The Secret To A FAST Marathon (and it's not more mileage) Artwork

The Alchemical Life

Welcome to the Alchemical Life Podcast. This is the podcast that redefines transformation to help athletes prevent injury, improve performance, and achieve more in both sport and life.

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The Alchemical Life

The Secret To A FAST Marathon (and it's not more mileage)

October 08, 2025 • Abigail Crowe

Summary

One of my favorite episodes to date.

Hybrid athlete Alec Blenis is a competitive marathoner with the physique of a body builder. He is proficient across many training modalities- Crossfit, ultra marathons, and olympic lifting, just to name a few.

In this episode, I had the honor to pick his brain on workout quality over volume for the marathon, weekly mileage, the benefits of cross training and incline treadmill work, the BEST sessions to do to PR your next half or full marathon, and what REAL movement quality means.

Chapters

00:00 Volume vs. Intensity in Marathon Training

13:10 Quality Sessions: Finding the Right Balance

16:22 Incline Training: Benefits and Considerations

19:15 The Importance of Recovery and Training History

22:02 Zone 2 vs. High Intensity: Striking a Balance

24:55 Understanding Training Stress and Adaptation

40:04 Misapplying Elite Training Principles

42:20 Big Workouts for Endurance Training

48:02 Understanding Movement Quality

58:42 Alec's Future Goals and Aspirations

Alec's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alecblenis/
Alec's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@alecblenis⁩