My favorite podcast thus far - which saying something as I love them all - due to the content and banter with one of my dear friends, Zach Hancock. 

Zach was the primary editor for my Simple Marathon Training book. We walk through the various parts of the book, with lots of tangents, which I think you will enjoy.

Zach is thoughtful and fun and funny and smart, which makes for a great interview - conducted in his Air Stream trailer in Boulder, CO, no less.

As a former 3:45 1,500m runner and huge track fan - he took his wife to the Prefontaine Classic a few years ago as the vacation for the summer - Zach has many thoughts on the sport, which I'm confident you'll enjoy.

Zach and I conclude the podcast with his retelling of visiting Arthur Lydiard in his home. Again, if you are a student of the sport you'll love hearing about his visit.

Thanks so much Zach for your thoughtfulness and care editing the book and thank you for a wonderful interview.

Enjoy!!!

Dr. Carwyn Sharp is, in my opinion, one of the brightest minds in endurance sports. He is the Chief Science Officer at the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Carwyn contributed significantly to my Simple Marathon Training book and in this podcast we discuss the topics he covered in the book: the importance of the long run, how concurrent strength training - where you do some strength training immediately following your run - improves running performance, the importance of sleep, and finally DOMS - delayed onset muscle soreness.

Thanks so much Carwyn for your time!

A 7-minute PR in the half marathon since the last podcast! "You couldn't punch the smile off my face" is how Mark describes his post race excitement. In this podcast we talk about the eight weeks of training leading up to the race. We focus on the importance of long runs, the role of half marathon pace running and the crucial role of Strength and Mobility (SAM) in his training. I love Mark's honesty about disliking SAM work, yet he attributes much of his success on race day to having no lower body issues in the final 3.1 miles of the race. Thanks Mark for your time. You're a joy to coach.

In this episode Jay explains his 4-week marathon recovery cycle and why it is essential to recover fully from a marathon to ensure that the next training cycle goes well.

Scott Bliss is a fantastic coach who has a great deal of success at Champlain Valley Union High School, in Vermont.

In this excerpt from his full-length interview from HighSchoolRunningCoach.com, he talks about the importance of consistency, how he uses hills to his advantage and why it's so important to be able to run the last part of any race fast.

Thanks Scott for your time and best of luck to you and your athletes both this fall and in the coming years.

Mark Hansen is one of Jay's online clients, and like all of Jay's online clients, he's a busy adult who leads a hectic life. Mark ran competitively in high school, learning some good habits and some no so good. In this podcast Mark talks about the things he's learned from Jay and how many of the things he now does in training differ from his pervious approach to training.

Dr. Richard Hansen (@DrRichardHansen) joins us again and speaks on a variety of topics. Not only is he a world class chiropractor, but he's also the coach of the Roots Running Project, a group of elite post collegiate runners based out of Boulder, CO. They have a great Instagram feed - @roots_running .

Thanks Dr. Hansen for your time and best of luck to your athlete competing in Eugene at the US Olympic Track and Field Trials.

Coach John O'Malley is one of the best high school running coaches is in the country. He's had tremendous success as the boys cross country and track coach at Sandburg HS in Illinois. Not only has he had success in cross country, but his boys 4x800m relays consistently run under 7:50, a great indicator that Coach O'Malley is more than capable as a track coach.

This episode is an excerpt from his full interview at HighSchoolRunningCoach.com.

Thanks for your time Coach O'Malley, both in your training you've shared at HSRC and to prepare for this interview.

Alia Gray recently finished 10th in the women's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.  She was one of only three competitors to run a PR at the event, as the starting temperature was 73º and the temperature at the finish was 82º.  

She shares her unconventional training for the race, including insights in the way she works with her coach, Dr. Joe Vigil, who coacher her remotely.  Dr. Richard Hansen, a former guest on this podcast, is also a part of this podcast as he is with Alia day to day, administering workouts.

Great interview if you're interested in how elite athletes train.

In this Q&A I discuss when to ease back on general strength work leading up to a race, heart rate monitors and their role in training, when to do race pace specific work in half marathon training, and much more.  

Want your questions answered on the podcast.  Email me at coachjayjohnson@gmail.com

Enjoy!