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?

Rojo how's your marathon training going?

I’ve never bonked that hard but getting to the 12 or 13 mile mark feeling cooked is relatable. It’s a long journey from there. In my case, it was 70 and humid and I didn’t let go of my time goals. I managed to forgo walking except for a couple-minute stretch but if you can’t keep a shuffle going it’s pretty easy to imagine that second half getting out of hand. In the authors case, I suspect he had COVID/a virus. It doesn’t really make sense to fall off that hard without a cramping/conditions issue if you’ve put the work in.

I was thinking the same thing.

Since he can't use his garage anymore he should get out more to train for his sub 5 hour marathon.

I have a female friend that’s a 20:XX 5k runner. She’s incredibly talented and efficient. She ran one marathon - NYC. She had a fantastic collapse and finished around 5 hours. It must have taken her 30 minutes to do the last mile. I don’t know what her goal was, but she was massively undertrained. She went out pretty hard.

You don't miss your goal that much unless you don’t know how to judge your fitness or you didn’t put in the miles.

The runner never mentioned why he thought he could run sub 3:30.

My guess is that he was never that good to begin with. It would be important to know what his previous 10k and HM PB's are. I think he was just hopeful to run that fast.
I had a similar case in my running group last year. So he is not alone.

Anyone that runs 4:20 for the marathon should not be writing anything about or related to running. Ridiculo.

Training for my first Marathon--Chicago 2021 and Run Like Heller was vloging her training. Her goal was <4 hr and she got close to 5. Conditions were non-ideal, but not 1 hr bad. Her training had issues (that a newbie can see).

Not sure if this counts, but my first (and hopefully only) trail ultra last year. It was 50K, so I didn't think my pace would be that far off from like easy pace on roads. It ended up taking around 7 hours... I hadn't practiced running up enough mountains in training I guess, nor was I comfortable on very slick mud and rocks. I ended up walking a lot more than planned mostly due to the conditions, but even my walk was slower than normal because I was being so cautious not to slip and fall off the mountain.

Rookie mistake a lot of road runners make (including me).
Trails can be so much slower, depending on the actual surfaces. And if you also show up with your road running shoes it will be even worse.

What was your goal when you ran 2:23?

John Stephen Akhwari

2:15 guy finished Mexico City 3:25

+1:20

Very good one. Somewhat less dramatically an out of town friend who was hoping to run Boston in 2:35 stayed with us and ended up running 3:25. I remember telling him that at least he got the numbers he wanted even if the order was a bit off.

after college, I took three years off and then trained for a marathon. I was ex-d1 and had run 90-110 mpw for 4 years, but started law school and went to 0, effectively. So I Was pretty arrogant about my fitness even after taking time off.

To get back in shape, I started doing a once a week long run and a few easy runs. I built up to 20, including one half marathon race I did after a 5 mile warmup with a 5 mile cool down in 87 min. My goal was sub 3hrs.

night before the race, had a beer and tallied my log totals, realized I had only averaged 22 mpw for the 3 months buildup and that things could go bad.

race started, I went out in a big group that was running 630-645s (sub 3 is 651 for reference). I made it through 10 miles and thought I could do it. But the race was 5 hrs drive south and the day of the race was way hotter and way more humid than anything I had trained in. By 13, I knew I was cooked.

I positive splitted 1:29 (first half), 2:25 (second half). I walk jogged from 15 on because my calves would cramp up really bad. It was a harrowing endeavor.

The marathon takes the mileage it is owed from you one way or another.

No, but only because I chose to DNF if things were going that badly. Once I had run (and finished) my first few marathons, I didn't see the point in finishing for the sake of finishing.

What in the world is the point of posting this & why do it in the training forum without posting anything about his training. This click bait nonsense needs to stop. I'm guessing this guy has some sort of political slant to their writing that you don't agree with?

I help run a charity that partners with a lot of marathons to raise money… MOST first time marathoners with no running history or background do this. They’ll do a 16-week of training that build up to one, single 20-mile run in a 40 mile week, then do ‘Yasso 800s’ and decide they can run 3:30. Only to blow up at mile 16 and walk it in.

I think anyone who has been affiliated with the sport for more than a fleeting moment understands that falling way short of one's marathon goal is extremely common.

Marty Hehir blew up so bad at NYC that his agent, Josh Cox, tweeted that Marty had dropped out of the race.

My first marathon I thought I could do sub 3:30 (stupidly) and pulled in a 4:48 after having terrible full body cramps.

Second marathon thought I could still do sub 3:30 and finished 3:59 with full body cramps.

Third marathon thought maybe I could do sub 3:00 and ran like a 3:35 with full body cramps.

Fourth marathon thought I could do sub 3:00. Ran 2:55 with a 2 minute negative split back half with a last mile at 6:15 pace.

During that time my half marathon PR went from 1:40 to 1:20.

Marathons are hard to gauge and when stuff goes wrong it can really go wrong. He probably wasn't good enough for his goal and it really bit him. Happens to so many people.