u/Different-Rest-6841

To everyone who volunteered, ran and/or supported thank you for making the Riga marathon festival so enjoyable.

Walking in I had an A goal of 4:15 B goal of 4:35 C goal of just finishing

Finished in about 4:33. I have run faster in training but had a calf/hamstring issue that just seemed to get worse and a cold the week before. I was keeping it relatively easy until km 33, when I planned to kick in and make the pace faster, but this failed as when I did so, my heart rate went up but my pace was the same lol - my nutrition was on point so I chalk it up to my muscles not being strong enough and just saying nah we can't go any faster sorry.

Blessed because on reflection I don't think I ever hit the wall and on km 37 was sure even if I walk I'll finish now.

My legs feel like jelly and going up and down stairs is now what I feel is hell on earth but all worth it!

If anyone's got any tips for next time, reflections, or stories please comment and share em!

Hello fellow runners,

I've trained for my first marathon for 5 months or so.

I've been using chat gpt/Claude as my running coach but want to check - how do I figure out what my strategy should be on race day?

Is there a particular heart rate that I should stay at for the first half for instance and ensure I keep below for the entirety of the race?

For reference my max heart rate I believe is around 190bpm. Easy pace is around 6:45/km. Longest run is 33km at 6:23/km average pace and average heart rate of 160bpm.

I also find my calf takes like 6-7km to warm up which is super annoying as it severly limits my pace (physio ongoing for this)

Any help much appreciated!