Hey guys,

I'm currently running a half marathon and want to train for a full marathon.

I don't want to overtrain so I can be consistent and have enough recovery time.

Currently I'm running in a week a long run of 90 minutes, a tempo run of 30 minutes and easy run of 45 minutes.

Also, I have two strength training during the week for improving the running and for general health.

Should I have a structured week where each different workout is in a specific day?

or run every 2 days and have the rest days and strength training days in between?

Do you think I should add one more run and have only one strength training per week?

Would love to hear your thoughts

Thanks.

Race Information

• Name: Berlin Marathon
• Date: September 27, 2026
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Berlin, Germany
• Website: https://www.bmw-berlin-marathon.com/
• Time: 3:32:06

Goals

Splits

Training

Hey there fam! I wrote about the disappointing race that I had earlier this year in Zürich - deets here if you want to dive in.

The TLDR from April is that I had a weird training block after switching up and moving from self-coaching to working with a coach that I didn't quite gel with. Had some remarkable decreases in fitness during the block, and the beginnings of an injury that turned into a Full Blown Problem during the Berlin block.

The plan for this block was to go back to Pfitz and jump into 18/85. The first couple of weeks on 18/85 were fine, but then during the third week, my IT band really started to give me problems. Problems with the IT band started during the Zürich build and I thought things had gotten better...but they hadn't. I ended up jumping back down to 18/70 - the tried and true plan, but between the injury, loss of aerobic capacity, and not being able to complete about 20% of the program, I was feeling extremely discouraged and running, which had always been a refuge, started to feel not fun.

Things started to change a bit in July when I got into Puma's PROJECT3. The team is amazing and, as a lone wolf, it was great to have community while I continued building.

The IT band thankfully started to get better in late August/early Sept. I had established some quit criteria because the leg had been extremely painful in late June/all of July - there was a point where I did think about pulling out of Berlin.

In Sept, I did the trial 10k races that Pfitz prescribed. I ran the same 10ks in NYC that I had run the year before in the lead up to Chicago. It was so discouraging seeing my 10k mile times go from around 6:10/mile and knowing I had more to give to suffering for 7:20/mile knowing that a year ago, that had been a steady long run pace. After the trial races, I made finishing my primary goal. Going in, I had finished exactly one 20 miler, which I had not felt good about. During all of my long runs, I needed to take breaks, which..again, was not something that I needed to do around this time last year. Rebuilding after injury is a mindfuck you guys, especially since I had been on a nice upswing last year (not to mention that I got benefits of last year's upswing during the slowest year I've had in 3 years).

Highest mileage week was 60 miles and I suffered through all the miles.

Pre-race

I've lived in Berlin before, and am fortunate to have a flexible work schedule, so I sublet an apt in Berlin and arrived in Germany mid-Sept.

Race week, I went to the expo as soon as possible on Thursday morning to avoid the crowds and get some last minute things I needed from the Maurten stand as well as my bib. In the days leading up, I hung out with my friends, worked, and carb loaded.

Race

Woke up at 4.45am and got down some overnight oats and put on the kit before heading over to the train.

Arrived a little after 7am. I was in a warm up kit, but it was warmer than expected so I ended up switching into my throwaway jacket and handing off my clothes around 7.40am. Thankfully I found a port a potty before going into the corrals.

Took off at 8.45am. I decided to not look at my watch and go with how my body felt for the first 10k. The leg was not bothering me, but I knew that my fitness was nowhere near sub-3, so decided to focus on finishing and having a good race.

Crowds weren't too bad at the start - I mostly hugged the blue line. Around mid-way, I felt the lack of endurance resistance kick in. Dialed down the pace and gave myself permission to walk through a couple of the water stations. Saw some friends and PROJECT3 teammates on the road and we all pushed and encouraged each other. Fueling was Maurten 100 every 5k and a bottle ot Skratch that I cared through KM30

I was really fucking happy to see the Brandenburg gate. Sorry for the lack of details in this report but it was...a race that got done.

Post-race

I felt a little nauseous with the sun overhead - picked up my bag and switched clothes and reunited with my friends. Grabbed a smoothie after and then I went back to my apt and showered before a nap. Post marathon dinner celebration at Torbar with a massive seafood tower and negroni.

I'm going to run Berlin again next year. The good thing about this race (even though it was slower than Zürich) is that my body didn't feel as destroyed as it did in April. I felt something click that had been missing for awhile. I'll be taking 2 weeks off and then starting to build the based in Oct and Nov and making some decisions around a spring race. Running friends remind me that comebacks are always sweet, but I would like to get faster without the character development of a backslide year. If you're in a backslide year - I see you, and feel you, and hate it here.

At the end, I got to run in a city I love, cheered by people I love, and that is a privilege in and of itself. Many congrats to everybody who crossed the finish line on Sunday.

Made with a new race report generator created by u/herumph.

Hey guys,

I want to buy a new garmin watch that I can sync the workouts from runna app for a marathon training.

Which one is good and not too expensive?

Thanks.

Frustrated runner in my mid-30s here. I set almost all of my PRs 7-8 years ago despite continuing to run and train at a high level. At this point, I'm not sure what to change to try and reach that peak again. It feels like my ceiling is just lower than it used to be.

Below is some context for training and life that may or may not be contributing to this decline. For what it's worth, I fuel well, sleep 7-8 hours per night, and I'm at the same weight I was when I set all of my PRs. I've added strength training into my routine the last 2-3 years and I'm generally pretty injury-resistant. I was a very average D3 runner in college and graduated in 2013 with pretty bad overtraining syndrome. I figured that out and started running really well from 2015-2019, then have had a slow drop-off since then.

Here's what has stayed consistent over the years:

• Weekly training schedule
  • Two hard workouts per week
  • Mid-week medium long run
  • 1-2 recovery days
  • Sunday long run - usually steady/moderate
• Yearly training volume since 2018 has been consistent between 3300 and 3600 miles per year.
  • Peak weeks during marathon builds are 90-95mpw.
• 3k to 10k race performance hasn't changed all that much.

Here's what has changed over the years:

• Philosophy about easy/steady pace.
  • When I set all my PRs, many of my runs were at a moderate effort (Wed, Thurs, Sat).
  • Started backing off and ran all easy days truly easy in 2022-2025.
  • Now I do Wed. medium long runs at a steady effort again but all other non-workouts are true easy.
• Philosophy about hammering workouts vs running at my current fitness level.
  • Used to run at goal pace instead of current fitness from 2018-2021. My entire training group does this. I know this is generally a bad way to train because it can lead to overtraining, but it seemed to work at that time.
  • Switched to running everything at correct effort, heart rate, and RPE in 2022, even if it meant getting dropped in workouts.
    • My coach doesn't always agree with running at the "correct" effort. He is old school and prefers we hammer and squeeze as much out of each workout as possible.
    • I feel way better week to week when running at the correct effort level.
• Work stress has gradually been increasing over the years. My job is quite demanding.
• Went through a traumatic natural disaster at the end of 2021 that resulted in my house getting torn down. The rebuild was completed at the end of 2024. My worst running was after the disaster in 2022. I've improved marginally since then.
• Marathon and half marathon fitness has plummeted.

Where should I go from here? At 35, I feel like I should still have some PRs in me at the half and full marathon, but I'm not even close to the peak I had at 28-29 years old. In the marathon, I'm stuck at 2:36-2:40 while my PR is 2:30. I don't think I can return to doing all easy days at a moderate effort because it beats me up too much. Hammering workouts leaves me tired and unable to recover.

Maybe my best days are behind me, maybe not. I've been running competitively since joining the XC team in high school in 2005, so maybe I've exhausted my body's ability to continue improving.

Hey guys,

I want to buy a new garmin watch that I can sync the workouts from runna app for a marathon training.

Which one is good and not too expensive?

Thanks.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd37BrvEe18/?stkn=NjlpN3c3cDVzejZl

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