2-time Olympian, 6-time US Champion, and treadmill mile world record holder Anthony Famiglietti joins the show this week. Fam provides a unique and thoughtful perspective on what makes running special and how it can be a vehicle for a balanced, positive, successful lifestyle. In our wide-ranging conversation, Anthony reveals the raw emotion of a 2020 filled with heartache, and shares sound advice for the mental aspects of racing. Have you ever noticed that flow state performances occur when you relax rather than strain? Fam expounds on those experiences. Plus, he gives you some tips for treadmill training. And who doesn’t want to hear a story about running a sub 4 mile with a dog?!

Sub 4 with Bailey the dog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlObpA8uQEU&t

Treadmill Mile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YocGbZDPRf0

Follow Anthony: @RecklessRunning // RecklessRunning.com

Welcome back for the final installment of our Workouts We Love series. We're unpacking Combination Workouts, or what we might also call Multi Zone or Mixed Sessions. Some of these are famous high volume sessions that we’ll break down and offer some modifications based on your level of experience. Others are our own creations. We’ll walk you through how constructing these workouts can exact a particular stimulus and fit your training goals!

We’re super excited to welcome in Kyle Merber, one of the best American milers of this generation. In a recent episode Ken Goe told us he fell in love with covering track because track athletes are the best people in sports. Kyle Merber personifies Ken’s perspective. I interviewed Kyle a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, recording issues created a lot of lost audio. However, Kyle was gracious enough to squeeze us into his calendar again. That’s the type of kindness and generosity we’ve come to expect from our conversations with runners of every experience level. So, I spliced together pre and post Thanksgiving interviews for you. Kyle shares his perspective on running as a lifestyle, the challenging postponement of his Olympic pursuit, and how you can refocus on meeting goals interrupted by a tumultuous year. Plus, Kyle tells us about his new project creating recovery products for runners. We apologize for the slight audio variations from cutting together the interviews and we hope you enjoy Kyle Merber!

Follow Kyle on Twitter: @TheRealMerb

Kyle's NYT Profile: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/sports/olympics/kyle-merber-running-olympics.html

We continue our Workouts We Love series with Alternation Workouts. Alternations are quality pace change sessions that transform your usual workout recovery segments into steady floats. We cover historical examples from some of our sport's greatest coaches and how and when to incorporate alternations into your training.

We’re starting an exciting series of episodes about Workouts We Love as a way to bring you new ideas and zest for training. And, more importantly, to explain why we use these workouts, when we implement different variations, and how to use these in training for different distances.

First up: Progression Runs!

Resources mentioned:

Pace Calculator: https://runfastcoach.com/calc2/

VO2 Max % Chart: http://www.ustfccca.org/assets/symposiums/2015/DISTANCE-Stanley-Symposium-2015.pdf (scroll to pages 13/14)

For more than four decades Ken Goe transported his readers to front row seats for some of the biggest events in sports. In print, and later also online, Ken spent much of his career bringing to life the iconic races in track and field that we all wished we could see in person. His work transcended sports journalism and made him a trusted source for the story of the race and the story behind the race. Ken recently retired from his full time position at The Oregonian. After a brief and hard-earned respite at the Oregon Coast, he joined us for a discussion about the past, present, and future of competitive running and the greatest moments of his writing career.

Greer High School standout Coen Roberts was among our first guests on Seconds Flat, joining us for Mile 2. Since then Coen has won multiple state championships and qualified for Foot Locker XC Nationals. Now as a freshman at Wake Forest he begins his college academic and athletic career amid the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic. Coen returns to the program via a Zoom call we recorded earlier this week and shares how he transformed this challenge into a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live and train at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona.

In 2012 Kiwi Tony McManus set a world record for the 60-64 age group, clocking a 4:51.85 mile. That record stood until late August when Dan King shattered the mark by nearly three seconds at the South Carolina TrackFest. Dan joins this episode and chronicles his record-breaking experience. Along the way, he shares nuggets of wisdom that runners of every age and skill level will appreciate.

In his teens Andrew Wheating prowled the pitch as an aspiring soccer player in New Hampshire. By his early twenties he had earned the moniker America’s “Next Great Miler” after a series of electrifying performances and championships on the track. The two-time Olympian and three-time NCAA National Champion joined us earlier this week for some reminiscing on his legendary career. Plus, we get an inside look at his new position as Sports Marketing Specialist for On Running and the nascent On Athletics Club, which is making waves in the sport this summer.

Thanks to On for helping make this interview possible!

Our friend Benji is back for a special appearance as we discuss the fire on the track in Monaco and Stockholm as professsional track & field returns from its pandemic-induced hiatus. Joshua Cheptegei smashes the 5000m world record, the metric mile rivalry grows between teen sensation Jakob Ingebrigtsen and world leader Timothy Cheruiyot, and Norwegian Karsten Warholm keeps climbing the all-time list of greatest hurdlers. Plus, London announces the 2020 Marathon Field and we make bold predictions sure to go wrong.