[samjleach]

Hey all,
Was hoping for some commiseration and wondering if anyone else has had this experience. I decided I wanted to improve my road marathon PB. A few years ago I ran a 3h31 and was very happy. I set myself a target of 3:16 and used a generated plan. *I know, I know, it’s not personalized etc!
So I trained from November 2023 until April 2024.
Little bit of training history; I’m 36, have been training my AeT for a few years. Trail running and mountain projects, usually <45km. My AeT is around 160, pace at AeT was getting to 5min/km.
The training was okay, but I struggled in all the speed workouts over 200m. I couldn’t hit the target pace (faster than 5min/km). So multiply that over 4 months, where I failed to meet any speed targets, I think I suffered in part because of that.
To race day:
Nutrition (naak ultra) was good, hydration was good, cloths didn’t chafe, so lots of positives.
Unfortunately the PB attempt was a failure. The target pace was 4:45min/km. My HR was over 170. It was totally unsustainable and my pace and HR dropped within a few km.
A perfect example of HR drift!

It almost feels like my training wrecked my pace at different zones.
So… I’m now training for a mountain 100km (Van100 for anyone who’s in the PNW). I’m not fussed about pace. Just want to complete.

I’m trying to put my finger on what wasn’t successful with my training to avoid that mistake again.

Anyone see anything I missed?

Thanks in advance!

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[RunnerNo16]

RunnerNo16 on April 14, 2024 at 12:08 am #86318

Was it due to a lack of rest? How much were you resting? What was your routine during the last week before the marathon?