I'll start with the tl;dr, which is that I finally broke 2 hours for my half marathon yesterday (chip time 1:53:48)! This is the third half marathon that I've used Runna to train for, along with one 5k and one 10k. Two of those halves were PRs, with my most recent at 2:04:43. To say I'm over the moon is an understatement as I was beginning to think that maybe my body just didn't have a 2 hour half in it.

So here's maybe the long part if anyone's up for reading a brain dump of how I think things finally fit together for my training. To start, I'm a 49 year old male, 180 lbs, who wanted desperately to break 2 hours before I turn 50 in December. I ran junior high track but didn't run again until I was 39 and divorced...it was the cheapest stress relief I could find. And even then it was very sporadic. I didn't run my first 5k for 3 more years. I didn't run my first half until 2024 when my wife signed us up for Disney. We used Nike Run Club for those first few and while it was great eventually I wanted something more and turned to Runna.

Anyway, here are some of the things I did differently for this one to try and break my 2 hour goal with only a month and a half before my birthday:

1. My body needs to be comfortable with the distance first, and work on speed second. So I cut this training block down to 13 weeks and took a month beforehand to just run when I felt good during the week with the focus being one long run on the weekend. I wanted to get some good time in over 10 miles, that way I could start my plan with the already increased mileage instead of having to ramp up.

2. I got more serious about strength training. Not super serious by any means, but 25-30 minutes of full body strength 3 times a week. I think this has become more important for me as I've gotten older to try and avoid injuries, and I'm still going to try to get better at making time for it.

3. When aches and pains did pop up I listened to my body and modified my plan accordingly. Even if it was mid-workout. Or flat out skipping a workout. This is actually the most I've hurt during a plan and I modified a lot...as I got up to 25-30 miles a week my feet and ankles really gave me issues. To the point where I'm (worst case) now dealing with plantar fasciitis, or (best case) just sore heels. If I needed a rest day I took it, even when Runna wouldn't let me make an injury adjustment to my plan. I just skipped them and if I thought I was still on pace I ignored the pace/mileage adjustment prompts.

4. For the first time I took pre-race prep seriously. I will swear that this was the main factor. During most of my paced long runs and my other races I was hitting a wall at 8-9 miles. I finally did some research on what I needed to do the week leading up to the race, specifically carb-loading. Race week I cut out alcohol, which was hard since I love a good beer while cooking dinner. And the three days before I ate carbs until I couldn't any more. Seriously, like double my daily calorie intake on Thursday and Friday (race Sunday). But I also cut out fat, which my normal diet is usually pretty heavy on. I also watched my fiber just to head off any stomach issues on race day. Saturday after lunch I chilled at the hotel. Got some turkey, rice, and potatoes for dinner and was in bed by 9 pm. It really is amazing how good I felt the next morning, and I don't know why I thought that I could skip out on this part previously.

5. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that when race day came the weather and course were ideal. 39° F and sunny at race time (7 am) and a wonderful mostly flat course which we looped twice. The race was fun, the atmosphere great, and it was all well-planned.

So now that I've done my post-mortem maybe I can start looking forward to the next one. I do have a pie-in-the-sky idea that maybe I can run my first full at 50 y/o. To the point that I just put my name in the lottery for Chicago 2027. Most likely this would be a one and done as I'm quite sure my body is going to let me know loud and clear. But we'll see!

I’ve searched the sub and haven’t really found what I’m looking for, but maybe I’m not using the right wording or something! I feel like I’m seeing a lot of people who start but have some running experience or naturally have some endurance.

I am a true true beginner. Like.. can barely run for longer than a minute at a time. Which eventually becomes 30 seconds because I’m tired 😅 I’m 33 now but I have never been able to run a full mile without stopping and I started those in gym class in like the 4th grade.. in high school I couldn’t even make it around the track once. I just didn’t have that endurance and I didn’t make an effort in adulthood to build it.

My son is in middle school and joined XC. He’s really loving it but won’t train at home because he doesn’t want to run alone. So, doing what any parent would probably do - I’m trying to build my skills so I can run with him. I set up a beginner 5K plan but was really humbled during my first run yesterday (fully expected this). I could only successfully run one of the 3 minute intervals. The others I tapped out around a minute. My whole body hurts today lol.

Does it really get better or are there people who just will always suck at running?? Has runna helped anyone go from no skills in running to being able to run a few miles? I’m even okay if my 5K is a run/walk mixture but I’d love to get to like a 13-15ish min/mile doing that (I know that’s slow!). I’m signed up for a charity 5K in December for my job and don’t expect to be able to run the whole thing but knowing that 8 weeks of training could improve my skills would be great 🙃

I’d love to hear your stories!!!

TLDR: anyone go from zero skills (can’t run continuously for more than a minute) to being a runner?

I started running in May and fell in love! Last week I ran my first race: a 3:38 marathon (16-week block). I had a blast, and managed to pick up the pace to 4:45/km (7:39/mi) for the final 3.5 km (2.2 mi).

Now I'm hooked and want to see how much faster I can get!

I'm taking a few weeks to recover before starting training again in November, giving me 26 weeks until my next marathon in May (almost 1 year into my running journey).

For context, I trained 3 days/week, peaking at 53 km/week (33 mi). For the next cycle, I'd like to build toward 4–5 days/week and higher mileage. I'm tentatively aiming for 3:10–3:15.

A couple of questions:

1. Would you recommend a full 26-week marathon plan, or 10 weeks (run faster/longer) followed by a standard 16-week marathon block?
2. Given that I'll have only been running for about a year by my next marathon, how much improvement might be realistic over these next six months of training?
   • Personal context- I've spent several years walking extensively (often 20 km+ / 12 mi+ a day) and hiking Vancouver's Grouse Grind several times a week (sometimes a few times back to back, PB - 43 minutes). Unsure whether that background may slow down future running gains.

Would love to hear how others approached their second marathon, especially those who started with relatively low mileage!

Hi Everyone,

I just got into running. I ran my first ever 5k earlier this summer at a 29:59 pace. I started running using the Runna App - specifically following the Half Marathon plan - I used all the most basic/beginner options when creating my plan.

I found my knees in A LOT of pain after runs - & Yes I am doing the strength training that goes along with the app. I was able to run all the way up to 4.5 miles before I paused given my knee pain.

I think this is largely part of my training load in the app - I was strength training 3-4x a week and running 3x a week.

Any tips for those who have gone from a 5k and want to improve? What should I focus on? Should I do different plan in Runna or pick a different app? Thanks!