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Marathon Training

For many runners a sub 4 hour marathon is a goal that they feel is challenging but obtainable. So how do you know if you are ready to run a sub 4 hour marathon? Let's discuss where you should be before you start training, and what you should see in your training as your race gets closer.

Are You Ready to Run a Sub 4 Hour Marathon?

October 22, 2025view the post

So you've decided that you are ready to run a marathon. How exciting! Now it's time to choose you first marathon. While the marathon options are usually endless there are some things you will want to think about before you sign up. Here are 5 things to consider when choosing your first marathon.

5 Things to Consider When Choosing Your First Marathon

August 27, 2025view the post

My husband and I are both signed up to run the Richmond Marathon on November 15th. There was a time when we often trained for and ran the same marathon. Since having kids we have each run 2 separate marathons. Our lives are much different than they were before kids and I do question if we will be able to pull this off, but we are going to try!

How 2 Working Parents Plan to Train for a Marathon

August 6, 2025view the post

Marathon training can really take a toll on the body, and it’s important to keep up with recovery during a training cycle. There are some basic things that runners can do to help with recovery to keep running strong and reduce the likelihood of injuries or burnout. Here are some tips for how runners can improve recovery during marathon training.

How Runners Can Improve Their Recovery During Marathon Training

May 14, 2025view the post

Are hard workouts really the key to a faster marathon? They likely have something to do with it, but a new study from Sports Medicine highlights that the fastest marathon runners had a large training volume with most of their time doing easy runs. So what does that mean for the everyday runner?

What Everyday Runners Can Take Away from Strava Data on Marathon Training

January 22, 2025view the post

5 Tips for the Taper Weeks

5 Tips for the Taper Weeks

August 28, 2024view the post

Marathons take a huge toll on the body and most of us can't run more than 2 a year. So that gives us a few other months each year to focus on other things. So how can marathon runners maximize time off between goal races? There are plenty of important things to focus on!

How Marathon Runners Can Maximize Time Off Between Goal Races

May 29, 2024view the post

After months of training for a marathon, it is a great feeling to hit your peak mileage of training and complete your last very long run. But then what? It's time to taper! Some runners love the taper, others hate it. When figuring out how to taper correctly you need to figure out what works best for you. This will involve understanding the why and how behind the taper, as well as understanding yourself as a runner along with trying things out from one race to the next.

How to Taper for a Marathon Correctly to Achieve Your Race Goals

September 27, 2023view the post

When running a long distance race, having a fueling plan is important. By fueling well you can improve your performance on race day. Here are some suggestions for working to determine your perfect fueling plan for your long distance race.

How To Determine Your Perfect Fueling Plan For a Long Distance Race

September 13, 2023view the post

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Yesterday’s long run was not what I wanted it to Yesterday’s long run was not what I wanted it to be. The plan was to take the day off from work, head to the trail where I could run 10 uninterrupted miles at MP (16 total) and practice my race day fueling while wearing my race day shoes.

What actually happened? All week I was stressed about this run and the condition of the trail. We had lots of rain on Thursday, and Friday was forecasted to be very windy. I tried to get in the best mindset possible, reminding myself that I won’t be able to control the conditions on race day. Meanwhile, I haven’t been sleeping well thanks to my 2 year old waking up every night, and my watch has been basically telling me that I’m losing all my fitness and need a week of recovery.

While I started the run feeling pretty good, after 11 miles (7 at MP) my stomach turned and I almost got sick on the side of the trail. I just couldn’t recover from that. The best I could do was run the rest of the miles easy, and needed some walk breaks. On top of that, my shoe kept rubbing my foot on top and I stopped twice to retie it. This has never happened before and now I’m questioning what shoes I should wear for the race. The trail was also in rough condition with several trees blocking it, lots of wet leaves, and rocks/sticks that I had to look out for.

I just can’t believe how bad I felt for the last 5 miles of this run and I can’t pinpoint the cause. Am I overdoing it with the fueling and can’t handle it on harder effort runs? Was it something I ate recently? The hard part is there’s no time to really try something different before the race, as all I have left is a 10 mile easy run next weekend.

I’m trying to remember that one bad run does not take away from all the good runs this training cycle. I’m using today to reset and move on so I can make the most of my last 2 weeks of training. It’s not the way I wanted my last big long run to go, but I suppose it was good practice for pushing through even when I felt pretty awful.

Who else has had a terrible long run close to your race?

#running #marathontraining #longrun
Spent almost every step of this 21 mile run questi Spent almost every step of this 21 mile run questioning my life choices. Like waking up at 3am to run 12 miles on the treadmill and 9 outside. This was a crazy week with a kid that wasn’t sleeping great and fighting a cold and super busy days at work. My legs were just tired the whole time today. It was really hard to run outside after so many treadmill miles and my pace was much slower than inside.

I reminded myself that this is peak week. It’s supposed to feel hard. If it was easy everyone would do it. I ran 53 miles this week and am not injured. The weather is perfect. I’ve gotten in every planned run of this training cycle so far.  I get to do this. 

And I managed to finish strong with my last 3 miles the fastest of the (outside) run. I owe that to a solid fueling plan and taking all my gels even when I really didn’t want to.

3 weeks to go until race day!

#running #marathontraining #longrun
Yesterday’s long run was followed immediately by Yesterday’s long run was followed immediately by back to back kid activities, so there was no time to post about it. (I ate breakfast in the car and lunch at soccer practice- it was that kind of a day.) I was kind of nervous going in to this run, especially now that I’m getting down to last few key long runs. I had 16 miles with 4 x 2 miles on the plan, which sounded manageable but also challenging. The weather was perfect and I hit all my paces. At the end I got a little confused- thinking I was at 15 miles but I was actually at 14 🙃 Got home and realized I chafed really bad. Another long run down, and another week closer to race day.

Do you ever psych yourself out before long runs?

#running #marathontraining #longrun
1 month to go! Who else is just trying to survive 1 month to go! Who else is just trying to survive the peak weeks of marathon training? #running #marathontraining
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