u/Senior-Running

Please note:
Due to privacy concerns I'm not posting actual times.

Race Information:
Name: Big Sur Marathon
Total elevation gain: +2,182′
Total elevation loss: -2,528′
Date: April 26, 2026
Distance: 26.2 miles
Location: Big Sur, CA to Carmel, CA
Website: https://www.bigsurmarathon.org/

Goals:
Description Completed?
A Goal Time Yes
B Goal Time Yes
C Goal Finish Yes

General Info:

• For reference, I'm 60+ and male.
• I've been running off and on since HS.
• Also, I had some serious health issues in my 50s, including a total knee replacement and open heart surgery.
• Yes I know many doctors would tell me not to run at all with a total knee replacement and I avoided it for several years, but I eventually realized I'd rather be healthy and prematurely have to have revision surgery, vs. be unhealthy and maybe not even survive long enough to need a revision.

Training Plan:

• I'm a running coach, and since I'm no longer competitive (except with myself), I simply developed my own plan. I have worked with other coaches in the past, but don't really feel the need anymore personally.
• Due to the course (see the elevation listed above), hills were a big focus of this training cycle.
• My training overall went well. I personally believe if I hit ~80% of my goals during training, it's a win. In this cycle, I was probably closer to 90%.
• I did have a challenging start because late summer last year I was in a really bad cycling crash where I shattered my scapula. Recovery from that pretty much took right up until I started my marathon block. I also was not at the base mileage I'd hoped for, so had to adjust the overall mileage goals down a lot.

Example at start:

• 33 Miles (was hoping to be at ~45)
• 4 days running with one 25 min LT run and one fast finish 12.5 mi long run
• 1 day cross training (Elliptical and hilly hike)
• As the training progressed I transitioned away from the cross training toward 5 days of running. I felt like I needed the cross training day at the start since I was still building back from the accident.

Peak:

• 48-50 Miles (originally targeting 58-60)
• 5 days running overall
• 1 day faster running. For example 5x1 mi @ half marathon pace, 8x4 min LT pace reps, or sustained hill running on a treadmill @ 5-6% at half marathon effort.
• FYI, I rarely do anything faster than LT during a marathon block. IMO, the juice is not worth the squeeze, at least for me.
• 1 Long run (I alternate weekly between LSD and shorter, but faster. Thus 19 mi one week, 16 mi with 4x2 Mi @ MP the next, followed by a 20 miler right before starting my taper.
• Most of my runs were done on hilly courses, including workouts and easy runs.

Taper:

• I went with a 3 week taper this time. I've done different lengths in the past, but felt like 3 weeks was right for me for this block.
• That said, I don't drop huge mileage in a taper. Week 1 was a 10% reduction in mileage. Week 2 was another 15%.
• I kept the intensity, as one should.
• The final week I don't really worry about mileage. It's mostly about keeping enough intensity and keep the legs turning over to feel good on race day. I also had to juggle my running schedule a lot just due to travel.

Fueling & Hydration:

• I carb-loaded with ~9g per kg bodyweight for 3 days prior.
• I also focused on hydration in the previous 2 days before the race. I often carb load a lot with sugary drinks like juice and tailwind, so this helps with both goals.
• Breakfast before the race was my typical blueberry or banana nut muffin and 8oz of OJ.
• Because Big Sur is a point to point race and the start can't support cars, all participants are bussed to the start. I had to load the bus at 4 am for a 6:45 start. This meant I needed additional fuel since I ate breakfast before loading the bus. As a result, I also consumed a half a bagel around 5 am, as well as a rice crispy treat (I love those things as a simple source of carbs). I also took one gel ~ 15 minutes before the start.
• During the race, I took one 30 gram Precision Nutrition gel every 25 minutes. This put me at ~70-75 Gr/PH, which felt like enough, but not so much I had digestive issues. I've sometimes pushed this as high as 85-90 Gr/PH, but found I tended to have GI issues whenever I tried that.
• As to hydration, I simply tried to drink both water and the on-course electrolytes (PH1000), at every aid station. I'm also a strong believer that we should only drink to thirst, thus I sometimes skipped aid stations entirely, or only drank water or PH1000 depending on what cup I grabbed. Hydration is definitely one of those things I think some people massively overthink.

Race:

This is unquestioningly one of the most beautiful courses in the world. I highly recommend it if you have not done it.

• Race day conditions were unfortunately a bit rainy. It drizzled off and on all morning before the start and started raining a bit harder right at start time.
• As a result, we had a lot of folks starting wearing trash bags or ponchos. I personally was wearing a Patagonia Houdini Jacket. It's not the best rain jacket, but was sufficient for conditions and has a great advantage: It weighs almost nothing and packs really small. I simply stuffed it into a pocket once I warmed up and the rain slacked off.
• Why that jacket? Because it helped keep me warm and dry, vs. a poncho that doesn't really help much with warmth.
• I started with a pace group mostly to keep me from going out too fast. Like many of us, adrenaline can get the better of me at the start, so as an extra check on my speed, I used the pacers to force me to go out slow.
• When we got to the hills, I discovered that I was a bit slower up but a little faster down than the pacer, so I eventually broke off from the pace group and just ran the paces I'd trained for. I kind of expected to do this anyway, so it wasn't a big deal.
• This was my first time running Big Sur (or anything this hilly), so one thing to note: I was a little unsure what all the elevation was going to do to my pace vs. a relatively flat course, so I eventually decided to just add 10 minutes to what I'd trained for and where I estimated my fitness.
• This seemed to be about the right place for me, but I'm sure some people might need to add less, while others may need to add more, just based on expected finish time and how good you are with hills.

Overall, I was really pleased with my pace strategy. I ended up just slightly under my goal time, so pacing was spot on with where my fitness was on the day.

Another thing that struck me was that everyone talks about the biggest hill on the course, which is a ~500 foot climb over 2 miles. I actually didn't find that to be all that hard. It's between MM 10 and 12, plus, you run mostly downhill before you get to it, so I still felt really fresh and didn't have any issues at all with it. Thankfully it wasn't super windy, so that might have helped. I think some years they do have strong headwinds running up that hill so YMMV.

For me, the bigger challenge was the rollers late in the race. They are obviously a lot smaller, but started to feel never-ending. Plus, they are from about MM 21 to 25.5, so these were a lot more challenging for me mentally. Definitely make sure you save some energy for these. Thankfully, the finish is a nice long downhill, so it was a great way to finish feeling like I was a lot faster than I really am!

Overall I'm really happy with my results and with the race in general. It's a well run operation and while the expo is small compared to bigger races, it still had a few interesting vendors. Plus because it's a smaller race, there were no big crowds to deal with. I can't say for sure I'll be back next year, but I would like to run it again sometime. (I'll just hope for clearer weather if I do!)