Eating Before and During a Run (Race)

By Ben Connelly It is never too late to start practicing your prerace routine. One of the most important parts of that routine is eating.  Likewise, it is never too late to start practicing eating during long runs. What and how you eat during your race can make or break it. Today, I plan to break down both of these topics and give ... More

Olympic Dreams

By Ben Connelly As I type this, the 2020 (2021) Tokyo Olympics are underway, with the United States leading the overall medal count and in third place for gold medal count. The Olympic Marathon, is about a week away (Friday, August 6th for women and Saturday, August 7th for men).  Whether or not you are watching any of this year’s ... More

Battle Buddy Series – A Prayer for the Future Olympian?

By Darian McIntosh I am not a sports fan. My husband is. When we sit down to watch TV together, I am afraid I have selfishly influenced the channels we settle on and do more than my fair share of remote-controlling. Much to my husband’s chagrin, the channel surfing never lands on ESPN or TSN (the Canadian equivalent) when we tune in as a ... More

Carbohydrates for Marathoners Part 2

By Ben Connelly I wanted to follow up last week’s post by delving deeper into some specifics on carbohydrate consumption during marathon training. Carbohydrates are crucial to fueling long runs and recovery (for every athlete, not just runners). But the average American runner probably eats enough carbohydrates to meet those needs. ... More

Battle Buddy Series – A Prayer for the Easily Distracted

By Darian McIntosh I don’t know about you, but I think that collectively speaking, we hold ourselves accountable to someone or something of a higher power. For me, it is someone: God. I am not trying to get into a religious debate but I am merely here to make a point. And the point is, that to me, God has a sense of humor.  Case in ... More

Carbohydrates for Marathoners

by Ben Connelly Even many non-runners have heard about the importance of eating carbohydrates during marathon training. But with many conflicting theories of nutrition, even seasoned veterans can feel confused. I hope to clear up some misconceptions today.  Glycogen and Tapering: Marathon runners are commonly advised to increase ... More

 The Long Run Part 2: M pace workouts

by Ben Connelly In a previous post, I mentioned that I planned to devote a post to a specific type of long run: the M pace long run. M pace runs figure heavily in marathon training plans based on Jack Daniels’s Running Formula(1). M pace simply means marathon race pace.  While runs at marathon race pace can benefit any runner, even ... More

Battle Buddy Series – A Prayer for the Courageous

by Darian McIntosh Broken. This is the theme I have encountered many times this past week. When I am contemplating what my next entry in my blog series will be, I often take cues from what is going on in my own life. This week, I visited a church and heard multiple stories from its members sharing their personal brokenness. Many stories ... More

Tempo Workouts: A Marathon Training Staple

By Ben Connelly Tempo training (meaning workouts run at lactate threshold) is one of the most valuable variables you can include in your marathon preparations. Many beginners underestimate the importance of tempo workouts, which will improve their lactate threshold. Lactate threshold is the pace at which lactate begins to build up in ... More

Micronutrient Misconceptions: Sodium and Iron

By Ben Connelly When it comes to micronutrients, the operative question is, “how much?” Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing. While vitamins and minerals are vital to health, some can be harmful in high enough quantities. (Other will not harm you but will not provide any extra benefit.) For marathoners, who need higher ... More