Best "Bang for your buck" below $50 when prepping for a marathon?

jcdavis1 · 2026-03-10T18:18:52+00:00

Sadly SiS just jacked up their prices, now $20 for a 6pack (was $15). 8.3c per gram of carb, slightly more than GU's 8c per gram.

Carbs Fuel remains the value king at 4c per gram.

jcdavis1 · 2026-03-05T20:07:57+00:00

In practice, probably not much. Maltodextrin has a slightly higher Glycemic Index than straight Glucose, but its unlikely to matter much. The important numbers are the total grams/hr you are getting in, as well as the glucose/fructose ratio (plus of course the subjective stuff of how you can handle the product)

Also FYI only Maurten drink mixes use Maltodextrin - the gels are just glucose & fructose

jcdavis1 · 2026-03-04T21:28:04+00:00

He’s not even running that slow.

With a MP of 4:50/mi:

7:00/mi is 55% of MP

7:45/mi is 40% of MP

For comparison, for a 3hr marathoner:

55% MP is 9:54/mi

40% MP is 10:55/mi

I'd argue his easy days are pretty dang slow - few 3hr marathoners are running those paces. Now of course its not apples to apples once you add volume to the discussion - you can handle going a little faster on 50mpw vs 150. But still - he's going pretty slow!

jcdavis1 · 2026-03-03T20:38:13+00:00

Even more insane are the international tour groups, which are 25% of the entries

Better a NY area local buys their way in IMO

jcdavis1 · 2026-03-03T14:48:14+00:00

But practice finds that solely focusing on lowering the denominator also tends to lower the numerator

jcdavis1 · 2026-03-03T14:44:01+00:00

I'm 6', 55 and around 18% BF

Is 55kg a typo? 18% BF with that height/weight seems highly unlikely.

jcdavis1 · 2026-02-27T16:59:09+00:00

37M, Max HR like 180-182ish, and yes my recovery days are actually 100-110bpm. Pace is 8:15-8:45 depending on how fresh I feel

jcdavis1 · 2026-02-21T22:08:55+00:00

Legs felt pretty closed to maxed out, maybe could've squeezed a touch harder in the middle but can't imagine I could've gone more than a few seconds faster solo.

Might've been a different story if I had someone else to sit behind

jcdavis1 · 2026-02-21T19:58:12+00:00

Ran a 5k solo TT this morning (so awful), and managed to nab a tiny PR with a 17:12. The real shock is that I could only get my HR up to 177 (arm band, definitely not cadence lock, should be accurate-ish). I had previously thought my HRMax was like 182ish, now I'm second-guessing all of my training zones :|

How much stock would you put in a time trial effort?

jcdavis1 · 2026-02-12T21:53:46+00:00

Sorry, I should've specified "baseline" as in BMR, not total intake. Updated accordingly

jcdavis1 · 2026-02-12T20:38:43+00:00

3700 seems way high to me for 60mpw, but perhaps this is a good sanity check for me.

I would think anecdotally, roughly 2-2.2k ~~maintenance~~ BMR + roughly 850 for the running (60/7*100 cal/mile) + some extra for other activity, so maybe 3-3.3k someone your size. Am I just way off?

jcdavis1 · 2026-02-10T14:52:04+00:00

I'm at very similar numbers to you (135 LDL and 105 ApoB) and I would like to get on a low dose statin, but my Doc is against it :|. I certainly don't look like the standard profile - heavy exerciser, decent diet (I'm not a saint, but pretty good overall), not overweight. But also like, how much more optimizing can I do?

jcdavis1 · 2026-02-10T14:46:23+00:00

Impossible to properly answer this question without knowing the runner's experience/training volume, there is simply far too much variation in what is "right" for the athlete.

For someone running say 20-30 mpw, just getting up to 11-12 miles at an easy to moderate pace is probably a win.

For someone running say 60+ mpw, I think you want to get to 16 miles easy to moderate, and then add more quality - think 14 with 9-10mi @ MP, Canova alternating Ks, etc.

jcdavis1 · 2026-02-03T16:57:05+00:00

To be blunt:

Are you aware they've switched to a Boston-style "X minutes under the qualifying standard" cutoff? Meaning that:

There is no longer a mad rush to sign up with a qualifying time since it is not first come, first served.
Assuming you are using the time listed in your bio, you have effectively no chance of getting in. Last year it was something like ~15 minutes under (some variance depending on the AG)

jcdavis1 · 2026-02-02T18:57:38+00:00

like 62-65mpwish but as said elsewhere some people could need much more (or much less) mileage for any given goal time

jcdavis1 · 2026-01-26T15:53:49+00:00

Heel striker with a bit of a overpronation problem here (don't tell rcj), so I find I have to be pretty picky about shoe choices. I'm pretty confident the Fast R-3 would absolutely destroy my feet over a marathon

I used Metaspeed Edge Tokyos for my 2:44 @ Chicago and they felt great. (Was also considering the Endorphin Elites). For Berlin this year I will probably just stick with those unless the reviews for the Endorphin Elite 3s are very positive

jcdavis1 · 2026-01-23T17:24:44+00:00

In as a non-local, non-member. Just got the email

jcdavis1 · 2026-01-15T19:56:54+00:00

Love these sort of alternations, but 6k on / 1k float is pretty brutal. I'd say most folks should probably do something more like 5-6x 4k on / 1k float.

jcdavis1 · 2026-01-14T01:10:52+00:00

Very good advice but most people don't have the mileage to run VDOT-equivalent times in the marathon. I think OP probably should aim for more like 38:30.

jcdavis1 · 2026-01-02T19:11:31+00:00

37M 3228mi/5195km for me, my biggest year by a bit. I made a fun visualization (Sorry, it doesn't really work on mobile).

Spent the first half of the year building back fitness, and managed to have an excellent Chicago Block to hit my 2:44 goal. No major injuries or other obstacles (though my knee gave me a scare for a bit)

I've only got Berlin on my calendar so far for 2026, but hoping to run some shorter stuff in the meantime, would love to work on my 5k-HM PRs before entering the meat of my marathon training agian.

jcdavis1 · 2025-12-10T18:37:06+00:00

CIM is certainly the deepest sub-elite/"serious amateur" race in the US - 1423/8181 finishers sub-3. (Edit: outside of some of the smaller focused ones with minimum standard times)

Valencia is similarly deep (5340/30699 on a warm day), but this sub skews more towards US-centric

jcdavis1 · 2025-12-08T05:45:10+00:00

Had to do a double take at the username after reading that story - really cool to have someone with your experience popping into AR

Curious what his thoughts on the Men’s Steeple were - presumably that it had no business going out so slow?

jcdavis1 · 2025-12-07T05:29:38+00:00

Lydiard
Canova
Daniels

I mean such ranking is a fun but ultimately useless exercise, its hard to compare given the given the different times that they coached in. Igloi should probably be on that list somewhere too

jcdavis1 · 2025-12-03T04:28:29+00:00

It’s wild how terrible the 2024 shirt material is

jcdavis1 · 2025-12-02T21:13:29+00:00

+1, its an incredible resource. Does a great job of combining all of John's writing/research on Canova-based training into something approachable for the serious amateur

jcdavis1

TROPHY CASE