The sport, on the record.
Every other day, we sit down with the athletes, coaches, scientists, and operators shaping the future of running.
An 800-episode archive.
Since 2020, we've sat down with the athletes, coaches, and operators moving the sport forward - the record-holders, the first-timers, and everyone in between. New episodes every other day - a cadence that is unseen in this industry.
Latest episode
Spotify
This week on YouTube.
YouTube · Video
Harvard Had Made NCAA Cross Country Once. Then He Built Two National Champions
YouTube · Video
How America's No. 1 High School Girl Trains
YouTube · Video
Zone 2, 80/20, Double Threshold. The Breaking2 Scientist Says None of Them Is the Answer.
- Listen →
Oct 16, 2026 · 67 min
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 titles and Maia Ramsden to NCAA titles in the mile and the 1500m.In this conversation with Dominic, Gibby gets into how it actually happened. He explains why Graham's Achilles problems traced back to his toe strength, how he treats soft tissue injuries in athletes who sit at ninety-degree angles for nine hours a day, and why he bought six treadmills after last winter. He breaks down the recruiting profile he's built at a school where he only gets eight semesters: why he watches how a recruit's parents behave in the room, why "Type A+" kids get buried at Harvard, and why family of origin shapes how an athlete communicates with a coach.He also tells the story behind the infamous LetsRun thread—the squat racks, Graham's fake YouTube channel, and a men's team he calls world-class trolls. Plus, the disastrous first six months at William & Mary that changed his coaching for good, why distance running keeps losing the investment war inside power conferences, and the exact moments he knew Blanks and Ramsden were going to be special.Serious about the work. Never about themselves.Tap into the Alex Gibby Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20
- Listen →
Oct 14, 2026 · 46 min
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 learned as the youngest of three running sisters, and how weeks of workouts in the school hallways and a “feels like one degree” Brooks photo shoot tested her Michigan toughness.Her training is refreshingly simple. She does two workouts a week, one of them up whatever “Mount Everest” her coaches can find around Ann Arbor, and she guesses she peaks at 35 to 40 miles a week. She also goes back to the last downhill at Brooks, where Blair Bartlett caught her and she told herself to stop giving up and sprint. And she talks about racing this fall as the girl everyone is chasing.She wraps up with advice for kids hoping to make a national meet, her loaded Chipotle bowl, and the cabbage-wrapped Polish comfort dish she wishes more Americans knew. It’s a joy to spend time with a champion who still runs for her team, her sisters, and the fun of it. We can’t wait to cheer her on in San Diego this December.Tap into the Natasza Dudek Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Fleet Feet x Brooks XC ChampionshipsFleetFeet.com@tashi_avo2 on Instagram
- Listen →
Oct 13, 2026 · 57 min
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 endurance. Faith Kipyegon came up short on the 800m side, and Jones believes a properly paced attempt would have landed her near 4:03—a time that would have left the stadium feeling cheated.From there Dominic takes him back to the beginning. Jones was giving conference talks arguing that 2:02:57 badly underestimated what humans could do, Nike staff were in the audience, and a phone call to Beaverton followed. He describes choreographing the pacemaker rotations in Monza like ballet, with cats, in several languages. He makes the case that 2:00:25 was the more remarkable performance of the two attempts, and says Kelvin Kiptum would likely have been the first man under two hours in a real race. The second half turns personal. Jones talks about the VO2 kinetics work he's proudest of, the beetroot research that earned him a nickname, the heart condition that now caps his own easy runs, and why his new book Faster—out January 28 with a foreword from Kipchoge—argues there is no magic bullet, no best method, and nothing that beats consistency.Tap into the Professor Andy Jones Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @andrewjones7370
- Listen →
Oct 11, 2026 · 72 min
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 rejections, he's still the guy who worries he could lose his job.Dominic opens with a challenge: pitch a top recruit without mentioning Josh Kerr. From there, Mackey traces the Kerr partnership from its start. He first spotted Kerr's long stride across a track in Albuquerque. Mackey also names the 2024 tempo run that first made him believe a world record was possible, and confirms the 1500m record is likely next.The conversation also gets into how Mackey coaches from inside the work rather than above it. He describes cold plunges at 6 a.m. alongside his athletes, and what Michael Jordan, Serena Williams and Rickson Gracie could teach a team.Dominic and Danny also cover what separates good athletes from great ones, why elite coaching talent is spread acrossevery level, Spencer Brown's influence on athlete media, and a three-year-old who wanted a popsicle in the middle of a world record night.Mackey closes with the lesson underneath all of it: nobody gets there alone. The company along the way is everything.Tap into the Danny Mackey Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @dannytmackey
- Listen →
Oct 9, 2026 · 46 min
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 leaving a MAC program when a promotion request got laughed off, to the alumni who still care about a 1973 NCAA indoor title and a 1974 American record in the 4x mile.Witzleben explains his formula: "big boy volume," with lots of threshold work and hill strength, and workouts nobody brags about. He makes the case for recruiting 9:30 two-milers in a roster-limit era, pointing to Leon Atkins, who never broke two minutes in high school and placed 16th at NCAAs. There's plenty of personality here, too. He named one son Charlie after his La Salle coach and the other Miles for exactly the reason you'd guess. He went from finance major to Citibank telemarketer to calling recruits for a living. And ahead of this weekend's Manhattan Invitational, he gives a course walkthrough of Van Cortlandt Park, including why the railroad ties now race like a steeplechase.For anyone who believes a program, or a runner, is never too far gone, this one's for you.Tap into the Coach Todd Witzelben Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @coachwitzleben
- Listen →
Oct 7, 2026 · 57 min
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 official test finally happened at the treadmill he uses right in front of the lobby. Then the training gets absurd: a 4:11 net-uphill mile in the middle of a long run at Pittsburgh's North Park; Tuesdays that reach 45 miles; a 30-mile treadmill long run at just over five-minute pace;near 140 miles peak weeks . Vinny also explains why he chose ASICS, why he's still selling shoes at Second Sole, and why he won't put a number on Sunday. He calls Toledo his debut effort and Chicago his debut race, weighs Clayton Young's shot at the American record, and explains why two miles under nine minutes would make him back off. Mostly, he just wants to reach the start line smiling.He closes with advice for every runner still waiting on a breakthrough: sometimes you take a step back, and sometimes that step sets up a leap. Then Dominic extracts a promise involving the Ohio state cross country meet.Listen before Sunday's gun goes off, and find out why all of Ohio is about to rally behind its king.Tap into the Vinny Mauri Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @vinny.mauri
- Listen →
Oct 5, 2026 · 58 min
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 talks openly about the years he spent trying to coach like someone else before realizing he was better as himself.He walks through the national-record dual meet streak and the brotherhood that fills the space football would occupy at most schools. He also explains how a phone-free school fits with the super shoes and GPS watches today's freshmenarrive with. Sean talks about the 2021 season that sent him back to the drawing board, and also explains the "singles and walks" mindset he preaches from the first practice in June to the night before NXN.The most moving part of the conversation honors Alex Kemp, the former CBA state champion and Williams standout whose name now goes on the Manhattan Invitational trophy. Sean reflects on leading his team through grief, the third-place NXN finish that his runners dedicated to Kemp, and receiving the Joe Newton Coach of the Year Award. The episode also covers a young Edward Cheserek dropping college runners on a Sunday run, and the Jumbo Elliott mantra Sean's father passed down: keep it simple.Tap into the Sean McCafferty Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it. S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20
- Listen →
Oct 3, 2026 · 68 min
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 covers the unglamorous side of racing clean: updating his whereabouts before dinner, keeping the last pills from every supplement batch, and making an 80-minute round trip to meet a drug tester.Then there's his rookie year. Ethan admits he froze on the line at the Millrose two-mile, chasing a win with no plan, and that social media expectations helped sink his indoor season. Mike Smith's fix was to go back to basics: smaller races, pre-race checklists, and no talk of winning. Pre was where he felt like himself again, and the Silesia win over Hocker and Ingebrigtsen followed. So did Zurich four days later, which he blames on enjoying the attention too much.Ethan also talks about sessions with Parker and Nico Young at 7,000 feet, why he's running less mileage than he did at UNC, and why he'd beat Simeon Birnbaum seven times out of ten. And he shares what Jakob said in the Brussels call room.His goal for Year Two is to take more risks so that his bad days end in fifth instead of eleventh.Tap into the Ethan Strand Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @ethan_strand
- Listen →
Oct 1, 2026 · 143 min
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, shelved when he signed as an athlete, now being finished. It arrives next year.Before that, the fullest account he has given of the Last Soul Ultra: crewing Mark Dowdle through the closing hours, and the truth about Loop 87. Whose idea it was. What it was built to do. And what did not happen out there, whatever people decided they saw on the stream.The rest is the conversation two friends have when nobody is watching the clock. They ruminate on what actually separates the people who win backyards from everyone who doesn't. Why you will not start in January, no matter what you tell yourself in September. What a Catholic Mass in Ohio did to him. And what he means when he says he is a mosaic of mistakes.It keeps returning to one idea: you think nobody sees what you do in private, and you are wrong, because you are watching.Two and a half hours. No agenda. Worth every minute.Tap into the Aleksander Piotr Lingauer Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@Dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @aleksanderlingauer
- Listen →
Sep 29, 2026 · 41 min
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 Spencer stay calm on start lines while his own nerves churned, and about learning to convert that nervousness into excitement instead of dread.The training picture is stranger and simpler than you'd expect from the nation's most-watched high schooler. He doesn't wear a watch most days. He can't tell you his exact mileage, and he runs Miami's brutal humidity. He credits sleep above everything else for keeping himself intact, and he credits Frankie Ruiz, the coach he has known since birth, for a program built on consistency rather than heroics. Marcelo also revisits Balboa Park in detail: the gap that opened at the bottom of the hill, getting caught, and praying for one more surge with 300 meters left. His plan for the rematch is almost defiant: Have fun. Stay aggressive. Race like he still has nothing to lose.Along the way, the two discuss Flagstaff team trips and flooded shoes in the Everglades, his sister's rise, UNC and a future in finance, why the class of 2027 might be one of the deepest ever, and a post-race celebration involving roughly a hundred donuts.Tap into the Marcelo Mantecon Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @marcelo.mantecon
- Listen →
Sep 27, 2026 · 54 min
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 end. After that, closing hard got easier, because he knew he could.The rest he breaks down with unusual candor. In Zurich, he waited too long to move, got stuck in lane two while Parker Wolfe opened a gap. Brussels, he was right on Balew's shoulder thinking about the American record, then Balew went all out from 300m to go and Graham got defensive instead of racing to the line. At Budapest, he made a big move at 300m to go, was right on the leaders at 200, and then Jakob came past. Looking back, he thinks he had the juice to take the lead with 200 to go. One small mistake per race—and being in position to make those mistakes at all is the leap from last year.He also walks Dominic through the training. Six years with Alex Gibby, Harvard through the pro ranks, and the program is much the same minus the mid-workout bench press. This year: mileage up to 105-110 for a stretch, plus twice-weekly all-out sprint work. He’s still doing six-minute pace on easy days, mostly alone in Athens on a quiet public track.The 2027 goal is simple. He wants to win something—a Diamond League race, the Trials, worlds—and let the confidence compound. The guys also touch on soccer practice, Columbia, a "fratified" Harvard team, and his fall movie pick.
- Listen →
Sep 25, 2026 · 66 min
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 marathons this fall.They open where the Austin hybrid scene actually lives: peptides, HGH, and TRT. Fusco has never touched any of it and won't endorse it, but he's honest that more people are using it than listeners think. From there it's the practical stuff. Why you can't pull the endurance lever and the strength lever at the same time, and why seasons beat balance. Why the jacked hybrid athletes on your feed spent a decade lifting before they ever ran. Why full-body training three times a week beats a bro split. The triangle of performance, longevity, and aesthetics, and the cost of picking a corner.They also discuss Fusco's five foundational supplements, his case for creatine as a runner's recovery tool, and a blunt argument that most athletes are chronically underfueled—and why sometimes a burger and fries is the right call.He also puts his sub-3 confidence at 60%, admits he's failed three times, and explains what Austin heat has done to this block.Tap into the Dominic Fusco Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @dominicfusco TikTok: @dom_fusco YouTube: @DominicFusco
- Listen →
Sep 23, 2026 · 67 min
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 channel they built after an indoor season of workouts none of them thought were possible. Coach Eyestone hated the cameras at first, and the phrase itself came out of watching teenagers run times that made the old ceilings look silly.Tayvon finally talks about the workouts everyone used to whisper about: post-race 800s, sub-two splits, a coach who barely looked up. Hedengren goes the other direction—41 miles a week as a high school senior, a jogging-stroller childhood, a dad who ran for Eyestone in the 90s, and a sister who beat him in every workout. They get into the Belgian draft horse math that explains why teammates pull more together than alone; the realities of an increasingly international NCAA; and a sleep bet that ends in a bleached mullet.Plus, speed suits on grass, why a miler still cares about cross country, what a November-focused build looks like at BYU, and a hypothetical dinner for Gordon Ramsay that nobody wants to cook alone.Tap into the Carter Cutting, Isaac Hedengren and Tayvon Kitchen Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Carter Cutting: @carter.cuttingIsaac Hedengren: @isaachedengrenTayvon Kitchen: @tayvonkitchen Group account: @newstandard_tc
- Listen →
Sep 21, 2026 · 61 min
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 the center of this conversation with the physicist-turned-journalist behind Endure and the Sweat Science column at Outside. Alex is a self-described data guy who spent a career chasing what’s measurable and kept colliding with the part of running that isn’t: the days something shifts, the races where belief outperforms any supplement. He walks through the ice bath study that separated the cold water from the story we tell ourselves about it, the self-talk intervention that produced an 18 percent gain in time to exhaustion, and why he’s careful about debunking things that work because we believe in them.They also get into Breaking2 versus the Kipyegon sub-4 attempt, why times keep sliding and what that does to a high schooler, coaches who invent splits mid-workout and the trust that makes that work, and the two years Alex spent fighting his college program before deciding to run the workouts as written.At 50, he’s back racing masters cross country, for his teammates. They also touch on Zátopek, Paula Radcliffe, and why you should never, ever take a PR for granted.Tap into the Alex Hutchinson Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20X (formerly Twitter): @sweatscienceSubstack: Sweat Science Instagram: @sweat_science Facebook: Sweat Science Official Website: AlexHutchinson.net
- Listen →
Sep 19, 2026 · 48 min
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 back to Bandera in 2024, when a few coachless months in Georgia were enough to prove to himself he could hang with anyone. On Western States, he is unsparing and unbothered at once: he went in giving himself a ten percent chance to win, came out believing it was eighty, and wrote every lesson down in a notebook. He breaks down what the Alps taught him at CCC: from the climbs that go straight up to the hiking and poles he had never practiced with.The training talk is specific. Hans walks through his jump to 120-130 mile weeks peaking at 145, up to 36,000 feet of vert before CCC, the move to Boulder in March, and the sweat test that revealed he had spent years taking in triple the sodium he needed. He defends his much-criticized diet with a simple argument about aid stations, explains why he fuels every run over ninety minutes like it is race day, and leaves young runners with carbs, consistency, and a reminder to enjoy their lives.Tap into the Hans Troyer Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @hanstroyer YouTube: @HansIsYoungAndFit
- Listen →
Sep 17, 2026 · 55 min
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 beats perfection. Why a plateau isn't a bug in the program. What quietly rots a team culture from the inside. And here’s the line worth writing down: you don't rise to the occasion, you fall back on your preparation.Then a runner's guide to protein: what this macronutrient is actually doing in a body that has nowhere to store it; what the science now says about the anabolic window and how much you can use in one sitting; where the real daily target comes from; and why the animal-versus-plant question is messier than either camp wants to admit. Dominic pushes back hard on the plant-based side, and Riley Witt's anti-electrolyte take gets its moment too.And then the hard one: why almost nobody quits on time; how sunk cost keeps runners in workouts, seasons, careers andrelationships long past their expiration date; and the two tools Alex uses to make that call before emotion takes the wheel.They close on a big weekend for Alex's athletes—a 1-2 at the US 20K Championships, a world title, and a marathon debut coming in Chicago.Tap into the The Rundown Recap Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20
- Listen →
Sep 15, 2026 · 50 min
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 race he's proudest of, which he also lost. Samuel got him by a second and a half, and he calls it the best tactical race of his NCAA career.There's a lot here about the margins: the heat stroke at ACCs that finally sent him to a nutritionist; sleep and naps around 6:30 a.m. practices; the slowest summer buildup he's ever done; and six weeks in Europe not being Rocky the Runner. He also makes the case that the happy runner is the fast runner, by way of an engineering professor who once assigned him homework to have fun on purpose.He's candid about last fall, when Wake Forest returned most of a seventh-place team, assumed the podium was theirs, and watched the fire go out. And he's thoughtful about what the NCAA has become: a pro league, in his words, and one he loves competing in while recognizing the high schoolers it has squeezed out.Plus: Terre Haute, mud, and why he won't put a number on November.Tap into the Rocky Hansen Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @rocky_hansen_
- Listen →
Sep 13, 2026 · 62 min
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 through the actual training: 115-mile weeks, 25-mile long runs with fifteen at six-minute pace on an altitude treadmill before ten more miles at marathon pace, and Alberto Salazar's habit of tacking on surprise reps until athletes cracked. The centerpiece is the session she still calls the hardest of her life—a morning tempo, then 400s at 58 seconds that were supposed to be four and became ten, with Galen Rupp jumping in to pace, and Jordan averaging 58.7.Underneath all of it is faith. The priest who traveled with the group to majors, the wrist rosary she wore in every marathon, and the Catholic athletes' conference where she met Alberto by what she can only call fate. She explains the Kobe tribute kit at the 2020 Trials, the comment he left on her Instagram after she tore her hamstring, and how studying his mental game shaped the way she coaches today.On a comeback she's candid: most likely done, maybe one percent, and it would take a miracle. The fulfillment now comes from Hogan Performance and from her son, Micah.Tap into the Jordan Hasay Hogan Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @jordanhasay
- Listen →
Sep 11, 2026 · 48 min
"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 squad, and the junior year where he missed the outdoor 1500 final and coach Mike Smith floated calling the season early. Colin said no, asked to run the 800 instead, and ran 1:44 for the first time.What changed his senior year wasn't the training getting harder—it got easier. He slowed his threshold work by roughly ten seconds a mile, stopped burning himself out, and went to every line believing he'd win. That belief carried him to 16th at NCAA cross country, a Millrose 800 win over a world-class field, the indoor 3000 and DMR titles at nationals, and the outdoor 800 crown in his final collegiate race.He calls it delusional confidence, and it's the spine of the whole conversation.They also get into why the NCAA humbles almost everyone and why your timeline isn't anyone else's; the Mike Smith phone call that could have gone very differently; what it means to reunite with Smith alongside Nico Young, Ethan Strand, Parker Wolfe and Drew Bosley; and why the 800 or 1500 question is still wide open heading into an Olympic year.Tap into the Colin Sahlman Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Personal Instagram: @colinsahlman Photography Instagram: @colins_cam
- Listen →
Sep 9, 2026 · 45 min
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 Feet, leading into the Brooks Cross Country National Championships. She and Dominic start with the heat, since she grew up in Phoenix waking at 4:15 a.m. five days a week and still trains there today. Her answer is effort-based work and a lot of grace, and it's the same approach she used at fifteen.From there they walk Balboa Park year by year: 24th as a wide-eyed freshman; then 20th; then 10th; then 13th as a senior ranked fourth in the country. Jess fondly recalls the free backpack, the West Region blue, the hill everyone underestimates, and the friendships still going. She talks about Coach Messer's precision and Coach Van Sickle's fun, three state team titles at Xavier, and why the team races mattered more than the individual ones.Then the meet's near-death last year, why she immediately thought Brooks should save it, and what the golden ticket system means for kids whose schedules don't line up.Her advice for anyone chasing a spot this fall: be in the mile you're in, and make the process worth the goal.Tap into the Jess McClain Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Fleet Feet x Brooks XC ChampionshipsFleetFeet.comInstagram: @jesstonn
- Listen →
Sep 7, 2026 · 65 min
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 a PhD in sleep psychology.Dominic caught him marathon mid-buildup—Todd's training for Chicago, Dominic for Columbus—and the conversation goes deep on why runners are the worst offenders. Perceived exertion and pain tolerance are among the first things to degrade when you're underslept, so chronic short sleep doesn't just cap your ceiling, it makes every mile hurt more. Todd's comparison: it's like training every day in 100-degree heat.They get into the seven-hour floor and where that number actually comes from, the 2024 lab studies where unrestricted sleepers settled at eight and a half hours, and how to tell whether you're carrying sleep debt. Todd breaks down the mechanics of nasal breathing—nitric oxide, CO2 tolerance, and why the strips may do more for you asleep than on the run—plus why 80% of people have a deviated septum and don't know it.Also, why screen damage is dose-dependent; what you watch matters as much as the light; Todd's hypothesis that marathon records would fall faster in the afternoon; and how long he thinks Dominic would survive in a 230-degree sauna.Tap into the Todd Anderson Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Personal & Coaching Site: ToddAnderson42.com Company Store: DreamRecovery.io Instagram: @toddanderson42
- Listen →
Sep 3, 2026 · 72 min
"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 before bed will wreck your sleep instead of helping it.From there: electrolytes as the most overhyped supplement on the market, why a real sports drink needs sugar, and the carbohydrate timing window that can leave you hypoglycemic on the start line.Then the doping conversation. Riley talks about how WADA actually decides what gets banned, why most NCAA testing is looking for recreational drugs, and what a caffeine limit is really protecting you from. Dominic brings the Shelby Houlihan case and a stat on tainted supplements that Riley refuses to accept, which turns into the most detailed account you'll hear of what certification actually costs—the audit, the quarantine room, the batch testing.And the one everyone will argue about: how a guy with a 3:59 mile runs threshold at 4:00 pace. Riley explains his actual lactate numbers, why 200s at 32 seconds still count, and the theory he's building with Dr. Bill Evans around assisted running and running economy.Plus steeplechase heat, the Odyssey soundtrack, and why Riley would pay a million dollars for six seconds.Tap into the Riley Witt Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Bicarb.shop – Official online storeInstagram: @riwitt03; @iamrileywitt; @bicarb.shop
- Listen →
Sep 1, 2026 · 52 min
"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 like Valencia. He explains the front-running gamble that produced his historic 27:23.44 in the 10,000m in Birmingham—a 3:17 opening kilometer that forced him to take the race into his own hands from the third lap—and what it actually feels like to lap the field and win a championship by 19 seconds. Almgren gets into the mechanics of the buildup itself: mileage climbing toward 230K (142 miles) a week, fueling 120 grams of carbs an hour on long runs, testing new super-trainers versus carbon race shoes, and the durability work required to survive New York's bridges and hills. He also opens up on the "dark years" between 2016 and 2020, the 800m speed he's carrying into a marathon debut, and why he's not ruling out a 10,000m/marathon double at the 2028 Olympics. Plus, a shoutout to double-threshold godfather Marius Bakken, a very Swedish story about a track meet against Finland, and what it's like to become a national hero overnight. A wide-ranging, funny, and technical conversation with one of the most versatile distance runners in the world right now.Tap into the Andreas Almgren Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @aaalmgren
- Listen →
Aug 30, 2026 · 47 min
"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 world now calls the Norwegian Method. This conversation is the compressed version of his new book, The Norwegian Method Applied, out now on Amazon with a link in the show notes.We start where everyone should: defining threshold, and why the 4.0 mmol/L figure you were taught is the wrong anchor. Marius explains how to find your own zone without a meter by triangulating heart rate, pace, and the talk test, then walks through a full Norwegian Method week from Sunday to Saturday. Two double-threshold days, one genuinely hard session, easy running held strictly under 70 percent of max heart rate. The logic behind stacking two threshold sessions into one day rather than scattering them across the week is the whole argument in miniature.Then the part most people skip when they copy the method: the muscular case. Marius argues that muscles, not the heart and lungs, cap how much training a runner can absorb, and that muscle tone is why some days feel effortless and others don't. He gets into why carbon-plated shoes are the first thing he checks when an injured runner walks into his clinic, where strength work belongs in the week, how he'd build a national-championship high school program, and where this method stops working.His three takeaways, unedited: run easy on the easy days, control intensity on the hard days, limit intense work to once a week. Then see what happens.Tap into the Marius Bakken Special.If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.—S H O W N O T E SThe Run Down by The Running Effect (our new newsletter): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rsOur website: https://therunningeffect.runThe podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQMy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=enTake our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@Dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLLuminary Threads: https://luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Marius Bakken's official website: https://mariusbakken.com
- Listen →
Aug 28, 2026 · 48 min
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.He walks Dominic through how fast it all happened: a casual conversation with Connie Price-Smith at USATFs in New York, a formal interview an hour before his Uber to the airport for the Commonwealth Games, and an offer thirty minutes later. Then a scramble to Oxford weeks before the season opener.The conversation gets into why he's moving toward college athletics while other coaches are heading for the exit—the impact he thinks he can have on thirty athletes instead of a handful, and his conviction that plenty of American talent will fall through the cracks under roster limits. He's blunt about what that means in recruiting: if you don't have Olympic dreams, the SEC probably isn't for you.Also covered: what he's telling a team that's had three coaches in one summer; why he's sending them to Memphis on tired legs; the SEC as the best non-Diamond-League track in America; soft-surface trails a half mile from the locker room; what he's leaving behind in Baltimore; and—because it's late August—Ohio State loyalties, Julian Sayin's Heisman case, and a Buckeyes-Rebels title game prediction.Tap into the Cory Leslie Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @cory_leslie X (Twitter): @cory_leslie
- Listen →
Aug 26, 2026 · 68 min
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 lazy" college runner at UNC to architect of one of the great high school dynasties at Christian Brothers Academy, where his teams chased NXN titles knowing they'd fail more often than they'd win. That, he argues, is exactly the point.Along the way: the college teammate whose blunt ultimatum changed his life (he married her); why it's cool to care in a generation obsessed with being nonchalant; and the legendary Stanford story of Vin Lanana asking his team who would make the Olympic squad—and the three who stayed standing did. Coach B breaks down the difference between confidence and arrogance, why "weird" is a synonym for remarkable, why he measures athletes by their worst performances instead of their best, and why you'll never do the work required to be great unless you're having fun doing it.Recorded weeks before the September 1st release of his first book, This Is About Running. This Is Not About Running., this one delivers exactly what the title promises: an hour about running that's about everything else, too.Press play. Then go be chalant about something.Tap into the Coach Bennett Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@Dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Coach Bennett Instagram
- Listen →
Aug 24, 2026 · 42 min
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 Olympics decided by 0.09 seconds; and a Paris 2024 Olympics that looked like her best shot at a medal on paper but ended without even a final—a result that triggered the lowest point of her career, including a battle with disordered eating and anxiety she didn't get help for until six months later.Jemma talks candidly about rebuilding under coach Jon Bigg after that low, why the mental side of the sport is harder for her than the physical, and how bringing in a breathing coach helped her find stability. She also breaks down her training in detail—60 miles a week, mostly doubles, a strong aversion to slow running, and a "no phone until training's done" rule that's changed her focus. Plus, her friendly rivalry with Keely Hodgkinson, the story behind her cinematic training videos with videographer Ollie, and where her heart really lies between the 800m and 1500m heading toward LA.A raw, funny, and honest conversation with one of British middle distance's most resilient competitors.Tap into the Jemma Reekie Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @jemmareekieX: @JemmaReekieTikTok: @jemma_reekie
- Listen →
Aug 22, 2026 · 53 min
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 Club in Eugene, joins Dominic to unpack the four biggest pieces from the past month—and the timing couldn't be better with cross country season underway.First up: why the best runners gain fitness instead of proving it, featuring Jakob Ingebrigtsen's carrot-farming metaphor and the cautionary tale of the indicator workout that helped derail Alex's senior cross country season. Then the duo digs into bicarb—what it actually does inside your muscles, why the old soda-loading era was a deal with the devil, and whether the one-to-two-percent edge matters for anyone who isn't already elite.From there, the conversation moves upstream. Racing depends on training, but training depends on the lifestyle underneath it, and Alex walks through the four environmental defaults he changed at Stanford that made discipline automatic. Finally, the conversation that saved his running career: Coach Milt holding up a mirror to a struggling sophomore and reminding him, "You wanted this."Along the way: negative visualization, hardship inoculation, Warren Buffett on trust, and why willpower always loses to the environment.Subscribe to The Rundown (always the first link below) and get faster in three to five minutes every Thursday.Tap into the Rundown Recap Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20
- Listen →
Aug 20, 2026 · 58 min
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 faster? Her answer is a masterclass in why general nutrition advice fails athletes, especially female ones. The guidelines on your food label were built around a 154-pound reference man from 1941, not a marathoner in a training block, and definitely not a 14-year-old girl navigating puberty.Cortney shares her own story of underfueling, doing everything society called "healthy" until she lost her period and, for a time, her ability to have kids, and explains why the runners plateauing hardest are usually the ones eating the least. Her rule is simple: only run the miles you're willing to fuel for.Along the way, the two get refreshingly practical. Why full-sugar Coke beats Diet Coke after a long run. Race-day fueling blueprints for cross country and multi-race track meets. The hydration equation every runner should know. Why eating before bed isn't the sin you've been told it is, and how liquid calories save high-mileage athletes drowning in grocery bills.But the biggest takeaway might be Cortney's fifth and final point: your relationship with food matters just as much as the food itself. You don't earn your food by running, you earn your run by eating enough.Tap into the Cortney Berling Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Coaching: Eat Well Perform Better Instagram: @eatwell.runbetter
- Listen →
Aug 18, 2026 · 66 min
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 Kerr to his men's group, where the Olympic medalist cracked through four inches of ice at six in the morning and realized the anxiety felt exactly like stepping on a starting line.This conversation goes far beyond race tactics. Maresma and Dominic dig into the trauma that drives high achievers; the belief that love and belonging are contingent on succeeding; why so many people find running as an outlet; and where anyone can start doing the inner work. Maresma opens up about the loss that led him to become a meditation teacher, and breaks down practical tools you can use today: breath work, the physiological sigh, nasal breathing, and how to pull your mind back into your body mid-race.Then there's the record itself. Maresma takes us inside the final session, the time trial that felt "too easy," the cue to surrender rather than fight, and what he saw from the stands when Kerr and his pacers locked into formation like fighter jets.What sets Josh Kerr apart? Not discipline. Curiosity, brutal self-honesty, and the healthiest ego Maresma has seen in 35 years.Tap into the Jose Maresma Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Find Jose's work at embodiedspirits.com or @josevo2max on Instagram
- Listen →
Aug 16, 2026 · 64 min
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, and why Shannon Rowbury remains the most impressive athlete he's ever coached.He makes a case few pro coaches will: America's best coaches aren't in the NCAA or the pros—they're in high schools, and nearly every great athlete he's ever had was built by one. From there, the conversation becomes a masterclass in mindset: living the life of a champion; the “1% rule;”, why the “balance” the internet sells you is a lie; why women are routinely undertrained with kid gloves; and what separated Mo Farah and Galen Rupp from everyone else. Hint, it was never talent.Then it gets personal. Being diagnosed with cancer at 28, one week before his first World Championships. Splitting from Nike and starting over. Rediscovering “idealistic Pete.” And an unflinching stretch on Alberto Salazar, grace, forgiveness, and why Shelby Houlihan shouldn't be racing in a sports bra from Target.Whether you're a seven-minute miler or chasing medals, this one will change how you show up tomorrow.Tap into the Pete Julian Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20
- Listen →
Aug 14, 2026 · 40 min
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 spot, spent two years buried in injuries, then watched his LSU distance group collapse from 12 guys to three. He left the team in February, coached himself through the spring, and ran his 3:42 PR—at Arkansas, of all places.They get into the recruiting visit that sold him on the spot, the ACC program that essentially would have banned him from posting, and his brutally honest answer to "Olympic medal or a million followers?" Plus, pressure as a trainable skill, why "it's cringe until it works," the reason he doesn't answer the "is my mile time good?" DMs, his 2028 Olympic Trials math, and the plan to pivot hard into entertainment once the spikes hang up.Also discussed: the Ryan Trahan era he completely missed, his running-creator Mount Rushmore, Erin Brown's rage-bait genius, the jorts discourse, and the Mexican breakfast restaurant where a soccer kid learned Spanish and raked in $35 an hour.Whether you're a modest recruit with big goals or building something people call cringe, Trenton's story is proof that consistency (and betting on yourself) compounds.Tap into the Trenton Sandler Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20YouTube: trenton Sandler YouTube Channel.Instagram: TrentonSandlerTikTok: Trenton Sandler
- Listen →
Aug 12, 2026 · 73 min
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 town, still a phone call away), and practicing the same pressure-management he preaches to his athletes.The conversation digs into the anatomy of the dynasty: six national titles in seven years, why every single one was the hardest thing ever, and whether today's NCAA will ever allow another NAU dynasty.Cornfield pulls back the curtain on the tactical side, too: watching a decade of DMR film with his men before their indoor title run; scouting rival coaches' tendencies; and building course-specific training, this time for Terre Haute, where this fall's championships return for the first time since the frigid 2019 race.Other threads in this conversation: what he actually does differently from Smith; sub-threshold staples in Buffalo Park; the student-athlete question at a school nicknamed running university; exhibiting character when nobody's watching; and his candid, nuanced take on the NCAA scrapping altitude conversions, which is a change that hits Flagstaff harder than anywhere. Plus, a celebration of Colin Sahlman's historic DMR–indoor 3K–outdoor 800 triple, and the theme of 2026's first team meeting: encouragement.Bring on Terre Haute. Bring on the rain.Tap into the Coach Cornfield Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20
- Listen →
Aug 10, 2026 · 79 min
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 Hackney's overtraining research, the 80-kilometer-per-week marker where androgen deficiency starts showing up, and the diffusion-distance argument for why the best marathoners in the world aren't carrying much muscle. Then the necessary caveat: performance and health are not the same conversation, and bone, libido, and mental health all sit on the other side of that ledger.From there it opens up. Evans gives a full explainer on how a study actually gets published and how to tell a credible one from a headline, including where pharma funding does and doesn't compromise the work. He and Dominic get into whether anyone can be an Olympian, whether mindset is trainable (Evans uses his own OCD and exposure therapy as the case study), and the Joe Burrow story about a nine-year-old who didn't feel pressure.The back half is rapid-fire practical: how to warm up for a 5K and why the pickups should be near mile pace, why your treadmill is probably lying to you, the RPE scale as a free lactate meter, the bicarb lotion study he's running this fall, his unsponsored supplement stack, and the one thing every cross country runner should do this season.Tap into the Dr. Bill Evans Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @doctor_evans_running Coaching Website:The Endurance Lab.
- Listen →
Aug 8, 2026 · 54 min
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 full-time clinical mental health counselor. Her reason cuts deep: in an NCAA increasingly built around money and results, she couldn't be everything her athletes needed her to be.What follows is one of the most important conversations we've had on this podcast. Bastron pulls back the curtain on the eating disorder epidemic hiding in plain sight in our sport: how student-athletes are two-to-three times more likely to develop one; how roughly 85 percent of female NCAA athletes admit to some form of disordered eating; and how eating disorders carry the second-highest mortality rate of any mental health disorder, behind only opioid use. She explains why "disciplined" eating is often a red flag, why losing your period is never normal, why male body dysmorphia is rising in silence, and how "amygdala hijacking" keeps today's athletes stuck in fight-or-flight.But this isn't a goodbye. Bastron is still coaching post-collegiates (including Wake Forest legend Elizabeth Whaley), still mentoring young female coaches, and now fighting for athletes from the other side of the table. Her hoped-for legacy says it all: never give up on a kid.Tap into the Ashley Bastron Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20
- Listen →
Aug 6, 2026 · 40 min
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 baller), and a nothing-to-lose dive across the line at Icahn Stadium to win his first national title by 0.07 seconds.Nate takes us inside those final meters: the stumble on the last barrier, the running-in-a-dream legs, and why he refused to celebrate until his name hit the scoreboard.From there, the conversation digs into his roots as a St. Xavier kid from Cincinnati who never dreamed of going pro—because kids from Cincinnati don’t go pro; his new chapter with HOKA and what the brand is quietly building; and five years under the legendary Vin Lananna, whose retirement Nate learned about one hour before the rest of the world. Plus, golf-cart workouts, the finish-line tape Vin wouldn’t let him live down, living with Gary Martin (and getting mistaken for him at Indoor Nationals), the state of American steeplechasing on the road to 2028, and why an Olympic medal is the dream. He closes his season at the Silesia Diamond League on August 23. Just a kid from Ohio, doing big things.Tap into the Nate Mountain Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @nate.mountain
- Listen →
Aug 4, 2026 · 58 min
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 turned a former prodigy (nine AAU national titles and maybe the most-watched kid in FloTrack history) into the man of the moment.Brandon opens up about the loss that lit the fire: walking off the track in tears after taking fifth at last year's USA championships, then hiding from social media for a month because he couldn't escape the highlights. He explains how coach Danny Mackey took that loss just as hard, why he runs only 30-35 miles a week, and how watching Josh Kerr call his shot on the mile world record (then deliver it minutes after Brandon's London win) raised the bar for the entire Brooks Beasts group.There's also the origin story you probably don't know: Brandon nearly signed with Nike out of college before a teammate's advice (and his parents' due diligence) steered him to Brooks. Plus, they chat about the finger-over-the-lips celebration at Pre, why nobody on the start line cares that Cooper Lutkenhaus is 17, an impassioned defense of Noah Lyles as track's great entertainer, and his pitch for a Netflix documentary on the golden age of American 800m running before LA 2028.Tap into the Brandon Miller Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @bmillertrackstar
- Listen →
Aug 2, 2026 · 66 min
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 adult life.Now he runs a sports group out of Southern California, and he's direct with Dominic about how the money actually works. They talk about why you have to be roughly top ten in your event before anyone pays you, why high school NIL deals are a separate marketing bubble most athletes are built to age out of, and why the scholarship (not the shoe deal) is the realistic prize for nearly every kid. He also guesses at Josh Kerr's world-record bonus and weighs whether the sport will ever shed its contract NDAs.The back half is a coaching clinic.Avila builds training backwards from racing, argues most high schoolers show up with exactly one pitch, and caps his senior boys near 45–50 miles a week while loading the quality inside it. He walks through the traffic-light plan he gives athletes mid-race, what he taught a young Hobbs Kessler about leaning into pain, and why he'd rather an athlete learn to win than learn to time trial.Underneath all of it is one idea borrowed from European soccer: a real academy pipeline, built here, for runners.Tap into the Eric Avila Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20Instagram: @avilaericc
- Listen →
Jul 31, 2026 · 53 min
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 place.Alex opens with the principle of reversibility and the psychology that distorts it—losses loom roughly twice as large as equivalent gains, which is why a two-week break triggers panic wildly out of proportion to the physiology. He walks through the Dallas Bedrest Study, then the Coyle detraining data showing a two-phase drop: an early fall driven almost entirely by plasma volume contraction, followed by a slower mitochondrial enzyme decline. The reassuring part is what survives: capillaries, ventricular volume, and mitochondria themselves are structural and stubborn. You don't fall from the top floor to the basement —you fall to the mezzanine.Then the case for doing it on purpose. Alex mandates enforced breaks for his athletes, argues that reduced training cuts losses roughly in half versus doing nothing, and shares Jerry Schumacher's balloon metaphor for why regaining fitness is easier the second time.The back half turns to coaching itself: confirmation bias; autobiographical coaching, the observe-hypothesize-measure-update loop; and why writing your hypothesis down before you test anything is the whole ballgame. Alex closes with the mistakes he's made, including his own biased-reporter problem with athlete pain.Read The Rundown: free, every Thursday. Link in the show notes.Tap into the Rundown Recap Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20
- Listen →
Jul 29, 2026 · 70 min
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. Air Force Academy, where every one of 4,000 cadets is on full scholarship, the campus sits at 7,000 feet, and your first day of college involves getting yelled at off a bus at basic training. Coach Cole explains his core philosophy and how the Academy's structure turns overlooked recruits into stars—like Ryan Johnson, who arrived with a 9:20 two-mile PR and left drawing comparisons to Grant Fisher and Sam Gilman, the latter of whom he now shares workouts with.The two dig into the recruiting cues that separate a great athlete from a great cadet-athlete, the historic 2016 women's team that became the first service academy squad to qualify for a D1 NCAA Championship, and the emotional story of taking over the program after the sudden passing of his mentor, the legendary Ralph Lindeman. Plus, the beloved alumni tradition at Nuttycombe, why runners make great officers, and Cole's case that the service academies may be the last true development programs left in the NCAA.This one's about culture, commitment, and the name on the front.Tap into the Coach Ryan Cole Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20
- Listen →
Jul 27, 2026 · 52 min
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 coach of UNC women's cross country.Dominic sits down with Ann just two weeks after Carolina made it official, and she shares the full behind-the-scenes story: the phone call with Milt, why he decided to split the men's and women's distance coaching so each group gets a dedicated touch point, and what made her say yes. Ann explains how a decade away from the NCAA (earning a master's in exercise physiology, building Formula Complete Fitness from the ground up in Charlottesville, and coaching The Covenant School to state titles) turned out to be an advantage, not a gap on the résumé.She opens up about holding humility and confidence at the same time, the conversation with her husband Jason that made the move possible, and the FaceTime call from Maddie and Reese (her former Covenant stars, now Tar Heels) after Milt dropped the news. Ann also revisits her own Wisconsin story, where her team climbed from last in the Big Ten to fourth at NCAAs in two years; lays out her goals for Carolina (top 5–10 nationally, competing for ACC titles); offers advice for high schoolers making the jump to college running; and pushes back on Dominic's claim that American teams can't win NCAA titles in the international-talent era.New chapter, new coach, same standard: Carolina blue with big goals.Tap into the Ann Dunn Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20 Instagram: @coachanndunnWebsite: https://www.formulacompletefitness.com/
- Listen →
Jul 24, 2026 · 63 min
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 program (and the second-ever guest in show history) returns to break down the 16-page thesis she recently delivered at a coaching clinic, condensed into one conversation packed with tools you can use this cross-country season.Shannon unpacks what it means to "connect with the heart of the race,” and the three requirements to get there: a sense of belonging, a sense of irreplaceability, and an orientation toward giving rather than getting. From there, the conversation goes deep on the two stories every athlete lives through sport: the egoic story (work hard, achieve goals, repeat with higher goals) and the hero's journey—the narrative that begins when hard work stops guaranteeing results and you enter what Shannon calls "the wilderness."Along the way, they discuss why ego is never bad, just unhelpful; how parts theory (IFS) gets to the root of race-day anxiety, checking out mid-race, and mysterious pre-race nausea; the fear underneath it all;; a Scottie Scheffler-inspired debate on caring about outcomes without being owned by them; and a five-minute exercise you can use before your next race.Tap into the Shannon Thompson Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20
- Listen →
Jul 22, 2026 · 50 min
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 Marathon and a 315-pound bench in the same week, treadmill marathons followed by 15+ reps at 225, and 100-mile weeks paired with powerlifter-style strength work.Trevor makes the case that "hybrid athlete = mediocre at both" is a myth, that antagonistic goals aren't really antagonistic if you build for them, and that your genetics improve the harder and longer you work. He's done it all as a natural athlete who has never had a sip of coffee, a drink of alcohol, or a single PED — and he explains why the constant doping accusations only fuel his mission to show people what a natural body is capable of.They also get into his diet (max protein, max carbs, ground beef and rice, venison, kiwis for vitamin C), his recovery philosophy (build a bigger capacity, skip the gadgets), his gym split, the caffeine debate, his move into ultras, and how his Catholic faith became the center of his content and his goals. 00:00 — Welcome & the late-night recording sacrifice00:36 — How Trevor defines a "hybrid athlete"01:05 — Real hybrid athlete vs. chasing social media clout02:11 — Nick Bear, the BPN community, and breaking the "mediocre at both" stereotype04:28 — His most impressive feat: 2:28 Boston Marathon + 315 bench in the same week05:13 — What's harder, running or lifting? Genetics and training load07:44 — Same-day treadmill feats (45-mile run → bench; 2:26 treadmill marathon → bench)08:18 — Why you lose reps benching right after a run (blood flow)08:56 — Height, weight, and race weight (5'9", ~185 lbs)09:44 — Why shorter is better for running ("short kings")10:10 — Handling constant doping allegations as a natural athlete11:01 — Peptides, caffeine, creatine, and the "natty or not" spectrum13:32 — Why PEDs make no sense if you value the work14:42 — The supplement stack: creatine, magnesium, and kiwis for vitamin C15:50 — Diet philosophy: max protein, max carbs, eat around your training18:00 — Daily calories and protein (~3,500 cal / ~200g)18:51 — Meal prep, Costco, and almost never eating out19:12 — Hypothetical: would he promote caffeine for a BPN sponsorship?21:00 — The caffeine debate and the "alpha flies" analogy22:55 — Caffeine timing, G1M Sport, and the downside of race-day coffee23:30 — Bicarb and legal performance aids24:07 — Which BPN athlete would he race — and at what distance?24:40 — The gym split: stacking leg day on your hardest run days26:30 — Push/pull/legs, weekly frequency, and injury-prevention work27:10 — Shout-out to Dr. Bill Evans28:02 — Parents, his brother, and whether the genetics are really "crazy"29:21 — "Your genetics get better the harder you work"30:53 — Goal announcement: 2:25 marathon + 225×25 bench, same day, before 2531:37 — Recovery: build a bigger capacity, not a bigger gadget collection33:36 — Progressive overload vs. just maintaining muscle34:47 — Does he recommend this lifestyle? Why hybrid is the future of fitness36:23 — Dream sponsorships and faith-aligned brands (Barbell Apparel, Mark Dowdle)39:46 — Trevor's faith journey and weaving it into his content41:37 — Sacrificing training time for faith — and being blessed in return42:27 — Killing the excuses: a full-time job and 84-hour work weeks43:25 — How he trained around 12-hour refinery shifts in the dark45:20 — The David Goggins comparison and his (slightly) saner schedule now47:41 — The messages that keep him posting48:16 — His "what if": deciding to start posting content50:31 — Closing thoughts
- Listen →
Jul 20, 2026 · 46 min
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 full-time creators convinced him to hit record. He posted for a year to 2,000 followers before a joke 5K around his coffee table in October 2025 lit the fuse: it led to 100,000 followers in 50 days and a full-blown escalation of the most absurd run locations imaginable.In this conversation with Dominic, Cohen pulls back the curtain on the videos everyone's friends keep sending them. He addresses the skeptics head-on (yes, he really does the 5Ks; the watch accuracy is another story), reveals his most physically miserable run location, and explains why the World Cup crowd was in on the bit. He also opens up about the deeper mission: rejecting the unattainable, chicken-and-rice version of fitness the internet sold him at his lowest, and proving working out can actually be fun.Plus, his surprisingly generous take on David Goggins, celebrity collabs with Diplo, Bert Kreischer, Teddy Swims, and Casey Neistat, his dream Great Wall of China 5K, and why the biggest what-if of his life was simply pressing record.Tap into the Jacob Cohen Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20 TikTok: @notreallywellnessInstagram: @notreallywellnessYouTube: @notreallywellness
- Listen →
Jul 18, 2026 · 46 min
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 front-running Prefontaine Classic two-mile win over Grant Fisher.Parker opens up about going from top dog at UNC to "the new kid on the block" as a pro, why the professional peak is the hardest one to climb, and how he nearly committed to Duke before Chapel Hill won him over. He breaks down the transition from Chris Miltenberg to Mike Smith—more mileage, double thresholds, and a Flagstaff training group so deep he never lacks a partner, from Ethan Strand and Nico Young to the occasional Galen Rupp appearance. He makes his case that full buy-in beats a perfect program, walks through the Mo Farah-inspired tactics behind his gutsy front-running win at Hayward, and lands on the lesson at the heart of it all: people overestimate what they can do in a season and underestimate what they can do in a couple years of consistency.Plus, decoding Nike's confusingly structured Swoosh TC, Parker's five-runner Netflix docuseries cast, Nuggets loyalty, and the Lil Wayne deposition tape Coach Smith screened before Cross Nationals.Tap into the Parker Wolfe Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop $20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20 Instagram: @parkerw19
- Listen →
Jul 18, 2026 · 46 min
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 front-running Prefontaine Classic two-mile win over Grant Fisher.Parker opens up about going from top dog at UNC to "the new kid on the block" as a pro, why the professional peak is the hardest one to climb, and how he nearly committed to Duke before Chapel Hill won him over. He breaks down the transition from Chris Miltenberg to Mike Smith—more mileage, double thresholds, and a Flagstaff training group so deep he never lacks a partner, from Ethan Strand and Nico Young to the occasional Galen Rupp appearance. He makes his case that full buy-in beats a perfect program, walks through the Mo Farah-inspired tactics behind his gutsy front-running win at Hayward, and lands on the lesson at the heart of it all: people overestimate what they can do in a season and underestimate what they can do in a couple years of consistency.Plus, decoding Nike's confusingly structured Swoosh TC, Parker's five-runner Netflix docuseries cast, Nuggets loyalty, and the Lil Wayne deposition tape Coach Smith screened before Cross Nationals.Tap into the Parker Wolfe Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop $20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20 Instagram: @parkerw19
- Listen →
Jul 16, 2026 · 71 min
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 catastrophic fall at the 2024 Broken Arrow Skyrace left him with a complex orthopedic injury, Meikael spent 18 months trying every non-surgical approach available before going under the knife at the end of 2025. In February, he was relearning to walk. In April, relearning to run. He came back and toed the line at the 2026 U.S. Uphill Championships and finished 7th overall.The conversation covers what it looks like to maintain professional-level fitness off of 20 to 30 miles a week (and two hours of daily elliptical and arm bike work); why vertical kilometer races are physiologically closer to an 800 meter than a 10k; and how growing up entirely outdoors in the Bay Area (fishing, climbing, running trails to make curfew) built the athletic foundation that track never could. Meikael also gets into the plant business he started in middle school, the summers he spent living out of his car in the Sierra Nevada, and why he thinks cross-country skiers would beat marathoners in a trail race every time.His message to anyone trail-curious: DM him. He means it.Tap into the Meikael Beaudoin-Rousseau Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W N O T E S -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop Instagram: @mountain_man_meik
