The Sunday Plodcast

Not long to go now until the Athletics kicks off at the Tokyo Olympics! We're going to bring you daily content about all the distance events throughout the Games. Keep your eyes peeled for our first episode in the series, airing on July 30th. 

This week, we welcomed the Tokyo-bound, Jake Heyward, to the podcast. Jake holds personal bests of 3:33 in the 1500 and 3:52 in the Mile and he spoke to us about life at Oregon Track Club, his preparation for the Olympic Games, and much more. Enjoy! 

For this week's episode, we spoke to the Head of Athletics at Leeds Beckett University, Andy Henderson. Andy works with a vast group of top distance runners up in Leeds (including former plodcast guests, Alex Bell and Phil Sesemann) and he told us about how he got into coaching, how his group has evolved in recent years, and much more. Enjoy! 

This week, we spoke to 2016 Olympian, Andy Butchart. Andy has a PB of 13:06 in the 5000m and has just booked his spot on his 2nd GB Olympic team. We spoke to Butchy about his career so far, his goals for the rest of the season, and much more. Enjoy! 

For this week's episode, we welcomed GB 800m runner, Lynsey Sharp, to the podcast. Lynsey's a two-time Olympian with a PB of 1:57 and we spoke to her about her career so far; that includes making multiple major championship finals and picking up Commonwealth and European medals along the way. Lynsey talked us through her experiences on the elite distance running circuit, and much more. Enjoy! 

With the British Olympic Trials coming up next weekend, we welcomed Mark Hookway and Niki Faulkner to the podcast; to discuss our picks for the top spots at the trials! After some debate, we managed to agree upon some winners for each of the distance events and, hopefully, this will help you with your own picks for our trials prediction contest. If you want to be in with a chance of winning a £100 cash prize, as well as a pair of New Balance Fuel Cell RC Elite V2 running shoes (provided to us by SportsShoes.com), head over to our Instagram (@sundayplodcast) for full details. 

For this week's episode, we spoke to Kevin Ondrasek from Thunder Road Running. Kevin is a US-based distance running coach who ran a 3:41 1500 before transitioning into coaching at numerous NCAA universities. These include Florida State, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. Kevin talked about what life is like for collegiate athletes in the NCAA, as well as some of the unique challenges that coaches face when working in the US collegiate system. Enjoy! 

For this bonus episode, we were joined by professional sports broadcaster, Tom Gayle. Tom was part of the commentary team for the British Athletics Olympic 10,000m Trials and the three of us discuss the trials meet. We talk through both the men's and the women's races, that saw Marc Scott, Eilish McColgan and Jess Judd book their spots on the plane to Tokyo. Enjoy! 

For our 30th episode, we welcomed Tom Mortimer to the podcast. Tom has been in fine form so far this year; winning all his races on British soil and running PB’s of 3:42 in the 1500 and 13:28 in the 5000 in the process. Currently running at Loughborough University under Chris and Sonia McGeorge, Tom told us about his current training setup, his plans for the rest of the season, and much more. Enjoy! 

This week, we spoke to US-based Brit, Patrick Dever. Currently studying at Tulsa university, Paddy talked us through life in the NCAA and the type of training that's led to his recent PB's of 13:28 in the 5K and 28:28 in the 10k. Enjoy!