The Strength Running Podcast

To help us think more clearly about our mental skillset, I'd like to introduce you to Matt Pendola.

Matt Pendola is a polymath and exactly the type of person I love bringing on the podcast. His diverse background includes success in not just coaching, but his education and his athletic career.

Athletically, he's posted quite a few major accomplishments:

• He Won the Elite Spartan World Championships Masters Division (2015)
• Age group runner up Duathlon Nationals (2015)
• Qualified for Duathlon World Championships 3x
• 4th Overall at the Northface Trail Championships and 3rd in his division (2014)

He's also a Road Runner Club of America certified running coach, massage therapist, creator of Pendola Training, and has a host of continuing education certifications in strength training, performance, and even Jack Daniels' coaching program.

In this interview, Matt and I are discussing the mental factors that contribute to our success in running. Because after you get your training right, the next big avenue for improvement is mastering your mindset and improving your confidence, drive to train, willingness to suffer, and finding the intrinsic motivation to always run consistently.

BTW, I haven't explored this topic on Strength Running at length. We have programs for injury prevention, strength training, dialing in your nutrition and fueling, coaching, and for beginner runners. But not for fine-tuning our mental fitness.

So if you have any questions, or suggestions, or ideas that you'd love for me to cover, find me on Instagram and send me a message (my direct messages are always open and I want to hear from you).

Today's episode is all Q&A about strength training for endurance runners featuring a guest cohost, Ms. Tina Muir!

Tina is the host of the incredibly popular Running for Real podcast, a past guest here on the Strength Running Podcast, and a former professional runner.

We're discussing many aspects of strength work:

• Do runners need upper body exercises?
• How often should we get in the weight room?
• Is it best to do core training before or after running?
• Is progressive overload in the gym too aggressive?
• Should runners lift to failure?
• Can circuit workouts be used for strength training?
• And a lot more!

The answers to these questions - in much more detail - are also found in Strength Running's email series about weightlifting for runners. It's an email a day about the benefits of strength work, common myths that many of us believe, case studies, mistakes to avoid, example exercises, and a lot more.

Sign up today at strengthrunning.com/strength/ and let's plan your strength training a bit more strategically.

What you're about to listen to is a coaching call where we talk about Riley's running background, the types of training he has experience with, and how he can structure the next 4 months of his running to not only finish his first half, but also race it well.

Riley is a member of Team Strength Running, the most affordable virtual coaching group you can join. These behind the scenes coaching call opportunities are only available to team members so if you'd like to learn more about the team, just sign up and I'll send you more details. I think you're really going to like it.

Riley and I are also going to talk about the enviable position he's in right now (you'll notice how excited I am for Riley because of where he's at in his life), the types of long runs and workouts that work great for the half marathon, and the obstacles he must avoid this fall if he's going to stay healthy and run his first marathon.

Us distance runners are used to metering out our effort, cautiously sipping fuel to conserve energy, and waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

We're creatures of patience, willing to grind for miles and execute a well-planned pacing strategy over the course of a race.

But none of that happens in the 800m.

In the half mile - possibly the "perfect" middle distance event - caution and patience are liabilities. Sipping fuel would be competitive suicide; blasting the after-burners is the only way to race it.

And such a fast, aggressive race demands training that's very different from what distance runners are used to.

In fact, 800m training looks like a blend of sprint and distance work: long runs and speed training, traditional track workouts with more strides, drills, and top-end speed reps.

During my track days, I certainly didn't do any 800m training. But I raced a lot of 800's in a few situations:

• As a second race during a track meet (the 1500m / 800m double is particularly taxing)
• At the end of a season if you haven't qualified for the championship meets
• During a 4x800m relay (putting four distance runners in a relay and watching them struggle with a mid-distance race is especially hilarious)

And while I'm firmly a distance runner (and distance coach), I love the 800m race. It's a beautiful expression of speed.

So I brought a middle-distance coach on the podcast to discuss this distance, 800m training, and how adult runners can get started with shorter, faster races.

Please welcome Tom Brumlik to the Strength Running Podcast (this is an excerpt from Team Strength Running).

Tom is an 800m specialist coach for the District Track Club in Washington, DC. He used to hold the General Manager role as well but is now working exclusively in a coaching capacity.

The DTC was started (and is still directed) by Matt Centrowitz, Sr. (father to Olympic Gold Medalist Matt Centrowitz) and features a range of elite middle distance runners.

Tom is on the podcast today to discuss how an elite running club like the DTC works (its funding, how it recruits members, and its origin) and the intricacies of 800m training.

He'll be answering questions like:

• What kind of mileage levels do 800m runners run?
• How long do these mid-distance runners go for their long runs?
• What speed development workouts are required for 800m training?
• Do runners from sprint or endurance backgrounds fair better in the 800?

We also discuss how to find all-comers track meets (there needs to be more of these!) so you can test yourself at the 800m distance.

Katy Sherratt joins us on the podcast today to discuss the mission of Back on My Feet and the power of running to combat homelessness.

And it is quite powerful! The organization has helped more than 7,000 and every dollar invested into Back on My Feet returns $2.50 to the local community. Talk about a positive return on investment!

In this conversation, we're discussing:

• Why she initially chose to work at Back on My Feet
• What lessons she's learned from using running to combat homelessness
• How running works so well as a platform for self-improvement
• The power of community to help members escape homelessness
• Her history as a runner and what the organization is doing next

Getting up at 5:30 in the morning to run requires commitment. And for those who can commit, they'll be rewarded with a supportive community, housing and employment resources, and other tools that will help them achieve more of their goals - both on and off the road.

After 100 episodes of the Strength Running Podcast, Jason announced a survey to get your feedback.

What format episode is your favorite? Do you prefer longer or shorter episodes? What would you like to see MORE of? And of course, what can be improved?

After analyzing hundreds of responses, there are some clear trends on what you like and would like to see in this podcast.

In this episode, Jason talks through the main takeaways from the survey and what changes to expect in the podcast.

The survey is still up so if you would like to add your voice, please do so! Visit strengthrunning.com/survey/ to give us your feedback.

Matt Phillips is a running injury and performance specialist from England who's written for most major media platforms and has spoken at numerous international conferences. You might recognize him!

He's a massage therapist, video gait analyst, and is also the host of the Run Chat Live Podcast (I was recently a guest here!).

In this conversation, we're covering a lot:

• When is gait retraining a good idea? Who should consider it?
• What are the risks of trying to improve your form?
• Are the risks of prolonged sitting substantial? How can we work around this?
• Can you reinforce proper running technique without trying to?
• What aspects of this topic have changed in the last 10 years?

If you'd like to reinforce proper form, improve your efficiency, and make running more economical you can do so using "form cues." They are simple to implement ways of automatically improving your gait.

See my three favorite form cues here.

Menachem Brodie is an exercise scientist, USA Cycling Expert level coach and USA Triathlon certified coach, and a graduate of an American College of Sports Medicine Accredited program with a bachelors in Exercise Physiology.

He also has experience working in physical therapy, Emergency Medicine, and even with sports like basketball and CrossFit.

By now, you've noticed that I love speaking with guests on the podcast with a wide diversity of experiences. And Menachem clearly fits the mold.

Today, we're discussing strength training for endurance runners.

More specifically, we're focusing on:

• The value of having a strength and conditioning certification (but why experience also matters)
• Strength work for rehabilitation vs. performance
• The lifting differences between endurance runners and cyclists
• How to think about strength training periodization
• Thoughts on fitness classes like Orange Theory, boot camp, Body Pump, etc.

As the author of two strength training courses offered on the Training Peaks site, Menachem is uniquely positioned to offer us new perspectives on weightlifting for runners.

Alexandra Ellis is a polymath, having studied and worked in many different areas of exercise science, fitness, and coaching.

She has a degree in Exercise Biology and has amassed nearly 1,000 hours of yoga training. Alex also has additional education in:

• Human Dissection (of course, this was the first thing we talked about)
• CrossFit Mobility
• Movement education with Sarah Court, DPT
• Regeneration Techniques workshop completion through NSCA

As you can see, she has experiences that most coaches would envy (human dissection and NSCA training in particular).

And I'm always looking for new perspectives that will help us improve our running. Alex delivers in a fun episode that highlights her knowledge about the body, movement, recovery, and injuries.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• What did she learn from dissecting human cadavers?
• The physiological, biomechanical, and behavioral aspects of her Exercise Biology degree
• What she learned from CrossFit Mobility that will help runners
• How to incorporate a daily mobility practice into your life
• The pros and cons of different massage tools (foam rollers, lacrosse balls, and even Graston tools)
• How to prevent and treat rolled ankles
• What she means when she says, "If stretching ain't helping, start building strength."

To celebrate our 100th episode, I invite you to take a short (3-question) survey to help us make it better. I really appreciate it.

Today's episode is about recovery, and specifically recovery through three different perspectives: acute recovery - or what you do immediately after a hard workout or race, recovery as preparation - or what you do in training that makes recovery easier, and finally long-term recovery from season to season so you can avoid over-training and burning out.

It's helpful to talk about recovery from different perspectives but also different time scales. Because recovery can happen in the micro and in the macro.

And I think this is really important because we runners tend to get caught up in this one dimensional form of thinking about recovery where we're only focused on recovery after a run. It's what we do after a race, or long run, or workout, that defines recovery.

But recovery is bigger than that and we'll be better runners if recovery is more 3-dimensional.

Don't miss our free foam roller guide to expedite the recovery process at https://strengthrunning.com/roller/