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3 days ago | 
marathonhandbook.com | Amby Burfoot
For 36-year-old David Roche, 2024 was his annus mirabilis–a miracle year. He entered the first two 100-mile races of his life and won both in convincing fashion. No wonder he’s rated a top contender in the 2025 Western States 100-Mile. But his victories last year weren’t the biggest miracle. The most stunning development was his rapid recovery from a horrific bike accident. In April, on a long training ride, he was struck by a car that veered across his path.
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4 days ago | 
marathonhandbook.com | Amby Burfoot
Rod Farvard has a long memory. In particular, he is haunted by a cross-country race from his senior year in Moraga, California. Farvard dropped out after two miles, feeling that he had hit a wall. Two miles? This didn’t seem like a good omen for someone intrigued by the endurance world. Farvard fought back. He finished his first marathon (in 2:44) the following year while a freshman in college. He began entering triathlons, and then Ironman events, completing one in under 10 hours.
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5 days ago | 
marathonhandbook.com | Amby Burfoot
When Kilian Jornet edges to the front of the narrow Western States 100-Mile start line on June 28, he will be greeted with all the acclaim due a GOAT. Jornet is universally regarded as the most ambitious, accomplished, and technically skilled mountain trail racer of all time. However, his first trip to Western States 15 years ago was quite different. Just 22 years old in 2010, he finished third, dizzy, overheated, and dehydrated.
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2 weeks ago | 
marathonhandbook.com | Amby Burfoot
For competitors in the upcoming Western States 100 on June 28, almost nothing is more important than staying cool in this hot, sunny trail race. The same is true for all runners training and racing in the summer heat. That’s because running long distances represents a battle against rising body temperature. The longer and faster you go, the more your core temperature climbs.
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3 weeks ago | 
marathonhandbook.com | Amby Burfoot
The Western States Endurance Run 100-Miler is often called the Super Bowl of ultramarathon trail races. It began in 1977, missed two runnings (2008, wildfire smoke; and 2020, Covid), and takes place this year for the 47th time on Saturday, June 28. It’s not, however, the first 100-miler or even the first 100-mile trail race.
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1 month ago | 
marathonhandbook.com | Amby Burfoot
Jim Walmsley, winner of last year’s Western States 100 as well as three previous WS 100s, has disappeared from this year’s list of entrants. This presumably means that he is injured, and will not start the famous ultramarathon trail race through California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. The 47th official running of the WS 100 is scheduled for 5:00 a.m. Pacific time on Saturday, June 28.
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1 month ago | 
marathonhandbook.com | Amby Burfoot
On Saturday evening in Boston, Marathon Handbook hosted a “Mile Zero” party in Boston. It brought together about 100 MH friends and a handful of elite guests who ran the marathon on Monday. The guests included age-group marathon legends Jeannie Rice and Gene Dykes; famed marathon physiologist Andy Jones (and his marathon running wife, Emma); and Louise Burke, widely regarded as the world’s top endurance nutritionist.
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1 month ago | 
marathonhandbook.com | Amby Burfoot
Every runner I know feels the same about workouts and training theories—there are too many of them. How are you supposed to decide which one to follow? You could do LSD (Long Slow Distance) or HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). Damn all those confusing acronyms. You could adopt Swedish fartlek or follow the Dutch system of Klaas Lok. He proposes something he calls the Easy Interval Method (EIM). You could run longer in Zone 2, or do double thresholds.
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2 months ago | 
marathonhandbook.com | Amby Burfoot
I wish I knew something about online sports betting. I don’t. But someone could clear a nice chunk of cash on the upcoming Nike Breaking4 project. On June 26 in Paris, Nike runner Faith Kipyegon will attempt to break 4:00 minutes in the mile for an exhibition 1-mile race sponsored by Nike. The company is hoping to build on the concept it launched in 2017 when Eliud Kipchoge ran the Breaking2 marathon in 2:00:25. Two years later, in a similar event sponsored by another company, Kipchoge ran 1:59:40.
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2 months ago | 
marathonhandbook.com | Amby Burfoot
The Boston Marathon has changed dramatically in the last 30 to 40 years, but some things have remained the same–and that’s a good thing. Let’s call it tradition. The field is much bigger, the start time has moved from noon to mid-morning, there are far more female runners, footwear and fueling have made massive advances, and the digital revolution is everywhere present. On the other hand, the start, the finish, and the course remain essentially as they have been since 1897.
