First marathon - time was 3:17:59 - can i push for sub 3?
M30, 78kg, 303FTP on bike and loving endurance sports - got into running in january 2026.
Did my first marathon a couple of days ago - chip time = 03.17.59 / garmin time 03:14:58
Plan was to do a negative split and aim was sub 3:30. Mate and i had an agreement to go out at pace 5:00 the first half and push (5-10%) if legs felt good at the HM.
At the startline mate threw the "plans have changed brother" and went out at pace 4:30 - i thought "fuckit, im in great shape" and followed through at pace 4:30. All good till km 39/40 when i had a minor cramp incoming.
Background in endurance is lots of roadbiking, lots of gravelbiking (Z2 primarily, tempo and interval sesh and 150-300km/ weekly).
Schedule for mara-prep was easy run --> tempo run --> longrun on weekends (30-40km/week) every second day and extra rest when i felt like i needed it. No alcohol, mainly wholefoods and carbloaded when needed.
Pulse was pretty steady all the way through and i finished strong, but legs have been bacon since sunday (today is tuesday). My thought is that i use different muscles in runnning than on the bike - calves have been pretty cooked all along the 16 week prep coming into the marathon, so taper-week was the shit and legs were on point on raceday.
I know its a pretty good debut, but can i push sub 3 in a year?
