Run Faster Podcast

This is easily one of my favorite episodes of the Run Faster podcast.

Drew Ryun, son of Jim Ryun, is a student of the sport and someone who I love talking track with. Drew and I meet through running camps as he asked me to speak at the Jim Ryun Running Camp roughly 10 years ago. What a treat.

In this interview we are simply two track geeks talking track, which should be informative for both the long term running fan and new runners alike. We talk a bit about our own running, but obviously much of the conversation is Drew sharing stories about his father, one of the greatest milers of all time.

Thanks so much for your time Drew!

This episode is a recording of a webinar I recently had the pleasure of doing for readers of my newsletter. While the focus of the webinar is on 5k and 10k training, many of the questions apply to all distances. Many of the questions focused on how to organize a week of training and/or a training cycle, which are both important if you're going to race to your potential.

This webinar was a lot of fun and I will definitely be doing more webinars in the future.

If you like this format, email me at coachjayjohnson@gmail.com. 

Enjoy!

Noah Droddy is a thoughtful, serious and colorful character in US distance running. While most people know more about his race day looks - long hair, sunglasses, backwards hat and mustache - than his PRs, Noah is quickly becoming one of the top distance runners in the US, with great performances at the US 10-mile championships in 2016 and the 2017 Houston Half Marathon.

This interview was a lot of fun and I look forward to watching him and his fellow Root Running Project teammates in some workouts in Boulder this spring.

If you want to read some fun articles about Noah and his appearance at the 2016 US Olympic Track and Field Trials, go to CoachJayJohnson.com and search for this episode.

My favorite podcast thus far - which saying something as I love them all - due to the content and banter with one of my dear friends, Zach Hancock. 

Zach was the primary editor for my Simple Marathon Training book. We walk through the various parts of the book, with lots of tangents, which I think you will enjoy.

Zach is thoughtful and fun and funny and smart, which makes for a great interview - conducted in his Air Stream trailer in Boulder, CO, no less.

As a former 3:45 1,500m runner and huge track fan - he took his wife to the Prefontaine Classic a few years ago as the vacation for the summer - Zach has many thoughts on the sport, which I'm confident you'll enjoy.

Zach and I conclude the podcast with his retelling of visiting Arthur Lydiard in his home. Again, if you are a student of the sport you'll love hearing about his visit.

Thanks so much Zach for your thoughtfulness and care editing the book and thank you for a wonderful interview.

Enjoy!!!

Dr. Carwyn Sharp is, in my opinion, one of the brightest minds in endurance sports. He is the Chief Science Officer at the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Carwyn contributed significantly to my Simple Marathon Training book and in this podcast we discuss the topics he covered in the book: the importance of the long run, how concurrent strength training - where you do some strength training immediately following your run - improves running performance, the importance of sleep, and finally DOMS - delayed onset muscle soreness.

Thanks so much Carwyn for your time!

A 7-minute PR in the half marathon since the last podcast! "You couldn't punch the smile off my face" is how Mark describes his post race excitement. In this podcast we talk about the eight weeks of training leading up to the race. We focus on the importance of long runs, the role of half marathon pace running and the crucial role of Strength and Mobility (SAM) in his training. I love Mark's honesty about disliking SAM work, yet he attributes much of his success on race day to having no lower body issues in the final 3.1 miles of the race. Thanks Mark for your time. You're a joy to coach.

In this episode Jay explains his 4-week marathon recovery cycle and why it is essential to recover fully from a marathon to ensure that the next training cycle goes well.

Scott Bliss is a fantastic coach who has a great deal of success at Champlain Valley Union High School, in Vermont.

In this excerpt from his full-length interview from HighSchoolRunningCoach.com, he talks about the importance of consistency, how he uses hills to his advantage and why it's so important to be able to run the last part of any race fast.

Thanks Scott for your time and best of luck to you and your athletes both this fall and in the coming years.

Mark Hansen is one of Jay's online clients, and like all of Jay's online clients, he's a busy adult who leads a hectic life. Mark ran competitively in high school, learning some good habits and some no so good. In this podcast Mark talks about the things he's learned from Jay and how many of the things he now does in training differ from his pervious approach to training.

Dr. Richard Hansen (@DrRichardHansen) joins us again and speaks on a variety of topics. Not only is he a world class chiropractor, but he's also the coach of the Roots Running Project, a group of elite post collegiate runners based out of Boulder, CO. They have a great Instagram feed - @roots_running .

Thanks Dr. Hansen for your time and best of luck to your athlete competing in Eugene at the US Olympic Track and Field Trials.

Coach John O'Malley is one of the best high school running coaches is in the country. He's had tremendous success as the boys cross country and track coach at Sandburg HS in Illinois. Not only has he had success in cross country, but his boys 4x800m relays consistently run under 7:50, a great indicator that Coach O'Malley is more than capable as a track coach.

This episode is an excerpt from his full interview at HighSchoolRunningCoach.com.

Thanks for your time Coach O'Malley, both in your training you've shared at HSRC and to prepare for this interview.

Alia Gray recently finished 10th in the women's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.  She was one of only three competitors to run a PR at the event, as the starting temperature was 73º and the temperature at the finish was 82º.  

She shares her unconventional training for the race, including insights in the way she works with her coach, Dr. Joe Vigil, who coacher her remotely.  Dr. Richard Hansen, a former guest on this podcast, is also a part of this podcast as he is with Alia day to day, administering workouts.

Great interview if you're interested in how elite athletes train.

In this Q&A I discuss when to ease back on general strength work leading up to a race, heart rate monitors and their role in training, when to do race pace specific work in half marathon training, and much more.  

Want your questions answered on the podcast.  Email me at coachjayjohnson@gmail.com

Enjoy!

Cindy Kuzma is a runner and a writer.  In the March 2016 edition of Runner's World she has two articles, including the "Injury-Prediction Calculator" article.  It's an interesting article.  Cindy and I discuss not only that article, but an article she did for the March 2015 RW edition on the importance of the hip in running injuries.  Finally, I'm lucky to have the chance to coach Cindy online.  She takes her running seriously and in this interview you'll hear about all of the time she spent in the gym going from injury this fall to running at well in February.

In this episode Jay and Amy discuss what she should do in her training now that she has identified that she can spend more time training.  Simple question. Some of the answers will be obvious and some of the answers may surprise you.

Coach Callor has had success with both boys and girls teams, both in cross country and track.  He has coached footlocker finalists and teams that have both made NXN and run well there.

High School Running Coach is lucky to have Mike as a featured coach for the 2016 season.  

This episode of the podcast features excerpts from Jonathan Dalby's interview on High School Running Coach.

Coach Dalby talks about the social side of running and building a culture of running in the high school setting.  

He also addresses how a coach fits in all of the important non-running work into a training program.  He talks about the importance of a long run, as well as the important concept of "shutting down" a workout if it's not going well for the athlete.

Thanks for your time Jonathan!

Charlie Kern is the boys track coach at York High School in Elmhurst, Illinois.

This podcast is a collection of excerpts from his full interview on High School Running Coach.

He talks about the face that caring for athletes is more important than workouts.  He talks about some of the things they do at York that are different than other programs.  He also shares a couple examples of workouts they've done to get athletes ready to run well at big meets.

Charlie is a fantastic coach and I'm so happy he is part of the 2016 High School Running Coach line up.

In this Q&A Jay talks discusses how fast you should run your long run, what to focus on when you improve your form and what are some of the key concepts in his upcoming book Simple Marathon Training.  Join Jay's newsletter to get his best content - coachjayjohnson.com

Amy Feit is a former 3:34 marathoner who is now a 3:03 marathoner (with Jay as her online coach).

Amy trains in harsh conditions in Minnesota, which she talks about on the podcast.

Amy has bought into the idea of doing a lot of non-running work after her workouts and long runs and she discusses what that part of her training looks like.

Finally, not only is Amy a guest on the podcast, but she's an avid listener too and she shares some of her favorite episodes of the podcast.