Chris Bickle approached his first marathon with an ambitious goal of sub-3-hours. We’re excited to report he finished the Gold Coast Marathon in 2:58:36 with a negative split. [Full Results]
The program The Run SMART Project put together for me gave me a healthy balance between challenging enough to push my running to the next level and not going too far out there where I might risk injury or lose motivation.
I liked that there was a mix of short, fast repeats and intervals, some hard but appropriate threshold sessions and some longer runs specific to my marathon pace.
I felt prepared for my sub 3 hour marathon attempt despite the fact that it was my first full marathon. The mileage, threshold development and time spent at marathon effort meant I could feel strong and relaxed at my marathon pace and even pick it up toward the end!