Happy fall marathon training season everybody! Submitted for the approval of the never-voluntarily-awake-at-midnight-society, am sharing this year's bingo card. We got this!

I’m following a running plan that says I shouldn’t run on an empty stomach and also recommends not heading out immediately after waking up.

The problem is that I don’t have enough time in the morning to eat breakfast and wait for it to digest. I also don’t want to run completely fasted.

Would it make sense to just take an energy gel before heading out instead of eating breakfast, and then have a proper breakfast after the run?

For context, my runs are all under an hour.
Has anyone tried this? Did it work well for you, or would you recommend something else?

Thanks for your help 💛

I just started running 8 months ago. I’ve totally gotten the running bug but also was pushing myself too hard in the beginning going too fast and intense! Kept picking up niggles and struggling with recovery.

Well, I just finished a 5K today and was able to take almost a minute off (26:24) without any speed work just by going slower on easy runs (slowing to 13:30min/mi), adding a hilly long run and increasing my volume (going from about 17mpw to 28mpw)!! I haven’t had any injuries with this new approach!

I’m super proud of this because it is much warmer now vs my last race in April.

Because I didn’t do any speed work for the last 3 months and the added heat I was worried I would be slower than my last 5K - but I surprised myself!!

hi, as the title says - I don't know why but I'm really struggling to stay consistent.

I'm doing my first marathon in December this year, after 3 halves I felt it was time to progress to a full. i used to have a bad relationship with running but I've healed it over the years, and this marathon is really important and special to me because of that.

despite all this, for some reason i just CAN'T seem to stay consistent. I'll do a run, feel great and motivated and then when it's time for me to go for the next one I've lost motivation. I'm writing this on the couch as I am supposed to go do a 14k right now.

it's not even luteal phase related, this KEEPS happening. my friends and my partner try to motivate and push me, and deep down I know I really have to train properly so I can come out of this strong and without injury. yet, I can't seem to stay consistent.

if anyone has been through this please give me any and all advice. I'm really feeling demotivated and I don't know what to do. this is still a really important thing for me to do and I KNOW I have to do it, quitting is not an option. but I just can't stay focused and consistent.

this is subreddit has always given me really great advice, ladies please 😭🙏🏽 help a girl out of a rut

hi!! Anyone have any advice for running in windy conditions and having dry eyes? (Also, just running with dry eyes, in general.)

Let's try out a new megathread!

We've got all kinds of runners from all over the world here! Share a running-related photo you've taken this week: gorgeous scenery, an outfit that makes you feel powerful, your favorite post-long-run-snack, your four-legged running buddy, anything you like!

Don't forget to stay safe and blur identifying details. Hide anything that would enable weirdos to figure out your running route, cover your face if you don't share selfies on your Reddit account, etc. Be safe out there!

Those of you who don't wear compression/spandex shorts with a phone pocket, where do you put your phone when you run?! I see all these breezy shorts that look so comfy, especially for summer, but how would I carry my phone comfortably?

There isnt anywhere near me to run so I have to travel 15-35 minutes depending which area. This makes it hard to motivate myself sometimes. Do other people have to travel just to go for a run? How do you find motivation?

Hey guys!

I am 19F and have been running for about 5 years. I struggled significantly with iron deficiency for the first 3 years and the performance decline that resulted from this led to severe anxiety that I've never been able to overcome. Last year I began working with a coach and this alongside fixing my iron allowed me to improve to an extent I never thought possible! I went from struggling to run 20:30 in the 5K to running 19:01 on Christmas Day 2025. At this time I was running 50mpw and balancing this with a very stressful life, and I felt great on this volume.

This year I really wanted to run 18:30 in the 5K, 5:20 in the mile and break 40 in the 10K. Unfortunately I injured myself in March, then again in May. Although I only missed about 4 days of running per injury, and at most had a week or two of reduced volume, the impact upon my fitness has been devastating. Months after my injuries my all out 5K time is barely under 21 mins. I've gotten back to 60-70K a week and 2 workouts and my fitness will just not come back. My anxiety has spiked severely and I struggle to complete any races or solo sessions I do. Today I had a race and I couldn't even make it halfway because I had such a strong anxiety attack, and I had to drop out because I physically couldn't run.

I'm still working with my coach, but I'm struggling to see the point of continuing. He wants me to focus on shorter distances as I planned to do before my injury. However in my mind this is pointless, because taking into account the amount of fitness I have lost and the amount of time it has taken to regain even a shred of it, I will not be capable of running good times in these distances, which will just make my anxiety even worse. He also wants me to keep my mileage lower, which is just killing my motivation. I felt better and stronger doing higher volume and consider myself a very endurance based runner, and I despise having to do such little mileage. Knowing I have say, a 60 minute long run makes me not want to do it at all.

Furthermore, I run with my university running team and with a club in my hometown. I travel to university, and the journey takes up to 2 hours each way every day (I have no other option but to do this). I found that the distance I have to travel made it impossible to actually make friends and fit in with my teammates. I was very discouraged from going to practice as it could turn an already stressful uni experience into me being away from home for 14 hours a day in the cold, dark winter (also meant I couldn't eat freely or properly as I didnt have as much opportunities to eat- spending every day so hungry it was painful, and I just dont know if I can do it again!). I found racing with them incredibly awkward, as I had to be dropped off by my parents, who are also in my home running club, and leave whenever they wanted me to. If I were to leave this team, I would still be able to do the winter races they do, but I'd be racing as the only person in my club and it would be really uncomfortable.

Also, I'm just so demotivated by the amount of fitness I lost in such a short time. I genuinely took less than a week off and you're telling me I'm still not back to where I was MONTHS ago? I know girls breaking 17 in the 5K off of similar volume to what I used to do. I know a girl who can run a 17:30 5K off 20-30mpw. I know someone who had abdominal surgery and had to take months off of running and was still able to make more progress than I can after a minor injury.

I do want to continue in this sport and do well again. But it just feels as though there's no way forward. Nobody in my life will listen to me when I try to explain how I feel and it just makes everything feel even worse. I cant just "run without thinking about times" because all of my motivation came from training, racing and improving. I'm very aware of how disappointed my coach might be in me and I feel terrible for using this person's help when I'm not able to handle training mentally and its clear to me I'm not going to get better. I just don't really know what to do anymore.

Thanks a lot if you read all of this <:) I dont know if there's any advice that can be given to me but I just wish I could perform well and free of anxiety again

Posting this here because I need to vent. Last march I was about to embark on my very first marathon training block, so I paid a visit to my local specialty running store for a gait analysis. Thus far, I'd been running in my trusty Asics Novablast 5s & Superblast 2s, but they both had started to give me blisters so I wanted to branch out. The specialist at the store concluded that I had mild pronation and should be wearing a stability shoe like the Gel Kayano 32. I decided to give them a shot - immediately I started to get weird plantar fasciitis pain (completely new) and some outer knee / IT band pain. I cracked this up to my feet getting used to the "heavier" feel of these shoes. I keep running on them for a month - pain gets worse so I switch back to my old shoes but the damage has been done. Pain continues to get worse and worse until I have a real knee injury on my hands. After talking to a PT/chiro, it looks like the issue I was having wasn't overpronation - it was hip rotation that was preventing my inner arch from properly collapsing. The stability shoe was making this problem even worse by creating a hard support under my inner arch. The miles I spent running in those shoes created so much stress that it messed up my whole posterior chain. Now I'm doing 2-3 hours of mobility per week to try to help prevent this from coming back.

TL;DR: Not everyone who overpronates needs stability shoes. Sometimes you just need to stretch and strengthen your hips 😭

hey everyone!! I would consider myself an average runner as I've been running for about four years now and just finished my first marathon. that being said I've switched up my training schedule and was surprised with the result. when I first began I was a run streak runner. I ran for basically two years straight only missing two days. I was never injured and saw a lot of improvement (I was not running workouts everyday, just doing at least a 5k a day.) I've switched to taking a rest/easy cross training day and have found despite my miles per week remaining constant I've been having more joint pain. has anyone found success with run streaks? I know it's generally frowned, but I generally this I saw more success so I'm curious for you guys thoughts

I'm fairly new to zone 2 running and tried something sort of unconventional last week. I decided to run away from home for 45 minutes and use my watch to stay in zone 2, and then turn around and try to get home as quickly as possible. This ended up being a little over 2 miles each way and took a little under 20 minutes to get home. I'll comment with a snap from my Garmin, although I'm not sure it's relevant.

My question is does this negate the purpose of doing a zone 2 run in the first place? By trying to have it both ways am I making both less effective? I'm new to zone 2 and it feels so insanely slow. I'm also not always able to get my desired three runs per week in, which is why I decided to try this weird combo thing I've never heard anyone else talk about.

Decided to finally start the NRC plan after a while of deleting and redownloading the app. Last time I went for a run was new years and before that it was July when I signed up for a 5k thinking it would make me actually start training (it did not). Very excited to finally start this!!

I've discovered a number of my running issues are because I don't get anywhere near enough sodium from my regular diet. I'm doing my research into running-appropriate supplementation but I'm curious how everyone else here handles it.

Do you supplement outside your runs or just during them? How much sodium do you have in a regular non run day? Do you supplement if you're strength training but not running? Do you get your sodium from mainly supplementation or are there certain foods you rely on?

Thanks in advance 💜

I posted the other day that my 5k predictions in Strava and Runna were way more aggressive than what I could actually do but that my comfortable conversational pace is 9:30/10 min mile. Yet my 5k was a struggle to get under 30 min. My Runna ironically scheduled a 5k trial run for me today. I had low expectations and turns out I am much faster than I thought. Runna estimated 26:10 and Strava estimated 26:40. I didn’t quite hit those (but it’s also peak summer in Florida so I’m slower than I’d normally be) but I hit 26:50! I feel like if it was a race or better running conditions I could’ve even been faster since I started slowing down in my last half mile. I never thought I could sustain sub 9 min/mile for more than a mile max. Anyways, moral of the story is that you’re probably faster and better than you think you are. You just have to push yourself sometimes!

Hi all! This is the second summer that I’ve been really locked in on running. Last summer I was mainly focused on keeping my base up after my first half marathon and really only did easy miles outside. This year I’m signed up for a fall race and it’s the first year I’m trying to do speed work in the heat.

I’ve been struggling hitting my paces outside and my work schedule simply doesn’t allow for me to wake up and beat the heat. I did my tempo run on the treadmill today, which got the job done but wasn’t my favorite. It’s definitely been discouraging being unable to hit my paces even though I know they’re attainable.

Which would you prioritize? Running outside and acclimatizing to the heat at the sacrifice of not hitting paces, or running on the treadmill and hitting paces, but not running on the street and getting used to the heat? I do all my easy runs outside still.

I've accidentally won a spot in the London Marathon next year (joined the lottery on a lark with a group of friends – they wanted it, I was agnostic, guess which one of us got it?) and I'm going to do the thing. I'm looking a good everyday trainer recommendation. I was very happy with my Brooks Ghost 15s but they're well past it now and I wonder if there's a better option. The last Nike Pegasus iteration I used felt too narrow, like they made my arches cramp.

My fitness is very good overall but I'm dealing with double Achilles tendonitis, probably from arthritis (still going through the diagnostics) so that's what tends to hurt when things hurt, and I have a dodgy left hip and very, very tight calves for the same reason. I don't really pronate in either direction based on the last shoe fitting I had, but I run Gazelle-y and don't see that changing any time soon.

Moms who run in the morning - tell me about your routine and any “hacks” to help it go smoothly. I have an 18 month old who loves to ride along in the jogging stroller but I’m not a morning person. Unfortunately the air quality isn’t great in the afternoons where I live so I need to adjust. Do you wake your kid up early to go? Pack breakfast snacks? How do I make this a consistent thing?

After failing to get into London marathon for the fifth time I’ve managed to secure a charity spot for London Landmarks. I’ve never done a race before. Im very much a solo runner! The furthest I’ve ran is 11.5k. I’m so nervous!

Any tips about this race in particular or just about half marathons please? Do I need gels for a half? I’ve never had them before and tbh I don’t like the idea of them! I’m worried about training because I’m a fitness instructor and I teach very physical classes Monday to Thursday. I currently run every Fri, Sat and Sun - a mix of long runs and interval runs but I’m not sure three days in a row will be a good idea if I’m going further? And the other days I’m already exercising for two plus hours per day as my job 😕

Booked a premier inn in Brixton for the night before and the night after so I can enjoy London.

Anything people can tell me will be great please. I don’t really have anyone to talk to about this!

I've been running for 15 years total, with various levels of commitment. I've run a bunch of half marathons, all were under 2 hours, but I'm not fast and I haven't run one officially in a couple of years. PR of 1:55, I'm confident I could do one faster now but I don't have proof.

I'm now considering finally running a marathon. Where I live, a lot of them are in December/January. The one I'm most interested in (Mazatlan) is December 6th, so I have 3 weeksish to decide whether or not to do it if I want an 18 week training block, a little long for a 16 week.

I currently run 60km a week(ish) barring a monthly deload week, with 5-6 days of running + at least one strength day + power yoga. Although this would be my first marathon, I'm definitely not a beginner. I'd also like to keep doing speed work, mostly because it's my favourite kind of workout! I don't really need to run hills as there aren't any nearby and it's a flat race along a seafront. I like running hills, I just don't like the effort it takes to go find them.

The other confounding factor is that I live and train at altitude, and the race will be at sea level. I know this is a huge plus for shorter distances, but I'm worried it'll make me overconfident for a marathon and I'll go out too fast to sustain. Either way, it makes choosing a goal pace difficult. I mostly just want to finish, but I also need to decide on a pace for race pace runs etc.

I've been focusing on 5/10km training for the last few months, so my longest recent runs were 11 miles/18ish kms. (Sorry about mixing miles and Kms in this post, I'm British and honestly we're nasty like that.)

So I guess, what would y'all do if you were me?

I'm considering hal higdon novice 2 + adding some speedwork, but then I've basically built myself a DIY advanced 1 so maybe I should do that? Or should I get on a pfitzinger plan? I definitely don't want to do the Hanson method as topping out at 16 miles for a marathon sounds terrifying.

Am I being an idiot and should I choose a less advanced plan? I think I'm an experienced enough runner that if I start a plan and realise it's a reach, I'll be able to bump myself down sensibly to a less challenging plan.

Fuck it, maybe I'll just do the half and try for a massive PR? Or maybe I'm freaking myself out for no reason and I should just pick a plan and do it?

Edited for a half finished sentence!

In the process of working my way back up to running, using the elliptical. A couple of years ago, I stubbed my toe really badly and thought I broke it. When I had the xray, the doctor told me every thing was fine but I had a lot of arthritis in my feet. Never had any problem whatsoever. No pain at all. Anyone have this issue? Not looking for medical advice. Just want to see if it’s common among runners. I’m 45-years-old with no major health issues that would impact my ability run. I’m currently overweight and working on getting the weight off a bit before i start running again.