Twenty-three miles into twenty-six point two, my left knee was hurting so bad I knew I had to stop.

This is my first marathon recap. I went into the Maine Marathon with a public goal of sub 4:30, a year of training built around attacking my weak links, and a fueling plan I trusted. For 23 miles it all worked. Then it didn't.

We go through the whole race, start to finish: taper paranoia, a chaotic night before, the pacer who was "behind schedule" when I thought I was way ahead, the boredom in the middle miles, and the last 5K where every goal I had disappeared one at a time on my watch. Then I get honest about what actually cost me the goal, the questions I can't answer, and why I'm both proud and frustrated at the same time.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Mile 23

0:14 Welcome

0:37 The goal: sub 4:30

1:42 Attacking the weak link: how I trained

3:27 The taper and maranoia

5:02 The night before

6:26 Race morning

8:39 Four minutes behind the gun

9:05 The custom Garmin screen I built for pacing

9:50 Going out too fast

11:45 The 4:35 pacer who was "behind schedule"

12:32 Gun time vs chip time

13:28 Driving the course and my downhill strategy

14:42 Nobody warned me about the boredom

16:07 Mile 17: the hill that snapped me out of it

17:48 Latching onto two strangers

18:28 The last 10K

19:12 Mile 20: the knee

19:38 Trying to walk

20:17 Mile 23: I had to stop

20:56 Road camber and the sidewalk trick

22:17 The downhill that ended 4:30

23:09 Calling my wife

23:39 Walk, jog, walk, jog

24:55 The finish

25:53 Why you should grab the emergency blanket

26:51 The hot knee

27:20 What actually cost me the goal

28:24 Was 4:30 ever in me?

28:42 Did the downhills cost me the knee?

29:57 Did capping long runs at 18 miles matter?

30:38 Proud and frustrated at the same time

31:30 How far the knee has come

33:02 One more thing: your spouse

34:20 What's next

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Podcast links, socials, everything else: https://linktr.ee/evanblakeney

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Maine Marathon - Portland, ME

How to Run Your First Marathon (book)

Jigger Johnson 20 Miler - White Mountains, NH

Tailwind Nutrition

Garmin

Quick disclaimer: I'm not a coach, a doctor, or an expert. I'm a newer runner sharing what I learned the hard way. Take what's useful and check anything important with a professional.

Until Next Time: Just Keep Running

Does too much sodium hurt carb absorption? Are runners overdoing electrolytes? I went looking for the research on how much sodium runners need per hour and whether stacking drink mixes, gels, and salt tabs is helping or hurting your fueling.

I was all set to record an episode telling you that too much salt could be wrecking your fueling. Then I went looking for the studies, and they didn't say what I thought they would.

Sodium is actually part of how your body absorbs carbs. The real question is whether your sodium matches how much water you're drinking, and how hot and long the effort is. I walk through the studies on sodium and carb absorption, what happened when cyclists and runners took in 1,200 to 1,500 milligrams of sodium an hour in the heat, why your blood sodium can go up even while you're sweating salt out, why salty drinks can quietly cut into your carbs, whether you need electrolytes every day, and what the research says about cramps. Plus what I do on 12 hour days sweating on a construction site.

I'm not a dietitian or a researcher. This is what I found and what I've experienced, not medical advice. If you have high blood pressure or a heart condition, talk to your doctor before adding salt.

Follow the show so you don't miss the next one. New episodes every other Friday.

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QUICK CORRECTIONS

In the sodium math example, each of the 2 gels has 250 milligrams of sodium. That plus the 1,000 milligram drink mix is how you get to 1,500 in an hour.

The daily sodium guideline is an upper limit. Most guidelines say to keep it under about 2,300 to 2,400 milligrams a day.

The ACSM range of 460 to 690 milligrams of sodium per liter is a general recommendation, not an optimal number for everyone. Your sweat is yours.

STUDIES MENTIONED

Hargreaves et al. (1994), Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Sodium and glucose absorption during exercise.

Gisolfi et al. (1995), Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Sodium concentration and intestinal absorption.

McCubbin (2025), Performance Nutrition. Sodium intake for athletes review: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s44410-025-00011-9

High vs. low sodium sports drink during 3 hours of cycling in the heat (2022), European Journal of Applied Physiology: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-022-05025-y

McCubbin & Costa (2023), International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. Sodium replacement during 5 hours of running in the heat.

Baker et al. (2016), Journal of Sports Sciences (Gatorade Sports Science Institute). Sweat sodium in 506 athletes.

Hoffman et al. (2015). Sodium intake, cramping, and nausea during a 100 mile race.

American College of Sports Medicine (2007). Exercise and Fluid Replacement position stand: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17277604/

CHAPTERS

00:00 Could too much salt be wrecking your fueling?

00:17 Welcome and disclaimer

01:15 Where this idea came from

02:54 Electrolyte basics

03:44 How sodium helps your body absorb carbs

05:05 Does more sodium block carbs? The studies

07:37 Is 1,500 mg of sodium an hour too much?

10:03 Why the sodium to water ratio matters

10:51 How salty is your sweat?

12:03 Blood sodium and the rugby player example

13:21 Is there a magic ratio?

14:13 How salty drinks can hurt your fueling

14:58 Do you need electrolytes every day?

16:44 Sweating 12 hours a day on a construction site

17:30 Sodium and muscle cramps

18:11 5 takeaways

19:44 What I still don't know

20:16 Outro

Until Next Time: Just Keep Running

Do you actually need a 20 mile long run before your first marathon? Where

did that number even come from, and what happens if you skip it on

purpose?

I ran a 2:21 half marathon in March. On October 4th I’m running my first

full marathon at the Maine Marathon, and I’m saying my goal out loud so I

can’t quietly move it later: under 4 hours and 30 minutes. That’s about 30

minutes faster than what my half predicts, because a marathon is not two

half marathons stacked together.

This one is the whole picture. The zone 2 base that took my easy pace from

14:14 to 11:30. The point where my cardiovascular system outran my

Achilles and my knee. A 20 mile trail race with 6,000 feet of climb that

cost me marathon-specific training and gave me something else in return.

Why I ran 16, 17, 18 instead of 16, 18, 20 — and why I still feel a little

funny about it. Then the race plan: 10:18 the whole way, 82 grams of carbs

an hour, and the 3 things that could take 4:30 off the table.

Everything else: https://linktr.ee/evanblakeney

Follow the show — I’ll be back after the race with what actually happened,

good or bad.

CHAPTERS

00:00 — The goal, out loud

01:07 — How I got here after the half marathon

01:34 — Zone 2, 30 miles a week, and the weak link shifting

02:38 — Working construction and training on the road

03:10 — The Jigger Johnson 20 miler

04:16 — Where the 20 mile long run rule came from

05:32 — Why a trail 20 doesn’t count

07:57 — Choosing 16-17-18 instead of 16-18-20

09:14 — Knowing it was right and still feeling like I conceded

10:48 — Race day pacing plan

12:40 — Risk 1: going out too fast and burning glycogen

13:35 — Risk 2: fueling for 4.5 hours

14:45 — Risk 3: the last 10K

15:39 — 3 takeaways and what’s next

#running #marathontraining #firstmarathon #runningpodcast #beginnerrunner

#mainerunning

#marathon #longrun #runnersofinstagram #trainingblock #mainemarathon

#runchat

Until Next Time: Just Keep Running

Stefan Heisler is one of my best friends from college, and he is the reason I run at all. A year ago he sent me a text about how running fits nicely around work and kids. That text ended with me standing on a mountain in New Hampshire wondering what I had agreed to.

This episode is his story. Two miles off the couch, a triathlon leg he was terrified of, a half marathon he had to walk in, a 3:30 marathon, and then 100 miles at the Tahoe Rim Trail. We talk about what he actually did to train for it while working full time with two small kids, the mistakes he made in every single race leading up to it, and the stomach problem at mile 15 that nearly ended the whole thing.

Also: what makes a New Hampshire trail different from a California one, and why nobody warned him about the boulders.

Heads up: Stefan's internet died halfway through, so we finished this a couple of days later. You'll hear me explain it around the 54 minute mark.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Eighteen years of friendship and zero runs together

2:01 How Stefan actually started running

2:49 A triathlon where he only had to run

5:05 The half marathon he had to walk in

5:58 Signing up for a marathon a year out

7:33 Hitting 3:30 in his first marathon

8:25 One YouTube video and a secret ultra signup

11:05 Training around a full-time job and two kids

12:55 4:30 AM alarms, and 3 AM during peak week

16:43 The weed whacker problem

18:59 Why running still feels hard even when you're improving

23:48 The Tahoe Rim Trail 100

24:44 The plan: aerobic base, uphill work, 80 mile weeks

27:14 Race week as a parent: whatever you do, don't get sick

29:26 Finishing 100 miles and winning his age group

31:11 What the 100K, 50K and 50 miler each taught him

34:31 The rock he never took out of his shoe

35:29 Fueling: gels, fig bars, and what stopped working

37:21 Stomach trouble at mile 15 and solving it mid-race

40:21 The text message that gaslit me into running

42:06 2.2 miles in 24 minutes

46:24 Jigger Johnson: 6,000 feet of gain in 20 miles

47:58 West Coast switchbacks vs New Hampshire boulders

51:19 Check the terrain before you sign up

53:52 A quick note about the internet

54:31 What's next: the Western States lottery

57:22 Run the same race better, or chase a new one?

59:06 Trail runners vs road runners

1:00:49 Why marathon and ultra training don't overlap

1:04:49 Signing up for the 50 miler three days later

1:06:46 94 hours at the Last Soul Ultra

1:07:16 Wrap up

If you're getting something out of this show, the best thing you can do is hit subscribe. It's free and it actually helps.

Come say hi on Instagram: @evan_blakeney

Everything else - podcast links, socials, all of it: https://linktr.ee/evanblakeney

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Runs - Nevada

Canyons Endurance Runs 100K - Auburn, CA

Jigger Johnson 20 Miler - White Mountains, NH

Great American Triathlon - Sacramento, CA

Apple Hill Half Marathon - Camino, CA

Training for the Uphill Athlete - Scott Johnston

Last Soul Ultra, Germany - Mark Dowdle, 94 yards / roughly 392 miles

Quick disclaimer: I'm not a coach, a doctor, or an expert. I'm a runner who's still figuring this out, talking to other runners who are also still figuring it out. Take what's useful and check anything important with a professional.

Until Next Time: Just Keep Running

Nita Sweeney started running at 49, and it started with sixty seconds of jogging in a hidden ravine with her dog. She was severely depressed, out of shape, and convinced her neighbors would laugh at her. She's now a marathoner, an ultra runner, and the author of Depression Hates a Moving Target.

We go all the way back: an Ohio farm childhood, a father who measured everything, a law career that eventually broke her, and the year she couldn't work at all. Then the Facebook post from a high school friend that got her off the couch, and everything that came after it.

Nita talks about why she needs a race on the calendar to keep moving, the three things she checks whenever she feels off, and why the running community turned out to be nothing like she expected. If you're at the beginning and wondering whether it's too late, start here.

Nita's website: https://nitasweeney.com

Her books: Depression Hates a Moving Target · Memorial: The Year My Dad and I Stopped Keeping Score · Make Every Move a Meditation

Everything from the show: https://linktr.ee/evanblakeney

Instagram: @evan_blakeney

Follow the show so you don't miss the next one, and come say hi on Instagram @evan_blakeney.

This episode includes discussion of depression, suicidal thoughts, and psychiatric hospitalization. If you're struggling, you can call or text 988 in the US to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, any time.

Just Keep Running is hosted by Evan Blakeney, a runner figuring this out alongside you. Nothing here is medical or coaching advice.

Episode Tags

running, beginner runner, marathon, ultra running, mental health, depression, couch to 5k, running community, Nita Sweeney, running coach, meditation, starting running later in life

Until Next Time: Just Keep Running

Heads up before you listen: Fitz shares a specific calorie formula in this episode that's worked for a lot of her clients. It's a simplification — it doesn't account for height, age, sex, or how much you're training. If you're training for a distance event, talk to a sports dietitian before cutting calories. Under-fueling is genuinely common in endurance runners and it'll wreck your training before it does anything for your waistline. I'm not a coach, a doctor, or a nutritionist — I'm a guy who started running and wanted better answers than the ones I was getting. This is a conversation, not medical advice.

Fitz Koehler has yelled "GO!" at more starting lines than most people alive. She's the voice of the Los Angeles Marathon, the Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic, the OC Marathon, the DONNA National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer, and about thirty other events a year. She's also a breast cancer survivor, has a master's in exercise science, and built a before-school running program called the Morning Mile that's now in more than 400 schools across America, Canada, and Japan.

This one runs long because I kept stopping her to ask follow-ups. No apologies.

We get into:

• Why she taught her first fitness class at 14 years old — after quitting a job at Cinnabon
• The one sentence in a research journal that changed how she thinks about weight management
• Why she thinks your Garmin is overestimating your calorie burn, and what I started doing about it
• Her claim that roughly 60% of marathoners could still lose 20+ pounds — and why that's not a discipline problem
• How a conversation with a friend about her kid's school turned into the Morning Mile, now in 400+ schools
• What actually happens when you ask a school to let kids run before class (the pushback is weirder than you'd think)
• Why kids stop loving running somewhere between age 3 and age 12
• Her hard line on kids and marathons — and the growth-plate reasoning behind it
• The four pillars of fitness most runners are only doing one of
• Why your knees hurt when you run — and why the problem is usually your hips
• The glute medius test she says 97% of runners fail
• Why you should never strength train the same muscles two days in a row
• Why she told me to stop running seven days a week immediately
• How race announcing became a full-time career, and the 40 minutes she had to improvise when a car broke onto the course
• Her three favorite races to announce, and why the back of the pack has the best energy

If this one was useful, leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It's the single biggest thing that helps other beginner runners find the show.

Come say hi on Instagram: @evan_blakeney

FIND FITZ: Website: https://www.fitzness.com Morning Mile: https://www.morningmile.com Instagram: @fitzness Podcast: The Fitzness Show Books: You Supercharged: The Exact Formula for Fitness, Weight Loss and Longevity · My Noisy Cancer Comeback · the Healthy Cancer Comeback series

FIND ME: Everything: https://linktr.ee/evanblakeney Instagram: @evan_blakeney Facebook: facebook.com/evan.blakeney.9

Until Next Time: Just Keep Running

PJ Glassey has spent almost 40 years testing what actually works in strength training, and it led him somewhere weird: racing up skyscraper stairwells. In this episode, the founder of XGYM breaks down fast twitch vs. slow twitch muscle fibers, the exact exercise protocol he used to increase a triathlete's stride power, why tower running might be the best cross-training a runner can do, and how to tell a legit study from a bogus one.

We cover:

• PJ's path from teenage bodybuilder to founder of XGYM's time-under-tension training method

• How to actually evaluate a scientific study — and how to use AI to fact-check one

• Fast twitch vs. slow twitch muscle fibers, explained for runners

• The suspension lunge protocol PJ used to increase a triathlete's stride power

• Tower running: what it is, why it's low-impact, and how it builds hill-running strength

• Ways to replicate tower-running training without a stairwell (Jacob's ladder, stairmaster technique, versa climber)

• Anti-aging: why quad strength predicts your mortality better than grip strength

• Red light therapy: what's real, what's marketing, and how to vet a device

Note: PJ shares a personal VO2 max result from his own training log. It's a compelling anecdote, not a controlled study — worth keeping in mind as you listen.

Connect with XGYM

00:00 Welcome & guest intro

00:38 How PJ got into fitness (skinny kid → bodybuilder → trainer)

07:58 Why he founded XGYM in 1998 (less time, less injury, less bulk)

11:21 How to evaluate a scientific study (and use AI to fact-check it)

21:06 Pivoting to running: what PJ has learned training runners

23:16 Stride frequency vs. stride length — the only two ways to get faster

24:20 The suspension lunge protocol (built a triathlete's stride power)

31:24 Fast twitch vs. slow twitch, explained simply

38:22 What is tower running, and why is it the best sport you've never heard of

41:07 Why tower running builds hill strength without the joint damage

47:53 PJ's VO2 max results from anaerobic training (his own data — not a study)

49:24 Suffering as a trainable skill (“best at suffering,” not best-conditioned)

51:50 Replicating tower-run training: Jacob's ladder, stairmaster, versa climber

55:47 Tower running stories: stairwell hacking, team records, the community

1:01:12 Anti-aging: comfort zone expansion, quad strength vs. grip strength

1:04:00 Practical steps for people starting from pain or sedentary life

1:05:12 Red light therapy: what matters, what's marketing

1:09:34 Where to find XGYM, the brain type test

1:11:20 Wrap up

Follow on apple, youtube and Instagram

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Guest — XGYM

Until Next Time: Just Keep Running

Jason Geroux — known online as The Maine Viking — has run dozens of ultramarathons including 19 100-milers, and this spring he ran 300 miles solo through the Arizona desert using his own house as an aid station. In this episode, recorded in person in Orono, Maine, Jason walks through how a torturous 2-mile honeymoon run turned into a decade of daily training, why 100 miles became his favorite distance, what actually goes through your head at mile 200 of a race with no crew, and how he fits all of it around running his own flooring business.

This isn’t coaching advice — Jason isn’t a certified coach and neither is Evan. It’s one runner’s actual experience, shared so you can take what’s useful and leave the rest.

In this episode:

• How a scared-to-run-alone honeymoon jog turned into 10 years of daily training

• Why Jason picked 100 miles as his favorite distance over 50s or 200s

• The first 100-mile attempt he didn’t finish — and what changed the second time

• Planning and training for the Arizona Monster 300 (300 miles, no support crew)

• What happens mentally once you’re past your previous longest distance

• Running an epoxy flooring business on 4 AM training and zero days off

Find Jason: Instagram @themaineviking | Facebook: Jason Geroux

All links, socials, and past episodes: linktr.ee/evanblakeney

Until next time, Just Keep Running.

Until Next Time: Just Keep Running