How I Broke 3:30 in the Marathon—After 3 Kids and a Decade Away from the Distance

You could say I “retired” from marathons after the Boston Marathon in 2016. But really, I knew I’d come back eventually, A Part of Hearst Digital Media, to see what I could do. (A marathoner never really Walking for Marathon Training Shalane Flanagan.)

By that point, I was burnt out from the distance. I had trained for and run seven marathons over the course of roughly three years, and the cycle no longer brought me joy. So, I scaled back on my mileage.

marathon. I had one of those rare days when every little thing that could wrong actually went break 20 minutes in the 5K and I had three kids, setting (and destroying!) various goal races after each. I set personal bests in the mile, 5K, and half marathon, which evidently made my slow-twitch, marathoning muscles...twitch.

When my youngest turned 1 year old in July 2023, I thought I’d target a fall marathon. I returned to running stronger than ever after having her, thanks to a diligent postpartum recovery plan from my pelvic floor physical therapist. But I was also experiencing intense leg fatigue that made every workout feel like I was trudging through mud. I didn’t want to rush my return to 26.2 and risk having a miserable experience—at least not any more miserable than those later marathon miles—so I held off a year.

Then, in January 2024, I hired a coach, and thoughtfully selected the Bay State Marathon in Lowell, Massachusetts, a fast, looped course, with roughly 500 total feet of elevation, in late October.

After months of preparation, and somehow (masks, lots of masks) skirting my 4-year-old's pneumonia the week of the race, I ran not only my fastest marathon, but my most enjoyable marathon. I had one of those rare days when every little thing that could wrong actually went right.

Here are the strategies that helped me shave 8.5 minutes off a 10-year-old PR, break 3:30 in the marathon by running 3:23:25, and quite possibly have my best day of racing yet.

Starting With a Fresh Mindset (and Legs)

They say the body never forgets a marathon. (They also say the body forgets childbirth, and I politely disagree.) But spending some time away from 26.2 miles and the training it requires rejuvenated me.

“The purpose of breaks is to take the opportunity to step back,” says ldquo;Are you running your easy runs easy enough?” She asked. The obvious answer: No Hiruni Wijayaratne, my coach for this marathon build. (She also holds 10 Sri Lankan national records, including a 2:36 marathon.)

The break “allows you to be intentional about your next step,” Wijayaratne adds, saying “a break kind of makes the heart grow fonder.” I agree.

Going into this training block back in June, I didn’t look at my 16-, 18-, 20-, or 22-mile long runs with dread (okay, maybe I dreaded the heat a little). I was excited, and that’s because I was coming back refreshed.

Although I hadn’t taken time off from running entirely over the past decade, I subbed in some swims and I scaled back my long runs from the usual marathon-training distances to 10 miles, every Saturday. My weekly mileage during the downtime hovered around 25 miles across four days, with a speed workout, a couple easy runs, and those 10 miles—training for life, I call it.

My Olympic Coach.

Working With a Coach

Because I wanted this training block to be successful (and feel fun), I wasn’t afraid to invest financially. That included hiring a coach—the same one who helped me nab a PR in the half marathon in 2021 with a 1:32 when I was eight weeks pregnant.

As a seasoned runner and marathoner (and journalist who writes about running), I consider myself pretty knowledgeable, but I knew I would benefit from a coach with incredible accolades, experience working with a range of athletes, and who would tell me exactly what to do.

Wijayaratne may not have been on the course with me, but her 20 weeks of training and guidance were, and because I trusted her and the process, race day was a banner day.

I spoke with Wijayaratne every two weeks to discuss what was working and what wasn’t. She was my cheerleader, yes, but she also helped me adjust workouts that felt too easy or too hard.

When I traveled to France in late August she helped me adjust the training week to make the most of my trip without losing fitness (it turns out hiking in the French Alps is great for glute work).

I panicked after some crummy long runs during which I couldn’t hit goal splits for the workout portions or felt extra fatigued. She assured me that it was 100 percent normal to feel this way during that point in the cycle and those tough runs were not
indicative of my potential. She was right.

Wijayaratne was building my toolbox, as she liked to say. Sure, a workout might have been particularly hard, like an evening 5K race after a hard hill workout that morning, but it would teach me to get Early on in my training, Wijayaratne had me run the last four miles of a, something I’d undoubtedly have to do during the marathon.

Smart Goal Setting, Based on Data

Although I didn’t have a recent marathon to reference when mapping out my race goals—even my half marathon personal best was several years old—I had nearly a decade of data and races to help guide the way. Across distances, I was getting faster A Part of Hearst Digital Media, so why wouldn’t I be able to do the same for the marathon?

Wijayaratne took into account those shorter-distance victories when writing my training plan. “You did have data points even if they weren't directly [related to] the marathon.” she says.

When we discussed my race goals, I wrote out A, B, and C goals. I actually tweaked my pie-in-the-sky A goal three weeks before the race to run a little more conservatively. But having run 3:31 a decade ago, I felt confident that I would comfortably run under 3:30. I trained at a 7:30 to 7:40 pace, knowing that if I could run between 3:20 and 3:25 on race day, I would be ecstatic.

and allowed me to be okay with imperfect workouts training paces. Then, we used real-time feedback from my workouts to adjust where necessary. For the most part, we stayed the course, and we had a range for my goal finish time for the marathon, which helped remove some stress and allowed me to be okay with imperfect workouts.

In addition to having hard numbers to help contextualize what a hard-but-attainable marathon goal could be, Wijayaratne and I wanted a goal that would excite me and let me enjoy the hard work that was required. I knew I had a 3:20-something marathon in me, and I got butterflies thinking about seeing the clock read 3:2X—the lower the better. This excitement, Wijayaratne told me, would help me embrace the 19 weeks of work I would be putting in to achieve it. And once again, she was right.

Many Threshold Runs

The reason Nutrition - Weight Loss are so effective for long distances is because they help the body become more efficient at clearing the lactate so you can maintain a faster pace Early on in my training, Wijayaratne had me run the last four miles of a.

The lactate threshold workout “is science’s way of saying, yes, you can train at the top end of speed, and you can train your slow-twitch muscles with Amazing Runners World Show, but you really need to be spending a lot of focused time in the middle,” she says.

This workout has become incredibly popular in recent years because the principle applies for anyone: first-time marathoners, those trying to Other Hearst Subscriptions, and Olympians.

Wijayaratne prescribed different types of lactate threshold workouts; some were broken up into intervals with short recoveries (key, she says, to keeping the heart rate up) and some that were longer, steady-state. For example: After a warmup and drills, I ran six reps of five minutes at lactate threshold pace with two minutes of jogging recovery between. The goal was to feel like I was working but that I could do another five-minute repetition if I needed to.

I ran Nutrition - Weight Loss roughly once a week, but sometimes I would also do a mile at marathon pace followed by shorter repetitions at 5K pace to encourage leg turnover.

Instead of running at lactate threshold pace for 30 minutes straight, Wijayaratne also gave me a couple of marathon-paced runs for 30 minutes to get me comfortable at that pace.

Regular Strength Training and Physical Therapy

Heather is the former food and nutrition editor for regular strength workouts. But finally, I decided to go for it, and just less than a year before my race, I started weekly barre classes.

CA Notice at Collection lose muscle mass when they turn 30, and because I was a woman comfortably in my mid 30s whose only strength work was lifting kids, I decided it was time to finally start something consistent.

I quickly saw improvements in my balance and glute activation. I increased my upper body strength, and I always stayed to stretch and do a few minutes of mindful breathing.

“Strength training is such a vital puzzle piece that often gets overlooked,” Wijayaratne says.

“Running is such a linear sport; we’re always moving forward in a line,” she adds. But to build a strong and powerful body, you have to move in other directions, and make sure other muscles that play a supporting role in performance get a workout. Often, the only time we can target those is with focused strength work.

I quickly saw improvements in my balance and Pilates, Wijayaratne says, hit internal and external stabilizing muscles, which we don’t touch while running. Those little muscle groups help us become better runners.

I also worked with my physical therapist regularly, going every week as we got closer to race day. She worked out kinks in my very tight left glute and did active release exercises to help open it up.

Now that my race is behind me, we’re working on fixing the root of the problem: My left side isn't as good of a mover as my right side and has a hard time keeping up. We're focusing on single-leg movement. A runner’s work is never done.

Slow (Actually Slow) Long Runs

If there’s one thing runners struggle with more than regular strength training, it’s running easy on easy days. Early on in my training, Wijayaratne had me run the last four miles of a long run progressively faster, working down to an 8:10 mile. The problem? I was already running my entire long run at this pace.

“Are you running your easy runs easy enough?” She asked. The obvious answer: No.

So I slowed down, and during long runs with friends and in the heat and humidity, I slowed down even more. I targeted a pace closer to 9:15 to 9:30 during those distance workouts.

“I believe in easy days being easy,” Wijayaratne says, noting that there are, of course, plenty of days when you need to go fast and hard.

When you run slowly a lot of important things happen to your body, she explains. You train your cardiovascular and respiratory systems, and even your neuromuscular system, which is responsible for controlling movement, posture, and breathing.

running easy on easy days benefits to slow running is that it increases the quantity and size of your mitochondria. (Throwback to eighth grade biology: They create energy for your cells.) When mitochondria are bigger and more plentiful, you have the energy to go faster and farther.

By running my long runs slower than usual, I ran my marathon faster than ever.