399 - A 2:34 Boston Marathon on 35mi/week: Rewriting The Marathon Training Playbook
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Welcome to the Purple Patch Podcast! On this episode IRONMAN Master Coach Matt Dixon hosts the Purple Patch Podcast, featuring Kyle Sanok, who achieved a 2:34:49 marathon at the Boston Marathon using a low-mileage, multisport training approach. Kyle, a Purple Patch athlete, leveraged cycling and swimming in addition to running, maintaining around 30-40 miles per week. He emphasized the importance of community, trusting the process, and proactive injury prevention through physical therapy. Kyle’s journey included overcoming initial skepticism and relied heavily on personalized coaching and a flexible training plan. He plans future challenges, including the Alcatraz triathlon. Matt Dixon offers complimentary consultations for those interested in Purple Patch coaching programs.
If you have any questions about the Purple Patch program, feel free to reach out at info@purplepatchfitness.com.
Episode Timecodes:
00-1:43 Episode Promo
2:10-4:38 Episode Intro
4:45-end Meat and Potatoes
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Transcription
Matt Dixon 00:00
Folks, in today's show we've got a special one. It's all about marathon training, and we've got a special guest in Kyle Sanok, who's going to break down his multisport approach to running and low weekly mileage to deliver himself to a two hour and 34 minute marathon at the Boston Marathon. Goodness me, that is quite fast. How does he do it? It's all revealed in today's show, but I tell you, it's normal and understandable if you might look at our marathon training approach and think, is this just marketing nonsense? Well, you're going to understand the truth today, and if after listening you're interested in discussing your training journey, whether it's in running, whether it's in triathlon, or any endurance arena. If you're interested in one to one coaching or one of our squad programs, we're happy to set up a complimentary consultation. All you need to do is email us at info@purplepatchfitness.com and we'll set up a free call. We'll talk about your journey and how we might be useful. The most important thing is it's pressure free, and we promise you that we'll give you some actionable and helpful advice for you on your journey, whether you're with Purplepatch or otherwise. And while I'm here as well, one other thing, and that's that we don't often have this, but we currently have two or three spots open on our one to one coaching roster, so if you want to deeply personalize high-value partnership with one of our coaches, make sure that you highlight that in the call. We're going to go through, talk about everything that you need, and if it's the right fit for you. And then typically we're sold out, but we've actually got two or three spots right now, so we'd love to slot you in on your journey, either way, enjoy the show today. Take care. I'm Matt Dixon. And welcome to the Purple Patch Podcast. The mission of Purple Patch is to empower and educate every human being to reach their athletic potential through the lens of athletic potential. You reach your human potential. The purpose of this podcast is to help time-starved people everywhere integrate sport into life. And welcome to the Purple Patch Podcast, as ever. Your host, Matt Dixon. And today, well, we got a special one. I always love bringing athletes onto the show to share their stories, and typically some challenges, as you're going to find out today, a little bit of skepticism, but also some solutions that you can use in your training. This is a story that certainly started with that healthy dose of skepticism. Is this marathon training program really going to be right for me, how can I possibly get ready for a marathon on such low mileage, and now you're asking me to ride a bike, even potentially swim as well. But it went on to create back to back PRs, a Boston qualification, and on less than 40 miles a week, a two hour and 34 marathon at Boston. Now we're going to deep dive into the journey, some of the challenges overcome, the value of coaching, and more. My guest today is Kyle Sanok. He's a Purple Patch athlete, and he's a part of our bike community here, so he takes our bike classes, but also on the Purple Patch Run Squad. We're going to break down exactly what happened? Now, this isn't rags to riches. This isn't someone that was sitting on the coach's couch, smoking cigarettes, and suddenly found running. He grew up running. He had a background. He did it in middle school. He had fun. He even started to walk on to a Division One collegiate running programs. He had his running background. He didn't run through college. He stopped running, got on with his academics, and a little bit of partying as well. But he came back to it now in his very busy life as a part of a startup here in San Francisco, and he had a group of friends training for marathons as well. He participated, but he bravely took on a slightly different approach. He leveraged multi sport. He built the inner animal. He worked with Brad on a consulting basis, one of our coaches here at the Purple Patch Center. And what revealed itself was some stunning performance. Now I'm not going to steal the spotlight. I'm not going to tell you how it all started.
Matt Dixon 04:20
All I'm going to tell you is this is a wonderful story. If you're a first timer, or if you're looking to break through to the next level, this episode is for you. Marathon training, multi sport, and doing some incredible personal performances. I give you Carl Sandhuck, and it's all in the meat and potatoes, you right. Yes, it is the meat and potatoes, and as mentioned, we have a special guest with us. Welcome to the show, Kyle. Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me. I'm excited. We talk about marathons and all such things, yeah, from skeptic to hero at. East Purplepatch hero, I guess. Well, yeah, it's been a journey for the past two years, but excited to share. So, okay, so we're going to dig right into this, and we're going to go through your journey, and hopefully unearth some really actionable and educational insights for further listeners. I'm going to get to the punchline first, which is you pretty recently finished a stunning marathon in context, two hours and 34 minutes at the Boston Marathon, and it's been quite a journey to get there for
Kyle Sanok 05:30
you. So this isn't a rags to riches hero story, you did grow up a runner, but but I think that we've got some really interesting educational insights that you can share and some perspective with the listeners, so as I like to do with all of our guests, though, let's get going, and I'd love to understand your background, where you grew up, your family, education, and how we basically delivered to this point. We'll dig into the sports in a couple of moments, but just give everyone a little bit of background on yourself. Who is Kyle? Okay, cool. Yeah, Kyle as a person before, Kyle as a runner, I grew up in Washington, D.C. so like right outside there in Northern Virginia, and I, like, you know, family of five, middle child growing up, I did some, I did some running, mainly in high school, and then I went to Harvard, studied applied math and data science, and then moved out to San Francisco about five years ago to join a startup, kind of in like the fitness, the fitnessy space, but yeah, it's a quick, the quick background
Matt Dixon 06:30
with sports, I guess. What were your first sports growing up? So did you, were you always an endurance athlete, or did you all of everything?
Kyle Sanok 06:38
It was, you know, I think growing up I did the classic, like suburban suburban sport roster, so it was a little bit of little league, which I basically got kicked off the team for, for not being good enough. There was a little bit of soccer, which I also wasn't good enough, and then there was some gymnastics in there, and I kind of settled on, like, swimming at one point, which I kind of get mad at my parents, because obviously I don't have the build of a swimmer, I'm like, they should have pushed me in to stick with gymnastics, but then in seventh grade we had to do a sport, and it was again like football or cross country - those were the only two fall sports, and so I chose cross country, and that was kind of the start of my running journey. I think like seventh and eighth grade I was pretty, pretty average, like wasn't winning any awards in the races, but then in like ninth, 10th, and 11th grade, I started to get into it like a little bit more seriously, and that's where I started to see, like, okay, there's a little bit more success here. So I started, yeah, it was mainly running, and then a little bit of swimming, and then I, yeah, did the lacrosse, the soccer, all that stuff. I
Matt Dixon 07:35
do think that your choice between football and cross country was probably the best choice, I will say. My
Kyle Sanok 07:41
five nine build isn't, yeah, yeah, it's not suited for a linebacker.
Matt Dixon 07:46
And you ended up, you ended up going to Harvard. Yes, fantastic. What an experience. And you actually started, you walked on to Harvard to the college team there.
Kyle Sanok 07:56
Yeah, I like, I remember after I got in, I called the coach, and I didn't know anyone at Harvard at the time, too, so it was like I didn't have this support system that was there, so I was like, oh, okay, you know, a college team is gonna show me, yeah, it's gonna bring a lot of like guys into my social sphere, and I'm gonna be invited to cool parties and everything. Well, that was, that was definitely not the case. I like, I walked onto the team, and I think that it just the way that it was structured, and the way that they kind of like, especially, you know, d1 sports in general, like that, is that's your whole life, and I think you were,
Matt Dixon 08:28
I was, yeah, so I, yeah, I mean, it's as close as you can become, and obviously nowadays full steam, almost effectively professional athlete, yeah, you know what, I graduated thinking I don't really even have a degree, that's why I went to get my master's, so I understand. Yeah, and
Kyle Sanok 08:43
at that time, you couldn't even get like sponsorships from it, so I was like, well, I'm gonna make money from this either. So, no, but I kind of, I walked onto the team for about like a month or two months, and then kind of realized that it wasn't for me, it was taking over too much of my like life, and I got injured like right when I got to campus from like the overrunning that I started to do, and so, so, yeah, then I walked off after, like, a semester,
Matt Dixon 09:04
because the approach, and obviously we're not going to dig into that, either the sort of specific coaching positives or negatives of Harvard, anything, but, like, any program, it was big mileage, big running, and everything like that, so your system couldn't absorb it,
Kyle Sanok 09:21
yeah, it was like two runs a day, like your, you know, your casual run is like 1415, miles, and like I, and I also, I think in high school had benefited from like doing a little bit more swimming and stuff, and I remember I would like sneak out of practice to try and go and like join club swim for a period of time, and then my coach is like going to club swim, and then also be on the cross country team, but yeah, so then I kind of left after that,
Matt Dixon 09:42
and you went on after, after that to, to effectively just do college life, a classic college experience, yeah, and academics, and partying, and fun,
Kyle Sanok 09:53
lots of the partying and fun, but I think I did like fall out of love with running a little bit, I think at that point it like had consumed. So much of me in high school, and then like a little bit of college, and I was like, okay, I need to kind of like separate myself from this, and like, who am I outside of that? So, so, yeah, then I just kind of did normal on what college experience, and
Matt Dixon 10:11
you, you then like one thing led to another, you, you ventured on to to move to San Francisco, part of a startup, very, very busy. Obviously, everything that startup life begins, and running was not central in your life. You did do your first marathon, yeah, which was the Big Sur marathon. If everyone's ever done that, that's you can imagine Big Sur, beautiful but hilly, windy, and yeah,
Kyle Sanok 10:39
yeah. And
Matt Dixon 10:40
you did it with a buddy, so that just to give people a framework that was, what's your time in Big Sur? That's like
Kyle Sanok 10:45
350-340-9349
Matt Dixon 10:47
yeah, 350 which, which is, you know, there's no comparison between that and the Cal International or the Houston or the Boston, this is a more challenging marathon, but that's our benchmark,
Kyle Sanok 10:58
yeah, and I think for that one too, it was like I signed up, and I like wanted to, you know, I was like, I want to do well, but then, like, I was, you know, it was like I'd go on a run here, go on a long run there, like I was googling, you know, like how to train for a marathon in like two months or something, and so it was kind of like a piece, but I'd go to Barry's, and I just kind of like was assembling my own like training, kind of, but like didn't have any structured plan for that one,
Matt Dixon 11:22
and when you, when you actually joined Purplepatch, here, that you didn't actually enter through the Run Squad program, you first came to bike class,
Kyle Sanok 11:33
yeah, yeah,
Matt Dixon 11:34
and that was that, just a part of, hey, something different, I
Kyle Sanok 11:37
think, I, so I started to do a little bit of, like, triathlon stuff in like 2022 2023 and I remember I'd be like kind of decent in the swim, decent in the run, and then I was like abysmal on the bike, like I was like it was like you, I wasn't even placed in the on the sheet, so I was like I need to kind of step up my like bike game a little bit, and I remembered that, you know, these classes existed, so I was like, okay, it feels like they're both like athletic and technical, that will actually make me faster. So that's kind of why I started doing the bike classes originally, was all for I didn't even know there was like a marathon program at Purplepatch. Yeah, when I started,
Matt Dixon 12:11
and then you let's talk about that, because you decided to take on a marathon.
Kyle Sanok 12:16
Yes,
Matt Dixon 12:16
did you have the intent goal of I want to qualify to Boston. Was that, was that actually one of the drivers?
Kyle Sanok 12:23
When my friends and I were to remember, we were talking about it in like 2020 24 issue, and we were like, okay, it'd be kind of cool to like it would be cool to qualify for Boston. I think also going to school in Boston, there was like, you know, a lot of homecoming that I, I went to school wanting to do it, and then I fell out of love with the sport, so then I was kind of like, okay, I think it's time, you know, 10 years later to kind of try and try and do it again. So I did the first after Big Star, I was like, okay, I think I do want to try and qualify for Boston, but I was like, I had, you know, when you run a 350 and like Boston qualifying time was like 255 I was like, I don't know if I can hit that, that feels like a really fast pace for 26 miles, so I think there was a little bit of like doubt, I wasn't, it wasn't just a given, so but I did want to do it, that was kind of the goal.
Matt Dixon 13:10
I remember in preparation for our discussion, I circled back with Max, who does all of our sort of athlete entry placement stuff like that, and I encourage you to have a conversation with him, and, and I said to him, "Do you remember the conversation with Carl? And he said, "Yeah, he really does. And he said, "And I've got it here on my notes, but he said, "Yeah, I'm.. I'm.. he was what I would label a skeptic. Yeah, and so when you talk about that, you come to this marathon program, give people the sort of the source of the skepticism at start, you're looking to qualify to Boston, you signed up with your buddies, they've got their programs, you're going to use Chat GPT
Kyle Sanok 13:54
was the plan, but I remember I was coming to these cycling classes, and then I heard about, like, the that you guys obviously do, like the run squad and the marathon training program, and I was like, okay, that's like interesting to me, but also these are like this is a triathlon studio that's not a marathon studio, so I kind of hopped on with with Max, and I was like, hey, listen, like, what, give me the, give me the lowdown of the run squad program, like, what, why is this different, like, what, what about the Purple Patch program is going to be different, because, and I kind of said to, I remember saying to him on the call, I was like, like I'm going to Chat GPT and typing in, like, you know, marathon training for Boston, and everything, and it's giving me a plan, so like, can I just follow that, or like, you know, how beneficial is this, um, and and I think he was like looking back now, it's like, obviously it's just like completely different, there's the team element, there was the, you know, like, there's the community side of it, and, and I think he also was like, we use the cycle, like, cycling classes, and everything that you're already doing should be part of, like, you know, yeah, America, right,
Matt Dixon 14:51
as a part of the program, exactly,
Kyle Sanok 14:53
and so I think he, I was a skeptic, because I was just like, my friends, you know, their mileage was like 50, 6070, miles a week. It was, you know, five to six runs a week, and I was like, that is what marathon training should be, and it doesn't seem like this program is that. So, there was kind of.. I remember hopping on like two calls where I was like expressing the doubt, but
Matt Dixon 15:12
yeah,
Kyle Sanok 15:12
you got me hooked. So,
Matt Dixon 15:14
what you did is you, you jumped for it and went for it, but it was.. that must have been. I just want to hover on it. It must have been it's a mark of courage, because the running prescription of mileage per week was radically lower than your friends that you were going to go and ultimately compete against, obviously, do the race socially with, but you were there. Was that a challenge to do that?
Kyle Sanok 15:37
Yeah, because I think, like, if you're setting, if you're choosing to start for a race, you want to make sure that you're like, and you're starting to think about your plan. I feel like you also want to be like, I'm choosing the best plan, aspi, if I'm going to invest two months, three months, four months of my life into something, you're like, I really want to freaking see the results on the other end. And so, I think I was, I was definitely like, is this, you know, is this going to be the right plan? Is this actually.. I think it's also like, is this actually gonna make me faster, because I think that was my concern, of like, if you're trying to run a fast marathon, you do need to, like, it kind of makes sense in your mind, you're like, I just need to run more and run more fast, so that I can, or that's what my old thinking was, so I can like run more fast, so I can do that for 26 miles, so I was a little bit hesitant, but I remember Max was also like, you know what, he's like, try it for a month, see how you feel, and then we can kind of like go from there for the run squad specifically. So I decided to, yeah, take the when you, when
Matt Dixon 16:30
you reflect on that first program you built into your first marathon, where you did spoiling the fun, you did qualify to Boston. Give us, give the listeners a sort of reflection of what that training was like. How did you feel like you unlocked consistency? You didn't get injured along the journey. You always have a bit of double calf challenge. Is that a fair enough? Is that, is that a fair enough summary? It's the left calf, it's left half challenge. Yeah,
Kyle Sanok 16:57
um, but I, yeah, I actually did. I didn't get injured, but I did get a little.. I had like a moment where I had to go to Renee mid, but then it helped go better.
Matt Dixon 17:08
Okay, we'll come to Renee. Okay,
Kyle Sanok 17:11
but yeah, I remember like the start of it, looking at the run squad program, I was like, oh, they're like two cycling, there's you know, two cycle blocks, there's an optional swimming block, and then there's maybe like three ish three to four runs a week, but I remember also thinking like I remember kind of like Brad telling me to it's all flexible and at the start of the week you kind of move different things around and I work at a startup now and so I think having feeling like I had control at the start of every week on Sunday to be like, okay, I have a big meeting this day, or I know I'm going to be out late this day, so I can just like move these different blocks around, was like super key for me, just reducing the mental load of feeling like, oh, I have to do six runs a week, and you know, get up at 6am and just do them, so I remember it was pretty, I was, I was a little bit shocked by the lower mileage, and you know, again, a little bit skeptical, even when I started, but I think the, I would stick with the Tuesday classes, I would, I think, come to like every, the Thursday ones every once in a while, and I didn't feel like my fitness was dropping at all, which was like a big, you know, that felt, you know, that you needed to feel that, obviously, while marathon training, but it was definitely a little bit of a shift than comparing my friends on Strava, who were doing, you know, the 50 6070 miles a week,
Matt Dixon 18:32
and if we, if we go to the week before that first race, if you can remember your mindset, did you just.. the Boston qualifying time was 255 Were you confident you could do that? Oh,
Kyle Sanok 18:48
absolutely not. No, yeah, I was hedging to everyone. I was like, if I go sub three hours, I'll be happy. Um, I think it did require a little bit, required a little bit of trust and find
Matt Dixon 18:59
faithfulness. In truth, yeah,
Kyle Sanok 19:01
for sure. Because I think obviously in marathon training, you're never like you're never doing the marathon kind of thing. Up one thing that that I remember Brad did that really helped is he halfway through the training block, so I would hop on like some one on one calls with him, and he was like, I said, "Hey, I kind of signed up for this, you know, half marathon, and he was like, "That's great, like do it, and just feel it out, and see how it goes, and my time there was like pretty good. It wasn't anything crazy, and it was still like, oh, this is gonna be a challenge for the marathon, but I did have like little moments of check-ins and little moments with Brad, where he'd be like, no, like, look at this time, or look at the, you did this pace, or something like that, and there were enough sessions that like gave me a touch of confidence, but certainly it was never like a given of, oh, I got the two, you know, the Boston qualifying in the bag, so yeah, there was a little bit of blind faith, but I felt I felt prepared in a way, yeah, and I felt healthy too, which I think was the other, the other big part of it,
Matt Dixon 19:56
but vibrancy and health, so so they want to know what. Did you go? You're aiming for 255 What did you go? It came in at just over 240 so that was just made it. There
Kyle Sanok 20:10
were moments where I was like looking at the wash and I was like, I think when you get to mile 20, you're like, oh shit, I got this. Yeah,
Matt Dixon 20:17
goodness me, this is a nice PR
Kyle Sanok 20:19
from the from the first
Matt Dixon 20:21
one, so that's a, that's a great, and, and from there, you know, we sort of re-anchored, and you've qualified to Boston. Now, now I want to dig into the journey to Boston. You've mentioned two people, Renee and Brad, and so I want to, I want to focus on that, because I think they've been two key parts of your support network to go there, that the other one I would say, or the other two I would say, is the fun community in that bike room there, but also your buddies that you're playing with. It's really important, like you've met, you've managed to really keep the social engagement of all this going. Let's talk about Brad, because you're on a, you know, for lack of a better phrase, a one to many squad program, where it's autonomous, you get the flexibility that you talk about, but all participants, try squad, run squad, all of our squads have the option to leverage consultations where you can really affordable 50 bucks, go and have a consultation with Brad, you were leveraging those all the way along the journey, dig into how that was beneficial, maybe with setting the path, building your confidence, course correcting
Kyle Sanok 21:30
when perhaps you were questioning, you know, troubleshooting, etc. I'd love to hear your perspective on that. Yeah, I think I remember to go back to the first conversation with Max, too. One of the things I said was, like, it feels like if it's one, you know, if it's, if it is more one to many, like, and I'm going to be, you know, paying for a program, like, should I just have an individual coach too. Um, and then it felt like, when thinking about the one on one calls that I was able to do, like, I kind of got the best of both worlds, and so, so, yeah, the way that I would kind of hop on with Brad, maybe like once every month, and I think part of it was like in the training you're always going to have spirals, right, of like, hey, this session felt, you know, you do a tempo run, you're like, I felt really flat at, you know, 30 minutes in, and it's easy to kind of like again spin yourself up in spirals and then go to Chat GPT and ask all these questions and everything, but I think I would hop on with Brad, and at the start it was kind of like, hey, let's like explain why we're doing the, you know, like what the next three four weeks looks like, and like why you're doing each session, and so I think he also was able to add color of like, oh, it's really important you come to like this bike class, because it's going to show you this thing, or it's like this tempo run, it's really important that you prioritize this one, because it's gonna, you know, give you a sense of how your legs are gonna feel at mile 18, or what you know, whatever the reasoning was, but I think he was able to add color in the program that made me feel like, one, you guys know what you're talking about, that's helpful, and then two, I think, like I was also able to communicate to him, like, hey, I have a trip, I have a wedding this weekend, or something. Like, I'm not going to be able to do this run, or like, how should I pray? Like, is this one more important than this one? And so I think that there actually was a lot of working with him to kind of incorporate it into my life, of I have these things coming up, which ones should I prioritize, which ones can give, and kind of understanding those trade-offs. So those were really helpful, I think, like early on, and then I think as you get further, further in the marathon training, I definitely hit one of the, you know, like a taper spiral, a little bit, or like the end of the training spiral, where you're like second guessing all of your training up until that point, and I remember hopping on with Brad, and I was like, I'm freaking out, like I was like, how are we gonna do it, Boston, the course looks so hard, like the times that I'm going for, I haven't, like, trained at that pace yet, and I think again it was a lot of just like reassurance and feeling like he was invested in me as an athlete, and could again speak to, like, you did this session, you did this session, you did this session, like I can see the progress, and you're gonna be fine, so there was a lot of just like, you know, him talking me off the edge, too, to a certain extent.
Matt Dixon 24:03
It's, I mean, it's a great example of what coaching is, which is to serve as a partner and sounding board, but continually helping you a retain perspective and be stay grounded on in that, because when you're in the weeds and you're doing it, every athlete of any level, it's really, really easy to stay down in these weeds and lose traction, because you're only as good as what happened yesterday. That's the, that's the sort of dirty truth of it. And I think that's, that's so important. I think it's one of the most important parts of the program, by the way, when people really leverage that, as you say, you sort of get the best of both worlds. What about pacing? Because you know Boston is a different beast, and b, you'd done 240 but you didn't want to go there and just inside of you, you must have wanted to also go faster. Yeah, I was
Kyle Sanok 24:57
definitely like, I want to try and PR, and I think I also. Wanted to commit to, like, I remember doing, I think I signed up for Run Squad for the first marathon, only like with two months to go before the race, and so it was a tight, it was a tight turnaround, whereas this one I gave myself a little bit more time, so I was like, okay, I'm preparing a little bit more, but yeah, are you saying for pacing for the race, or
Matt Dixon 25:18
pacing for the race, or actually, let me, let me course correct on the question a little bit. I'm interested in your mileage, because Brad did also customize a little bit for you on that. So, give people, because we haven't actually talked about running mileage, and I'm sure listeners are going to be interested in that. As you went through your, your sort of baseline of running was give or take about 30 miles a week, and then you ramped it up a little bit to prep for Boston. Yeah, it was lower,
Kyle Sanok 25:45
it was lower than that before. Okay, so there you go, squeeze in maybe like I don't know, like 1520 mile weeks before, and that's more of like a trail run with friends, or like that was never trying to hit any minimum. Yeah, but, but yeah, then yeah, for the first one, I think it was, I was doing like 30 to 35 miles a week, and I was really hesitant to go more than that, and then yeah, for this program it was like for this past block, I think it was 30 miles a week, pretty much, and then towards the end of it, it was like 4045, I think, at the most,
Matt Dixon 26:17
so that's that's really worth just pausing on a little bit, because many, many people would just not believe that it is possible, you know. So, you're 240 off of 30 miles a week, or so, and then, or 20-five to 30, then you go into that this program, a really good foundation of 30, and then just into that last 567, weeks, building it up, just pushing the envelope a little bit, and through there retaining multi sport as well. Yeah,
Kyle Sanok 26:47
so I would do, I would do the cycling classes, and yeah, like whenever on the calendar it said like swim or elliptical or row, I would kind of like throw in one of those. Yeah,
Matt Dixon 26:57
okay, fantastic. And
Kyle Sanok 27:00
Boston, how did the firstly, how did the race day go? Like, was it well, as the conditions were perfect, so I'll give a little bit of my time to the slight tailwind that we had, but, but, no, it was great. I came in at like 234 234 I mean, 234 49 so you know, just, just,
Matt Dixon 27:18
well, I tell you what, I haven't, for folks listening that aren't a part of it in our bike class, I, I have hovered on that performance a little bit, poking fun at you, but I haven't had the opportunity to say frickin' well done, like I'm incredibly proud of what you did there. It's, it is quite simply a fantastic performance. I appreciate it. If
Kyle Sanok 27:40
I knew it was gonna get this much air time, I would have tried to run fast. Yeah, gone 232 So
Matt Dixon 27:45
I did point out to him that the fastest Boston marathon runner that I've ever coached was 204 So you still have a little bit of ways to go as you go through there, but and the day itself, because it, you know, there's there's the more challenging terrain at the end, did you have kind of one of those days where it just went like you just, you just felt like you nailed it, or did you really get into the box and suffer near the end? What was it like?
Kyle Sanok 28:13
Yeah, it, you know, I think the miles 22 so right at the end, after the hills and everything, 22 to 26 I was like, this race just needs to be over. I was like, I am so like I am toasted, but I felt like the execution up until like I was feeling pretty good, you know. The downhill, the start, the first five miles, I like settled into my pace, and then from five to 16, where you're kind of doing the gentle like rolling hills, I was hitting kind of like the 550 fives, 552 557 I was like, okay, I like feel good, and I think this is actually where a lot of the, the training of kind of like, no, like feeling effort to versus only just trying to focus on numbers was really helpful, because it was like, oh, I actually am like, I know how this page should feel, I know this effort should feel, and so then when I hit the hills on like, yeah, 15 to 21 yeah, it was again, it was like more based off of I remember chatting with Brad about this, like more based off effort, like you know, your speed will drop, and like that's fine, but just feel like you're putting in that consistent effort, um, and and then I kind of was, you know, I hit those, and I think I was still on my, like, time. Well, I was above my time goal, which was great. And so then I think at the end it was just kind of like, let it, you know, let it fly. I got a blister pop at like 22 and there's blood all over my foot. And then I was like, at this point, just gotta, you know, gotta keep going. But,
Matt Dixon 29:33
and I mean, that's one thing that you hold on that we haven't discussed as much, because even you go back to thinking Boston qualification 255 and then going 240 If you were purely metrics based, you would have run a 254 or 253 So you really did lean into the inner animals, I like to call it, and seeing what flowed out, and but you built that over your training. Yeah, that's how you trained. You still ran with a garment, I'm assuming. Yes. Yes, yeah, so you still got my garment here, yeah, so yeah, there you go, so on there, but you still, you still had that as a tool, but you really built that sense of self, yeah,
Kyle Sanok 30:09
I think there were a few, honestly, it's the, it's been those Tuesday classes, the cycling classes that I think have really, like, I think those are the ones that, in the Thursday ones too, where like they get so hard, and you kind of have to, like, I don't know, think, like, or the phrase that you always say is, you know, the walls are going to kind of come closing in, and you have to familiarize yourself and kind of acquaint yourself with the discomfort, and I think that that was super true during the race, like, they're gonna be parts that feel uncomfortable, but, like, knowing what you can do, or knowing what you have done in the past, and, like, trusting that, I think, kind of helps carry you through those like last miles in the marathon,
Matt Dixon 30:43
so it's terrific. One thing, one last sort of question I want to ask is around Renee, our physical therapist here, who's actually been on on this show. She's, she's terrific, she's part of our sector here, and and it's sort of this question covers both both Brad and Renee, a little bit, because you, you saw Renee when you had the niggle, less the injury in the first build, but then you started to work with her more consistently in a more proactive, yeah, so I think Brad suggested it and say let's get in front of this, let's set up your calf so that it can handle the load, so how was that experience, what does she, she, what does she do for you? Yeah,
Kyle Sanok 31:21
so I remember the first, it was during the first training block, or the first marathon, I had like a little calf thing, and I was like, again, freaking out, spiraling, and so I went to Renan, I was like, hey, we got like, I just want to be able to run this race, I want to try and qualify for Boston, and then we like really drilled into the issue, like, honestly, it fixed, didn't feel it during the race, and like, that was like, I think, a month out, so I was really, it was like pretty tight there. So then, coming in front of this one, in front of Boston, I, yeah, chatting with Brad, it was like, let's just get in front of everything, right? Like, let's do a quick little diagnostic on, like, the form, on the calf, on the different, like, you know, where you're putting strength, where you're not putting strength, everything like that. And so I had like a little program that I would do before my runs, and you know, sometimes afterwards, but I think I had like one or two sessions with her at the start of the training block, and then entry free, injury
Matt Dixon 32:12
free, as you go through, whether it's, it's the reason I wanted to ask that question, just to provide context, is that's quite rare, most people see I like to come and body mechanics, but physical therapists, or anything like that, as just problem solvers when something has happened. But when you're proactive and you use it in partnership, it really can be a catalyst to remain the magic word in performance, consistent. Yeah, that's that's the key thing. So I want to close, and I'm going to ask this question through two lenses in many ways, and I'm just going to be very interested in your advice. And first, I'm going to give you what would be your piece of advice for maybe someone that is getting ready to do their first marathon. I'm going to ask two questions. The first one is like they've never done it before, they're fearful of the distance, they don't know what's coming. It is a huge personal challenge. What would be if you could go back in time your, your one or two pieces of advice for those people? Good question.
Kyle Sanok 33:20
Honestly, I'd say the first one, first one would be find a community, and that can be one or two people that can be a much larger team to be a part of. I think you know doing some of the stuff with Purplepatch and being able to run with, like, Jenna or Griffin or Steven, and you know, having Brad, and then also signing up for the race with friends that were, you know, kind of on that same journey with me, I think was nice, because first, if you have people who have done marathons before, when you're having your little spirals, or you're like having questions about things, you can go and ask them, and I remember, like Griff and Jenna had done Boston before, and they're like, oh yeah, like this part is gonna feel this way, and this part's gonna feel this way, so I think having those those opinions and those perspectives I think were just super kind of like good and grounding for you know any problem that comes up, so I think community was definitely like and also running, you know, running can be pretty isolating to a certain extent, so being able to do long runs with friends or temple runs with friends or hill workouts and stuff, I think having people to do it with just makes it so much better, so I'd say that's the first one, and then, and then I think the second, the second piece is like, God, this is, it's so such a cliche, but it is kind of a, like, trust the process to a certain extent, like if you have your plan set and you believe in, you know, run squad purple patch, or whatever, whatever plan you do, like you're not gonna, you're never running the marathon to completion, right? And so you kind of have to trust that, like, the fitness that you're building and the plan that you're building is preparing you for the hills or the, you know, the pace that you need to run, and I think it's easy to kind of doubt that as you go through it, but. Just believing that you're actually putting in the work, as long as you're actually putting in the work, I think, is the other, you know, the other piece of advice I'd give.
Matt Dixon 35:05
And would there be any? My second question would be, would there be any differentiated advice for somebody that is at a level and just says, you know what, I want to take this to the next level, and the.. and I want to give you the context of why I'm asking this is because so many people think that it's just throw more at the problem,
Kyle Sanok 35:24
so they've got to three hours, let's make it up, they've got to four hours, and they want to get faster than that. What's the what's the piece of advice to say, you know what, I want to up level, I want to break through, maybe it's qualifying to Boston, maybe it is, you know, but it's like, yeah, I want to go faster. I think this is where, like, my old mindset was exactly like what you said, it was just like, run more, right? Like, run faster, yeah, go longer, like, you know, push a 20 miler at like 630 pace, whatever it is. And I think that this most recent block was like, you know, there would be a day that it was like just a hill workout, and it was like maybe that was like eight nine miles, but it was like a hard, a focused hill workout, like that's what I was kind of like centered on. And then there'd be a day that again was like just tempo, and so I would focus on that, or like again, the Tuesday classes where you're like dying at like doing your threshold for five minutes or something like those, in like the sum is, or whatever, the sum is greater, some of the greater than that, yeah, than the individual parts, that's the phrase, and so I think that, like, if you really want to get faster, or really try and like break through, I think it's starting to focus on like getting really good at all these components, which, when you kind of put them together, it's like it allows you to do the hills from 15 to 21 you know, pretty effectively, and I felt super confident going into that, because every week there was like a hill workout on the run squad program. I'd go over to Twin Peaks, and I would like do it, and they were terrible a lot of the time, but like it felt like I had kind of like trained each part, and you don't need to be doing like the full marathon every week to feel like you're going to be able to run the marathon.
Matt Dixon 37:03
Yeah, it's funny when I listen to your story, the one thing that you manage to avoid is always seeking validation that you were ready or you could run the pace, and so that, like, just going to execute the parts and believing that they would mesh together, and I think that's, and that's not that wasn't without obviously absence of fear, and sorry, that's all a part of it, because it's something that's got meaning for you, dedicated a lot, but really having that courage is, is it is a differentiation, it's it's a real sign of what I label athletic IQ, so a little bit of bravery. Just,
Kyle Sanok 37:45
I'm a student from you guys, I'm trying to learn, but I guess that was, you know, like doing a tempo run, and then going like slightly faster than the pace. You're like, there is again a little bit of doubt of like, can I hold this for 26 miles, or whatever, you know that, but then like just believe, just again trusting that it's like all gonna come together, and that you guys know what you're talking about was was nice.
Matt Dixon 38:05
Well, Carl, thanks, thanks so much for your time. I really appreciate, and thank you for sharing your story. And I guess what everyone's going to know is what's next.
Kyle Sanok 38:15
Well, we got Alcatraz on Sunday, that one's just going to be fun, and then I think maybe we'll tackle another marathon that's slightly less hilly next year. See if we can
Matt Dixon 38:23
see if you can go under the magic.
Kyle Sanok 38:25
Yeah, we'll, we're not going to put a time to it just yet. Yeah, exactly. Hey,
Matt Dixon 38:30
run free with the time. Why don't you say sub sub 233 because then you can go to 23 instead. Keep it simple and go keep having fun, but really appreciate your time, and a lot of fun. It's a great conversation. Thanks for having me. Take care. Cheers, mate. Well, folks, that was pretty stunning. What a great interview. I really enjoyed it. Special thanks for Kyle for giving his time, and obviously his wisdom and insights with everything along his journey. If today inspired you, and then share this episode with your friends, a good review always helps. And also, if you want to discuss your training journey with you to up level to go and succeed something special, whether it's in when in running in triathlon or any endurance arena. If you're interested in one of our squad programs or one to one, remember we do have a couple of spots right now open. Just email us info@purplepatchfitness.com A completely pressure-free conversation with one of our coaches to ensure that you can leave that conversation with some action to help you go and perform well, and if it's right, a great partnership with us at Purplepatch. All right, we'll see you next time on the show. Take care, guys. Thanks so much for joining, and thank you for listening. I hope that you enjoyed the new format. You can never miss an episode by simply subscribing. Head to the Purple Patch channel of YouTube, and you will find it there, and you could subscribe. Of course, I'd like to ask you, if you will subscribe, also share. With your friends, and it's really helpful if you leave a nice positive review in the comments. Now, any questions that you have, let me know. Feel free to add a comment, and I will try my best to respond and support you on your performance journey. And, in fact, as we commence this video podcast experience, if you have any feedback at all, as mentioned earlier in the show, we would love your help in helping us to improve. Simply email us at info@purplepatchfitness.com or leave it in the comments of the show at the PurplePatch page, and we will get you dialed in. We'd love constructive feedback. We are in a growth mindset, as we like to call it, and so feel free to share with your friends, but as I said, let's build this together. Let's make it something special. It's really fun. We're really trying hard to make it a special experience, and we want to welcome you into the Purple Patch community. With that, I hope you have a great week, stay healthy, have fun, keep smiling, doing whatever you do.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
marathon training, low weekly mileage, multisport approach, Boston Marathon, Purple Patch Podcast, one-on-one coaching, squad programs, athletic potential, endurance arena, running background, marathon qualification, training journey, community support, physical therapy, performance optimization