When Andrew Davies toed the starting line at the 2026 TCS Toronto Waterfront marathon last Sunday, he did so with the hope that his first crack at 42.2km would be a positive enough experience to justify running another marathon in the year ahead. Over the course of the next 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 48 seconds, his quest for a respectable rookie performance became a run for the record books, laying down a time faster than any Canadian debut in history and vaulting himself into 4th place on the Canadian all-time list.
Perhaps just as impressive as the time itself was the fashion in which Davies accomplished the feat, belying his novice-status at the marathon distance with a masterclass in pacing that saw him lay down a massive negative split to run away from the rest of the Canadian championship field. What's more, the performance comes at the end of a year that saw Davies lose several months to injury, graduate from law school, and begin full-time work articling.
This week on The Shakeout Podcast Andrew joins the show to recap his record-setting debut and the training block that got him there, including details on how he and coach Steve Weiler incorporated a progression of workout long runs that built towards a signature effort on the streets of Toronto.
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Cover Photo: Nick Iwanyshyn
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