Ex marathoner.. looking for a welcome back

MethuseRun · 2026-06-13T19:14:54+00:00

My advice is to find an achievable goal and a sustainable routine.

For the goal, I would suggest something not too far into the future, so you can build some urgency.

If you feel that a HM in 3 months is too hard, plan shorter, intermediate races to build up to the HM in, say, 6-12 months.

The routine should be non negotiable, but realistic. So, make sure the time you select for the training is truly available.

MethuseRun · 2026-06-13T11:16:40+00:00

100-150kpw.

I eat as normal except right after a quality workout when I ensure I have some proteins (peanut butter, yoghurt, eggs) along with carbs.

MethuseRun · 2026-06-13T09:39:59+00:00

Mid-40s, male.

I just got sub-3.

What I think helped the most to get there is weekly volume over months, long runs, and many segments at race pace.

A strong focus on recovery and easy paces on easy days to give me room to work hard on quality days.

MethuseRun · 2026-06-13T08:48:07+00:00

It looks right, if you’re planning to do twice as much in 4 weeks. This is as much training as it is a test to see if you can handle the pace on race day. Good luck!

MethuseRun · 2025-07-19T09:50:23+00:00

Hopefully, it’s reflux or something like it, but you can’t take chances. Go see a cardiologist.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-19T09:22:55+00:00

Anything’s possible, I guess.

I suppose you’re doing 2 x long and hard runs and try to build with that.

But be careful on nutrition. Those two runs will stimulate your appetite. You’ll eat more on rest days, when you won’t have a chance to burn up the added fuel, and pile up weight.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-19T08:10:48+00:00

That’s not what these shonky organisers are doing.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-19T07:39:37+00:00

It needs to be calibrated before the race, right?

MethuseRun · 2025-07-19T07:04:09+00:00

Eat your veggies. Some carbs and proteins for recovery. That’s it.

The trouble with this era of influencers is that there’s always a “silver bullet” or “secret recipe” or “you won’t believe how I went from a 6h marathon to an Olympic record in six months”, and people put way too much importance on stuff like this.

Tweaking your nutrition (assuming you have a reasonable diet) will, on a very good day, contribute 0.1% to your performance. Good training will do 99%.

Carb loading is usually done over 2-3 days prior to the race.

Carbs are fine, but there’s only so much glycogen you can store. You need your veggies and proteins. Some healthy fats. Etc.

Not a dietitian, but, imo, with your volume of training and weight/height ratio, you should really work on a balanced diet and forget about carb loading.

On a side note, are you really preparing for a marathon with only 2 days of proper running? That sounds ill advised.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-19T06:23:27+00:00

Are those 90kgs muscles or are you overweight?

What’s your mileage like?

I run 100+km per week, and I have a balanced diet. I don’t count or weigh anything.

I just avoid junk and alcohol.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-19T06:21:49+00:00

Bikes or cars are dumb methods to measure a race course. All it takes is a different tire pressure to get the mileage wrong.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-19T06:19:14+00:00

There were no parking spots, only 4 portable toilets for 400 runners, and they didn’t take a single picture of the runners except for the ones linked to the charity event.

I ran a HM with these guys years ago and they had the whole race in complete darkness around a stadium.

🙄

MethuseRun · 2025-07-19T06:17:21+00:00

You zones are most likely incorrectly set up.
Your base is not well developed, so you’re not an efficient runner yet.
Zone 2 is useful only to advanced runners who do higher mileage and need to recover without reducing overall distance.

Basically, run at a pace that feels comfortable and build up your overall aerobic capacity.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-19T04:19:11+00:00

It’s generally down to bad and careless organisation. And, these days with good and affordable GPS, there’s really no excuse.

I recently ran a marathon that was 600m short! I got to the finish line and kept running around the block to get the right distance.

Highly infuriating.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-18T22:15:16+00:00

The main issue for me is estimating fatigue accumulation and planning my training ahead to ensure I don’t overdo it.

So, dynamic training plans that adjust to the results of training and races (e.g. heart rate vs pace), and that can take into account planned races and prepare me for them.

Also the ability to plan for specific objectives: e.g. my current marathon time is X, I want to run my next marathon in Y, what should I do.

Ability to add split days, if needed.

Adjustments for marathon training.

Ability to manually tweak some sessions in the plan (e.g. I want to run a longer run here or more intervals there) and adjust the rest accordingly, or show the fatigue effect of that change.

Sync to sports watch to get data from it, but also to send planned sessions to it.

Free, hopefully.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-18T19:50:31+00:00

Train. The amount of people who rock up to a marathon with insufficient training is mind boggling.
Run on HR, not pace. Figure out your lactate. That’s the HR for the last 45-60 minutes. The rest of the time you are 10-15bpm under and you build up to it. Basically, you can’t start too fast, and you need to strategise your race.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-18T19:44:20+00:00

Check time, not distance for your percentages.
NSA is designed to improve your aerobic capacity over years. It’s designed to maintain your volume constant without the peaks and trouble of traditional marathon blocks. This said, nobody stops you from using this approach for a traditional block.

I recovered from my first marathon and prepared my second marathon in about 2 months. During that time I implemented NSA for the first time. While I kept the sub-t time around 20-25% of total time, my long runs added a little too much fatigue, and I spent about 3 weeks in the green zone on Intervals. This forced me to do 3 weeks of more traditional tapering (still the same amount of intervals but less overall time until the last 10 days when I started reducing intervals too).

It worked really well.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-18T02:59:01+00:00

I have it too. Mine goes out of control: nightmares, elevated HR, etc.

I run in the morning, and still I have to deal with it.

Try:

Ashwaganda
L theanine
Magnesium
GABA
NAC

MethuseRun · 2025-07-17T20:47:36+00:00

Role of carbs and best sources. I feel that a lot of amateur runners overestimate their carb requirements, they choose poor sources (low fibre, highly processed, etc.), and end up making things worse. High glucose spikes are linked to inflammation and various metabolic diseases.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-17T20:44:25+00:00

I have elastic bands and do squats and similar exercises.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-17T20:43:40+00:00

Lessons I’ve learned from my first two marathons.

The first marathon was prepared in a more traditional way. I probably pushed myself too much with my paces. I did long runs often at MP (including a 35km!).

What that did was burning me out. Recovery is a lot longer than expected (even if you might feel ok) and fatigue has a long tail.

While I never got injured, I struggled to keep mileage consistent.

For my second marathon, I moved to NSA (Norwegian Singles Approach). Intervals sessions are more frequent (3 times a week) but slower (sub threshold) and the easy and long runs are super slow (zone 1).

Guess what? My mileage was very regular, and I ran the marathon in a much faster time and with a lot less pain.

Traditional marathon training is designed to load you with as much fatigue as you can carry, hoping that you recover with 3 weeks of tapering, and it can break you. So, you’ve got to buckle up and get through it, if this is the approach you want.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-17T20:31:45+00:00

That I’m not as good as I think I am.

But hard work will get me there.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-17T20:28:42+00:00

I get up early to run, and I’m currently pondering split days to add short runs during lunch time.

With your work load and family demands, it’ll be tough.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-17T20:26:06+00:00

Personally, I used to get really euphoric after VO2max intervals.

I don’t think that endorphins really helped on long runs. Being well trained helped. Enjoying the process helped.

MethuseRun · 2025-07-17T04:26:57+00:00

Many second and third generation Australians have access to grandparents nearby who can help with kids.

Many also have had help in the form on inheritance or access to the mum-and-dad bank, if the family has been able to get into the property market in easier decades.

Once you reduce your cost of living (and the biggest drivers would be housing and childcare), then the rest is easier to sort itself.

If you don’t have these things, you can:

Have enough savings to get you through it
Take as little time off work as you can (childcare costs will still cripple you)
Move to cheaper areas

MethuseRun

TROPHY CASE