What makes the biggest impact when it comes to recovery strategies and tools for runners? Dr. Peter Tierney is a health and performance researcher, consultant, and coach who’s worked with many professional sports organizations to help athletes recover effectively from exercise. Peter’s “Big 5” recovery strategies are science-backed and possible for runners to add to their training and lifestyle. In this episode, Peter and I talk about: Recovery as part of a lifestyle, not just a post-exercise to...
Mar 28, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep 344•Transcript available on Metacast Thomas Neuberger has probably worn more pairs of shoes than anybody else over the last 15 years (with maybe the exception of Runner’s World Director of Product Testing and Runner-in-Chief, Jeff Dengate). Thomas’ deep experience in the running shoe industry gives him an unparalleled perspective on the evolution of shoes, why some features are no longer available, and the future of running shoes. In this episode, Thomas and I talk about: The 2009 origin story of Believe in the Run, a top shoe revi...
Mar 21, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep 343•Transcript available on Metacast Trail running doesn't always mean running an ultramarathon. From trail 5ks to marathons, there's a growing interest in middle distance trail events. Andy Wacker is making this space a more vibrant and welcoming community for runners. Andy Wacker is a professional runner who excels on the track, road, and trail. He is the 2019 world Mountain Running Champ, 2016 US Trail Half Marathon Champ, 2015 US Trail 50k Champion, and a two-time NCAA XC All-American. Andy seeks longevity in the sport and embr...
Mar 14, 2024•54 min•Ep 342•Transcript available on Metacast The Boston Marathon is quickly approaching! Whether you’re racing Boston this spring or have it in your sights as a long term goal, this episode will help you learn all the ins and outs of this iconic event. Today’s guest on the podcast will be headed to Boston for the 19th time! Marc Pollina has run 26 marathons and has been a fixture at Boston as both a charity runner and a sub-3 hour qualifier. Marc’s new book, The Boston Marathon Handbook , offers an incredibly thorough look at the Boston Ma...
Mar 07, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep 341•Transcript available on Metacast This week I decided to take you along on my conversation with my friend and fellow podcaster, Jon Levitt. Jon is a sub-3 marathoner and a Senior Sales Executive at InsideTracker . He also hosts the popular podcast, For the Long Run , where I was a guest on episode 264 . We usually have long meandering conversations on trail runs throughout Boulder, but this time we recorded it. While we start by discussing our current running troubles (and our efforts towards solving them), we ultimately focus a...
Feb 29, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep 340•Transcript available on Metacast Ryan Whited is an elite climber, personal trainer and strength & conditioning coach who owns Paragon Athletics in Flagstaff, Arizona. Together with author and coach Matt Fitzgerald he has written Pain & Performance: A revolutionary new way to use training as treatment for pain and injury . His approach to pain is a novel one and requires you to think about it in a much different way than most of us currently do. Learning to use “training as treatment” and recognize the positive aspects of pain a...
Feb 22, 2024•48 min•Ep 339•Transcript available on Metacast Andrea Pomaranski just completed the 2024 Olympic Trials marathon, finishing 27th of 117 finishers in a time of 2:34:35. Andrea ran shorter distances in college and set the American under-20 record in the steeplechase in 2001. Then 22 years later, she also set the American Master’s record in the 50k. Des Linden is currently the only woman who has recorded a faster 50k! Andrea has qualified three times for the Olympic Trials in the marathon, and finished 27th this year only 20 days after racing t...
Feb 15, 2024•57 min•Ep 338•Transcript available on Metacast My guest on today’s episode in Dr. Caitlin Alexander. Caitlin is a physical therapist, a professional triathlete, and a certified triathlon and running coach. Three years ago she joined me on episode 179 to talk about long-term injuries, and now she is here to answer reader questions on injury reduction. Caitlin owns Hü Performance in downtown Boulder, Colorado. She works with a wide variety of athletes, from weekend warriors to competitive triathletes and elite runners. In addition to physical ...
Feb 08, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep 337•Transcript available on Metacast In recent years, runners have come to accept that strength training is a necessity to stay healthy and perform optimally. Learn how to periodize your strength work into 3 distinct phases to take your training to the next level! As a physical therapist, Jimmy Picard specializes in treating endurance runners and mountain athletes to help them stay healthy. He is also a certified running coach and strength coach. Jimmy’s experience in competitive endurance sports combined with his expertise in PT a...
Feb 01, 2024•58 min•Ep 336•Transcript available on Metacast Do you want to have a monster aerobic engine? No matter what your level of experience, you can learn how to build volume safely and implement intensity to get the most from your training miles. Zach Bitter was formerly the 100-mile world record holder, and is currently the American record holder in the 100-mile and 12-hour events. He's a four time national champion at the 50-mile, 100k and 100-mile distances between 2012 and 2021. Zach has won some of the country’s most competitive ultra races a...
Jan 25, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep 335•Transcript available on Metacast Dirk Friel is the co-founder of TrainingPeaks , the largest training platform in the world for athletes. He’s also a talented athlete who explores the mountains through cycling and ski mountaineering. In 2017, Dirk was named Business Person of the Year by Boulder, Colorado’s Chamber of Commerce. What began as a coach-focused triathlon training platform now includes running, cycling and a host of other sports, And soon they’ll be launching Training Peaks Strength for coaches as well! Dirk and I d...
Jan 18, 2024•59 min•Ep 334•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Parr founded The Hustle in 2014, a business newsletter that he grew to over 3 million readers (and 8 figures in revenue) before selling it to Hub Spot. His most recent company, Hampton , is a membership community for entrepreneurs, founders and CEOs. Sam also hosts the incredibly popular business podcast called My First Million . In high school and college, Sam ran competitively at a variety of distances, and has completed several half ironman triathlons. While running is no longer his prima...
Jan 11, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep 333•Transcript available on Metacast If you haven’t thought much about power as it relates to your running, you’re not alone. As runners, power isn’t something that we often consider in our training. To help us understand power, we have David Roche with us today. David Roche is an elite trail runner, author, and running coach. He is a two-time USATF trail national champion and the 2014 Sub-Ultra Trail Runner of the Year. David publishes regularly in Trail Runner Magazine and wrote the book, The Happy Runner , with his wife Megan. H...
Jan 04, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep 332•Transcript available on Metacast The tables get turned on this episode and Jason is interviewed by last week’s guest, Phil Batterson ! This episode was initially recorded for the Critical Oxygen Podcast . Our conversation takes a broader look at the "why" behind our training philosophies. Here are some of the topics our conversation covers: Jason Fitzgerald’s background in running and coaching The importance of maximizing consistency Why optimization is going to be different for each athlete Distinguishing between utilization a...
Dec 21, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Ep 331•Transcript available on Metacast Today on the podcast I have Phil Batterson, a competitive runner, former running coach, and the founder of Critical Oxygen. Phil has a PhD in human bioenergetics and a love for all sorts of endurance sports, from rowing to track and field and ultras. His goal with Critical Oxygen is to teach athletes and coaches how to optimize their physiology to maximize endurance performance. Phil breaks down some of the complex physiology behind the three different thresholds to make it more accessible, as w...
Dec 14, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep 330•Transcript available on Metacast On the podcast with me this week to discuss strength training and durability is Dr. Tim DiFrancesco. Tim has a bachelors in Exercise Science & Athletic Training and a doctorate in Physical Therapy, and spent over 6 years as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA. After leaving the NBA, Tim developed TD Athlete’s Edge, a nationally renowned performance facility known for its scientific approach to training, nutrition, and recovery. He was a previous guest w...
Dec 07, 2023•52 min•Ep 329•Transcript available on Metacast Grayson Murphy is a two-time world mountain running champion and a 4-time US national champion in mountain running and the vertical kilometer. She has also been a finalist at the US Steeplechase Olympic Trials and has qualified for the 2024 Olympic Trials marathon. In our discussion we go into depth on Grayson’s training and how she structures her workouts for success, including: Grayson’s current adventures, including a trip to Patagonia Her recent health concerns and how it has impacted her tr...
Nov 30, 2023•46 min•Ep 328•Transcript available on Metacast Kylee Van Horn is the founder Fly Nutrition , which offers nutrition and coaching services to endurance athletes. She works with many elite trail and road runners and is also a runner and a coach, and writes a featured bi-monthly column for Trail Runner Magazine . When it comes to nutrition , misunderstandings abound among athletes. My conversation with Kylee covers a broad range of topics to help you better understand both the basics and nuances of fueling, and avoid common mistakes. Some of ou...
Nov 23, 2023•52 min•Ep 327•Transcript available on Metacast This week the focus is on the psoas with Dr. Lara Johnson. She is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, certified Clinical Exercise Physiologist, yoga teacher, personal trainer, former athlete for BAA Elite, and the owner of Yellow Brick Physical Therapy in Boulder, CO. Lara also co-leads annual running and meditation retreats with Runners Reconnect in the Colorado mountains. Lara’s unique experiences as an athlete and physiologist have all contributed to her holistic view of healing the human body. In ...
Nov 16, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep 326•Transcript available on Metacast On the podcast this week to discuss the best way to plan your pre-season running is Matt Meyer, who competes with the competitive crew of The Track Club in Boulder, CO. Matt is both a running coach and strength coach, and he joined me on a previous episode of the podcast to talk about high-mileage training. He recently ran a marathon PR of 2:34:35 in Berlin, and set a back squat PR of 265 pounds. Who says fast marathoners can’t be strong ?! Matt and I address the concept of a pre-season versus a...
Nov 09, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep 325•Transcript available on Metacast My guest for this special episode answering your training questions is running coach Sara Manderscheid. Sara has more than 15 years of competitive experience and is a Boston qualifier. She hosts the Elevate Your Running podcast and turned the tables to interview me in episode 257 . Sara is an experienced coach who leads the Elevate Your Running camps held in Boulder, Colorado. Today she takes time to answer a variety of training questions with me, ranging from injury prevention and warm ups to p...
Nov 02, 2023•56 min•Ep 324•Transcript available on Metacast Jason Hardrath was named one of the 20 most inspirational ultrarunners of 2021. After a car accident in 2015 derailed his triathlon career, he had to reevaluate his future in competition. But with an extraordinary dedication to rehabilitation and proving his doctors wrong, he was able to resume running. Jason has earned well over a hundred Fastest Known Times (FKTs) and was a 2021 FKT of the Year top 10 finalist. As an adventurer and ultrarunner he has shifted his focus to a new project, complet...
Oct 26, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep 323•Transcript available on Metacast My guest on the podcast this week is a coach who takes a holistic view of endurance training and considers himself a problem solver for endurance athletes. Keith Mueller is the founder of Higher Ground Athletics in Boulder, Colorado. His understanding of the details of movement patterns - including pronation and supination - will help you get a better grasp of this essential running mechanism. Keith and I met a few months ago on a group run, and we soon found ourselves deep in discussion about p...
Oct 19, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep 322•Transcript available on Metacast My guest on the podcast this week is Hannah, a former one-on-one coaching client who recently earned a PR at the 2023 Boston Marathon. Hannah and I met a little over a year ago at a running retreat in Colorado and started working together shortly thereafter, with her focus almost exclusively on half marathons and marathons. Recently Hannah started to contemplate going after a 5k PR, but has had questions about making the transition from endurance training to 5k specific workouts. Our discussion ...
Oct 12, 2023•58 min•Ep 321•Transcript available on Metacast Alex Hetherington is the race director for the Marine Corps Marathon - but he's not your typical race director. Alex is a retired Marine aviator and a member of the All-Marine running team for 14 years. His resume includes a win at the Armed Forces Marathon Championship in 1998 as well as an astounding 27 finishes at the MCM. Our conversation focuses on what you can expect from this year’s race: What makes the MCM so special, and why it is referred to as “The People’s Marathon” Why there is no “...
Oct 05, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep 320•Transcript available on Metacast Matt Daniels is a professional athlete for Nike Trail Running who focuses on ultramarathon distances. He placed 7th in the NCAA 1500m, contributing to Adams State’s first ever 1st place team finish in the Outdoor NCAA Championships. He transitioned to ultra trail running ever since, most recently winning the Gorge Waterfalls 50k earlier this year and competing at UTMB this summer. Matt and I discuss our shared love of the mile and how his college coach helped to shape him. We delve into: The eve...
Sep 28, 2023•59 min•Ep 319•Transcript available on Metacast If you’re looking for a fall marathon that’s the caliber of a big city race without the challenging logistics of the World Marathon Majors, be sure to consider the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. On the podcast this week I have Twin Cities Marathon race director, Eli Asch. Eli came to Twin Cities with extensive experience as the Director of Race Operations for the California International Marathon, as well as the Logistics and Operations Manager for the Austin Marathon a...
Sep 21, 2023•59 min•Ep 318•Transcript available on Metacast This week’s guest on the podcast is a doctor of physical therapy and owner of the Lux Physical Therapy and Medicine practice in New York. Dr. Grayson Wickham is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and creator of the Movement Vault app. He has worked with athletes in a wide variety of sports at the elite level, from Olympians to tennis pros to NFL and MLB players. Grayson’s specialty is sports and orthopedic performance and injuries. He has dedicated his time and energy to helping hi...
Sep 14, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep 317•Transcript available on Metacast Jen Schumacher is currently the mental performance consultant for Northwestern University’s football program. Previously she was the Assistant Director of the Performance Psychology program at West Point Military Academy. She is also a professional speaker and provides training for elite performers in many fields, whether ultra-endurance athletes or Fortune 100 executives. Our discussion focuses on an introduction to sports psychology, how it applies to endurance sports, and how to create a regu...
Sep 07, 2023•55 min•Ep 316•Transcript available on Metacast Meniscus injuries can have a significant impact on your ability to walk, run and train consistently. Although this injury is less common for runners, understanding management and treatment is essential for long term health and durability. Dr. Kevin Stone graduated from Harvard and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. His clinical work focuses on keeping people active in the sports they love, and he has served a wide array of athletic groups including the US Ski Team, multiple bal...
Aug 31, 2023•46 min•Ep 315•Transcript available on Metacast