Jessica McClain Interview

Some think Jessica McClain was the "tough luck kid" of 2024. After all, she finished 4th in both the Olympic Marathon Trials and the Olympic Track Trials 10,000. And fourth is the worst position, right?

McClain herself doesn't see things that way.

Excited about her life, her work, and her running, she sees the past 10 months as evidence that she's on a great path: happy, healthy, running strong. And she thinks it's a sustainable path that could carry her all the way to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

McClain, who recently won the USATF 10K Road Championship, will race next in the New York City Marathon on November 3.

In this podcast, she discusses her training to get ready for New York. It's going great.

She also talks about:

# Her last-minute trip to the Paris Olympics when she was called to be a possible alternate. She didn't know for whom, or even for which event--10,000 or the marathon. It was an unfortunate and little discussed situation for all involved.

# Her early love for running--she started when she was 12--and how she developed into a 4-time Footlocker XC finalist as a high schooler.

# Her move from Phoenix to Seattle to become a pro runner after graduating from Stanford. And why that didn't work out so well.

# The many life changes she experienced during several Covid years, and how they eventually brought her back to her essential love of running. But not quickly.

# Why so many top women runners seem to be better after they have taken a few years away from the sport ... for whatever reason.

# The fulfillment of working for several nonprofits that support fostering children and adopting dogs.

# And much more.

You can learn more about Jessica McClain by following her on Instagram.

If you'd like to support her work on behalf of foster kids and dog adoptions, visit the Love Up Foundation and/or the Love Pup Foundation.

WHERE TO FIND "RUNNING: STATE OF THE SPORT"

Use your smartphone to download podcast apps from Apple, Spotify, Pandora, or YouTube Podcasts. Once you've selected your favorite app, search for "running state of the sport."

With your computer, tablet, or smartphone, you can also listen direct to “Running: State of the Sport” at the below internet links.

Apple

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"Running: State of the Sport" is brought to you by MarathonHandbook.com and RunLongRunHealthy.com. Marathon Handbook is the world’s leading marathon website, with a special focus on trustworthy running information and free, runner-tested training plans for all ability levels.

"Run Long, Run Healthy" is Amby’s weekly newsletter with the newest, most scientific, and most useful training advice for runners.

Carey Pinkowski Chicago Marathon Interview

Carey Pinkowski is the longest serving race director of a World Marathon Major race, having taken the helm at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon way back in 1990. Before that, he was an elite runner with personal bests ranging from 4:01 in the mile to 2:20:43 in the marathon.

This year's Chicago is just three weeks away on Sunday, October 13. As always it will feature a big and star-studded field of runners.

In his three-plus decades with the Chicago Marathon, Pinkowski has become known for putting on a super-fast race for elite competitors, and a super-efficient race for midpackers.

Last year, Kelvin Kiptum set the marathon world record in Chicago, running 2:00:35. He covered the second half of the distance in an astounding 59:47.

This year's Chicago is expected to host more than 50,000 starters--the most ever. They come for the big city vibe, the fast tour of many neighborhoods, and the easy-accessibility of Chicago's loop course with a start and finish in Grant Park on the lakefront.

In this podcast, Pinkowski reflects on:

# What he learned in his early years on the job

# Some of the best--and most challenging--years of the Chicago Marathon

# What runners like best about coming to Chicago and running the urban marathon

# Why Chicago has pacers vs other Major Marathons that don't

# What he learned from watching Kelvin Kiptum's world-record last year

# How he learned about Kiptum's death, and his immediate reactions

# And much more

You can follow updates from the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Twitter and Instagram.

WHERE TO FIND "RUNNING: STATE OF THE SPORT"

Use your smartphone to download podcast apps from Apple, Spotify, Pandora, or YouTube Podcasts. Once you've selected your favorite app, search for "running state of the sport."

With your computer, tablet, or smartphone, you can also listen direct to “Running: State of the Sport” at the below internet links.

Apple

Spotify

Audible

Pandora

I Heart Radio

YouTube

"Run Long, Run Healthy" is Amby’s weekly newsletter with the newest, most scientific, and most useful training advice for runners.

Mike Scannell Interview (Grant Fisher's coach)

Mike Scannell coached Grant Fisher to two bronze medals (5000 and 10,000 meters) in the Paris Olympics--a feat no American runner had achieved previously. Which brings up a good question: Who is Mike Scannell?

Turns out he is a forever-friend of Grant Fisher's family, and coached Fisher to 2 Footlocker XC Championships victories back when Fisher was a Michigan high schooler. Then he sat back and watched Fisher run 4 years at Stanford, and 4 years with the Bowerman Track Club.

A year ago, Fisher called Scannell to say he was ready for a change of location and coaching. He moved to Park City, UT, and Scannell wrote up a training plan for the long pre-Paris buildup.

In this Pod, Scannell sketches his personal background in running (2:16 marathon!), and describes how he and Fisher designed their successful Olympic plan. Some topics:

# Scannell's 4 key workouts for every training week

# How to build speed with a minimal amount of speedwork

# What he thinks of Fisher's marathon potential

# Can Jakob Ingebrigtsen be beaten at 5000 meters?

# The current state of American running

And much more.

On X.com, Scannell posts a daily motivational tip. Here's a great recent one: "We always save something for ‘another day.’ That’s in part why I don’t do, ‘last one, fast one.’ The other reason is that I don’t want kids to ‘fail’ in practice, and running all out means you run until your body fails. I like kids to walk away with success on the brain."

WHERE TO FIND "RUNNING: STATE OF THE SPORT"

Use your smartphone to download podcast apps from Apple, Spotify, Pandora, or YouTube Podcasts. Once you've selected your favorite app, search for "running state of the sport."

With your computer, tablet, or smartphone, you can also listen direct to “Running: State of the Sport” at the below internet links.

Apple

Spotify

Audible

Pandora

I Heart Radio

YouTube

"Run Long, Run Healthy" is Amby’s weekly newsletter with the newest, most scientific, and most useful training advice for runners.

Paris Olympics Review

It was an amazing Paris Olympics on the track and roads, and George Hirsch and Amby Burfoot discuss all the highlights here in this Paris Review podcast.

We start with our two favorite races--the women’s marathon and men’s 1500 meters--and work our way through just about everything else.

From Faith Kipyegon to Beatrice Chebet to Grant Fisher. From Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone to Gabby Thomas to Kenneth Rooks. And much more.

Relive Paris with us! It was so good, you deserve to enjoy it twice.

Where To Find “Running: State of the Sport”

Use your smartphone to download podcast apps from Apple, Spotify, Pandora, or YouTube Podcasts. Once you've selected your favorite app, search for "running state of the sport."

With your computer, tablet, or smartphone, you can also listen direct to “Running: State of the Sport” at the below internet links.

Apple

Spotify

Audible

Pandora

I Heart Radio

YouTube

"Running: State of the Sport" is brought to you by MarathonHandbook.com and RunLongRunHealthy.com. Marathon Handbook is the world’s leading marathon website, with a special focus on trustworthy running information and free, runner-tested training plans for all ability levels.

"Run Long, Run Healthy" is Amby’s weekly newsletter with the newest, most scientific, and most useful training advice for runners.

Chris Lundstrom interview

Dakotah Lindwurrm, Chris Lundstrom

Chris Lundstrom is coach of the Minnesota Distance Elite team that includes female marathon ace Dakotah Lindwurm, who's running the Paris Olympic Marathon on August 11. Lundstrom himself has a marathon PR of 2:17, and a PhD in exercise science. He teaches at the University of Minnesota.

Lindwurm wasn't among the favorites at the U.S. Marathon Trials in Orlando last February, but she has proven strength at the 26.2-mile distance, and finished third. Another Minnesota Distance Elite runner, Annie Frisbie, placed 10th.

Here Lundstrom discusses:

# The training principles he uses with his runners

# Why he thinks solid marathon training is more important than all the newer gimmicks like shoes, gels, and recovery tools

# Why he and Lindwurm opted to skip altitude training in the pre-Paris period

# What Lindwurm has done to prepare for possible warm weather in Paris

# What it's like to teach a college course in marathon-training for undergraduates

# Why he thinks the U.S. needs more "development" programs and funds for post-collegiate runners

# And much more

For more on Minnesota Distance Elite, click here.

Where To Find “Running: State of the Sport”

Use your smartphone to download podcast apps from Apple, Spotify, Pandora, or YouTube Podcasts. Once you've selected your favorite app, search for "running state of the sport."

With your computer, tablet, or smartphone, you can also listen direct to “Running: State of the Sport” at the below internet links.

Apple

Spotify

Audible

Pandora

I Heart Radio

YouTube

"Running: State of the Sport" is brought to you by MarathonHandbook.com and RunLongRunHealthy.com. Marathon Handbook is the world’s leading marathon website, with a special focus on trustworthy running information and free, runner-tested training plans for all ability levels.

"Run Long, Run Healthy" is Amby’s weekly newsletter with the newest, most scientific, and most useful training advice for runners.

Ed Eyestone Interview

Ed Eyestone has been close to the center of USA distance running for nearly 4 decades, and never more than now. He's coach to American Olympic marathoners Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, and also the guiding hand behind undergraduate steeplechaser James Corrigan's improbable--no, impossible--road to Paris.

Eyestone himself ran in two Olympic Marathons with a best finish of 13th in the Barcelona 1992 Games. In 2016, he coached Jared Ward to his 6th place marathon finish in the Rio Olympics.

And he does all this while holding down a fulltime cross-country and track coaching job at Brigham Young University, his alma mater and that of Ward, Young, and Mantz.

In this deep and revealing interview, Eyestone talks about:

# how to have 6 daughters

# how much faster than 2:10:59 (his personal best from 1990), he could run today with super shoes, super drinks, super cooling methods, etc.

# how Corrigan improved this year from 8:52 to 8:13

# where he was, and how he reacted to the U.S. Marathon Trials last Feb. when Mantz and Young placed first and second

# how the twosome is training right now, with a month to go before the Olympic Marathon

# his philosophy of marathon training

# and why C(squared) = E(squared) is an excellent way to look at your training/racing development.

# and much more.

Where To Find “Running: State of the Sport”

Use your smartphone to download podcast apps from Apple, Spotify, Pandora, or YouTube Podcasts. Once you've selected your favorite app, search for "running state of the sport."

With your computer, tablet, or smartphone, you can also listen direct to “Running: State of the Sport” at the below internet links.

Apple

Spotify

Audible

Pandora

I Heart Radio

YouTube

"Running: State of the Sport" is brought to you by MarathonHandbook.com and RunLongRunHealthy.com. Marathon Handbook is the world’s leading marathon website, with a special focus on trustworthy running information and free, runner-tested training plans for all ability levels.

"Run Long, Run Healthy" is Amby’s weekly newsletter with the newest, most scientific, and most useful training advice for runners.

Emma Coburn Interview

Emma Coburn is only 33 years old, but sports a running resume that’s hard to match. She has won 10 National Championships in the 3000-meter steeplechase. It almost seems that USATF should rename the event the “Emma Coburn Steeplechase.”

Coburn has also won an Olympic bronze medal, and World Championships gold. Her husband, Joe Bosshard, is now her coach, and also coach to a small but select elite group training in Boulder under the name Team Boss.

Unfortunately, Coburn sustained a serious injury in an early-2024 competition, and required ankle surgery. That means she’ll miss this year’s Olympic Track Trials and the Olympic Games in Paris.

Bad luck for sure. But also a good position from which to discuss the inevitable high and lows of global racing, which Emma does in this podcast. She also talks about:

# Her dog Arthur, and how he got that name in honor of the great New Zealand coach, Arthur Lydiard.

# How she was born and raised in a small, high-altitude Colorado town, and spent her youth pursuing various outdoor activities. (Sorta like a young Kenyan.)

# How she ran her first steeplechase only because her father insisted she enter a couple of events to justify their lengthy car drive to the meet

# What she learned from her college coaches at the University of Colorado

# Why she decided to be coached by her husband, the person “who knows the most about me”

# How she’s dealing emotionally (and financially) from the missed Olympic opportunity this year

# Why she plans to be a steeplechase runner forever, rather than switching to another event

You can learn more about Emma Coburn by following her on Instagram.

Where To Find “Running: State of the Sport”

Use your smartphone to download podcast apps from Apple, Spotify, Pandora, or YouTube Podcasts. Once you've selected your favorite app, search for "running state of the sport."

With your computer, tablet, or smartphone, you can also listen direct to “Running: State of the Sport” at the below internet links.

Apple

Spotify

Audible

Pandora

I Heart Radio

YouTube

"Running: State of the Sport" is brought to you by MarathonHandbook.com and RunLongRunHealthy.com. Marathon Handbook is the world’s leading marathon website, with a special focus on trustworthy running information and free, runner-tested training plans for all ability levels.

"Run Long, Run Healthy" is Amby’s weekly newsletter with the newest, most scientific, and most useful training advice for runners.