Marathon Time Transformation

A story about Nick Bare's progression from his first marathon to becoming an elite amateur runner while maintaining significant muscle mass.

"My first marathon was in 2018, about a year after I got out of the military. What's funny is the day I got out of the military I said I would never run again, and about a year later I was running my first marathon.

2018 Austin Marathon I ran a 3:57, which was just an absolute dumpster fire. I was 225 pounds, didn't have a training program, I was a bodybuilder - I just wanted to be as big and yoked as possible. After mile 16, I hit the wall and it was all downhill from there.

A year later, I signed up for the Austin Marathon again, same lack of training program, and ran 4:15 - 18 minutes slower than the previous year. After that, I signed up for my first Ironman, did Ironman Florida in 11:28, running the marathon portion in 4:04.

I told myself I wanted to run sub-3 and posted it online. The internet trolls blew up - forums on Let's Run, Reddit, everyone saying this guy will not run a sub-3 marathon. I signed up for Austin Marathon again, followed a training program, but wasn't in sub-3 shape. At the starting line I told myself I could mentally out-will anything. Within the first 6 miles I knew I wasn't going to do sub-3. Ended up running 3:24.

I went into another training block immediately after, this time with a real prep and a solid coach, Jeff Cunningham. A year later I ran 2:56:27, my first sub-3. Then a year later did the Buffalo New York Marathon in 2:48. Just recently, December 3, 2023, I ran 2:39:20 at 195 pounds, which is a 6:05 mile pace."