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.
Episodes
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 explai
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 en
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: af
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 t
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, a
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 l
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
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 acro
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 w
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 real
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
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 S
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
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 th
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.
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 se
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
"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 ev
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 Editi
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
"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
"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 fla
"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/8269471100Most 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 wo
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 cit
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
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-pl
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
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
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 pic
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, an
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 80
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, l
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 wal
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 steppin
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-
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
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 organ
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/mr36s9rsFitness 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 pl
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 Cro
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 mo
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: @shannonleighthompsonYour 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 prog
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 Bost
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 quie
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" ra
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 o
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 an
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 athlet
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 t
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 paradig
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
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.shopFive 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 e
Launching LuminaryThreads: The 3-Year What-If Behind The Running Effect's Merch Brand
🔗 Shop drop one (early-access password: TRE): https://luminarythreads.shopDominic 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'
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.shopAlex 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
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 wit
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. Acros
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 Pennsylvan
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
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
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 self
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
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 scho
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
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 aerob
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
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 Ma
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 stra
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/mr36s9rsThe 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.
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
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 ri
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 wal
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 bein
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
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
Recommended
Becoming: HER with Nikki Spoelstra
Booked, Blonde & Busy w/ Olivia Ponton
McKinsey on Consumer and Retail
megahired.com
Hard Knocks Podcast
Effective Weight Loss for Moms | High protein, Strength Training, Lose Weight, Meal Planning, Fat Loss, Healthy Habits
The Human-Animal Connection - Pet Life Radio Original
Infinite Health with Dr. Arasi Maran
The Daily
World News Tonight with David Muir
The Joe Rogan Experience
English Vocabulary Help
