The Running Explained Podcast

Trying to run BACK TO BACK marathons (or other races?) Sports Dietitian Stevie Lyn Smith joins the show to help you understand how to handle running two big endurance events two days, two weeks, or two months in a row! Understanding the most important things about running back-to-back races: when is it a good idea, when is it a bad idea? Discussing the types of training that might be required The basic principles of optimizing recovery between races General training guidelines between two races Stevie Lyn's experience advising Shalane Flanagan on her bloodwork in 2021 when Shalane ran 6 marathons in 42 days Carb-loading before and between races How to start recovering as soon as you cross the finish line Discussing how some athletes are genetically gifted when it comes to durability, resilience, and recovery -- This episode is sponsored by InsideTracker! For a limited time, get 20% off the entire InsideTracker store; visit insidetracker.com/runningexplained today! Created by leading scientists in aging, genetics, and biometrics, InsideTracker analyzes your blood, DNA, and fitness tracking data to identify where you’re optimized—and where you’re not. You’ll get a daily Action Plan with personalized guidance on the right exercise, nutrition, and supplementation for your body. Add InnerAge 2.0 to any plan to calculate your true biological age, and see how you’re aging from the inside out! -- Stevie Lyn Smith has ten years of experience in providing nutrition education and counseling in a variety of clinical settings and with athletes of all levels. Growing up as a three-season athlete and playing lacrosse at the collegiate level, being active has always been a passion. After retiring from team sports, she has since completed ten full ironman distance triathlons, numerous half-iron distance triathlons, and marathons, along with many other endurance events including the ultra-marathon distance. As an avid endurance and team sport athlete, she knows the importance of eating to support a healthy lifestyle both on and off the field. When working with groups and clients one-on-one she provides an evidenced-based and practical approach using her education and experience to empower individuals to improve their physical and mental well-being. While Stevie Lyn is a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics, she also has worked with many other populations providing medical nutrition therapy. Being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease later in her athletic career, she feels strongly about helping others to continue to stay active and healthy while managing chronic autoimmune disease.

Coach Elisabeth recaps the Chicago Marathon! Hear about the course, the experience, and the weekend itself! The course The crowds The weekend experience On-course support Tips & tricks The pros & cons to running a race like this! 🕶️🦩This episode is sponsored by GOODR SUNGLASSES! Get FREE SHIPPING on your next order of sunglasses & support the show using code RUNEXP at www.goodr.com! 🕶️

Every runner will need to take time off at some point, whether a normal post-race recovery period, several weeks or months to deal with an injury or illness, or months+ (hello, baby!) for a variety of reasons. That's life! Don't freak out! How do you take time off, stage a comeback, and keep believing in yourself the whole way through? Kim Clark (@trackclubbabe) joins the show to talk about how to keep the faith and set yourself up for long-term success. Normalizing recovery! Taking recovery time is a NORMAL part of the training process What happens if you take a few days or a week off? When bigger interruptions happen How to deal with the emotions of being "less fit" than you were? Giving yourself permission to run as slow as you need to How do you keep believing that your fitness will return? Kim discovered a love for running 10 years ago and loves to share the ups & downs of her journey on her instagram @trackclubbabe, while encouraging others to dream big. Her first marathon was a 6:08 and her fastest a 3:11-- and she shares all the training strategies for any runner to improve their running too! Kim & her husband Tyler (@tunderface, a 4:10 to a 2:18 marathoner) have created training programs made for any level of runner to find big improvement. Their program FAST FALL, a 12 week speed training program, was created off of what helped Kim to finally find her running breakthrough & has helped so many runners reach their big potential too.

PLANTAR FASCIITIS is one of the more common, and more stubborn, running-related injuries. Dr. Duane Scott, DPT, PhD, OCS (@sparkhealthyrunner) joins the show to share his 20+ years of PT wisdom about Plantar Fasciitis! What is Plantar Fasciitis & what does it feel like? WHY is Plantar Fasciitis a more common running injury? What is fascia and what causes PF? Treatment: orthotics? Yay or nay? Carbon plate shoes Why PF takes so long to actually resolve Exercises to help resolve Plantar Fasciitis Passive versus active treatment Prevention strategies for Plantar Fasciitis Plantar Fasciitis FREE E-book: https://learn.sparkhealthyrunner.com/footpain/buy -- This episode is sponsored by InsideTracker! For a limited time, get 20% off the entire InsideTracker store; visit insidetracker.com/runningexplained today! Created by leading scientists in aging, genetics, and biometrics, InsideTracker analyzes your blood, DNA, and fitness tracking data to identify where you’re optimized—and where you’re not. You’ll get a daily Action Plan with personalized guidance on the right exercise, nutrition, and supplementation for your body. Add InnerAge 2.0 to any plan to calculate your true biological age, and see how you’re aging from the inside out! Dr. Duane Scotti, DPT, PhD, OCS is a running physical therapist, run coach, host of the Healthy Runner podcast, and founder of Spark Healthy Runner and has been a leader in the rehab and running community for 20+ years.  He is truly living his passion educating the running community that they don’t need to stop running to get over a running injury. Through his signature 1:1 coaching program, weekly videos, and podcast episodes, he empowers runners to get stronger, run faster, and enjoy lifelong injury-free running. Through strength and run-specific training you can build your body to have a strong mind, strong body, and just keep running!

Does it sometimes feel like runners speak a different language? What does all this lingo mean? Coach Claire Bartholic (@theplantedrunner) joins the show this season to talk through some common running vocab and abbreviations so we're all on the same page! What is a "workout"? Why aren't all runs workouts? Threshold, tempo, & speed PR vs PB Race-specific vocab Gear vocab and more! Claire Bartholic started running in her mid-30s simply to get in shape for her high school reunion. It wasn’t about getting faster or racing; it was, to be honest, mainly about vanity.But something changed in her as the miles slowly added up. The reunion came and went and she kept running. Already plant-based, she finished her first marathon at age 38 in a respectable 4:02 and was immediately hooked. She became a student of the marathon. With dedicated coaching and training, she successfully lowered her marathon PR to 2:58, remarkably without injury, and entirely plant-based. Claire is a multiple-time Boston Marathon qualifier, state Master’s Marathon Champion, and a competitive Master’s athlete. Claire’s greater passion is helping others achieve their dreams. As a coach, she shares the tools and techniques she has learned to help athletes reach goals they never thought possible. As a coach, she has led hundreds of athletes to the best performances of their lives through science-backed training, plant-based nutrition, and proven mindset programs. She is a ASAF certified running coach and a NESTA certified Sports Nutrition Specialist. Claire is also the host of one of the most popular running podcasts in the world, The Planted Runner Podcast. Thousands of runners listen to Claire interview the best in the sport each week as well as learn actionable lessons to become a better runner each episode!

WHAT and HOW MUCH to eat as a runner? Sports Dietitian Cortney Berling (@eatwell.runbetter) joins the show to discuss the "Athlete Plates" tool for runners and how to figure out your nutritional needs from day to day! FIND THE PLATES HERE What are the Athlete Plates? Easy/Rest Days Moderate Days Heavy Days WHEN you need the different days Why running messes with sensations of hunger & fullness Learning to eat intuitively as an athlete The role of fat & fiber Liquid calories Marketing & nutrition and more! 🕶️🦩This episode is sponsored by GOODR SUNGLASSES! Get 15% off (my favorite) running sunglasses in the world & support the show using code RUNEXP at www.goodr.com! 🕶️ Cortney Berling is a Registered Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Educator, running coach, momma of 2, and military spouse! She ran cross country and track at The University of Cincinnati. Running has always been a significant part of her life, but years of underfueling left her sidelined with injury and eventually led to infertility.  Cortney is on a mission to help runners heal their relationship with food, fuel their training right, and run their best race while living their best life! She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from The University of Cincinnati, completed her Dietetic Internship at The Cleveland Clinic, and obtained her Master’s of Public Health from Liberty University. When she's not busy coaching clients you can find her playing with her kids, exploring the Japanese culture, hiking, and paddle boarding! 

What's the deal with running and KNEES? Why are knee injuries so dang common in runners? Is running actually bad for your knees? Dr. Lauren LaPierre, DPT (@thepersonalizedrunningdoc) joins the show to talk ALL THINGS KNEES! Knee anatomy & function Why knee issues are so common in runners "Runner's knee" pain IT Band Syndrome How to reduce your risk of knee injury How to address knee pain Using ice vs heat, or NSAIDS What should a PT appointment look like & what to expect and more! Dr. Lauren LaPierre is a doctor of physical therapy by trade, runner rehab specialist and running coach! Dr. Lauren personally has over a decade of competitive running experience, competing throughout high school and later for the University of Rhode Island as a Division I athlete. Her personal journey with running is the reason she went to PT school and later started her business, The Personalized Running Doc. Her mission is to help other runners overcome training-related injuries when all else has failed, empowering them to continue running for themselves and crushing their goals as they do. Since 2020, her comprehensive approach and hybrid training model have helped runners all over the world return to running pain-free and reach their maximum running potential!

RUNNING IS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH, but how & why? Health versus performance; is it an either/or? Dr. Elizabeth Knight joins the show to talk all things health & running, including the cardiovascular benefits of regular exercise, health vs. performance, health AND  performance and more! Running to be healthy: how much running do we need to do? The cardiovascular benefits of regular running What is chronic inflammation and why is it bad? Health vs. performance: MORE exercise isn't always better Creating peak performance through good health Yes, testing the limits of your ability can be healthy! And more! Elizabeth lives and runs in Portland, Oregon. When she’s not on the trails in Forest Park, she works as a nurse practitioner and owns an integrative health coaching practice, Flower Power Health, where she works with runners. She’s passionate about science, inclusivity, and helping people approach their bodies with kindness and curiosity. A few of her favorite things are dogs, rock and roll, and pizza. You can find her online at www.flowerpower.health and on Instagram @flowerpower.health.

Can you quantify EVERYTHING? Are you relying too much on "the numbers"? Are you DEVASTATED when you can't hit your exact target splints in a workout? Coach Nick Klastava has some wisdom to share about how runners should focus way less on "the numbers", and what they should focus on instead! What numbers do runners tend to overemphasize? How important is pace? Are there any ways to guarantee your race day results with specific workouts in training? Why tying your self-worth to your performance is a path to unhappiness What to focus on INSTEAD of the numbers And more! 🕶️🦩This episode is sponsored by GOODR SUNGLASSES! Get 15% off (my favorite) running sunglasses in the world & support the show using code RUNEXP at www.goodr.com! 🕶️ Nick Klastava has been a runner on and off for almost 25 years, running in High School and College back in the early 2000's and then taking some time off and finding the sport again in a different more joyful, less pressure-filled way in 2009. Nick's journey has gone from a runner filled with mental blocks that plague all runners to becoming a runner filled with joy and belief in himself and not some numbers. He now helps runners as a USATF/RRCA certified coach at Lift Run Perform to help runners learn to truly believe in themselves, adapt their training to their hectic lives, and become the best runner possible while enjoying the process that is life along the way. INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/nklastava WEBSITE: https://liftrunperform.com/pages/about#nick

TAPERING is a vitally important, integral part of your race-specific training, yet many runners struggle to taper properly! In this episode, Coach Elisabeth outlines the basics of... What is taper is What a taper does HOW to taper properly What's normal (& not normal) in a taper How to deal with the anxiety of "running less" Strength & cross-training in your taper And more! Visit runningexplained.co for training plans, 1:1 run coaching, group coaching, and more! 🕶️🦩This episode is sponsored by GOODR SUNGLASSES! Get 15% off (my favorite) running sunglasses in the world & support the show using code RUNEXP at www.goodr.com! 🕶️