Special Episode: Ask A Coach

David Alm is a Brooklyn-based writer, an editor, and a professor of journalism at Hunter College of the City University of New York. His work has appeared in GQ, Running Times, The Daily Beast, Forbes, and Runner’s World. His 2021 story for GQ, "The Marathon Men Who Can't Go Home," was named one of the six best features of the year by Longreads and helped two men receive political asylum. David inspires change through his writing and also through action. In 2019, he founded the East River Track Club and East River 5000, which is a series of community-focused track and road races throughout New York City. With East River 5000, David’s mission is to restore the simplicity and accessibility of competitive running in New York. While looking to the past to create a more inclusive present, he is inspired by the less commercialized style of racing in the 1970s and ’80s. Each of his events is a collaboration with local partners that highlights the unique histories and cultures of the local neighborhood. These events are creative, accessible, inviting, supportive, and incredibly fun. David is a wonderful storyteller, and this conversation is a great story about New York, building community, taking chances, and putting down roots.

Dr. James Kinderknecht, MD is a physician of Primary Sports Medicine at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City. Dr. Kinderknecht has 30 years of experience caring for athletes of all ages and levels. He is a team physician for the New York Giants; the current medical director for the HSS outreach program for high schools participating in the Public School Athletic League in New York City; the medical co-director of the HSS Sports Safety Program and he is the program director of the Primary Sports Medicine Fellowship at HSS. With all of these appointments and accolades, you could say that youth athletics, education, and helping to support and facilitate active lifestyles for the New York City community are all important to Dr. Kinderknecht. _ This is a fascinating and intriguing conversation about health, athletics and injury. It is also a delightful conversation about coaching, the importance of mentorship in creating opportunities for diversity in sports, the value of fun over achievement, as well as the importance of the human element in medicine.

You asked, we answer. Join us for a special episode in which Ann and Ali answer all of your training questions. We cover topics such as stretching and tapering, the benefits of caffeine, as well as offering a few mental tricks for race day performance. This episode is filled with experience and suggestions, a few gaffes and even some unedited bloopers. We hope you enjoy this special edition show.

Artist, teacher, Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier, and now mother, Megan Foster returns to the podcast. A lot has happened since we first interviewed Meg in October 2019 (see Episode 29: "The Artist at Work"): two knee surgeries, one c-section, and a pandemic. Meg has resumed toeing the line, however, getting to that line has not been easy. We talk about it all in this beautiful episode. This is a conversation about grace, resiliency, competition, adapting, and coming to terms with the very real possibility that a passion could have become out of reach.   Meg was also one of four women featured in our live panel discussion at Custom Performance in New York City on February 9, 2020. To listen to the recording see Episode 37: "Women Run The World."

When Stephanie Shiau moved to South Orange, New Jersey in the autumn of 2019 she left her New York running community behind. Having trained with a group for several years, Stephanie knew the magic and transformation that comes through training with others. Not wanting to miss out on this camaraderie and growth, Stephanie immediately searched for a running community in her new neighborhood. What she found, however was an opportunity to create a running community and, thus, SOMA Fox Running Club was born. Stephanie Shiau is an epidemiologist at Rutgers School of Public Health where she teaches and mentors graduate students. It’s not a surprise that she would teach and mentor individuals in another realm about which she knows a lot: running. Stephanie is a founding member and head coach of SOMA Fox Running Club, which serves South Orange / Maplewood and the surrounding New Jersey neighborhoods. SOMA Fox Running Club is not just any running club, though. Their mission is twofold: to promote and extend the joys of running to everyone, and to give back to the community. As such, and because they believe that all people should have access to healthy food to achieve their own goals, a percentage of all funds raised by SOMA Fox Running Club goes to their charity partner, MEND - Meeting Essential Needs with Dignity. This is a story about leadership, courage in creating community during a global pandemic, inclusivity, service, compassion and the power and joy that arise when a community supports one another.

Part of the elite field at the 2021 New York City Marathon, Ana Johnson has been a talented runner from her very first race. At this year’s marathon, which was not only the 50th Anniversary of the New York City Marathon, but also a five-borough celebration of the city itself, Ana ran 2:44:11 - thirty seconds faster than her time on the same course in 2019. Ana moved to New York from Torreon, Mexico at the age of 18 to learn English. She is now an oncology nurse at Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center. Raised by marathoners, Ana's running achievements are impressive and inspiring. So is her determination and will in the rest of her life. This is a story about chasing dreams, falling in love, falling in love with running, being open, being positive and how one woman used running to cope with a terrifying year as a healthcare worker during the pandemic in New York City.

Chill Track Friday is back with legendary coach, Greg McMillan, M.S. Greg holds a masters degree in exercise physiology with a research focus on the determining factors of distance running performance. Greg is one of the best running coaches around, using his expertise in exercise science to create scientifically-based training programs that are individualized to runners of all abilities, from new runners all the way to age group and pro runners. Greg is also an accomplished runner. His accolades include: National Trail Marathon Masters Champion (2009); 2:31:58 marathon; 1:10:28 half marathon; 30:57 10000m; 14:55 5000m; 3:57 1500m; and 1:57 800m. He has coached over 10,000 Boston Qualifiers (and counting); 14 National Champions; athletes training for the Olympic Trials; Olympic Games; World Championships; Pan American Games, to name a few. Greg is the creator of the McMillan Running Calculator and the head coach for the McMillan Run Team. He has authored five books, was a senior writer for Running Times Magazine and is a consulting expert for numerous publications such as Runner’s World Magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Outside Magazine, and Men’s Health. Greg is currently creating a McMillan Coaching Certification program. This is a practical and helpful conversation with one of the best distance coaches alive. Greg shares with us his journey from runner to coach. He explains the importance of adhering to training paces, developing a racing strategy, and the power that the mind has on our performance. If you are looking for thoughtful, methodical and intelligent guidance, this is the conversation for you.

In November 2020 Sean Hamilton went to secluded Dunn Lake, British Columbia looking for something. What that something was he did not know, but he followed the strong pull that was begging him to retreat into nature. Sean remained alone in the woods until the end of December. The lessons gained from his solitude may only ever be fully known to him, but while spending this time by himself, Sean ran mile after mile and produced a beautiful book of poems, or as he refers to it, “a training log and corresponding field notes.” “Running Through the Woods, The River Gentle on My Mind” is a poignant personal meditation on a particular place and time. Though the book holds the reflections of one man, the questions raised are perhaps universal questions and ones to which immediate answers may not be available. Perhaps, instead, as Rainer Maria Rilke wrote in “Letters to a Young Poet” we will “gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” This is an intimate conversation about transformation, solitude, loss, creativity, inner strength, the beauty of nature, and one man’s reflections on his relationship to all of it. _ Shoulder Season: “I am a wanderer, lingering between homebody and vagabond, unfixed to a permanent address.   I am a shoulder season, shifting without prolonged expectation, untethered from assumption or prediction. I am March 20th, hovering on the final page of the chapter, unpredictable as to what may come.   I am at a loss, lusting to be freed from the cage of specificity, unchained to title, category or subspecies.   It’s just earth and weather and water and beings. I am a part of it.”  

Jason and Duy are professional photographers who became friends through social media. When COVID-19 paralyzed the globe, they decided to collaborate on a project that would memorialize the moment while providing work for their photographer colleagues. Thus "Long Distance" was born. “'Long Distance' is a collection of stories and photographs, told and taken by runners across the world during the pandemic. 176 pages on uncoated recycled paper; featuring 28 cities and 34 stories; perfect bound, offset-printed” with contributions from 25 photographers and more than 30 writers. Our conversation with Jason and Duy is a story about a project that defies its subject; a project that allows people all over the world who have been forced into isolation to come together in a new way. The conversation is also a reflection on friendship, creative partnership, and the intricacies and surprises that occur when two photographers venture into magazine publishing. "Long Distance" is more than a magazine: it is a love letter to running during a time that none of us will ever forget.

Victor Diaz and his business partner, Bolota Asmerom, recognized that something very important was missing from their Oakland, CA, running community: representation for people of color. They founded Renegade Running with the mission of creating a welcoming space that’s responsive to the diverse population it serves. Located among retail stores and artists’ work-spaces, Renegade Running is much more than a place to buy shoes. It is a community hub, a destination, and an ethos. It is a space where people can ask questions, discuss current events, and push the sport of running forward in ways that appeal to more people and include all people. With a slick aesthetic, cool programming, and a carefully curated list of brands, Renegade Running is edgy and elegant; more importantly, the store actively engages with the surrounding neighborhoods and supports all of that community’s members. With over twenty years of public-education experience, community organizing, and competitive running under his belt, Victor knows how to listen to his neighbors and understand their needs. (Oh, and by the way, he’s also really fast!) Renegade Running is about activism, artistry, creativity, functionality, expression, merchandise, and partnership, and it’s definitely making running cool again. Through this unique venture, Victor Diaz is contributing vast amounts of time and energy to his sport, his community, and far beyond.