Month: February 2026

Twelve years ago my friend Harry asked me to go on a 10-mile run with him. It was going to be his last long run before the Austin Half Marathon. Harry was competing in the Austin Distance Challenge, had the lead in his age division, and wanted to keep his lead. He wanted me to go on his last long run with him so I could keep him on pace.

But the thing was, I’d never run 10 miles. My daily runs were 5 and 6 miles, and I’d eek out a 7- or 8-miler on the weekend. I hadn’t dipped my toes into double-digit mileage. Hadn’t even considered it. There was no reason for me to do so. But Harry asked me to run 10 miles with him like it was no big deal. And Harry very much knew my weekly volume, which was far from anything big or noteworthy. So, I accepted, like it was no big deal.

But it WAS a big deal. I hung up the phone with Harry and told Elise, “He wants me to run 10 miles with him on Thursday evening.” I think that phone call was on Monday or Tuesday. I had no idea how the hell I was going to prepare or be able to run 10 miles in just a few short days. I was stressed. I was a nervous wreck in the days leading up to the big 10-miler.

Harry showed up to the house on time that Thursday evening. And before I knew it or had time to sheepishly make excuses to Harry in case I couldn’t make it 10 miles, we were jogging down my street, set out on our 10 miler. I guess we were doing this thing.

I don’t remember what all we talked about, but we talked. A lot. That helped make put the miles behind us. Harry’s a personal trainer, so I sought his wisdom after we’d hit mile 7 or 8. I asked him what I should do after this epic haul. I’d already told him that Elise had a frozen chicken fettuccini Alfredo in the oven, so my big meal was planned. He said an ice bath could help with any inflamation. I don’t think I even had any inflamation, but when we were done with our 10 mile run I assumed I was going to be inflamed as all get-out, so I emptied the freezer of all its ice, put it into the tub, filled it with cold water, and plunked my naked self into the bathtub. I was so miserably uncomfortable. It was horrible. But I figured had to somehow recover from this huge mileage endeavor. Elise still laughs about that ice bath.

Twelve-plus years later and this is just what I do on a Tuesday before a full day.

And you can call a recipe your own.

Those are words I vividly remember from a cooking class I took that was taught by Jeff Blank, may he rest in peace. Jeff said, “you know, if you change three ingredients in a recipe you can call it your own.”

As running frequently immitates life, I’ve changed three ingredients in my usual marathon training block. Run training can and should be very personalized and systematic, but also very fluid and open to change.

Without getting all philosophical about it, here are the three things ingredients I’ve changed in this block building up to Boston 2026:

1. Volume. I’ve simply added more running for more weekly mileage. I’d probably average 50 miles per week in previous training cycles, topping at 55 mpw on peak weeks. Now I’m shooting for 60 mpw. Most of those miles are slow and easy.
2. Five peak weeks. In the last ~10 marathons I’d build 3 peak weeks in the second half of the macrocycle. I started this cycle with a strong enough base that I built out five peak weeks, all culminating with a 20+ mile long run on Sundays. This ties into #1 above in incorporating more volume, but also just training my body and mind to 20+ consecutive miles in preparation for the marathon. There is a down week between each peak week.
3. Two-a-days. Wednesdays have historically been a long(er) easy run, bookended by a hard workout on Tuesday and a tempo run on Thursday. Usually a Wednesday would be mileage between 4-10 miles. I’ve now changed that to where it’s still a slow and easy run, but I do one in the morning at my usual run time, and one in the evening after a full day of work and life. Presently (9 weeks out from race day) I’ll run 5 miles in the a.m. and 5 miles in the p.m. That evening run is hard, after a full day, especially considering I’m on my feet most of the day and my job can often be labor intensive.