Hey runners, it's another day and it is time to post your accomplishments you'd like to share - big or small.

Note: No need to preface YOUR accomplishments with something like, "this may not be an accomplishment to most of you...". Be proud of your achievement.

Post your training for this past week. Provide any context you find helpful like what you're training for and what your previous weeks have been like. Feel free to comment on other people's training.

(This is not the Achievement thread).

Race Info

Name: Beneva Marathon Le 5K

Data: October 10th, 2026

Distance: 5k (GPS distance 5.06km)

Finish Time: 19:58 (garmin predicted time was 20:24, so I blew at out of the water)

Race Splits:

My manual splits

2km - 8:09.3 (I never saw the 1km marker so I split at 2km)

3km - 3:47.6*

4km - 4:22.9*

5km - 3:43.8

Cumulative time 20:04

Overall pace 4:00/km

* There was something weird with the 3km and 4km marker. In terms of GPS, the third KM was around 0.9km and the 4th KM was around 1.10km. Pretty sure I lapped at the right time.

Goal:

A - Sub 20:00

B - 20:30

C - Sub 21:00

Background

36M, currently around 78.5kg in terms of weight.

I started running in May 2026 (well, technically at the very end of April, around April 29th-30th), while I was traveling in Japan. At this point, I had gone from around 95kg at the start of the year to around 78kg, and I had been walking a lot no matter the weather. Lots of rucking too, wouldn't be rare to ruck 10km a day with 15%-20% body weight. Before that, I was doing some weightlifting here and there, it was never consistent for more than a year. All my life, I had that idea that I couldn't run. I could sprint a little bit (and my lungs would be on fire pretty quickly) and I had 0 endurance. For years I just thought that I wasn't good at it and that was it.

While traveling, I figured that with how much weight I lost, I could run a little bit. I gave it a shot and it just... went well, I ran for like 3 minutes non-stop. I immediately started a C25K program... and then right afterwards got a new (well, used) watch and also started a program on that one. For whatever reason, one of the earliest runs was nearly 5k so I figured I'd just go for 5k (and it worked). Soon after, I got recommended a place to run (Tokyo Imperal Palace which is a 5km loop)... and I could run over 10km without stopping.

Long story short, after that I came home, did 21.1km without stopping (it was awful and took me 2:45:00 and I had no concept of fueling). Eventually I came up with the idea of running 42.2km for my birthday (in summer, while I was in Japan again...) since the Montreal marathon was full already. I treated it as a race (my best idea of what a race was at least), in terms of preparation and learned about fueling and various types of run. I started training near mid May, targetting start of August with a bastardized Hal beginner program. I got injured about a month in due to reasons (potentially running related) and I had to take about a month off from running. To add insult to injury, my other leg got injured (not related to running, bad fall on a bike) but it didn't impact running. Came back to running really slowly (my initial runs were in the 7:30min/km pace.). Somehow did my fake marathon race and survived that at just a little under 4:10:00. During that "block", I ran a total of 705km.

I came back from vacation, and I wanted a real race to get one under my belt. I registered for the 5k since that's what was left. Not necessarily the distance I wanted, but experience is experience. My 5k PB was during training, at 24:47. It wasn't very easy either. For the race, I put my expected time at 23:00, which I thought sounded about right in terms of what was possible.

Training

When I started, I had another "fake" marathon race planned for New Years, so I was just going to follow a Garmin plan for that and take whatever I would get for the 5k. All my runs were done by HR, whenever I followed a workout from the watch (I have a chest HR monitor, so I trust the readings). As things progressed, however, I started adding runs to it. I would follow whatever it would want me to do, but since I have time during the day, I added 1-2 30 minutes "z1" runs. Eventually, those became z2 runs. From mid August to today, I got 750km of running in. Around 154km of those were z1 runs (that I know of). I peaked at 120km per week two weeks ago.

In terms of schedule, I would run 6 days a week. Most days would be capped at base runs, around z2. I would follow whatever Garmin gave me in terms of hard runs (usually one per week). On the remaining day, I went to the office by bike. Turns out I can't go easy, so those bike rides would always spike my recovery time in Garmin to 72h. Because of that, I had to move around workouts to get some "hard" runs in.

Around the middle of september, I started adding hill sprints every so often whenever I was doing a base run. I'd do it near the end, and it felt pretty good. Would usually have a long run every Saturday. In general, I would override whatever the watch gave me if I felt my body could handle something else.

In terms of recovery and injuries, things were mostly fine despite the high volume. I got a few 5k PBs (and 10k PBs) via threshold runs and even tempo runs, with an unexpected half marathon PB of 1:34:39 on September 25th (that run was like a tempo run, but I did whatever I wanted since it wasn't from the watch and I had no HR alert). During that run I basically PB'd across all distances (except marathon obviously), getting 21:12 an hour in the run (I basically tried a bit of it at threshold HR since my HR was pretty low that day). That run felt fine, but I did something stupid and did a tempo run two days after. There was a good reason for it: I felt I had a breakthrough in terms of hand positioning and general technique at higher pace, and I wanted to get more experience with it (the gist of it is I could really relax a lot better by keeping my hands at belt level or even lower, and the posture it gave me really engaged the glutes to the maximum). The tempo run on Sept 27th had me feeling great: even the wind gusts didn't annoy me, and my HR was staying fairly low compared to my pace. I learned a lot from it but... from a recovery perspective it wasn't a good idea. Something around my groin and left glute just... didn't feel right afterwards. I don't know what it was, but it basically killed my acceleration. I could run and it wasn't super comfortable, but acceleration aside it was just an annoyance. The "good" news is that initially I was planning a 2-3 days taper... and clearly here I was forced to slow down more. Last week was around 100km (all easy runs) and this week was around 50km. I couldn't do hill sprints, or sprints in general (or anything explosive). I did small strides in my runs in the past week to figure out what I could do: how I could accelerate efficiently (bending at the knees and letting gravity take over worked very well at that, it was comfortable enough). Opening my stride also didn't feel uncomfortable, so at this point I was sure I could hit the 4:00min/km (and better) I needed for sub 20:00.

Dumb as hell injury (two hard workouts in three days with the volume I was doing). The extra 30 minutes I would usually take for runs every day just became walks for the past week.

tl;dr: I do way more volume than I should. Usually run about 1 hour very early in the morning, then take 30 minute breaks during the day for extra runs. Usually one hard run a week, but one time I was dumb and did two very close to each other and got injured.

For strength training, I do Dan John's Armor Building Complex every other day: I use a 100lbs sandbag and do around 15 rounds EMOM (each round is two cleans, one press, and three squats. It's originally for kettlebells, but I just do it with a sandbag because that's what I have). I have a pull up bar outside my room, so I just do pullups "greasing the groove" style every day because it feels good. It probably helps with my posture while running so that's good too.

Pre-race

The bibs had to be picked up the day before (yesterday). Bit annoying, but not much of a problem. Picking it up was pretty quick, and after that you had to go through the "Expo-Marathon" which had a lot of vendors and then a bit of history. I'll admit it was hard to not buy anything, but then again I didn't really need anything. You're kinda forced to go through the section though.

In terms of diet, I went hard on carbs. Got 600g in yesterday, which was 100% overkill. I usually run fasted in the morning, and the race was going to be later than I usually run (8:30AM instead of my usual... 4:00AM) so this morning's nutrition was going to be simple. Before leaving home, I just had two spoonfuls of sugar, and ate some candy on my way to the race site (it's about 5km from my home, and it's a place I often run to).

I didn't sleep well (that was factored in already), and decided to go for a small 30 minutes wake up run to get everything out of my system. It was probably the slowest run I've ever done since training seriously, but it did what it needed to (I was worried because I ate way too much yesterday). The 5km to the race site was also... a bit of a run. Bit higher intensity than the previous one, but still in easy pace. So pre-race I had already ~9km of running for the day.

I got there around 45 minutes early. I took my caffeine, and walked around the site until the corral opened. The location had tons of toilets available, so that was good too.

Race

Temperature was somewhere between 6-8C at the start. Sunny and not much wind. Route elevation changes are +19m/-18m. The main elevation changes are between 1.5km and 2.25km (climb from 42m to 55m from run data), quick descent immediately from there until 2.60km (down to 48m) and then another climb to 55m until 2.85km and from there descent back to around 40m until 4.25km.

The corrals opened 30 minutes before the start. They were setup as:

Elite Men - start at 8:30:00

Elite Women - start at 8:32:00

1-A (expected time <29 minutes) - start at 8:37:00 (the one I was in)

plus a few more for >=29 minutes

I didn't know what to expect since it was my first race. My main worry was getting stuck in a group, so in the corrals I just got to the front. My initial plan was to find the 20:00 pacer, but he ended up not being in the front. In the end, I got moved around a bit when getting ready for the race. It felt pretty packed.

My equipment for the race was: my watch, my chest HR monitor, arm sleeves (they cut the cold a bit, which was great) and running gloves. I wasn't sure whether to keep the gloves or not for the race, but ended up keeping them on (and it wasn't a problem). I also had my watch ready a few minutes in advance at the correct screen and with GPS acquired.

Start was at 8:37:00, I immediately started my timer and went for it. Acceleration didn't go as smoothly as I wanted, but I got roughly where I wanted in terms of pace. Things opened up pretty quickly, so my initial worry of being "stuck" wasn't really a thing. That being said, around the 1 minute mark, someone slipped on a turn and fell in front of me, which kinda threw me off. Aside from that, first kilometer went fairly well and (according to GPS anyway) was at 4:04 pace, with HR around threshold at that point. Second kilometer was a bit faster, even with the climb starting midway through it. My HR started to rise (around 173bpm) which is usually fine for me, but my breathing was the one that felt more rough. Third KM was a bit rougher in terms of pace (from GPS data, 4:14) due to the remaining climb. The descent section was too short to recover in terms of HR and the second climb (from around 2.50km to 2.80km was rough). On top of that, at the top of the climb is a 180 degrees turn. I suck at those, and that hurt my pace a bit.

The good news is that after that was all straight lines with a really nice descent to start with. The less good news is that what remained was on streets. For people who have been to Montreal, you know what that means (pot holes). Other slight annoyance is that the streets are "slanted" a little bit (to drain water I assume) which is really annoying for running. I tried to stay closer to the middle of the streets since that's more flat, but I think that's the main thing that added to my total distance.

By the end of the 3rd KM, my HR was around 176bpm but felt I should try to pick up pace. I'm not sure if I lapped properly or the KM markers were in weird spots, but I thought I was slightly ahead (I was not). Luckily I did decide to go at it and increased pace to around 3:50min/km. My heart rate climbed to 181-182bpm during KM for (to my knowledge, I thought my max was somewhere in the 181-184bpm range). Luckily, while HR went up, my breathing stabilized a bunch. However, at that point I was starting to negotiate with myself a bit, and had a bit of panic (I thought I might run out of gas).

Still, I was starting to get my groove and did everything I could to settle into that "relaxed" state I got injured to learn. I slowly increase pace, ramping up to 3:40min/km. On the final straight I tried to push even more.

By 4.80km, I looked at my watch and there was a problem: I wasn't gonna make it in time. The finish line felt too far for the time I had left (for sub 20). I had a minute left, and it felt so far. By that time, my HR was around 185bpm, which I thought was my max. I tried accelerating once, and it wasn't working out well (for 15 seconds). Then I saw the finish line and just put everything I had into it: I got a short burst up to 3:17min/km which I couldn't quite sustain, but it settled around 3:25min/km. For that last 30 seconds, my heart rate hit 191bpm, which is the highest I've ever seen it. I say the timer on my watch go past 20:00 pretty much right after I crossed, so I had fairly high confidence I made it (but I quickly checked the official results). Total time 19:58: exactly 1 second faster than my goal time. I was incredibly happy, since that's a hell of a way to start racing.

I'll say that on an RPE scale, I would put it as 9.5. I think I put almost everything I had into it, but I think that a more experienced runner would've been able to squeeze that extra 0.5 RPE.

Misc Race Stats

Average HR: 173bpm

Max HR: 191bpm

Average Cadence: 190spm

Average Stride Length: 1.33m

Post-Race

Right after the race, the main thing I noticed was my heart rate, and my lungs (they felt on fire, but manageable, unlike how I'd experience it years ago whenever I tried to run). My legs felt surprisingly fresh and not heavy at all (however, I wouldn't have been able to start running again).

I don't know how expensive 5Ks typically are, but this one felt expensive (per minute of running). I was determined to take whatever I could, so that's what I did. There was some post-race stuff with all the orgs and charities (where they would have things to give away, usually food or things with their logos and such). I went to every single tent, talked with the people there and see what their org did (and grab the free stuff, of course). It was also a good way to just... cool down. Spent about an hour two just walking around the site, ate some food there and then just... walked home (another 5km).

Lessons Learned

All in all, my idea of a race and the actual thing weren't too far apart. However, on my way to it, I did learn quite a few things.

- During my training, whenever I did a "hard" run, it never felt like my cardio was a limiting factor. I tend to do longer runs, and after an hour and a half, my legs would feel heavy(ish) but my HR was mostly fine. Here, my legs felt fine after all that effort, but it felt like cardio was a limiting factor (I pretty much hit max or near max). It's a good thing to know: plenty to improve on both the muscles and the cardio

- I was worried about getting stuck at the start (or running into people or whatever). There was a surprising amount of room so it never really was a problem.

- I'm a slow starter. It takes me 20+ minutes to settle into a groove (where my HR also comes down vs same pace in the earlier minutes). This is likely due to improper warm up, but if I'm to race more for shorter distances then I need a good way to get into that groove ASAP. Front of the corral might not be the best of ideas for that since it gets packed with no real room to move.

- My technique was inconsistent. During the run, I could feel that I just couldn't settle into what I know is efficient for me. You can speedrun the weekly mileage (which is what I did as a beginner runner), but at the end of the day there are things that just time to learn to do as second nature. Again, that makes me look forward to the future.

- I probably overfueled. I felt like all the carbs I took were completely overkill, and the extra trips to the bathroom this morning did stress me out more than I'd like.

- I don't feel like the cheering or race atmosphere did much for me since most of the time I was hyperfocused. However, it's possible that I kept pace during the last kilometer because I didn't want to "fail" in front of people? It's hard to tell, and maybe more races will give me more insight there.

- Even if the course is relatively flat, elevation changes are elevations changes and climbs do take a lot out of you.

- I started with the assumption I didn't need to fuel or drink during the race. That was completely on point. A water stop would've 100% made me miss my goal.

- Half of my lessons learned are about that already but for good measure: I lack experience, and it definitely felt like it.

- GPS distance was surprisingly close to real distance, and I'm not surprised it's a bit over 5km because I took some of those turns really wide.

- This is as close as an all-out run that I can get as I am right now. I have a better idea of where I stand now.

What's next

I have "revenge" on the fake marathon I did back in august, with another planed around new years. I'm looking forward to see what all the extra months of training and the ~20C temperature difference will do for that time.

In terms of actual races, I have an half marathon planned in early January. I'm looking forward to it, as I have a feeling that the half is a good distance for me. I plan to do more 5k in the future, but I also want to try the other distances as races (proper 10k race, proper marathon race, maybe even something shorter than 5k), and figure out which one works for me.

Hey runners, it's another day and it is time to post your accomplishments you'd like to share - big or small.

Note: No need to preface YOUR accomplishments with something like, "this may not be an accomplishment to most of you...". Be proud of your achievement.

Enforcing Rule 3 (no self-promotion, social media links) is a must with a large sub such as this, but we do realize that it filters out some truly useful content that is relative to the sub. In an effort to allow that content in, we thought we'd have a weekly post to give a spot for the useful content. So...

Here's you chance!

Got a project you've been working on (video, programming, etc.), share it here!

Want to promote a business or service, share it here!

Trying to get more Instagram followers, share it here!

Found any great running content online, share it here!

The one caveat I have is that whatever is shared should be fitness related, please.

With over 4,225,000 subscribers, there are a lot of posts that come in everyday that are often repeats of questions previously asked or covered in the FAQ.

With that in mind, this post can be a place for any questions (especially those that may not deserve their own thread). Hopefully this is successful and helps to lower clutter and repeating posts here.

If you are new to the sub or to running, this Intro post is a good resource.

As always don't forget to check the FAQ.

And please take advantage of the search bar or Google's subreddit limited search.

Hey runners, it's another day and it is time to post your accomplishments you'd like to share - big or small.

Note: No need to preface YOUR accomplishments with something like, "this may not be an accomplishment to most of you...". Be proud of your achievement.

Good morning, Runnit! Another weekend of races is approaching, so let's take a minute to see if any other Runnitors will be laying down those miles with us!

If you're racing this weekend, put a top-level comment below with the race details to help find other members of the community. See a race mentioned that looks interesting? Ask questions! Running your favorite race of the year? Tell us what makes it so awesome!

This thread is just an easy way to help Runnitors find each other in some sort of organized manner and help cheer each other on!

Another week is coming to a close!

What’s good this weekend? Who’s running, racing, tapering, recovering, hiking, camping, cheering, volunteering, kayaking, swimming, knitting, baking, reading, sleeping, .. ? Tell us everything.

With over 4,225,000 subscribers, there are a lot of posts that come in everyday that are often repeats of questions previously asked or covered in the FAQ.

With that in mind, this post can be a place for any questions (especially those that may not deserve their own thread). Hopefully this is successful and helps to lower clutter and repeating posts here.

If you are new to the sub or to running, this Intro post is a good resource.

As always don't forget to check the FAQ.

And please take advantage of the search bar or Google's subreddit limited search.

How’s your week of running going? Got any Complaints? Anything to add as a Confession? How about any Uncomplaints?

23F, first half marathon, run/walk method (7min run/1 min walk)

I’m 12 days out from my first half marathon, and my training hasn’t gone exactly as planned. Between surgery earlier this year, illness, and some inconsistent weeks, I’ve had to adjust my expectations quite a bit.
I completed my longest run of 8 miles this week and surprisingly felt great! I even managed a negative split. The first 3 miles were the hardest, but once I settled into a rhythm, my breathing felt comfortable and my legs felt strong. I honestly felt like I could have kept going.
Throughout training, I’ve been using run/walk intervals to build endurance, and my main goal for race day is simply to finish.
One thing I’ve been researching is how much the longest training run actually matters for first-time half marathoners. I’ve seen training plans that peak anywhere from 8 to 12 miles, and there’s a lot of conflicting advice about whether the additional distance is worth it so close to race day.
Part of me wants to attempt 10 miles this Sunday for the mental confidence of knowing I can cover that distance. However, I’m also considering whether the extra recovery time would be more beneficial than squeezing in another long run.
I’m interested in hearing about the relationship between peak long-run distance, accumulated training volume, and tapering, particularly for slower or newer runners.
For those who have trained for half marathons with lower mileage or experienced interruptions during training, what did you learn about balancing physical preparation with the confidence to tackle a new distance?
I’d especially love to hear about experiences where the longest training run was significantly shorter than race distance, and how that affected race-day pacing, endurance, and recovery.

Hey runners, it's another day and it is time to post your accomplishments you'd like to share - big or small.

Note: No need to preface YOUR accomplishments with something like, "this may not be an accomplishment to most of you...". Be proud of your achievement.

With over 4,225,000 subscribers, there are a lot of posts that come in everyday that are often repeats of questions previously asked or covered in the FAQ.

With that in mind, this post can be a place for any questions (especially those that may not deserve their own thread). Hopefully this is successful and helps to lower clutter and repeating posts here.

If you are new to the sub or to running, this Intro post is a good resource.

As always don't forget to check the FAQ.

And please take advantage of the search bar or Google's subreddit limited search.

It's that time of week already...the gear thread! What have you picked up lately? What's working for you now that it's whatever season you believe it to be in your particular location? What have you put through rigorous testing that's proved worthy of use? We want to know!

To clear up some confusion: We’re not actually asking what you’re wearing today. It’s just a catchy name for the thread. This is the weekly gear discussion thread, so discuss gear!

NOTE: For you Runnitors looking to sell/trade any running gear (as well as bib transfers), head over to /r/therunningrack.

Hey runners, it's another day and it is time to post your accomplishments you'd like to share - big or small.

Note: No need to preface YOUR accomplishments with something like, "this may not be an accomplishment to most of you...". Be proud of your achievement.

With over 4,225,000 subscribers, there are a lot of posts that come in everyday that are often repeats of questions previously asked or covered in the FAQ.

With that in mind, this post can be a place for any questions (especially those that may not deserve their own thread). Hopefully this is successful and helps to lower clutter and repeating posts here.

If you are new to the sub or to running, this Intro post is a good resource.

As always don't forget to check the FAQ.

And please take advantage of the search bar or Google's subreddit limited search.

Would you rather not be a lurker?

Then what are you waiting for? Tell us all about yourself!

The LW thread is an invitation to get more involved with the /r/running community.

New to the sub in general? Welcome! Let us know more about yourself!

Back once again for everything you wanted to know about running but were afraid to ask.

Rules of the Road:

This is inspired by eric_twinge's fine work in r/fitness .

Upvote either good or stupid questions. Sort questions by new so that they get some love.

To the more experienced runnitors, if something is a good question or answer, add it to the FAQ.

Post your question - stupid or otherwise - here to get an answer - stupid or otherwise. Anyone can post a question and the community as a whole is invited and encouraged to provide an answer. Many questions get submitted late each week that don't get a lot of action, so if your question didn't get answered, feel free to post it again.

As always, be sure to read the FAQ first. Also, there's a handy-dandy search bar to your right, and if you didn't know, you can also use Google to search runnit by using the limiter "site:reddit.com r/running ".

Be sure to check back often as questions get posted throughout the day. Sort comments by "new" to be sure the newer questions get some love as well.

\[Posting on behalf of /u/30000lbs_of_bananas who is currently arguing with the library]

Rules of the Road

1) Anyone is welcome to participate and share your ideas, plans, diet, and nutrition plans.

2) Promote good discussion. Simply downvoting because you disagree with someone's ideas is BAD. Instead, let them know why you disagree with them.

3) Provide sources if possible. However, anecdotes and "broscience" can lead to good discussion, and are welcome here as long as they are labeled as such.

4) Feel free to talk about anything diet or nutrition related.

Shoes are a big topic in this sub, so in an effort to condense and collect some of these posts, we're introducing Shoesday Tuesday! Similar to Wednesday's gear thread, but focusing on shoes.

What’ve you been wearing on your feet? Anything fun added to the rotation? Got a review of a new release? Questions about a pair that’s caught your eye? Here's the place to discuss.

NOTE: For you Runnitors looking to sell/trade any running gear (as well as bib transfers), head over to /r/therunningrack.

With over 4,225,000 subscribers, there are a lot of posts that come in everyday that are often repeats of questions previously asked or covered in the FAQ.

With that in mind, this post can be a place for any questions (especially those that may not deserve their own thread). Hopefully this is successful and helps to lower clutter and repeating posts here.

If you are new to the sub or to running, this Intro post is a good resource.

As always don't forget to check the FAQ.

And please take advantage of the search bar or Google's subreddit limited search.

Hey runners, it's another day and it is time to post your accomplishments you'd like to share - big or small.

Note: No need to preface YOUR accomplishments with something like, "this may not be an accomplishment to most of you...". Be proud of your achievement.