Marathon Handbook Podcast

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This week, Marathon Handbook news editor Jessy Carveth joins us to talk about everything you need to know to run your goal half marathon. Jessy is chasing a 1:27:30 at the Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon this October, and we used her season as the framework for a complete soup-to-nuts guide on how to run a goal half marathon.
We cover everything: how to pick the right race, how to set A, B, and C goals based on where your fitness actually is, how long your training block should be, and what your weeks should look like. Alex reveals the threshold training hack he credits for his breakthrough half marathon in Houston. Katelyn puts her coach hat on and gives her honest assessment of Jessy's race-into-fitness approach. And... Jessy makes a surprisingly compelling case for doing things entirely her own way.
Chapters:0:00 — Intro & Channel Updates4:27 — Ranking Our Favorite Race Distances14:30 — Sponsored by Momentous15:53 — How to Pick Your Goal Race25:29 — Setting Your Half Marathon Goals31:25 — Adjusting Goals Through Training38:51 — How Long Should You Train?44:49 — Sponsored by RYTHM47:24 — Half Marathon Training Basics54:03 — Jesse's Unorthodox Training Plan1:04:58 — Long Runs & Training Evaluation1:17:37 — Gear: Shoes1:25:52 — Gear: Socks & Watch1:27:24 — Race Weekend Nutrition1:31:05 — Warmup & Start Line Strategy1:38:26 — Pacing & The Hard Part1:41:45 — Training in the Heat

Email: ⁠podcast@marathonhandbook.com⁠Join Run Club and Send Us a Voice Note: marathonhandbook.com

A 13-year-old from Utah just broke a mile world record that had stood since 1973. Plus: Olympic triathlon gold medalists are hitting the track, a runner completed every single street in Chicago, Yomif Kejelcha could break the half marathon world record in Buenos Aires and the marathon lottery crisis is getting very real.
Chapters:0:00 — Intro & show announcements
2:53 — Story 1: 13-year-old Angelina Alder breaks 53-year-old mile world record
5:13 — Story 2: Olympic triathlon champions Alex Yee & Cassandre Beaugrand go to the track
7:35 — Story 3: Joabe Barbosa runs every street in Chicago (4,000 miles in 680 days)
12:00 — Story 4: Yomif Kejelcha targets half marathon world record in Buenos Aires
15:40 — Story 5: The marathon lottery crisis — Copenhagen, London & what's next
20:38 — Outro

Jimmy Whelan raced the Giro d'Italia, wore the EF Education First jersey in the World Tour, and beat Pogačar in a U23 race. Then he broke his pelvis, lost his contract, and messaged his boss from a hospital bed in Europe to say he was done.Less than a year later, he ran a 61-minute half marathon on his professional running debut at Valencia, 13th on the Australian all-time list. He's now signed with Salomon, based in Barcelona, coached by Andy Henderson (also coach to Phil Sesemann), and openly chasing the Australian Olympic marathon team for LA 2028.In this episode, Jessy Carveth sits down with Jimmy to talk about:• Why he walked away from pro cycling after 8 years• How cycling built an engine that's tailor-made for the marathon• Training doubles, 200km+ weeks, and learning to manage load as a new runner• The Berlin half marathon blow-up and what he learned from failing publicly• His marathon debut plans and his 2028 Olympic ambitionsWhether you're a competitive runner, a cycling fan, or just love a great comeback story, this one's for you.

Why does every marathon training plan include so much easy, slow running — even when your goal pace is well over a minute faster per mile? This week, a question from listener Seth (a former pro cyclist chasing a sub-3 marathon) opens up one of our most useful conversations yet.
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Michael, Alex, and Katelyn break down the science behind easy running: zone 2, mitochondria, angiogenesis, the 80/20 rule, running economy, and why the world's best marathoners — including Eliud Kipchoge — run their easy days embarrassingly slow. They also share what easy running actually feels like in practice, how to gauge your effort without obsessing over pace, and why betraying the 80/20 rule is the fastest path to injury.
Email: podcast@marathonhandbook.comJoin Run Club and Send Us a Voice Note: marathonhandbook.com

Chapters:0:00 – Intro, Banter & What We're Covering18:07 – Listener Voice Note: Martina on German Pronunciation & NYC Events21:34 – Ad: Lagoon Sleep Pillows23:47 – Why You Must Run Slow to Race Fast (Main Topic)52:37 – Pronunciation Tangent: Capillaries, Claude & Canadian Quirks54:49 – Should You Race Again After a DNF? The Revenge Race Question1:05:55 – Outro & How to Connect With Us

It's official, and it's historic: the Cape Town Marathon has been named the 8th Abbott World Marathon Major — the first ever on the continent of Africa. In this surprise emergency episode, Michael Doyle and news editor Jesse Carveth break down the announcement the running world saw coming but couldn't stop talking about (00:37). They walk the full eight-major calendar from Tokyo to New York (01:28), make the case for why Africa was long overdue given that roughly 80% of the world's top 50 marathoners come from the continent (02:23), and explain what the new eight-star medal — and the provisional star for 2025 and 2026 entrants — means for star chasers (03:26).
From there, the guys trace Cape Town's meteoric rise from ~16,000 to nearly 30,000 runners (03:59), revisit the brutal 2025 cancellation when severe winds stopped the race roughly 90 minutes before the gun (04:50), and unpack the 2027 ballot — open June 10, closing June 24 — including the decision to reserve two-thirds of entries for African runners (05:55). They dig into the Sanlam sponsorship extension (07:20) and ask the question on everyone's mind: with London drawing 1.4 million applicants, could Cape Town become the single hardest World Marathon Major to get into (08:20)?
The conversation gets into the real reason so few races can join the club — the staggering cost of becoming a major, with even Valencia admitting it can't afford the leap (09:32) — plus entry prices (~$220 international vs. ~$48 local), Kipchoge's role as the ultimate ambassador, and how Cape Town defines its own character as a major (11:06). Finally, Michael and Jesse debate whether expansion waters down the brand or makes it truly global (16:18), and look ahead to Shanghai as the near-certain 9th major and the race for the 10th — South America, India, or the Middle East (19:30). They close on the big question: how long can the running boom keep this snowball rolling (22:31)?
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