Hannah Zarzecki’s breakthrough came after she stopped treating every run as a chance to prove her fitness. A new coach helped her build toward 60 miles a week, slow down on easy days and practice marathon pace on long runs. At the 2025 London Marathon, those changes helped her run 3:43:58—more than 16 minutes under four hours and a striking turn after years of near misses.
The result followed a long progression, not a sudden leap. Zarzecki had finished eight marathons without reaching her sub-four-hour goal. She came within seconds in Wisconsin, then missed again in Berlin and Chicago. Her experience offers a useful reminder for runners stuck at a plateau: adding structure can matter, but so can learning when to ease off, how to recover and how to fuel a race.
From a first marathon to a persistent goal
Zarzecki’s running background began in high school cross-country. After graduating from Harvard University, where she played ice hockey, she returned to running in search of a new goal. She entered the lottery for the 2018 Chicago Marathon, her hometown race, and got in.
Her preparation was light. She hadn’t run more than about 15 miles and had no training plan, though teaching spin classes several nights a week kept her in shape. She expected the race might end in a hospital visit. Instead, with walk breaks, she finished in 5:04:59—an effort that left her proud, but unsure whether marathons suited her.
She turned to shorter races, including 10Ks and half marathons. Then a student from one of her spin classes told her about running the Berlin Marathon. The prospect of traveling to race appealed to Zarzecki, and she entered. She loosely followed an online plan and finished Berlin in 2021 in 5:16:32, running and walking. The result convinced her that she wanted to improve.
For her next cycle, she paid a coach she found on Instagram to write a training plan. It introduced speedwork and intervals. She also joined Chicago’s Electric Athletic Club and began attending group runs.
The difference showed at the 2022 Rock ’n’ Roll Nashville Marathon. Zarzecki ran without walk breaks and finished in 4:12:11, more than an hour faster than her Berlin time just seven months earlier. She later said that following a plan made the marathon feel less mysterious: she could see how deliberate training brought the pieces together.
The four-hour barrier—and a chance meeting
For the next couple of years, Zarzecki kept using the same plan and averaged about 30 miles a week. At the Wisconsin Marathon in May 2023, on her 28th birthday, she clocked 4:00:28. The target was suddenly close enough to feel attainable, but it remained out of reach.
She ran Berlin and Chicago in fall 2023, with two weeks between the races. Her times were 4:11:26 and 4:01:23. Then came Grandma’s Marathon in June 2024. In rainy, cold conditions, she finished about eight minutes slower than in Chicago. It was her eighth marathon, and the disappointment hit hard: she cried at the finish, frustrated that another prepared attempt had ended without a personal record.
That race also brought an unexpected coaching connection. While Zarzecki and her boyfriend waited for their car, she began talking with two runners who were struggling to find a ride to the airport. The couple agreed to drive them, adding about 40 minutes to the return trip to Chicago. When Zarzecki declined payment, one of the runners offered something else: Maria Romano, a coach with New York Road Runners, proposed training her for her next marathon.
Romano advised Zarzecki through calls, texts and emails. The plan was to build gradually toward 60 miles per week, with short runs, long runs and speedwork arranged to serve different purposes. Romano also taught her how to taper and how to use the final day before a race. The coaching relationship brought encouragement along with structure; Zarzecki said that having someone celebrate her strong runs made a real difference to her mindset.
What changed in training and on race day
The shift in mileage was substantial, but the way Zarzecki used that mileage mattered too. Romano asked her to make easy runs genuinely easy and to include marathon-pace running in long sessions. Zarzecki worked up to doing roughly half a long run at a slow pace and half at marathon pace, adding the faster portion a few miles at a time.
She now runs some easy miles at nearly 11 minutes per mile so her body can recover. That contrast, she explained, helped her avoid asking her body to run at the same effort every day. The approach gave harder sessions room to do their job while keeping recovery runs from becoming extra workouts.
Zarzecki also added a recovery routine: a few minutes in an ice bath after runs, sometimes alternating with time in a hot tub. On Romano’s advice, she did this a couple of times a week and said she felt it helped her recover.
Equipment became more deliberate as well. She rotates among three or four pairs of shoes, choosing cushioned models for easier runs and stiffer shoes for speed sessions. She gives each pair several days between uses, allowing the foam to recover its shape. The point is practical: different sessions place different demands on a runner, and her shoe rotation reflects that.
Fueling proved especially useful in London. Zarzecki took a gel near the start and then every 5K. She still found the race mentally demanding, but said her body felt capable throughout. That distinction mattered late in the course: she even increased her pace during the final two miles and crossed the line in 3:43:58.
A faster personal best, with New York ahead
Before London, Zarzecki had reminded herself that she was running for Midge, her 20-year-old dog. She adopted Midge from PAWS Chicago, where she had volunteered, and used her charity entry to raise funds for the shelter. When she thought about quitting, that purpose helped her continue.
After finishing, she was so stunned by the time that she sat down for 10 minutes. The improvement wasn’t a one-race anomaly: in February of the following year, she lowered her marathon personal best by another 10 minutes at Arizona’s Mesa Marathon.
Her next major target is the 2026 New York City Marathon, where she has a place on the Runner’s World+ team. She’d like to run 3:25, a time that would qualify her for the Boston Marathon, but nursing school has limited the time she can devote to training. For New York, her stated priority is to enjoy the race and recognize how far she has come.
Four lessons from Zarzecki’s training
Vary the effort across the week
Her long runs now combine slow miles with sections at marathon pace, while easy runs stay slow enough to support recovery. The separation gives each type of workout a clearer purpose.
Build recovery into the routine
Zarzecki uses brief ice-bath sessions, sometimes alternating with a hot tub, after selected runs. She credits the routine with helping her feel recovered between workouts.
Rotate shoes by session
Three or four pairs let her match cushioning to easy days and stiffer shoes to speedwork. She waits several days before wearing the same pair again, giving the foam time between runs.
Practice fueling before the late miles
In London, Zarzecki took a gel at the start and then every 5K. She said that regular intake helped her maintain energy and feel physically capable even when the mental challenge of racing persisted.
Zarzecki’s progression suggests that a stubborn time barrier can call for a closer look at the whole training cycle: weekly volume, pace distribution, recovery, equipment and race fueling. Her 3:43:58 came after changing all of those habits—and her next challenge will be fitting that work around nursing school while enjoying the city race she has set her sights on.
Maggie Gigandet is a former trial attorney with 15 years of training and experience in writing, researching, and interviewing. She writes about the outdoors, people with interesting passions, and anything unusual.
