
On Coaching with Magness & Marcus
Coaches Steve Magness and Jon Marcus team up to bring you an insider’s view on coaching. Taking you inside the thoughts and conversations that usually occur behind the scenes. They bring a diverse background having both worked with athletes at the collegiate and professional level. They hope to bring a mixture of science, old-fashioned wisdom, and a touch of philosophy to help understand the process of coaching and maximizing endurance performance. For more information visit www.ScienceOfRunning.com
Latest episodes

Aug 12, 2018 • 1h 5min
Episode 80: High School Coaching- How we would do it differently
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…

Jul 25, 2018 • 1h 10min
Episode 79: Mastering the Mental Game: An interview with Len Zaichkowsky and Dan Peterson
Renowned sports psychologist Leonard Zaichkowsky and mental performance consultant Dan Peterson provide a deep dive on the cognitive demands of sports, including decision making, choking, focus, attention, and skill acquisition. They discuss the benefits of 'The Playmakers Advantage' book, emphasize the importance of individualizing coaching approaches, explore low tech approaches to sports preparation and recovery, and highlight the significance of empowering athletes to develop their own skills.

Jul 18, 2018 • 60min
Episode 78: The Difference Between Good and Great
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…

Jul 3, 2018 • 1h 3min
Episode 77: You Can’t Force Improvement
The podcast discusses the dangers of forcing improvement in athletes and the importance of allowing natural adaptation to drive progress. They emphasize the need for coaches to recognize hidden factors that can influence an athlete's performance and the value of patience in training. The speakers also explore the panoramic approach to coaching athletes, emphasizing the importance of creating a better civilization rather than solely focusing on beating competitors. They discuss the importance of interpretation in coaching and the concept of allowing athletes to drive their own improvement. Finally, they introduce a tracking tool called Final Surge for comparing data and tracking athletes' progress.

May 23, 2018 • 1h 13min
Episode #76: Transitions, Ego, and Racing with 3:56 miler Daniel Herrera
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…

May 10, 2018 • 53min
Episode #75: The Easy Days: How far, how fast, how much?
This podcast discusses the importance of easy days and recovery runs in improving performance. It explores tailoring recovery methods and the role of rhythm in coaching. The hosts highlight the limitations of strict training prescriptions and strategies for increasing speed. They also emphasize the significance of easy days in training and mention a sponsor, Health IQ.

Apr 27, 2018 • 1h 7min
On Coaching #74: Alex Hutchinson-“The goal isn’t to go faster…the goal is to feel better doing it.”
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…

Apr 17, 2018 • 1h
On Coaching #73: “Keep Showing Up”- Lessons from the Boston Marathon
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…

Apr 11, 2018 • 49min
On Coaching #72: The Intangibles: Can You Develop the “It” Factor
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…

Apr 4, 2018 • 54min
On Coaching #71: Does Science Constrain Coaching?
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…