Run To The Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide To Running

In today’s episode, we’re going to drill down on one critical micronutrient that is essential to humans in the right dose, highly toxic in the wrong dose, and one that many runners are chronically deficient in and that is iron. To help explain the unique role of iron in runners, I invited Dr Mike Zourdos and Dr Sara Mahoney on the Run to the Top.  Mike and Sara have studied the role of iron in marathon runners for both health and performance, and fun fact, Sara is Mike’s endurance coach. Mike is a Full Professor and the Associate Chair in the Department of Exercise Science and Health Promotion at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL. Mike’s research lab, the Muscle Physiology Laboratory, focuses on resistance and strength training, but more recently, he has begun to come over to the endurance side of sport with a little help from Sara. Dr Sara Mahoney is the Chair of the Department of Exercise Science and Associate Professor at Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY.  Her research has been focused i

Up to 50% of runners will suffer an injury in any given year and one of the most severe and common injuries is a stress fracture. Because treatment for a stress fracture will require a significant amount of time off your feet, you’ll want to become aware of this risk to runners and start work on prevention now to avoid ever getting a fracture in the first place. And if you’ve already suffered from a stress fracture and want to know what steps to take to heal, recover, and get back to running your bes t, I’ll go over what you need to know with a little help from runnersconnect.net founder Jeff Gaudette.   CONNECT, COMMENT, & COMMUNITY:   Leave a review on Apple Podcasts!  A great FREE way to support the show! Email Coach Claire Follow Claire on Instagram Follow RunnersConnect on Instagram Join the Elite Treatment where you get first dibs on everything RTTT each month! Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community  RunnersConnect Facebook page GET EXPERT COACHING AT RUNNERSCONNECT!

If you’ve run long enough or are just starting your journey, you probably have a Iove/hate relationship with running.  Running long distances is wonderful and completely irrational at the same time. To help me explore the delightful and nonsensical sport that we all love to hate, I invited author and ultrarunner Brendan Leonard on the Run to the Top. Brendan is a freelance writer and illustrator whose new book, I Hate Running and You Can Too, is a hilarious and relatable trip into the mind of a runner that’s not going to top any podiums or win any races, but still regularly runs irrationally long distances. Brendan started his popular website Semi-Rad.com in 2011 as a channel for active, yet not elite athletes, who love to get out there, but don’t take themselves too seriously. He’s  a contributing editor at Adventure Journal and a columnist at Outside. His stories have appeared in Backpacker, National Geographic Adventure, Men’s Journal, Sierra, Adventure Cyclist, and more. He’s bicycled across America, runs

Many people want to lose weight with running.  While the benefits of running can go far beyond losing a few pounds, running can be a fantastic part of your strategy to get in the best shape of your life. So why is it that runners come in all shapes and sizes?  If running is so good for weight loss, why aren’t all runners perfectly trim and lean?  And what about those stories that you hear of people actually gaining weight while training for the marathon?  How is that even possible when you are pounding out mile after mile? Coach Claire Bartholic goes beyond just calories in and calories out to explore why you might not be losing weight despite how much you run.  Then, she goes over how you can change your routine and habits to finally achieve the weight loss results you are looking for. CONNECT, COMMENT, & COMMUNITY: Leave a review on Apple Podcasts!  A great FREE way to support the show! Email Coach Claire Follow Claire on Instagram Follow RunnersConnect on Instagram Join the Elite Treatment where you g

Hydration and Fueling For Endurance Performance Series, Part Two: The EXACT Fueling and Hydration Secrets from the Best Endurance Athletes with Abby Coleman Learn exactly how the best endurance athletes in the world are fueling and hydrating with sports scientist, Abby Coleman.  Abby is part of the team at Precision Hydration and she has helped create and analyze the strategies of top Ironman performers, the man who broke the 100 mile and 12 hour world record breaking race, and multiple champion ultra runners and riders.  She knows exactly what they ate and drank at every stage of the race and will help us apply that knowledge to our own plans. Abby is an expert on sweat and has Sweat Tested some of the top athletes in the world - including NBA, Premier League, NFL and MLB players - to help them refine their hydration strategies. She advises professional cycling teams, pro triathletes, and 2x Olympic runner Eilish McColgan.  Oh yeah, Abby helps recreational athletes too. CONNECT, COMMENT, & COMMUNITY: Le

Welcome to Part One of our two part series on Hydration and Fueling for Endurance Performance.  In this episode we’ll talk about how to craft your perfect hydration plan and on Part Two, we’ll learn the exact fueling and hydration strategies of some of the best endurance athletes in the world.  Be sure that you are subscribed to the Run to the Top so you don’t miss out on a single episode! Ah, summer.  The warm, sunny days, and short nights are perfect for getting outside and savoring nature with family and friends.  But if you are an endurance runner, training in the heat comes with challenges. Not only is running simply more uncomfortable as the mercury rises, but the combination of heat, sun, humidity and distance will begin to affect our performance as the body struggles to cool itself down. If you’ve ever come back from a run soaked in sweat, or had salt stinging your eyes and staining your clothes, you probably already know that hydration is important. And if you are training this summer for a marathon

Your spine starts showing signs of aging at age 20.  Is too much running putting it at more risk? We talk about the spine a lot to our athletes. Your posture and spinal mobility are huge players in good running form, which allow you to run faster and longer with less effort.  Flexibility in the thoracic spine in particular allows you to run light and tall, as well as makes more room for lungs to fully expand to their potential. So what can we do to make sure that our spine is supported, helping us run faster and pain-free?  And what happens to our spinal health as we age, especially if we’ve spent years pounding out mile after mile? Brigham Young University’s Dr Ulrika Mitchell researches the spine and is on the show to talk about it.   Dr Mitchell was born in Germany and got her degrees in Sports Science and Physical Therapy there before moving to the US in the 90s.  She got her PhD at BYU and now teaches Functional Anatomy and Orthopedic Impairment at the university. Her research is mostly focused on the sp

The instinct to run hard from the start is something that is tough to unlearn. That’s why you so often see new runners, and even experienced runners do this in workouts and races:  they start off too fast and at some point, dramatically and disappointingly slow down, finishing far slower than their potential. But there is a proven race strategy that race after race produces far better results. It’s a strategy that has led to nearly every world record in distances from 1500m to the marathon and beyond.  It’s called the negative split. A negative split is simply running the first half of your race slower than your second half.  That means you have to run slower when you are feeling good and run faster when you are feeling tired.  Sounds impossible, right?  Well, it’s not easy, for sure, but it’s a concept that can work in nearly any race to ensure that you get the very most out of your potential. CONNECT, COMMENT, & COMMUNITY:   Leave a review on Apple Podcasts!  A great FREE way to support the show! Email

Is a lack of great sleep ruining our lives and our running?  Claire wanted to find out, so she invited sleep expert Dr Shelby Harris on the show to talk about it. Dr. Harris is the former director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center at Montefiore Medical Center.  Now in private practice in White Plains, NY, she treats a wide variety of sleep disorders such as insomnia, nightmares, circadian rhythm disorders, narcolepsy, and more using evidence-based behavioral treatments. She has researched the neuropsychological effects of insomnia in older adults as well as behavioral treatments for insomnia, parasomnias, narcolepsy, and excessive daytime sleepiness.  Dr. Harris has written for the New York Times and Psychology Today and has been quoted in media such as The Huffington Post, The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, O Magazine, and New York Magazine. She has appeared on the Today Show, World News with Diane Sawyer, Good Morning America, and more. In other words, she knows a

Summer is officially here in the Northern Hemisphere and while longer days leave lots more time for running, the sun, heat and humidity can make running miserable.  But unless you’d like to spend the season on a treadmill in the air-conditioning, learning to adapt to the heat is your best option. The good news is that all your sweaty work this summer will pay off with faster times in the fall, when things cool off a little. We'll get into the science of what is happening when you run in the heat and then offer some cool suggestions that can help you train this summer more effectively, despite the temperatures. CONNECT, COMMENT, & COMMUNITY:   Leave a review on Apple Podcasts!  A great FREE way to support the show! Email Coach Claire Follow Claire on Instagram Follow RunnersConnect on Instagram Join the Elite Treatment where you get first dibs on everything RTTT each month! Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community  RunnersConnect Facebook page GET EXPERT COACHING AT RUNNERSCONNECT!

Matt Frazier is a vegan ultramarathoner, author, and entrepreneur, best known as the founder of the No Meat Athlete movement and host of the No Meat Athlete Radio podcast. Matt found he could run longer and faster with the help of a plant-based diet, and shortly after adopting a plant-based diet, Matt qualified for the Boston Marathon after taking over 100 minutes off his first marathon time. He has run several 50-milers and a 100-mile ultramarathon on a vegan diet. Matt's books have sold over 125,000 copies in five languages, and his work have been featured in books including Rich Roll’s Finding Ultra, Brendan Brazier’s Thrive Foods, and Seth Godin’s What to Do When It’s Your Turn. Matt was named by Greatist as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness, and Sports Illustrated has called The No Meat Athlete Cookbook one of the best Health & Wellness books. Matt has a brand new book out called the Plant Based Athlete and I couldn’t leave out his equally amazing co-author Robert Cheeke. R

Have you ever experienced painful leg cramping late in a race? Coach Claire goes into the science of leg cramping.  This episode will equip you with an action plan that you can start today to cramp-proof your legs, so you can crush your next race, cramp-free. And she does it with a little help from her running mentor, Coach Jeff Gaudette, 2:22 marathoner and founder of RunnersConnect.net. Coach Jeff has extensively studied the issue of late-race cramping in runners and it might not be caused by what you think it is.   CONNECT, COMMENT, & COMMUNITY: Leave a review on Apple Podcasts!  A great FREE way to support the show! Email Coach Claire Follow Claire on Instagram Follow RunnersConnect on Instagram Join the Elite Treatment where you get first dibs on everything RTTT each week! Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community  RunnersConnect Facebook page GET EXPERT COACHING AT RUNNERSCONNECT!

What if I told you that there was a simple way to improve your muscular endurance, reduce your respiratory rate when running, reduce the production of lactic acid, slash your cortisol build up in half, allowing for faster recovery times after every run?  I bet you’d be all over it, right?  And then you might be asking, what’s the catch? My guest today is Dr Dena Garner and she’s spent the last 17 years of her career researching and developing a very simple product that promises to do just that. Dr Garner is a professor at The Citadel, one of six senior military colleges in the United States.  She has degrees in exercise science and muscle physiology as well as a postdoctoral fellowship in neurology.   At The Citadel, her research has concentrated on the effects of a mouthpiece inserted over the lower teeth during exercise. She measures physiological parameters of her subjects while using the mouthpiece, including levels of lactate and cortisol, as well as respiratory rate and has found some pretty incredible

Having a solid fueling plan for the marathon can make the difference between a great race and a disaster.  But how do you know what to eat, how much to eat, and when? Coach Claire Bartholic explains exactly how much runners need to take in before and during the marathon.  She talks what you should be doing in the days before the race to top off your muscles' storage of glycogen, what you should eat race morning, and just how many carbs and calories you need to take in to avoid the bonk and cross the finish line your fastest! CONNECT, COMMENT, & COMMUNITY: Leave a review on Apple Podcasts!  A great FREE way to support the show! Email Coach Claire Follow Claire on Instagram Follow RunnersConnect on Instagram Join the Elite Treatment where you get first dibs on everything RTTT each week! Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community  RunnersConnect Facebook page GET EXPERT COACHING AT RUNNERSCONNECT! Marathon Nutrition Blueprint https://runnersconnect.net/marathon-nutrition-blueprint/

Are you ready to be inspired? And maybe have some fun while we are at it?  Then this is the episode for you. For most of us, qualifying for the Olympics is a completely unrelateable accomplishment, right?  Well how about qualifying for FIVE of them? Abdi Abdirahman is the only American distance runner to qualify for five Olympic Games. At age 44, Abdi is also the oldest American runner to qualify for the Olympics, the oldest male to podium at the New York City Marathon, and the USA Track & Field master’s record holder in the marathon. Born in Somalia, he came to Tucson, Arizona, at age 16 after his family escaped civil war. He became an American citizen in 2000 and has represented the United States as a 10,000m runner at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympics, in the marathon in 2012, and has qualified for the 2020 Olympic marathon to be held in Japan this year.  Coach Claire Bartholic wanted to talk to “The Black Cactus” as Abdi is also known, not just about his amazing accomplishments, but about the things t

Do you want to know the number one way to get faster as a runner? SLOW DOWN! Yes, it seems like the opposite of what you want to do to improve, but it's absolutely true. In this bonus episode of the Run to the Top, Coach Claire Bartholic will explain the science behind aerobic development and recovery and why slow, easy runs are the most beneficial. Not only that, but she describes exactly HOW to run slowly and master this powerful technique.   CONNECT, COMMENT, & COMMUNITY: Leave a review on Apple Podcasts!  A great FREE way to support the show! Email Coach Claire Follow Claire on Instagram Follow RunnersConnect on Instagram Join the Elite Treatment where you get first dibs on everything RTTT each week! Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community  RunnersConnect Facebook page GET EXPERT COACHING AT RUNNERSCONNECT!  

Accurate nutrition information for runners can get pretty murky out there.  It can be tough to figure out what’s really important  and really, what’s even true. And that’s why I’ve brought on Meghann Featherstun who’s going to give it to us straight.  Meghann is a registered dietitian and board-certified specialist in sports dietetics at  Featherstone Nutrition– which means she’s an expert in sports nutrition.  Her passion is to bring accurate nutrition and fueling information out to runners everywhere, backed by research and science.  And her mission is to debunk the food myths that hurt runners’ health and performance. Oh, yeah, she’s also a mom of two and a 2:57 marathoner. I invited Meghann on the show to play a little game that she plays every week with her Instagram followers called “is that freaking true Friday” and we had lots of fun with this one.   So get ready to brush up on your running nutrition knowledge and crush a myth or two with Meghann.   CONNECT, COMMENT, & COMMUNITY: Leave a review o

On this bonus Run to the Top, we are going to talk about racing, and specifically over-racing.  That’s when you are racing so often that it’s actually hurting your progress as a runner. Now you might be wondering why I chose this topic, over-racing, right now just as some races are finally coming back after the pandemic.  But that’s EXACTLY why I think this is the perfect topic right now.   Races are coming back and we runners are so thankful and excited to get back to the sport that it’s tempting to sign up for any and every race you can.   I’m the last person that is going to tell you that you shouldn’t go race, be social, test your fitness, and hang out with your tribe of runners.  If it’s bringing you joy, it’s probably good for you. We all could use a big dose of joy right now.  But if that’s how you spend every weekend and you are wondering why your race times haven’t improved in a while, or if they are getting worse, over-racing might have something to do with it. RunnersConnect athlete Jon tells us ho

Can new tech in your shoe change the way you run for the better?    We are all used to our watches telling us how fast (or slow) we are, counting our heartbeats, our footsteps,  or even telling us how much recovery we need (or trying to anyway!) But now there is technology that can tell us even more.  New wearables can give us some clues to our own unique running form so we can better understand where we can improve. My guests today are here to tell you all about it. Dr Grant Trewartha is the Head of Biomechanics at the wearable technology company NURVV.  His research into the technical aspects of endurance running helped shape the development of a unique shoe insert called NURVV Run. Prior to his time at NURVV, Grant spent 16 years at University of Bath, leading significant research about injury prevention for rugby players as well as research on the biomechanics of sprinting and tendon mechanics during running.  Anna Kosciuk is a Sport Scientist and a Footwear specialist and is also a part of Biomechanics t

Can you run a specific workout pace on feel alone?  Without looking at your watch?  Tempo runs, steady runs, threshold runs, VO2 max workouts...they all have a "feel" to them and if you can learn how to pace them properly without being a slave to your watch, you can become a better, more adaptable runner. On this bonus episode of the Run to the Top, Coach Claire Bartholic introduces Laurie, a RunnersConnect athlete that has gotten very good at learning to pace by feel and effort.  Laurie shares how she does it and Coach Claire explains how you can figure out how you should feel in any given workout by understanding the specific purpose of each one. CONNECT, COMMENT, & COMMUNITY: Leave a review on Apple Podcasts!  A great FREE way to support the show! Email Coach Claire Follow Claire on Instagram Follow RunnersConnect on Instagram Join the Elite Treatment where you get first dibs on everything RTTT each week! Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community  RunnersConnect Facebook page