7 min readWHEN DJ AND producer John Summit saw his touring schedule for 2026, one thing was abundantly clear: he needed to train his body like an athlete. Along with his near-nonstop slate of shows that would be taking him all over the world, from Miami to Bali to Singapore, he also wanted to level up his new running habit. He decided to train for a marathon.
Running was very appealing to Summit, for both the physical and mental benefits it can offer. Training runs also brought a healthy amount of structure to his life while working on his latest album and gearing up for tour.
Through it all, Summit was meticulous about tracking his data via his Garmin Epix Pro and Forerunner 265 smartwatches—noting how running helped his stamina for DJ sets, and vice versa. To get a better sense of the interplay of these two endeavors, Summit shared metrics from both his Los Angeles Marathon and a DJ set at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado with Men’s Health.
How John Summit Became a Runner
AROUND THE SPRING of 2025 while working on his album CTRL ESCAPE, Summit decided to get serious about his running goals. “I needed some sense of routine in my life. It gave me a reason to wake up early in the morning and get the day started,” he tells Men’s Health. After his morning runs, “the rest of my day would just feel so easy.”
Summit was motivated by the mental benefits of running. He recalls listening to a podcast that taught him how helpful exercise can be for regulating dopamine levels—which appealed to him, given his lifestyle. “I have such high highs with my shows, and then I get home and I have these big lows,” he says. But, he quickly found that exercising and dedicating effort to a tough activity helped “rewire” his brain a bit (something that science backs up).
He also opts to run without music, which may come as a surprise to his fans. But running has become Summit’s time to quiet his mind. “I’m so in the music all the time, I just need to detox myself from it. Whereas someone who has an office job, that’s their time to listen to music. I have the complete opposite situation,” he shares. “And then I can actually collect my thoughts.” In fact, he often finds himself jotting down lyric ideas in his notes app during a run, then taking his ideas to the studio ready to make music.
As he got more into running, Summit decided to sign up for a few races, including the Miami Half Marathon in January, and the LA Marathon in March. During his training cycle, he aimed to work his way up to 45 miles per week—which proved especially tough once he started touring. “That required so much mental discipline. I’d be DJ-ing in Mykonos until six in the morning, and then I’d have to do an 11 mile run the day afterward, right after my club set.”
That schedule didn’t come without some pain points. “It wouldn’t help that I would do an eight-mile run in the morning, and then have a two-hour set at night,” he says, adding that he jumps a lot during performances, which exacerbated his running-induced shin splints.
Still, he persisted, adding in more cross-training like sets on the stair climber, Pilates, and the built-in endurance that comes through his high energy performances. Summit also accepted that, at 31 years old, he needed to prioritize warming up and stretching—something he never prioritized in the past. “I did a lot of YouTube research about dynamic warm-ups and got a routine going,” he admits. “It forced me to learn more about my body, especially as I get older.”
Conquering the Brutal 2026 LA Marathon
AFTER COMPLETING THE Miami Half Marathon in January, Summit took on his very first marathon in March in Los Angeles. The course is notoriously hilly. Even more challenging was the record-high heat, which prompted organizers to grant participants medals after 18 miles for safety purposes.
That didn’t prevent Summit from a solid run. “It helps that I live in Miami because I train in the heat, so I think I handled it better than some people in LA because it was like 86 degrees that day, which was pretty intense,” he says. However, Miami doesn’t have any hills, so the 912 foot elevation gain was “pretty intense” for Summit, who hadn’t done any hill training to date.
Despite the literal ups and downs of the course, Summit’s pace was pretty consistent, averaging 7:57 per mile for a 3:30:09 total time. “I’m very data-oriented, I kept checking my watch to make sure I was on pace,” he says. “I took my gels every 25 minutes no matter what. I had it all down to a science.”
The last four miles of the race were especially brutal, however, and his 8:30 pace at mile 26 was a testament to that challenge: “That’s when it went from 75 to 86 degrees. And [that part] of the LA marathon is not shaded whatsoever. When I finished, I literally collapsed at the finish line. I could not move,” Summit says.
Looking further into the data from his race, it’s noteworthy that Summit averaged a 174 heart rate (maxing out at 192), staying in Zone 4 for 66 percent of the course, with 18 percent of the time in Zone 3 and 14 percent in Zone 5.
He definitely felt that effort: “I think I hit 180 within four miles, so pretty much the entire time I was giving it 95 percent. I went into it knowing it was going to be a mission,” he says. But Summit is more than used to that all-in mindset. “For my job, every single day I give it 100 percent. I’ve been all gas, no breaks, since 2020. So the mental wiring in my brain was ready for it.”
From Racing to DJ-ing
JUST A MONTH after crossing the LA Marathon finish line, Summit was in the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado, playing a nearly five-hour DJ set. That same week, he filmed a music video three hours outside of LA, which meant he spent six hours in the car shuttling back and forth. Plus, he turned in his new album just hours before the Red Rocks show. “I think I pulled nearly two all-nighters in a row before that,” he says. “My Garmin told me I was measuring a 1 out of 100 body battery before I even got there,” he laughs. “It was like you’ve had a very stressful day, you should do nothing, and I’m like well I’m literally about to do a show.”
Still, fans never know Summit was running on fumes—he performed his high-energy music with the same enthusiasm as any other set. And his Garmin data painted a compelling picture of his experience: “I was averaging around a 130 heart rate, which is interesting to me because 130 is the average beat per minute to my music,” says Summit. “I think there’s something to that.” He also remained in Zones 1, 2 and 3 throughout the set.
In addition to the exhaustion, Summit admits that the 6,450 foot elevation got to him. “Normally I jump a lot when I DJ, but I started doing more side to side movement,” he laughs, adding that he knew he needed to conserve energy where he could.
Similar to after his race, the moment he got off stage, he passed out in the green room. “I really killed the vibe, but I was cooked.”
Honing Mental and Physical Stamina
AFTER HIS SET at Red Rocks, Summit traveled straight to Coachella for a pop-up set, then on to Bali, Bangkok, China, Singapore, and South Africa within a single week. He had one day off before speaking with Men’s Health.
“You just have to power through it, though,” he says, noting that recently he’s been drawing a lot of inspiration and motivation from watching ultramarathon runners on social media. “That stuff is crazy, but I feel like I’m doing that in my own way in my personal life,” says Summit.
Despite the constant push, Summit loves what he gets to do—after all, he plays fun music for a living. And, in both racing and performing, he really feeds off the energy of the crowds to keep him moving. “I’m a big energy giver and energy receiver,” he says. “When everyone is dancing and cheering, that helps so much.” During the marathon, seeing “John Summit” signs and hearing cheers gave him such a boost (something so many runners can relate to). “As soon as I give up mentally, all it takes is one person saying ‘you’ve got this!’ and I’m like, okay I’ve got this!”
For Summit, running and performing aren’t in conflict; he’s able to build himself up through these two demanding pursuits. Training as a runner gives him more physical stamina for shows and a nonstop travel schedule, while performing in hours-long sets has helped him hone the kind of mental stamina he needs to push through long-distance runs and races.
Even though he’s already had to cut back on his as his 2026 tour has stretched on, he already sees the payoff of dedicating time to the sport. He plans to keep it up for years to come, with more races in his future. “Right now, I’m trying to get through summer, get through all these shows. My goal is just to stay in shape enough that whenever I decide to do a race again, I have a good base.”
Kristine Thomason is a writer and editor with over a decade of experience creating content for print and digital publications. Previously, she was the health and fitness director at mindbodygreen, and the fitness and wellness editor at Women’s Health. Kristine's work has appeared in Men's Health, Travel + Leisure, Health, and Refinery29, among others. She holds a journalism degree from New York University, and is certified in personal training by the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).
