Philipp Baar is one of Germany’s top marathoners. He ran a 2:16 debut marathon earlier this year and has his sights set on much faster in the coming decade.

In this podcast episode, Philipp talks about his training, his USA college experience, work/life balance, top training camp locations and much more.

Enjoy our conversation with Philipp Baar!

Don’t forget to check out our new book: Eliud Kipchoge – History’s fastest marathoner: An insight into the Kenyan life that shapes legends

— — — — — —

Podcast Transcription

Matt Fox (Sweat Elite): Hi, Philipp Baar we have today on the podcast. Thanks a lot for joining me, Philipp. You are in Berlin right now, in your hometown?

Philipp Baar: Yes, thanks for having me. Yes, sitting in Berlin. It’s morning hours over here and a beautiful day. We’ve had very fortunate weather for Berlin standards this October, so yeah, it’s very exciting. I’m in good mood, you catch me on a good day.

Matt Fox (Sweat Elite): Awesome. And you, earlier this year, in April, you opened up your marathon debut with a very fast 2:16, which is… Which is fast. I mean, there’s not too many people, outside of Africa, I guess, that open up with a debut that quick. So, let’s get straight into it and talk about how that was, and what… Yeah, how you felt about that, and what are the goals moving forward.

Philipp Baar: Yeah, so, basically… Yeah, it was a debut marathon, and I was happy with the performance for the first one. Yet, I still like to remind people that I’m still not the fastest woman out there, so I guess nothing to get too excited about yet. But I was very glad that the first marathon worked out, because I know a lot of people that didn’t really have very nice experiences in their first marathon, so it was really just a matter, for me, of going out a little bit conservative. I was hoping for… To crack the standard for the European championships this year, which was 2:17, for the team, basically. It was, like, a team cup where each country could send six people, and the standard for that was 2:17, so that was, of course, the minimum goal. So we went out accordingly, and about 68:30, pretty much right on. And then a few guys from the group really started grinding it out, and we were moving pretty good at that point. And I was feeling very, very good until about, let’s say, 38 kilometers, so right around maybe 2,5 miles before the finish. And then I, for a second, I was afraid that I was meeting what we call ‘the guy with the hammer’. But it wasn’t too bad, because thankfully, at the 40 kilometers was the next aid station, so I had about two kilometers where I slowed about 10 seconds per kilometer, but then, once I got my next drink, I really, you know, got, like, second life out of myself, and I managed to run the last two kilometers pretty quick. The last one was in 3 flat, and then I actually edged out one of my competitors that day. I beat him just by a few seconds, so I really, like, kicked t