Racing a Marathon when you aren't your fittest, Nutrition, and Marathon Workouts 8 weeks out

In this episode of Mind Your Miles, Nick Hilton, Will Baldwin, and Danny Mercado cover a bunch of the questions runners and coaches actually deal with during marathon training.

We start with how to approach a marathon when you are not fully ready. Think Boston Marathon or Tokyo Marathon when you are coming off an injury, had a short build, or did not get enough long runs. We talk pacing when outcomes feel wide open, how to level set expectations without killing confidence, and why short builds sometimes create surprising race days.

Then we get into nutrition. How do you talk to athletes about day to day fueling without playing doctor? What is fair game for a coach, what should go to a dietitian, and how food logs and routines can solve a lot without overcomplicating things. We also share our go to pre race foods, plus thoughts on weight loss during high volume training.

After that, we share marathon workouts we like about 8 weeks out from the Boston Marathon, including long run structures, threshold workouts, and some sessions that work well in real life.

We also go off on a fun side rant about track and field comparisons across eras. Jim Ryun, super spikes, Mondo tracks, and why the technology conversation is tired.

Topics in this episode:

• Racing a marathon when you are not fully ready

• Boston Marathon and Tokyo Marathon training realities

• How to pace with uncertainty

• Nutrition advice for runners, what coaches can and cannot say

• Fueling routines, food logs, and recovery basics

• Marathon workouts 8 weeks out, threshold sessions, long run ideas

• Jim Ryun, super spikes, Mondo tracks, comparing eras in running

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Substack: https://mindyourmiles.substack.com
Coach Will: https://www.runbaldwin.com