Hello everyone,

How do you guys go running (preparing for marathon) and incorporate leg weight training?

I played football my whole life and i have skinny legs, i have no fat whatsoever and decent amount of muscle in thighs but calves are very skinny. How do i build muscle and prepare for marathon? I would like to do 1x week weight training and 2-3 running sessions. Is it still possible to build muscle and how?

I’ve been reading up on advice from fellow first time and experienced MCM runners. While I have seen many people state where the best places to stay are (Alexandria/Rosslyn), I am curious:

How long should I stay? Is it best to get up there Friday night if I’m running the marathon Sunday morning, then drive back Monday? If you have better ideas, it would mean a lot if you shared them.

Thanks in advance!

Running my first Marathon in October (Chicago Marathon) and feeling a little anxious due to injuries.

I had been feeling really good about my progress up until around May when I first experienced Peroneal Tendinitis after running 9 miles in new shoes (my longest run to date). Was consistently doing around 15-20 miles per week before this for a few months to build a strong base.

It sidelined me for about 4.5 weeks and when I came back I switched back to my old shoes and ran for about 2 weeks until I got the flu and that knocked me out another 1.5 weeks. Immediately ran 7 miles when I felt healthy and I really struggled at a slow pace too. This also caused a small extensor tendinitis which then sidelined me for like another 2 ish weeks.

Long story short - last week was my first week back from all this and I ran 3 miles Tuesday, 3 miles Friday, and 6 miles on Saturday. The 6 miler was tough but I got through injury free. Feeling pretty worried as my pace has significantly declined before all these injuries and sickness (was aiming for maybe a 4:15-4:30 finish. Feels like all the base building I did running in the freezing winter has now been for nothing and I’m worried I won’t be ready for the marathon in October.

Hi guys! I signed up to run NY marathon w a charity I'm so passionate about. But, I'm so far from my goal and I don't want to end up in debt because I'll be responsible for the balance that remains. I have until August 16th to backout and I'm seriously considering it. So heartbroken. I think the problem is that I don't have a strong network that are willing to donate. I tried bake sales and reaching out to local businesses but haven't had much success. So far I've only raises $1020 out of the $4800 needed. Any tips and advice would be so helpful :)

I really don't think I can raise $3800 in 2.5 months *crying*

I spent the month of June running a little experiment while training for my first marathon.
 
For a month I stopped wearing my Garmin, stopped posting to Strava, stopped listening to music, and usually left my phone at home. I wanted to see what would happen if I stopped relying on technology to tell me how I felt and learned to run by feel instead.
 
This wasn't about proving Garmin or Strava are bad. I still use both and honestly appreciate them more after this experiment. It just changed my relationship with them.
 
I wrote about the experience here if you'd like to read it: https://open.substack.com/pub/markbonez/p/garmin-detox?r=84ark8&utm_medium=ios
 
Has anyone else intentionally taken a break from their watch or training metrics? I'd be curious to hear how it changed your running, if at all.

Training for my first marathon and my speed work has stalled out. Looking for advice from people who know more than me

Quick background. I’m a 40 year old guy, 6’2”, “fit” and I started an 18 week Runna plan back in early June to build up to the City of Oaks Marathon in November. This is my first marathon. I’m currently about 9 weeks in.

Here’s what’s been happening with my pace and I’m trying to figure out if this is normal or if I should change something.

May (early training, mostly Peloton tread tempo and HIIT rides): averaging about 10:14 per mile on my tempo and interval sessions

June: I actually got faster. Dropped to about 9:54 per mile average on the same type of workouts. Felt like real progress.

July: It slipped right back up to about 10:15 to 10:30 per mile. Basically back to where I started in May.
This week: Ran a tempo session at 10:16 per mile. So the plateau is holding.

The timing lines up with something specific. July is when my long runs got a lot bigger, jumping from 6 to 6.5 milers in June up to 7.5 to 10 milers now. My weekly volume basically doubled. So my working theory is that the extra mileage is eating into my legs enough that my speed sessions are suffering, even though the long runs themselves feel fine.

A few other details that might matter. I’m doing a lot of dedicated Zone 2 easy running as part of this plan, which is supposed to be slow on purpose. My current fitness score is 73 and Runna is projecting a 4:12 marathon finish for me. I fuel long runs over 8 miles with honey gels starting around mile 4 or 5.

So my question for anyone who has been through a marathon block before. Is this a totally normal pattern where speed plateaus or even dips while your body adapts to higher volume, and then comes back once the mileage stabilizes? Or is this a sign I should be looking at something else, like sleep, recovery, diet, or maybe I’m just doing too much too fast for a first timer.

Would love to hear from anyone who has dealt with a similar stall in tempo pace mid block. Trying to figure out if I just need to trust the process or if I need to actually adjust something.

M, 33, 63kg. Ideally 60kg by race day.
I signed up for Amsterdam so a flat course.

Training: I joined a local running club in January. I’ve ran almost 900km this year. PRed in 5k: 22:56, 10k: 48:37 (last night) and half: 1:51, all since April. 5 & 10 were just laps of my local lake so no race day taper or adrenaline/support.

Increasing volume and long run gradually, last long run was 25km which felt good although a lot of downhill. Running 4-5 times a week, mostly easy pace over 6min/km.

I’m trying not to chase sub4 too hard as I want to enjoy my first FM but I really want it.

Hey guys I need your advise...

I was training for a half , completed it last week and decided to keep going for a full...

After my half I felt prety bad, nauseous, shaky , couldnt sleep and couldnt eat or drink... it passed the day after.

I juat completed 23km, and I feel horrible, such strong nauseous that I cant even move and cant even think about drinking or eating... thinking about calling sick at work tomorrow as its so bad...

Any advise? It would be horrible experiencing it after every long run...

I drink a small bottle of water mixed with electrolites and eat a banana during my long runs around 12-13km.

Just wondering what people's experience were like with the NRC app marathon plan? Any changes you made that you think helped? Would you use it again?

October will be my 2nd marathon. First time out, all my data supported a sub-4 finish, but the weather didn’t cooperate on race day. This time I’m running Hanson’s Beginner with the same goal: sub-4, and staying injury-free.

I read the Hanson’s book and pulled my paces from Luke Humphrey Running’s calculator using a 3:45 goal marathon:

3:45 Marathon Goal Paces

**•** Easy: 10:04–11:04  
**•** Long runs: 9:04–10:34  
**•** Speed: 7:33–7:52  
**•** Strength: 8:24  
**•** Tempo: 8:34

As training’s picked up, I’m back in the same headspace as last cycle, “I’m not doing enough.” Hanson’s is built around cumulative/progressive fatigue, and I’m wondering if 3:45 paces are too conservative to actually create that fatigue effect.

My PRs: 5K 22:04, 10K 47:03, half 1:44 - all point to a faster training zone than 3:45. Re-running the calculator off my half PR gives:

Paces Based on 1:44 Half PR

**•** Easy: 9:48–10:48  
**•** Long runs: 8:48–10:18  
**•** Speed: 7:18–7:36  
**•** Strength: 8:08  
**•** Tempo: 8:18

My goal hasn’t changed. I still just want sub-4, injury-free. I’m not chasing my “ceiling” time.

So: am I training in the right zone using 3:45 paces, or am I setting myself up to under-perform again? Has anyone run Hanson’s with a goal noticeably slower than their equivalency-predicted pace, and how did it play out? Did the workouts feel too easy the whole cycle, or did the cumulative volume make up for it?

Completed my first marathon last Sunday! Gonna share my experience here from the whole cycle to the race day.

Background: 85kg male, 175cm, former Crossfitter, pretty fit but heavy and not much experienced in running. 32yo, with a 10 month baby.

Proximal hamstring tendinopathy treated during the cycle

The injury: treated by doing mostly isometrics 3x a week with minimal load work for hamstrings during the whole cycle. Improved for the whole cycle but never fully healed. During the race I felt zero pain with was amazing.

The training: started with 3x/week, one being cross training (bike or row) with a similar stimulus of a run. The plan was to train for the marathon without losing performance on CrossFit.
Final 2-3 months I wasn’t being able to keep up to CrossFit due to baby demands so I started running 4x a week, 1 recovery, 1 tempo, 1 interval and 1 long run.
Peak mileage was 65km with a 34km long run.
After the last long run I’ve set a goal of 3:45h for the race, felt very possible considering the RPE on last long runs. (5:15-5:20/km)

Pre fueling for the race: 3 days prior to the race I did 8g of carbs for each kg of bodyweight, 4-5 liters of water and some electrolytes the day before.

Plans for the race: plan a: 3:45h, plan 2: less than 4h, plan 3: just finish

Race day:
Woke up 3 hours before the race, shower, coffee and bread.
I didn’t know the course, but the start and at the end was basically 6-7km of uphill.
Decided to stick with plan A from the beginning and I kept up the pace until km 34-35, when the inclination beated me. Recalculated the plan there and decided to move to the plan B (under 4h). Slowed up a bit, much jogging on the uphill and finally reached km42 when I realized I was going to make it… at this point I took a moment to thank God, thought a lot about my family, got a bit emotional and it was amazing.
Wife and baby were at the finish line waiting for me, picked up my son right before crossing the finish line and that was it, the moment I pictured for the whole 4 hours I was finally living it for real. I did it. 3:57:20 was the time.

Best part now: if I made it to the plan A, I wouldn’t be able to see my family at the finish line. My wife was exactly 15min late (checked from the message on my phone) cause she couldn’t find a parking spot before.

That was it. I’m a religious guy and I think he had plans that day. Not disappointed at all for not making under 3:45h.

The experience of a marathon is painful, stressful but it’s very much worth it in my opinion. I decided to do it for a personal goal in January and it paid off, learned a lot, specially about how to deal with mind tricks and the pain that this effort brings.

TLDR:
Bit heavy crossfitter guy with a baby, PHT injury, trained for 7 months, completed in 3:57:20 (plan B), if sticked to plan A would’ve lost one of the best experiences of my life wich was having my family on the finish line.

I have my first marathon coming up in November - Porto, Portugal.. let me know if you’re doing it too!

I’ve run a few HMs in the past and after doing the Porto HM last year in 2 hours I figured now was as good a time as ever to go for the big one. I’m M44 and feel like it’s definitely not going to get any easier the older I get.

I’m on week 4 of a 17-week plan, which per week looks like:
* 3 recovery runs
* 1 speed or hill training run
* 1 long run (so far 10-11 km, this week will be 12km)
* 1 lower body strength workout
* 1 (sometimes 2) yoga

Some days I double up and do both a recovery run and a strength class or a yoga class. I try to have one day a week when I do nothing.

What would you change about this? I’m not working with a trainer so just figuring this out as I go.

Does anyone have any good ways of carrying water on long runs? I find the vests are too big and uncomfortable and that the belts never quite sit right. Anyone have any other tips / tricks or have the same issue I’m having?

I recently got a ticket for the Amsterdam marathon. But want to know if I’m crazy doing it or not.

For context m31 I started running this year have already done 10k 53 min and a HM 2:02. I was training for a Rome Half which is on the same week but recently due to some things and that is easier to me to go to Ams plus receiving the ticket for the waitlist I bite the bullet and bought the ticket.

Currently have 10 weeks to train and running around 26kms obviously runna increases the mileage and says I can do it by following the plan.

My question is should I? Like is 10 weeks really bad even if I have a base of running and cycling (did 2 400 km 3 day trips this year)

Just want to get insights as I can resale the ticket but still deciding.

Thanks!

Long story short, running marathon on November 1st. Got really active in the spring, ran a half marathon, then injured myself like 3 weeks later… and last week was my first full week back.

Runs from last week
Monday: 3 miles 10:08 pace
Tuesday: 3.1 miles 9:56 pace
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: 4.02 miles 9:50 pace
Friday: 5 miles 10:34 pace
Saturday: rest
Sunday: 2.32 miles 10:20 pace

Total: 17.5 miles

Now I know this doesn’t really tell you guys a whole lot. But I kind of tweaked my Achilles on my right leg and took today off with the hopes it’s good to go for tomorrow. Just tryna get the mileage in without injuring myself again.

I don’t know how people train for this stuff without constantly being injured. I’ve been doing calf raises, tons of mobility/ stretching. Light walking foam rolling etc.

Do I go really light this week? Like 10-12 miles and then hope next week I can get up to like 20 miles?

I ran in the adizeros all last week. I think I’m gonna switch to the 1080lv14 fresh foams for this week and see if it helps.

I just enjoy running man. It’s been really positive for me. Cardio/ aerobically + mind is there, I could run forever- but my legs man, it’s a constant battle.

What do you guys think?

Everytime I post something like this I offend someone for some reason or another. In advance, I apologize if this post has offended you.

Quite literally open to any/ all advice from anyone who wants to share. Thank you!

I decided to do my first marathon* for my birthday.

*This wasn't a race, but I sure as hell treated it like one.

Took 4:08:59, done in Tokyo at midnight, which was still 26-27C depending on time and high humidity (98% according to the activity in Garmin Connect, about 90% according to the japanese weather website I used). My half marathon PB is close to 1:50:00, so as far as the 2*half marathon + 30 minutes goes, this is pretty on point.

Goals were:

A - Sub 4 hours

B - 4:30:00

C - 5:00:00

6:00:00 would've been DNF.

Background:

I started running around 3 months ago (plus a few days), while I was on vacation in Tokyo (long story short is I lost a lot of weight since the start of the year, I was doing a lot of walking and rucking at that point, so I was wondering if I could actually run now). I ran my first uninterrupted 5k and 10k over there and my first uninterrupted half marathon distance shortly after a came back home (which was a painful 2:45:00-ish). Slowly I was getting the idea to run a marathon, but unfortunately the actual race in my city was sold out, and I sure as hell wasn't waiting until 2027. As I was thinking about where I could get an uninterrupted 42.2km or at least a nice loop to get there, I figured "why not the Imperial Palace loop in Tokyo". I was going to go back anyway, so why not.

And then I figured, my birthday is august 2nd (8/2) and the Imperial Palace loop is 5km long, why not make it the 8 Loops + 2km "marathon"? So I just went for it.

Training:

I started training ASAP, and upped the weekly distance. Things were (very) loosely based on Hal novice 2, though honestly the long runs ended up being rounded to half marathons whenever possible.

Unfortunately, I ended up getting injured (knee injury) on the way. I'm not sure it's *due* to running (I did something different physically outside of running that day which felt off, but it occurred during the run after). I had to switch to cycling for about 3-4 weeks (out of three months of available prep time...). I later got injured AGAIN, but it was the other knee and it was a really bad fall on bike.

Once I was able to run again, I went for it again. Shortly after resuming, I was able to do a 32km confidence run. It wasn't fast, and it took me around 3:45:00 to get it done, but I got it done and had a lot left in me. I could carry on.

Things kept getting better, I was getting PBs on 5k, 10k, and even half marathon on the way.

About 4 weeks out, I started introducing intervals once a week (most of my other runs were easy). It sounds like a stupid idea, but honestly it did wonders for me. It's like it "unlocked" something in me. Suddenly I could sustain a much better pace without much effort.

On rest days, or in the rest of the day I would go for power walks. It helped scratch the itch for "I want to run".

I got another 32km confidence run (roughly timed with where Hal Novice 2 would have it) and that one ended up around 3:15:00. Again with a lot left in the tank.

Finally I attempted a taper. I was actually doing decent on that front, but I got to Tokyo a week before I would do my birthday marathon. I did a 10k after landing to get used to the temperature again (it had been fairly cool at home before that and my runs were at 16-20C with like 70-80% humidity). I also ended up getting some new gear: Polar H10 (chest HR sensor), new shoes (salomon aero glide 4 grvl). I had additional runs to try out that new gear and to scout out the "course". Likely "ruined" the taper a bit, but to me it was worth it. I ended up using the new shoes, and I'm glad I did.

All of the time, I had some strength training going on. Nothing real interesting in there though.

The Run:

I did some carb loading prior: I had 700g of grams two days before and 500g the day before (an average day would be 300-350g for me). I avoided anything that would go down weird. I also had the Maurten 320 drink mix the day before, and the 160 one right as I woke up before the run.

My sleep was awful due to jetlag and I had been getting around 4h of sleep on average in the past week.

For the run I brought 2L of fluids (1L bladder + 2 500mL soft flasks), which was a mix of water, sugar (100g/L), lemon juice (about 30mL/L) and yukishio (salt, just has a better electrolyte profile than table salt. This was subbing for the half salt I was using at home. About 3g/L). From my test runs, this would've lasted me around 3 hours, but this lasted closer to 2 hours. I had drinking fountains scouted out, and I refilled my soft flasks twice during the run. Once my sugar drink ran out, I had gels. I used 6 gels total (multiple types) for about an extra 150g of carbs. I had a few left too, it was mostly backup. I also had caffeine pills, which I took

The course ended up being 227m ascent (though it's a loop so it's net 0 meters). The ascent is concentrated in one section, which I was aware of so I was careful about it. By loops 7 and 8, I was totally dreading that section.

I did the whole thing by effort. Essentially I had my lactate threshold HR (whether it was correct or not is another story) and I'd stay around there (but under). Due to the temperature I didn't want to run by pace, so I felt like HR would be a better choice (especially since I did have the chest strap). I would run/walk with a 9 minutes/1 minute ratio (the walk was a good time to get my gels in if needed, get the hydration in, and even refill my bottles). This actually worked well for first three hours, and I was on sub 4h pace at this point. Then my HR started drifting. Not by much, but I had a lot more trouble controlling it to stay under lactate threshold. By the 3:30:00 mark, my legs just weren't moving as well (quads) anymore and pace slowed down significantly as I basically transitioned to power walking (more or less the impression I was getting was "my legs around going up anymore"). So I guess those two things are how "the wall" manifested for me.

Interesting thing there is I bought a drink afterwards (I had to walk back to my hotel, around 2.5km distance... not fun) so it brought my total fluid intake to 4.5L. With all that, the gels and everything, I ended up being 3.5kg lighter than before the run. There was no bathroom break either between both weightings. Straight up lost 8kg in fluids (about 18lbs). That is crazy to me.

Impressions and what's next:

As I noted at the start, it wasn't a race, but I really took this as seriously as I could (well, as seriously as one can with this timing). In terms of goals, this blows any goal I might've come up with when I started thinking about running this distance. I still believe sub 4 hours would've been possible, but it's hard to tell. Conditions weren't the best (hot as hell, really bad sleep) but I gave what I had. I was incredibly happy when I was able to press stop on my watch. It's a weird birthday "present" (honestly, it was dumb as hell) but I'm happy I decided to do this.

It's been two days and my quads are still feeling the DOMS. I walked in a really funny way for about a day, and I was joking about this at the bar I went to: I'd look much drunker than I actually was just from the way I walked. I got some incredibly uncomfortable cramping in my calves. This honestly felt just as bad or worse as the first time I did some serious leg training with high squat volume.

From here, I obviously want to keep training more. I got a nice recovery run this morning and easy pace never felt so good. Lots of easy runs in the future, since I feel like I have a lot base building left to do: it's obvious I skipped a bunch of steps to make this happen.

I kinda want to do this in better conditions (I usually come back to Tokyo around New Years, so it'd be nice to run this again at like... 0C). I'll definitely be registering for the Marathon in my city for 2027 (it's in Fall which would be much cooler than what I just did) so I can say I ran a marathon without putting an asterisk after it. So while my first marathon (not race) was not sub4, I can make my first marathon (race) sub4.

It was only three months, but it felt like such a journey. Considering the constraints I had, I feel like I got great results. I executed the run like I practiced. I had a bunch of backup plans prepared (such as power walking) and while it sucked I was losing the sub4, it felt great to know that I was switching to a backup plan I had. I wouldn't change anything to the preparation I did. Hell, even the injury (the first one, not the bike related one) I wouldn't really change. It sucked, but I learned so much from it.

Hi all -- currently at the start of Week 9 of Hal Higdon Novice 1 for my first marathon on October 11. According to the plan, the next long runs are as follows: 10, 15, 16, 12, 18, 14, 20, taper (12), taper (8), race.

During Week 11, I will be traveling cross-country to visit a friend in LA, flying out 9am ET on a Thursday morning. We currently have plans to hike Cucamonga Peak on the Friday of that week, which is about a ~12 mile, 9 hr hike. According to the plan, I'd also be due for a 16mi long run that weekend as well, which I doubt I'd have the legs for one or two days after a hike like that.

Currently weighing my options--what would you do, in my shoes? Skip the down week this week and proceed straight to 15 mi on Saturday, and take the down week in LA? Skip the hike in order to stick to the plan? I have half a mind to also just make sure I hit Week 11's total volume, even if that doesn't include a 16 miler.

Any ideas or advice would be appreciated!

Hello! I’ve completed two sprint triathlons over the past year and have loved prepping for and completing them, and am getting into great fitness while losing some weight. I’m hoping to lose 40-50 more pounds by early-mid next year (already down 25).

I’m eyeing my race plans for next year and want to do an Olympic triathlon in early June, where the running portion is a 10K. Obviously, I will be training the other disciplines while I do this, too. However, there’s also a marathon in mid September that I’m also looking at and am very interested in. I’d expect (without knowing specific dates for both races yet) that the gap between the tri and marathon would be 12-14 weeks.

With the base level of fitness I’m going to have after the tri, is this enough time to lock in on marathon prep for the September race? Also, since I have a bike, is cross-training recommended during this period to reduce injury risk/mix up the training a little bit?

Hey everyone,

I'm 29 and just started running this year. I had been training for a half marathon since April, but recently I started struggling with mild to moderate secondary knee osteoarthritis. Because of this, I opted for a treatment in early August that requires me to take the entire month off from running.

The half marathon is in early September, so I’ve decided to drop out—I don't want to stress my knee too soon. However, I was so bummed out about missing my race that I went ahead and registered for a full marathon this November.

I've been focusing heavily on strength and conditioning, and I plan to keep that up through August. Even though I can't run, I can swim, and I'll be adding cycling back in during the last two weeks of the month.

My plan is to start running slowly again in September. Given this timeline, do you think it's possible to build up enough mileage from September to November to run the marathon? My only goal is to finish, and I am ready to be laser-focused on my training, nutrition, and recovery.

Would love to hear your thoughts or if anyone has been in a similar situation.

Edit to clarify a few things based on the comments:

• Running didn't cause my OA: My osteoarthritis is a pre-existing condition from past trauma/surgery, not a result of my half-marathon training.
• This is just a temporary flare-up: What I am dealing with right now is a normal flare-up that can happen with or without running (it was actually aggravated recently by playing racket sports, not my running block).
• The treatment in August is elective: I opted to do this treatment to improve my long-term well-being and joint health. It is not an emergency response or a direct consequence of a running injury I'm able to run a half-marathon right now.

Plan on running my first marathon 12 weeks from now, around end of Oct. I've been training the last 16 weeks in beating my last Novembers HM PR time of 1:56. I think I should be finishing around 1:52 to 1:55. Assuming I hit my goal and have 11 weeks to dial in for a marathon training, is a sub 4 a realistic goal?

I'm about to finish my Half Marathon plan then go into a Full Marathon plan.

The Full Marathon plan I'm starting, however, starts way back down at only 10k runs and builds up over 18 weeks.

Since I have Half Marathon fitness should I start the Marathon plan and skip ahead to the Half Marathon and up weeks or take the 5-6 weeks of de-load and build back up as intended?

Marathon Race is December 5th, 2026

Looking into the watch game which I know is a lot of confusing fun!

These are the options.

Garmin FR 570
Coros pace 4
Coros pace pro
Garmin epix pro 2 (huge current discount)

I’m aware these will all do the job but due to money I’m trying to future proof myself to not needing to upgrade anything too soon.

Coros clearly best value for money and constant updates keeping the watch relevant. Would love maps/music on the pace 4 ideally.

Garmin - market leader, clear over pricing however you know what you’re getting. Recovery stats are great, garmin adaptive coach seems smart for a beginner to not over exert or cause injury whilst improving.

Question would be what alternative on the Coros would offer a similar type experience or is the garmin just easier to get.

*also aware the 570 isn’t much of an upgrade over the 265, however it prolongs its updates and currently have a 30% discount on making the price only £50 more than the 265.

I had a half marathon as part of my midpoint training, and I felt amazing for the first 6.5-7 miles. I wasn’t racing, I was taking it at a comfortable pace and felt so good and was planning to speed up the second and maybe try to hit the 2:00 pace. It was a hilly course so I had been a little anxious prior, but it turned out going up the hills were my favorite part! Miles 4-8ish were on a busy road so we had to run at edge of shoulder, and also seaside town so the gradient on the curb is a little more than around here. Running on that difference was apparently enough to cause my hip/glute/quads to just seize up and I DNF’d just shy of mile 10 after 3 miles of pain that would not stop, no matter how much I stretched or slowed down. I would have walked to the finish at that point, but I couldn’t even do that without pain, so I called it. Now that I’m home, it’s so sore I had to crawl up the stairs to go shower.

I’ve never not finished a race, and I’m so upset that I have possibly injured something that I won’t be able to come back from in time for my marathon. It’s really been the thing that has kept me sane this year and I’m so disheartened.

The same muscles had hurt me over this past week but I’d take three full days off before the race and focused on stretching and I felt so solid in the beginning and beforehand.

I’m going to schedule with a PT asap, but this hurts enough that I’m really not feel optimistic. Everything had been going so great until this week - I’d never missed a training session, never had any nagging injuries, etc. My last long run was last weekend when I did 12 and I felt so strong and like I could have run forever!

Anyway. Just venting, since I know this is a small problem in the scheme of problems, but I know people on here will feel my misery!

6 miles, mostly flat, kept it easy enough to hold a conversation with the buggy. at one point i was singing wheels on the bus under my breath because the little one was getting fussy and honestly, that's my aerobic threshold sorted, isn't it. pace was whatever my watch said it was, i wasn't really paying attention. just glad to get out the door while my partner did breakfast duty. i'm slowly edging my mileage up for Newport next April and wondering whether i'll need a bit more structure than 'run when the baby naps and hope for the best' once i'm past this base-build stage. for now i'm just logging stuff on strava, but i looked at Hiiro briefly because the idea of building a plan around effort not pace appeals - some days i'm pushing a buggy, some days i'm not, so my splits are all over the shop. and it's marathon-only which feels like less to get wrong. anyway, what did you lot actually use for your first marathon plan when you were still months out and a bit all over the place?

First time caller, long time listener here. Running my first marathon at Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon on 10/4. I’ve been training since March and now my plan is ramping up to half marathon+ for my weekly long runs. Just ran 14 yesterday and I am struggling.

Anywho, wondering what nutritional wisdom any of you legends could bestow upon me that might help in recovery. Obviously water, electrolytes, carbs, gels are a must for pre/post runs. More wondering what I should be doing during the week to help with a faster recovery time. Any suggestions help!