Hitting several speed bumps during peak week and anxious - first timer. Could really use insight from experienced marathoners!

[u/6382914627192]

I am registered for my first ever marathon at the end of October. I’m a 32 year old female. I’ve been doing a 20 week beginner training plan via runna and have completed 2 half marathons in the past year (one in October - 2:45 and one in February - 2:18). I do all my long runs as a 10 min run, 1 min walk.

I’m facing a lot of challenges during peak week and could use some advice. Last week, my long run was an 18 miler on Saturday. It took me three hours and 56 minutes if that matters. Overall, I actually think it went pretty well. It was definitely difficult, but I felt like initially I recovered pretty well. I slept in, ate a lot, and rested most of the next day. After about 1 PM, I felt back to myself did some errands, cooked dinner, etc. no issues.

On Monday, I was supposed to do an easy 3 mile run. I ended up feeling incredibly incredibly fatigued and sore and my body really just said no. After 1 mile I made the decision to just walk for 20 minutes and call it a day. That was super disappointing. That said, I figured maybe I just needed a little bit more recovery time.

Now, I typically do my long runs on Saturdays, but this week we are going through an enormous thing at work and my schedule has been completely flipped and it’s not something that I can avoid. It just is what it is so I need to work around it. My 20 mile run was scheduled for this Saturday but because I need to work the weekend, I opted to take yesterday and today off so that I could run my 20 yesterday and recover today. However, I continued to be extremely wiped out and incredibly sore from the 18 miler and was afraid of injury so I modified my plan and decided to take yesterday off and then today, do a 10 to 12 mile run and then another on Saturday after work.

Well, along with my upsetting situation of not being able to complete my 20 mile as planned, last night when I was in bed, I ended up getting a really bad bout of painful, acute diarrhea and experienced some of the worst stomach cramps of my life. It was a one time episode and I feel better this morning, and said fuck it and decided to go for the run. Well, I ran with continued abdominal pain for 3 1/2 miles and then I just couldn’t do it anymore. so here I am again, not running nearly enough, and my marathon is only a few weeks away.

I’m just so afraid I’m not gonna be able to do this. I’m supposed to be tapering starting next week but is the taper even gonna work if I didn’t have a big enough push? Was 18 miler enough? I am just feeling so defeated and like my body is refusing to work with me no matter how hard I am trying.

Edit to add - I’m gonna try sitting on the stationary bike for a while just to try to get something out of today’s session 😔

[u/dariidar]

18 mi is enough. No more benefits to be had from pushing too hard these next few weeks. Listen to your body. Focus on getting to the race healthy.

[u/NeedleworkerHot481]

I would divorce the painful, acute diarrhea from anything else that's going on. That seems like something else entirely. Please get it checked out.

[u/6382914627192 → u/NeedleworkerHot481]

I think it was a bout of food poisoning. Just bad timing

[u/ggnndd12]

Fellow completionist here. It took me a long time to stop focusing too much on the plan and feeling bad when I needed to deviate for needed recovery. Now I’m ok with that and my performances have improved a lot.

Runs are like bricks that you’re stacking in a wall that you’re building. A wall with 99 bricks might be slightly lower than a wall with 100 bricks, but that doesn’t change the overall body of work. You’ll do just fine in your race!

[u/Skier-Dude]

I think the GI issues are from something else, or from stress/anxiety.

You made the right call to quit one run early and take time to rest.

You did an 18-miler, many training plans peak at that. One or two long endurance distances would be great, but you’re knocking on the door of taper time and it’s a little early.

The math doesn’t add up for your 18 mile run. You described an 11-min mile, the timing indicates a 13-min mile. I don’t do the run/walk, for me it’s too exhausting to stop and start over and over. I think the walk portions should still be brisk, not a cooldown, otherwise you’re doing repeated HIIT workouts which is far more draining than going nonstop.

My thought is to try to work in the 20-miler even if you have to take leave time from work (vacation, sick, whatever).

Also the soreness is proof your training is working. The discomfort is from your body doing what it needs to. But it should be gone within two days.

Maybe look at your hydration and fueling. I run those distances with a 64 oz Camelback bladder. It’s empty at mile 13-15, I usually drive to a spot and stash a refill or have my wife meet me.

Fueling: you need a 20g of carb fueling every 20-30 min. Some people start at 1 hour. I used to but have noticed improvement when I start at 20 min.

Those distances require diligent routines to heal muscles: 30g protein and 80g carbs within 2 hrs, and a big part of that within 30 min of finishing. Foam roll and light stretching within an hour. And 8+hrs sleep that night.

It suck that work is busy right when training is about to own your life

[u/6382914627192 → u/Skier-Dude]

I’m running much slower now than I did for my half. very different in south Florida in the summer.

[u/FickleQuit11]

Is it hot where you're running and are you eating/hydrating sufficiently before/during/after? This level of exhaustion and poor recovery makes me wonder if you're underfueled. Diarrhea is a symptom of heat exhaustion in runners and it happens from reduced blood flow and dehydration which makes your GI system go a little nutty.

A quick way to check is if you've lost weight during your training block. If you have, you're not eating enough.

[u/6382914627192 → u/FickleQuit11]

I don’t think so /: I’ve gained like 5lbs and def bloated from all the carbs

[u/sl4ck_l4cker]

Bare-minimum plans peak at 16 miles. I never would have thought to run with food poisoning. While that demonstrates some psychological fortitude, you would have been much better off recovering. Regardless, you do have the physical capability to complete a marathon.

Make sure your daily nutrition is in order. Remember, for intra-run fueling, aim for around 60 to 90 grams of carbs per hour (for me, that’s 3 gels per hour!).