u/Background-Athlete64

Ran a 3:48 in Belfast last week, only had 12 weeks training and before that I had no running experience at all I couldn’t even run a 5k without stopping, was very tired and under slept the week before and was quite jet lagged and tired on the day, I’m running another marathon in October and definitely feel I can run better if I was properly rested and with actual race trainers ( I had to run in my every day trainers that have 400km on them) I know I should be proud that I ran it, but I can’t help feeling like I let myself down and can do better. Is my average heart rate high? Should I incorporate strength training into my next training block

A great pint in a 300 year old pub

I had about 3 months to get ready for this, furthest distance I’d ever ran prior to this was a very average 5k, I slept badly the week before the race and was a bit jet lagged, and was not at all confident on the day as my previous longest run was 20miles which I struggled with massively at the end and had to walk/limp to finish. This was quite a hilly course, especially at mile 18, I took gels every 25 minutes but messed up at the end and took two gels which gave me a a bad stitch at mile 24, which I had to walk off for about two minutes, this really annoyed me as I wanted to run the whole way,I finished in 3:48 and I’m quite happy with my time but feel like I could do better with a good nights sleep and a proper pair of marathon trainers ( I had to run in my everyday trainers) , I have another marathon in October and am hoping for somewhere closer to 3:30-3:40