In this episode, I start with an introduction on the recently announced NYC Marathon fields and discuss the impact that NYC might have on the US Marathon Trials in February. Des Linden, Allie Kieffer, Sarah Hall, Kellyn Taylor, and Jared Ward have all chosen to race NYC, and they will have 17 weeks to turn around and prep for the Trials. That's a fairly quick turnaround to be at your best with an Olympic Team on the line.

Then, Johanna Gretschel (@jojo_shea) rejoins me to recap all of the distance action at the US Championships, including who won our prediction contest. It all came down to one event, and you will have to listen to find out which one. The US Champs had exciting storylines throughout, and we break it all down for you.

This episode includes my live podcast discussion with Robbie Balenger (@robbiebalenger) and Jackie Howard (@veganathleteatx) that occurred in front of an audience of 40-50 people at Rogue on August 1st.

Robbie ran across the US from LA to NYC, covering 3,175 miles in 75 days (45 miles per day). He did it for his plant-powered mission which we talk about extensively, but there is much more to the discussion. We cover his challenges on the journey, what he learned, and what might be next now that he has proven he can dream big and then go do it.

If you would like more details on Robbie's journey, here is a Runner's World article from the day after he finished in NYC:

https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a27656146/robbie-balenger-vegan-cross-country-run/

As promised in this episode, we recap my trip to France to see the US win the Women's World Cup (semis and final), race a 40K in the French Alps, and attend the Monaco Diamond League meet in person.

With James as my discussion partner, we talk about all of the inspiration and lessons learned from each experience. I hope you enjoy it!

And here is the video from the mountain race in France:

https://www.facebook.com/152886823859/videos/1438387136302768/?epa=SEARCH_BOX

As promised I am joined by Johanna Gretschel (@jojo_shea) to preview and predict all things USAs, which start tomorrow night on NBC Sports Gold. US titles and World Championship spots are at stake. We give previews and picks for all events from 800m to 10K, discussing each in order of the finals. We start with the 10Ks which both start tomorrow night. Tune in then and then on NBC networks throughout the weekend to catch all of the action.

In this episode, we mix things up and bring on world class sprinter and 400m hurdler Johnny Dutch with filmmaker Evan Kidd. Evan produced and directed a new documentary on Johnny's Olympic journey called Run of the Picture.

The film follows the parallel paths of Johnny's journey to the Olympics and his own personal path in narrative film making. Johnny is the only world class sprinter on the planet who has also made a Zombie movie, and his journey to both hallmarks is fascinating. Plus, we dig more into the track itself and talk about prepping for and racing the 400m hurdles, including all of its technical details.

You will be inspired by Johnny's story and have a new runner to cheer on in the build-up to the Tokyo 2020 games.

To watch the movie for free on Amazon Prime, click here:

https://www.amazon.com/Run-Picture-Johnny-Dutch/dp/B07R59WV8B/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Looking for the Rogue Expeditions trip giveaway? Click here:

https://www.roguexpeditions.com/giveaway

In this episode, fellow Rogue coach and prior podcast guest James Dodds is back on the podcast to discuss what characteristics you might look for in a running coach. It will be impossible to find a coach with all of these characteristics, but this should give you an exhaustive list from which to choose your own criteria.

Next week, I will be back from vacation and will give a full update on my experience attending the Monaco Diamond League meet in person where I got to see Mondo Duplantis in action and Sifan Hassan break the Women's Mile World Record.

With this episode, I welcome Ryan Posonby to the show. Ryan Ponsonby coached Leo Manzano to an Olympic Silver Medal in 2012 in London after working with John Cook and his group including Shalane Flanagan and Shannon Rowbury.

Ryan is now the head XC and track coach for St. Edwards University in Austin. He also coaches the Rogue Team Rogue Dawn Patrol that meets on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

With Ryan, I talk about his coaching philosophy which has evolved from his time as an assistant coach at the University of Texas as well as what it's like to coach an Olympian and how that compares to the everyday runner. Ryan also gives us a behind-the-scenes look at Leo's silver medal run in London in 2012.

In this episode, we go behind-the-scenes with Rogue coach and curriculum writer Jen Harney to talking about how to build a training plan. Many times on this show, we have touched on the high-level elements of a program and on how to structure macrocycles over time, but we haven't been specific on the nuts and bolts of building a training plan.

In this discussion, we do that and specifically discuss creating a marathon plan including the phases of a cycle, how to build your long run schedule, how to structure each week, and how to safely build mileage within a plan. Plus, we cover sample workouts by phase and when/how to build-in long run workouts to prep for the big day.

In follow-up to episode #132, James Dodds is back on the show to talk about 6 more reasons why runners miss their goals. This one gets a little bit more existential than the first, so be prepared to have your mind bended just a little bit!

Plus, we start with some listener email, including responses from James and I.

Cross-posting from my new Clean Sport Collective Podcast with Kara Goucher and Shanna Burnette:

In this 4th episode of the Clean Sport Collective podcast, we interview Jenny Simpson (@trackjenny) to get her perspective on anti-doping efforts in sport. Jenny is one of the greatest US 1-mile and 1500m runners of all time. She owns 3 World Championship medals (1 gold and 2 silvers) and an Olympic medal (bronze in 2016). She's also a 3-time NCAA champion, 11-time US champion, and 3-time Olympian.

In this interview, we learn more about Jenny's background in sport and how she became one of the best in the world in her event. We get insight on what it's like to line up against suspicious athletes as well as what it's like to be randomly drug tested, including how things went in a surprise test on the morning of our interview.

Jenny is an athlete that we can all believe in, and we think you will enjoy this discussion with her.

This will be the last time I cross post episodes. If you want to check it out or subscribe, you can find the podcast here:

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clean-sport-collective/id1466187704

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3zvgSSQU03qE5sebKRJMdS?si=8xpF6gRmScOCME2yadjSTg