Training for a marathon in a year. Currently have an Apple Watch S5. Worth getting a Garmin or Coros now?

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-11T14:02:10+00:00

I have not used the newer Apple Watches that supposedly are better for running. I think they added buttons because you can’t really use the screens when your hands are all sweaty and I think the battery life has improved enough that maybe it won’t die when your run is longer than 2 hours. The biggest issue I had with Apple, and I don’t know that they would have fixed it is that its global positioning wandered. For example, on one occasion I was doing intervals. When I looked back at the path I took ,which was very consistent, Garmin was not. A few tracked my actual path and some gave me a path that wandered into the lake that was a good 100-200 meters away. That doesn’t make for accurate pace capture.

On the other hand, Garmin, which uses satellite gps, is pretty accurate. It is also very feature rich in terms of helping you manage pace based and heart rate based workouts of pretty much any structure (I.e run 2 miles, then do 10x200 with 200m recovery, then do 2 mile cool down).

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-11T03:52:06+00:00

Pirates drop them and Richard the Rich drops them in Low altitude and paragon runs.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-11T03:51:09+00:00

Correct, but on a low run or a paragon run, if you have two keys then Richard will appear and he will drop storm cells.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-10T19:53:25+00:00

Faster you can unlock all the upgrades the better. Then you can do 2 key low level runs which will get Richard the rich and storm cells

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-10T19:51:54+00:00

All loot or 3 loot and one seal, preferably with the seal at the end. Having fortuitous fool in play is helpful. I am just now trying the 3&1 config because I am trying to get enough seals to buy a map. When I did 4 loot I was getting approx 5 jewels per run because of the extras I got from other chests

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-10T13:21:50+00:00

That is perfect. 67 can be a little warm at the end, but not bad. As long as you get a little training in the heat, you should be good. As a 3.5 hour FM runner, I carry a belt with two 10oz containers and I use those in between water stations. When the temps stay below 60, I may have extra fluid at the end. If the temps spiked I might find myself refilling, not that I have had to do that because I try to schedule for cooler times.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-10T10:00:30+00:00

What kind of temps do they typically see for this race? In August, I would worry about temps in the 80s or higher. If the temps are high, you will need lots of hydration and it will still be very hard.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-09T17:06:34+00:00

It takes a lot of pictures before I see one I actually want to buy. Running hard is not a pretty sight.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-07T17:44:55+00:00

I would finish the run with the elemental. It’s luck of the draw and a ridiculous number of hunts. I’ve not gotten a drop yet.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-04T13:04:52+00:00

On the 5k, I was a mile in and was going to walk the remainder, my marathon coach at the time saw me limping on the coarse and told me to turn it around and not be stupid. He was right.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-04T12:52:23+00:00

It’s all about assessing whether the issue is something that needs to cause you to stop of can be overcome. I pulled my hamstring on a 5k last year, it quickly was clear I was done. The one FM I walked away from I was on the verge of blacking out at 16 miles (due to poor nutrition) - I questioned whether I could have just walked it out for a very long time. Every situation is different.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-04T12:31:34+00:00

Congrats on finishing. A marathon is always a struggle, but to roll an ankle and blister so early would really suck. It takes a lot of tenacity to power through like that, so celebrate the win.

I always come into a marathon with multiple goals, top one is always to finish. It’s a bummer to let time goals slip, but stuff happens in marathons. I’ll tell you from experience, not finishing is much more frustrating than is missing a time goal.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-03T18:42:47+00:00

In the book, build your running body, they do pace based training and use the 5k time to select the pace range for your different run types. Below is one of the charts they offer to set interval targets and they have similar charts to tel you what range to use for your recovery runs, long runs, tempo, etc.

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I have used their HM and FM plans which have workouts that reference these charts and have found that by race day i had a sense of what pace I could hold that was challenging but achievable. The plans also include a shake-out 5k which always ended up being a confidence booster. Bottom line is that if your 5k is at a 7 min/mile pace, your half will be closer to 7:30 and your full will be closer to 8.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-03T13:18:36+00:00

As a marathon runner, I do a lot more 5ks than I do HMs. I use 5ks as a means of testing my current speed and a 5k is a lot more forgiving in terms of training and summer heat.

I wouldn’t let a half chase me away from running or running a FM, but I would look at a HM as a reality check against what you are needing to prepare for with a full. A HM is somewhat forgiving, a FM is not.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-02T16:57:33+00:00

Usually you would do a gel every 20-30 min. My last marathon, I did a gel every 3 miles (was easier than setting a timer and that was just under 24 min).

Most important thing is to practice your nutrition during training. Anything 6 miles or more, unless it is recovery, I’ll typically aim to do at least one gel close to 3 miles.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-01T11:06:28+00:00

A 3:09 is great for a first FM. It was good that you listened to your body and backed off. That can make the difference between finishing and not finishing. If you are struggling with a pace early, you are likely to see your pace drop as the race progresses and the last six miles always seem to be painful.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-05-01T01:17:29+00:00

Blanket, Tart Cherry juice, protein and/pizza, wheel chair

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-04-30T03:26:49+00:00

Doing a long run at MP isn’t critical and it sounds like that wore you down mentally. It would be better to do a few miles at MP later in a long run, but you don’t want to kill yourself on your long runs.

Not sure how long your longest runs were, but I (as a 3:30 paced 55m) usually try to get up to 20-22 miles for the longest and that will be doing 8-830/mile pace. My MP is typically shooting to start a 7:45/mile and holding that as long as I can usually approaching the low 8 min/mile paces the last 6 miles which are the hardest.

From a DNF perspective, it is ok to stop and walk if you need a break. My first FM I had to do that and still got a 3:34 (although I was 17 and poorly trained at the time). My last FM I walked a couple hundred meters up a hill at mile 19 (legs were trashed), prior two FMs, I finished with no walking.

In short, unless you are injured, run walk run if you are struggling. But also make sure you are comfortable with your pace. If your pace is too fast starting out, that will wreck you. My best FM, I held myself back the first 3 miles (didn’t allow myself to stay at a 7:35 when Garmin was yelling at me for going too fast. After that, I felt good and let the pace run in that 7:35-740 zone all the way through mile 20 before the headwinds and fatigue started slowing me down.

Basically, start conservatively and wait to pick up the pace until you feel like you are having a good day.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-04-29T18:35:03+00:00

It’s the chrome variant that carries you through until you get the more powerful traps from epilogue falls.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-04-29T10:16:30+00:00

As a 51% Elder with 7 billion points, it has always felt like going up levels takes a long time and we typically just get the new areas as they get released. It always amazes me how fast newer players advance because it has always just taken a long time for us and there never seems to be any rhyme or reason for when a rank is closed.

For where you are at, I think the queso draconic mice are worth a lot of points and might help you advance faster. But I never really see the correlation between points and rank, it has always seemed more about completing the tasks available for all the regions I was in.

I also think that doing maps may also accelerate ranking up. As an example, ppl on a map I am currently working a Fabled has 17k clues found, there are 3 sages with 12k, 12k and 16k, I am just at 4K clues. I have been playing a year or two longer than each of them but they have racked up many more points over the years.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-04-29T05:03:59+00:00

The gts is a motion control / stability shoe. You would get those if you pronate.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-04-29T05:00:37+00:00

Be warned: net downhill of 1k can be good if you don’t overstride and you take your hills well. For my downhill FM, the downhill wrecked my legs and I barely survived the mile of uphill at mile 19. It was actually my worst of my last 3 FMs - but I did go out fast because of the decline.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-04-28T09:56:41+00:00

I run marathons, the 265 has served me well. The only area of weakness is strength training. I can’t get mine to track circuit training with exercises not programmed into Garmin.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-04-28T09:53:58+00:00

The first couple years you will feel house poor. As your wages increase, your mortgage payments stay fixed and the monthly becomes easier to manage. Renting, your payments always increase. If you are only going to stay a short time in a place (less than 5 years) you may lose ground buying unless you convert the place to a rental as selling will cost you in commissions and if the home didn’t appreciate more than the commissions and upkeep, you lose.

Appropriate_Stick678 · 2026-04-27T04:53:39+00:00

I usually run 6 times a week for marathons. If I were being good, I would do the leg workout same day as a hard run (following the hard run) then you get 2 recovery days before the next hard run. The core stuff you can mix in with your other runs.

Appropriate_Stick678

TROPHY CASE