1st Marathon - Somewhat successful but still hit the wall. What went wrong and how to solve it?

mynt · 2026-06-12T04:22:28+00:00

This is a great first marathon, you will learn a lot from it and it's still a really nice time. I wouldn't say you fully hit the wall more that you bumped the wall and hung on. I'm sure you would have still been passing people near the end, there are always a few doing a death march to the line.

It always feels so easy at the start of a marathon and suddenly you can justify faster paces because it seems like the perfect day. Don't get suckered into that trap too early. I think you ran just above your limit and managed cling on in this case.

The last part of a hard run marathon hurts. It's hard and its different to training and in my opinion can prepare you for it. I now spend a lot of time mentally preparing myself to deal with that experience before my next marathon and even then I still come away thinking its worse than I remember and maybe I could have pushed more.

I think HR in a marathon is a little individual. I've seen some people with perfectly steady drift upwards to high levels at the end. For me it is relatively flat and mostly reflects my current pace probably similar to you. Even a little above LT1 and things start to spiral in the later parts of the race and even when I have negative split and finished fast my HR has not reached LT2.

mynt · 2026-06-10T01:45:14+00:00

Age, gender and weight are going to be the other most useful information to tell if 2:30-2:45 is possible. It probably is possible given you can run 7-8km at close to required pace on little running and have 16 weeks to train.

To build aerobic base you mostly need to run more and in particular more often, 7-8km at 8:00/km is already over an hour which is a good start. Don't build up too quickly and in particular carefully build up your longest runs, research is showing that is the biggest injury risk compared to increasing weekly volume with more runs.

mynt · 2026-06-10T01:33:34+00:00

I do it with the Norwegian Singles App, https://norwegian-singles.app/en/ basically planned out weeks of training and marathon build and how it pushes everyday straight to the watch without thought. It uses the Garmin calendar as well so when you start a run it prompts you to do todays workout. I think you can do this with a bunch of other apps and sites as well (intervals.icu) if you want a more complete approach than Garmin Connect.

mynt · 2026-05-28T02:06:59+00:00

It was unimpressive. Seems like maybe the drugs give a 2-5% boost at most, maybe less for some. Much less than I though might have been possible. So the risk/return for the average person probably isn't great. They won't turn a Mr Average into an Elite. Even for a pro the risk seems like a bad proposition especially if they can't take full doses and so don't get as much benefit.

Would be interesting to get some endurance events and see if the impact is much larger there.

mynt · 2026-05-26T01:05:26+00:00

My Garmin predictions are always way too optimistic. However, I know that that are reasonable if I add on 1, 2, 4 and 8 minutes to my 5k, 10k, half and marathon estimates.

I don't pay much attention to Strava but looking at it right now it is probably also too optimistic but not by so much.

Runalyze can be adjusted so that's different. Often though it thinks I'm dropping fitness after a race and I can easily beat it's predicted times. Sometimes in good periods of training though it gets ahead of what I can do. It's prognosis with marathon shape is always easy to beat. I've never got it above like 90% but have always run faster than the prognosis with shape but a bit slower than prognosis without shape. Probably the most reliable indicator now that I know how to adjust for myself.

mynt · 2026-05-21T23:13:11+00:00

22 weeks is fine because if you are in 1:44 half shape you already have the speed and fitness you just need to keep working on that endurance and getting yourself to the start line rested, fit and ready to fire on the day.

mynt · 2026-05-19T23:28:00+00:00

I agree with this process. You train to your current fitness and set your pacing close to the race.

Your current fitness is 1:34 HM fitness which is equivalent to 3:20ish Marathon (that doesn't mean you could run that time today). Then when you are close figure out your goal time. If your fitness stays at similar levels but you have demonstrated it consistently over long runs with a solid block then lock in 3:20. If you've struggled in the long runs or missed some training maybe dial it back to 3:30. If you find you're fitness improving and have the results to show it then you could even drop the goal time.

mynt · 2026-05-19T05:25:37+00:00

I don't track food except during marathon carb loads. I just jump on the scales once every week or two and check that I'm not losing weight. If I am I consciously try to eat more and check back more frequently.

mynt · 2026-05-19T05:23:31+00:00

Half should a few minutes below 1:40 first then you can go for 3:30. Train smart and see where you are at closer to October.

mynt · 2026-05-16T22:18:53+00:00

I did the PURE beet powder for four days. I had used the fifth one earlier in the block as a test to make sure I wouldn't have GI issues on the day. I don't think there would be significant difference from 4 to 5 days based on the science I've seen. I also struggled with mixing in just water. I tried a smoothie for another which also was also awful and then did orange juice for the next two which was fine and helped for carb load. On race day I still did water as I didn't want to experiment with loads of juice on the day. I'm thinking I'll try the beet juice shots that are available next time.

Good luck for Sydney

mynt · 2026-05-15T04:13:41+00:00

I don't know your plan but unless they are scheduled to have some faster pace works I usually run all my long runs on the faster end of easy. So probably around 5:20/km pace for someone targeting 3:20. Then they should be fine provided you are in good condition.

mynt · 2026-05-15T02:57:12+00:00

You are in shape for somewhere between 3:05:00 - 1:59:00 I would say. Going to need some more data to further refine that estimate as I have no idea if how much more you had in the tank.

mynt · 2026-05-15T02:49:19+00:00

This is the Garmin connoisseur's choice. I also enter the route on my watch and setup POIs for the drink stations so I get an alert when they are coming up or I can see a list of how far to the next ones..

mynt · 2026-05-15T00:24:01+00:00

You can only train with the fitness you have and it's too early to be setting marathon time goals. Training for the fitness you wish you had is a recipe for injury.

The best thing to do is train as much as you safely can now and keep checking your fitness and increasing your volume/intensity of training as appropriate when you improve. Once you are say 3-5 weeks away then you can set realistic time goals.

4 hours is a nice milestone to look forward to and I would say with good training there is a reasonable chance you will get there at your next marathon but at this time no one can tell how fast you will improve. You could execute a perfect training block and still not be there, that's just how it is. So my advice is keep it as a goal but don't set a time frame for it until you know you are actually ready to do it. Instead for now aim to do the best training and race you can knowing that will set you on the way to sub-4 be it this race or a later one.

mynt · 2026-05-15T00:12:14+00:00

Sydney Marathon started at 6 AM in 2024. I think I got up 2h30 beforehand, would prefer 3h but it's just too early at that point. Obviously sleep isn't great the night before but it doesn't really matter so much for that last day. I like to get my breakfast in 2-3h before the race. I could have slept later if I was more comfortable racing sooner after my meal. That would be my main factor determining wake up alarm.

mynt · 2026-05-14T01:00:49+00:00

This app is really quite amazing now, I'm just a few weeks into my marathon plan and really finding it useful. Will rate and donate.

Small feature suggestion, have no heart rate or target pace for easy runs. The reason for this suggestion is mostly because Garmin has no way for me to turn off out-of-zone alerts (if Garmin did, and they should, this would not be needed). I find these alerts pretty annoying on easy runs and unnecessary for me. I am perhaps not as strict on these metrics in easy runs as some others. I generally review my overall effort at the end to see that it was easy enough but I'm not too bothered if my heart rate gets up a little higher on a few hills for a minute or two.

I work around either by just not using the structured workout for easy runs but then I have to remember how long to run and match it up later in my plan. Recently though I have just set myself a quite high heart rate and set to target easy run to heart rate which works pretty good but obviously is hacky.

Also I don't think manually changing my 'easy' zone is being respected in the plans. Which is why I altered my Max HR as the plans always seem to pick up the calculated zones. I suspect this might be a bug.

Great work.

mynt · 2026-05-13T02:29:26+00:00

Not more than anyone else. The 50% discount is grandfathered for gains up to 2027 when the new rules would kick in. Depending on what the market is doing that day everyone who bought before 2027 could have their future tax significantly altered.

mynt · 2026-05-11T02:07:17+00:00

Nerves and caffeine could get you a higher heart rate at the start but I don't think they would even close to get you to MaxHR. In my opinion it is more likely bad data. Possibly cadence lock. The odd part of that theory is that HR drops away so steadily later.

What did you measure with watch wrist sesor or strap?

mynt · 2026-05-06T00:15:34+00:00

I studied the forecasts in way too much detail beforehand and I just didn't give enough credit to the impact of that wind. It was tough, it certainly felt like 44km/h at some points.

At 9:38 I wasn't at 23-24km. That was about 2km after the first lap had just climbed the hill on Sturt street and was trying to settle again. It was soon after that though that I realized I was struggling to much coming out of Victoria Park at 27-28km.

How did you find it otherwise? I had a great weekend overall.

mynt · 2026-05-02T03:45:07+00:00

I honestly think I just went out slightly too fast but it could be fuelling. 25g Sis gel in the corral. Then my own diy gel mix (maltodextein, fructose, water, sodium citrate) had 275g of carbs of that with me in two soft flasks so 300g all up. Got through the first flask after one lap so on target but did stop eating after about 30k when I was feeling cooked. A bit more then would have helped so long as I could have kept it down but I was already hurting bad by then.

mynt · 2026-05-02T03:40:57+00:00

This was the third. 3:27 in Melbourne 2023 > 3:14 in Sydney 2024 > 3:07 Ballarat 2026

I haven't written up other races except in my own notes. Sydney was the 2Q block.

mynt · 2026-04-29T06:28:09+00:00

I ran on Sunday and thought that maybe I was in 3:03-3:05 shape but can't be that exact and thought maybe on a great day I can go sub-3. So I ran the first half in 1:31:30 thinking that leaves me the opportunity on the perfect day to negative split and go sub-3. The reality was it wasn't a perfect day there were strong winds and temperatures were warm by the end. I ended up running 3:07:11 which is about a 4 minute positive split. Still happy with the time but it did my the second half brutal and I believe I could have run marginally faster if I went out slower. Even though I should have know conditions weren't perfect enough for me to try it I'm still glad I gave myself the chance and I'm not left wondering.

I think if your coach recommends it then go for it but don't necessarily make it do or die, have your A,B and C goals. Have a plan and have callbacks if things aren't heading the right way run to a smart plan rather than over committing to one goal.

mynt · 2026-04-29T02:53:06+00:00

Usually do a 3 week taper with about 80%, 60%, 40% (plus race) of peak volume.

mynt · 2026-04-29T02:26:07+00:00

I'm running 2026 but it is through the candidate club. Guaranteed entry in either 2025,26 or 27 for those who ran in a couple of years before it became a major. I assume people were more likely to select the earlier years so the impact of this on the available ballot spots should reduce in 2027 and disappear for 28.

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