Author hoped to run in low 3:20s at Brighton Marathon, instead he ran 4:21. Ouch. Anyone else missed their goal by that much?

If an author wants to post about his race on a public blog, why isn't it fair game to talk about? Rojo is using this story to hear stories of anyone else having big blow ups at a marathon.

If anything, it will make the author feel better to hear dozens of stories of good runners having similarly bad days. Happens to the best of us.

The author ran 39.54 10k on New Year Day so a 3.30 marathon was a reasonable target

Last year I PR'ed in September with a 3:03 (at age 48).
One month later, despite having run less than half my usual mileage, I decided to go all in for a sub-3.
I followed the sub-3 pacer for 15k and then had to back off.
Got to half way in 1:32 and from then on every 5k split was slower than the previous one.
Finished in 3:26.

In retrospect I should've run with the 3:15 pacers, that was my fitness at the time.

40 minutes for 10k is more like 3:10 for a Marathon.

That tells me, that the guy didn't properly train his endurance.

My first was a spring marathon, history said it would be in the 40s-50s, ended up being mid 80s and very humid (got a bad thunderstorm shortly after I finished). I went in thinking in peak conditions I could break 3 and I wasn't ready to give up on that so I hit 1:30 at the half and ended up at 4:02.

I'm sure people will say it was inexperience, but really I knew exactly what I was doing, I just did it anyways.

Most elites drop out but i remember Guye Adola doing a 2:33 in London the year after challenging Kipchoge in Berlin in 2:03

My failure isn't by that much, but close. Back in the 80s when I was young, I had run 31:00 for 10k and 47:56 for 15k (3 weeks or so before). I stupidly entered a marathon on short notice hoping to run in the 2:20s (maybe sub-2:25). The big problem was that I hadn't run further than 15 miles in training.

I ran an evenly paced first half in 1:13:03, but around 17-18 miles my calves started turning to stone. I think I hit 20 at about 2 hours, still hoping to break 2:40. But I had to walk/jog the rest of the way, covering the last 6.2 in 1:08:xx and finished in 3:08:xx. Never tried one again (though 2 years later I did a half in 1:10:24).

Atsushi Sato (2:07:13 PB) ran 2:41:08 and DFL in Beijing Olympics.

en.wikipedia.org

Athletics_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_marathon

Link:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the...

Author also ran 1.28 half a month before the full

I am not fast at the moment, but I wanted to run a 3:35 marathon after I had recently done a 1:39 half. I knew not specifically training for it would but me at a huge disadvantage. I quickly realized my early pace would not be sustainable so I came through the half in 1:49 thinking I was safe, but at mile 15 I started feeling twinges in my hamstrings and calves. By mile 18 I was really beginning to feel it, and by mile 22 I was in a world of hurt. I went from low 8's to 9:30's. I wanted to walk so bad but I told myself to just jog if I could. Unless you have raced one, it's tough to simulate if you don't do the work. 5k pain is lactic and you feel like your lungs are on fire. Marathon...your whole body hurts like you bonked into one too many corners. Your knees (especially the top part) really really hurt. It takes a toll on you mentally too.
Another one was Pikes Peak. Went out at 3:40 pace, was at 3:53 pace at Barr Camp, then died horribly at A-Frame due to lack of altitude training. That one is hard to describe. Like you feel high or drunk but not in a good way and every muscle just doesn't want to move the same way. You feel heavier and slower.

Attempting a full marathon based on the equivalent performance in a half (but with none of the long runs or mileage) is a classic training mistake. It's similar to why 43 second 400m runners can't simply slow down to 49 and do a 1:38 800m. The lack of preparation hits you, you may have some warning, but when it hits, it hits hard and fast lol.

oh yeah I finished my marathon in 3:45ish but the last 5k was a death march in like 30 minutes.

I dont get the shoes part. I have run up 12000ft and 13000ft mountains, 3000m incline, in road shoes. I also have a pair of goretex trail shoes (pegasus) that I havent used yet.

I have run in rain, snow and mud. Do tell how this is a rookie mistake.

Just here to offer support for those who have bombed hard! I once ran 3:23 after being on route for 2:50 through 16 miles. Still my proudest race to date just for finishing.

I remember entering my first 10k years ago. I had recently dropped a 5k in the area of 15:30, was a few months away from getting into the 15:0X range and a year later I would make it to the 14's. So I was in shape and improving all the time, and figured with a then-Pr of approx. 15:30 that sub-33 was certainly realistic.

But then I got lost on my warmup - the race was in a city along a state border, so dumb-dumb me thought it would be fun to run across the bridge and do a two-state warmup. Well, I got confused and ended up re-crossing the river on a different bridge, and couldn't find my way back to the start area. I managed to get there five minutes before the starting time, having warmed up / running around like a confused idiot for over an hour. I ended up running about 37 minutes. It was a drag, and maybe not quite commensurate with missing a marathon goal by an hour but kind of similar. A friend and I ran a 33:30 time as a "tempo" run in another race shortly thereafter as we were gearing up for a ten-miler, so I at least redemeed myself a bit.

If I understand correctly, you were hoping to run 3:35, and ended up running 1:49-1:56. That's pretty mild for a blow up.

Nothing quite so bad as this. But I had my first blow up in my fourth marathon, which was Berlin last fall.

It had been a rough build up, but I wanted to give myself a chance to PB if the stars aligned. Unfortunately, they didn't. That didn't stop me from trying though, and I paid the price with a 10+ minute positive split. The last few k's it felt like I less like running and more like a shuffle, and everything everywhere was painful, not least mentally.

And my pace drop off wasn't even near what this guy experienced. Nor what Marty Hehir got in NY. Full of respect for both for finishing their races!

I went out in 1:27 and ended up DNFing in my lone marathon attempt; can’t get any further away from your goals than that (infinite bonk)