John O'Malley discusses how the 800m is different than XC, and the mentality needed to run the race well. Visit CoacJayJohnson.com to learn more about the Mental Skills for High School Runners course, which this excerpt is from. Enjoy!By Jay Johnson

Here from John O'Malley, Shannon Thompson, Kelly Christensen, and Sinclaire Johnson. You can find the full video on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr-510ZW1Ac&feature=youtu.be More mental skills videos at www.coachjayjohnson.com/mental_skills_HS Here's what coaches and athletes are saying about the Mental Skills course: https://testimonial.to/men…

In this mini-episode Coach Jay explains what coaches should do when an athlete is ill. Hint: Lowering the volume, but expecting them to run workouts that replicate the demands of the race is the way to go. Let's go!By Jay Johnson

In this mini-episode Coach Jay talks about how to use Tuesday meets to get kids ready to run fast at a Saturday invitation.By Jay Johnson

This is an excerpt from Alex's presentation at the Boulder Running Camps 2020-21 Winter Virtual Camp. It's a fantastic presentation and both the athletes and coaches who were fortunate to learn from Alex. If you're a coach and you want your athletes to learn from coaches like Alex have them (and their parents) visit BoulderRunningCamps.com and lear…

In this episode, Jay Johnson explains why he doesn't use the term speed work. He goes into detail about how he thinks coaches should use the term speed. It's his contention that the term 'race pace work' can often be used to assign training to athletes. Check out Jay's other podcast, Running with Coach Jay, to hear his views on why this term is als…

Alex Lyons is a tremendous coach and I'm so happy he not only joined me on the podcast, but that's he's part of the Boulder Running Clinics 2020-21 Winter Webinar Series. Alex is the girl's coach at Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Illinois. The girls have had tremendous success in both cross country and track during his time as the head co…

John O'Malley is the boy's cross country and track coach at Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Illinois. He is the only person to have coached two Footlocker national champions. On the track, his boys ran an average time of 7:44 in the 4 x 800m for seven consecutive years (averaging 1:56 per athlete). John is part of a panel discussion on burnout…

Jonathan Dalby is the girl's and boy's coach at Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. His teams have won multiple state titles in cross country and have made multiple NXN appearances, including in 2017 when the boys were third and the girls were sixth. Jonathan is part of a panel discussion on burnout as part of the Boulder Runni…

Kim O'Malley is a former high school coach - nine years in both California and Colorado - who is a content developer for Girls On The Run International. Kim is part of a panel discussion on burnout as part of the Boulder Running Clinics Winter Webinar Series. This is a series of 12 webinars, each roughly 90 minutes, that you can attend live or watc…

Jessie Magoto, the girl's cross country and track coach at Minster High School, in Minster, Ohio, is my guest on this episode. We discuss burnout in both coaching and teaching. Jessie explains how she keeps her energy high throughout the year. Jessie is part of a panel discussion on burnout as part of the Boulder Running Clinics Winter Webinar Seri…

Jeff Messer, PhD, and Jay discuss how coaches and athletes can view training during the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr. Messer references two papers and summaries them in this podcast. 1. Debunking the Myth of Exercise-Induced Immune Suppression: Redefining the Impact of Exercise on Immunological Health Across the Lifespan. Campbell JP1, Turner JE1. https:/…

By Jay Johnson

By Jay Johnson

By Jay Johnson

By Jay Johnson

By Jay Johnson

By Jay Johnson

By Jay Johnson

Alex Ostberg is currently entering his 5th year at Stanford University, where he has been an All-American in both cross country and track. This podcast is rooted in a presentation Alex did at the 2019 Boulder Running Camps titled, "The Ten Things I Wish I Knew As A High School Runner." Alex is passionate about both the sport and helping high school…

Dr. Rebecca Breslow is a Sports Medicine physician in Boston, Massachusetts. She has specific interests in running and road race medicine, non-operative treatment of musculoskeletal injuries, sports injury prevention, fitness and exercise. A graduate of Yale University, Dr. Breslow did her medical training at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and …

Tonya McDonough is the girls cross country and distance coach at Iowa City Liberty High School in Iowa City, Iowa. This conversation focuses on summer training for high school girls, specifically Tonya’s three juniors who want to make a jump this summer. The starting point for the conversation is a brief overview of the concepts she learned in Jay’…

Howard Russ just completed his 11th season as men’s and women’s head coach for Beavercreek High School in Beavercreek, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton. In 2018, Russ’s girls won their first OHSAA Division One state championship, and Russ had his first state champion individual with junior Taylor Ewert. Ewert is a 4-time All-American including a 3rd place …

Tony Holler is the boy's track coach at Plainfield North H.S. (IL). In 2018 Coach Holler's team swept the sprints - 4x100m, 4x200m, 100m, 200m - at the IHSA State Meet, setting two state records. He’s been coaching high school athletes for 38 years. Tony is the owner of “Feed the Cats,” a system for training sprinters that is being implemented thro…

Dr. Jeff Messer serves as department chair for the Exercise Science Department at Mesa Community College, Mesa, Arizona. Dr. Messer also serves as a volunteer assistant coach for boys' cross-country and track-&-field at Desert Vista High School, Phoenix, AZ. In addition, Dr. Messer serves as a personal coach for professional runner Jessica Tonn. Dr…

Jeff has a unique background as a coach, in that he was a distance runner in high school and college. He moved to Boulder, Colorado, to train, and found himself coaching the jumps at Lyons High School, just north of Boulder. He took the challenge of becoming a great jumps coach seriously, and that meant taking a deep dive into the speed and power w…

John is the only person to have coached two Footlocker Champions (Lukas Verzbicus and Dylan Jacobs). He’s also had tremendous success coaching 800m runners: 26 boys have run under 1:58 and 9 under 1:54 under his guidance. This interview with John O’Malley was recorded in November of 2018, soon after a disappointing cross country season for his team…

What a pleasure it was to interview my friend Chris Lear for the first episode of the Coaching Runners podcast. Chris is known primarily as the author of Running with the Buffaloes and Sub-4. Most people don't know that Chris broke 4:10 for the full mile as a high school athlete, and was an All-American, running the 1,200m leg of the DMR for Prince…

Welcome to the Coaching Runners Podcast, hosted by Jay Johnson. The goal of the podcast is to help high school coaches broaden their knowledge of the craft of coaching and help them take their programs to the next level. Jay interviews coaches at all levels of the sport, as well as athletes, sports scientists, and medical professionals. These inter…

The 2018 Boston Marathon Champion discusses the ups and downs of her running career, and a really wet, cold, and glorious day in Boston.By Boston Athletic Association

Roger Robinson, a professor, a writer, and a world-class runner, joins Tom Grilk on the Boston Marathon podcast. With years of experience in a myriad of areas, Robinson shares his perspectives on literature, running, the intersection between them, and the current state of running. And, he's married to women's running pioneer Kathrine Switzer, makin…

While training with her coach in the Winter of 1966, Kathrine was told that 'women were not allowed to run the Boston Marathon'. Flabbergasted, the Syracuse University student set her mind on doing just that - and in 1967, she made way for Boston. She signed her name 'K.V.' on the application form and started the 1967 race without incident. But a f…

There are many inclines along the course of the Boston Marathon, but they don't phase five-time champion Tatyana McFadden, who has overcome far greater obstacles in her time. In this episode, Tatyana sits down with B.A.A. CEO Tom Grilk and B.A.A. Board Member Cheri Blauwet to talk about her success and struggles both in and out of the sport. And, a…

Cheri Blauwet grew up in Iowa as an involved student - student council and academic groups filled her schedule. Sports and competitive racing rarely drew her interest. After all, Blauwet used a wheelchair to get around, and didn't feel that the track team was something she was cut out for. But with the persistent encouragement of a high school advi…

The B.A.A. Medical Coordinator Chris Troyanos manages an enormous team of medical professionals to help care for thousands of runners at each Boston Marathon, and he does it sometimes under the most difficult weather conditions. From the cold, wind, and rain of the 2018 Boston Marathon, to the heat of 2012 and 2004, Chris and his team are prepared …

The 1968 Boston Marathon Champion reflects on his decades of contributions to the sport of running, as both a competitor and a writer. Amby has seen many changes sweep through the sport of running since his first impressions of the Boston Marathon as a Wesleyan Student in 1965. He has experienced them as a competitor, and as a long time contributor…

Winning the Boston Marathon had been a goal of Greg Meyer's for several years, and one day in 1983, it all came together and he broke the tape in 2:09:00. He sat down with Tom Grilk in March of 2018 to talk about that special day, his training leading up to it, and the state of the sport, both then in the 1970s and 1980s, and now.…

In the 1960s, there was a belief - by some - that women were not physiologically able to run long distances, like a marathon. Roberta Gibb disagreed. She would run for hours, regularly, in Southern California. One time, she ran into Mexico by accident. In 1966 she rode a bus from California to Boston, allured of a new challenge - the Boston Maratho…

You could say it all started for Meb as a seventh-grader who ran a 5:20 mile in gym class. But, you would have missed an unbelievable journey that preceded it – a civil war that threatened the already-destitute conditions in Eritrea in the 1980s, a refugee voyage to Italy, and a test of a family’s resilience to get to America, that thrived once on …

In the world of running, Dave McGillivray has covered a lot of ground, from running a shoe store, to training with world class athletes, and now serving as the Boston Marathon race director. He's also run across the United States twice, and has run more than 150 marathons and "about" 150,000 miles in his life. Now, as leader of Dave McGillivray Spo…

In the 1960’s, the word 'pioneer' sounded romantic to Sara Mae Berman. Little did she know at the time that pioneering would become part of her legacy. As one of the first women to run long distances, and the second woman to win the Boston Marathon, Berman won in 1969, 1970, and 1971. Her accomplishments paved the way for Berman’s long road for wom…

Jack Fultz, born in Northwestern Pennsylvania as the sixth of seven children, grew his running career through high school, the University of Arizona, the Coast Guard, and Georgetown. In an attempt to qualify for the 1976 Olympic Trials, Fultz needed a sub-2:20 marathon performance in Boston to hit the standard. As he arrived in Hopkinton on Patriot…

A four-time champion of the Boston and New York City Marathons, Bill Rodgers is a global ambassador for the sport, and, now 70, is still tackling road races near and far. Among other roles, he's an ambassador for John Hancock at each Boston Marathon, and can be found bounding around the city each year around the race. After his collegiate running d…