Sfricks wrote:
Sorry, could help but notice ALL the advice in your post. There's a maxim coaches use that goes like this: "Ask 100 coaches, get 200 different answers." It's even worse when you ask 100 amateurs who think they're coaches. My advice, get A (as in 1) coach who will train you dynamically (vs statically). Without proper data (which you haven't really provided here), no one is in a position to give you good advice. For example, no one has even asked for your detailed HR data. Did you suffer HR decoupling (likely - and why?) I saw someone say it wasn't nutrition but I sure as hell wouldn't run anyone on that nutrition plan.
Want to perform well and be injured less, get a coach. A good coach only costs a few hundred a month and you only need them for a few months. $ well spent.
My $.02. Good luck!
Scott
I disagree that you NEED a coach to do well at marathons. It's honestly not that hard to figure it out, but it does take time. Hearing from the many experienced folks on the forums is suepr valuable for teaching you a lot about what can work and what probably isn't a good idea, even if it isn't totally specific to your situation right now. ALthough I'd argue that reading a good marathon book + forums is a lot better.
I will STRONGLY argue in the case of the OP here, that it's absolutely, 100% NOT complicated. In fact, the OPs situation pretty describes a picture-perfect, 100% expected late-game meltdown from a typical first-time ambitious marathoner who thinks their decent triathlon cardio will carry them to the finish, and learns the hard way that training on 31mpw avg as well as starting the first half faster than the target "A" race pace, will invariably lead to walking a lot of the last third of the race.
You don't need a coaching degree to figure that out, and you don't need to know about his HR uncoupling - dude was walking well before the end - it doesn't matter what his HR was doing, his legs just couldn't handle the 26.2 mile race distance at pace. It's a picture perfect rookie first marathon, down to the "T", no mystery whatsoever.
The solution is simple, and as prescribed by most of the posters above - build to more overall mileage per week on a gradual training plan ,and start slower to target a negative split (which will almost invariably never happen.) Any coach worth their salt would nail these two points as by farrrrr the most significant factors to improve a LOT.
The OP can start looking for pricey coaches once they've done the basics (he hasn't even read a 'real' marathon training book, clearly), has started to plateau at his physical performance, and start needing to pay close attention to the finer details of training to squeeze out that last 5%.
At this point though, it's all about FOREST, not trees.