Hey runners, today's newsletter leans into both the numbers that define the sport and the stories that complicate them.
We start with the enduring pull of the sub-three-hour marathon, a goal that shapes how thousands of runners train, think, and race, then look at Barcelona, where every podium finisher ran a personal best in a result that feels bigger than any single performance.
There's also controversy at the NCAA level after athletes refused to share the podium with a champion they don't trust, plus major shifts in the sport with Apple joining the London Marathon and Boston expanding its start waves.
And on the practical side, we've got everything from agility drills and HRV basics to the less glamorous reality of runner's trots — along with a closer look at Fotyen Tesfay, whose near world-record run is forcing a rethink of what's possible.
Jessy Carveth
Senior News Editor, Marathon Handbook
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The science and psychology behind why so many runners long to run sub-3, and how ignoring this time-based goal is actually the best strategy to break three hours in the marathon
The times from Sunday's race in Barcelona were remarkable. What makes them worth examining is not any single performance — it's the pattern across the entire podium.
At the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, Seth Clevenger won two titles and shattered two records. His competitors refused to share the stage with him.
Agility ladder drills don't have to be reserved for competitive athletes who play sports like soccer, football, basketball, tennis, squash, or boxing. Here are the best agility ladder drills exercises to improve your quickness and coordination.
Let's just enter the confessional booth here one at a time. It's happened to all of us: you're blissfully running along enjoying your workout, or maybe even running a race, when it strikes...But you can avoid it.
With all the buzz around HRV, there's also a lot of confusion. What exactly does it measure? How should you track it? And most importantly, how do you apply it in real life to train smarter—not just harder?
The tech giant's move into elite race sponsorship signals a bigger push to be taken seriously as a running wearable — not just a very expensive step counter.
She's been quietly elite for a decade. On Sunday she ran the second-fastest women's marathon in history. In another era, that sentence would be the whole story. It isn't anymore.
In this week's episode of The Running Story, Michael Doyle and Jessy Carveth break down one of the wildest weeks in running news. From a 2:10 debut at the Barcelona Marathon that could challenge the women's marathon world record to Eliud Kipchoge announcing a global marathon tour for 2026, there's a lot to unpack.
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