The Physiology of Endurance Running Podcast · Dan Nash and Owain Zerilli

Road to Valencia 2025 - 11 weeks to go

·1 hr 24 min·5 clips

Jen reveals her lactate levels during a 16k threshold run and why it's key for marathon durability.

This episode of the Physiology of Endurance Running podcast continues the "Road to Valencia 2025" series with hosts Dan and Jen providing a detailed training update at the 11-week mark. The hosts are coaches and athletes documenting their marathon preparation, offering insights into balancing high mileage with recovery. Jen reports a 107-mile week, her biggest ever, starting with an eight-mile morning run and 12-second strides. She describes a challenging Tuesday session of four sets of two-by-two kilometers, using lactate measurements that rose from 2.8 mmol/L to 3.8 mmol/L. Jen also details her use of 20-minute hot baths for recovery, during which she consumes jelly babies as a fueling strategy. The hosts discuss the recent Berlin Marathon, noting the challenging 24-degree heat and praising athlete Sebastian Salaway for undergoing approximately 25 doping controls before the race. Jen's training includes a Friday session of three sets of 12 x 45-second intervals with 15-second recoveries, which she averaged at 3:18-3:23 per kilometer pace. Her Sunday featured a 130-minute long run, with 50 minutes at a steady 6:08 per mile pace, which she analyzes via heart rate trends to assess durability. Dan shares his own training week, which was disrupted by illness symptoms he initially attributed to poor office ventilation. He attempted a treadmill session of 10 x 4 minutes but later canceled a run after noticing a resting heart rate of 120 and an inability to regulate his body temperature. A surprising claim is Jen's method of using a floating duck thermometer from TEMU to measure her hot bath temperature, acknowledging it wouldn't pass scientific peer review. The discussion reveals Jen's tendency to start interval sessions too fast, a habit she is consciously working to curb for better marathon pacing. The hosts debate the minimum effective duration for a secondary daily run, questioning whether a 30-minute "double" provides sufficient adaptive stimulus. An interesting moment is Jen's admission that she ran 4.7 miles home from a podcast recording instead of taking a bus, prioritizing time efficiency over optimal fueling. The tone is highly conversational and informal, featuring friendly banter between the hosts as they recount their training highs and lows. The style is educational yet personal, blending specific workout data with anecdotal stories about route diversions and jelly baby consumption. Endurance runners and amateur athletes following a structured marathon plan would appreciate the granular training details and practical recovery tips. Listeners seeking a highly produced, narrative-driven podcast or those uninterested in the minutiae of weekly mileage and heart rate data might find this episode too niche.

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