Run Culture Podcast

Today on the Run Culture podcast I chat to renowned exercise physiologist and running coach; Greg McMillan.

We specifically talk about the importance of individualizing training. Over the years Greg has used a simple evaluation to help thousands of runners train more effectively, avoid injury and peak when it counts! He shares how you can do this too!

Here are three questions every runner should answer:

-How do I respond to certain training? Runners respond differently to different types of workouts and mileage. Are you a speedster, endurance monster or a combo runner?

-How do I recover from certain training? Recovery isn't static. What workouts do you recover quickly from, what workouts do you take longer to recover from?

-How do I adapt to certain training? What workouts give you a quick fitness boost (fast-adapting), what workouts take a bit longer (slow-adapting)?

Greg McMillan is a renowned running coach, exercise physiologist and founder of McMillan Running. Greg has had some incredible mentors, including; Arthur Lydiard, Joe Vigil, David Martin, Gabriel Rosa and Jack Daniels. For a number of years Greg coached an Adidas sponsored pro team in Flagstaff, Arizona called 'McMillan Elite' or 'Team USA Arizona'. As you will see Greg has been a student of the sport his whole life, he is an incredible wealth of running knowledge and I am so grateful that he could share some of this with us today!

If you want to learn more about; Greg's coaching services, try his world famous pacing calculator or just continue to be well informed about running, be sure to go to; www.mcmillanrunning.com

Today on the Run Culture Podcast I was very lucky to chat to Paul Laursen.

Paul is a renowned sports scientist and expert in high-intensity interval training (HIIT). His extensive research and practical experience (as a runner, triathlete and coach) have made him a pivotal figure in the understanding of how HIIT can be effectively applied to endurance sports.

Paul is the co-author of the; ' The Science and Application of High Intensity Interval Training: Solutions to the Programming Puzzle.' with Martin Bucheit. Here he explored the physiological mechanisms and benefits of HIIT.

In todays episode, Paul defines what HIIT is and we discuss the 'decision tree' you should use to more effectively prescribe it.

If you liked this episode and you want to reach out to Paul, be sure to go to: https://athletica.ai

Yesterday I caught up with Pete Dutton after we both ran the 2024 Melbourne marathon! We chat about; the preparation, how the race went, his mindset throughout both and what’s next!

Pete finally can call himself a marathoner! Like many people’s journey it’s been a long time coming. I have coached Pete now for five years; so many of the training decisions over that time have been made with this ultimate goal of the marathon in mind. Three or four years ago after a couple of stress fractures off low mileage it seemed a long way off.

This marathon was certainly the summation of a big body of work and growth. There were as always, many learnings to come out of it and there are many more to come. It certainly has instilled an exciting layer of confidence for the future knowing Pete’s body cooperated and he ran as well as he did Sunday off a relatively conservative marathon build!

I hope you enjoy this honest reflection and chat between coach and athlete!

Be sure to explore his outstanding book and blog for more invaluable insights (links below):

Peter Dutton is one of the Run Culture Owl athletes I coach, we have worked together for the past 5 years!

The hidden advantage of doing a podcast with an athlete you have coached for that long is that you have an incredible audio time capsule to re-visit!

In fact, as I write this blurb I am re-listening to the very first podcast we did together (S1-Ep. 30 Feb 2020), it's quite an interesting process as a coach; he's definitely the same person but a little bit different...as am I!

It has been a year to the day since the last time Pete was on the podcast! So, please do yourself a favor and listen in to hear;

-How Pete's 3 month US trip went (he trained at Altitude in Boulder and Flagstaff!).

-Or how he salvaged, in his words; 'the track season from hell!' ....

-and how I have finally given him the green light to try to make the 2024 Melbourne Marathon start line!

Ok, I raced well or I raced poorly but what’s the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind this?? How good would it be if we could peak under the hood? This is exactly what Nick Jankovskis @nj_sportscience does for a living.

How big is my engine? How efficient is my engine? Where could I improve? Is my current training efficient and aiding better performance? What training should I prioritise/maintain? Why should I train differently at times to my training partner?

Thanks for the ripping conversation Nick and I look forward to doing some testing with you for a few of the athletes I coach over the coming months (a repeat podcast discussing the results is a must!).

If other runners are also interested in doing some physiological testing with METS performance consulting be sure to check them out here: @metsperformance

On today's episode of the Run Culture podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Phil Batterson, the founder of Critical Oxygen. Dr. Batterson holds a PhD in human bioenergetics and is an avid endurance sports enthusiast himself. His passion lies in helping athletes and coaches optimize their physiology to enhance endurance performance. I've always wanted to delve into the scientific aspects of exercise physiology on the podcast, but I never felt qualified to do so. That's why it was fantastic to have Dr. Batterson join us today.

Calling all runners! This one has to be up there as one of my all time most enjoyable Run Culture Podcast conversations!

This is part 2 of the conversation I had with Dutch Kenyan coach: Hugo Van den Broek about his key training principles for running!

Hugo’s passion, knowledge, thirst for learning and strengths as a communicator really shine through. Get ready to slow down and take notes or listen multiple times to absorb all the valuable lessons, stories, analogies, and coaching wisdom shared.

Hugo, a former 2:12 marathoner, now resides in Kenya and coaches athletes worldwide through 'Train Smarter Run Faster' coaching. Check out his Instagram @running_coach_hugovandenbroek for more info.