THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

There’s evidence-based training, and then there’s actually understanding the evidence.  Dr. Bill Evans is here to explain how exercise physiology, 80–20 training, and smart periodization translates into real performance gains for runners at every level. Dr. Evans has his PhD in Exercise Physiology and is an Assistant Professor of Exercise Science. He has experience as a Senior Scientist/Consultant...

-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs What if the habits you’re most proud of, like discipline, the mileage, and the wins, are quietly working against you? Alex Ostberg returns to the show to sit down with Dominic and unpack the ideas behind his four most recent Substack essays, each challenging a deeply held assumption in running and high performa...

TWO WEEKS OF FREE WITH CODE "RUNEFFECT" : https://kaizen.app.link/TRE Sharon Lokedi set a Boston Marathon course record, ran a 65-minute half marathon, and stepped foot on another NYC Marathon podium.   She didn’t just have a good year in 2025, she had the kind of season that rewrites expectations for the future of women’s distance running, and her 2:17:22 course record at Boston can att...

The holidays are in full swing, and we're pulling back the curtain on one of the most anticipated running-shoe launches of the year.  The brand-new Brooks Glycerin Flex is here, and we have Nikhil Jain, Director of Product Line Management at Brooks Running–and the mind helping steer innovation behind the brand–joining us to break it all down. The Glycerin Flex is an all-new, highly cushioned r...

TWO WEEKS OF FREE WITH CODE "RUNEFFECT" : https://kaizen.app.link/TRE Dan Churchill has cooked for Lindsey Vonn at the Olympics, run five World Marathon Majors, survived Leadville 100, and built companies that fuse food, data, and performance.  He isn’t just a chef, he’s a hybrid athlete rewriting what ‘fueling’ really means. He is self-effacing and humorous, whowants to help athletes cook better...

In a year packed with breakout stars, one name has refused to fade from the headlines: Jackson Spencer.  Herriman High’s own just won the 2025 NXN Boys 5K championship with a time of 15:01.1, cementing himself as the top high school distance runner in the country and making a case to be in the mix with the best in the NCAA next year. In 2025, Jackson became the name every prep distance fan needed...

She built a real-food revolution. Now, she’s taking it global. Elyse Kopecky is back: writing, running, and leading a movement bigger than ever. She is the three-time New York Times bestselling co-author with Shalane Flanagan of  Run Fast. Eat Slow. ,  Run Fast. Cook Fast. Eat Slow. , and  Rise & Run.  She is also a chef, speaker, and nutrition coach who studied at the Natural Gourmet Institut...

TWO WEEKS OF FREE WITH CODE "RUNEFFECT" : https://kaizen.app.link/TRE Most training apps tell you  exactly  what to do every day. Josh Sambrook helped to build one that tells you your weekly target, and lets you train however your life demands. It’s the system that helped him run 120-mile weeks, cut his marathon time to 2:28 by age 23 (he ran his first marathon at 17), and reinvent how t...

We’re living in the golden era of NCAA middle distance running, and Elliott Cook is right in the center of it.  Elliot is the  NCAA Outdoor 1500m runner-up ( 3:39.57) from 2024, while also coming in 8th at the US Olympic Team trials that year, running a career best 3:33.84. His other PRs include a 3:55 mile and 1:45.26 in the 800m. In high school he was a four-time Ohio D1 Central District champio...

Joseph Miuccio spends his life at 35,000 feet, and somehow still logs the training hours for Leadville, Ironman, and marathon racing.  Joey has run a 2:56 marathon, a 4:45 half ironman, and he’s a Leadville 100 finisher. Now, he can add Ironman finisher to his resume, as he recently completed the Ironman Arizona in 9:46:37, an extremely impressive sub 10 hour feat coming in 136 overall in a field...

From walk-on to Olympian, Emily Mackay has rewritten every expectation. Now, she’s back on the show to open up about the reinvention that’s powering the best chapter of her career. Emily ran collegiately at Binghamton University, where her best NCAA finish was 6th in the 1500m as a senior in 2022. She joined New Balance Boston that summer of 2022, while training under coach Mark Coogan. What follo...

America’s next great distance runner might not be a pro, he might be a junior at Wake Forest. At the 2025 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on November 22, Rocky Hansen delivered the race of his life, finishing second overall and coming within striking distance of the national title. Last year, Rocky placed 100th at this same meet, so his surge is proof that he’s putting himself up there...

Enter Oliver Horton, the high school Colorado phenom everyone will be talking about this season. At just 17 years old and a high school junior at Coronado High School (in Colorado Springs), he is already a state champion, a sub-14:30 performer, and a name climbing the national rankings, having just become the 2025 Colorado 4A state XC champion. He didn’t just become the first Colorado runner to br...

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER HERE: https://therundownbytherunningeffect.substack.com What if your next breakthrough doesn’t come from doubling down on workouts, but from ten small habits hiding in plain sight? In this month’s check-in, Alex Ostberg sits down with Dominic to unpack his latest deep dives. They begin with Alex’s “Playbook of Greatness,” exploring why the best athletes in the world are...

From American-record brilliance to a late-career grind, Evan Jager’s story has been one of constant adaptation.  But now he’s ready to call it quits and move onto the next phase of life without running.  The late-career push included an 8th place finish in the men’s 3000m steeplechase at the U.S. Championships in 8:28.21 this year. He also ran the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile in September of this y...

Meet the Harvard engineer who’s running marathons, building companies, and rewriting the future of girls’ sports. Sara Falkson is the Founder and CEO of Robyn / Robyn Athletic, a Sports-bra and body-confidence brand built “by athletes, for athletes,” focused on helping girls stay in sport, which started as a thesis project for her but is now a full-time gig.  She also co-founded Reliable Maternity...

Few people embody the intersection of endurance and intellect quite like Nicholas Thompson. He's a runner, writer, and CEO of  The Atlantic , and in his new book,  The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports , Thompson explores how running has shaped his resilience, his leadership, and his pursuit of meaning in a relentless world. It's a story of motion–literal and meta...

Three-time Olympian Shannon Rowbury knows firsthand the strength and resilience it takes to train at the highest level, especially through pregnancy and motherhood.  Now, she’s bringing that same elite mindset to a new arena: women’s health. Alongside her co-author, Jessica Dorrington, a leading pelvic floor and orthopedic physical therapist, Rowbury has created the definitive guide for expectant...

Blending Stanford smarts with relentless drive, Cole Sprout is emerging as one of America’s most exciting young pros.  Cole was the NACAC U23 Champion in the 5,000m in 2023 while also coming in 8th at the USATF Championships in the 5,000m the same year. His PRs include a 7:42.41 in the 3,000m indoors in March of 2025; a 13:24.38 in the 5,000m indoors in 2022; a 27:42.42 in the 10,000m in 2022; a 3...

After two years of rehab and earning her spot via a Golden Ticket roll-down, Abby Hall stormed into history at the 2025 Western States 100, running 16:37:16 for the fourth-fastest women's time ever and finishing 11th overall. Hall has since cemented herself as one of the premier athletes in the 100K–100-mile range, highlighted by podium finishes at UTMB’s CCC (2nd in 2021, 3rd in 2022), a win...

No American runner made more noise in 2025 than Nico Young. The 23-year-old prodigy smashed the 5,000m American record, claimed his first national title, and battled the world’s best in Tokyo.  In June, he stormed through the Bislett Games in Oslo, running 12:45.27 for 5,000 meters, which was a new American record. Barely two months later, he claimed his first U.S. title at 10,000 meters in Eugene...

Michael Maiorano stormed through his first cross-country season at Utah State with fearless racing and an appetite for altitude. After debuting at the Utah State Alumni Challenge in August, he clocked 23:58 for 8,000m at the Paul Short Run and followed with a gritty Nuttycombe finish. Maiorano’s route to this moment has been anything but linear. A star at South Medford High School (OR), he rose to...

From viral stunts to record-setting runs, Isaiah Photo went from YouTube daredevil to running six marathons on six continents in six days self aided.  He built his audience on larger-than-life experiments before turning that creative drive toward running. What started as wild one-off ideas—like marathons in Crocs, flip-flops, and spray-on shoes—evolved into a genuine endurance journey. Since 2023,...

Conner and Kylie Mantz are redefining what it means to chase big dreams as a team. They’re two runners with one purpose–moving stride for stride through life. Conner Mantz has become the new standard-bearer for American marathoning. After winning the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials and placing 8th at the Paris Olympics (2:08:12), he stunned the running world in 2025–running 2:05:08 for 4th place...

Haftu Knight is proving that professionalism in running isn't limited to sponsorship: it's a mindset. His rise from shepherd in Ethiopia to one of the most exciting marathoners training under Jeff Cunningham with the Bat City Track Club is the perfect example of this. Now based in Austin, Knight is part of a blue-collar group grinding through 100-mile weeks, blending raw talent with Cunningham's p...