Blonyx Research Update: Marathon Pacing Gaps, Tart Cherry's Molecular Effects, and Creatine for Plant-Based Athletes

Men Are Twice as Likely to Hit the Wall in Marathons

This study analyzed pacing data from 873,334 Berlin Marathon finishers collected over 27 years to see whether marathon pacing strategies differ by sex. Researchers measured how much each runner slowed down in the second half of the race compared to the first, defining "hitting the wall" as a slowdown of 20% or more. Men hit the wall nearly twice as often as women, 17.6% versus 9.7%, and after adjusting for age and finish time that gap widened to nearly four times more likely. The disparity was actually largest among the fastest runners, with sub-three-hour men about six times more likely to blow up than women running the same pace, and it held steady across all 27 years of data.

My thoughts: Real-world data at this scale is rare in marathon research, and the size of the gap surprised me. My read is that overconfident early pacing, not physiology, is doing most of the damage here, though it's worth saying the researchers themselves only floated that as a hypothesis and they didn't actually measure it. Either way, if you're a guy chasing a specific marathon time, this is about as clear a data-backed case for conservative early pacing as you'll find.

Tart Cherry Juice Changes Your Muscles at the Molecular Level

This study tested whether low-dose or high-dose tart cherry juice concentrate could speed up muscle recovery after a damaging leg workout, using muscle biopsies to see what was actually happening at a molecular level. Thirty-four active young men took a placebo, low dose, or high dose of tart cherry juice for 10 days, with muscle samples collected before the workout and again at 24 and 48 hours after. Tart cherry supplementation noticeably shifted muscle protein levels, increasing structural and contractile proteins beforehand, and a tart cherry-linked blood compound called hippuric acid tracked with stronger muscle strength results across every test. None of that showed up as faster real-world recovery though, and strength, jump performance, and soreness all recovered at the same rate regardless of dose.

My thoughts: I like that the authors are upfront that the molecular signal didn't show up as faster recovery, no spin. My guess is tart cherry concentrate, like that found in Regen Cherry+, supports longer-term training adaptation more than next-day soreness relief, but that's speculation on my part, not something this study actually tested. Worth watching, not yet settled.

Vegan Athletes See Real Gains From Creatine

This study tested whether four weeks of creatine supplementation could improve strength and power in physically active vegan adults. Twenty participants took either creatine monohydrate (0.1g per kg of bodyweight daily) or a placebo while following their normal vegan diet. The creatine group gained about 0.3kg of muscle mass and lost 1.4kg of body fat compared to the placebo group, along with improvements in jump height and power output. Sprint speed and maximal strength tests showed no significant change over the four weeks. Creatine and creatinine, markers doctors use to check kidney function, also rose in the creatine group, though the study didn't specify whether these stayed within a normal range.

My thoughts: Vegans start with lower baseline creatine stores, so it makes sense that supplementation shows up clearly here for power output. No change in sprint or strength over four weeks isn't surprising given the short window, but it's a good reminder not to oversell creatine as an instant fix for every performance metric.

— That's all for now, train hard!