THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

The Running Effect tells the best stories in running—and turns them into insight, inspiration, and tools to…

by Dominic Schlueter

About THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

The Running Effect tells the best stories in running—and turns them into insight, inspiration, and tools to help competitive runners become greater. Every week, host Dominic Schlueter sits down with the fastest, smartest, and most inspiring people in the sport—from Olympic medalists to breakthrough athletes—to unpack the stories, lessons, and mindset behind elite performance. Whether you’re chasing a personal best or looking to understand how greatness is built, The Running Effect will make you a deeper fan of the sport—and a better runner.

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Episodes

New episodes come out several times a week.Latest 200 episodes in the feed

Nov 12, 2026 · 39 min

From 12th at Regionals to US No. 2: Hattie Beshears on Dropping 17:33 to 16:12 in One Year, 3:30 AM Wake-Ups, and Why Slowing Her Workouts Down Made Her Faster

In one year, Hattie Ray Beshears went from just missing nationals to chasing a national title. In this installment of our Fleet Feet x Brooks High School Cross Country Series, Dominic talks with the Har-Ber junior, two days after her 16:35 Arkansas 6A state title, about the year her 5K dropped from 17:33 to 16:12. She traces it back to a soccer concussion that left her in a dark room for a week, and to her sister,…
Nov 10, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min

“Ego Needs to Be Satisfied. Confidence Doesn’t”: David Roche, Coach to Jess McClain and Emily Venters, on Imposter Syndrome, High Carb, and Why Coaches Get Too Much Credit

https://go.run-motion.com/?coupon_code=TRE30 David Roche thinks coaches get way too much credit. His athletes might disagree. Days after Jess McClain finished second at the New York City Marathon, the Leadville 100 record-holder and SWAP co-founder joins Dominic to trace an unlikely path from former college football player to one of the most sought-after coaches in running. David explains why his naive start became…
Nov 8, 2026 · 1 hr 0 min

Could ChatGPT Coach Yared Nuguse? OAC’s Kelsey Quinn on Why Great Athletes Get Overcoached, Consistency Over Everything, and Her Three Rules for Anyone Who Wants to Be Great

Brought to you by: https://jeearecovery.com Kelsey Quinn got her dream job the old-fashioned way. When the On Athletics Club posted its first assistant coaching job, the former Iowa 400m hurdler from Cedar Rapids sent in an application. She beat out more than a hundred candidates and moved her baby and toddler to Boulder, betting that the fit was right. Just off the plane from the New York City Marathon, Kelsey…
Nov 6, 2026 · 1 hr 8 min

“The Greatest Comeback in Athletics History”: Dave Wottle on Winning Olympic 800m Gold by 0.03 Seconds, Tying the World Record in a “Speed Workout,” and the Mile Against Pre He Still Regrets

The hat made the Hall of Fame before he did. Dave Wottle’s white golf cap was a freebie handed to meet officials while he was injured in 1971, and it went into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame four years ahead of its owner. Dominic sits down with the 1972 Olympic 800m champion, still the last American man to win the event. Their conversation starts with a shy Canton freshman who almost walked away from…
Nov 4, 2026 · 59 min

How Kieran Tuntivate Set 18 National Records and Ran a 2:08 Marathon Debut: Inside His 125-Mile Weeks and Workouts With Charles Hicks

https://go.run-motion.com/?coupon_code=TRE30 Jerry Schumacher called it on day one. When Kieran Tuntivate joined the Bowerman Track Club in 2020, Jerry told him he could run any event he wanted, but he was going to be a marathoner someday. Six years later, Kieran has been with Jerry longer than anyone else in the group, and the prediction came true with a 2:08:01 Thai national record in his Chicago Marathon debut.…

Earlier episodes (195)

Nov 2, 2026 Emily Venters Nearly Quit Running in 2024. Now She’s a USATF 10K Champion Running 1:07 Half Marathons and Chasing American Records
Brought to you by: https://jeearecovery.com Two years ago, Emily Venters almost quit. Now she’s the hottest name on American roads. Emily returns to TRE for her second conversation, two years after a July 2024 episode about the dark side of professional running. Since then she has won three U.S. road titles in 2026, run a wire-to-wire championship record of 31:09 at the USATF 10K, and set a half marathon PB of…
Oct 31, 2026 Josh Blatchford: Your Body Knows You’re Injured a Month Before You Do. Most Runners Ignore It Until It’s Too Late
Dominic didn’t listen, and he’s the first to admit it. Josh Blatchford, founder and CEO of Attuned, returns to The Running Effect to put Dom’s sub-three Columbus Marathon attempt on blast. Dom took five Endurance Scans, starting with one of the best scores Attuned has seen in November 2025. Four weeks before Columbus, an Achilles injury ended his race. Josh explains how Attuned’s pattern recognition flagged Dom’s…
Oct 29, 2026 “My Mentality Has Always Been Stronger Than My Fitness”: How Yosuke Shibata Ran a 14:20 5K, the Fastest in American High School Cross Country This Fall
Fifteen seconds down with 600 meters to go is not supposed to be a winning position. For South Eugene senior and Duke commit Yosuke Shibata, it was how his undefeated fall began. In this installment of our Fleet Feet x Brooks High School Cross Country Series, Dominic talks with the Brooks NIL athlete about how a summer of Achilles and peroneal tendonitis issues turned into the best season of his life. He explains…
Oct 28, 2026 Kilian Jornet: Everest Twice in One Week, a 4-Hour Blackout, and Why He Plans to Race His Whole Life
https://go.run-motion.com/?coupon_code=TRE30 Kilian Jornet doesn't look back. Ask the greatest mountain athlete alive which moment defined him and he says: tomorrow. Dominic traces a career that began in a Pyrenees mountain hut at 2,000 meters, where Kilian's parents took him up summits as a game of finding trees and spotting animals. He entered his first ski mountaineering race at 13 only because his mother didn't…
Oct 26, 2026 Fitter at 41 Than at 20: How Jeea Founder Trevor Wright Went From Hating Every Mile to Trail Running, Spartan Beasts, and a 50-Pound Drop
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jeea/jeea-companion / https://jeearecovery.com Trevor Wright swore off running in seventh grade. Recorded in Columbus, this conversation traces how a kid who dreaded his weekly mile-and-a-half PE “fun run” now runs before breakfast by choice. Nudged by the marathoners and triathletes on his teaching faculty, Trevor started running in 2009, fell for late-night miles after his…
Oct 24, 2026 Stanford Runner to Tour de France Team in 12 Months: How Gavin Sherry Turned 3 Stress Fractures Into a Pro Cycling Career
https://launch.jeearecovery.com Gavin Sherry found his future on a borrowed bike. A year ago, the former Conard High School star was still on Stanford’s cross country roster, his college career swallowed by a femoral stress fracture, two tibial stress fractures and recurring IT band trouble. Then the cross-training started to feel like the main event. Sherry tells Dominic about the moment he caught himself feeling…
Oct 22, 2026 Two US 1500m Titles and Zero Respect: Nathan Green Fires Back at the Comment Section, Calls for Lifetime Doping Bans, and Explains Why He Keeps a Diamond League Loss Framed on His Wall
Nathan Green came to talk, and he didn’t hold back. The 23-year-old Adidas miler swept both U.S. 1,500m titles in 2026, and he joined Dominic to defend those wins against the couch warriors who call them too slow to count. He walks through his championship résumé and fires back at critics, including a plant-selling Instagram hater he now looks forward to hearing from. Nathan names Hobbs Kessler as the best American…
Oct 20, 2026 Klaudia Kazimierska Breaks Down Her Dominant Rookie Season Under Jerry Schumacher, the Training She Keeps Secret, and a 3:54 Diamond League Win
Klaudia Kazimierska didn't just finish 2026. She owned it.In her first season under Jerry Schumacher, the Polish middle-distance star closed with three straight wins: the Diamond League Final in Brussels in a world-leading 3:54.05 national record; the inaugural World Ultimate Championship in Budapest; and Athlos London. Klaudia walks Dominic through it all, from the imposter syndrome that hit as she crossed the…
Oct 18, 2026 Alex Ostberg: Who Actually Needs Electrolytes, Why Fitness Beats Every Other Health Marker, and What Coaching a World Champion Taught Him About Race Plans
Salt might be the most overhyped thing in your running bag. Alex Ostberg is back from Chicago, where Charles Hicks became the No. 3 American all time on a record-eligible course, for his monthly breakdown of the last four editions of The Rundown. He and Dominic start with electrolytes, a piece prompted by Riley Witt’s hot take. They cover why sweating actually raises blood sodium, the four dials that decide whether…
Oct 16, 2026 Alex Gibby on Taking Harvard From 1 Point at the Ivy League Championships to Two NCAA Champions and What Separates Good Runners From Great Ones
Nobody builds a distance program at Harvard. Alex Gibby did it twice over Alex arrived at Harvard in 2017 and inherited a program that had almost never made nationals, and didn't have a single athlete setting a PR after early February. Ten years later, the Crimson men have qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships six straight seasons, and Gibby has coached Graham Blanks to back-to-back NCAA cross country…
Oct 14, 2026 Natasza Dudek, America's No. 1 High School Girl, on Sweeping NXN and Brooks XC, 35-Mile Weeks, and Growing Up With a National Champion Sister
Natasza Dudek only wanted a PR. She got history instead. Now a junior at Ann Arbor Pioneer and the reigning Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Player of the Year, Natasza joins Dominic midway through her 2026 season to look back on the year her name went national. She remembers watching her oldest sister Zofia’s finishing kick win the 2019 Foot Locker title on a computer screen. She also explains what she…
Oct 13, 2026 The Scientist Who Helped Eliud Kipchoge Break 2 Hours: Dr. Andy Jones on the Limits of Human Performance and Possibility
The woman who breaks four minutes in the mile has probably already been born. That's the opening claim from Professor Andy Jones, the Exeter physiologist behind Nike's Breaking2 project, and he gives her ten to fifteen years. The problem right now, he explains, is a split field: some women have the aerobic engine and the critical speed but no anaerobic reserve, while others have the speed and no…
Oct 11, 2026 He Got Rejected by 217 Schools & Then Became Josh Kerr's Coach: Danny Mackey on the Road to the Mile World Record
After Josh Kerr's mile world record, Danny Mackey had 478 unread texts. He answered about 20 of them. The founding head coach of the Brooks Beasts Track Club joins Dominic at the end of the best season of his career. Josh Kerr broke the mile world record in London, about an hour after Brandon Miller won the 800m. Mackey still says he hasn't really reflected on any of it. He explains why: after 217 NCAA coaching…
Oct 9, 2026 Ranked 41st of 42 in the Northeast: Todd Witzleben on Bringing Back Manhattan University, a Program That Once Won an NCAA Title, and The Keys to Rebuild Any Program
Some coaches chase talent. Todd Witzleben builds it. When Witzleben took over at Manhattan University in June 2025, one regional ranking had the Jaspers 41st out of 42 teams in the Northeast, with six men on the cross country roster. A year later, there are 16, and he's talking about a 7:25 time in the 4x800 relay. Dominic sits down with the former Buffalo associate head coach to talk through the rebuild: from…
Oct 7, 2026 He Ran So Fast People Asked If He Was Doping: Vinny Mauri on the 138-Mile Weeks and the 30-Mile Long Runs Behind His Chicago Build
Vinny Mauri got drug tested at a Planet Fitness. Five months after his 2:05:54 marathon at Glass City made him the fastest marathon debutant in American history, the self-coached Ohioan returned to the show just days before his second marathon in Chicago. Dominic starts hot. Vinny explains why he emailed USADA himself the day after Toledo, why he feels honored rather than offended by the doubters, and how his first…
Oct 5, 2026 Hit Singles, Take Walks: Sean McCafferty on the Boring Habits Behind 400 Straight Wins and How to Build a High School Cross Country Dynasty
Four hundred straight dual meet wins don't happen by accident. Sean McCafferty, entering his tenth year as head cross country coach at Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) in Lincroft, New Jersey, joins Dominic to unpack the culture behind one of the most storied programs in high school running. Sean ran at CBA before competing at Princeton, and he later took over the program from Tom Heath, who led it for 45 years. He…
Oct 3, 2026 Ethan Strand’s Breakout Rookie Year: Beating Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Cole Hocker, Inheriting a US Title From a Doper, and Why He Says Doping Makes You “Just a Bad Person”
Ethan Strand is a national champion who still believes he finished second. He found out Jonah Koech had been busted for doping in the middle of a treadmill run, when Parker Wolfe tapped him on the shoulder, and his first reaction was anger. In this conversation, Ethan tells Dominic why the title still feels strange, why he feels worse for Hobbs Kessler, and why he thinks a positive test should end a career. He also…
Oct 1, 2026 Nobody Is Watching. You Are: APL on Keeping Your Word to Yourself, Faith, and the Promise Behind Every Backyard Ultra Win
Aleksander Lingauer is stepping away from running. He says it out loud here for the first time. This one was recorded in person in Columbus, the fourth time he and Dominic have sat down together and the first time with no race waiting on the other side of it. Near the end, Aleksander announces that he is pausing his racing indefinitely. The reason is a book—the account of his 419-day solo walk across Europe,…
Sep 29, 2026 No Watch, No Mileage Log, No Fear: How Marcelo Mantecon Trains and Thinks as America's No. 1 High School Runner
Marcelo Mantecon has spent his whole career as the young guy. Not anymore. The Belen Jesuit senior joins Dominic for the next episode of our Fleet Feet series leading into the Brooks Cross Country National Championships, and he arrives carrying something he didn't have last December: a target. He talks about welcoming the pressure that comes with being the top returner, about what he absorbed watching Jackson…
Sep 27, 2026 Behind Graham Blanks' 12:47 5K & 7:27 3K: 6:00min Easy Days, Training Alone & Racing Jakob Ingebrigtsen
Behind Graham Blanks' 12:47 5K & 7:27 3K: 6:00min Easy Days, Training Alone & Racing Jakob Ingebrigtsen Graham Blanks can tell you exactly what he did wrong in every race he ran this year. Monaco is the exception, and the one he's most excited about. It's the only race this season he finished and then couldn't sleep—his own heuristic for a good one—and the first time he really put down a fast 400m at the…
Sep 25, 2026 How to Build Muscle Without Losing Your Running Fitness: Dominic Fusco on the Training Week That Does Both, How to Fuel It, and Why Most Runners Lift Wrong
Two guys named Dom, one goal, two completely opposite ways of getting there. Dom Fusco returns to the show for the first time since March 2023, and this one isn't about his cardiac arrest—it's about the question flooding Dominic's DMs: how do you build real muscle without giving up your running times? Fusco has done it from the football side, Dominic from the distance running side, and both are now chasing sub-3…
Sep 23, 2026 The New Standard: Inside the Next Generation of BYU Distance Running with Carter Cutting, Tayvon Kitchen and Isaac Hedengren
Dominic sits down with Carter Cutting, Isaac Hedengren and Tayvon Kitchen a day after the Cougars opened their season in Terre Haute. It starts as a debate—Jakob versus Kerr; whether Hawker belongs in that tier; whether one down year should count against anybody—and the three of them push back hard enough that Dominic ends up defending his take alone. From there it turns into the story behind New Standard, the…
Sep 21, 2026 Alex Hutchinson, The World’s Leading Expert on the Limits of Human Performance, on the Mistimed Race That Started a 17-Second Breakthrough and Why Belief Beats Every Shoe You Can Buy
Alex Hutchinson ran his 1500-meter breakthrough because a timekeeper called the splits wrong. He’d been stuck at just over four minutes for three years. Then, in one indoor race, a mistimed clock told him he was running three seconds faster than he was—and he ran 3:52, then 3:49, then 3:44 across the next two months. His old coach went through the logs looking for the reason. There wasn’t one. That story sits at…
Sep 19, 2026 How A 16-High 5K Guy Had The Biggest Year In Trail Running: 145 Mile Weeks, 120g Of Carbs An Hour, Leading Western States For 62 Miles, And A CCC Podium | The Year Of Hans Troyer
Hans Troyer led Western States for 62 miles, DNF’d, and still calls the day a win. Eight weeks later he was on the CCC podium, which tells you most of what you need to know about how he metabolizes a bad race. Dominic welcomes back the 26-year-old for the first time since before his 2025 Western States debut, and Hans admits the stretch since has felt like three years crammed into one. He traces the self-belief…
Sep 17, 2026 Nike Running Coach: You’re Quitting Too Late! The Injury Deadline Every Runner Should Set, How Much Protein You Actually Need, And The Championship Mistake That Wastes Your Whole Season | Alex Osberg
Nobody quits while they're ahead. Alex Ostberg is back for the guys’ monthly walk through of The Rundown, and this one runs from the foundations of the sport to the psychology of knowing when to walk away. They open with ten things Alex wishes he knew as a high school runner—the talk that started this whole collaboration, and one he still finds himself repeating to professionals a decade later. Why consistency…
Sep 15, 2026 Rocky Hansen on His Final NCAA Cross Country Season: the Ego Check That Changed How He Races, the Margins Behind His Best Year, and Why the Happy Runner Is the Fast Runner
Rocky Hansen spent the offseason quietly begging Habtom Samuel not to turn pro.He lost to Samuel twice—the NCAA cross country final in November and the outdoor 5,000 in June—and his reaction to Samuel leaving wasn't a relief. It was a feeling of disappointment at losing the rematch. That instinct sits at the center of this conversation, recorded a few weeks into Rocky's final collegiate season.They get into the…
Sep 13, 2026 From Foot Locker Champion At 14 To 2:20:57 And Four Olympic Trials Without A Team: Jordan (Hasay) Hogan On Salazar's Workouts, Developing A Championship Mindset, And What She'd Do Differently
Jordan Hasay Hogan never officially retired. She was the most hyped teenager in American distance running. She was a Foot Locker champion as a freshman, she acquired eight California state titles, was an Olympic Trials 1500m finalist at sixteen—and then went on to run a 2:20:57 marathon in Chicago. In this conversation, she opens up about the Nike Oregon Project years in a way almost nobody has. She walks Dominic…
Sep 11, 2026 "I Just Decided I Wasn't Going to Be Scared Anymore": Colin Sahlman on the Year He Won 3 NCAA Titles, Signing With Nike, and the Chase for Olympic Gold
Colin Sahlman finished 151st at NCAA cross country as a freshman. Four years later he left college with three national titles.Colin returns to the show for the first time since high school, now a Nike athlete training with Swoosh TC in Flagstaff. He walks through the part of the story most people skipped: the freshman year that humbled him, the sophomore cross country season where he didn't even make the travel…
Sep 9, 2026 America's Best Marathoner On High School Cross Country: Jess McClain's Four Nationals Appearances, Summer Heat Training, And Advice For Chasing A Golden Ticket
Jess McClain almost skipped her first Foot Locker Nationals for a high school dance. Her coach talked her out of it, and she went on to become one of only 27 girls in the meet's history to make all four national finals—2006 through 2009, alongside classmate Emily Sisson. Sixteen years later, she's the fastest American woman ever to run Boston. Jess kicks off the Call Room: Golden Ticket Edition, presented by Fleet…
Sep 7, 2026 Sleep Science for Runners: Todd Anderson on Sleep Debt, Mouth Taping, and Marathon Performance — Plus the CO2 Tolerance You Build While Asleep That Changes Performance
You can't out-tough sleep. That's Todd Anderson's whole argument, and he makes it as a guy who tried. A walk-on fullback at Michigan State who signed with the Rams of the NFL in 2012, Todd spent a decade in strength and conditioning before deciding the highest-leverage hour of an athlete's day is the one they spend unconsciously. He's now co-founder and CEO of Dream Performance & Recovery and is working toward…
Sep 3, 2026 "I'd Spend A Million Dollars To Get Six Seconds Better At The 800": Riley Witt Of Bicarb 3.0 On Hot Baths That Rival Microdosed EPO, Threshold Reps At 4:00 Mile Pace & Other Science Truths
Riley Witt says a hot bath beats a microdose of EPO. That's where this one opens, and it doesn't slow down. Riley walks through passive heat training—45 minutes at 104 degrees, four or five times a week, and the plasma volume adaptations that come with zero skeletal strain. He explains why water cooks you faster than a sauna, why going straight from a run into the heat multiplies the effect, and why a hot bath…
Sep 1, 2026 "You Don't Go To New York For A PB, You Go There To Race": European 10,000m Champion Andreas Almgren On His Marathon Debut, 200k Weeks, 37K Long Runs, And The Workouts Behind His European Gold
Andreas Almgren just won European gold by lapping half the field—and six days later, he announced he's stepping up to 26.2 miles for the first time. In this episode, recorded mid-marathon-buildup with the aches to prove it, Almgren breaks down the decision to make his marathon debut at the TCS New York City Marathon on November 1, and why he chose the toughest, slowest Major Marathon over a flat time-trial course…
Aug 30, 2026 "Most Runners Train Too Hard": Marius Bakken, The Father Of Double Threshold, On What's Really Holding You Back, Advising The Ingebrigtsens, And The Golden Zone Behind The Norwegian Method
https://www.amazon.com/dp/8269471100 Most runners aren't training too hard. They're spreading the hard work too thin. Marius Bakken has spent thirty years proving it. The Norwegian physician and two-time Olympian pricked his finger more than 5,500 times—on himself, on training partners, on runners in Kenya—to map one narrow band of intensity, and the framework he built from it is what the world now calls the…
Aug 28, 2026 Cory Leslie on Leaving Pro Coaching for Ole Miss: SEC Roster Limits, Why He Won't Buy Hired Guns From the Portal, and What He Tells Recruits Who Don't Have Olympic Dreams
He built a world-class pro group in Baltimore. Then he left it for a college roster of 30. Five years after his first appearance on the show, Cory Leslie returns as Ole Miss's new associate head cross country and assistant track & field coach, fresh off nearly five years building Under Armour's Mission Run Baltimore into a group that produced Olympians and World XC medalists from a city nobody expected it from.…
Aug 26, 2026 Coach Bennett on Why It’s Cool to Care, the Difference Between Confidence and Arrogance, Why He Never Wishes His Runners Good Luck, and Coaching Athletes to Not Need You
The most famous voice in running almost quit before he ever got fast. It took a bad workout (and a girlfriend on the verge of dumping him) to turn Chris Bennett into Coach B. Nike's Global Running Head Coach and the voice in millions of ears on the Nike Run Club app sits down with Dominic for a conversation about what actually builds greatness—and it's not what you think. Coach B traces his path from "incredibly…
Aug 24, 2026 Jemma Reekie on 60 Miles a Week at 5:50 Pace, Missing Olympic Bronze by 0.09, and How She Rebuilt From the Lowest Point of Her Career
Jemma Reekie doesn't remember most of her records—she just ran and found out later. The Scottish 800m/1500m star joins Dominic fresh off a fifth-place finish in the stacked Birmingham 2026 Euro 800m final, and opens up about a career that's been defined by extremes: three British indoor records broken in eight days as a 21-year-old who didn't even know what the records were; a fourth-place finish at the Tokyo…
Aug 22, 2026 Alex Ostberg: The Workout That Proves Your Fitness Is Usually The One That Ends Your Season, What Bicarb Actually Does To Your Body, And Why Your Willpower Will Always Lose To Your Environment
NEWSLETTER: https://therundownbytherunningeffect.substack.comThe magic workout you're chasing doesn't exist. In fact, the urge to prove your fitness before race day might be the very thing that breaks you.Alex Ostberg is back for our monthly recap of The Rundown, his weekly newsletter that lands in your inbox every Thursday. The former Stanford and UNC All-American, now an assistant coach at Nike's Swoosh Track…
Aug 20, 2026 Cortney Berling on Why Runners Underfuel Without Knowing It: Carb Timing Around Workouts, What to Eat Before a Cross Country Race, and Why Craving Sugar Isn't a Willpower Problem
Your body doesn't know the difference between Coca-Cola and watermelon. And according to registered sports dietitian Cortney Berling, that might be the most freeing thing a runner can learn. Back for her third appearance on The Running Effect, Cortney joins Dominic to dismantle the food rules holding runners back, starting with the sport's most controversial question: does weight loss actually make you…
Aug 18, 2026 Inside Josh Kerr's Mind the Week of the Mile World Record: His Sport Psychologist on the Time Trial That Felt Too Easy, the Cue He Gave Him Race Morning, and the Flow State Behind 3:42.66 WR
Josh Kerr didn't chase the mile world record, he created it. And the man who spent six years helping him build the mind to do it is finally telling the story. Jose Maresma is Kerr's sports psychologist, a clinical exercise physiologist with 35 years of experience spanning the Olympic Training Center, the NFL, NBA, special operators, ER doctors, and CEOs. Their partnership started with a pickaxe: Maresma invited…
Aug 16, 2026 Never Talent. Never Fear. Always Within 1%. Pete Julian on Coaching Rupp, Farah, Centro, the Mindset of Champions, and What Separates the Good From the Great
Pete Julian didn't beat cancer—he survived it, and that distinction shapes everything about how he coaches. The Union Athletics Club founder sits down with Dominic for one of the most reflective conversations in the show'shistory. Julian opens up about coaching across cultures—helping Suguru Osako escape Japan's ekiden machine, swapping pep talks for pure logic with Germany's Koko Klosterhalfen,…
Aug 14, 2026 Inside the Rise of Trenton Sandler: How a Lifelong Soccer Player Ran 1:55, Got Recruited to the SEC, and Coached Himself to a 3:42 1500
Trenton Sandler didn't care about running until his senior year of high school. Now, he's a 3:42 1500m man with 130,000 followers watching every step. The Arkansas transfer joins Dominic the day before his move to Fayetteville for a conversation about one of the strangest paths in the NCAA. A lifelong soccer player who only ran track to stay in shape, Trenton parlayed a 1:55 time in the 800m into an SEC roster…
Aug 12, 2026 From Mike Smith's Assistant to Running the Dynasty: NAU's Jarred Cornfield on the System Behind 6 Titles, Keeping It Alive in a New NCAA, and Coaching Colin Sahlman to 3x NCAA Titles
You don't replace Mike Smith. You carry forward what he built, and Jarred Cornfield is proving that's exactly how dynasties survive. Entering year two as NAU's Director of Cross Country and Track & Field, Cornfield returns to the podcast as another Flagstaff fall arrives. He opens up about the transition from nine years as Smith's assistant—resisting the urge to prove himself, leaning on his mentor (still in…
Aug 10, 2026 The Running Scientist: How Low Testosterone Can Make You Faster, The 4 Supplements That Actually Work, & The Warm-Up That Wins a 5K PR | Dr. Bill Evans
Dr. Bill Evans admits the post was rage bait. But the science underneath it isn't. Dominic opens by asking about Evans' claim that you can run faster with low testosterone, and Evans cheerfully cops to baiting the testosterone crowd before laying out the actual evidence. Two things can be true at once: train hard for years and your T drops, and your performance keeps climbing anyway. He walks through Anthony…
Aug 8, 2026 From Wake Forest to Full-Time Counselor: Ashley Bastron on Leaving Coaching at Her Peak, the Eating Disorder Crisis in Running, and Putting People Over Results
Ashley Bastron just had the best year of her coaching career. Then she quit, and she's never felt more at peace. In this episode, Dominic sits down with the former Wake Forest Associate Head Coach who guided the Demon Deacon women to their first NCAA Cross Country Championships since 2006, coached three All-Americans and two ACC champions in 2026, and then announced in July that she was stepping away to become a…
Aug 6, 2026 From 9th at NCAAs to US Steeplechase Champion: Nate Mountain on the Collapse, the Mental Reset, and the Dive That Won Him a National Title + An Inside Look At His PRO Career
Six weeks ago, Nate Mountain’s championship dreams died on the last lap of the NCAA final. Turns out they were just getting started. The newly-minted U.S. steeplechase champion joins Dominic to unpack the wildest six-week swing in the sport: a ninth-place “mental implosion” at NCAAs, followed by a full reset in Charlottesville (fewer workouts, more coffee walks and pick-up 21 against a fifty-year-old street…
Aug 4, 2026 From 9 National Titles as a Kid to 1:42 as a Pro: Brandon Miller on Beating the Olympic Champion, his 30 Mile Training Weeks, and Kicking Past Cooper Lutkenhaus
Brandon Miller is done being overlooked. The Brooks Beast is riding the hottest streak in American 800m running: four straight wins, including a takedown of world indoor champion Cooper Lutkenhaus at the Prefontaine Classic, and a 1:42.19 stunner over Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi in London that made him the fifth-fastest American in history. In this conversation, Dominic and Brandon dig into the season that…
Aug 2, 2026 Eric Avila on How to Actually Get Recruited to Run in College: Why Almost Any Runner Can Earn a Scholarship, How NIL Deals Really Work, and What Coaches Are Looking For
Eric Avila quit racing, but he didn’t quit the sport altogether. The 2021 USATF Road Mile champion spent eight years with Adidas before walking away in 2024. This included a torn plantar fascia, a contract offer attached to a marathon move he didn't want, and a competitive fire that quietly fizzled out. What surprised him wasn't missing the racing. It was losing the structure that had organized every morning of his…
Jul 31, 2026 How Fast Do You Really Lose Fitness? Alex Osberg on the Science of Detraining, Strategic Rest, and Coming Back Faster After Time Off
-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs Fitness is rented, never owned. But the rent is far cheaper than most runners think. Alex Ostberg returns for the monthly breakdown of The Rundown , and this month's four editions split neatly into two halves: what actually happens when you stop training, and how to think clearly about training in the first place. Alex opens…
Jul 29, 2026 How Ryan Cole Made Air Force an NCAA Powerhouse: An Inside Look at the Service Academy Few Runners Ever See, the Culture Behind It, and Why the NCAA Has Nothing Like It
There are no names on the back of an Air Force jersey, and that's exactly the point. While the rest of college running chases NIL money, transfer portals, and eighth-year seniors, Ryan Cole is quietly building a national contender out of American kids who signed up for something bigger than themselves. In today's conversation, Dominic sits down with the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at the U.S.…
Jul 27, 2026 UNC's New Women's Distance Coach: Ann Dunn on How She Landed the Job, What It Takes to Make It to D1, and Trying to Win an NCAA Title
Note from Dominic: for the first time in 800 episodes, had a weird issue where Ann's recording didn't save the last 5ish minutes of the podcast. So if it ends semi-abruptly that's why. Thank you for your understanding (: Enjoy! Ann Dunn wasn't looking for one of the biggest jobs in collegiate distance running. Then she came home from a run to a text from Chris Miltenberg, and two months later, she's the new head…
Jul 24, 2026 The Mental Performance Coach Behind NAU's Championships: Shannon Thompson on How Runners Train the Mind to Race Without Fear, Break Through Plateaus, and Become Their Best
You can register for the program directly through the official Shannon Thompson MPC Focus Session Series Page Instagram : @shannonleighthompson Your ego isn't the enemy — it's just a bodyguard using outdated tactics. Shannon Thompson, MAPP, NCCP, is back for another edition of one of the podcast's longest-running traditions. The mental performance coach behind NAU's championship program (and the second-ever guest…
Jul 22, 2026 How Trevor Giampa Runs Sub-2:30 Marathons While Benching 315: Inside the Brutal Training Schedule of the Hardest-Working Hybrid Athlete Alive
Trevor Giampa doesn't call himself the best hybrid athlete — he says there's no such competition. He just refuses to accept the idea that chasing a goal in the gym has to cost him a goal on the course. In this episode of The Running Effect Podcast, Dominic sits down with Trevor to unpack six years of all-out hybrid training and the results that have people convinced he must be cheating: a 2:28 Boston…
Jul 20, 2026 A Coffee Table. A Dog Crate. The Top of the Empire State Building. Jacob Cohen on Quitting Investment Banking to Become the Internet's 5K Guy
Jacob Cohen has run a 5K in a dog crate, a port-a-potty, and on top of the Empire State Building–-and no, he is not stopping anytime soon. Before he was the internet's favorite 5K guy, Cohen was an investment banker in Atlanta, overweight and grinding through a banking job while his content dream sat on the back burner. Running, however, changed everything. It helped him lose more than 40 pounds, and a run club of…
Jul 18, 2026 From One Spot Off the Olympic Team to 12:49 5k and a Pre Classic Title: Parker Wolfe on Consistency, Beating Grant Fisher, and His Rookie Pro Year For The Ages
Parker Wolfe was the 43rd man on a 42-man Olympic list. Now, he's making the case for rookie of the year in professional running. Dominic sits down with the Swoosh TC Flagstaff star to unpack a debut season that reads like a highlight reel: a USATF cross country title on a muddy Portland course, top American honors at World XC in Tallahassee, a first sub-13 indoor 5K, a 12:49.45 Diamond League debut in Oslo, and a…
Jul 18, 2026 From One Spot Off the Olympic Team to 12:49 5k and a Pre Classic Title: Parker Wolfe on Consistency, Beating Grant Fisher, and His Rookie Pro Year For The Ages
Parker Wolfe was the 43rd man on a 42-man Olympic list. Now, he's making the case for rookie of the year in professional running. Dominic sits down with the Swoosh TC Flagstaff star to unpack a debut season that reads like a highlight reel: a USATF cross country title on a muddy Portland course, top American honors at World XC in Tallahassee, a first sub-13 indoor 5K, a 12:49.45 Diamond League debut in Oslo, and a…
Jul 16, 2026 How He Races Pro Trails on 25 Miles a Week: Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau on Sub-Ultra Racing, Creative Cross-Training, Creative Cross-Training, and the Freedom of Running
Meikael Beaudoin-Rousseau was fishing alone at the top of Nevada Falls at the age of 10, and has been finding ways to move faster through the mountains ever since. The Stanford-trained distance runner turned professional trail and mountain specialist joins Dominic to talk about a two-year injury saga that has redefined how he thinks about training, resilience, and what it actually means to compete. After a…
Jul 14, 2026 Inside the Penn State 800m System: Handal Roban on the 1:42 Breakthrough, Why He Stopped Chasing Times, and the Mantra Behind Every Race
He bet his uncle he could beat him in a race, and that was the start of everything. Handal Roban grew up in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines playing cricket before a single track meet at age fifteen changed his trajectory. When the cricket team pushed him out, he didn't look back. Instead, he chased the guys who beat him—literally moving to Jamaica to train at Jamaica College High School, one of the most decorated…
Jul 12, 2026 How Will Garinger Built a Run Club Spanning 85 Cities and 7 Nations: The Loneliness Epidemic, Identity, and Getting Outside Yourself
Will Garinger can't explain how Run with Christ became so popular—and that might be the point. Less than two years after a group of 20-year-olds gathered in a Columbus park in September 2024, Run with Christ spans more than 85 cities across seven nations and three continents. Its founder never ran competitively. Garinger was a goalkeeper—an All-American who left for a Phoenix soccer academy at 16, jumped into life…
Jul 10, 2026 From 3:57 in High School to a 3:48 Pro Debut: Gary Martin on the NCAA's Brutal Depth, Signing with Brooks, and Chasing Josh Kerr in Seattle
Nobody hands you anything in the Bowerman Mile—not even on your first day. Two days after his professional debut at the Prefontaine Classic, Gary Martin joined the show to break down a lifetime-best 3:48.76 in the deepest mile field ever assembled, and why he walked away wishing he'd been more aggressive. The newest Brooks Beast member takes us inside the shock of going out in 1:53 after a college season of…
Jul 8, 2026 She Almost Hung Up the Spikes. Then Everything Changed. Notre Dame Hurdler Reese Sanders on Comeback, Confidence, and Running for No One but Herself
Reese Sanders ran a 57.3 and realized she wasn't done. Coming off her final season at Notre Dame, Sanders—a four-time Indiana state champion and one of the top 400m hurdlers in Fighting Irish history—was closer to walking away from the sport than sticking with it long term. What changed wasn't a grand plan. It was momentum: a fast race at ACCs, another personal best at regionals, and a quiet afternoon running…
Jul 6, 2026 26 Years. Two Dynasties. No Participation Medals. Doug Soles on Buy-In, the 2009 Loss That Still Haunts Him, and Why He Walked Away at the Peak
Doug Soles just walked away from the most dominant program in the country, and he's not done building. The two-time NXN champion coach joins Dominic to reflect on 26 years of head coaching and his recent decision to step down at Herriman High School. Soles opens up about the toll of 12-hour days, his choice to leave teaching first, and why he's leaving his next move "wide open" rather than rushing into another job.…
Jul 4, 2026 From a Year Without Leaving His House to a Guinness World Record: Mike Egan on Adversity, Repurposing Suffering, and Dragging His Chair Through the Mud at the BPN G1M Ultra
He gave everything for his country, came home without his legs, and then completed 110 miles anyway. Mike Egan is a Marine combat veteran who lost both legs to an IED in Afghanistan. In this conversation, he sits down with Dominic to talk about the G1M Go One More Backyard Ultra in Texas, where he completed 27 loops (110-plus miles in a wheelchair over 27 straight hours) finishing 27th in a field of able-bodied…
Jul 3, 2026 Reflecting on a Record-Breaking Freshman Year: Jane Hedengren on What Year One at BYU Taught Her, Summer Base Training, and Chasing a Cross Country Title
Jane Hedengren doesn't do freshman years quietly. Coming off a breakout debut season at BYU, the Nike-sponsored phenom joins Dominic ahead of the Prefontaine Classic to reflect on a year that redefined her expectations of herself. Hedengren opens up about the whirlwind of transitioning from decorated high schooler to collegiate standout, describing her freshman year as less about the records and wins and more about…
Jul 1, 2026 12 Weeks. One Shot. Everyone Else Is Resting. The Mike Scannell Special That Will Set You Apart: Grant Fisher's Coach on the Summer That Separates the Fast From the Forgotten
Mike Scannell doesn't believe in mileage—he believes in how you run it. Back on the show for another appearance, the architect of Grant Fisher's Olympic campaign sits down with Dominic to talk about something every serious runner faces and most get wrong: the summer training block. Scannell makes the case that the six weeks in the dead heat of summer are the truest measure of who an athlete is going to become. When…
Jun 29, 2026 pov: you are a fly on a wall for a convo between 4 running friends like they're on a long run
The boys are back, and nobody came to talk about running. Dominic welcomes Scotty, Danny, and Chris from the Life in Stride podcast for their fourth appearance on TRE, and within minutes the conversation has already covered protein powder side effects, dry needling in uncomfortable places, and Dom's near-date with one of the most famous athletes on the planet. Before things go completely off the rails, Dom shares…
Jun 27, 2026 Coach Chris Miltenberg on the Crisis Inside College Running: The Foreign-Talent Surge Reshaping Recruiting, the Age Gap No One Will Touch, and Whether the NCAA Can Still Develop American Stars
The NCAA isn't broken: it's been bought, and Coach Chris Miltenberg is one of the last ones willing to say so out loud. Miltenberg returns to the show fresh off an NCAA Championships in Eugene where the women's 5,000 and men's 10,000 runners were swept nearly clean by international athletes funneled in through university-funded recruiting services. He called it what it is: a paradigm shift, driven by two forces—an…
Jun 25, 2026 From a Down Year to 1:57 — 2nd-Fastest in NCAA History: Hayley Kitching on the Comeback, Confidence, and the "I'm Her" Mentality
Running a 1:57 doesn't happen by accident. And for Hayley Kitching, it almost didn't happen at all. A year ago, the Penn State senior was in Austin nursing plantar fasciitis while watching the sport move without her. Hayley is here to unpack the full arc: the injury, the comeback, and the NCAA Outdoor final at Hayward Field where she ran the second-fastest 800 meters in collegiate history—and still…
Jun 23, 2026 Inside How Habtom Samuel Won 5 NCAA Titles: On His Closing Kick, the Mindset Shift, and Leaving the NCAA on Top
NEW MERCH OUT TODAY 5PM EST: https://luminarythreads.shop Five NCAA titles. One backwards hat. Zero apologies. Habtom Samuel is not a guy who talks much—he lets the track do it. The University of New Mexico junior just capped a historic 2025–2026 season by sweeping the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, becoming the most decorated athlete in Lobos history. In this episode, Dominic…
Jun 22, 2026 Launching LuminaryThreads: The 3-Year What-If Behind The Running Effect's Merch Brand
🔗 Shop drop one (early-access password: TRE): https://luminarythreads.shop Dominic goes solo to launch LuminaryThreads — a merch brand three years in the making, built on a simple idea: you pass roughly a thousand people a day, and what you wear is the one way to reach them. Every month, one drop. One short statement meant to inspire, challenge, or move whoever reads it. When it's gone, it's gone for good. Drop…
Jun 20, 2026 The Runner's Playbook on Knowing When to Quit a Workout, Optimizing What Actually Matters, and Surviving Summer Heat — With NIKE Pro Coach Alex Osberg
NEW MERCH OUT ON MONDAY: https://luminarythreads.shop Alex Ostberg doesn't waste your time—and this month's Rundown recap is proof. Dominic and Alex break down four newsletters that build on each other in ways that feel almost inevitable by the end: a framework for how elite programs fall apart, how coaches know when to pull the plug, and how summer heat can either wreck your confidence or become your secret…
Jun 18, 2026 What It Takes to Run 1:45 in the 800: Niko Schultz on the Training, the Environment, and the Mindset That Got Him There
NEW MERCH OUT ON MONDAY: https://luminarythreads.shop From 1:54 and zero Division I offers to sixth at NCAAs in 1:45, Niko Schultz didn't sneak up on anybody, he just refused to stop showing up. This year, in his first campaign at Penn State, he finished sixth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and earned First-Team All-American honors. That arc doesn't happen by accident. Niko sits down with Dominic to unpack…
Jun 16, 2026 From Losing Her Arm at 14 to Six Years of Success in the NCAA: Ashley Jones on Grief, Faith, Victim Mentality, and What Running Gave Her Back
Ashley Jones competed for six years in Division I distance running with one arm—and she insists that was never the point. If all running taught her was how to go faster in a race, she missed everything. Fresh off a trip marking ten years since the ATV accident that took her right arm at 14 (three months after losing her father), Ashley joins Dominic to discuss her farewell to college running. Across three programs…
Jun 14, 2026 25 Miles a Week. Two Years of Training. 3:59 in the Mile. Carter Smith on the Fairy Tale Season Making Him Pennsylvania's Next Sub-4 Star
While his rivals stack hundred-mile months, senior Carter Smith has built one of the fastest high school seasons in America on simplicity, sleep, and a kick nobody saw coming. Fresh off the wildest stretch of his life—a 3:59.00 mile at the HOKA Festival of Miles; then a 1:48 win in the Brooks PR 800m days later in Seattle—Smith sits down with Dominic to explain how a kid from small-town Pennsylvania got here in…
Jun 12, 2026 24 Hours. 133 Miles. One Treadmill. Ed Martin on the Text That Saved His Life, Running So Others Keep Going, and Why "I Got This" Are the Worst Words You Can Say
Edwin Martin didn't start running to become an ultra-athlete—he started because life had gotten so dark he almost didn't start anything again at all. At 21, Martin hit rock bottom. Consumed by a gambling addiction and drowning in purposelessness, he was on his bathroom floor, ready to end his life, when a text from a friend (just three words: I love you ) pulled him back. That moment became the foundation for…
Jun 10, 2026 From 1:57 in the Tokyo Olympic 800m Final to 69:15 in the Half-Marathon: Alex Bell on Burnout, Reinvention, and Chasing the LA 2028 Marathon
She ran 1:57 in an Olympic final as an afterthought—then walked away, rebuilt everything, and came back faster. Alex Bell isn't just reinventing herself; she's finally becoming who she was supposed to be. In this conversation, Alex takes Dominic through one of British running's most unlikely second acts. She opens about the moment she crossed the finish line in Tokyo and knew (lying on her back; a million feelings…
Jun 8, 2026 From Selling T-Shirts at Motocross Tracks to a $100M Global Brand: Jason Daniel on Building LSKD, the 1% Better Mission, and Running a Sub-3 Marathon
Logan, Queensland, doesn't typically produce global empires. Jason Daniel didn't get that particular memo. The founder and CEO of LSKD built a self-funded, $400M global activewear brand from a BMX nickname, a carpenter's apprenticeship, and five years stuck at $3 million in annual revenue—and he did it without a single outside investor. What broke the plateau wasn't a strategy. It was books, a…
Jun 5, 2026 How Sharon Lokedi Won Two Straight Boston Marathons: The 130-Mile Weeks Mileage, the Visualization, and Inside the Doubt She Fights Before Every Race
She grew up running miles to school through the hills of Burnt Forest, Kenya—and now she owns the streets of Boston. Sharon Lokedi, two-time Boston Marathon champion and one of the most quietly dominant forces in the sport, joins the show for a wide-open conversation about what it actually takes to run 2:17 twice, back-to-back, on the most unforgiving major marathon course in the world. Sharon doesn't carry herself…
Jun 3, 2026 Exclusive: Simeon Birnbaum On Going for the NCAA 1500/5K Double Title: Inside the Marco Langon Beef, the 3:31 Record Training, and Why He's Next Up
Simeon Birnbaum, the NCAA 1500m record holder, is heading into NCAAs hungry, healthy, and ready to hurt people. Dominic sits down with the Oregon junior days before the outdoor National Championships, where Birnbaum is eyeing a 1500m/5000m double on his home track in Eugene. The guys cover the full arc of his breakthrough season: from the December 3000m that broke Edward Cheserek's Oregon school record; to the Big…
Jun 2, 2026 Brian Burns on Chasing 3:57 at Festival of Miles: the Training Behind the Breakthrough, the Nerves of One Final High School Mile, and a Shot at History
The clock has beaten Brian Burns twice. June 4th at the HOKA Festival of Miles, he plans to return the favor. Burns, a senior at Bentonville High School and committed to UNC Chapel Hill, joins the show eight days out from Festival of Miles—fresh off a ladder workout that confirmed what his coaches have been telling him all spring: he is in 3:57 shape. The gap between where he is and where he needs to be is not…
May 31, 2026 Inside the Training of a High Schooler Chasing 1:47 in the 800: The Unconventional System of No Speed Work, High Mileage, and a Shot at History At Festival of Miles
Austin Plewe ran a 1:49 at altitude and never trained faster than two-mile pace to do it. The American Fork senior joins the show ahead of his Festival of Miles 800m debut to explain exactly how that's possible—and why his roughest year ended up being the thing that made him. Plewe is a product of one of the most consistent programs in the country. Coach Timo Mostert has been running the same aerobic-first…
May 29, 2026 From 7 Years of Chronic Illness to a Half Marathon in 14 Months: Josh Blatchford on Bioenergetics, Predicting Injuries Before They Happen, and the Science That Saved His Life
Josh Blatchford couldn’t stand long enough to brush his teeth—and he was a personal trainer. After years of chronic illness nobody could diagnose, Josh hit rock bottom in 2020. He was bedridden, losing function on the left side of his body, and spending $30,000 a year on care that kept symptoms at bay for maybe six months before they came back harder. He had a two-year-old daughter he couldn’t lift. His…
May 27, 2026 Why Running Slower And Doing Less Will Make You Faster: Mario Fraioli On 22 Years Of Coaching Lessons, The B+ Workout Rule, And The Insecure Overachiever Trap
Mario Fraioli has coached hundreds of athletes and written over half a million words about running—and his most important lesson is to do less. He is the founder of The Morning Shakeout, a weekly newsletter read by tens of thousands of runners since 2015, a longtime running coach, and a Masters competitor still toeing the line himself with a 4:09 mile to his name. Two days after the 2026 Boston Marathon, Mario sat…
May 25, 2026 From the Shadows to HOKA Festival of Miles: Chiara Dailey on Being Overlooked, Training Like A Pro, and Chasing a Sub-4:30 Mile In High School
Braelyn Combe listed five girls she expected to contend with at Festival of Miles. Chiara Dailey's name wasn't one of them. That detail sits right at the center of this conversation: not as a grudge, but as fuel. Chiara has been one of the best prep distance runners in the country for four straight years: three consecutive California state cross country titles, a sub-4:40 mile PR, four straight national…
May 23, 2026 From the Soft-Surface Myth to the Sub-2 Marathon: Nike Coach Alex Osberg on Training Science, Injury Comebacks, and The Secrets Of Elite Fueling From A Sub-2 Marathon
-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs The myths runners live by are surprisingly hard to kill. Alex Ostberg is back with Dominic to dismantle four more of them. First up: the soft surface myth. Alex explains how the brain anticipates soft terrain and stiffens the legs before foot strike, largely canceling out whatever cushioning the ground provides. The real injury…
May 21, 2026 From Walking Away From Pro Running in 2018 to the Fastest American EVER at Boston: Jess McClain on the Greatest Comeback in American Marathon History
Jess McClain went from anonymous to American course record holder in about two years. She'll tell you that it’s not actually that simple. The 2024 Olympic Trials were the moment the running world met Jess when she finished fourth in Orlando, out of nowhere—or so the story went. In this episode, she explains what that looked like from the inside: going in without expectations, with her husband Connor by her…
May 19, 2026 From 4:18 To 3:59 In The Mile: How Riley Witt Built Bicarb 3.0 From His Dorm, The Talent Myth, And Why If You're Not Willing To Spend $2,000 On Your Running, You're Not Serious
Website: ⁠bicarb.shop Riley Witt doesn't think you need talent to break four minutes in the mile—he just thinks you need to want it bad enough to spend $35. The Northwest Missouri State senior came on to break down the philosophy behind that take, and what followed was one of the more honest conversations about athletic ambition, economic reality, and the compounding edge of doing everything right. Witt grew up in…
May 17, 2026 From Three Jobs and Minnesota Winters to 306 Miles & 73 Loops at BPN: Mark Dowdle on Winning G1M Ultra, the 2 AM Decision, and the Voice That Got Him Through
Mark Dowdle ran 306.6 miles in 73 hours, drove 20 hours home, picked up a puppy, and was back umpiring youth baseball the next week. That's either the most unhinged post-race recovery plan in endurance sports history, or it's the most honest thing anyone's said about who he actually is. This is the conversation Dominic was saving for after the race—and it delivered on the hype. Mark walks through the G1M Ultra from…
May 15, 2026 The Effect: Luke Hopkins on His Unrelenting Pursuit of Greatness, How an Accident at 12 Reshaped His Life, His Ambitions in Ironman, and Inspiring a Whole Generation in the Process
Luke Hopkins doesn't separate who he is from what he does—and that almost broke him. When a stress fracture pulled him off the training schedule he'd built his identity around, Hopkins had to face a question most high achievers never stop long enough to ask: what's left when the sport is gone? In this episode, the guys dive into the psychology of performance: the difference between being intentional and being…
May 13, 2026 3:53.43. 25 Years Later. Still Unbroken. Alan Webb on the Pre Classic Mile That Outlasted a Generation and Why It's Still the Hardest Record in High School Sports
Alan Webb still has the record. Twenty-four years later, nobody's touched it. The American high school mile record (3:53.43, set at the 2001 Prefontaine Classic) has outlasted every shoe revolution, every bicarb protocol, and every perfectly concocted running shoe PR storm. In this conversation, Webb sits down with Dominic to talk about why that mark still stands, what it actually felt like to run it, and what the…
May 11, 2026 From Depressed to Strava Killer: Zach Pogrob on Share Aura, Taking Strava's Crown, and Building the Greatest App the Running World Has Ever Seen
He ran 63 miles on a broken stomach, launched a product the same week, and called it a good weekend. Zach Pogrob is back—and this time, the conversation goes deeper than any race result. A month before the BPN G1M Ultra, he posted a photo at 220 pounds and admitted he had no business toeing the line. He showed up anyway, ran until his GI system shut down at mile 50, kept going on fumes, and walked away with a…
May 9, 2026 Inside the Training and Mindset of a 4:30 High School Miler: Ellery Lincoln on Beating Pre-Race Nerves, Joining Jane Hedengren on the All-Time List, and Her Plan to Break the HS Record
She threw up before every race. Now she's the fourth-fastest high school miler in American history. Ellery Lincoln is a Nike Elite junior from Lincoln High School in Portland, and her 4:30.00 at the 2026 Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays didn't arrive as a surprise so much as an inevitability—the product of two years’ worth of illness, setback, and a mantra she and her mom built together: consistency over perfection. In…
May 7, 2026 Exclusive: How Trevor Painter Is Coaching Keely Hodgkinson to Break a 40-Year-Old World Record — Inside M11 Track Club, the Chase for 1:52, and Coaching the Fastest Women in the World
Trevor Painter doesn't coach world record holders by accident—he builds them, one hard session at a time. Painter is the architect behind Keely Hodgkinson's indoor world record and Georgia Hunter Bell's World Indoor 1500m gold, and in this conversation, he pulls back the curtain on exactly how M11 Track Club operates. He opens with what makes Keely truly special: not just her talent, but her composure, her work…
May 5, 2026 119 Miles. 28 Hours. One 4AM Breakdown. Jonny Davies on the Caffeine Reset, the Voice That Got Him Up, and the Work That Wins Before the Start Line.
Jonny Davies ran 119 miles on a Texas ranch, vomited up half a bottle of water, and still had to be talked out of going back for one more lap. Fresh off his second BPN Go One More Last Man Standing Ultra (and 17 more miles than the year before), Jonny sits down with Dominic to unpack what really happens when the race strips everything away. He gets into the brutal physics of surviving Texas heat at 105°F as a…
May 3, 2026 3:58 Mile. 8:31 3200m National Record. Two Cross Country National Titles. Jackson Spencer on the Senior Year That Made Him the Fastest Distance Runner In Recent History & The Training Behind It
He ran 3:58 off early-season training, and he's not done yet. Jackson Spencer sat down with Dominic just days after becoming one of roughly 32 high schoolers in American history to break four minutes in the mile, and the conversation is exactly what you'd hope from a kid with this kind of season: honest, grounded, and full of detail that never shows up in a results column. He walks through Arcadia blow by…
May 2, 2026 No Coach. No Training Partners. No Contract. Vinny Mauri on the Unconventional Path to 2:05:54—the Fastest American Marathon Debut Ever
Vinny Mauri was working the floor at a running shoe store in Ohio. Then he ran 2:05:54 and became the fastest American marathon debutant in history. Nobody was watching. That's not hyperbole. While the running world was fixated on Sabastian Sawe's sub-two-hour performance in London, a 25-year-old from Warren, Ohio quietly dismantled the record books at the Glass City Marathon in Toledo—running solo, without a…
May 1, 2026 From 2:09 in New York to 2:04 in Boston: Charles Hicks and Coach Alex Ostberg on the 16-Week Build, 1,000 Extra Training Miles, and Why A Sub-2 Marathon For Him Is Now a Conversation
Charles Hicks ran 2:04:35 at Boston in his second marathon. His coach was watching from Eugene, trying not to lose his mind. Alex Ostberg and Charles Hicks were Stanford teammates for exactly one year: Ostberg a fifth-year senior, Hicks a freshman who wasn't even first on the depth chart in his incoming class. Five years later, they're coach and athlete inside Nike's Swoosh Track Club, and they just…
Apr 29, 2026 How Matthew Centrowitz Became the First American in 108 Years to Win Olympic 1500m Gold: Outrunning His Father's Shadow, the Selfishness It Demanded, and Why He Couldn't Do It Today
He won Olympic gold in 2016, more with his brain, not his legs—and the running world never forgot it. Matthew Centrowitz Jr., the only American man to win Olympic 1,500m gold since Mel Sheppard in 1908, sits down with The Running Effect for a wide-open conversation about what it took to become the most decorated American miler of his generation. From his 2011 NCAA title at Oregon to three World Championship medals,…
Apr 27, 2026 How Joey Miuccio Ran 111 Miles at the BPN G1M Ultra on 8 Weeks of Training — Pacing Strategy, Mindset, Why His Body Broke at Mile 100 and the Dilemma of the High Achiever
Joey Miuccio came to Texas undertrained, ran 111 miles, and cried in a chair. He'd do it all again. This one goes deeper than the G1M Ultra. Joey breaks down what actually separates a backyard ultra from Leadville. It'snot the distance, it's that you can never slow to a crawl. Every lap has a clock, and the clock doesn't care about your knee. He hit mile 85 feeling invincible, convinced…
Apr 25, 2026 Iron. Stress. Ice Baths. Biology. NIKE Pro Running Coach Alex Osberg on the Four Training Science Truths Every Competitive Runner Needs to Hear
JOIN MY TEAM & SUPPORT A GREAT CAUSE: https://www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com/en/teams/5Nrld5?join=1 Every runner has a mental checklist of what's holding them back. Iron deficiency, life stress, ice bath mythology, and the gap between ambition and biology probably aren't on it—but after this episode, they will be. Alex Ostberg is back for the Rundown Recap, and he starts where most coaches start when an athlete…
Apr 23, 2026 58 Hours. 241 Miles. First Loss. Kim Gottwald on the End of His 14-Month Winning Streak & Why He'll Be Back to Win the BPN G1M Ultra
He came out of nowhere, tied a backyard ultra, and accidentally built one of running's most compelling brands—all before turning 22. Now Kim Goldwald is back on the show, and this time, he left Texas without the crown. Kim returns to The Running Effect fresh off his second Go One More Ultra, where he finished 58 loops (241.5 miles) in brutal, rain-soaked conditions before his right glute gave out for good.…
Apr 22, 2026 Dr. Lyndsay Centrowitz On The Locker Room "Badge Of Honor" Quietly Ending Female Running Careers, The Body That Keeps Score, And Why Your Chronic Injury Probably Might Not Be About Your Body At All
The woman treating Olympic athletes says the sport has been coaching women wrong for decades, and she's built the clinic, the science, and the summit to prove it. Dr. Lyndsay Centrowitz is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, pelvic health specialist, and USATF medical provider on a mission to rebuild how running treats the female body. She owns StrongHER, a women's-only PT practice in Park City, Utah, and trains…
Apr 21, 2026 From 4:36 as a Freshman to 4:00 as a Senior: Caden Leonard on Chasing Sub-4 In The Mile, Being Coached By His Dad, and Why He Refuses to Visualize Losing
He's 0.08 seconds from the four-minute mile, and Festival of Miles is the race he's had circled all year. Caden Leonard arrives in St. Louis as the top-ranked high school miler in the country—coming off a 4:00.07 indoor and a 4:01.02 outdoor, the fastest mile ever run by a prep athlete on Texas soil. Last year he ran this same race through a stress reaction nobody knew about. This year he's healthy, hungry, and…
Apr 20, 2026 Martin Dugard — NYT Bestselling Author Behind 12 Million Books Sold on the 50-Year Revolution That Built the Sport You Run and Why Running Is the Fastest-Growing Sport Nobody's Talking About
JOIN MY TEAM & SUPPORT A GREAT CAUSE: https://www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com/en/teams/5Nrld5?join=1 Martin Dugard has spent his whole life at the intersection of running and history, and The Long Run is where they finally collide. Dugard is a #1 New York Times bestselling author with over 12 million copies sold, a three-time Raid Gauloises adventure racer, a co-holder of the global circumnavigation speed record,…
Apr 18, 2026 How To Kill Doubt, Generate Evidence, And Leave Every Race An Honest Man — Alexander Lingaur On Overcoming His Demons And Running For 37 Hours Straight / 154 Miles At BPN G1M Ultra
Forty-five days ago, he told TRE he didn't know if he liked running anymore. Then he ran 37 loops. Aleksander Piotr Lingauer showed up to the 2026 BPN Go One More Ultra carrying more than a race bib. He carried a childhood spent in foster care across England and Germany, a nervous system that had been shutting down in the weeks before the start line, and a verse from Joel written on his shirt. What he left with was…
Apr 16, 2026 Inside Jane Hedengren's Historic Freshman Year: 2 NCAA Titles, NCAA 5K Record (14:44), NCAA 10K Record (30:46) — And BYU's "Productive, Not Harder" Training Philosophy That Creates Champions
Most people spend years chasing a record. Jane Hedengren did it on her first try. On April 3rd at the Stanford Invitational, BYU freshman Jane Hedengren stepped onto the track for her first-ever collegiate outdoor race and ran 30:46.80, the fastest collegiate 10,000m in NCAA history. She broke Parker Valby's record by nearly four seconds. That's who TRE is sitting down with this week. But this episode…
Apr 14, 2026 Quentin Nauman: 3:58 Miler, 10x State Champion, Legendary Kick— How Iowa's Most Dangerous Senior Is Coming for Alan Webb's HS Mile Record Of 3:53
Quentin Nauman is already a legend in Iowa. This spring season is the encore The greatest prep distance runner in Iowa history enters his final outdoor season with 10 state titles, two national championships, and one goal left unfinished. Two weeks ago at Nike Indoor Nationals, Nauman anchored Iowa's DMR team to a national title in 9:46.23, edging Texas by under a second in a dramatic final 200 meters. For an…
Apr 12, 2026 What It Took for David Perry — 28:42 Collegiate 10K Runner, Former Portland Pilot — to Build the Jewelry Brand Designing Diamond Track Spikes for Nike and Olympians
Colorado-born elite runner turned entrepreneur David Perry is here—a guy who went from captain of Adidas Runners NYC to founder of one of the most talked-about jewelry brands in the athletic world. David gained notoriety in the NYC running community before founding his own luxury jewelry brand, David Perry Jewelry. He was an All-America runner at the University of Portland, where he competed in Cross Country and…
Apr 10, 2026 The Chosen One: How Cooper Lutkenhaus Became the Youngest World Champion in Track History at 17 — Inside His Training, Mindset & Why He Believes He Can Be the Greatest Of All Time
He won a world title on spring break. Monday morning, he was back in class. Cooper Lutkenhaus is 17 years old and the youngest world champion in the history of track and field. Weeks after Toruń, he sits down with The Running Effect to answer the question nobody else has asked: what does life actually look like on the other side of history? The Nike contract signed at 16. The high school coach he still trusts with…
Apr 8, 2026 How Mark Dowdle Is Preparing to Run 500 Miles and Five Days Straight — and Why Competing Against Others Is the Wrong Goal
Mark Dowdle didn't grow up a runner. He was a two-sport college athlete who heard David Goggins on a podcast during a bus ride home from a losing lacrosse trip, and decided to become a different person. Six years later, he's on Team USA. He's won backyard ultras covering 283 miles in 68 straight hours. He ran 135 miles through Northern Minnesota in sub-zero January temps and took first place. He spent an entire…
Apr 6, 2026 How Braelyn Combe Went From Missing NXN to Winning a National Mile Title — The 29-Second 200m Kick, Strength Training, and Why She Thinks Sub-4:25 Is Coming This June
She missed NXN in the fall. By March, she was winning national titles. Braelyn Combe is a senior at Santiago High School in Corona, California, and the latest athlete to join TRE's Festival of Miles series. Right now she's the most dangerous prep distance runner in the country. Not because she's the fastest out of the gate, because she knows exactly when to move. At the 2026 Nike Indoor Nationals, Combe ran the…
Apr 4, 2026 How Frankie Ruiz Went From Team Alternate to 17-Time State Champion Coach — The Culture, the 1Team Philosophy, and What Most Coaches Get Backwards + Insights From Coaching Marcelo Mantecon
Miami doesn't have a running culture by accident. Frankie Ruiz built it. From 17 Florida high school cross country state championships (9 in a row); to a junior who just finished 4th at Nike Cross Nationals; to a marathon that generates $300 million a year for Miami-Dade County; and a government appointment to make an entire city healthier—he does all of this simultaneously. And he's been doing it for…
Apr 3, 2026 How WORLD CHAMPION Josh Kerr Plans to Break a 30-Year World Record With a 3:42 Mile — Project 222, Custom Spikes, and the Mindset Behind History's Boldest Attempt
He said it was his to lose. Then he went out and made sure of it. Josh Kerr is back on The Running Effect, and this time he's not limping off a global stage. He's walking out of Toruń with gold, and already calling his next shot. At the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships, Kerr reclaimed the 3000m title he first won two years ago in Glasgow. He ran a 7:35.56, the second-fastest winning time in World…
Apr 1, 2026 The #1 Running Scientist Who Helped Eliud Kipchoge Break 2 Hours In The Marathon Shares What Actually Makes Runners Faster — And What Most Are Getting Wrong
A sub-2-hour marathon was supposed to be impossible. Then Dr. Brad Wilkins built the mathematical model that proved it wasn't, and Nike handed him the keys to make it happen. In 2017, Kipchoge ran 2:00:25 at Breaking2—25 seconds short. Close enough to prove the science was right. Two years later, the 1:59:40 happened in Vienna. The blueprint Wilkins built made that possible. Now he's back in a university lab asking…
Mar 30, 2026 How NIKE Pro Running Coach Alex Ostberg Reframes Running Nutrition — Donuts as Rocket Fuel, the Durability Lag, Building Injury-Proof Mileage & What To Do After A Bad Race
-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs What if the secret to running faster is eating a donut? World-class coach Alex Ostberg is back for another monthly breakdown of his newsletter, The Rundown; and this one might be his most thought-provoking yet. Dominic and Alex tear through four recent editions, starting with a piece that'll make your clean-eating friends squirm:…
Mar 28, 2026 How Isaiah Photo Transformed His Body and Running in 75 Days — 10 Pounds of Fat Lost, 10 Pounds of Muscle Gained, Marathon PR Incoming
What do you do after you've literally run around the world? For Isaiah Photo, apparently, you wake up at 5 AM every single morning, jump into an ice bath, and spend 75 days trying to get a six-pack. This is the kind of unhinged, disciplined, borderline-beautiful chaos that Isaiah Photo lives in. You might know him from his 10 million YouTube subscribers, or from that video where he attempted a marathon in high…
Mar 26, 2026 An Inside Look At How Grant Fisher Set 2 World Records in 6 Days, Became the First American to Medal in the Olympic 5K & 10K, and the Conversation at 19 That Changed Everything
Grant Fisher holds American records, world records, and an Olympic medal. He's arguably the greatest American distance runner alive—and he's only 28. But the story that shaped all of it almost didn't happen. His college coach sat him down junior year and asked one question: how much do you actually care about this? That conversation changed everything. Then, before the 2024 Olympics, Grant did something most…
Mar 24, 2026 How Adriaan Wildschutt Won the NYC Half Marathon in 59:30 with Only One Career 20-Mile Run — The Track Speed, Half Marathon Build, and McGregor Mindset Behind It
Adriaan Wildschutt just became the first South African in history to win the NYC Half Marathon, and it looks like he’s in the middle of a memorable career. Adriaan holds five South African national records. He ran a sizzling 59:13 half marathon debut. He was 13th at the World Cross Country Championships, which was the best finish a South African man has ever had at that event. This guy is notbuilding toward…
Mar 22, 2026 How Coach Ryan Waite Produced an NCAA Indoor Mile Champion — The Scouting System, Race Simulation Workouts, and Mental Edge That Won It
The man behind one of the most exciting moments in collegiate track this season is here: BYU Assistant Coach Ryan Waite. His athlete, Carter Cutting, just claimed the 2026 NCAA Indoor Mile title. Ryan isn't just a coach. He's a five-time All-American who ran these same kinds of races, felt that same pressure, and now pours every bit of that experience and wisdom into the athletes he develops. He is the current…
Mar 20, 2026 Exclusive: How Carter Cutting PR'd Every Single Year Since Age 9 — The Compounding Confidence That Built an NCAA Mile Championship Win
Just a few months ago, Carter Cutting wasn’t the favorite in the men’s mile of the NCAA Indoor Championship. In fact, he was ranked 10th in the field heading into this big meet. But when the moment came, the BYU junior delivered one of the most decisive kicks of the entire meet—closing his final 200 meters in 27.35 seconds to win the 2026 NCAA Indoor Mile National Championship in 3:58.94. That victory didn’t just…
Mar 18, 2026 How Kimberley May Went From Almost Quitting Running to Signing With New Balance & Turning Pro — The Mindset Shift That Made the Difference
The last time Kimberley May joined the show, she was a 4:27 miler pulling back the curtain on what it takes to compete at the highest level of collegiate running. Since then, her career has accelerated into something much bigger. In early 2025, May ran 8:44.73 for the indoor 3,000m, breaking the Providence College record and posting one of the fastest times in NCAA history. Over the past year, she has also risen to…
Mar 16, 2026 World-Renowned Sports Psychologist Jeff Troesch: What It Takes to Be Great, the "It Factor," & Why You Don't Actually Want to Be an Olympian
For nearly 40 years, Jeff Troesch has worked behind the scenes with NBA players, MLB All-Stars, Olympic medalists, and national championship programs. He's coached athletes at every Olympic Games since 1988, helped shape the mental systems at IMG Academy, and consulted for USA Track & Field. In 2025, he distilled 150 mental performance lessons into one book: One Day Better . Jeff doesn't preach positive…
Mar 14, 2026 Mike Scannell on the Philosophy Behind Coaching Champions, Why He Turns Down D1 Coaching Every Year, & Inside The 6-Week Training Block of Grant Fisher's Half Marathon Debut
Mike Scannell is back on The Running Effect Podcast . The last time he joined the show, we talked about the long-term vision behind coaching one of America’s most talented distance runners. Since then, that vision has turned into one of the most remarkable stretches in American distance running history. His athlete, Grant Fisher, has won two Olympic bronze medals in Paris, broken indoor world records in both the…
Mar 12, 2026 The Inside Scoop Before Nationals: Simeon Birnbaum & Connor Burns on How Oregon Qualified 5 Men in the 3k, Connor's Injury Comeback, and the Truth About Training Under Jerry Schumacher
The last time Connor Burns and Simeon Birnbaum were here, they were two highly anticipated freshmen trying to find their footing in one of the most historic distance programs in NCAA history. Now? They’re conference-dominating sophomores ready for their next target. At the 2026 Big Ten Indoor Championships, Simeon Birnbaum swept the distance double, winning both the 3,000m and the 5,000m to claim two Big Ten titles…
Mar 10, 2026 Clayton Young: A Doctor Told Him His Career Might Be Over — How a 2:08 Olympian Turned a Near Career-Ending Injury Into His Biggest Comeback Yet
Clayton Young fell early at the Marathon World Championships, and still finished as the top American. He also ran 2:07:04 at Boston (the fastest marathon of his life), and somehow it still felt like there was more in the tank. Since 2024, he’s been everywhere that matters: including 2nd in the U.S. Olympic Trials, 9th at the Paris Olympics, 7th in New York, 7th in Boston, and 9th in Tokyo. This man is stacking…
Mar 8, 2026 How Trent McFarland Went From a 4:13 Walk-On to 3:52 NCAA Contender — And Why Nobody in the NCAA Can Stop His Kick
In the span of a few months, Trent McFarland has gone from conference contender to one of the most dangerous milers in the NCAA, running 3:52.73 to break a school record and then defending his Big Ten title in a gritty, tactical 4:11 championship race. As one of the top milers in the Big Ten and the NCAA, Trent has had a tremendous 2025-26 season so far. He is the back-to-back Big Ten mile champion, and helped…
Mar 6, 2026 How Cameron Hanes Ran 250 Miles on a Broken Foot — and What That Reveals About Your Own Ceiling + Lessons From Training With David Goggins, Cole Hocker, & More
Cameron Hanes didn't inherit greatness. He built it: one mile, one arrow, one brutally consistent day at a time. He wasn't a child prodigy hunter or a naturally gifted runner. He was a warehouse worker, a utility employee, and a guy who struggled through his first mile of running. And through obsession, discipline, and an uncompromising personal code, he became the man who can run 20 miles before…
Mar 4, 2026 Aleksander Lingauer on the Confession Serious Runners Never Make — Identity, Ego, and What the Sport Really Costs You
Aleksander Lingauer is back on the show, this time putting everything on the table. Aleksander is an endurance athlete and writer, and the mind behind Project 61: a solo mission to run the length of Germany, one marathon a day, for two straight months. He's also crewed for Kim Gotthwald across two Last Man Standing victories. And this year, BPN extended him an invitation of his own. Aleksander is here to be honest…
Mar 2, 2026 How Becs Gentry Went from Smoking and Drinking to a 2:32 Marathon and 4th at the British Olympic Trials —And the 6-Month Break That Changed How She Thinks About Running Forever
Becs Gentry isn’t just an influential Peloton instructor. She’s a 2:32 marathoner, a former British Olympic Trials fourth-place finisher, the first female non-elite at the 2019 NYC Marathon, and now the newest Global Brand Ambassador for HOKA. And that’s not even mentioning her incredible second-place finish in The Great World Race in 2024: she ran 7 marathons, on 7 continents, in 7 days, setting a world record for…
Feb 28, 2026 How Craig Kirkwood Went From Self-Coached Teenager to Developing Olympic Medalists and the Fastest U18 Miler in History Sam Ruthe
The story of coach Craig Kirkwood doesn’t begin and end with teenage phenom Sam Ruthe. Yes, just this year the 16-year-old Ruthe ran 3:48.88 indoors, breaking the World U18 Indoor Mile record and the New Zealand senior record in one race. It was a generational performance. But this wasn’t Coach Craig’s first run-in with elite talent. He has coached Olympic medalists like Hayden Wilde (Olympic bronze medalist in…
Feb 26, 2026 "This Year Will Define My Career" — Josh Kerr on Coming Back From His First Major Injury, the 1500m's New Era, and Chasing History
The grade-two calf tear he suffered during the World Championship 1500m race in Tokyo in 2025 could have resulted inJosh Kerr stepping off the track and licking his wounds. Instead, he finished the race, committed to rehab, and returned to the stage at the Millrose Games. Kerr lined up in the 2-mile not just as the world indoor best holder (8:00.67), but as the man everyone was chasing. In a tactical,…
Feb 24, 2026 NIKE Pro Coach Alex Osberg on Why 94% of Youth Prodigies Fail, the 10-Minute Tendon Rule, and the Case Against Training Harder — The Science Most Runners Ignore
-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs Alex returns for his monthly Run Down to unpack five recent essays that challenge how we think about talent, training, and long-term development in running. First, he explores why most prodigies don’t ultimately make it at the highest level. Early success, he argues, often masks structural weaknesses. That theme flows directly…
Feb 22, 2026 Inside Patrick Henner's System for World Record Holder Hobbs Kessler — What Every Competitive Runner Can Steal From a World Record Camp + Insights From Coaching In The Sport For 40+ Years
Since his last appearance on the show, Coach Pat Henner has continued shaping distance culture at the highest levels of the sport while playing a quiet but meaningful role in one of the most remarkable middle-distance arcs in recent American history. After joining the University of Georgia in June 2022, Henner coached standout athlete Will Sumner to an NCAA title and helped elevate the Bulldogs’ distance program…
Feb 20, 2026 How Jenny Simpson Won Worlds, Olympic Bronze, 11 National Titles & 4 NCAA Championships — And Why She's Now Helping To Lead the Biggest Running Store Chain in America
What does one of the most decorated American middle-distance runners in history do after her final race? After 20 years at the top of the sport, including four global medals, a World Championship gold, an Olympic bronze, 11 U.S. titles, and a 3:57 1500m personal best, Jenny Simpson stepped off the professional stage at the 2024 New York City Marathon for the final time. But she didn’t step away from running.…
Feb 18, 2026 Annie Kunz on Talent vs. Systems — How an Olympian Who "Wasn't the Most Talented" Built Her Edge Off the Track
Annie Kunz knows what it feels like when an Olympic dream doesn’t follow the script. She’s a U.S. Olympic Trials champion in the heptathlon (6,703 points in 2021), a 2020 U.S. Indoor pentathlon champion, and one of the most uncommon dual-sport athletes you’ll ever meet: an All-American in track and field and an All-SEC forward in soccer at Texas A&M. But Annie’s story isn’t just about talent; it’s about the…
Feb 16, 2026 How Jack Mullaney Trains the Fastest Runners at HOKA NAZ Elite — Why His 2:04 Marathoner Never Missed a Workout in Two Years and What That Actually Looks Like Day to Day
Jack Mullaney stepped into one of the most scrutinized coaching jobs in professional distance running and made it his own. In just over a year at the helm of HOKA NAZ Elite, Jack Mullaney has navigated a generational coaching handoff, delivered U.S. road titles, Olympic top-10 finishes, and team records, and helped shape one of the sport’s most talked-about high-performance environments.Coach Mullaney has been with…
Feb 14, 2026 How Sara Hall Competed at 8 Olympic Trials IN A ROW, Rebuilt Her Body From Injury, and Ran Her Best Marathons After 40 — On Faith, Ego, and the Love of the Grind
In the last 14 months, Sara Hall has shattered the American marathon masters record, finished runner-up at back-to-back marathons, and proved (once again) that elite performance doesn’t have an expiration date. Sara most recently finished second at the 2026 Houston Marathon with a time of 2:26:26. At 42 years of age, she is still setting Masters records, including her 2:23:45 showing at the 2024 Valencia Marathon.…
Feb 12, 2026 How Tayvon Kitchen Led 250 Runners at NCAA Cross Country as a True Freshman—The Psychology of Believing Before You Have Any Proof
Tayvon Kitchen joined one of the deepest programs in college running as a freshman, and immediately became top billing. He kicked the door down, and in just a few months at BYU, he’s gone from high school phenom to All-American, Big 12 Freshman of the Year, and now one of the fastest U20 5,000-meter runners in American history. Tayvon earned All-American status in his NCAA Cross Country Championships debut in 2025,…
Feb 10, 2026 How Jeffrey Stern Became an Elite Ultrarunner After Skipping Running Entirely as a Kid—And Why He's Still Getting Faster at 39
Jeffrey Stern is an elite ultrarunner, a coach obsessed with keeping athletes happy , and a storyteller inside the sport who understands what it really takes to stay in it for decades, not just seasons. Jeffrey has completed the oldest trail race in America, the Dipsea Race, an astounding 16 consecutive times–and even recorded a personal best in his most recent foray. He’s also set several Fastest Known Times…
Feb 8, 2026 How Hobbs Kessler Broke the Indoor 2K World Record on Just 3 Track Workouts —And Why Winning Means More to Him Than Times
Hello 2026, and goodbye to another longstanding record in the world of professional running. Mr. Versatility himself, Hobbs Kessler, barged into the New Year like a storm and crushed Kenenisa Bekele’s 2,000m Indoor World Record with a 4:48.79 at Boston University on January 24 to set a new standard. (Grant Fisher also beat the World Record time with a still-sizzling 4:49.48.) Hobbs is a one-time World Indoor…
Feb 6, 2026 How Mitch Ammons Qualified for His Second Olympic Marathon Trials While Drinking Coca-Cola Daily & Sleeping 5 Hours A Night: Why “Less Dedication” Sometimes Works
The Mitch Ammons story is no longer just a comeback story. He’s now a living case study of what happens when discipline compounds. Last time Mitch was here he had run a 2:16 marathon, which was fast enough to qualify for the 2024 US Olympic Marathon trials. But he had bigger dreams. And the quiet workhorse has since improved upon that impressive time with a new marathon PR of 2:14:48 at the California International…
Feb 4, 2026 Cole Sprout & Charles Hicks on Leaving the NCAA Bubble: Identity, Expectations, and What “Washed” Really Means
Cole Sprout and Charles Hicks are here: two Stanford running legends in the same place, ready to chop it up at the exact moment their careers diverge. Cole Sprout is just stepping into the professional ranks, leaving behind a dominant NCAA résumé to test himself on the roads and rethink how far his talent can stretch. Charles Hicks has already taken the leap to the roads, running 2:09:59 in his marathon debut at…
Feb 2, 2026 How Alex Maier Became The 2nd-Fastest American Half Marathoner Ever (59:23 Story)
A recent 59:23 half-marathon for American long-distance star Alex Maier wasn’t a case of him catching lightning in a bottle. It was the culmination of years of quiet dominance: from Oklahoma State to national titles, American records, and a seamless transition to the roads. And with his stellar race in Houston, he’s now the second-fastest U.S. man of all time at the half-marathon distance. But this isn’t a random…
Jan 31, 2026 Former 3:58 Mile Ole Miss Miler & Coach Everett Smulders On Hybrid Athletes, The NCAA International Scene, Lessons From Running D1, & How To Get Faster In 2026
Everett Smulders has seen and done a lot in his running and coaching career: he went from running 3:58 for the mile at Ole Miss, to finishing one of the most brutal endurance events on the planet, the Ultraman Florida (a 321-mile, multi-day test of resilience). That doesn’t even include the dent he’s made as a coach. Everett competed for the University of Mississippi, where he became an All-American. On January 20,…
Jan 29, 2026 Andreas Almgren Breaks Down the Training, Diet, Gym Routine, and Recovery Behind His 26:45 10K and 3 European Records
In the last 12 months, Andreas Almgren has rewritten European distance running history. He ran 26:45 for 10,000m (beating his previous European record), 12:44 for 5,000m and 58:41 for the half marathon.That’s three European records in one calendar year. What makes Andreas’ story so compelling is the winding road that led to these records: he was one of Europe’s most promising middle distance talents a decade ago,…
Jan 27, 2026 Why Chasing PRs, Shoes, and Medals Never Fixes Identity — and What Actually Leads to Longevity in Running With Pro Running Coach Alex Ostberg
If you care about running for the long haul–physically, mentally, and emotionally–this episode is for you. We want to look at what actually moves the needle for runners, and we’re back with Alex Ostberg to recap his recent newsletters from The Rundown to do just that. We start with a hard truth many athletes learn too late: performance doesn’t fix identity. That idea sets the tone for a broader reflection on what…
Jan 25, 2026 Charlie Lawrence Ran 100K (62 Miles) at 5:51 Per Mile — Inside One of the Most Insane Endurance Performances Ever
Charlie Lawrence isn’t a loud figure, but he’s one of the most dangerous endurance runners in the world. He is a professional ultramarathon and marathon runner who owns the 50-mile world record, the 100k American record, and he’s an Olympic Trials qualifier. His 50-mile world record was run in an astonishing 4:48:21 in November of 2023. Most recently he set the American 100k record in December of 2025 at the Desert…
Jan 23, 2026 Why Chasing More Is Making Us Miserable — and What Real Excellence Actually Looks Like | Brad Stulberg
We live in a world that tells us to do more, push harder, and optimize everything. Even with that, the more we chase success, the more hollow it can feel. Brad Stulberg has spent his career studying a different question: What does real excellence actually look like, and how do you pursue it without losing yourself in the process? He is one of the most influential voices in human performance and well-being. He’s…
Jan 21, 2026 Delusional Confidence, Real Results: George Couttie on Belief, Pressure, and Becoming Elite + Insights From Training With Cole Hocker
One of Britain’s fastest rising stars is here and he’s no slouch. His name is George Couttie, and he’s a 3:55 miler who is shaking up U.S. collegiate running. George competed for Great Britain English Schools in high school and was the cross-country champion during his time there. He was a U20 National 1500m champion. He currently owns personal bests of 3:36.40 in the 1500m, 13:58.32 in the 5000m, 7:36.74 in the…
Jan 19, 2026 “PBs Don’t Matter. Winning Does.” Marco Langon On Pressure, Confidence, And Why He Wants To Destroy Everyone
Marco Langon wants all the smoke, and he isn’t hiding from a soul. The last time Marco was here, he was already one of the best distance runners in the NCAA. Since then? He’s leveled up. Marco went out and ran 13:05 for 5,000 meters in December, breaking Villanova’s school record and becoming one of the five fastest collegiate indoor 5000m runners in history. He came in second in a thrilling race, being edged out…
Jan 17, 2026 The Next Jakob Ingebrigtsen—But Better? How 16-Year-Old Sam Ruthe Did the Unthinkable & Keeps Setting Records
Is Sam Ruthe the most exciting teenage runner in the world right now? He may be, and when you look at the numbers, your jaw will drop. He is a New Zealand prodigy who became the youngest person in the world to break the four-minute mile barrier, at the ripe old age of 15 in March of 2025 (he ran a 3:58.35). For reference, Jakob Ingebrigtsen did it at 16. In December of 2025, He set a New Zealand under-20 record in…
Jan 15, 2026 From Not Making Nationals to NXN Runner-Up in One Season | The Yohanes Van Meerten Story
Every few years, a high school runner comes along who forces the entire country to look toward one place. This fall, that place was Flagstaff, Arizona, and the runner was Yohanes Van Meerten. Yohanes is a prominent high school distance runner from Flagstaff High School in Arizona, who just finished an outstanding junior season. We’re not kidding when we say outstanding: he was the runner up at Nike Cross Nationals,…
Jan 13, 2026 Coaching at the Highest Level: Robert Gary on Leading Olympians, NCAA Stars, and Athletes First / Leadership Over Medals: Robert Gary on Building One of the NCAA’s Most Respected Distance Programs
Robert Gary is an Olympian, a program builder for thousands of runners, and a coach who puts athletes first. A two-time Olympic steeplechaser (Atlanta 1996, Athens 2004), 11-time World Cross Country Team member, and Track & Field News Cross Country Runner of the Year, Gary now serves as the Director of Cross Country & Track & Field at Furman University, where he has built one of the most respected…
Jan 11, 2026 The 2026 Playbook Of Greatness: Why Long-Term Plans Fail, The Cost of Winning, and How to Build a Life That Actually Feels Good
In this episode, Dominic sits down with Alex Ostberg to distill the three biggest lessons from 2025 and set the framework for a better 2026. They unpack why you sometimes have to “throw out your long-term plans,” how to invest in preparedness without trying to predict the future, and why embracing voluntary struggle is the best training for the inevitable hardships life will bring. They also talk about a hard…
Jan 9, 2026 From Viral Videos to Endurance Miles: How Anna Sitar Is Redefining Discipline and Growth
Most people see Anna Sitar as a creator. Fewer people know she’s quietly stacking endurance goals, like marathons, long training blocks, and now Ironman-level ambitions, to show what happens when you commit to something long enough for it to change how you think, work and live. Anna is a content creator and influencer known for her lifestyle vlogs, relatable content and warm and engaging personality. Her dynamic “I…
Jan 7, 2026 Built for Greatness: Marcelo Mantecon on Pressure, Records, and Chasing National Titles in High School
Marcelo Mantecon is Florida’s all-time 5,000m high school record holder, a Nike Indoor National Champion, and an NXN finalist. And he’s only a junior in high school. Marcelo joins the show after a soaring spring and fall season for Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami, Florida, that saw him cap it off with a 4th overall finish at the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) on December 6, 2025, with a time of 15:05. In…
Jan 5, 2026 The 2026 Special With Life In Stride: Banter, Unheard Of Stories, Running Ins & Outs In 2026, & The Inside Scoop On Running A Top Podcast
TRE x LIS The crossover that you knew you needed going into 2026. This one is full of banter, hot takes, unheard of stories, and wisdom from a year of reflection. Don't miss the opportunity to have your next run fly by with the boys. Enjoy & gear up for a massive 2026. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and I'm rooting for you this year. S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running…
Dec 29, 2025 What Happens When Two Generational Talents Grow Together? Ethan Strand & Parker Wolfe on Confidence, Competition, and the World Stage
Are we watching the rise of the greatest distance running teammate duo in history? Ethan Strand and Parker Wolfe are well on their way to grabbing that title, and their next stop is with Team USA for the World Cross Country Championships. Parker recently won his first professional national title at the 10,000m XC championship in December; Ethan won the 2,000m in electric fashion. Both runners are from the…
Dec 27, 2025 How Elite Programs Stay Elite: Kelly Christensen on Building a Back-to-Back National Champion
Anyone can catch lightning in a bottle once. Kelly Christensen is proving that he can repeat success over and over, as he just won back-to-back national high school cross country titles at NXN, and is clearly on the Mount Rushmore of high school distance coaches. The Niwot boys cross country team just won a second consecutive national title on December 6 in Oregon. Their 61 points set a record for the best team…
Dec 23, 2025 Dr. Bill Evans On What Supplements ACTUALLY Work, Why Scientifically Anyone Can Become An Olympian, And Other Phenomena Of Sports Science
There’s evidence-based training, and then there’s actually understanding the evidence. Dr. Bill Evans is here to explain how exercise physiology, 80–20 training, and smart periodization translates into real performance gains for runners at every level. Dr. Evans has his PhD in Exercise Physiology and is an Assistant Professor of Exercise Science. He has experience as a Senior Scientist/Consultant at Johns Hopkins…
Dec 21, 2025 Alex Ostberg on Why Cooldowns Are Overrated, Why Not All Miles Are Equal, and the Psychology of Winning
-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs What if the habits you’re most proud of, like discipline, the mileage, and the wins, are quietly working against you? Alex Ostberg returns to the show to sit down with Dominic and unpack the ideas behind his four most recent Substack essays, each challenging a deeply held assumption in running and high performance. They tackle…
Dec 19, 2025 From Humble Beginnings Running Barefoot in Kenya to Winning the New York and Boston Marathons: The Rise of Sharon Lokedi
TWO WEEKS OF FREE WITH CODE "RUNEFFECT" : https://kaizen.app.link/TRE Sharon Lokedi set a Boston Marathon course record, ran a 65-minute half marathon, and stepped foot on another NYC Marathon podium. She didn’t just have a good year in 2025, she had the kind of season that rewrites expectations for the future of women’s distance running, and her 2:17:22 course record at Boston can attest to this. Sharon’s most…
Dec 17, 2025 The Science Behind the Glycerin Flex: Brooks’ Director of Product Reveals How Great Shoes Are Really Made
The holidays are in full swing, and we're pulling back the curtain on one of the most anticipated running-shoe launches of the year. The brand-new Brooks Glycerin Flex is here, and we have Nikhil Jain, Director of Product Line Management at Brooks Running–and the mind helping steer innovation behind the brand–joining us to break it all down. The Glycerin Flex is an all-new, highly cushioned running shoe debuting in…
Dec 15, 2025 Professional Chef & Hybrid Athlete: Dan Churchill on the Nutrition Habits of World-Class Performers
TWO WEEKS OF FREE WITH CODE "RUNEFFECT" : https://kaizen.app.link/TRE Dan Churchill has cooked for Lindsey Vonn at the Olympics, run five World Marathon Majors, survived Leadville 100, and built companies that fuse food, data, and performance. He isn’t just a chef, he’s a hybrid athlete rewriting what ‘fueling’ really means. He is self-effacing and humorous, whowants to help athletes cook better to optimize…
Dec 12, 2025 From High School Phenom to National Champion: Inside Jackson Spencer’s Historic NXN Run
In a year packed with breakout stars, one name has refused to fade from the headlines: Jackson Spencer. Herriman High’s own just won the 2025 NXN Boys 5K championship with a time of 15:01.1, cementing himself as the top high school distance runner in the country and making a case to be in the mix with the best in the NCAA next year. In 2025, Jackson became the name every prep distance fan needed to know. The Utah…
Dec 10, 2025 Run Fast, Eat Slow: Elyse Kopecky On How Real Food And Cooking Can Transform Your Running
She built a real-food revolution. Now, she’s taking it global. Elyse Kopecky is back: writing, running, and leading a movement bigger than ever. She is the three-time New York Times bestselling co-author with Shalane Flanagan of Run Fast. Eat Slow. , Run Fast. Cook Fast. Eat Slow. , and Rise & Run. She is also a chef, speaker, and nutrition coach who studied at the Natural Gourmet Institute (a health-supportive…
Dec 8, 2025 How Josh Sambrook Cut His Marathon From 3:24 to 2:28 With a System That Breaks Every Rule in Running
TWO WEEKS OF FREE WITH CODE "RUNEFFECT" : https://kaizen.app.link/TRE Most training apps tell you exactly what to do every day. Josh Sambrook helped to build one that tells you your weekly target, and lets you train however your life demands. It’s the system that helped him run 120-mile weeks, cut his marathon time to 2:28 by age 23 (he ran his first marathon at 17), and reinvent how thousands of runners train.…
Dec 6, 2025 Elliott Cook on The Golden Era of NCAA, Surviving Setbacks, and Finding the Confidence to Break Through
We’re living in the golden era of NCAA middle distance running, and Elliott Cook is right in the center of it. Elliot is the NCAA Outdoor 1500m runner-up ( 3:39.57) from 2024, while also coming in 8th at the US Olympic Team trials that year, running a career best 3:33.84. His other PRs include a 3:55 mile and 1:45.26 in the 800m. In high school he was a four-time Ohio D1 Central District champion, a state indoor…
Dec 4, 2025 The Pilot Who Trains Like a Pro: How Joseph Miuccio Balances 35,000 Feet with Ironman, Leadville, and a Sub-3 Marathon
Joseph Miuccio spends his life at 35,000 feet, and somehow still logs the training hours for Leadville, Ironman, and marathon racing. Joey has run a 2:56 marathon, a 4:45 half ironman, and he’s a Leadville 100 finisher. Now, he can add Ironman finisher to his resume, as he recently completed the Ironman Arizona in 9:46:37, an extremely impressive sub 10 hour feat coming in 136 overall in a field of over 1,200…
Dec 2, 2025 From Walk-On to Olympian: Emily Mackay on Reinvention, Resilience, and Running the Best Races of Her Life
From walk-on to Olympian, Emily Mackay has rewritten every expectation. Now, she’s back on the show to open up about the reinvention that’s powering the best chapter of her career. Emily ran collegiately at Binghamton University, where her best NCAA finish was 6th in the 1500m as a senior in 2022. She joined New Balance Boston that summer of 2022, while training under coach Mark Coogan. What followed was a rapid…
Nov 30, 2025 The Leap: How Rocky Hansen Went from 100th at NCAAs to Nearly Winning It All + His Training/Future Plans/& Thoughts On The International State Of The NCAA
America’s next great distance runner might not be a pro, he might be a junior at Wake Forest. At the 2025 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on November 22, Rocky Hansen delivered the race of his life, finishing second overall and coming within striking distance of the national title. Last year, Rocky placed 100th at this same meet, so his surge is proof that he’s putting himself up there with the best who…
Nov 28, 2025 The New Standard in High School Distance Running: How Oliver Horton Is Pushing the Limits of What’s Possible at 17
Enter Oliver Horton, the high school Colorado phenom everyone will be talking about this season. At just 17 years old and a high school junior at Coronado High School (in Colorado Springs), he is already a state champion, a sub-14:30 performer, and a name climbing the national rankings, having just become the 2025 Colorado 4A state XC champion. He didn’t just become the first Colorado runner to break 15 minutes on…
Nov 26, 2025 NIKE's Alex Ostberg on Why Some Runners Break Through (and why Most Never Do) + How the Best Get Better & The Small Habits That Change Everything
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER HERE: https://therundownbytherunningeffect.substack.com What if your next breakthrough doesn’t come from doubling down on workouts, but from ten small habits hiding in plain sight? In this month’s check-in, Alex Ostberg sits down with Dominic to unpack his latest deep dives. They begin with Alex’s “Playbook of Greatness,” exploring why the best athletes in the world aren’t defined by big…
Nov 24, 2025 The Final Lap: Evan Jager on Greatness, Pain, Loyalty — and Saying Goodbye to the Sport He Loves (The Official Exit Interview)
From American-record brilliance to a late-career grind, Evan Jager’s story has been one of constant adaptation. But now he’s ready to call it quits and move onto the next phase of life without running. The late-career push included an 8th place finish in the men’s 3000m steeplechase at the U.S. Championships in 8:28.21 this year. He also ran the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile in September of this year and came in 19th…
Nov 22, 2025 The Harvard Engineer Redesigning Girls’ Sports — and Running Marathons While Doing It
Meet the Harvard engineer who’s running marathons, building companies, and rewriting the future of girls’ sports. Sara Falkson is the Founder and CEO of Robyn / Robyn Athletic, a Sports-bra and body-confidence brand built “by athletes, for athletes,” focused on helping girls stay in sport, which started as a thesis project for her but is now a full-time gig. She also co-founded Reliable Maternity, a lactation-care…
Nov 20, 2025 Nicholas Thompson: How Running Taught Me to Lead, Endure, and Find Meaning
Few people embody the intersection of endurance and intellect quite like Nicholas Thompson. He's a runner, writer, and CEO of The Atlantic , and in his new book, The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports , Thompson explores how running has shaped his resilience, his leadership, and his pursuit of meaning in a relentless world. It's a story of motion–literal and metaphorical–from chasing split…
Nov 18, 2025 The New Playbook for Pregnancy and Performance: Shannon Rowbury and Jessica Dorrington on Strong as a Mother
Three-time Olympian Shannon Rowbury knows firsthand the strength and resilience it takes to train at the highest level, especially through pregnancy and motherhood. Now, she’s bringing that same elite mindset to a new arena: women’s health. Alongside her co-author, Jessica Dorrington, a leading pelvic floor and orthopedic physical therapist, Rowbury has created the definitive guide for expectant and new mothers…
Nov 16, 2025 NIKE's Cole Sprout: How to Keep Going When the Path to Greatness Isn’t Straight
Blending Stanford smarts with relentless drive, Cole Sprout is emerging as one of America’s most exciting young pros. Cole was the NACAC U23 Champion in the 5,000m in 2023 while also coming in 8th at the USATF Championships in the 5,000m the same year. His PRs include a 7:42.41 in the 3,000m indoors in March of 2025; a 13:24.38 in the 5,000m indoors in 2022; a 27:42.42 in the 10,000m in 2022; a 3:56.53 mile in…
Nov 14, 2025 The Comeback That Redefined Ultra Running | Western States Winner Abby Hall on Pain, Purpose & Perseverance
After two years of rehab and earning her spot via a Golden Ticket roll-down, Abby Hall stormed into history at the 2025 Western States 100, running 16:37:16 for the fourth-fastest women's time ever and finishing 11th overall. Hall has since cemented herself as one of the premier athletes in the 100K–100-mile range, highlighted by podium finishes at UTMB’s CCC (2nd in 2021, 3rd in 2022), a win at the 2022…
Nov 12, 2025 The Next Great American Runner | Inside Nico Young’s Breakthrough Season: Breaking The American Record, Winning A Diamond League, & Chasing World Glory
No American runner made more noise in 2025 than Nico Young. The 23-year-old prodigy smashed the 5,000m American record, claimed his first national title, and battled the world’s best in Tokyo. In June, he stormed through the Bislett Games in Oslo, running 12:45.27 for 5,000 meters, which was a new American record. Barely two months later, he claimed his first U.S. title at 10,000 meters in Eugene, clocking 29:02.12…
Nov 10, 2025 JUCO Champion to NCAA Contender: The Michael Maiorano Mindset & and Why Greatness Starts When No One’s Watching
Michael Maiorano stormed through his first cross-country season at Utah State with fearless racing and an appetite for altitude. After debuting at the Utah State Alumni Challenge in August, he clocked 23:58 for 8,000m at the Paul Short Run and followed with a gritty Nuttycombe finish. Maiorano’s route to this moment has been anything but linear. A star at South Medford High School (OR), he rose to national…
Nov 8, 2025 Six Marathons. Six Continents. Six Days. | No First Class. No Team. Just Belief. | The Isaiah Photo Story
From viral stunts to record-setting runs, Isaiah Photo went from YouTube daredevil to running six marathons on six continents in six days self aided. He built his audience on larger-than-life experiments before turning that creative drive toward running. What started as wild one-off ideas—like marathons in Crocs, flip-flops, and spray-on shoes—evolved into a genuine endurance journey. Since 2023, Isaiah has…
Nov 6, 2025 Conner & Kylie Mantz: How to Chase Dreams Without Losing What Matters Most
Conner and Kylie Mantz are redefining what it means to chase big dreams as a team. They’re two runners with one purpose–moving stride for stride through life. Conner Mantz has become the new standard-bearer for American marathoning. After winning the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials and placing 8th at the Paris Olympics (2:08:12), he stunned the running world in 2025–running 2:05:08 for 4th place at Boston,…
Nov 4, 2025 From A Shepherd In East Africa to Sub-2:10 In The Marathon: The Remarkable Rise of Haftu Knight
Haftu Knight is proving that professionalism in running isn't limited to sponsorship: it's a mindset. His rise from shepherd in Ethiopia to one of the most exciting marathoners training under Jeff Cunningham with the Bat City Track Club is the perfect example of this. Now based in Austin, Knight is part of a blue-collar group grinding through 100-mile weeks, blending raw talent with Cunningham's…
Nov 2, 2025 The Art of Patience: Elise Cranny on Resilience, Self-Trust, and Redefining Success in Running
Two-time Olympian Elise Cranny has long been a model of precision, patience, and perseverance in American distance running. A Stanford All-American turned professional with Nike, Cranny owns a résumé that blends range and record-setting speed, most notably the American records for both the indoor 5,000m (14:33.17) and outdoor 3,000m (8:25.10). Now 29 and training under NAU coach Jarred Cornfield, with an altitude…
Oct 31, 2025 How To Outwork Talent & Other Secrets Of The Greats: The Yaseen Abdalla Blueprint for Greatness
Yaseen Abdalla’s story is one of adaptation and ambition. He’s a runner who has thrived across programs, distances, and continents, representing Sudan on the international stage while redefining what a new-generation distance athlete can be. At the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Abdalla placed 21st in the marathon (2:13:32), continuing a remarkable ascent that began a year after his Olympic debut in Paris,…
Oct 29, 2025 The Patience to Be Great: How Kole Mathison Is Redefining What It Means to Chase Greatness in the NCAA
He's one of the NCAA's brightest young stars, and his recent sophomore season proved why. Kole Mathison, the 2022 Champs Sports Cross Country national champion, and now a rising junior steeplechaser for the University of Colorado, joins the show fresh off a breakout year on the track and a strong start to the 2025 cross country season. Just weeks ago, Mathison placed 10th at the Nuttycombe Invitational, helping the…
Oct 27, 2025 The Rise of Jackson Spencer: Inside the Mind of America’s Next Great High School Star
In 2025, Herriman High’s Jackson Spencer became the name every prep distance fan had to know. The Utah standout, who is headed to BYU next year, opened his season with a victory at the Simplot Games 3200m (8:56.03), then surged into spring with a breakthrough 8:51.26 at the Arcadia Invitational. His momentum carried into June, where he unleashed a 4:02.56 mile and 3:46.22 1500m at the HOKA Festival of Miles,…
Oct 25, 2025 What It Takes to Build a Dynasty: Mike Smith on Systems, Identity, and Relentless Growth in Elite Running | Exclusive Lessons From Coaching NAU, Galen Rupp, Nico Young, Donavan Brazier + More
Final Surge: https://www.finalsurge.com (RUNNINGEFFECT20) He built a dynasty in Flagstaff, and now, Mike Smith is bringing that same fire to Nike’s Swoosh Track Club. After nearly a decade at the helm of Northern Arizona University, where he built a dynasty that captured five NCAA men’s cross country titles and earned him 41 Big Sky Coach of the Year honors , Smith made headlines in 2025 when he left collegiate…
Oct 23, 2025 What It Really Takes to Be Great: Inside the Grind, the Burnout, and the Relentless Fight to Keep Going With NIKE Pro Coach Alex Ostberg
Sacrifice, grit, burnout, and the fight to be great: this month’s Rundown Recap dives into four stories that every driven person needs to hear. The fellas kick things off with “Sacrifice Isn’t Sustainable,” a raw look at how constantly grinding and giving everything can start to take more than it gives. What happens when the thing you love starts burning you out? Then, in “The Art of Championship Racing,” they…
Oct 21, 2025 From PRs to PR: How Claire Manley Turns Athletes Into Brands
Claire Manley went from chasing PRs on the track to building a storytelling engine for athletes and running brands. She is the co-founder of Meet @ 7 Studios, a women-led social media and personal branding agency designed for professional runners and endurance athletes. Her work focuses on giving athletes Fortune 500-level strategy and visibility while helping them own their stories and reach new audiences. Before…
Oct 17, 2025 From Missing the Olympic Team to World Championship Greatness: The Unbelievable Comeback of Jess McClain
Jess McClain has become the new face of American women’s marathoning: a symbol of resilience, balance, and belief in one’s own path. A former collegiate standout at Stanford, she stepped into the pro ranks with Brooks, only to face years of injury, transition, and even stepping away from full-time running to build a life outside the sport. Jess never left the track mentally. In 2024, working full time and largely…
Oct 15, 2025 What Elite Performers Get Right: Sports Scientist Kristen Holmes on Sleep, Recovery, and the Psychology of Greatness
Kristen Holmes has worn every hat in the world of performance, including athlete, coach, scientist, and innovator. Today, she’s setting the standard at WHOOP. At the University of Iowa, she was a two-time First-Team All-American, the 1996 Big Ten MVP, and even pulled double duty on the women’s basketball team. From there, she rose to the U.S. National Field Hockey Team, earning a spot as an Olympic alternate in…
Oct 13, 2025 From a 3:48 Mile to the Mud of Nationals — Gary Martin’s Full Plan to Win NCAA XC (Training, Tactics, Mindset)
Few athletes have risen as fast—or raced as fearlessly—as Gary Martin. Now a senior at the University of Virginia, he has evolved into a consistent national contender with personal bests that rank among the fastest in collegiate history. His 3:32.03 1500m at the 2025 USATF Outdoor Championships placed him sixth against the nation’s best, while his 3:48.82 indoor mile at the Millrose Games stunned the sport and…
Oct 11, 2025 Fix Your Plateau: Alex Ostberg on the Real Reasons You’re Not Improving (and How to Turn Bad Days Into Breakthroughs)
The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs Progress in running is rarely smooth, often unpredictable, and sometimes shaped most by the days we’d rather forget. Alex Ostberg is back again to discuss ideas that every runner will recognize but few stop to articulate. The Run Down recap is here and full of gold once again. From the unseen pitfalls that quietly derail…
Oct 9, 2025 Dathan Ritzenhein's Championship Blueprint: From Beamish's World Title to Nuguse's World Record and Obiri's Boston—Inside OAC's System for Winning
Dathan Ritzenhein has lived two lives in running: first as one of America's most decorated distance runners, and now as the head coach of the On Athletics Club (OAC). As a coach, Ritzenhein has been at the center of some of the sport's biggest moments in recent years. Under his leadership, Yared Nuguse set the indoor mile world record on Feb 8, 2025 (3:46.63) before it was lowered five days later by Jakob…

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THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

About THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

Episodes

From 12th at Regionals to US No. 2: Hattie Beshears on Dropping 17:33 to 16:12 in One Year, 3:30 AM Wake-Ups, and Why Slowing Her Workouts Down Made Her Faster

“Ego Needs to Be Satisfied. Confidence Doesn’t”: David Roche, Coach to Jess McClain and Emily Venters, on Imposter Syndrome, High Carb, and Why Coaches Get Too Much Credit

Could ChatGPT Coach Yared Nuguse? OAC’s Kelsey Quinn on Why Great Athletes Get Overcoached, Consistency Over Everything, and Her Three Rules for Anyone Who Wants to Be Great

“The Greatest Comeback in Athletics History”: Dave Wottle on Winning Olympic 800m Gold by 0.03 Seconds, Tying the World Record in a “Speed Workout,” and the Mile Against Pre He Still Regrets

How Kieran Tuntivate Set 18 National Records and Ran a 2:08 Marathon Debut: Inside His 125-Mile Weeks and Workouts With Charles Hicks

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