Swing and a miss

Read time: 3 minutes

Welcome to The Ascend Archives, a 2x/month newsletter where I share a story about a transformation, revelation, or change in thinking that has improved an aspect of my life.

Mile 19.

My heart rate was still under control. Somewhere in the 150s.
My breathing felt fine.
Nothing hurt that badly.

But my legs stopped responding.

I was telling them to go, and they just weren’t listening.

Up until that point, the race had gone almost exactly how I’d hoped. But then I had a decision to make.

Heading into 2025, I wanted to really see what I was capable of.

For the first time, I wasn’t training just to finish. I wanted to train for speed.

In February, I had my first test: run a sub-1:30 half marathon on a hilly course in Austin. After hitting that goal, I remember thinking: Why not double it?

Let’s go sub-3 for my first ever marathon.

So I signed up for the Houston Marathon on January 11th.

But taking a quick step back, I signed up for my first race in 2016—a half marathon I was mostly pressured into by friends. I finished, couldn’t walk for two days, and swore I’d never run more than 13 miles again.

But in 2019, after college, I found my way back into endurance sports through triathlons. Sprint distance at first. Then longer. Eventually a 70.3 Ironman.

Each time, I surprised myself.

I never set aggressive time goals. I just wanted to finish and feel good doing it. No injuries. No limping across the line.

That rule had always worked for me, but this marathon was challenging it.

The first half of the race went smoothly. I was cruising around a 7-minute pace, taking gels every 30 minutes, sipping water, staying calm.

I hit the halfway point around 1:32 and my heart rate still hadn’t broken 160.

I knew I had more in the tank.

I stayed “in the game” through mile 18, where my support crew was waiting. Then, somewhere in mile 19, something flipped. My heart was fine but my legs felt empty. Heavy. Uncooperative.

I’d heard other marathoners talk about this part of the race. The Wall. That stretch where you start asking yourself why you ever signed up for this.

I’d broken through something similar during my Ironman 70.3. But this time, I was questioning whether I could do the same. I felt my chances at sub-3 slipping away.

And I had to decide how hard I wanted to push.

To really go for it, I could feel that I’d be flirting with injury. Six more miles is a long way when your body is already warning you.

I came back to something I’d said years ago, when I first started racing:

I want to finish and feel good.

Heading into Memorial Park in Houston on Mile 20, nothing in my body (or my mind) felt good.

So I eased off.

I settled into a much slower pace. Around 9 minutes per mile. Still in a lot of pain. Still cramping. Still very ready for the race to be over.

But I kept moving and muscled through to the finish line.

I learned that running a sub-3 marathon requires more than mental toughness and cardio.

My heart and lungs were ready. But my legs weren’t. They hadn’t been trained to stay strong that late in a race, under that level of fatigue.

And that wasn’t an accident. Looking back, I didn’t put in the work required to hit that goal and that’s why I didn’t hit it.

I didn’t start training early enough.
I let strength training slide as volume increased.
I considered hiring a coach and decided against it.
I didn’t run the mileage in training that a sub-3 demands.
I couldn’t finish some of my long runs because I didn’t have the proper fuel or sleep.

And I’m good with that.

Because I’ve learned to treat most things in my life as experiments and this one gave me a clear answer.

Half marathon training lets me stay competitive and have a life.

I can train hard, race fast, and still enjoy weekends with friends. Still go out to dinner. Still recover well.

Sub 3 hour marathon training didn’t feel like a sacrifice I wanted to make.

So while it would’ve been cool to say I ran my first marathon under three hours, that’s not what this was really about.

It was about learning what I want and what I don’t.

It was about staying healthy, being grateful for a body that moves, and celebrating with my people afterward.

Preferably over pancakes.

Thank you for reading! As always please reply and let me know what resonated, what didn’t, or what you question. I love chatting about this stuff!

Cheers,

Andrew