The Science Behind the Sub-2 Hour Marathon: Alex Hutchinson on Sawe, Kejelcha & the New Era of Running

About this episode

Alex Hutchinson discusses the implications of the sub-2 hour marathon and the evolving landscape of marathon running.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR:Lagoon pillows help us sleep better, so we run better. Want to try? You can save 15% with code MARATHON. Go to https://LagoonSleep.com/marathonhandbook and take the 2-minute sleep quiz to find your match. The two-hour marathon barrier is gone. At the 2026 London Marathon, Sebastian Sawe became the first person ever to run under two hours on a record-eligible course — and Yomif Kejelcha did it too, in his marathon debut. Outside columnist and Endure author Alex Hutchinson joins Michael Doyle, Alex Cyr and Katelyn Tocci to make sense of it. We get into: Why Hutchinson thinks the shoes (the Adidas Adios Pro Evo 3) are still the biggest single factor — and why Nike has lost its grip on the super-shoe race Sawe's astonishing negative split: 60:29 out, 59:01 back, with a final 5K that put him on 1:52 marathon pace Whether the marathon is even the same race anymore — and whether "marathon pace" as a training concept is dying Norwegian-style threshold blocks vs. classic long marathon-pace work Resilience and durability — what they are and how (or whether) you train them Bicarb / sodium bicarbonate: the science of why it works, and whether marathoners should bother Why…

People in this episode

Hosts: Michael Doyle, Alex Cyr, Katelyn Tocci

Guest: Alex Hutchinson

Topics covered

• sub-2 hour marathon
• running shoes
• marathon training
• performance tactics
• marathon pace
• resilience in running

Keywords

• sub-2 marathon
• Sebastian Sawe
• Yomif Kejelcha
• Adidas Adios Pro Evo 3
• marathon training
• negative split
• bicarbonate
• drafting tactics

Sponsors

Lagoon

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Adidas, Nike

Products: Lagoon pillows

Places: London

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