Can one bad week of missed runs ruin your marathon training? I got sick partway through a training block — a chest cold, three nights of awful sleep, and a week where everything that could go wrong did — and in this solo episode I think out loud about what it actually costs.

I'm building toward an October marathon with a goal of breaking 4:30, and right when my training was finally clicking, it all came apart. So I get honest about training through sickness, the fear of losing fitness, and the all-or-nothing mindset that makes me skip a run completely instead of just doing a shorter one. No tidy answers here — just a runner working through a rough stretch in real time. If you've ever felt behind or gotten sick at the worst possible moment, you'll relate to this one.

In this episode:

• Why I traded base-building for a strength block

• Whether to run with a cold — and when to rest

• Do you really lose fitness after a week off?

• The all-or-nothing trap and the small fix I'm trying

New episodes every other Friday. If this one resonated, follow or subscribe so you don't miss the next.

Find everything here: https://linktr.ee/evanblakeney

Until Next Time: Just Keep Running

Zone 2 training is low-intensity, aerobic-base running — but the hardest part isn't the science, it's one simple question: how do you actually know when you're in Zone 2?

Most runners rely on the heart rate zones their watch hands them. The problem is those zones are built on an estimate of your max heart rate that can be off by 40 beats per minute, which throws the whole calculation off.

In this solo episode, Evan breaks down what Zone 2 actually does for your body, why your watch is probably getting your zones wrong, and the no-gadget “talk test” that's more reliable than the numbers on your wrist. He also shares what nine weeks of real Zone 2 training did to his pace — and the injury that taught him to build smarter, not just faster.

What you'll learn:

• What Zone 2 is doing inside your body (mitochondria, capillaries, and the aerobic base)

• Why “220 minus your age” makes your watch's zones unreliable

• The talk test: how to find Zone 2 with no watch at all

• How much Zone 2 you actually need at your weekly volume (and why 80/20 isn't a universal rule)

• Why your heart rate spikes on hills — and why that's fine

• How long Zone 2 takes to work, with real before-and-after pace numbers

• The cardiovascular-vs-structural trap that led to an Achilles injury — and how to avoid it

Evan isn't a doctor or a coach — just a runner who reads the research and shares what he finds. Nothing here is medical or training advice.

Studies referenced:

Storoschuk et al., “Much Ado About Zone 2,” Sports Medicine (2025): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-025-02261-y

Persinger & Foster et al., the talk test and ventilatory threshold, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (2004): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15354048/

Nes et al., max heart rate accuracy, The HUNT Fitness Study, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports (2013): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2012.01445.x

Mølmen et al., mitochondria and capillary growth, Sports Medicine (2025): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39390310/

Follow Just Keep Running: https://linktr.ee/evanblakeney

Until Next Time: Just Keep Running

Ice bath for runners — does cold water immersion actually help recovery, or is it just marketing hype? In this episode, I dig into the peer-reviewed research to find out and answer the questions every runner has but nobody seems to address.

For about 15 years, I thought I had ice baths figured out. Then in the span of a few months, I heard I might be doing them at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons — and that they might even be working against my own training. So I went looking for answers, and they were a lot harder to find than I expected.

This episode is one of the questions that made me start this podcast in the first place. Everybody talks about cold plunging and ice baths — but nobody seems to stop and answer the basic questions a runner actually has.

In this episode I cover:

• Is there even a difference between an ice bath and a cold plunge?

• Does cold water immersion really help with recovery?

• Will it kill your gains? (Spoiler: not for runners — and I explain why)

• When should you do it — in the morning, or after your run?

• How cold should the water be, and how long should you stay in?

• Do you need your whole body in, or are legs enough?

• How does cold compare to heat, contrast therapy, and active recovery?

I'm not a scientist or a doctor — I'm just a curious runner who can read and use the internet. I leaned on peer-reviewed studies for the facts and tried to translate what I found into something useful for runners of all levels, from beginner to marathoner.

If this episode gave you some value, the biggest thing you can do to help the show is hit follow or subscribe so you don't miss the next one. New episodes drop every other Friday.

Until next time — Just Keep Running.

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Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evan_blakeney

Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@justkeeprunningwithevan

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-keep-running-with-evan-blakeney/id1884475740

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033hhjDEhHCUN076XH63Rc

Until Next Time: Just Keep Running