Science of Running

It’s time for a moment of reflection on the coaching profession. What are the things we are doing well? What can we improve on? What are some of the things we are doing now that we might look back upon in 30 years and wonder why we did that training? Coaching is a process of…

Note: Today is the last day to get exclusive running bonuses with the purchase of my new book, THE PASSION PARADOX! Check them out here. On this episode, we take on a very important topic, digging ourselves out of burnout. Both Jon and I have suffered through the ills of burnout. What we’ve found is…

Note: Today is the last day to get exclusive running bonuses with the purchase of my new book, THE PASSION PARADOX! Check them out here. On this weeks episode, we bring in a special guest, Mario Fraioli of The Morning Shakeout to discuss the IAAF’s latest rule changes, how it impacts the Us Olympic Trials,…

A special episode of the On Coaching Podcast featuring NYT bestselling author David Epstein. In this wide-ranging conversation covering all things performance, we start off by discussing my new book The Passion Paradox and the similarities with David’s new book Range. From there we dive deep into the psychology of performance before ending on a…

In this weeks On Coaching Podcast, we get into the details of burnout, both as a coach and an athlete. It’s easy to fall for the effort trap. Where we convince ourselves that out working others is the key to success, and that we have the capability to push through anything to do so. Such…

In this weeks On Coaching Podcast, we cover how social media influences performance. The ever-growing influence of social media and our online interactions change how our athletes (and our selfs!) relate to performing. Our comparison point has changed. We now have to judge ourselves against a never-ending supply of ‘friends’ on Instagram and Facebook. Our…

In the endurance world, we’ve come to believe that there are certain intensities or paces that do more than others! If we run at these specific zones, we will improve, and if we run bit too fast or too slow, we are in a grey zone where workouts don’t help as much. VO2max, Lactate Threshold,…

When it comes to training, workouts seem like the be all end all. As coaches, we obsess over the details of each repeat, or when we should perform tempo runs or short intervals. Workouts are what we worry about. Yet, how much does it matter? In this episode of the On Coaching Podcast, we discuss…

Are you taking the time to get to where you want to be? In today’s instant gratification world, we want to be great NOW! Not in a couple years, but as soon as possible. As we strive for the top of our field or our job, are we missing some crucial development pieces? In this…

What holds you back? What keeps you from performing to the best of your ability? That’s the topic of this weeks On Coaching Podcast with Magness & Marcus. We dive into identifying and then fixing the common issues we see in athletes that prevent them from taking that next step in performance. And, as you’ll…

Breakthroughs. It’s what keeps many of us going. The knowledge (and hope) that a leap in performance is just around the corner. But what do performance breakthroughs look like? Are there signs that a breakthrough might be around the corner? In this weeks On Coaching Podcast, Jon and Steve take a deep dive into the…

In this weeks episode of On Coaching, we tackle how to define success (or failure) in workouts and races. Far too often we operate in a time or performance framework. We judge a workout based on whether we ran faster than was written on the paper. How we define success has a direct impact on…

This weeks guest is elite runner Brian Barraza. Brian rose from a solid high school runner to the top of the ranks in the NCAA. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss how Brian dealt with failure on the biggest stage, the coping strategies he utilizes to get through the pain and discomfort of racing, and…

In this episode of the On Coaching Podcast we go back in time, to our high school coaching days. Both of us got our start coaching in the high school ranks and we take a look back at what we got right, what we would change, and the challenges that coaches now face. We cover…

The Inner Game: Decision Making, Choking, Focus and Attention, Skill acquisition: All of that and more on this weeks episode of the On Coaching Podcast with Magness & Marcus. We have renowned sports psychologist Leonard Zaichkowsky and mental performance consultant Dan Peterson on to provide a deep dive on the cognitive demands of the sport.…

What does it take to be great? What about just good? When it comes to performance, we all start near the bottom. Being “okay” or average, but then we make jumps along the way. How far up the ladder do we go and what allows us to make those jumps? In this episode of On…

You can’t force Fitness!  In this weeks episode we talk about the trap of trying to force our way to racing fast. It’s a tempting trap to fall into. Train the athlete for how fast they want to be, not who they currently are. Yet, what we’ve noticed as coaches is the minute you start…

We have a special guest for this week’s episode, Daniel Herrera. Dan is a 3:56 miler who trains under Jon Marcus at High Performance West. In this episode, Dan talks all about transitions, in coaching, life, and training. Dan drops a lot of knowledge and provides a unique perspective on running and racing. What was…

It’s all about recovery! On this episode we take on the topic of easy days. The oft neglected cousing to the more “important” hard workouts, easy days are essential for improving performance. We have a tendency to “check the box” and the only consideration we take is how much mileage we need. In this podcast…

Special Guest Alex Hutchinson has written the defining book on endurance and fatigue. His latest book Endure is a must read that blends storytelling and science to explain the intricacies of fatigue. In this weeks episode, Alex takes us through not only the surprising insight of his book but to his own athletic career. While…

In this special episode of the On Coaching Podcast, we dive into the lessons learned from the recent Boston Marathon. First, we take you through the race from a coaches point of view. What does preparation look like, how do you train for Boston versus other marathons. Then, we dive into the lessons that Desi…

When someone has “it” you know it when you see it. It’s hard to explain, and even more difficult to wrap your head around, but “it” often refers to the intangibles. The unmeasurable quality that we often use to describe individuals who are able to make the difficult seem plausible. In this episode, we delve…

In this weeks episode, Jon and Steve go on a rant. How do we utilize science in coaching? Inspired by a twitter rant, we start off taking on the bioenergetic or metabolic view of coaching. As endurance coaches, we almost always start with “How aerobic or anaerobic is your event?” Go to any conference or…

A silver medal at the world championships and a 30-year old athlete who makes theirfirst world team and then places in the top 8. In this episode of On Coaching we bring in friend and coach Danny Mackey. Danny is the coach for the Brooks Beasts and guided Drew Windle to a medal and Katie Mackey…

This weeks episode is all about the long run! How far should it be for each event? Should it be slow or fast? Should you include pickups, surges, intervals, or other ‘stuff’ in it or not? We break down the details of what is often called “the church of the Sunday long run.” In the…