Mark Fairley and Gatlin Holland

·1 hr 17 min·5 clips

At some point you stop fighting the pain and you realize you can push through anything.

Gatlin opens with a strong showing at the USATF 50K Champs, saying the race went really well overall. What stood out afterward was not the climbing, the technical parts, or the eating, which all felt solid, but the steep runnable downhills. Those descents hammered his quads and calves, and by about mile 25 his legs felt more like they had come through a marathon. Mark keeps the conversation aimed at what made the result possible, pushing into the training, fueling, mentality, and injury-prevention pieces behind it. The long runs come up as a big part of that build. Gatlin likes the 28-and-12 setup and also likes double threshold work because it leaves him feeling springy, rhythmic, and ready to settle into hard aerobic work. He sometimes adds a short bike warmup before a run so he feels activated and can imagine he is already deep into the middle miles. Music is part of the routine too. He is social outside running, but when he runs he usually prefers to be alone. The exceptions are a former training partner he used to run with a lot and his wife, who rides beside him on flat long runs, hands him what he needs, and keeps the whole thing easy and quiet. The talk keeps circling back to fueling and stomach tolerance. The point is plain: you can be very fit and still get into trouble if your stomach, energy, or leg durability is not ready for the distance. That is the lesson he is still refining, especially after this race showed how much more work he needs on fast descents. It stays warm, candid, and practical throughout.

As heard by us

A grounded look at how a fast 50K gets built.

Gatlin and Mark keep this one practical. They talk through how the race actually felt, what those steep runnable downhills did to tired legs, and why climbing and eating only explain part of the result.

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Want the fuel-and-durability details behind a strong 50K finish?

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