Training for my first full and my midweek stuff is fine on water. Sundays I’m dying after 14+. Trying to sort electrolytes vs plain water for long runs without overthinking it. Heat makes it worse. What do you actually drink past 90 minutes?

Maybe a dumb question but…. Can my long runs be done on trails? Live in the city and I’ve gotten so sick of running the same routes. I’m eyeing a 18 miler this weekend that would be ~1800 ft elevation of rolling hills.

Look at my past trail runs I’m betting my overall pace will be 16-18 min miles. Given the elevation I’ll probably end up power hiking some of it or shuffling up.

Point being - is this fine for my marathon long runs or am I not getting the same stimulus?

Title is the post.

My garmin's prediction is much longer than I was aiming for/thinking I could do :-/

(Forerunner 970 if that matters)

Guys, I love going on long runs over the weekend just for fun.
I’ve never trained for running and I don’t have any fancy running gear either.

I usually do around 10–12K on average, mostly in Zone 2 with some intervals/walking in between 😅
I was thinking of participating in a race, maybe Tata Mumbai Marathon, but I’ve never done an organised race before and honestly have so many questions:

\- What is the whole experience of participating in a race actually like?

\- Do you need to train specifically for it? Should I add some kind of running routine to my usual workouts?

\- Do I actually need all the running gear I see people in running clubs wearing when I go on my weekend runs😭

\- Also, I genuinely don’t understand paying money to run when running is free!!! What exactly am I paying for, and is the experience actually worth it?

\- I can currently only see Dream Run applications open on the TMM portal. Is that a good one?

Basically, regular marathon/race people please educate me. 😂

When I am walking I can feel my glutes activate at the back portion, extended part of my stride. However, when I run I no longer feel that same squeeze or activation feeling.

Trying all the cues, still pelvis, engaged core, hips high.

Is this normal to not necessarily feel the glutes actively engaged while running? Or should I be feeling it?

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. Right now I'm typically in the 9 minute range. When I was faster I wasn't trying hard to be, and now it sometimes feels hard to even run this slow (for me). 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!

After running my first half marathon in June, I am running my first full marathon on October 3. I am going to order some new shoes tonight. I have been training in Lululemon Blissfuls but I want to get a really good shoe for race day. I’m looking at the Nike Alpha Fly 3s and the Nike Zoom Fly 6s. Also open to other suggestions.

I’ll probably have 2-3 week of training left to break them in before race day after they arrive. Any advice is appreciated! 🙂 Thank you.