310. How to Race Your Best Marathon with Peter Bromka
Release Date: 10/09/2026
Healthy Runner Podcast
Traveling for a marathon? ✈️ Don't let long flights, heavy legs, poor sleep, or travel fatigue sabotage the months of training you've put in! Whether you're heading to NYC, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, or Disney for Marathon Weekend, how you travel before your race and recover afterward can make a big difference in how you feel. In this episode of the Healthy Runner Podcast, Dr. Duane Scotti, physical therapist, running coach, and 9-time marathoner, shares practical, science-backed marathon travel and recovery tips to help you arrive feeling fresh, race strong, and recover smarter. You'll...
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FREE Marathon Training Guide: Train Smarter & Race Strong → You can be in the best shape of your life and still miss your marathon goal if you don’t execute properly on race day. So how do you take months of training and turn that fitness into your best possible marathon? In this episode of the Healthy Runner Podcast, I sit down with 2:19 marathoner, running coach, and writer Peter Bromka to break down how to race your marathon for peak performance. Peter shares lessons from years of racing, coaching, studying, and writing about the marathon. He also includes why this distance is so...
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FREE Marathon Training Guide: Train Smarter & Race Strong → Are you a few weeks away from your half marathon or marathon and suddenly wondering if you’re running too little? Welcome to the taper crazies! After months of long runs, speed workouts, and strength training, reducing your training before race day can feel completely backwards. You may start wondering if you’re losing fitness, whether you should squeeze in one more long run, or why your legs suddenly feel heavy. But here’s the key: You don’t get faster during your taper by squeezing in more fitness. You get faster by...
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Training for RunDisney? and learn how to train for the entire Disney experience…not just the miles 🏰🔋 Are you training for Disney Marathon Weekend like you would for any other marathon? That could be one of the biggest mistakes you make. Disney Marathon Weekend isn't just about covering 26.2 miles. Between the early wake-ups, standing in corrals, walking through the parks, Florida weather, and for Goofy and Dopey runners… racing on back-to-back days, your body has to handle much more than the mileage on your training plan! In this episode of the Healthy Runner Podcast, I’m...
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Training for RunDisney? and learn how to train for the entire Disney experience…not just the miles 🏰🔋 Disney Marathon Weekend isn't just a marathon… it's one of the most unique endurance events you'll ever train for. Between miles on unforgiving concrete, long days walking through the parks, early morning wake-ups, and for many runners, back-to-back races like Goofy and Dopey, your body needs more than just a running plan. It needs a strength plan. In this episode, Dr. Duane Scotti, running physical therapist, running coach, and two-time Dopey finisher, shares the exact 20-week...
info_outlineFREE Marathon Training Guide: Train Smarter & Race Strong → Download Here
You can be in the best shape of your life and still miss your marathon goal if you don’t execute properly on race day.
So how do you take months of training and turn that fitness into your best possible marathon?
In this episode of the Healthy Runner Podcast, I sit down with 2:19 marathoner, running coach, and writer Peter Bromka to break down how to race your marathon for peak performance.
Peter shares lessons from years of racing, coaching, studying, and writing about the marathon. He also includes why this distance is so difficult to get right and what separates being marathon-fit from actually executing a great race.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What to do (and avoid) during the final 24–48 hours before your marathon
- How the first 3–5 miles should feel so you don’t make the classic mistake of starting too fast
- What to focus on during miles 6–18 when you’re feeling good but still have a long way to go
- How to approach the final 10K when the marathon really starts to hurt
- Mental strategies for when your brain starts telling you to slow down or stop
- How to respond when you fall off goal pace without letting one bad mile turn into five
- How to adjust your race strategy for hills, wind, heat, and unexpected race-day conditions
- The biggest mistake Peter sees runners make during the marathon
- Peter’s three keys to getting the most out of your fitness on race day
Plus, Peter takes on the Spark Lightning Round, sharing his quick takes on GPS watches, pace bands, even versus negative splits, running the tangents, music, when to make your move, and chasing a marathon PR.
Whether you’re trying to finish your first marathon, break 5 hours, qualify for Boston, or set a new PR, this episode will help you race smarter, stay mentally strong, and execute the marathon you’ve trained so hard for.
Listen now and learn how to turn your marathon fitness into your best race.
Connect with Peter Bromka:
- Instagram: @bromka
Listen next: Episode 309 — Tapering 101: How to Taper Before a Marathon
If this episode helps you, share it with another runner who has a goal marathon coming up.
Grab your FREE Marathon Training Guide Here!
A big thanks to CEP for your support for this episode!
Healthy Runner listeners get 15% off their entire order when shopping CEP Running online through November 15!
Shop CEP Running or enter code LRL-NYC-15 at checkout.
Offer ends November 16, 2026, at 3:00 AM EST. Limit one use per customer. Cannot be combined with other discounts.
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👋🏼 New here?
I’m Dr. Duane Scotti, former physical therapy professor turned full-time running coach, running physical therapist, and 9x marathoner 🏅
I help everyday runners stop nagging injuries, get stronger, and finally feel confident in their training by blending rehab-level expertise with performance training.
If you found this helpful, make sure to follow the Healthy Runner Podcast and share this episode with a runner who needs to hear it.
Connect with Dr. Duane:
- Instagram - @sparkhealthyrunner
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