The Seconds Flat Running Podcast

We're privileged to bring you a story of hope, determination, and personal transformation. Daniel Harper will inspire you to be a better version of yourself in 2021! You'll hear his two-year journey from a guy without running shoes to a Boston Marathon qualifier who hits the pavement for miles every morning. In the second half of the conversation our focus shifts and Daniel tells us how that journ...

Natasha Wodak holds the Canadian 10,000m National Record and was the first Canadian woman half marathoner under 70 minutes. After a seven year hiatus since her marathon debut at Toronto in 2013, Natasha returned to the event last week in Chandler, AZ for the Marathon Project. It was a scintillating return as she ran a 2:26:19 for a top five finish — the second fastest Canadian female performance i...

2-time Olympian, 6-time US Champion, and treadmill mile world record holder Anthony Famiglietti joins the show this week. Fam provides a unique and thoughtful perspective on what makes running special and how it can be a vehicle for a balanced, positive, successful lifestyle. In our wide-ranging conversation, Anthony reveals the raw emotion of a 2020 filled with heartache, and shares sound advice...

Welcome back for the final installment of our Workouts We Love series. We're unpacking Combination Workouts, or what we might also call Multi Zone or Mixed Sessions. Some of these are famous high volume sessions that we’ll break down and offer some modifications based on your level of experience. Others are our own creations. We’ll walk you through how constructing these workouts can exact a parti...

We’re super excited to welcome in Kyle Merber, one of the best American milers of this generation. In a recent episode Ken Goe told us he fell in love with covering track because track athletes are the best people in sports. Kyle Merber personifies Ken’s perspective. I interviewed Kyle a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, recording issues created a lot of lost audio. However, Kyle was gracious enoug...

We continue our Workouts We Love series with Alternation Workouts. Alternations are quality pace change sessions that transform your usual workout recovery segments into steady floats. We cover historical examples from some of our sport's greatest coaches and how and when to incorporate alternations into your training.

We’re starting an exciting series of episodes about Workouts We Love as a way to bring you new ideas and zest for training. And, more importantly, to explain why we use these workouts, when we implement different variations, and how to use these in training for different distances. First up: Progression Runs! Resources mentioned: Pace Calculator: https://runfastcoach.com/calc2/ VO2 Max % Chart: ht...

For more than four decades Ken Goe transported his readers to front row seats for some of the biggest events in sports. In print, and later also online, Ken spent much of his career bringing to life the iconic races in track and field that we all wished we could see in person. His work transcended sports journalism and made him a trusted source for the story of the race and the story behind the ra...

Greer High School standout Coen Roberts was among our first guests on Seconds Flat, joining us for Mile 2. Since then Coen has won multiple state championships and qualified for Foot Locker XC Nationals. Now as a freshman at Wake Forest he begins his college academic and athletic career amid the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic. Coen returns to the program via a Zoom call we recorded earlier t...

In 2012 Kiwi Tony McManus set a world record for the 60-64 age group, clocking a 4:51.85 mile. That record stood until late August when Dan King shattered the mark by nearly three seconds at the South Carolina TrackFest. Dan joins this episode and chronicles his record-breaking experience. Along the way, he shares nuggets of wisdom that runners of every age and skill level will appreciate.

In his teens Andrew Wheating prowled the pitch as an aspiring soccer player in New Hampshire. By his early twenties he had earned the moniker America’s “Next Great Miler” after a series of electrifying performances and championships on the track. The two-time Olympian and three-time NCAA National Champion joined us earlier this week for some reminiscing on his legendary career. Plus, we get an ins...

Our friend Benji is back for a special appearance as we discuss the fire on the track in Monaco and Stockholm as professsional track & field returns from its pandemic-induced hiatus. Joshua Cheptegei smashes the 5000m world record, the metric mile rivalry grows between teen sensation Jakob Ingebrigtsen and world leader Timothy Cheruiyot, and Norwegian Karsten Warholm keeps climbing the all-time li...

Alyssa Bloomquist’s 2:41:24 winning performance at the 2019 Rock ’N Roll Savannah Marathon earned her a place on the start line at this year’s Olympic Trials Marathon. But the enormity of that accomplishment only scratches the surface of what Alyssa achieved that autumn day. A deeper dive into her running reveals a nearly-11-minute personal best as the culmination of a training block spent pushing...

We’re excited to have our friend Eddie Garcia of the Greenville Track Club Elite team join us this week. Eddie holds national records in the 10,000m and marathon for the U.S. Virgin Islands. We discussed his recent Pan-American Games experience and Olympic dreams. Plus, Eddie provides a valuable voice on the intersection of running and race. For decades athletes have advanced the dialogue and acti...

No man in our contemporary American running scene is more recognizable than Craig Engels. Your friends with only a superficial awareness of track & field may know him as that miler with the mullet and the mustache. But Craig is so much more: Olympic medal threat, your foremost guide to road tripping across America, and, as I learned in our conversation, ethnic buffet connoisseur. Craig joined us t...

As we deal with postponements and cancellations of Spring races from local 5Ks to the Boston Marathon, we keep hearing the same question: How should I train with no races on the calendar? So we compiled our best advice -- complete with some specific workout ideas -- to help you turn this into your best base phase ever!

We are excited to open our new season with with Rich Kenah! Rich is Executive Director of the Atlanta Track Club and Race Director for the Peachtree Road Race 10k. Peachtree recently rescheduled from it's traditional Independence Day format to Thanksgiving morning. In a moment when all of our race calendars have been thrown for loops, Rich provides us with his insights on the changes and challenge...

Former GTC Elite and Clemson standout Kim Maloney spends time with us in this episode as we cover results from the Olympic Trials last weekend. An electrifying day of racing produced fast times and surprising results. Kim provides her analysis of the experience, excitement, course, and competition. Moreover, she inspires us with the story of her rise to athletic excellence.

It's finally time for the marathon we've had our eyes on for several years. Benji is back in town and we analyze the key players, the dark horses, the course, the weather, and everything else you need to know before the U.S. Olympic Team Marathon Trials this weekend in Atlanta. Plus, we make our predictions sure to go wrong. Note: Shortly after recording this episode male contender Parker Stinson...

In December 2017 Tim Ritchie won the U.S. Marathon Championship at the California International Marathon. In doing so, Tim became one of only two Americans that year to cover the marathon distance in under 2 hours and 12 minutes. Simultaneously, he became a legitimate contender for our Olympic team at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Tim joined me earlier this week via Skype and we caught up on his training,...

2019 Furman grad and 3-time All American Frank Lara recently had a breakthrough professional performance with a 1:01:48 half marathon at the uber competitive Aramco Houston Half. Frank’s mark moved him into the top 30 for fastest ever American half marathon times. He joined us last weekend for Mile 49 of the Seconds Flat Running Podcast. We discussed Houston, his college experience, his move to Bo...

We are back from winter break and Marni Sumbal returns to the show for a wide ranging discussion centered on her new books Athlete to Triathlete and The 365 Day Running Journal: Log Workouts, Improve Your Runs, Stay Motivated

As we hurtle toward the end of the 2010s, we look back at our favorite moments, books, athletes, and races of the decade. Then we pick our all-decade distance squads in a fantasy draft based on success across track, road, and cross country. Plus we look ahead to the athletes who may steal the spotlight in the 2020s. And finally, we bid goodbye (for now)to our friend young Benji as he leaves the ne...

"Sometimes betting on ourselves feels like one of the riskiest gambles you can take, but it almost always pays off. Surround yourself with the people who support your path, tone out the ones who don't, and take those chances to bet on yourself. You'll never imagine the magic that can happen." Those were the inspirational words of Grayson Murphy after claiming the World Mountain Running Championshi...

Over the past quarter century no program has more produced more cross country stars and national championship teams than the University of Colorado. Coach Mark Wetmore’s charges included Adam Goucher, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Jenny Simpson. Last year Dani Jones won the women’s XC individual title and 5k track championship. The latest to carry the torch for the buffaloes is PAC 12 champion and NCAA r...