Ran my 1st Marathon in ZONE 5
Ran my first marathon mostly in Zone 5 and somehow survived.
I’m M25. Started running last year.
Not gonna lie, I’m pretty proud of this one.
Growing up, I had asthma and was never the athletic kid. In high school gym class, I was the slowest runner. I still remember getting ran past by pretty much everyone during the running sessions and finishing last.
Fast forward to today. I’m 5’6”, around 180 lbs, work a desk job, and decided at the beginning of 2026 that I wanted to run a marathon because my friends got a pair of carbon plated shoe for my bday last year.
From January until race day, I did what everyone says to do. Lots of Zone 2. Most of my runs were around 140-150 bpm. Easy pace was usually around 8:30-8:40. I followed a training plan and trusted the process even though people were walking past me lol.
The thing that messed with my head was the cutoff since the event has a six hour limit before they reopen the roads. Based on my training paces, I knew I’d be close enough that anything could turn into a DNF.
Race day happened and for whatever reason, my brain completely threw the plan out the window. The vibe and energy was good and I felt amped up. My ego was definitely there since everybody was running pretty fast.
I was wearing an Apple Watch Ultra 2 and according to the data I averaged 180 bpm for the race. Over 3 hours in Zone 5 and another 1 hour 18 minutes in Zone 4. All of the YouTube videos I watched and every influencer on TikTok, instagram told me not to do that.
I was actually waiting for the wall to hit me at 30k cause I never ran more than that since it’s recommended to taper as I was close to race day.
Finished in 4:35
The funny part is that I spent months worrying about the six hour cutoff and ended up finishing with time to spare. A year ago I was struggling to run consistently. Now I can say that I ran a marathon.
My VO2 max is still only around 38-40 according to my watch, so I know I’m far from being a great runner, but this is still a win for me.
For experienced runners, what do you recommend me to focus on next? I’m also planning on getting a Garmin Forerunner 970 soon and I’ve heard great things about it.
Curious what helped you level up after your first marathon.