In this episode, it's just me! I give an update on where I'm at in my comeback from a lower back injury I sustained a few months back as well as my outlook on the future. I also talk about the athletes I am coaching, going over their goals, training statuses, and more. The last section I dedicate to giving three tips for being a good coach, all of which I have found to be essential in having success.

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If you're looking to improve upon your personal bests from the mile up to the marathon, reach out to me through my Instagram and I'd be happy to help: https://www.instagram.com/jacobreesmontgomery/. Or, email me at [email protected]. Support me on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0PtGveRoyf80FBZYPaIbA. Oh, and go SMASH that follow on Strava if you aren't already: https://www.strava.com/athletes/37074049.

Billy Caldwell graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2018 and acquired his masters in Exercise Science from Pitt in the following two years. Billy reps some very fast times during his time as an athlete for Pitt T&F and XC from 2014-2018, including as fast as 1:53.55 in the 800m (T&F) and 24:54.4 in the 8k (XC). During his time acquiring his masters, he worked as a volunteer assistant coach from 2018-2020 for Pitt. He also worked at two speed-development-based companies in these two years, Faster Performance (in 2018) and UPMC Sports Performance (in 2019). Having gotten his masters, Billy took on an assistant coaching position for Robert Morris University for two seasons, coaching Martha Gardner to a school-record in the 3000m steeplechase. Having had good success there and with an opening at East Carolina University, Billy was able to take on the head coaching position for the cross country program and also the assistant coaching position for track and field. He hopes to develop the program into a strong one and make a running for the conference title on both the men's and women's sides.  

Go follow Billy on his social media: 

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If you're looking to improve upon your personal bests from the mile up to the marathon, reach out to me through my Instagram and I'd be happy to help: https://www.instagram.com/jacobreesmontgomery/. Or, email me at [email protected]. Support me on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0PtGveRoyf80FBZYPaIbA. Oh, and go SMASH that follow on Strava if you aren't already: https://www.strava.com/athletes/37074049.

Cole Bishop has always gravitated towards the trails ever since late high school; his love for the trails grew ever stronger as he continued to improve during his time running at the University of Pittsburgh for the club team. Many people, including myself, would consider Cole to be a "soul-runner" and perhaps a bit on the crazy side too (lol) given his crazy running ventures! He'll go out and be on his feet for 3+ hours on trails, no problem. One day, he went to Frick Park and ran 66 miles over the course of the day, starting bright and early and finishing at dawn. Another day, he ran a marathon early into a training block out of the blue. This last year, he ran a marathon on a 200-meter INDOOR TRACK which is 211 laps (yep). The crazy ventures are quite abundant; just see for yourself by going on his Strava (it's worth it). More recently, he ran the Laurel Highlands Ultra 70.5 in a time of 12:12:47 for second place, absolutely BALLING out and closing in sub-7 miles during the last bit of the race. We discuss this in great detail during our chat. Give this one a listen; perhaps by the end of it, you'll understand how someone can put themselves through the torture of 70.5 miles of hilly, grueling trail-running. Granted, I still can't fathom it myself.

Go follow Cole on his social media:

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If you're looking to improve upon your personal bests from the mile up to the marathon, reach out to me through my Instagram and I'd be happy to help: https://www.instagram.com/jacobreesmontgomery/. Or, email me at [email protected]. Support me on my YouTube channel as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0PtGveRoyf80FBZYPaIbA. Oh, and one more thing... Go follow me on Strava if you aren't already: https://www.strava.com/athletes/37074049.

Zach Case has always been speedy since his start in the sport, repping PRs of 1:57.58 in the 800m (T&F), 26:29 in the 8k (XC), and recently, 2:38:51 in the marathon. When I heard that he wanted to race at the Cleveland Marathon, I jumped at the opportunity to be his coach given it would be his very first marathon; also, I knew that he would most definitely be ripping a fast time. Sure enough, about 4 months later and he had run 2:38:51 for 3rd place.

In this episode, we reflect on his training leading into the Cleveland Marathon, his race-day experience, and our overall thoughts on how it all went. I also share my screen and go through the training plan I curated for him, explaining my thought process behind the design. 

As always, go follow Zach on his social media:

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If you're looking to improve upon your personal bests from the mile up to the marathon, reach out to me through my Instagram and I'd be happy to help: https://www.instagram.com/jacobreesmontgomery/. Or, email me at [email protected]. Support me on my YouTube channel as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0PtGveRoyf80FBZYPaIbA. Oh, and one more thing... Go follow me on Strava if you aren't already: https://www.strava.com/athletes/37074049.

Matt Fox is the founder of the well-known company Sweat Elite, the first running organization to fill the gap for coverage of the professional running (and triathlon) scenes. The brand gained enormous traction, particularly as a result of the notorious workout videos posted on their YouTube channel. Matt has had on some very famous athletes including the likes of Paul Chelimo, Parker Stinson, Sara Hall, Andy Butchart, and many more. His most viewed video to date--with over 1.6 MILLION views--was one filmed of Paul Chelimo which, admittedly, I have watched SEVERAL times. Outside of his growing success with Sweat Elite, Matt boasts some very impressive PRs, running as fast as 1:48.36 for the 800-meter run in 2010--during his professional career from 2006-2014--and more recently, 2:20:46 at the 2021 Indianapolis Marathon. Not to mention, in 2009 and 2011, he placed fifth TWICE in the 800-meter at the Australian Open Track and Field Championships. Now, his eyes are set on the Berlin Marathon where he will be attempting to break the 2:20 barrier and run under 2:18.

Follow Matt on his social media:

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If you're looking to improve upon your personal bests from the mile up to the marathon, reach out to me through my Instagram and I'd be happy to help: https://www.instagram.com/jacobreesmontgomery/. Or, email me at [email protected]. Support me on my YouTube channel as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0PtGveRoyf80FBZYPaIbA. Oh, and one more thing... Go follow me on Strava if you aren't already: https://www.strava.com/athletes/37074049.

Zach Michon is a member of the Philadelphia Runner Track Club who is in hot pursuit of the sub-4 mile barrier, having run a 4:00.53 mile at the 2022 Delaware Mile Challenge, and several more low-4 attempts before then. However, Zach was always a talented athlete tracing back to his starting years in the sport, finishing his freshman year of high school with a 4:26 mile PR and continuing to improve gradually year by year. After his senior year at Robbinsville High School, Zach had run 4:13 in the 1600m and 9:27 in the 3200m, catching the attention of Coach Glavin of Saint Joseph's University who later recruited him onto the team. Turns out, Coach Glavin knew what he was doing; Zach went on to take down three school records by the time his collegiate career ended in 2021, running 8:05.62 in the indoor 3000m, 13:53.05 in the outdoor 5000m, and 16:51.23 in the outdoor 4xMile Relay. Not to mention, he was also a five-time Atlantic 10 Champion. Coming out of college, Zach joined PRTC and has been dropping some pretty insane performances ever since including a 23:38 8k for 2nd place at the 2021 Rothman 8k and of course, his 4:00.53 mile.

If you somehow missed it, Zach Michon was solely on my podcast for the clout (lol)... So go follow him on Strava and start SMASHING that kudos button! I want you guys bombarding the comment sections of his workouts.

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If you're looking to improve upon your personal bests from the mile up to the marathon, reach out to me through my Instagram and I'd be happy to help: https://www.instagram.com/jacobreesmontgomery/. Or, email me at [email protected]. Support me on my YouTube channel as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0PtGveRoyf80FBZYPaIbA. Oh, and one more thing... Go follow me on Strava if you aren't already: https://www.strava.com/athletes/37074049.

Unlike a lot of professional runners who come on to the scene, Lauren Goss comes from a deep background in triathlon, having been a pro triathlete for over 10 years starting in 2010 and coming away with 11 70.3 victories and several other big-time wins. Her career in triathlon ended abruptly in tragedy when she caught a doping ban for an extremely unfortunate situation involving too much THC in the cream she was using on her ankle. Over the next two years, she had a kid, started up a coaching company with her ex-husband, and decided to get into the pro running scene. Ever since, she's had great success, holding personal bests of 4:45 (mile), 15:16 (5k), and 31:49 (10k); the 4:45 mile (for the win) was run literally 20 minutes after her 15:16 5k where she cashed in $20,000 for the PA record... Lauren Goss can do it all folks. Listen in if you want to hear how to be a supermom and more; this is a good one!!!

Go hit up her Instagram and Strava:

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If you're looking to improve upon your personal bests from the mile up to the marathon, reach out to me through my Instagram and I'd be happy to help: https://www.instagram.com/jacobreesmontgomery/. Or, email me at [email protected]. Support me on my YouTube channel as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0PtGveRoyf80FBZYPaIbA.

Are you human unlike the sub-elite guys I've talked to up to this point? If so, you'll be able to relate to the things discussed on this podcast. David Lefkowitz is a man of many talents: he's a guitarist/musician, runner, music director, and avid journalist for both Reasonably Speedy (a magazine that covers the NIRCA club running scene) and Nightswimming (a music-related magazine). In this podcast episode, we largely talk about his Reasonably Speedy magazine which has helped to shine a light on us lovely club runners; we hit on his vision for the future of the magazine, how it came to be, and how he has run and sustained it as an entirely solo endeavor. We also talk about how he got into running, something that only really happened as of last year, as well as our thoughts on NIRCA as an organization and what we think could be improved upon. This is a good one. I really enjoyed our talk and I think you will too, so listen in! 

Go check out Reasonably Speedy on Substack: https://reasonablyspeedy.substack.com/?utm_source=%2Fprofile%2F20749686-david-lefkowitz&utm_medium=reader2

Also, go follow him on his Instagram pages:

- Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d5lefko/

- Reasonably Speedy: https://www.instagram.com/reasonablyspeedymag/

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If you're looking to improve upon your personal bests from the mile up to the marathon, reach out to me through my Instagram and I'd be happy to help: https://www.instagram.com/jacobreesmontgomery/. Or, email me at [email protected]. Support me on my YouTube channel as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0PtGveRoyf80FBZYPaIbA.

Juris Silenieks is the founder of the Pittsburgh Track Club (PTC) and currently coaches Pine Richland High School as well as some individuals (including past guest Colin Martin of PTC Elite). Juris has always wanted to go fast as you'll learn in this chat, tracing back to his high school years with North Hills where he posted a 9:15 2-Mile at the 2010 PIAA Track and Field State Championships. Since then, he continued to improve with Syracuse University where he ran times of 4:14.80 in the mile, 8:17 in the 3k, 14:28 in the 5k, and 30:26 in the 10k. A couple of years after graduating and Juris decided to run a marathon, first running a 2:24 but then really hammering down and qualifying for the trials with a 2:17:37 at the 2018 Philadelphia Marathon. A couple of years later after having run at the Olympic Trials, Juris founded PTC and it has grown ever since. Listen in if you want to hear about everything from his world record half marathon in dress shoes (yep) to his vision for the future of PTC to smashing a 15-mile long run at 5:30 pace his senior year of high school to make us all feel bad about ourselves.

Go hit up his Instagram (and PTC's):

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If you're looking to improve upon your personal bests from the mile up to the marathon, reach out to me through my Instagram and I'd be happy to help: https://www.instagram.com/jacobreesmontgomery/. Or, email me at [email protected]. Support me on my YouTube channel as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0PtGveRoyf80FBZYPaIbA.

Matt Marcini is arguably THE GOAT of York County with some awesome marks across the board, including a 49:46 10-miler at the 2006 Philadelphia Broad Street Run and Olympic Trials Qualifying 2:21:25 at the 2003 Chicago Marathon. Matt has been running competitively for over 20 years and continues to go strong 'till this day, dominating the running scene in our hometown of York, PA. Listen in if you want to be going strong at 45 years of age like this beast! Go give him a follow on his Strava and start smashing that kudos button: https://www.strava.com/athletes/94544453.

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Special shoutout to my friend Luke for stewing up a SPICY intro/outro tune for my podcast! Go give him a follow on his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gogettygo/. Perhaps he'd make something spicy for you, too, if that's something of interest... :)

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If you're looking to improve upon your personal bests from the mile up to the marathon, reach out to me through my Instagram and I'd be happy to help: https://www.instagram.com/jacobreesmontgomery/. Or, email me at [email protected]. Support me on my YouTube channel as well: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0PtGveRoyf80FBZYPaIbA.