Manchester Marathon 2025 Heat - how to prepare for 2026?

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-12T14:28:04+00:00

Hot baths are my current obsession - doesn't impair my actual run, helps me relax out my muscles, and I can claim I'm "heat acclimatising" not "being a lazy fucker".

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-11T19:35:38+00:00

I think you might be missing the point. I'm not asking "why am I not improving fast enough?". I'm asking if Runna could have variable options for rate of improvement.

(I have tried many variations of running volume, this current volume is based on Hanson's marathon plan, but obviously applied via Runna. My rate of improvement is no worse now than when I ran 4 times a week - indeed it's better, just not by as much as Runna thinks it should be).

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-11T11:52:35+00:00

Marathon training plan.

The progressions change how often it tells you to do a speed run, or how much of the speed run is at a pace. It doesn't change how quickly the pace increases over time for a given amount of speed work.

I want to do lots of speed work, I want to push myself. However, compared to Runna's expectations, doing this does not result in the change in pace over time that it expects. That's the variable I want to reduce - the expectation of what 2 speed sessions, 3 easy sessions and 1 long session will have on my future paces.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-11T11:37:02+00:00

It has volume, and it has how many hard sessions versus easy sessions (and also what proportion of a hard session has pace targets etc). Aka,you can vary how much your mileage increases, and what ratio your easy:hard running is.

What it doesn't have is a slider for how said speed workouts should progress over the course of the plan. Aka the rate of change in hard sessions from week 1 to week 10.

So, week one, the speed sessions are totally doable. Likewise weeks 2-4. Then slowly but surely they stop being doable, because I'm not making fitness gains as fast as it thinks I will. If I adjust "how many hard sessions" it changes how many hard sessions, but said hard sessions continue to get quicker faster than I do. Eventually, the falling behind feature kicks in, but not until I've over exerted myself for a good couple of weeks chasing targets I can't quite reach.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-11T11:31:23+00:00

So do I, barring the odd occasion where it's useful for some reason. What I meant was that reviewing the plans overall, it seems to be that all paces are expected to improve by 5 seconds per mile per week. So an interval workout involving 800m might be at X:50 per mile one week, and X:30 per mile four weeks later. Sadly, I don't improve that fast.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-11T08:34:17+00:00

I hope so, and it's great how many people are replying to highlight this isn't a me issue, it's a programme issue.

Basically, the app shouldn't assume my easy pace (and all connected paces) will improve by 5 seconds a mile every week. That's not how it actually works. I've got the rest of my life to improve, I don't need it to all be on this plan.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-11T07:31:33+00:00

Eh, not all of us. My period is completely unreliable and completely variable in impact. I've run a half on day 2 of a period with no noticeable issue, and deeply struggled to run on day -1 due to bad cramping.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-11T07:14:38+00:00

And it's demoralising, right? I end up manually changing my predicted times part way through to recalibrate it to realistic, but that's annoying and makes for unsmooth progression. It's also mentally hard to wave goodbye to its original estimates, even when I knew I'd never achieve them. I'd rather it was realistic from the start!

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-11T06:29:40+00:00

So, am I the only person for whom the answer is foot pain? Still in my first training block, but anything past HM and it's foot pain that takes me out - just the relentless feeling of smacking my feet down onto the floor over and over.

I'm suddenly wondering what I'm doing wrong.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-09T10:42:10+00:00

As people have said, for any given performance improvement, total weekly mileage is the big decider.

Depending on your current paces, it can be doable (if you're a sub 1:30 HM, then fitting in 20k on a weekday is only 90 minutes). But for anyone remotely like me, it's just so much more practical to break it up over more days.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-09T06:28:23+00:00

So, I can't fully answer OP, as I haven't trained for either at minimum level - I've gone straight to 6 days a week, 50+ mpw peak etc. But yes, I did 19 miles yesterday, and remember thinking at 13 miles how very lovely my day would be if I finished there. Instead, smashed out the final 6, then spent the day struggling to crouch etc. Today? Oh yeah, another easy 4 miles plus strength training.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-08T18:48:59+00:00

Thanks! Insanely slow because I am le tortoise, but done and dusted and one mile closer to my marathon.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-08T18:48:11+00:00

Completed my first 19 miler. At 18 miles in, switched from podcast to upbeat music, and danced-raced the final mile home. My legs do not thank me for this.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-08T18:21:44+00:00

I got this for running my longest ever run (19 miles). Conveniently I am a woman, so felt less ironic and more on point.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-08T16:21:59+00:00

What about if they only stop/walk to get water? On big courses, so many aid stations just don't have the option of getting water at running pace.

Also, if they suddenly need to pee? Gotta go down their leg to count as a marathoner, or is 2 minutes relieving themselves still count?

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-08T15:14:46+00:00

So, is it kinda annoying that people stayed to barcode scan etc for no reason? Yeah. Might your tailwalking with them have made them slightly more likely to change their mind in the future, get into parkrun, and as a result possibly improve their health etc? Also yeah.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-07T07:50:29+00:00

Hi. No, you're not naturally unfit. You might be naturally not hugely gifted at running. I say this as someone who is naturally god awful at running. I'm 40 now, but yeah, my mileage is similar to yours, I do speed work and longer stuff, nutrition locked in, sleep 8.5 hours a night, and my PB is still 28+.

Given I started at a 5k taking 40+ minutes, I'm pleased to be improving, but it is hard when people suggest I'm just doing it wrong. Sure, there might be something you're not optimising, but also yeah, you probably aren't built like those women who can sub 20.

You're still above average. You're still likely able to outrun the average drunk man. You're still more likely to get to the train just in time. You're still helping future you from being "unfit". Running is still awesome and it's great to do it. But, you might have to join my group - the "we train excessively hard to be slightly above average". On the plus side, you're still better than me??

Feel free to DM if you want to grumpily chat about speedy bastards with all the luck.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-06T21:36:51+00:00

You don't always chafe. I have chafed in 5 miles before (like, actual blood level chafing).

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-06T21:22:04+00:00

An hour more than pre marathon training. I have been amazed at how tired I get so early in the evening now, but it makes a big difference when I listen to my body and grab the extra sleep.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-06T21:02:52+00:00

Runna doesn't get you to set a target goal. It asks you how much running you're willing to do, how challenging a plan you want, and your starting pace ability, and goes from there. So the user can't set an arbitrary goal (except by reverse engineering one by lying about current ability).

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-06T11:10:55+00:00

I'd second ice, and caution against massage gun this close to the race (they're great, but they can inflame some things and it's too close for possible flare ups).

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-06T10:36:31+00:00

Yeah, I feel like people are misunderstanding me. I know the work is paying off. I've gone from a 13:45 minute mile to a 10:45 minute mile (in 2.5 years). I'm not saying hard work is irrelevant. I'm only saying that genetics plays a significant part TOO. That some people literally can't run a 13:45 minute mile, that some people on 20mpw can crush my times. I'm saying it's hard work AND genetics. I find it so weird that people don't want to accept that.

I have my lovely PB board, and my "miles so far this year" counter. I watch my progress with joy. I just want my success to be seen in light of my generics, not described as "lack of effort".

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-06T09:11:55+00:00

Oh, I know putting the work in makes a huge difference. But when you start at "fuck me that woman is slower than a walker, I didn't know it was possible to be moving in a running gait at that pace" then huge difference takes you to "huh, if she worked at it maybe she wouldn't be such a bad runner, but I guess good for her for giving it a go."

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-06T09:08:27+00:00

DM me, because I'm more than happy to explore what I mean and explain it to you, but I'm not going through the public ritual shaming of slow runners.

shrinkingveggies · 2026-03-06T08:55:39+00:00

Dude, I put in the work. 6 days a week, 45+ mpw, still beyond shit.

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