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
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
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: consist
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, bu
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
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 A
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—run
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 ju
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 Cha
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 he'd be o
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=1Every 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
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
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,
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&#
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 circumnavigati
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.
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
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 encoreThe 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 me
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 Cr
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 st
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
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
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
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
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
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/mr36s9rsWhat 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-eatin
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
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, Gr
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 notbuildi
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 develop
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 vic
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 h
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 p
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
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 tw
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 ma
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 champio
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
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
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
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 bronz
"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 tactic
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/mr36s9rsAlex 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
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’ di
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
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;
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 Mul
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
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 Championshi
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 K
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
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 Califo
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 mar
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
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