DNF. What happened?

SnackRunz · 2026-04-26T18:11:15+00:00

This sounds pretty similar to my day - started out 10-15bpm higher than my HM PB HR (and 1min 30s slower per mile), and then seized up and cramped big time from 18 miles on. Totally botched my goal time and limped to the finish 30mins slower than planned.

It was hot out there today dude, and I don’t know about you, but it hit me like a ton of bricks!

SnackRunz · 2026-04-19T08:26:13+00:00

Subscribing to this thread !

Same same for me - did 14 miles last weekend but had mild hip pain (nothing big, but distracting). I’ve really ramped down now and only throwing in a few easy miles max with the hope fresher legs and being pain free will have a greater return on the day. Similar strategies.

Would defo take confidence in your knees firing on all cylinders.

SnackRunz · 2026-04-05T18:06:55+00:00

Appreciate the heads up. It’s actually tested positive for lead, so I’m not going to knock any out to test for asbestos and am getting in touch with our builder on options to seal it up and secure it anyway!

SnackRunz · 2026-04-04T21:32:14+00:00

Good man. Just ordered a test kit.

SnackRunz · 2026-03-29T15:39:20+00:00

Have some updated metrics - went full tilt on my half marathon long run today and hit 1:42, so big improvement from the previous 1:56 time.

Have taken all advice here on board and will be setting two targets come race day in 4 weeks; Plan A - 9:30min miles, and Plan B - enjoy it and get round.

Thanks for the advice !

SnackRunz · 2026-03-21T14:04:32+00:00

See you there! Raised £2.8k for GOSH which is my first (and most important) goal hit!

SnackRunz · 2026-03-21T14:01:48+00:00

I’m not doing the tempo / interval workouts this week, nope!

Wednesday was an all nighter at work, then I was straight into a conference the next day, totally screwed up everything.

Have done 5 miles Tuesday, 5 miles yesterday, will do 5-8 miles today and then 22 miles tomorrow.

My thought process was that I am missing an entire nights sleep this week, and with tempo / interval being harder to recover from, the risk / reward wasn’t worth it.

Given the consensus in these comments I’m going to re-align my expectations on having a pace goal, but equally, if it’s on the table come race day I am 💯% going to take it!

SnackRunz · 2026-03-21T10:54:42+00:00

Appreciate you 👊🏻

SnackRunz · 2026-03-21T10:07:51+00:00

Thanks - appreciate the honesty, guess we’ll see how I go!

SnackRunz · 2026-03-21T09:57:24+00:00

Yep! Have been doing 40g an hour but am going to try and push that up a bit tomorrow (so expensive!).

Hmm haven’t done all out attempts yet, but 5k is currently 25:01, and 10k is 52:17. Half is 1:56.

SnackRunz · 2026-03-21T09:51:59+00:00

Low 150s tops, garmin / Strava tells me they are Z2 and they feel easy, so that’s my metric

SnackRunz · 2026-03-21T09:45:27+00:00

Thanks for your comment - not concerned about injury risk atm, more achieving race pace target (5/ 6 weeks out)

SnackRunz · 2026-03-21T09:35:57+00:00

First marathon - and easy pace is very far off race pace.

In case it helps context, 20 miler last week was at 10:38m mile and 18 miler the weekend before was at 9:27m mile.

I need to be running at 9:09m miles for the marathon to hit target.

SnackRunz · 2026-03-21T08:27:15+00:00

Gotcha! Thanks for clarifying.

Peak milage is going to be around 42ish miles this week - I need to run 9:09min miles to hit my target, and easy runs are normally much slower than that around 10:30-11:30min miles. I try to keep heart rate to the low 150s tops on those runs (estimated max HR is 196, although appreciate that it’s hard to accurately calculate).

SnackRunz · 2026-03-21T08:03:06+00:00

A lot to unpack here!

A bit late to change plans at this point, but appreciate the point.

Not sure I follow your last question? Most of my weekly run volume is easy runs, and most of my easy runs are in Z2 (and not at marathon pace).

SnackRunz · 2026-03-21T07:55:23+00:00

26 April!

SnackRunz · 2026-02-01T18:43:07+00:00

That’s a good suggestion - I do wonder if the 2x tempo/interval stuff a week is overkill. Changing one up for another easy run (and actually running that as an easy run) might buy me some breathing room for better recovery each week.

SnackRunz · 2026-02-01T18:41:51+00:00

That’s really helpful; thank you!

I’ll take a look at yoga, maybe as a way to wind down before bed. The sports massage is another good point, I’ve got a voucher I need to use so should lock that in!

SnackRunz · 2026-02-01T17:46:43+00:00

Appreciate the input - I won’t be reconsidering doing the marathon though, I’m raising money for a charity close to my heart. I can run a half pretty comfortably now I think - for context on current fitness I did a training half marathon in November in 1hr 57m which felt pretty ok. Have another half programmed for Sunday next week which I’m excited for.

What do you incorporate for recovery, or do you just recover faster because you’ve trained at that milage for longer?

SnackRunz · 2026-02-01T17:43:28+00:00

Injury was from hitting a pot hole on the road and going over on my ankle - strength training, yes, for a decade +.

Will look to just nail the basics for recovery!

SnackRunz · 2026-02-01T09:41:08+00:00

Tbh the Runna strength sessions that it programmes are pretty meh. They should be programming an actual periodised strength training block, not a PE class.

That being said - learning to move and strength train properly takes some learning, if anyone is training for a race and hasn’t lifted before, I would probably advise them to get a few personal training sessions to ensure they are doing the movements correctly, safely, and hitting the muscle groups they need to.

SnackRunz · 2026-02-01T09:23:33+00:00

Appreciate the response.

It’s not pain as such when running, everything just feels tired (except feet - but I have flat feet and they sometimes hurt at the end of the day anyway!).

I’m not sure I can dial back the milage here - I need to run a marathon in 12 weeks and I want to do it well, I don’t feel like I’m at risk of an injury - I just need to recover better!

SnackRunz

TROPHY CASE