#215 Adding Cycling Turned Katharina Engelhardt Into a 2:46 Marathoner

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Kristian sits down with Katharina Engelhardt, a Puma Project 3 athlete recommended straight from Puma, whose marathon journey went from a 3:38 debut and years stuck unable to break 40 minutes in the 10k, to a 2:46 personal best today.

Katharina shares how she calculated her way toward every marathon goal using her 10k times, and the years long frustration of chasing a sub 40 10k that never quite came, only to eventually run a marathon far faster than her 10k pace would ever have predicted. She breaks down the training shift that changed everything: adding serious volumes of zone two and three cycling alongside her running, something she still credits as the biggest driver of her recent improvement. The conversation also touches on being part of Puma Project 3, running the New York Marathon warming up alongside the elites, and her approach to staying calm and process focused heading into her next marathon in Berlin.

In this episode:

- Being recommended for Puma Project 3 directly by Puma

- Years spent chasing a sub 40 10k that never quite came

- Calculating every marathon goal using her 10k times

- Running a marathon far faster than her 10k pace ever predicted

- Discovering iron supplementation and the energy shift that followed

- Adding serious volumes of cycling alongside her running

- Why she believes cycling has been the biggest driver of her progress

- Warming up alongside the elites at the New York Marathon

- Letting go of the 10k and trusting her marathon fitness instead

- Heading into Berlin chasing a new personal best

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome to another Puma Project 3 episode

02:05 Announcing the podcast's sponsorship with SaySky Copenhagen

02:31 Kristian's own training update

04:18 Welcome to Katharina Engelhardt

04:41 Being recommended for Puma Project 3 directly by Puma

20:15 Struggling for four years to break sub 40 in the 10k

22:00 Chasing a sub three hour marathon and doing the math

24:20 The years long frustration of chasing sub 40

25:35 What her weekly training looked like at the time

47:02 Discovering iron supplementation and a sudden burst of energy

47:37 Adding six thousand kilometers of cycling in a single year

48:33 Keeping cycling as a core part of her training since

50:22 Why cycling might be underrated for non elite runners

57:40 A typical week blending running and cycling

1:07:15 Letting go of the 10k and trusting her marathon fitness

1:09:03 Closing thoughts and good luck in Berlin

Katharina on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/engelhardt_katharina/

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