My third marathon was this morning. Both previous times I followed a 4 hour training plan with a longest run around 35km before tapering. Both times I got to 30km and fell apart, walked, felt sad.
This time I trained on a 30km long run most weekends for 6 months, and added hill work during the week. My long runs were at a heartrate under 140bpm, which I’ve never tried before and was a total revelation! Really enjoyed getting out and seeing the countryside. Helped me rediscover the joy of running without the pressure of trying to run set split times.
Couldn’t be more stoked right now! Feels so good to set a goal and beat it. Final time was 3:52:29. Second half was a little slower than the first, and the last 7km was tough! But I didn’t walk at all. Got way more emotional at the finish line than I expected.
If you haven’t tried heart rate training I couldn’t recommend it more. And getting comfortable at the 30km distance was also crucial to getting through the race.
I’d love to hear about your goals! Happy running everyone!
Awesome, well done! Huge achievement!
I don’t have a watch yet so can’t track my heart rate, but the last few runs I’ve been really concentrating on my breathing and only breathing through my nose (I’m only running 6km to avoid aggravating a bad knee) and it’s making a big difference, feeling a lot less exhausted at the end.
Nice work! I want to get a proper chest strap monitor as the wrist ones are pretty hit and miss.
Congratulations! That’s a great time.
I really want to train for a long distance again, and heart rate training seems like the way to go, but I’m not sure I have the discipline.
Congrats! I have such a hard time keeping my HR low while running. Last winter I added some stationary bike to my routine because it’s much easier to control my HR over a long workout. I also only have 2x 33km in my marathon plan, I may need to add another, but I don’t think I could keep it up for 6 months!
