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This week, we finally discussed our Book of the Quarter for Q1 of 2023: "Fit Nation" by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela. While the book wasn't our favorite, we did have a good conversation about the ideas in it and what they mean for us as members of the endurance community. We also announced our next BOTQ, which we will make sure to finish on time!

This week, we were joined by Krystle Andrews--Ironman, Boston Qualifier, Six-Star Medal winner, and recent finisher of the Antarctica Marathon! Krystle told us all about the things she saw and experienced as part of this unique marathon, including the difficulties in getting there, the course, and the penguins!

This week, friends of the podcast Justin Dugan and Allison Mercer came on the podcast to review the Ragnar Ultra Relay that the two of them, Michelle, and George all did together on April 21st and 22nd. Each runner did six trail runs totaling around 31 miles over the course of the roughly twenty-hour race, and we discussed the course, our nutrition, and the challenges we faced along the way. (Spoiler alert: we won the race.)

This week, we bring you another race report! This time, we talked to James Aldridge about his experience at the Boston Marathon. We spoke to James a few days before he left about his preparation and his expectations for the race, and then we came back to him about a week after the race to hear how it went.

The Boston Marathon is right around the corner, and the fields for the men's and women's races are incredible. We took a little bit of time to discuss them after giving Camille Herron the praise she deserved for setting a new 48-hour world record last month.

This week, George and Michelle went to Elemental Altitude to take a tour of the various physiological tests that they have there--and to take a Resting Metabolic Rate test!--and, of course, to complete a workout at 10,000 feet. The owner Chuck took us through the history of the place and told us all about the various offerings he has. He also told us a bit about who can benefit from high-altitude training at a facility like Elemental Altitude and how.

Japan is one of the top countries in the world for marathoning. There are multiple examples of Japanese races with literally hundreds of people running under 2:20. Why is this so? This week, Brett Larner, the writer behind Japan Running News, came on the podcast to discuss the historical and cultural reasons that Japanese marathon fields are so deep. It was a fascinating conversation.

This week, Lee and Aaron joined us to share their experience at the Croatan Buck Fifty gravel bike race in North Carolina. Aaron--who rode with his 75-year-old dad--was riding his first bike race, and Lee was looking to finish strong. In the pre-race interview, they tell us about their training, their fears, and their expectations, and in the post-race interview, they recap how it all went down. There were definitely some surprises!

This week, we heard about George's experience at the Austin Marathon, which came five weeks after the Houston Marathon and three weeks after the Mountain Mist 50K! We discussed the hills--including one particular hill--the vibe of the race, and perhaps most importantly, how he felt doing his third big race in just over a month. Before we got to it, we also discussed the Atlanta Marathon and Half-Marathon, we talked a little about Erik and Michelle's upcoming 10x5K, and we discussed whether we'd be watching "All Quiet on the Western Front," which features a screenplay by World Champion Triathlete Lesley Paterson.

This week, we got to talk to David Eliuk about what it took to set the Guinness World Record for Most T-Shirts Worn During a Half-Marathon. David described how he decided on this goal, how he trained, the requirements for the record to be recognized, and the challenges he faced along the way. Running 13.1 miles while wearing 120 shirts is no mean feat, and it was fun to hear about David's background, goals, and challenges.

This week, after catching up a bit on recent news--including the story of a Canadian man who ran a half-marathon wearing 120 shirts!--we discussed the training metrics that are available on popular watches and online training logs. While the way that various companies calculate your training "load" can be helpful, we also discuss a few drawbacks with the approach.

This week, we discussed some impressive early-season indoor track performances, and we talked about the "constrained daily energy expenditure" model of metabolism. The model, as described by Dr. Herman Pontzer, suggests that no matter how much you exercise, your metabolism will be roughly the same.

This week, we welcomed our new sponsor, Elemental Altitude Training Center! We also announced the new Book of the Quarter, talked about lots of endurance news from Australia, described the Boston Athletic Association's new policy on pregnancy deferrals, and discussed a recent piece of research on the differences between trail and road runners.

We chose to run 2023 Mountain Mist 50K together, and we had a lot to say about it! With a pre-race conversation on Friday night, our first impressions post-race on Saturday, and our final wrap-up on Sunday, we discussed every aspect of the race--the weather, the gear, the course, the competition, and the results.

This week, we discussed the new pricing structure at Strava, even though we--and everyone else--do not really know what it is. We also reviewed the Houston Marathon, which one of us may have run.

This week, we reviewed our most recent Book of the Quarter, "Running While Black" by Alison Desir. The book, Desir's memoir of growing up and becoming a runner as a Black women in a sport and country that is filled with white spaces, was provocative and interesting, and we will all continue to think about the ideas for the next long while. We also announced a new sponsor and the return of our Race Report podcasts!

On the last day of 2022, we talked about how the year went for us--including our Strava "Year in Sports" data--what our favorite races were, and what we're resolving for 2023.

This week, we talked a bit about the Lookout Mountain 18-miler and the . . . interesting . . . experience that George had there. We also updated our CIM and Olympic Marathon Trials coverage, and we discussed the new standards released by World Athletics for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Are we a triathlon podcast now?? This week, we discussed three big pieces of news in the world of triathlon: the retirement of Mike Reilly, the location of the 2023 Ironman World Championship, and the return of Gwen Jorgenson. Just to assure everyone that we're still runners, we also discussed some strangeness related to the USATF's awarding of the 2024 Marathon Trials to Orlando.

This week, we discussed a variety of news items from the world of running, including the non-ratification of Camille Herron's 100-mile WR, Eliud Kipchoge's announcing that he'll be in Boston on Patriots Day, and the US Marathon Championship at the California International Marathon.