Training for my first marathon (Dublin, late October) on a Runna plan, ~3 days/week. Peak long is headed for ~33 km; weekly peak around ~50 km. Longest before race day was 24 km. I’m 33M, ~83 kg, roughly aiming ~4:15–4:30 for the full but now question all of that!
Ran a half as a tune-up / confidence check and it properly wrecked my head.
What happened
- Finish: 2:14 (wanted around 2:00), no PB, my half PB is from a random conversational long run a few weeks back!!
- Felt like the hardest effort I’ve ever done, but pace was ~25 s/km slower than my usual easy/steady long runs
- HR: avg ~175, max ~197 — stuck in high Z3/Z4 the whole way, never found comfortable Z2 / low Z3
- Nerves at the start; never settled
- Conditions: ~16°C, ~90% humidity, on/off rain
- Slept pretty badly the night before
- Day-before carbs were weak (~326 g which tbh was the most thought and effort I've ever given to carbo loading.
- Finished emotional and completely drained; evening I was still wrecked
Where my head’s at I’m now spooked for the full. Brain says: if 21 km felt like that, 42 will destroy me / I’ll never find an easy gear and DNF.
- How much of this do you chalk up to nerves + humidity + bad sleep + under-fuelling vs “you’re undertrained for a marathon”?
- For those who had a shite tune-up half then finished their first full, what changed?
- Marathon day: do you ignore HR early and run by pace/feel when adrenaline is high?
- Anything you’d change in the next ~6 weeks on a low-mileage (~3 day) plan after a day like this?
Not looking for “DNS the marathon” unless you genuinely think the data says that. Want calibrated advice from people who’ve been through a messy tune-up.
Thanks.
Source: r/firstmarathon · by /u/bonkeyfonkey