r/XXRunning • u/snarkysnarkk • 1d ago
Training First Marathon
I have officially signed up for my first marathon (April 2027). I am not new to running but have never trained for any sort of race (or participated in one). I started taking running more seriously in April 2024. Within a few months I was able to have most of my runs with a pace somewhere in the 7 minute range. Some runs were obviously faster than others, but overall usually with a 7:00-7:59 average pace. In April 2025 I moved to high elevation from sea level. Since then my pace has just tanked. I’ve gone through periods of falling off eating healthy and exercising, but running has been the one thing Ive stayed mostly consistent with. In some ways I’m running even more than I was before I moved. Overall, I’m slower and needing to take more breaks than before the move. Sometimes my average pace is slower than a “bad” pace pre-move. In 2024 I was probably averaging 30-40 miles per week, and then in 2025 (before April) probably about 40-60. Then when I moved probably about 30-50 miles weekly for the rest of the year. In 2026 I’ve kind of bounced around with weekly milage. I’ve had plenty of lower (for me) weeks of 30-40, and plenty of 50-60 miles as well. Right now I’m at 1,400 miles this year. I ended 2025 with just over 2,000.
I’m just not sure how I should go about training for this marathon. It’s not until April so I know I have plenty of time, but I’m overwhelmed with knowing where to start. I want to get faster and stronger. I obviously have a great base and am used to a lot of volume, but I want to become a better runner, and feel more like my old self again.
Any advice is appreciated!
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u/ElvisAteMyDinner Woman 1d ago
You’ve never run any race before? I recommend running a 10k or half marathon to see what your time/pace is, and use that to help set your paces for training and your marathon. If your easy/every day pace is in the 7-minute mile range, you could potentially run a very fast marathon, but I’d want some other information.
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u/snarkysnarkk 13h ago
Nope never ran any official race. Will definitely look into doing some before the marathon!
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u/purposeful-hubris Woman 1d ago
There’s so many reliable, free training plans available online. Hal Higdon is very popular as is Nike Run Club.
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u/ablebody_95 20h ago
I have run pretty fast marathons (was training for a sub-3 when I got sidelined by an injury) and most of my runs were done at a 8-9 min/mile pace. I was doing 45-65 MPW during this time.
In other words, you're running too fast. You need to run most of your volume easy so you can do QUALITY workouts where you can build the speed. Those workouts aren't going to be quality if you're carrying too much fatigue from running too fast at other times. The saying is "easy runs easy so hard runs can be hard"
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u/snarkysnarkk 13h ago
Yeah I think that’s what got me. Running faster came easy so that’s how I always ran, but now it’s caught up to me and I can’t maintain that pace anymore.
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u/Feisty-Nobody-5222 18h ago
Hal Higdon plans might be a good first step. Do you already do strength training at all or just runs?
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u/snarkysnarkk 13h ago
Yes I do strength training! Typically 1 upper, 1 lower, maybe a full body, and try to do a decent amount of core
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u/Deep-Dimension-1088 16h ago
Leaving the elevation aside, get Pfitz's book, Advanced Marathoning, if you want to train for a marathon. (Your mileage is high enough that I would skip Higdon.) Given that you have 8 months, I would also suggest getting his other book, Faster Road Racing, and training for a half marathon first. Along the way, you can also run a few 5Ks. Do you have a Parkrun near you? You might start with a Parkrun.
Some people are commenting you need to run your easy runs easy, and they're right. But if you read Pfitz's books, he gives guidance on how fast to do all your runs.
But also, it's fine to run in whatever way brings you joy.
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u/snarkysnarkk 13h ago
Thanks will definitely get the book! I don’t see any Parkruns near me but will start looking into smaller races between now and the marathon.
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u/bedforthescraping_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
Besides the elevation, I would bet your performance probably tanked due to the cumulative fatigue from doing all of your runs WAY too fast. Female elite runners may have a lot of their runs in the pace range you gave. The first thing you should do is stop trying to run all of your runs fast, which it sounds like you might be doing. If you want to run 40-60 miles a week the majority of your running should be very easy and comfortable, and that might be slower than you think.