The TCS Sydney Marathon 2025 was always going to be a management exercise. Tendonitis near the calf, a multi-week eczema flare, three weeks of international travel — by the time race week arrived, the question wasn’t whether to PR but whether the body would hold together for 42km. It did. This is how that happened, and what running the inaugural World Marathon Major actually looked like from inside a broken build.
Sydney 2025 was the inaugural edition as an official World Marathon Major. A disrupted training block — three weeks of travel, tendonitis near the calf, and a multi-week eczema flare — forced a goal revision from 3:15 to controlled execution. The result was 3:32:59, two minutes behind 2024, with steady splits and no late collapse. A managed race on an incomplete build still produces useful data.
Training Block Context #
The block ran 12 to 16 weeks on paper, but three weeks of international travel disrupted the structure early. By mid-July, tendonitis between my calf and my knee forced load reductions. Around the same time, a significant eczema flare-up compounded recovery and elevated systemic inflammation for several weeks — details in how I manage eczema during training. Standard training load became unsustainable.
The result was a workable foundation with a broken final phase. Four weeks of easy-only running: any attempt at quality shut down by the tendonitis before it could accumulate. No meaningful stimulus in the window where it matters most. The question heading into race week was not whether to PR but whether the body would hold together for 42km.
Race Objective #
MY original target had been 3:15–3:20, trying to do better since Brisbane. By three weeks out, that was gone.
The revised plan: hold 4:55–5:00 min/km and assess from there. No firm finish time target. The objective was to execute within the available capacity, respect the course elevation, and avoid compounding the injuries.
This was also the first Sydney Marathon as an official World Marathon Major. I had run the 2024 edition when Sydney held candidate status. That result earned my spot in the 2025 field. Showing up for the inaugural Major felt like a reasonable reason to race through a suboptimal block.
Race Execution #
First Half #
Conditions were ideal: cool, sunny, light wind. The kind of morning where the temptation is to go out faster than planned. The early kilometers settled into the 4:55–5:00 range without much effort.
Knowing the course from 2024 helped significantly. Sydney is more technical than most Majors, with sustained elevation through the middle sections. That familiarity made it easier to hold back on descents and not chase pace on the climbs. Decisions that should require thought happened automatically.
Mid-Race and Elevation #
The course is officially net downhill — around 315m of gain against nearly 400m of loss — but that framing understates the challenge. The hills don’t disappear; they’re redistributed. Two significant climbs sit at km 14 and km 16, both around +18–21m, which shows up clearly in the split data. Effort went up, pace slowed to 5:05–5:06, and that was correct. Chasing the pace number on those segments costs more than the time saved.
The Net-Downhill Label Is Misleading #
The more punishing elevation is at km 40 (+15m) and km 41 (+21m). By that point the quads are already done negotiating. On the second climb, the temptation to walk was real; the decision not to cost something. That’s where the race is actually decided. The net-downhill headline doesn’t warn you about that.
Treating the course as net-negative and running accordingly is a mistake. Run the hills on feel, not pace, in both directions.
Final 12km #
The last 12km averaged 5:07/km, a modest fade from the 4:58 average through km 21–30, not a collapse. The two climbs at km 40 and 41 are visible in the data: 5:17 and 5:19. Pace returned to 5:12, then closed at 5:04/km for the final 0.71km. The body had enough to close without deteriorating.
Crossed in 3:32:59, two minutes behind the 2024 result, on a significantly more disrupted block.
What Worked #
Experience. Nearly ten marathons in, the decision-making is largely automatic. When to hold back on a climb, how to read the body through the middle sections, when early pace feels deceptively comfortable — none of this required active management. That accumulated race knowledge is real and measurable.
Course familiarity. Two years living in Sydney and one prior edition meant no surprises. The race starts at a reasonable hour, allowing proper sleep and a calm morning. Knowing the neighborhood, the finish location, the course flow — these advantages compound with each edition. Race week was quiet: no route to recce, no logistics to figure out in the 48 hours before the gun.
Downgrading the goal early. Adjusting from 3:15 to managed effort three weeks out was the right call. It produced a clean execution rather than a mid-race crisis.
What Failed #
Start line logistics. The transition to Major status brought a significantly larger field, and the logistics hadn’t caught up. The start area was considerably more chaotic than 2024: congestion, positioning issues, and slower early kilometers as a result. A growing pain of the first Major edition.
Water stations. Multiple runners reported that several water stations ran out of water before the back of the field passed through. For a Major, this is a meaningful operational failure. It didn’t affect this race personally, but it will need to be resolved before next year.
The block. The disruptions weren’t fully avoidable, but the cumulative load of travel, tendonitis, and eczema was underestimated in terms of recovery cost. Managing inflammation across three concurrent stressors is beyond what standard taper protocols handle. In practice: each session started without knowing whether the body would confirm the week’s plan or veto it.
Race Weekend Notes #
Expo timing matters. The field wasn’t the only thing that scaled up. The entire race weekend was noticeably more crowded. The expo on Saturday was congested: long queues, slow bib pickup, and the predictable temptation of a large merchandise area. If you’re running this event, collect your bib on Thursday or Friday morning, early. Bib pickup is fast without the crowd. You won’t spend the day before the race on your feet.
The other benefit: avoiding the expo when you’re mentally primed to buy things is its own form of race-day preparation.
The medal is worth it. The 2025 edition introduced a new medal design (right) that stands apart from the previous year (left), genuinely distinctive, the kind that doesn’t end up in a box. A good reason to finish.
Data Breakdown #
| Segment | Time | Avg pace | Avg HR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–10km | 48:39 | 4:52/km | 138 bpm |
| 10–21km | 54:14 | 4:56/km | 145 bpm |
| 21–30km | 44:45 | 4:58/km | 151 bpm |
| 30–42.2km | 1:05:07 | 5:07/km | 155 bpm |
Full activity on Strava.
Fueling: 6 Pure Sport Nutrition gels across the race, plus their 90g carbohydrate shake pre-race. More on race-day fueling strategy in the marathon fueling guide.
Conditions: Cool, sunny, light wind. Temperature was not a factor on race day.
Shoes: Asics Magic Speed 5, my third marathon in this shoe.
Training Implications #
The 3:32 on a disrupted block is a useful data point. The 2024 result was 3:30 on a solid build. A two-minute gap across a block that included three weeks of travel, tendonitis, and a multi-week eczema episode. The aerobic base is more durable than the circumstances implied. The core fitness held.
The question for the next block is not whether the fitness is there. It’s whether the conditions to actually build on it can be maintained.
Priorities heading into the next cycle:
- Resolve the tendonitis fully before resuming any quality work — no speed work on a compromised calf
- Establish a health protocol that accounts for eczema’s systemic load on recovery, particularly during high-volume weeks
- Target a block without a multi-week travel interruption — the compression that results from losing three weeks is hard to absorb near a race
If inflammation stays controlled across a complete block, a 3:15–3:20 target remains realistic. This race didn’t disprove that. It confirmed the base is there.
Key Takeaways #
Travel, tendonitis, eczema: three stressors that compound in ways a standard taper doesn’t account for. Recovery debt from each one doesn’t reset independently.
The aerobic base held across a broken final phase. A two-minute gap over 2024 on this training input is a data point in favor of the foundation, not against it.
Standing at the start of the first Sydney World Marathon Major, on a block this disrupted, was still a good use of the entry. The course is more technical than the marketing suggests, and that makes it worth coming back for.
If you’ve raced Sydney — or managed a disrupted block into a Major — what’s your approach to setting a realistic floor when the build falls apart?