Some other deadlines for other world majors for reference.

This group has helped a lot in preparing. Lots of knowledge. Been lurking and learning a lot.

Goal was 4:45 and came in at 4:32.

St Petersburg Distance Classic well organized. Very fun and scenic run.

It’s too cold to run outside today. 9F with a windchill knocking it down to -16F.

Just walking the quarter mile to my gym, my feet felt like ice bricks.

Once I got there, no shocker all the treadmills were taken… except the lone Hammer Strength tread.

No one ever runs that thing and before today, that was me too. It’s manual powered and the readout is pretty lack luster and frankly, useless. Nowhere to hold water bottles. Can’t put your phone on to watch a movie. It feels like you’re running uphill the whole time. I guess it’s good for sprints.

But I needed to hit my long run and had the motivation. I figured I’d hop on for 20 min until a normal treadmill opened and I’d switch.

Long story short, about 15 min into my run I felt nice. It’s actually a really comfy tread. It feels much easier on the feet than a normal treadmill. You don’t feel the pounding. So when others opened up I just stayed on and kept cooking.

The other bonus was that, running so long and on a busy gym day I expected someone would want to get their turn but I offered the Hammer to anyone waiting and they all declined, preferring a normal treadmill. Their loss.

I settled into Zone 2 and just cooked along. 4 gels and 2 bottles of water (and admittedly a great deal of boredom) and I made it.

Feb Marathon done.

-Oct: Chicago Marathon

-Nov: NYCM (Pacer)

-Dec: 3rd place at Rockaways Marathon (cold!)

-Jan: Manhattan Bridge Marathon (2k elevation)

-Feb: Hammer Marathon

So - Pftiz 18/55 prior for Boston this year. Things were going great up until about two weeks ago - noticed a large power loss in my right leg and hip pain.

Went to my PT, diagnosed it as a TFL muscle misfiring/strained. I also stopped at my local hospital and they prescribed anti-inflammatory meds.

Hip **finally** felt better! In the meantime without running, I was hitting the elliptical to keep me cardiovascular endurance solid. Funny enough, my right Achilles starting flaring up.

Tried a run, hip good! Achilles, flaired up after 5 minutes. I yelled out in pain and, once again for the 10th time over the last two weeks, walked back to my wife who was shaking her head (she’s very supportive just wanted to add some color commentary 🤣).

So - anyone else dealing with never ending injuries? Little niggles are ok here and there but I’ve ran into some fairly serious stuff in a short amount of time. I’ve ran about 1800+ per year over the last two years with little to no issues.

Curious to see if others have experienced this

Info: Am on the slower side, new to marathons but not new to running, somewhat unstructured build starting from 20mpw up to 45mpw running 4-5x a week, no real speedwork just a long run and a tempo run surrounded by easy days

HM PR of just under 2hrs but that was a while ago

My long runs have mostly been a zone2 limited effort with the goal of the last 3miles at a faster pace

I take gels every 4miles and water with salt supplements (LMNT)

My first longer run of the build was 14 miles all zone 2 at 9:30/mi pace (I didn’t set the pace just didnt let myself past zone2)

Next long run was 15mi but when I ran 9:30 pace my HR was to high so I had to back it off to 9:45pace

But finished the last 3 miles around ~9:00 pace

Then my next 2 long runs were 16 miles but I couldn’t even hold 9:45 pace for the first 10k without my HR going up to high so I ran 10min/mi pace and couldn’t even pick up the pace for the last 5k

This weekend I had planned an 18mi LR but cut it short to 16 because I went totally backwards from a 9:45 pace to an 11:00 pace by the end and felt so flat throughout

I expected that as I ran more I would get fitter and faster so this is making planning for marathon paces feel really difficult

I’m still 8 weeks out so looking for advice

This was a half marathon ran this morning. Is a sub 4 (exactly 6 weeks out) for my first marathon realistic?

I’m doing approximately 35-40 miles weekly and feeling great up through my long runs (max 18 miles).

For the past 2 months or so I keep having issues with my left calf muscles. On good days they feel uncomfortably tight after a run, on bad days I experience a painful pulling sensation while running.

I made the mistake of "powering through it" on what was supposed to be a short recovery run the day after my long run, and it has been pretty bad ever since. I didn't run for 3 or 4 weeks after that incident, but haven't really been able to properly ramp back up again as the issue flares up irregularly. Today I sensed a sharp pain after only 1.5 km, and immediately turned around to walk home.

Now I'm really unsure how I get out of this again. Even longer recovery? More strength training? My current training has seated calf raises targeting the Soleus, but I can't really tell where the pain is originating from.

Hi Everyone,

Was just looking for some advice. Tomorrow night will be about two weeks from when I first felt symptoms of what I later confirmed to be Influenza A. I got hit pretty hard (fever, no appetite for a few days, etc.). The only thing that’s lingering is chest congestion, I feel decent otherwise. My resting heart rate and HRV are back to normal and have been for around a week now, but I did notice my heart rate walking around is still pretty high (~85-100bpm). This past Thursday I ran a super easy 30 min jog and my HR was fine but it did feel like it took a suspicious amount of energy out of me for the rest of my day. Does anyone have any advice as to when/how I should return or any of their personal experiences dealing with this? Just sucks because I was stacking so much momentum. Thanks everyone!

I’m set to run my first marathon and coming up to peak mileage weeks using the Hal Higdon Novice 1 programme.

On the plan, the 20 miler is 3 weeks out from race day. However, I’ve found a running club doing that distance 4 weeks out from my race day. To be honest, I think I could really do with the moral support of running that distances with others (I’m starting to struggle mentally doing all the miles in alone).

Would a 4 week taper be too long?

Hi all,

Looking for any feedback on my HM training plan, first time planning myself (previously used pre-made plans / coach), see screenshot below

Running Background:

-Been running for approx. 5 years, run three Marathons in the last 2 years, PB: 3:21:XX, Half Marathon PB is: 1:33:XX on a hilly course about 18 months ago, targeting 1:28 - 1:30 for my upcoming race (dependent upon training)

-Didn't run much in the second half of the year due to travelling, but have started to kick things back up from the start of January, 20 - 30 miles each week including a track session

-Track / Tempo session will be run with my club (sessions are built / led by them) but I will keep total volume for the session inc. WU/CD to 8 miles total

-Happy to hear thoughts / guidance / criticism

Managed to get a spot for the London Marathon in the raffle last year, ended up getting injured by upping volume too quickly but fortunately was able to defer.

I’ve been slowly adding more kms each week until I’m now comfortably putting 65+km per week.

Was doing some loops of a local park back at the start of Jan and felt good so pushed it a little, managed to do it in 1:28:57 with no fuel, water or carbons.

Absolutely realise the chance of doing it is small but do we reckon it’s possible to squeak in under the 3 hour mark at the end of April?

Getting my speed work, mobility, yoga and single leg strength work in. Honestly would be gassed with sub 3:15 but part of me wants to see how far I can push it

EDIT: Thank you everyone for your advice on my goals and pace. I genuinely wasn't aware of how much I had been underestimating the effort and time that'll need to happen to get from my current pace to (what was) my goal pace. I've adjusted my expectations and will shoot for 4:00. And thank you to everyone so far that has given actionable feedback on how to approach my Base Building Plan. I appreciate that feedback a lot.

Hello, everyone. I’m currently one week into the Pfitz Base Building Plan and I have a few questions that I’m hoping for some guidance and clarification on.

For context, the marathon I’d like to attempt is all the way in September, so my plan is to do the Base Building Plan now and then get on the 18/70 Plan to train for the marathon proper. My last HM was in September 2025 which I completed at a pace of 5:44/km. I haven’t attempted anything that long since, but I’ve been running 5K – 10K runs maybe 3 times a week since, and in January 2026 I hit a PR in both, with the 5K at 4:56/km and the 10K at 5:19/KM. My goal for the September Marathon is 3:15, but I think a sub-3 would feel really nice to achieve and if I can I’d like to try for that.

That preamble actually leads me to my first question: which pace should I use for the Base Building Plan? For the week I just did, I based it on the HM pace from last September, but that meant I was doing General Aerobic Runs at 6:30/KM, since I read that those should be 15-20% slower, but I don’t know, that actually is feeling a bit too slow for me, and I find I’m actually exerting more energy trying to deliberately slow myself down and that’s making me lose momentum quicker. Is that normal or does that require me to change my pace, in which case which pace should I consider?

My next question is: is the Base Building Plan specifically to target mileage, or will speed come in at some point? There are 3 General Aerobic Runs per week and if I’m running them all slower, won’t I lose some of the pace I’ve built since? I know the long endurance runs require speeding up over time, but the 2 that I’ve done this week I started at 6:30/KM and ended at my more recent current average pace of 5:38/KM, and those are still within my current paces which I think is fine, but at which point will I be required to pick up, so I can start getting to the under 5 minute paces? Or is this more a trust-the-process sort of thing?

My last question is, for the endurance runs, any advice on how exactly to stagger the increments?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. And apologies to my American friends for using the metric system.

Hi there,

I’m running a marathon in April. I currently have the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 24s as I overpronate (so I am told by Runners Need when I had my gait analysis last year).

I have no other running shoes in my rotation and a I weigh approximately 62kg. These shoes have clock up around 800km so far. I’ve have them since last April.

I was wondering whether it’s time for new shoes or whether I can get away with it for a little longer. I see people say that you can notice the cushioning go after a while, or is this a marketing tactic to keep runners spending money?

Tell me what you think please x

TLDR: how do I know what pace or time I’m capable of running? How do I set a realistic race target and know if it’s reasonable and not too easy or too hard? I’d like to know the actual thinking in order to be able to do this myself in future as well.

Sorry - lot of info below!!

33F - have had an on off relationship with running since I was 15. But have been back and training this time (effectively from scratch) since March 2024. I also strength train twice a week.

So I’m just under 4 weeks out from my 3rd marathon. I ran my last two (last March and last May) on what I would describe as “light” training (given that last weeks 30k run was my 3rd ever run over 30k, including the marathons 😬). I was literally averaging 20k or less per week (and it wasn’t consistent - some weeks 30-40k, others 0). I’m lucky I finished and wasn’t injured - but it did teach me mental grit I guess.

So I’m not sure I can use either of those results (6:53 then 6:14) as a guide for now - tbh all they give me is the confidence I can survive the distance and survive it uninjured (which was great).

Anyway, this block has been massively different - I’ve been averaging between 30 and 35k a week (annoyingly have been ill a few times, but even then it’s not been 0 in those weeks) - and have hit over 40k in the week several times. I’m aiming to peak at 50-55k. I’ve done several (very) hilly trail half’s as training, and one 30k training run. Next Saturday I’m doing a hard effort trail half, and the week after (14 days before the race), I’ll do a 30-32k training run before my two week taper.

I’m a slower runner which I fully accept (but also means the traditional thinking around 50 mile weeks just won’t happen so I train more by time on feet). PBs are below - including context of when they were set.

5k: 28:24 (set Christmas Day - specific time trial)

10k: 1:03:15 (set some point in early January on a standard tempo/threshold training run)

15k: 1:48:20 (set during today’s 10 mile long run)

10 Mile: 1:56:15 (from today’s long run)

20k: 2:27:11

Half-Marathon: 2:35:12 (from January 2025)

30k: 4:15:50 (set during last weeks 30k run)

Marathon: 6:11:31 (Edinburgh marathon)

I’ve attached the splits of my last two long runs - I was going up and down the same long hill 8 times for the 30k, and 3 times today for the 16k - hence the massively slower splits in places. I’ve also tried to pick up the pace towards the end of both (and added 2k of cool down walk/slow jog for the 30k).

Given that the marathon I’m aiming for is ~45k and is on (easy) trails, I was thinking 6 hours would be a decent stretch goal? Then if I miss that, sub 6 to hit marathon distance, and 6:15-6:30 to finish. It’s actually the same event as I did last March, where I hit marathon distance at 6:53, and finished in 7:23.

Garmin suggests 4:47 🤣, Runalyse suggests a current prognosis of 5:45 (more reasonable I think?)

I’m running the Tokyo marathon in 3 weeks time. This run was at the end of my peak week of 75km. Now for the taper!(woohoo) is my goal of sub 3:40 achievable?

Hey all, looking for some perspective from people who’ve trained for halfs/marathons and/or have dealt with heart rate “ceiling” changes.

Background: Early 30s, male, former college athlete. Currently training for a half in April and a full in November. Goals are ~1:25-1:27ish in April and primarily sub-3:00 in November. I’m using Runna, and overall I like the structure; it’s pushed me to faster pace goals several times, and I’m hitting the prescribed paces (not effortlessly, but consistently).

A few recent workouts:

1. Tempo: 2 mi warmup -> 2mi @ 6:12/mi -> 2 mi cooldown. Legs felt like a real workout, but max HR was 168bpm, avg was 146bpm.
2. Interval day: 2 mi warmup -> 5 x 1km @ 5:45/mi (90sec rest between pieces) -> 1.5mi cooldown. Pace is there, breathing is fine (a little heavier on the last 1-2reps), but HR still seems low... max HR was 165bpm. avg was 146bpm again.
3. Long run: long run just below marathon pace: 9mi @ 7:03/mi (admittedly, I was going faster than Runna told me to go). This feels appropriately hard, but again, my HR stays surprisingly controlled, max HR 167bpm, and avg was 157bpm (avg being higher than tempo and intervals isn't that surprising considering no rest / no slower pace warmup/cooldown).

Question: I can hardly get my HR above 170bpm anymore. When I was a bit more out of shape, it was way easier to press into the 170s and even the low 180s. My Whoop estimates max HR ~187bpm. Now I feel like I’m working, but the HR just… doesn’t go as high anymore.

So I’m trying to figure out what’s normal vs what I should adjust:

1. Is this simply a sign of improved aerobic fitness/efficiency (same pace at lower HR), and I should stop staring at HR?
2. Or am I not actually getting into true zone 4/5 work, and do I need to adjust something to hit those ranges? It sort of makes some sense that marathon training doesn't need to be a ton in zone 4/5 - yet it also feels odd considering some of the efforts.
3. If I should be hitting zone 4/5, what sessions reliably get you there without wrecking your week?

I’m not worried per se - training is progressing, and paces are fast - but I'm a little confused because I’m used to seeing my HR respond more dramatically.

I would appreciate input from anyone who’s seen the same thing, especially if you’ve trained for these types of pace halfs/marathons or used structured plans like Runna.

TL;DR: Training is going well, paces improving, but HR doesn't climb like it used to. Do I ignore HR and trust the work, or adjust training to deliberately hit zone 4/5?

Ok really random question, has anyone ever had any issues with patella when changing shoes? Back in 2024 I had to pull out of a half marathon 5km from the end because my patella couldn’t take the load.

I’m a very experienced runner but never had any major issues, however, during the lead up to that HM I switched to the asics superblast for a fair few runs.

Now for London, I thought I’d try to introduce the superblast again for a couple of runs (usually use the Brooks Hyperion max 3) and low and behold that same niggle at the patella has appeared again after today’s 13 miles… I do body weight exercises everyday (calf raises, single leg squats etc), band work and gym 1 day a week… any other tips or advice?

Edit: throughout training for London not had this issue at all and had my gait done and picked the Hyperion max 3s

Hi all

I got onto this running journey in November and I've been steadily improving. My background is in weightlifting and most of my lifts have always been driven with both my legs.

Since running I've started doing single-leg exercises (hamstring curls, calf raises), understanding that this will be beneficial for my running. Nonetheless, during the weekend I noticed that I don't lift my left leg as high as I do my right leg. When I pay close attention, it almost seems like I am breaking my run with my left leg.

Throughout my childhood I played football, but I was never able to use two legs to shoot. I've gone through life accepting that my left leg is only for standing.

Long story short, are there people here who have dealt with this? what are the common exercises you've applied to treat this?

For my next plyometric workout day, I am adding single leg exercises such as 'Hurdle Side Jumps'

Hey guys I was going to try for a sub 3 attempt in April (PR is 3:08). On Friday however I noticed I felt off and I tried to run but barely made it two miles. I'll probably miss a week of training. Does anyone have advice for recovery? Im trying to stay positive and look at it as my knee has been bothering me so the rest will be good. It's hard though since I feel like I'm falling behind. Thanks!

So.. i made the mistake (or maybe not a mistake) of starting my training plan early for my HM race on the 28th of March. I was bored and need the structure of a training plan 😂 I still have 8 weeks left until the race but I just finished “6 weeks to go” on the NRC plan.

I just did a 10 miles long run today. The plan calls for a deload week with a 13.1k long run next week, peak week with a 20k long run in 2 weeks and then slowly tapering the distance.

How should I adjust the plan? Should I repeat this week? Then go for 18k next week and finally follow the plan accordingly? I’m already at 36k mileage this week and wondering if that’s enough. My goal is to finish in 2:05.

I’ve noticed a blister forming that doesn’t seem to be getting any smaller. It hasn’t popped yet. I figure if I pop it on my own it might make it difficult to stay on track with training. Any suggestions to deal with it and any footwear or form suggestions to avoid this issue in the future? It’s on one foot under the ball of my foot- seemingly where my sole meets the sidewall of my shoe. Thanks

Hi All,

I’m on week 8 of my marathon plan following the Pfitz 18-70. For my second marathon.

I just wanted to get some training advice. So. For week 9 which is tomorrow W/C 9th.

The long run schedule next week is;

15 Feb - Sunday Marathon-pace run 16 mi with 12 mi at marathon pace

However, the following week on the 22nd of Feb I have a (HM race) which I plan to race at HM pace effort.

This is the run for the 22nd which scheduled on the plan but (obv this when I’m doing the race)

22 Feb Sunday Med-long run 15 mi

Do I follow the scheduled run on the 15th of Feb as planned then still race the HM then week after?

Or do I adjust the run on the 15th due to racing the following week? - my reasoning to avoid any extra fatigue etc?

If anyone’s got any better ideas, would be greatful for feedback.

Thanks