World Road Champs are back; Hicks and Rudel get US spots
The World Road Running Championships return next weekend in Copenhagen, and per Jonathan Gault the New Haven 20K quietly doubled as the US half marathon selection race for 2027, on a selection document published August 11.
The big stuff
World Road Champs return next weekend; Hicks and Rudel get 2027 US spots
The 2026 World Road Running Championships are next weekend in Copenhagen and the 2027 edition goes to Yangzhou, China; Gault says the event is meant to be annual, but the 2025 champs in San Diego were cancelled. He also says Monday's USATF 20K in New Haven doubled as the US half marathon selection race for 2027, so winners Charles Hicks and Rachael Rudel will be offered spots on next year's World Roads team. Per Gault, the procedure gives one spot to the 20K champion, one to the top US finisher at the 2026 World Half if they place in the top 15, and fills the rest from world rankings, and the selection document says it was published August 11.
After a 3-year gap without a World Road Running Champs, we will have two in the next seven months.
Selection document says it was published August 11. Not a lot of leadup time for athletes making race plans.
the race winner got no prize money, but second place did
Shoes, gels and gear
Run Testers: Saucony Hurricane 26 is a top stability cruiser, not for speed
The Run Testers put three runners in the Saucony Hurricane 26, a max-cushioned stability shoe (built to limit the foot rolling inward) at £170, 274 grams, 41mm heel and 35mm forefoot, with new Incredilux TPU foam in the core, and call it one of the springier stability shoes they have tried and a strong pick for easy running and marathon training, but not a shoe for faster runs, probably slightly less stable than the Hurricane 25, similar to the Nike Structure Plus, a bit less appealing than the Asics Gel Kayano 33, and behind the Hoka Arahi at pace. The same channel likes the heart rate sensor and dual-band GPS (two satellite frequencies for a cleaner track) on the Suunto Run 2 watch (£265 or $349), but all three testers say the price jump undoes the value and point to the Coros Pace 4, the original Suunto Run or the Garmin Forerunner 170 Music instead. On Reddit, one r/RunningShoeGeeks poster with 160km in the Li-Ning Red Hare 9 Ultra and 40km in the Qiaodan Leili 2.0 GT compared them (about 196g vs 234g, 43/30mm vs 46/37mm stack, roughly £75 to 100 vs £95 to 150) and keeps the Red Hare as the tempo shoe and the Leili GT for recovery days. Another poster relayed Instagram specs for a Mizuno Sky Prime: 47/41mm, 6mm drop, 295g, nitrogen-infused Energy NXT+ foam, listed for September 11.
one of the best options out there if you're looking for cushion cruising and stability all in one
a huge jump in price with the Suunto Run 2 means it's now pricier than a Coros Pace 4.
I'm camp Red Hare, but there is no wrong answer; both are brilliant shoes as brilliant price points.
Training and fueling
Fuel for the Sole says keto before your carb load is debunked 1960s science
Believe in the Run's Fuel for the Sole podcast took on a viral Instagram post telling runners to go keto for three days before a 2.5-day carb load. The hosts say the idea traces to 1960s research on glycogen supercompensation (emptying stored carbohydrate so the body packs in more later) that modern research does not support, and that going keto in race week risks lower immunity, more muscle damage and a worse head space; the "only potatoes and rice, no bread" advice, they say, has no scientific basis. For a Berlin sub-3 attempt targeting 60 to 90 grams of carbs an hour, they say the course has water and Maurten drink mix stations but no electrolytes, so runners should bring sodium via salt pills, gels with sodium (they cite Victus at 380mg per gel with 45g of carbs, SIS Beta Fuel and Never Second at 200mg) or personal bottles placed at three or four aid stations.
380 milligrams per gel
over 290 banned substances
Quick hits
Meg Eckert on pace to beat women's world best and US men's 6-day record
Ian Sharman says Eckert is in the final hours of the Balatonfüred 6-day race in Hungary and on track to pass both her own women's world best of 603.2 miles and the US men's record of 606.2 miles, and Zach Bitter's Run The News says she is on pace for the outright American record. Sharman's post came with the race still running, so nothing is final yet.
Reekie and Hunter headline Sunday's 5th Avenue Mile fields
New York Road Runners announced the pro fields for Sunday's New Balance 5th Avenue Mile: Drew Hunter and Kayley DeLay are the top returners after third and second last year, Jake Heyward brings the fastest track PB in the men's field at 3:46.73, and two-time champion Jemma Reekie arrives fresh off a European road mile record of 4:23.25 in Düsseldorf. Josette Andrews opens her 2026 season, and four US 1500m finalists, Rachel McArthur, Jessica Kain, Annika Reiss and Heather MacLean, are in the women's race.
Alisa Vainio to run Berlin six weeks after European title, then Valencia
Six weeks after a solo 2:22:26 won her the European marathon title, Alisa Vainio has announced she will race the Berlin Marathon on September 27, per a post from Steven Mills. Mills adds she is planning the Valencia Marathon on December 6 and counts that as eight marathons in 15 months. David Monti's reaction was one word: whoa.
Magness: mileage is a threshold, elites all run 80 plus miles a week
In a thread over a study he posted on training mileage, Steve Magness told @GDellaMattia that volume is a threshold effect for elites: nobody runs their best marathon on 50 miles a week, everyone competitive is doing 80 plus, and beyond that it matters less. He says volume does not predict results among elites because they are all already doing it, and that the case rests on 100-plus years of trial and error at the elite, college and high school level, not on copying any one athlete.