RunnersConnect Run to the Top Podcast

If you struggle with staying healthy or you’re looking for new ways to improve your running, then this episode is for you! Dr Matt Silver is passionate about helping runners unlock their potential and joined me to chat about his key principles for helping athletes run pain-free and perform at their best. Matt has many years of experience dealing with running injuries both as a runner and a physiot...

Sometimes all it takes is a little change to get out of a rut. This proved true for both guests on today’s show, coach Hayley Green and Cherie Turner. After years in the sport, they both discovered a passion for new racing distances and are having way more fun too after making the change.  Hayley recently traded her focus on road marathons for longer ultra trail races and Cherie discovered she muc...

The U.S. Olympic Team Trials brings together the best American track athletes to compete for national titles and a spot on the Olympic team. The RC team is here to preview every track event at this meet including how to watch it and some of the top storylines, along with our predictions. This is another panel-style chat where we won’t be holding back on the bold predictions or controversial opinio...

Most runners know that doing at least some strength training is beneficial but figuring out how to fit this into a training schedule can be difficult. On today’s show, coach Andie joins us to cover the “how” and “why” of fitting strength work into your training schedule so you can get all of the performance benefits without feeling like you’re compromising your runs. We get that most of you listen...

You’ve probably heard of the classic game “Would you rather” but we’re giving it a running-themed twist by focusing on topics related to the marathon. There’s a lot that can happen throughout a marathon and you’ll hear our thoughts on many of them from race day struggles to performance breakthroughs.  This is a fun and lighthearted conversation about training topics experienced runners will be fam...

Lauren Mantha is a local Toronto runner who created a simple solution to a common problem with her website, A Running List. What started as an Instagram post about the running clubs in her area has transformed into a full website mapping out running communities globally and their meeting times. Her mission is to make the sport more accessible to everyone by making this information more accessible....

Hein Mynhardt might consider himself an average runner, but his love for running is anything but ordinary. He joined us as this month’s feature athlete to share how running is about more than race results and how he’s maximizing fun with his running while still getting better in the sport. Hein loves traveling and after finishing the Boston Marathon this year, he has races planned across the globe...

Running should be a safe sport for everyone who participates but unfortunately, that’s not always the case. This could happen for a variety of reasons including injuries, weather conditions, and even harassment. This is especially true for women and people of color who more frequently confront unsafe situations.  On today’s show, we’re joined by coaches Andie Cozzarelli and Hayley Jane to discuss...

We have some bittersweet news to share. Our host Finn Melanson is leaving the RC team but you’ll still hear a familiar voice as our current Showrunner, Cory Nagler, transitions to full-time host. We’ll also be transitioning to only one episode per week on Wednesdays to help focus on providing you with high-quality and valuable content. In this transition episode of the Run to the Top Podcast, Finn...

Wade Lightheart from BiOptimizers joins the show to talk about his new book, “The Ultimate Nutrition Bible”.   We get into the 5 goals - your final weight loss journey, your lean muscle journey, achieving athletic dominance, maximizing your brain power, and maximizing your biospan before diving more deeply into the weight loss and dietary components.  Specifically in those spheres, we talk about k...

Stephen is a masters runner just like you, but like a lot of runners, has really struggled with bonking during the marathon, despite putting in what seems to be great training. Sound familiar?  When it comes to marathon training and hitting the wall it’s difficult to piece together exactly what the issue is.  Am I under or over training? Is my nutrition, salt or electrolyte intake the cause? How d...

Maggie Mertens joins the show to talk about her book “Better, Faster, Farther: How Running Changed Everything We Know About Women”.  In a wide-ranging discussion, we tie in some of the exciting news on the female-side of the sport including the Lululemon FURTHER event back in March, Jasmin Paris’ finish at the Barkley Marathons, and Claire Bannwarth's dominant multi-day performances across 2023 to...

Maryke Louw a Physical Therapist and Founder of Exakt Health joins the show to talk about the importance of injury prevention protocols for runners and the pros and cons of various therapeutic approaches in cases where you do find yourself injured.  Specifically, we talk about the pros and cons of stretching, massage, taping, invasive treatments, and orthotics for therapy and the overarching impor...

This month’s RC spotlight features an entire family of runners. Arthur and Christine Leyva are so passionate about the sport that they got a local coach to officiate their wedding and now have two kids, Flint and Artistotle, who have caught the running bug as well. They train together and support each other in pursuing some pretty lofty goals including getting into the Boston Marathon Weekend. You...

Laura Rutterford joins Run To The Top to discuss several important topics within our community.  We lead with her experience with hip dysplasia and the steps that she took through childhood and early adulthood to get to a point where she had near-perfect running form and the ability to train for and race half marathons.  After that, we get into her professional background as a physiotherapist and...

Only 0.3% of Americans participate in ultra races but if you’re not a part of this group (yet) you can still learn from the challenges of these difficult events. Coach Hayley is a talented 2:37 marathoner and recently completed her first-ever ultramarathon by finishing a 50k run through the Endurancelife Ultra Series. She even accidentally ran an extra 2 miles, something Hayley will speak about du...

Marathon season is upon us and the team at RunnersConnect is bringing you all the greatest storylines going into the Boston and London Marathon. This year’s field of professional runners is loaded leading up to the Paris Summer Olympics and we’ll give you our take on what to expect and who might surprise or disappoint at upcoming marathon majors. We’ll also chat about our thoughts on what to expec...

Roughly 1 in 4 US adults suffer from bunions and whether you knew it or not, there’s actually such a thing as “National Bunion Day '' that's only a few days away. Given the time of year and the applicability to our community, I figured it’d be a good topic of conversation.  For runners like us, bunions often result from the repeated stress of hitting the pavement, wearing shoes that are too tight,...

After 8 years away, I'm finally making a return to competitive running. It's been a challenging road back, and I've learned some valuable lessons along the way. Here are three key takeaways from my journey: **Training at Your Current Fitness Level:** I've realized the importance of training based on my current fitness level, rather than aiming for past personal bests. It's been humbling, but ultim...

We are just a few weeks away from one of the world's most popular running events, the Boston Marathon. With this highly anticipated annual event approaching, I imagine you’ll be eager for relevant discussion.  So in this episode, we are joined by Jeff Gaudette, Founder of RunnersConnect, to address general questions about the race, offer advice on final race preparations, and discuss strategies fo...

Today’s episode is a true story of courage and resilience. Alison’s life was changed forever when she discovered two lumps on her neck in April of 2023 and later had these diagnosed as Non-Hodkins Lymphoma. Despite this news, she was so inspired to raise awareness and funding for another disease, motor neurone disease (MND), that she continued running and training throughout her chemo treatment. A...

Running biomechanics expert, Jay Dicharry, returns to the show to talk about the upcoming new edition (stay tuned) of his popular book “Running Rewired”. In this conversation, we talk about: why we all need to be students of our sport the specific skills you should have in your running toolbox why you need inputs (not just recovery) to improve the way you’re moving why too much, too fast, too soon...

Running is an incredible sport with the power to change lives for the better. Unfortunately, it’s not as accessible as it can and should be. Despite being a relatively approachable sport with minimal equipment there are still systemic barriers that make it difficult for some to participate. Today, we’re tackling this issue head-on with a panel of diverse runners sharing their experiences in the sp...

If you’ve been tracking write ups in the media or public sentiment on all the message boards out there, then you know double threshold workouts are all the rage right now and given the moment we’re in, I thought it would be good to have RunnersConnect Head Coach Michael Hammond on the show to break everything down and help us determine whether it’s something this audience should consider for train...

As spring approaches, many runners are preparing for their first race of the season and may be wondering how to pace themselves in the race or during key workouts. Luckily, a properly crafted workout can be used to help estimate fitness for almost any distance. Whether you’re hoping for a PR or just curious about what finishing time to expect, then these race predictor workouts can help you make a...