Case Study: How I Broke Sub 3 and what I still have to learn

The Sub 3 hour Marathon is one THE barriers in running and endurance sports. In this article series write about my knowledge, tools, actionable strategies and how I reached this goal. This article covers how I ran a marathon under 3 hours and how I trained for the race.

Articles

• The desire behind the Sub 3 marathon
• Requirements to run a marathon under 3 hours
• Training to run a marathon under 3 hours
• Case Study: How I broke Sub 3 and what I’ve still to learn

My background in sports – The first marathon

My journey in endurance sports started in 2017. After playing soccer for 15 years before, I set myself the goal to run a marathon in 2017 without ever having started in a real running race before (age 22). Great idea, right? I think that’s pretty much the most chosen path in running. First, a marathon. With that goal in mind, I signed up for the nearest marathon and started training.

Like any novice runner without training experience or a coach, my first injury wasn’t far behind. Running miles too fast, intensities too fast, and running too fast led to patellar tendonitis, which plagued me for a long time, especially after the marathon.

The marathon itself was tough, incredibly tough. Up to that point, I had only done 1-2 long runs over 20 kilometers. Still, I finished the marathon and ran 4 hours and 4 seconds and actually did it pretty consistently, even though I had no idea about race nutrition at that point.

After the competition I was enthusiastic about endurance sports. Even though the patellar tendonitis dragged on for more than half a year, it was clear that this was not to be my last competition. The training was something I could do every day and also (for the most part) really felt like doing.

The next sporting challenge was not long in coming. My work colleague had bought a road bike and wanted to do a triathlon. Until then, triathlon was something that didn’t appeared in my world at all. He managed to convince me to do an Olympic distance with him in Hamburg. However, I couldn’t even swim crawl at that time. Also swimming in open water with the fish swimming underneath worried me a bit.

Nevertheless, I was enthusiastic about the sport and was willing to sacrifice a lot for it. I developed quickly and before the first triathlon in Hamburg I ran a 10km in 40:18min. The Olympic distance itself I finished in 2:30h, which was certainly not too bad for a beginner.

Eventually the Corona pandemic came and made sure I had more time for sports and it went from a hobby to a passion. I learned through books, the internet, and my own training experiences how to achieve performance gains in endurance sports. I had my peak phase so far in 2021. I ran 10km in 34:36min and a half marathon in 1:18:32.

Here I listed the training hours from the years from 2018 to 2022 that made these times possible: (Data tracked on Strava) 

2018: 136h
2019: 333h
2020: 259h
2021: 453h
2022: 418h 

Of these hours approx. 1500-2000km were running per year. In my opinion this a hell lot of volume for someone who works in a 40h+ 9 to 5 job. To train for 300-400h a year you have to be very committed. 

Sub 3 Hour Marathon – Breaking 3 in my second marathon ever

In 2022 I decided to run my second marathon over the summer (age 27). Although I had started playing soccer in the club again after a year’s break, I tried to squeeze the training into everyday life somehow, which in retrospect actually worked very well without any major injuries, but was still a bit chaotic at times and anything but a good marathon build-up.

I had no real goal before the marathon. Because of my previous performances I was convinced that I could run under 2:50h. Most of my training so far consisted as you would expect from triathletes not only of running, but also cycling. As I mentioned in the las emails I think cycling is a very good complement to running training.

This is what my training looked like 11 weeks before the Sub3 marathon in September. The training hours always oscillated between 8-12 hours per week. 12 weeks before the marathon my training was interrupted by a corona illness for about two weeks.

Key Sessions for my Sub 3 Marathon

The Training Plan

Running: In total: 37:20h – 466km Avg/week: 3:06h – 38,8km Highest weekly distance: 58km

Cycling: In total: 70:06h – 1936km Avg/week: 5:50h – 161km

In total: 123:02h trained Avg/week: 10:15h

Here’s an example year (2022) of my weekly hours that I put into training:

I show you this because I want you to acknowledge the amount of effort it takes for fast times. In the years from 2018-2021 I also played amateur soccer in a team. Because of the corona virus in 2019 there were only a few soccer games and training during this time. So I was able to focus on endurance training. I don’t tracked the time for soccer training in Strava so that these hours are not included.

The race report

The first kilometers in the race went almost outstanding. I ran the first 30km in 1:59:44 (3:59min/km). So far so good. That was also what I had previously run 26km in training. The nutrition was going well and I was able to take in 80g of KH per hour via gels.

At the beginning of the race I was running around 30th place. The feeling of being one of the first to pass the spectators and especially the waiting relay runners was overwhelming and pushed me very hard, plus I met a few familiar faces at the side of the course.

From kilometer 35 on, however, a slight cramp in my calf became noticeable. I attributed this to a lack of fluids and tried to compensate for the lack of fluids at the next aid station. Unfortunately with way too much water.

A few meters after the aid station I had to throw up for about 2min. Unfortunately, the majority of the supplied energy was also out again. I was able to continue running, but at some point it was over. The body was completely empty. No more gas in the tank. I was forced to walk a few times and could only continue running very slowly.

All the goals I had set didn’t matter to me at that moment. My body felt awful. I could no longer supply energy and my stomach rebelled. Again and again runners came by and pushed me to keep going. I did.

Finally I finished in 2:58:20h. Place 57 of nearly 1500 participants.

Third marathon in 3:00:36 in 2023 

Still have to learn…

It was brutal. Mentally challenging. Windy and rainy. That was the Frankfurt Marathon 2023. My third marathon.

My expectations were high. The goal was to run under 2:50h. That, at least I thought, would have been possible with my preparation. Far from it, as it turned out….

The conditions

The temperatures were almost optimal with 13-15°. It could probably even have been a little cooler. But that was also the only thing that was suitable in terms of external conditions. In addition, it was windy and from the second half also very rainy. Many voices afterwards said that it was slippery on the track. I didn’t feel that way, but the wet roads and the many puddles certainly contributed to making the race much more demanding and slower.

My race

For me, Frankfurt was the biggest race I have participated in so far. It was very unusual to start with so many people. It was especially difficult to find a group to run with. Again and again there were gaps that you had to close yourself.

Because my Polar Vantage showed very unrealistic splits, I was forced to rely on my body feeling. Finding a group was almost impossible. There were way too many people who were under the 3h mark.

The first 5 kilometers were already well above the planned pace of 4min/km. The first two gels went down very well.

From kilometer 25, my stomach began to rebel. The third gel (caffeine gel) didn’t go down so well. My head got warm and the nausea came slowly. After that I just didn’t dare to eat anymore to avoid throwing up in front of the spectators.

It’s just so hard when you know that you have to keep running for another hour after 30km, even though you’re in such a bad state.

However, what saved me a little from kilometer 30 was Coke, which I took walking at two aid stations to me. The last 2-3km went again without problems and I still had a small hope to crack the 3h mark, because the 3h pacer had not yet overtaken me. Unfortunately, no one came. I run into the finish in the festival hall after 3 hours and 36 seconds.

In retrospect, I am very proud of myself that I could somehow finish the race despite the difficulties from kilometer 30.

That showed me again that a Sub 3 is not a walk in a park and everything has to come together to reach this time. I still have to learn the nutrition game.