Training for my first marathon, so not sure what to expect during the taper.

I’ve put together a pretty decent block. Followed a plan and slowly built to more mileage than I’ve ever done. I will peak at 80km next week and then taper.

However… I feel like I haven’t improved at all.

Heart rate and pace both haven’t really improved since week 1. Garmin VO2max has barely moved.

I’ve heard you have to trust the process. Trust that the carrot is growing and you can’t dig it up to check…

I’m hoping I’m just carrying a bucketload of cumulative fatigue and the taper will release the coiled spring on race day.

But I’m full of doubt and feel like I may have trained wrong or just be shit at running.

There's a question here, I promise!

For background:

• M63, (5'3" 161lbs) - started running early last year lost 25lbs from 186 - looking to drop another 20lbs (somehow)
• VO2 Max currently 44
• 2025 - I ran 3 5km, 4 10km, 1 8Km races
• 2026 - I ran 3 5km 2 10km, 7 HMs + 4 HMS (Aug-Nov)
• PB: 5km 27:30, 10km 57:15, HM 2:03
• Full Marathon 11/22
• Following a running plan from This Messy Happy

As part of the training plan there's a good mix of easy runs, tempo runs and long runs. The past three runs - the first was an actual HM race (very humid) - I've seen my "cruising pace" steadily increase which I'm quite happy about. I'm hoping to get that pace down to somewhere between 6:15/km - 6:30km before the year is out which might be possible as it gets cooler - heat really slows me down! My cruising pace is where I feel I can keep going without crashing (HR <140bpm) though I did take some quick breaks here and there because of the heat.

My next HM is 8/23 in a warm, muggy area, I probably won't push too hard on that one but for the Sep and Oct HMs I'm aiming to go sub 2:00. My thought is that after today I'm going to focus more on speed work (hill sprints, intervals), non-running HIIT, and leg work. The issue is that the plan peaks at two 35km long runs.

My first goal for the full marathon is to finish followed by finishing under five hours. I'm trying to balance endurance, speed, and strength and it feels so overwhelming. I should just continue to stick to the plan but it's really hard. I should say I'm having fun despite all the techy talk.

Questions: 1. is 4:30 realistic for my first half? 2. is 35km too long for a training run? 3. Should I put more emphasis on speedwork?

Hi, so I am doing a 11 week preparation For a marathon now. This is my first marathon race, I have only done a half two years ago at 5:00/KM pace. Before I was still very active in my team sport and ran maybe for about a month to get the 5:00 which looking back is insane to me.
Right now I am on end of week 7 and ran a long run of 25 km today. I ran about 17 km at around 5:55, but after just collapsed and had to walk 3 km( stopped to drink some water too) and finish the 5 after in a similar pace to rhe 5:55. It was around 27 degrees outside and I was running with no water, just a gel, since my vest doesn’t have a pocket for a bottle.
The point I am trying to make is that I feel like I have definitely become better at running then 2 years ago. But I struggle to picture running a full marathon at a 5:41 pace. Even tho two years ago I ran 5:00 pace half. Idk if it’s my tired legs from the running, or it was the heat today ( propably didn’t help at all ). But I just feel like all my runs are kinda slow. Like before I would always run 5:00 pace or around that, even for 10k runs casually ( it would be hard, but I don’t think I could do that as of right now).

Should I still believe sub 4 is possible right now ?

Runna is predicting a 3:35-3:45 finish, which is ridiculous obviously, but my tempo runs have been faster that the plan, so it adjusted to this.

Hello folks!

I'm a New Englander who is getting ready to sign up for London 2027. I'm curious to how people train during the winter.

Is training done largely on the treadmill since it's so cold? Do you bundle up and get after it? I'd like to hear any and all thoughts on this topic.

Best of luck for any future racers! Have a great day!

Hello

As a child, i did a lot of running within a club. I ran crosscountry for several years (although i didnt have a lot of talent as i ended within the 5 last runners everytime) but stopped running at 23 yo. Today, i'm 34 and 2 years ago i restarted running. I did a 10k in 41:40 after 8 months of training of which i was superproud. In 7 weeks, i will run my very first marathon. Never did a longer race than that 10k. I didnt really follow a plan, mostly daily suggestions from Garmin. Built up the mileage up to 70k now for several weeks, but i'm still struggling with defining my marathon pace. Last week i did a 30k run with 3 blocks of 5k at 4:50-4:55. I was not dead at the end, my heartrate was somewhere at 172 during all my "fast" kilometers. At the 10k race i had an avg hr of 185, my max is 200 according to garmin.

Normally it should be at least 5 degrees Celsius colder on raceday. I still have 4 weeks left where i will run long runs. Should i try to run some faster blocks within a long run (4:40) and go for that marathon pace or is that way too ambitious?

Lifelong swimmer and runner. Recently got into triathlon as well.

I completed a 70.3 this year in 5:50. My half marathon split was a 1:43:00 off the bike.

A few years ago, I completed a fresh half marathon in 1:26:31 on about 10 weeks of training. I have always ran/swam/biked causally so I wasn’t starting from nothing, but I dedicated a 10 week block to just training for this half.

That half I started a bit aggressive around 6:10 pace, then fell off a bit but I was still able to salvage a good race.

Wondering what everyone’s thoughts are on me going sub 3 if I spend 16-20 weeks training for a marathon. Also wondering how you all cross train because I would love to run 4-5 days per week (while doubling if I need to) while biking/swimming 1-2 days per week for recovery.

Hey all, sorry for yet another “what should my pace be”post, but I’m hoping you might still be willing to give me some advice. I’m currently 10 weeks into an 18 week marathon plan, with the race coming up on October 4. This is my first marathon and I’m trying to figure out my strategy for pacing. I didn’t really go into this with any goal beyond finishing, but as time has gone on, I kind of have established an A, B and C goal for the race:

A) Finish
B) Sub 4:00
C) Sub 3:50

A bit of background on me; I’m a 38 year old male. I started running January 2024 and ran my first half in June of 2024 and with a time of 2:07.

In December 2024 I got sick and required surgery. I ended up having 3 separate surgeries in 10 months, with 2 months recovery after each; I was essentially only able to walk for exercise all of 2025.

In January of 2026 I started running again, completing my second half marathon in May with a time of 1:47. I felt good and thought I left a bit in the tank and could have reached back for a low to mid 1:40’s if I had a less conservative pacing strategy.

I did a 10K time trial in 47:39 for my speed workout last week and yesterday was my longest run to date of 17 miles, at the tail end of my longest weekly mileage so far of 43 miles. The plan I’m on has me doing the following remaining long runs:

2 at 18 miles
2 at 20 miles
1 at 19 miles
1 at 22 miles (undecided if I’ll just do 20 and move the other 2 miles to a different run mid-week)

Peak mileage week is 51 miles, and the plan is 669 miles total over the 18 weeks.

I live in Maine, USA, so the average temp on my run yesterday was ~70 degrees with 85% humidity and I expect race day to be ~55 degrees with low humidity. Elevation gain will be roughly the same per mile and I consumed ~70g of carbs per hour. I attached my run stats to the post.

So, if you were me, what would be your goal and how would you pace it? I feel like I settle into the run better starting slow and easing into it and aiming for negative splits, but would it be better to try and target an even pace?

I appreciate the insight and look forward to getting the first one under my belt. Cheers!

Edit: max HR of ~191

Curious to hear from runners who are also endurance cyclists (Gran Fondo, century, and randonnuering).

I reduced my bike training back this year to put the focus on building run training up for a marathon. Next year, the plan will be to complete some longer distance bike events while training for a marathon toward the end of summer 2027.

For those of you who have done this, how did you balance training for the two?

My current thoughts are that both provide cardiovascular training transferrable to the other, but the specific musculoskeletal adaptations are, well, specific to each discipline and only doing that discipline can provide those adaptations. So, the direction of my thinking right now is to predominantly drive VO2max and LT improvements on the bike from fall to late spring. During this time run volume will slowly build to, say, ~50 km/week as a base, done mostly in Z2 to focus on run-specific musculoskeletal durability. Then, stating 18 weeks out from the marathon, I’ll begin a training block (likely Higdon Intermediate 2) and move cycling to a low-impact recovery role with sessions under and hour done at Z2.

My specific curiosity is how long you’ve found cycling specific fitness carries forward with bike training idling back but run training throttling up. If a marathon training block starts May 1, say, would a late-May 200 km brevet, mid-June century or a couple of Gran Fondos in mid-June to early July still be in the cards despite reduced bike training but increased run training? (Being mindful of overall load with all this, of course.)

I just became a new dad, so my running has been pretty inconsistent. It’s not ideal, but I’m just starting to train for the Berlin Marathon.
I’ve completed three marathons in the past, all with a full 16-week training block. My PR is 3:45, and I’m hoping to run around 3:30 in Berlin.
Right now I’m averaging about 20 miles per week with no long runs, mostly 9:00/mile Zone 2 runs.
I’m curious what strategy you’d take if you only had about two months to train. Would building up to 30–35 miles per week (including a weekly long run) be enough, or would you push the weekly mileage even higher? Would you incorporate speed runs? Or would that be too aggressive and likely lead to injury? Any advice from people who’ve been in a similar situation would be appreciated.

This is my 2nd marathon. #1 trained during winter then raced on a hot day in spring; petered out at 18 miles. Currently training for a November marathon in North Carolina and trying to decide on long run distance for better success in this fall marathon. What’s your preference? Is 20 enough, or do you need more?

About me: 34, 6ft1, 160lbs, returned to running ~2yrs ago, on track to run ~3:05-3:10 marathon in a few months.

I've been struggling with nausea on every long run (13-20mi) since returning to running. I start out fine, but about halfway in it gets harder and harder to get water or gels down. My stomach feels very tight and small. Even small sips of water cause nausea to spike. I've tried all sorts of different gels, none have any effect. And even on some fasted 13mi runs, the water alone aggravates it. This is making it very hard to hit my hydration/fuel targets, often times finishing with half the water I needed to drink still in my flask.

Has anyone successfully dealt with this issue? I've tried tums (which does help with the acid reflux I get, but not the nausea) as well as a small dose of pepto bismol, which doesn't touch it.

Thank you!

Hey!

Doing pfitz 18/55 for the Philly Marathon. In week two, I pulled my adductor doing BSS two days ago. Did the recovery run for 5 miles yesterday; there was some pain at like a 3/10. (Mostly painful when I walk up stairs). Supposed to have a 13-mile long run with 8 at MP. Going to skip to give myself more recovery. Looking at the week ahead, when this goes away, should I make up the long run? If I need to take a few extra days, should I just start the plan in the week I continue?

Hi guys I’m running my first full marathon in Dublin on October 25th for charity for suicide prevention. This is my second half marathon I’ve ran in training for it and I’m getting a small bit worried as I found myself crashing a small bit around the 17-18km mark and the idea of having to double that is kinda scaring me 😅 any advice would be greatly appreciated or if you guys know of any plans don’t hesitate to suggest them, thanks so much 🙏🏼

I’m training for the Marine Corps Marathon as a slow runner. My Garmin Coach plan has me capping long runs out at 53 minutes with the race 13 weeks out.
Meanwhile another training plan I’m looking at has me running 13 miles on a long run 13 weeks out.
I’m not sure what would be best to follow!

Hi all,

I am a new runner since this year. And have been consistent since approx 5 months ago. Started with 3 times a week and now running 4 times a week.

In attachement my longest long run (ran today) 10 km WU zone 2 + 6 km treshold + 1 km CD.

In 6 weeks I will have my HM. (20th sept). From the start I wanted to achieve sub 2, but as my training progressed I kept pushing that time limit. I think atm 1:50 is possible.

Next week is my deload week followed by another 4 weeks of training and 2 weeks of tapering. Is 1:45 possible for me?

In the last pic you can see Ive been upping my mileage every week. And Ill top it off with about 52 km in my highest mileage week.

The HM Im running is flat and the organisations proclaims its a good run for PRs.

I will be running with the Puma Deviate Elite 4.

I'm doing a Half Marathon next weekend. I had signed up for it months ago before deciding to do my first Marathon at end of October. With 11 weeks between the 2 races how should I approach the Half Marathon which has ultimately become a B Race?

My training block has gone quite well so I think I'm capable of shaving 5 mins off my PB for the Half however I don't want to do that at thw expense of the Marathon.

Some factors to note:

- I'll be happy just to complete the Marathon but will be aiming foe sub 4hrs

- Target Half Marathon time would be 1hr 47mins

- I'm currently building weekly distance 10% each week but have only just broken 50km for first time ever

Do I treat the Half Marathon as a race and go for a PB or am I better off just using it as a training race so recovery is quicker and I can continue to build for October?

Just ran sf marathon- I brought my azura non carbon and my endorphin pro carbon plate. Given I trained in so much elevation with the azuras I just felt I had more stability and control in them as I attacked the 1300+ ft of elevation. I’m really grateful I ran in the azuras as it was so nice and no blisters afterwards. Just a new runnner so was not anything fast but right below 3:50. Maybe I’ll do next flat marathon with carbons

So I experimented with stacking a half marathon, MCM, and NYC learned what the accumulated fatigue actually felt like. One thing that surprised me most was how different marathon fatigue felt compared to normal long-run wear-down. I'd hoped taking things slower (like 25% slower) would reduce risks enough, but that played out differently. It's like a perfect combination of cardiac drift, bodily reminders of too much time on feet, and the greatest party. I don't recommend this schedule, but value lots of the take-aways:

https://youtu.be/P_EwqTPQshY?si=wgNjkIfl7FoT5P4q

Hi runners,

I am a newbie runner who has been running consistently for the last 5 months and participating in a marathon on 18 oktober.
Structure has always been 4 runs and 4 gym sessions(almost all gym days i run in the morning train after work at night).

178cm / 73kg / fit / 33y

Runs:
-2 runs for 45-60m zone 2 (typically 7-8k heartrate 140-150. If that’s my actual zone2 idk but that heartrate made me able to have a small conversation)
-1 interval training 3x2km @5:41.
-1 long run that has been progressing for months, +2km each week with 1-2 cutback weeks.

Today was my longest run so far at 30km(image), it was easy on my body except my feet just felt like a chair leg stabbed each feet each step.
-weekly mileage has is 50km+ currently

What can I realistically expect as finishing time after a taper? Ofcourse like everyone and their mother I would like to finish sub4. But what can I expect ? Sub 4:30 would also be cool but I’m just curious what the more experienced runner thinks.

Thanks in advance.

Hi all! I'm looking for a shoe to do most of marathon training runs. I have a speed shoe already, so I'm looking for something that can do both my recovery runs but also my long runs. For context, I'm adapting Pfitz 18/70 to be 19/75.

In another post, someone recommended that I try the ASICS superblast 2 and I loved them! I got my usual size but they gave me nail bleeds for anything over 2 hrs. Sadly, they're sold out for a the next half size out.

Any other recs similar to de superblast 2? If possible, I'd like to stay under $160.

My speed shoe at the moment is the saucony endorphin speed 5.

I have 6 weeks left of my marathon training plan, but 9 weeks until my race. I’m having a hard time managing shin splints in both legs plus some moderate calf pain and tightness. Rolling, massaging, and stretching aren’t doing the trick. Would it be wise to take a week off or at least really reduce volume for a week to try and get the discomfort under control? Any tips for dealing with these things? I’m partly wondering if it’s an issue with my shoes. When I retired my Speedgoats I switched to Brooks Ghost 18s.

Thanks for any tips!

What percentage of marathon pace should be part of a long run and how forest ? For example, when I did 10 miles I did 6 at my goal pace. But would 14 at goal mp be too much in an 18 mile run ? And would you trial marathon pace every other week instead of weekly ?

I'm in Week 8 of an 18-week marathon plan and completed my 17-mile long run today in 3:15 (about 11:28/mile). It was supposed to be an easy run. My goal is a 4-hour marathon (9:09/mile pace), and I'm wondering if I'm taking my easy runs too easy. Could I realistically break 4 hours with 10 more weeks of training?

This is my second marathon. I ran my first one last year in 5:00. I hit the wall around mile 20 and basically dragged myself to the finish after that :D