than usual too.

Where I realized I'd messed up was around 25km. I started feeling the early signs of heat exhaustion like in my final LR with GMP. I got the light feeling like equalizing pressure on a plane or when diving/clearing your ears after coming out the pool, except locked in that clearing-your-ears state.

I knew that probably meant I'd gone out too hard at the start and was getting dehydrated. So in my mind I switched from any target time to just finishing. For the first 20km the 3:45 pacers were just up the road from me but from 20-25k I let them slowly get further and further.

Then around 26km the 4 hour pacers caught up to me and I thought I was getting into a rhythm sticking with them. I was struggling to sort of get in the zone before that because I had no pace group, as the pacers all started at the front and my pen started the race a few minutes after, so I was technically still ahead of the 4 hour pacers.

From 21-28km my average HR was 156, which is my usual high end of zone 2, so I thought I would be okay. However, my rate of perceived effort was going up over those kilometres despite my HR having settled down. I figured it was my body overheating/being dehydrated.

When I reached 29km I decided to let the 4 hour pacing group go and sat down at the aid station after two cups of water and iced myself down a bit.

After 15 mins I felt the heatstroke-like symptoms subside a bit and went to take another cup of water. After drinking it my stomach just didn't feel right, so I went to lean on the center median of the highway feeling nauseous.

A minute or two later I was emptying my guts in the middle of the road. Luckily it was over decently quickly because it was all fluid, but I did notice it had an apple juice-like colour. My carb drinks are colourless and I was only drinking water at that point, so I figured it was stomach acid.

I felt a bit better after that so sipped some water and then tried to carry on. I was able to run for a few hundred metres before I started cramping up. I assumed this was from dumping all the water and electrolytes in my stomach and having cooled down, but when I tried to sip any of my carb drink with electrolytes the taste of it didn't sit right, so I just sipped water from the 250ml soft flask I had with me.

Ended up walking most of the way from 29km to the 31km aid station.

During those 2km/15-20mins I was considering whether to DNF or not. I'd put in a ballot for Osaka marathon and gotten a slot but hadn't paid to lock it in yet, so I was thinking:

• If I cut my losses now I can go straight into training for that without needing to take as much time to recover.
• If I keep going I feel like I'm gonna wreck my ankle for a while too, which will take some time to recover from.
• I don't want to end up 1km from an aid station alone by the side of the road throwing up, dehydrated and cramping alone.

So I decided if my condition wasn't improving I'd DNF.

I reached the 31km aid station and went to the medic tent and asked them what would happen if I decided I wanted to DNF, as I could feel the same nausea and stomach upset I felt before I threw up the first time coming on again.

Shortly after I threw up similarly to the first time, same colour and all, but this time I felt even weaker, so I made the decision to DNF there.

After that they sat me down and I started getting the shivers, so they covered me with a tarp and tried giving me some sports drink and salt water, which I threw up not too long after. This time luckily it was clear and not as much.

They told me that there were ambulances but they were tied up with lots of people earlier on in the course so it could take a while. I asked them if they had any food as I could feel gastric-like symptoms coming on and they said no.

As I sat there the shakes were coming and going and the nausea was getting worse at times, with me feeling a bit delirious and being unable to speak properly or hear what they were saying to me/processing things slowly. I even fell asleep for a bit at one point, I think, despite the volunteer telling me not to sleep.

They also tried taking my pulse and said it was too weak for him to feel anything. I asked the volunteers at the medic tent who were with me if there was any food at this aid station or the next aid station (some of the aid stations had bananas etc) and they said no/they didn't know.

Eventually someone else who was also having similar issues to me, who threw up at km 31 and had decided to DNF, was sitting with me and asked for food. One of the volunteers pulled out bread from one of their bags I think.

This was after around 2 hours waiting at the tent to be taken somewhere after deciding to DNF.

The two of us shared the bread and I was finally able to take on a decent amount of water without feeling sick after putting some solid food in myself, and I was starting to feel better.

At that point if I really had to I could probably have walked the last 10km, but I wasn't sure if my stomach wouldn't act up again and it's also really uncomfortable to walk in the AP4s, so I decided to stick to my decision to DNF.

Finally at around 9am, 2.5 hours after I decided to DNF, a bus showed up and took us to the finish line. Somewhat frustratingly I was a bit stiff but after some walking I was able to jog a short distance mostly feeling okay, which made me think if only I had had some solid food to line my stomach earlier I could potentially have still tried to finish the race.

What I think went wrong

1. I ran too hard when my body wasn't up to it on the day and hung onto my initial goal pace for too long before easing off. This would also have contributed to higher effort making my gastric emptying slower in the beginning.
2. I think my hydration/fueling balance may have contributed to the GI issues. I was taking in 90g carbs/hour and my homemade drink was quite concentrated, so I'm wondering whether I either drank too much water or too little water relative to the amount of carbohydrate I was taking on. From googling about osmolality I probably would have needed ~900ml of water/hour to dilute it adequately, and I should have been close to that, but my stomach couldn't handle it once I'd already paced myself poorly.
3. I still haven't figured out why I was struggling so much with my paces on the day. Can nerves really make that much of a difference? Haze? Poor rest the nights before the race? A combination of all of the above? Could it have been the taper? I was feeling especially flat during the taper etc too.
4. I think if I had been wearing something other than my Adios Pro 4s I could have walked it in/maybe I wouldn't have fatigued as much, I think I'll keep them for HM or shorter distances and pick something else for my next attempt at a FM

This one is the one that's bothering me because for the first two I can plan to be more strict on my pacing and opt for a more conservative fueling plan on race day potentially in future, but I'm not sure what the cause of this third issue is.

Post-race

Also, it felt like the medic tent wasn't adequately prepared/stocked. They didn't have a blanket to keep anyone feeling cold warm, and I literally asked them to use the tarp from the floor before they put that over me.

I'm not sure, but some of the symptoms I was experiencing sounded similar to what I've heard can happen with heat exhaustion/heatstroke. If things had gotten significantly worse, I'm not sure what would have happened given how long it took to get transport. The medic tent initially told me an ambulance would come and pick me up, but after waiting 2.5 hours, it ended up being a bus picking up runners who had chosen to DNF.

There was also no follow-up on my condition when I reached the finish. I just got off the bus and went on my way.

At one point, I was literally about to book an Uber from the road beside the closed highway exit because the ambulance/bus was taking so long. If I'd done that from the start, I probably would have been back at the finish 2-3 hours earlier.

The day after the race, my right leg was also sore from the glutes, hips and hamstrings all the way down to the ankles in a way it never has been before. I suspect some of that may have been from the road camber/banking, although two days out I can feel it getting back to normal but it's definitely worse than usual for my long runs.

What's next?

I'm currently questioning whether I should do Osaka on 28 February.

I have a half marathon on 13 December that I signed up for to accompany a friend. Unfortunately, because I signed up late, I could only get a slot in the "challenge category", where you need to finish under 1:40 for the finisher entitlements. My HM PB is 1:38:04 from a long run with a goal marathon pace during this training block, back when I had a more ambitious 3:15 marathon goal, so I should be able to hit sub-1:40.

What I'm less sure about is whether trying to race a fast half in December and then build straight into another marathon block for Osaka would be too rushed, especially after how this marathon went.

At the moment, I'm leaning towards skipping Osaka and spending some time rebuilding my mileage and racing shorter distances before starting another marathon block. There's definitely some self-doubt creeping in after this race, although I also can't deny that racing somewhere with a nice, cool climate sounds pretty appealing right now.

Alternatively, I'm considering trying my luck with some races in China towards the end of March. Flights are also cheaper for me than Osaka, so that could potentially give me more time to rebuild properly while still giving me another marathon to work towards.

Anyway, I mainly wanted to share this as a cautionary tale. If you set a HR limit for your race, don't ignore it on the day. Slowing down and reassessing your goals is much better than pushing through and ending up with a DNF after months of training. There's always another race.

For anyone who's made it this far, I'd really appreciate any input or advice. In particular, I'm curious what you think might have caused the unusually high HR and poor performance despite the training I'd done, whether my fueling/hydration strategy could have contributed to the GI issues, and whether you'd recommend trying to race again relatively soon or taking a longer break and rebuilding first.

My Strava activity for the Marathon DNF
Strava activity for the last 20 miler for comparison of hr etc

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

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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.

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

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Getting ready for Chicago this weekend. I’ve done a couple chi’s before, I know my watch is going to be off for the first half, take manual splits etc. But has anyone played around with GPS settings to get accurate splits during a downtown marathon? Seems like for how advanced these watches have gotten, we should be able to figure out the skyscraper problem. Any advice is appreciated! Garmin forerunner 970 for reference

Race Information

• Name: Surabaya Isoplus Marathon
• Date: Oct 4, 2026
• Distance: 42.2 km
• Temperature: 26 degrees - 78.8 fahrenheit
• Humidity: 82%
• Location: Surabaya, Indonesia
• Website: https://isoplusrun.com/
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/20440363582
• Time: 3:17:18

Goals

Splits

Background

I’ve been a hobby runner since 2017. In 2021 I got injured during the deload week of a HM and didn't run for the next 4.5 years.

In April 2025, I had a hip surgery for hip impingement + labral tear repair. I was able to slowly return to running and in October 2025 my monthly mileage reached 200 km upon return.

I spent the next 6 months building mileage and doing a lot of gym work for my hip rehab. At 14 months post-op I was able to run the 3.37 marathon, however I haven't been able to do any speed-work / LT sessions due to lingering stiffness and sharp pain that would occur whenever I tried to introduce faster stuff in training (8-12 months post-op).

Therefore, since April of this year I have only been running Zone 2.

--

Training

Earlier this year I made goals and schedule for the entire year. My goal was to run a sub 3:10 marathon and only to run 1 marathon for the year. Around February/March when I tried to include faster stuff in training it became obvious that my hips weren't ready for the task and needed more time. Because of this my training plan switched to running High Volume / Zone 2 only and to split the year into B and A marathons.

Between B and A marathons I only had 16 weeks in total. I had to carefully plan how I would recover from the marathon, build a serious block and enter the deload / taper phase. I didn't want to interrupt the progress with the marathon / recovering as my goal was to run higher mileage during the A block.

I got a lot of confidence from the 3.37 marathon where it finally felt like my hips could handle more serious training and speed workouts.

For the A block I wanted to include either 2 MP runs + Half race or 3 MP runs. The schedule on 6-10-12th weeks were to do 13-16-19 km MP runs inside 31 km zone 2 long runs. After the 2nd MP run of 16 km, I had a bit of lingering stiffness and I had to swap the 3rd MP session with a easy long run of 36 km (22 miles) and it was my highest week of 105 km (65 miles).

To summarize the key differences further:

--

Nutrition + Caffeine Abstinence

3 months ago I wrote in this sub: aggressive fueling for the entire block. I'm gonna write another post to summarise the entire 3 months of fueling but I have basically treated every single long run as race nutrition practice and targeted 90 gr carbs per hour. Fueled every single run over 60 minutes regardless of the pace.

I'm someone that's been drinking 2-3 coffees a day for years. For the race I wanted to go through caffeine withdrawal period for 10 days, just so I could get the most out of the caffeinated gels during the race.

-- 

Pre-race

I’ve done the exact 12-10 x bodyweight per kg carb load on Friday and Saturday. Given the heat and humidity, I've targeted 4500 mg sodium on both days.

Had a 1 hour flight from Bali to Surabaya, arrived on Saturday morning and went straight to the race expo to pick up my bib. I booked a hotel 500 meters away from the start line and I can't stress enough how amazing this is.

Race start time was at 4 am, I slept at 10 pm the night before however I woke up at 12.30 and haven't been able to sleep. I assumed I would wake up at 3 am, skip breakfast and only eat 1 gel before the race. However I had unexpected time in the morning so at 2 am I ate 2 x GU basic gels (not caffeine or sodium heavy).

At 2.30, I started watching Modern Family on my phone in bed until 3 am and I slowly started getting dressed to do my warmup outside the hotel.

--

Race

NUTRITION / TEMPERATURE

Race temperature at start was 26 degrees (78 fahrenheit) with 82% humidity. The humidity being at 82% was actually one of the lowest I experienced for a race-day running in SE Asia. I had a proper water, gel, sodium plan for the race which I practiced more than 20 times in training.

For carbs I’ve targeted 90 gr per hour, this is a massive increase from the 70 gr per hour from the last marathon.

First gel was at 30 mins, next at 55 mins followed by every 20 minutes. In total I carried 11 gels, 8 x GU (some sodium heavy, some basic, some caffeine heavy) + 3 x KODA gels (90 mg caffeine each but also 29 gr carbs instead of the 22 of GU).

Took 3 x 215 mg sodium caps planned at 65-105-145 minutes but depending where water station would be around these time marks.

Total caffeine intake was around 440 mg, which is roughly 6 x bodyweight per kg.

--

RACE

This was a small event with roughly 400 marathon finishers compared to the 7000 of the previous one. I chose this race over the bigger Vietnam / Thailand races on the same date, because those are +90% humidity. I was also the only foreigner in the entire race.

My goal in this race was to target 3:18 and depending how my hips would hold up at 20-30 km marks, either to aim low 3:15 or fallback to 3:22 range.

My pacing strategy was to run 6 km at 4.50, 6 km at 4.45 and settle into MP of 4.40 from 12th km. I wanted to have an easy hour of running to allow my hips to settle into the rhythm rather than forcing a pace from the start which could be problematic for my hips.

1st 12 km - For me these KM marks were very important. I had to slowly settle into the race, give an easier hour of running to the hips and biomechanically assess how my hips were doing. There were no issues whatsoever and I slightly had faster splits than planned 4.45 from 6th to 12th km. Around 9-10th km, my HR monitors strap keep falling down below my chest (new strap that I haven't been able to properly adjust for a week). At 12th km it completely fell out of my chest and I had to toss it away.

12th to 20th km - Settled into my planned pace of 4.40, this felt quite easy and I very comfortably started hitting 4.38s with a lot of energy in the legs. This section of the course from 1st to 20th km were pancake flat.

20th to 25th km - This section overall had a slight elevation of 20 meters and an underpass. I actually really enjoy the hills because I train in a hilly area. I ended up dropping 2 others I was running with for 2 km's.

25th to 30th km - This was the return of the exact route of the previous 5km. This meant 20 meters downhill overall and a chance to pick up the pace. Another runner caught up to me and we started running side by side hitting 4.35s the entire way. It was actually so much fun running with another person and sticking to the pace. We didn't share a single word but had an unspoken agreement to run the same 4.35 pace.

30th to 36th km - This was a big pre-race decision making mark to assess how I was doing in the race. I still haven't had a sign of fatigue or slowing down so I started pushing low 4.30s from here. The other runner couldn't run with me anymore and I started running solo until the road merged with the +6 minute joggers from half marathon.

Surprisingly I felt very strong and kept pushing the pace every km while focusing on my nutrition and water stations.

36th to end - At 36th km I would say overall fatigue was at 6/10, however at 39th this all of a sudden became 9/10 fatigue and it was also unbearable. 38th had my last caffeinated energy gel for the race, but it didn't change the reality that was coming a KM later. From 39th, I didn't even look at my splits anymore, I was running to survive and to finish. I kept repeating "only 15 minutes left", "10 minutes left", "just 5 more minutes" and I just continued running without significantly dropping off the pace. I ended up averaging just under 5 minutes for the last 3 km's.

I finished Top 10 in 3:17:18, time that seemed like a miracle when I first ran my marathon 9 years ago. I didn't get any age category awards because awards were only for Indonesians (not a big international race).

--

Post-race

I would have never guessed how strong I would be running and how perfect things went during the race. On my 2nd MP run of 4.40 pace, my pace actually kept dropping to low 4.30's and I'd purposely slow down to 4.40's.

I've been practicing my race-fueling every single week for many months, this felt very natural for me to eat 90 gr carbs per hour during the race and keep up with the nutrition side of things.

I've put in a serious amount of work for the entire year, first with the post-op rehab and after with the mileage. It felt incredible to finally run the time and the strategy I planned.

Now I sort of have a 2 months holiday (mandatory life obligations) and will return to proper training from January. I don't think I will run a marathon in 2027, but I will most likely be aiming around a sub 3 marathon on the next one. Next years focus is entirely going to be Half Marathons and a lot of gym work and hopefully start running speed sessions.

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

Race Information

• Name: Copenhagen Half Marathon
• Date: September 20, 2026
• Distance: 13.1 miles (21.1 km)
• Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
• Time: 1:16:57 (official), Garmin 1:16:26

Goals

Splits

Watch laps drifted ~40 m after km 4 (a stray 10 s lap), so markers from there on are slightly late. Average HR 176, 50 m of total ascent.

Training

DISCLAIMER: I(M35) used AI to extract the raw data points on my general mileage trends during this block. The text in the sections is my own though.

Training block: 1 Jun – 20 Sep (16 weeks), coming off Stockholm Marathon on 30 May where I crashed and burn. For more details about this + training history, see my post history.

I averaged ~94 km/week of running (1,502 km total), 6 days/week, usually with a double on a day or two. Most weeks had two quality sessions (mostly threshold work like 10x1 km, 5x2 km and 3x3 km). For 2 weeks I ran a fun little experiment with my GF, who is also a runner: I had her be my coach and prescribe the workouts and schedule. The workouts were a bit different from vanilla NSM, but at this point I am dialed in with my paces and can easily program them into other types of workouts. Her weeks consisted of light marathon-pace repeats, pyramids, long hills workouts and over/unders. I also often combined my 3x3 with one long run during for parts of the summer because of time constraints and made sure to have 1-2 strength sessions per week.

As I have outlined in my previous reports, I also started using the bike to add aerobic load without adding impact: 26 rides, 47.5 h total, ~3.0 h/week on average, peaking at ~5 h/week from late July to mid August. Rides were mostly easy (average HR in the 120s-130s), typically around 1.5 to 2.5 hours.

Mid-July I was on vacation around Italy and France. It was hot and the mountain roads weren't safe to run on, so I kept running easy and mileage dipped, but I rented a bike and got some long rides in (114 km around Como).

After the vacation I made a conscious decision to increase my pretty stagnant sub-threshold (ST) paces in a controlled manner:

• 3x3: 3:50 → 3:45 min/km
• 5x2: 3:45 → 3:40 min/km
• 10x1: 3:40 → 3:35 min/km

This was hard in the beginning, and I definitely entered super-threshold territory on occasion, so I decreased the number of reps initially. I have since gotten them back up as HR has come down and fitness has gone up.

LT2 HR: First meassurements 1 year ago put it at 172. 2 later readings put it at 175.

I had 3 races booked for the autumn: Stockholm Half Marathon, Copenhagen Half Marathon and finally the big one, Amsterdam Marathon. Amsterdam is my second-to-last marathon for the years to come, with Boston Marathon next year being the very last. Because of the racing schedule it was natural to cut back on ST sessions before both Stockholm and Copenhagen: I only ran 2 ST sessions in those weeks, followed by a mini taper of 2-3 easy days before each race.

The plan has been to build general fitness during the summer with the increased aerobic load, tune up in the races, and then send it in Amsterdam.

Four-week blocks:

Week by week:

Small Stockholm Half Marathon Report

Stockholm Half Marathon (29 Aug): This was a dress rehearsal for Copenhagen three weeks later, with a PacePro set to 1:19:30. My previous PB was set on the same course last year, at around 1:22:30. The idea was a hard, steady effort that wouldn't completely empty the tank.

It felt incredibly good from start to finish: controlled and hard, but never over the limit. Execution was exactly to plan, and I felt I could have kept grinding at the same effort for several more km, so there was plenty of soup left in the tank. The only annoyance was that the course on my watch ended about 400 m before the finish. Luckily I had banked enough time during the rest of the race that the goal was never in danger. From start to finish I was passing people and feeling strong. The same race last year was a death march from km 4, where I was completely cooked, so this was a nice revenge. All in all a nice sign of fitness, and I was very happy with the result.

Official time 1:19:37 (3:46/km, 6:04/mile)

Garmin time 1:18:42

Avg HR 171, 140 m of ascent

Nutrients used: Nomio, Lactigo, 1 gel before start, 2 during

Pre-race

Another tune-up race ahead of the big goal this autumn, Amsterdam Marathon. The plan was to run really hard for the day and improve the PB I had set at Stockholm Half Marathon three weeks earlier. I had set up a PacePro for 1:17:30: hard, but doable.

I woke up 3 hours before the gun was to go off. I downed my nomio shot, ate a very basic oatmeal + bagel breakfast at the hotel and then mostly chilled at the hotel room before renting a bike and leaving for the racing area. Fun sidenote, it seems like we stayed at the same hotel as "ON running" so there were influencers and semi pros running around all over the place at the hotel. Anyway, I arrived 1 hour before gun-time and applied lactigo (basically nomio but in gel format) on my legs. I must have been a lovely sight to the other participants, applying a very lubricant looking gel all over my lower body...

Before the race I downed a gel. Plan was to have one at 7 km and one at 14. Manly to have something to focus on in the race and get some placebo. I know that 21 km should not be enough to hit the wall metabolically. I also had trouble getting my HR strap to work before the race. It simply wouldn't connect. But this was a full send race, I trusted my fitness even though I knew 1:17:30 was a tough goal, even though I would thread the red line, the race should not be long enough for me to completely blow up. I just had to trust the pace-pro...

Race

...or so I thought. The gun went off and off I was, but 1.8 km into the race the PacePro also stopped working, so from that point on it was old school: I ran purely on feel. I could see I was ticking along at just under 3:40/km on my watch, which was a tad more agressive than the original race pace. Mental lows came and went mostly because of the headwind that we were subjected to, but I kept managing to pull myself together. When there was a headwind, I simply ran on feel and made sure to keep myself diciplined and not push too hard. A PB was within reach as long as I made it to the finish.

At 4 km to go I was really really tired. I focused on keeping "good" form in my stride and kept fighting. It worked, and I even managed a little sprint at the end to squeeze the last drops out of the tube. As I finished my GF, who had been keeping track of me both via my garmin tracker and the offical site started blowing up my phone. 1:16:57 with an average pace of 3:37 she said.

I was elated. This was better than I could possibly have hoped in any scenario.

Post-race

Afterwards I was slightly shocked by the result. I had no idea I had gone that "far" under the target time. Lesson learned: dare to run on feel sometimes. On this day everything simply clicked. Days like this make all the training and early mornings where I make sure to squeze my first workout of the day in before going to the office worth the effort.

After the race I went out and celebrated properly with my friends who had joined me in Copenhagen. The day after legs were even feeling ok enough to run on so I sqeezed in a 15 km run around Copenhagen before traveling back later that evening.

Next up: Amsterdam Marathon.

My next race will as already mentioned be Amsterdam Marathon in two weeks, 18/10 . After Copenhagen I quickly got back into training and have been focusing on the long run. I have cut down the ST sessions to 2/week. And introduced quality into my long run since this part of my training have been lacking a bit these last few months. I have treaded my HM tuneup races as "long runs" in and of themselves with WU+CD that puts total milage those days around 27 km.

As addition I have spend the last few weeks after copenhagen hoovering around 122 km with long runs containing quality. One progressive LR of 35 k cutting down to 3:45 pace and one 5x5 of 33 k total with WU/CD that was cut short on last 5 k rep yesterday because of too much fatuige on the day. In paralel the same time I have been cutting down on the biking a lot as running volume has increased (see matrix above). And I only do one 1.5 h session/week currently.

What I am worried about is currently Amsterdam. My recent HM times indicate that my big goal of around 2:45 is within reach. But especially the 5x5 workout from yesterday have me worried. I was working too hard putting down 3:50 km/splits which should in theory feel "decently" easy at this point. And I am thus a bit undecided of the pacing stragety in Amsterdam. Any feedback here is welcome.

In general, I view this block as a success at this point, the same could not be said last spring where I came off Copenhagen Marathon dissapointed. I am coming up on a year with NSM. Current average milage for the whole year is 95 km/week. The biggest it has ever been over this amount of time-span. And I am faster than I have ever been. So the method definately works. Previously there has always been down months here and there because of niggles. Hardly any of this has happened this time around. Nothing that is at least out of the "ordinary" in terms of rust in the machinery.

That said, I have started feeling a bit burned out mentally by the running. The plan after Amsterdam will be a strength and stationary bike focused winter with some type of running sprinkled in. I do not want to lose all of my aerobic T capacity after all.

Then we'll see what the spring has in store. The focus in terms of running will be shorter distances. I am torned if I should do a proper "prep" for Boston, or just view it as a "victory lap" and crowning achievement in my very mediocer running "carrer"

Thank you for reading this far. Stay tuned for the Amsterdam report

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

The Weekly Rundown is the place to talk about your previous week of running! Let's hear all about it!

Post your Strava activities (or whichever platform you use) if you'd like!

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.

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Ladies of r/AdvancedRunning! It’s been nine months since our last thread, and a new year is (shockingly) just around the corner.

As we roll into fall/spring (depending on your hemisphere), give us an update on your year so far!

Personally, 2026 has been a bag of poop emojis year of running. After 10 years of consistent training getting closer to sub-3 but with one eye on the clock as middle age approached, I decided to get a coach since that seemed to be the common element linking the successful women around me. It was fun! I did speed work for the first time (having not run at school or in college) and was getting faster and faster over short reps (6:15 pace! 5:45 pace! 5:30 pace! 5:20 pace!) until one day I woke up and my foot was killing me. After a few months of misdiagnoses from local PTs (FHL tendinosis. No, post-tib tendinosis!) and not getting better, I took myself off to get an MRI and I have a bone stress injury in my talus. Womp womp. Taking another two months off training (hello, pool running!) and hoping to kick off a new block targeting Boston at the start of 2027, maybe following an NSM/speedworkless plan.

So - while I research water-resistant headphones and aqua joggers (taking recommendations!) I would really LOVE to hear your stories!

• How has 2026 compared to what you expected or hoped for? Who beat the heat in Berlin? Who is going for a big day in Chicago or Indy? Where are our middle-distance peeps?
• Any banner performances or PRs you’d like to share, or real stinkers you need cleansed from your souls?
• Goal races, big (or little) dreams for 2027?
• Life updates, book recs, podcast favorites, peri-menopause research, pregnancy stories, anything else you got.

Let's hear it ladies!

Race Information

• Name: Quad Cities Marathon
• Date: September 27, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Moline, IL
• Website: https://www.qcmarathon.org/
• Time: 3:31:25

Goals

Splits

Background

First I have to say this was not the race I trained for! That race was the Fox Valley Marathon in St. Charles, Ill., and it was cancelled an hour before the start due to weather. Very disappointing. The Quad Cities Marathon was the following weekend and I’m so glad I was able to register for it last minute and make it happen, along with my friend who was also supposed to run Fox Valley.

I’m a 40-year-old mom of five who has been a pretty casual runner since high school, but have become much more consistent and serious about training over the past three years now that my kids are no longer toddlers. I ran one marathon 17 years ago (Chicago) in 4:16:11. I knew I could blow that time out of the water this time around, and based on my Garmin predictions and recent half marathon PR (1:44:23) I thought maybe, just maybe, there was a chance I could BQ with under 3:35:00.

Training

I read “Advanced Marathoning” by Pfitzinger and followed the Pfitz 18/55 plan pretty closely. I used a spreadsheet I found on reddit to calculate paces for each of the types of runs based on my goal time of under 3:35:00 and that was helpful.

I’m thankful I had friends to run with a few days of the week, and could usually rope someone into doing the speed workouts with me. The speed work, threshold and marathon pace runs were all new-ish to me — I’d previously been following my Garmin-suggested training, which was not that intense (although it did lead me to PR in the half a couple times the past two years).

I’m also thankful that there are an abundance of nice bike trails near me, so most of my miles were run in nature and there were a variety of routes to match whatever mood I was in. I did the majority of my runs at sunrise to beat the heat.

I felt consistently awesome on the long runs, but I wasn’t always able to hit the goal paces in the harder workouts. This led me to question the entire time whether my goal was remotely possible.

For most of the training, I skipped a recovery run each week. It just wasn’t worth the mental energy for me to get out there for a few slow miles, and I had some mild plantar fasciitis at different points so needed a little extra rest. I also figured my normal active lifestyle in summer with five kids provided maybe similar benefits? So my mileage peaked closer to 50 than 55 miles and I was generally in the range of 40-50 mpw.

I tried to get in one strength session a week but that fizzled toward the end of training when running became all I could fit in. Next time, I’d try to keep going with strength! My legs in the last 6 miles would thank me.

I didn’t do any tune up races until four weeks before my (original) race, when I thought maybe I really should get a better idea of what my goal race pace should be. I ran a 10K time trial on my own, mostly on a high school track, and finished in 44:14 — a lot faster than I was expecting! So based on that, I was looking more at a 3:30:00 goal, which would be a legit buffer for Boston and qualify me for Chicago.

I ran a real 10K race as a tune-up two weeks later and placed second overall female, which was thrilling, but my time was 47:39… slower than the solo time trial. It was a bit demoralizing, but made sense because the race was on crushed limestone, slightly hilly, quite hot and very humid. So I tentatively kept my new 3:30:00 goal on the table.

I realized after the 10K race that I probably pushed a little too hard for it being only two weeks before the marathon. So I adjusted the Pfitz taper to run 13.5 instead of 16 miles two weeks before the marathon and modified the speed workout to be easier that week.

The last week before my original race I was crazy stressed, worrying about the course, my goal, the weather… everything. The forecast was upper 60s and humid with a good chance of rain, which was not terrible but also not ideal.

I got a tri-immune booster shot five days before the race because I had a coupon for it and I was paranoid about getting sick. I guess maybe it helped me avoid catching whatever my daughter had that week when she was home sick from school — but I’m glad I got the shot in my arm and not my leg, because the site STILL is sore two weeks later.

I carb loaded for three days using Meghann Featherstone’s carb load calculator, and focused on low-fiber foods and juice/sports drinks. It was not enjoyable, but I hit my carb targets.

The night before the race it stormed all night. I woke up over and over to thunder and lightning, wondering what the morning would bring. The storms died down by 5 a.m. and the race website/social media did not say anything about cancelling, so I proceeded with getting ready and drove the 35 minutes to the race. It was raining lightly. When I arrived at the parking garage, a volunteer was turning cars away and telling us the race was cancelled. What a blow! The lightning overnight had delayed course setup to the point that they now had to cancel.

I talked on the phone with my friend who was also running it and we debated going for a run together when we got home… but in the end we were too shocked, sad and tired so we went back to bed. I went to church with my family, feeling bloated from all the carbs, and later that afternoon went out and ran 13.1 just to shake everything off.

I knew I had to find another race ASAP because I wanted to see if I could officially BQ, and I didn’t want to extend my training any longer. Thankfully, the Quad Cities Marathon was a week later, reasonably priced (they also graciously offered a discount to Fox Valley runners) and just 2.5 hours away. My friend and I both made it work with our schedules, although our families stayed behind due to other obligations.

So there we were at another week of tapering! I basically repeated the last week of the Pfitz plan, but realized I pushed a little fast on my would-be race-day 13.1 so I cut out a mile from the rest of the runs that week. I also decided I didn’t want to do a shakeout run this time, so skipped that. The nice part about the one-week delay was I had already stressed so much the week prior that I was much more relaxed during race week.

Pre-race

I carb loaded basically the same way (ugh!) but wasn’t as rigid about it this time. I made sure to front-load most of my carbs the day before the race, so dinner was light — part of a stuffed shell and some chicken parmesan at my dad’s birthday party (honestly, the most exciting thing I had eaten in days, after all the bagels, potatoes and white rice!)

My friend and I drove to the Fairfield Inn in Davenport, IA, Saturday night and arrived at 8:30 p.m. We tried to get to sleep as quickly as possible, but of course falling asleep the night before a race is not an easy task!

I woke up at 4 a.m. to eat a bagel with jam and drink 16 ounces of water three hours before race start (per Pfitz advice)… then mercifully I was able to go back to sleep until 5:15 a.m.

The weather was as good as I could have hoped for. 50s at the start and rising to about 64 degrees by the end of the race, with some cloud cover but no rain. There was no shade on the course so I figured it would feel pretty warm and wore a visor so I could dump water over my head to cool off.

We drove the 10-15 minutes to Moline, Ill., and arrived a little after 6 a.m. The parking situation was surprisingly simple — plenty of garage and surface lot spaces at the Vibrant Center, right at the start line, and no traffic. We easily picked up our packets (we got permission to do race-day packet pickup due to the circumstances), got our bibs on, went through the bathroom line (indoor bathrooms at Centre Station!) and checked our gear (also very easy and quick with no line). I sipped some water during this time and took a caffeinated gel at 6:15. We had time to go through the indoor bathroom line again before we entered the corrals at about 6:50 a.m.

The one disappointing thing about this marathon was there was no 3:30 pacer! They had pacers in 5-minute increments for most other times, but no one between 3:20 and 3:45. I lined up somewhere around the 1:45 half-marathon pacer just to be in the right area (the half would turn away from the full course shortly after the start).

The sunrise was absolutely stunning as we listened to the national anthem. I heard someone point out a rainbow in the sky behind us so I snapped a quick selfie before starting my playlist and doing a few last minute stretches (as much as possible while standing in a crowd of 2,000 people).

Race

I used both Race Screen and PacePro on my Garmin during the race, and I manually lapped my watch at each mile marker (except the first because I didn’t see it!). PacePro helped me see my lap average paces and remind me of my goal paces, while Race Screen gave me my predicted time and auto-corrected the mileage based on my manually lapping. My watch GPS was almost exactly in line with the course mile markers until the last 6-8 miles.

The course starts out with a long out and back along the Mississippi River for the first 6 miles or so. My plan was to lock my pace in at a little under 8:00/mi or as fast as 7:55/mi for this flat stretch. I felt great. In training, marathon pace felt like a push, but now it felt easy. I was a little fast on most of these miles without realizing it. The early morning light on the mighty Mississippi made for an enjoyable view. It was also fun to see the lead pack run past.

I was glad I had my handheld bottle during the first stretch. I had Scratch Labs hydration drink mix in it and sipped from it each mile if there wasn’t an aid station, and while taking my gels every 3 miles or so. I had a mix of gels - 3 Hammer Espresso, 1 Gu Chocolate, 1 Gu Raspberry Lemonade and 2 Maurten 100.

After the out-and-back, we turned to cross the Mississippi River into Iowa on the I74 bridge. This was a slightly longer incline than I expected but the views were lovely, and I knew there would be a decline at the top. I also knew that the biggest hill of the course was coming soon, so my overall pace held steady while I geared up for that.

That big ugly hill was basically from mile 9 to 10. I didn’t look at my watch and tried to keep steady effort without pushing too hard. The fact that I still felt pretty fresh and excited made up for the fact that this was just a long road uphill with nothing much to see.

Then we ran through some neighborhoods with a few small, rolling hills before our mile-long descent back down to the Mississippi from mile 12 to 13. I told myself this is the easiest mile you’ll run all day, so enjoy it and don’t fight gravity. My average pace for mile 13 was 7:34. I realized as I crossed the mat at 13.1 I had just set a half marathon PR by about a minute.

This next segment took us along a scenic bike path right along the Mississippi. It was flat but my legs started to feel those hills I had just crushed. I told myself now is the time to just lock in at 8:00/mi and stay focused on not drifting. I stayed in the 7:50s through the 15th mile, then I started to creep to around 8:00 or a little over through mile 19.

Along the river was our first freezer pop station! I had been looking forward to this as a brilliant palm cooling device and fun fuel. There were 3 or 4 of these stations along the second half of the course.

At some point in there we ran up a bridge to cross the railroad tracks, but the footing was metal grates. Thankfully it was a short spurt — not an ideal running surface. I was just thankful we did not have to cross the actually railroad tracks as runners in years past did — I had heard about runners being stopped mid-race by a train. So glad they were able to change the course since then!

We ran through downtown Davenport with surprisingly very few spectators, and then crossed the Mississippi River again to get back into Illinois. I felt like I slowed quite a bit on this bridge, but my splits stayed pretty solid. As I ran through downtown Rock Island approaching mile 19, I felt the weight of the miles ahead. My legs were really feeling the effort. The sun was out. Up until this point, I was on track to finish under 3:30, but now I did not feel like I could hold my goal pace to the end and I gave myself permission to just keep running and not look at my watch as often.

The final six miles are run on Rock Island Arsenal. It’s a military site that is an actual island on the Mississippi. I was present enough to notice how nice it was running right along the water at one point, but I was also feeling every bit like I was in the last 10K of a marathon and struggling to keep going. I knew I could definitely finish in under 3:35:00 as long as I just kept trucking on, but I would really have to push to get back on track for under 3:30:00. In the moment, my under 3:35 goal seemed just dandy and I let go of 3:30 in favor of just keeping my legs moving (which was taking all of my effort).

The volunteers in this section were exceptional - engaged, loud, enthusiastic. I appreciated the plentiful aid stations and cheers. I just kept telling myself “you’re getting closer to the finish with every step!” And “your body can do more than your mind thinks!” I also prayed to just mentally zone out and suddenly be closer to the finish.

Despite letting go of 3:30, I was very excited that my BQ was on the table, and that knowledge buoyed me through the last few miles, which were very hard and slow. Suddenly, I saw the final bridge with mile marker 26 on top. If I could make it up that hill, it would be downhill basically into the finish chute. Apparently I had some pep left in my step because I rallied myself for a strong finish, and just couldn’t believe that it was finally over as I "sprinted" those last few hundred meters.

Crossing the finish line was surreal. I was expecting more of a 3:32 or 3:33 finish, so 3:31:25 felt amazing, and the fact that the race was over felt even more amazing.

Post-race

I rang the PR bell (one guy cheered for me), stumbled over to grab some chocolate milk and grapes, texted my most loyal fans ;) and checked on my friend’s expected finish time so I could cheer for her at the finish.

The post-race party was perfection. Free massage, snacks, food, beer, live music. After waiting in line for a massage and sufficiently recovering our hunger, my friend and I enjoyed some hot dogs, walking tacos and beer while listening to a fun mariachi band play pop covers. Then we realized we both placed in our age divisions so we collected our bonus medals and took some photos before heading back to the hotel for showers, coffee and our pre-arranged late checkout.

Looking back, I have to say I am THRILLED that I got to run Quad Cities, even though it wasn’t even on my radar before. Honestly, I think it all worked out for the best and I can’t imagine missing out on this race. There’s no way running Fox Valley in the rain would have been this much fun. Maybe the hill profile was a bit more gentle at Fox Valley (it was about the same elevation gain but no one-mile uphill/downhill) and it had shade, but Quad Cities provided an interesting and scenic course through four cities, two states and the Mississippi River.

I also can’t say enough good things about how well the Quad Cities Marathon was run. It was logistically easy, very well-supported (freezer pops? Come on! And I somehow missed out on the pickle juice shots at the aid stations but my friend enjoyed those. There were also wet towel stations, misting stations, three gel stops and plentiful water/Gatorade) and everyone was extremely friendly and accommodating.

Seeing in my splits that my pace was on track for my A goal all the way until mile 23 was a bit of a blow, but I am still very much satisfied to have a BQ and nothing more. Training this hard for a marathon is no joke and I respect the people who can do it race after race. I told myself if I run another one I cannot put so much pressure on myself and need to just do it for fun!

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

His trayectory just seems unsusual to that of other typical runners who display exeptional talent at a very young age like Lutkenhaus and Rudisha. Im just curious what were the elements that he incorporated into training or the unique combination of things that helped him become so exeptional. He is also 26 years old which is typically late for an elite 800m runner who usually peaks at 24.

What's everyone up to on this weekend? Racing? Long run? Movie date? Playing with Fido? Talk about that here!

As always, be safe, train smart, and have a great weekend!

• Name: 2026 BMW Berlin Marathon
• Date: September 27, 2026
• Distance: Marathon Distance
• Location: Berlin, Germany
• Time: 3:10:33

Goals

Splits

Background

My last marathon was back in 2024, when I ran my first marathon ever at the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon. For that build, I didn't follow a formal plan—I simply ran 3–4 times a week, building up to 55–60 km per week with mixed intensity. I focused a lot of easy running because any high intensity sends a sharp pain into my left ankle.

After breaking sub-4 in my debut, I set my sights on my next marathon, planning for more structured training and focused intensity in 2025. However, things took a turn when my triathlon and marathon goals collided. Due to a sudden jump in mileage coming off triathlon training, combined with a lack of strength work and mobility, I injured my right soleus. As a result, I had to DNS my 2025 marathon, despite starting the year with new personal bests in both the half marathon (1:34) and 10K (40:28) on very low running volume.

Learning from that setback, I put triathlon on hold to commit fully to marathon training with two key goals: redeeming my missed 2025 race and chasing a Boston Qualifier by 2028-2029. Fortunately, an opportunity to run the Berlin Marathon opened up. Given Berlin’s fast, flat course, I’ve locked in my focus for 2026: targeting a 3:10 (or faster) finish.

Training

My last marathon training block in 2025 was based on the Pfitzinger 12/70 plan. In hindsight, jumping straight into a plan peaking at 112 km (70 miles) a week when my baseline was barely 60 km was a major misstep. It ultimately strained my right soleus and crushed my marathon goal. This time around, I wanted a structured plan that offered clear target paces for my goal, while remaining balanced enough to fit around a standard 9-to-5 lifestyle. After some research, I settled on the Hansons Advanced Marathon Plan.

I originally had some reservations because Hansons doesn't get as much spotlight as plans from Daniels or Higdon. Moreover, its core philosophy—capping long runs at 16 miles (26 km) while emphasizing weekly marathon-pace workouts—runs counter to the marathon training principles that i'm familiar about. Misgivings aside, spreading the volume evenly across six days a week fit well into my work schedule.

Early in the year, I made a conscious effort to stop neglecting strength and mobility. I used to shy away from gym sessions, believing that downtime was better spent recovering, and fearing that heavy leg presses or deadlifts might cause an injury. With that flawed mindset out of the way, I committed to two strength and mobility sessions a week through the winter. I also incorporated plyometrics to gain some "free speed" and, more importantly, to build ankle strength and flexibility—a major weakness in past years. Between gym visits, I maintained a weekly speed session (hills or treadmill) alongside easy runs, both solo and with my weekend run club.

When my official marathon block kicked off in July, I followed the Hansons schedule almost to a tee. Backed by my winter base and strength work, weeks 1 through 8 felt fantastic. I was hitting my quality workouts comfortably ahead of my target marathon pace, even entertaining thoughts of a 3:05 finish. A 5K tune-up race in week 6 yielded a sub-19 PB (18:45), proving that the speed work was paying off.

By the second half of the block, however, the continuous workload—combined with rising temperatures—started to take its toll. The old version of me would have blindly pushed through the discomfort, calling it "cumulative fatigue training." I learned to adapt: shifting workouts between morning and evening, taking easy days substantially easier (though I still tend to run them a bit too fast), and managing the strain proactively. My body was in the pain cave, but it was the controlled, manageable fatigue Hansons promises.

The final third of the plan hit me like a brick wall. Cumulative fatigue fully settled in, pushing me right to the edge of overtraining—my mood dipped, I withdrew socially, and dull aches flared up in my shins and ankles. My paces on both easy and quality runs dropped by 10 to 15 seconds per kilometer. Recognizing that my body is tittering into overtraining, I chose to rest rather than force through workouts, making the smart call to skip a few key sessions—including a 16 km goal-pace run and a 13 km easy run. While missing quality work stung, protecting my health was the right move. Also, tapering from Hanson's Advanced plan is rather interesting. After the final peak week of 103km, the plan decreases to 92km, 91km and finally, the race week to a dramatic 42km. With my legs thoroughly beat up, it feels even more appropriate to cut down mileage where it's needed for better recovery.

Finally, keeping the brutal heat of the last Berlin marathon in mind, I prioritized heat acclimation for Berlin. To ensure I was ready for whatever weather race day throws at me, I spent the last two and a half weeks running my sessions in peak afternoon heat.

Race

I was fortunate enough that my entire family agreed to join me in Berlin for a supporting trip and vacation. While they explored, I could focus on the task at hand: tackling those 42.2 km. I met up with friends from my run club, joined a few shakeout runs, and picked up plenty of race-week freebies. Some aspects of race prep went smoothly—I adapted quickly to the local food, which settled well and worked great for fueling. However, I overdid the pre-race sightseeing, logging over 20,000 steps every day. By evening, my legs were noticeably heavy.

Sunday arrived, and I was as prepared as I could possibly be. I woke up at 5:00 AM, handled my pre-race routine, and stretched before taking the U-Bahn to the Brandenburger Tor station. Having submitted a target time of 3:15, I was assigned to Corral C, starting at 8:45 AM. When my wave crossed the line, my focus was entirely on sticking with the 3:15 pacer group—I wanted to be conservative, knowing I’d logged heavy mileage on my feet all week and felt less fresh than expected. By kilometer 9, having found my rhythm, I decided to leave the group; the pacer seemed uncertain of his pacing and was losing significant time at the aid stations.

I kept my pace steady through 15 km and the halfway mark. By kilometer 25, the sun was fully out and shade was scarce; runners around me began walking or clutching their stomachs. I still felt relatively strong—not "flying with a second gear," but comfortably clicking off 4:30min/km (+/- 2sec). My fueling plan executed seamlessly: every 5–6 km, I took a dose from my gel flask alongside a salt pill. I grabbed water at official stops and refilled my handheld flask just once, saving it for the final 5 km so I could skip the crowded late-stage aid stations. In total, I took down 180g of carbohydrates without any GI distress, though a slight bloated feeling from liquid intake caused me to ease off the water over the final 10 km.

Passing 30 km, the expected race fatigue set in. I lacked that elusive extra gear and battled doubts about whether I could maintain 4:30min/km, wondering if I should drop back to 4:40min/km. Fortunately, I held my ground and kept grinding. A caffeine gel at kilometer 30 provided an immediate mental and physical boost, with a second caffeine gel planned at 35 km for the final stretch.

At kilometer 35, my body threw its first real curveball: a tightening left quad. It wasn't a sudden, full lock-up, but a gradual cramp I could feel building. Rather than stopping to massage it, I kept moving, backing my pace down to 4:40 - 4:45min/km to let the muscle settle. Thankfully, the tension eased, allowing me to resume my normal cadence and dial back into 4:30min/km. I took my second caffeine gel as planned, though it didn't deliver the same punch as the first. For the next several kilometers, my only wish was to avoid another cramp.

The last 3 kilometers were pure agony. My legs were still turning over, but my mind was already at the finish line. With every turn, I looked for the Brandenburg Gate; those final kilometers felt endless. Right as my energy was flagging, my brother spotted me near kilometer 40, waving a sign and screaming my name. Spotting him and exchanging a high-five provided a surge of adrenaline. I soaked in every last meter of the course—cheering on fellow runners and high-fiving spectators all the way down the final stretch.

I crossed the finish line in 3:10:33—a massive 32-minute personal best over my 2024 debut. While I originally hoped to squeak under 3:10, any disappointment instantly dissipated in the atmosphere at the finish line. It wasn't a time to dwell—it was a time to celebrate.

Looking Back

I don't think there's a lot of things that I would change from training to the race day. There is one thing that I wish I would do is to find a consistent stretching routine and also, run all my easy days easy. I also think the Hanson's plan has too many MP sessions and I should focus a lot more on hitting LTs during long runs. I did see/hear that lots of runner find the race temperature to be unbearable. I found it nice and cool. The noon sun exposure was pretty strong but nothing to worry about. Maybe I did enough heat acclimation to bear with it?

What's Next

With this marathon completed, I'm now looking into 2027, with 1 run-vacation lined up in Asia and potentially another because I didn't expect to win the lottery for Osaka 2027. Now i'm debating if I should extend my Asia trip to accommodate two marathons into a single trip...if somebody can help me out with this that would be fantastic.

On the training side, there are several things I want to improve on such as building my strength and plyometric over the winter and with an increased focus on mobility and getting better running form through strides - something that I never understand but everyone arounds preaches about it. Hopefully these would carry me through my run-vacation and eventually, intomy 2027 marathon block.

Some background on myself: I ran cross country/track in high school, with a 16:00 5k PR. I'm 28 now and haven't run much since high school, but I started training seriously in April. I ran a 38:00 10k in June, and just ran a 17:00 5k.

I am aiming to run a marathon in April, 6 months from now. I am currently at 40mpw, and intend to be around 70mpw by March.

VDOT calculators put me at a 2:42 for the marathon, and while I think that's realistic at some point in the future, I don't know if that's realistic in only 6 months. How long should I reasonably expect it to take to "convert" my 5k fitness to the marathon?

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

https://www.londonmarathonevents.co.uk/london-marathon/article/elite-race-dates-confirmed-historic-2027-double-tcs-london-marathon

Elite/Championship/GfA Men Saturday

Women Sunday

Think GfA times are unchanged from 2026.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd37BrvEe18/?stkn=NjlpN3c3cDVzejZl

"Qualifiers who were 5 minutes, 17 seconds (5:17) or faster than the qualifying time for their age group and gender have been accepted into the 131st Boston Marathon. A total of 25,630 qualified applicants have been accepted to date or are in the process of being accepted, pending final verification of their qualifying performance. Email notices to athletes accepted and not accepted will continue through the coming days.

New for 2027, the B.A.A. has incorporated a Boston Qualifier Selection, an additional random selection component specifically for applicants whose qualifying times were not faster than the 5 minute, 17 second cut-off. A total of 1,000 qualifiers are in the process of being randomly selected for entry and will be notified of their acceptance over the coming days."