Both running and entrepreneurship have been endless exercises in resilience and continuous improvement. I try to sustain the same ‘how can I get 1% better?’ mindset on both fronts – learning from mistakes, learning from experts, experimenting and adapting, keeping what works, and playing the long game with compounding gains over time.

Before heading to Valencia to target a new marathon PB, I reflected on 6 key changes I’ve made to marathon training this year in pursuit of continuous improvement.

1. Dramatically increased protein intake – research says endurance athletes should target 1.4-2g of protein per kg of body weight per day. That’s a LOT. I’ve traded my post-run choc milk for a more protein-dense recovery shake.
2. Increased training volume – experts agree the easiest way to run a faster marathon is to put in more km’s (systematic review here), but that’s also the easiest way to injure yourself if you’re not careful. This year’s 24-week build-up had 1950km total with a max of 102km per week (>10% more than last year’s 1768km and 90km max). More notably, my mileage YTD is up 21%!
3. Strength training with heavier weight – Recent randomized controlled trials (Eihara et al. 2022, for example) have shown bigger effects of heavy weight training compared to other S&C routines on running performance and time-to-exhaustion. This has required getting to the gym 1-2 times per week and learning proper form for squats, dead lifts, split squats, kettlebell swings, etc (after wrecking my back doing heavy squats).
4. Added strides and hill sprints to my easy runs – Andrew Snow (borrowing from Brad Hudson) has popularized the idea that base training should include fast work through strides and hill sprints – they don’t tax you but they build strength and speed. This helped me to a 5k PB in July during my base training.
5. Added one ‘Double’ per week – Research shows that doing Doubles (i.e. two runs in one day) helps improve recovery time. Bonus is this helps increase volume as well. I’ve been doing an easy Thurs night run with friends nearby after my usual Thurs morning workout.
6. Increased carbs on long runs – I used to take one gel every 45 min (like it says on the Gu box!), but that’s only about 30g of carbs per hour. Research now suggests runners should take 60-90g per hour for optimal performance. This has required training my gut to tolerate more gels, but it could help big-time. Running a great marathon is as much about effective fueling and hydration as it is about pacing, strategy, and toughness.

These changes paid off big-time at the Valencia Marathon. I’ll publish more about that race soon.

Content in this post originally appeared on my LinkedIn page here.