Fitness
The latest from Fitness on Vitalspell.
Will you ever BQ? Data, age and what the science says
About 13 percent of US marathon finishers run a Boston qualifying time, and a 6:51 cutoff in 2025 made the published standard a polite suggestion. Two peer-reviewed papers on masters endurance athletes explain why the qualifying ladder is partly generous and largely about training volume.
Marathoners consume 16 percent fewer carbs than they think during races
A 2025 study in the European Journal of Sport Science found that marathon runners take in 16 percent less carbohydrate during races than they plan to, and overestimate how much they have consumed. The shortfall is driven by gel wastage, poor sleep, and pre-race anxiety, but there is an easy fix.
How Maurten fueled Sabastian Sawe to the first sub-two-hour marathon
Kenyan athlete Sabastian Sawe became the first person to break two hours in an official marathon at the 2026 London Marathon, running 1:59:30 with a personalized fueling plan from Swedish sports nutrition company Maurten. The protocol delivered 115 grams of carbohydrate per hour using hydrogel-technology drinks and gels developed over 12 months of testing in Kenya.
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