Episode 286: Airing It Out: Making Smart Decisions About Air Quality & Missed Workouts

When is quitting actually the smart choice?Inspired by New York Times journalist Lindsay Crouse’s new book, The Case for Quitting, we’re talking about something runners often have a hard time doing: knowing when to stop, change course, or as we prefer to call it…pivot.As runners, we’re taught to be persistent. We celebrate grit, consistency, and pushing through when things get hard. But there are times when continuing with a training plan, workout, race, or specific goal is no longer serving us—and recognizing that isn’t weakness. It can be a sign of good judgment.In this episode, we discuss the mental, environmental, and health factors that may signal it’s time to pivot in training and racing.There’s no shame in quitting. And there’s a lot of power in knowing when to pivot.

We are so excited to welcome sports psychologist Dr. Mitchell Greene to talk about the fears we see all the time in runners and, more importantly, how we can learn to work with those fears rather than allowing them to control our training and racing.We’re diving into some of the biggest fears runners face and how to distinguish between being appropriately cautious and being controlled by fear, and why confidence isn't necessarily the absence of fear.Dr. Greene shares practical strategies runners can use to keep fear from dictating their decisions and explains why courage—not confidence—is often what allows us to move forward when we're uncertain, nervous, or doubtful.Check out Mitch’s new three-part Courage Over Confidence for Runners course.The course is $150, and Run Farther & Faster listeners can receive 10% off with code RFF10.Courage Over Confidence for Runners | Greenepsych

You’ve put in the work. The workouts are clicking, your paces are feeling easier, the weather is cooperating, and suddenly you’re wondering if you can do more, should be running more, and/or should be running faster. In Episode 290, we discuss how to protect a solid training cycle all the way to the start line. When training is going well, it can be just as easy to get derailed by emotion as when things are not going as smoothly. Feeling strong can lead runners to push paces, add mileage, squeeze in extra workouts, constantly test their fitness, or decide that their training plan is holding them back.We’re breaking down how to use the positive feedback from a strong training cycle without letting it tempt you into doing too much, and why feeling good is often evidence that your plan is working, not evidence that you need to do more.

As we publish this today, August 21st, we are experiencing the first sub 70 degree morning since June. The summer of 2026 has been ridiculously steamy for so many of us around the world, and our running feels tough as a result.In this episode, we provide ten science-based reasons why your slow, sweaty, and uncomfortable summer runs are serving you well for fall. We also discuss how to optimize your easy days and your speed work to ensure you’re getting the right training stimulus on a particular day.We hope when listening to this episode you are enjoying some cooler temperatures!Follow us on Instagram and Facebook Interested in hiring a coach? Email us at [email protected] or head over to our website.Please follow, share and review our show!

You’ve had a great training cycle…until taper. Your legs feel heavy. You feel a pain you never felt before in your training. You wonder if you will be able to achieve your goal. In this second episode of a two-part series, we’re tackling the most common sources of runner anxiety that arise before, during, and after a race and sharing how we help athletes separate normal racing stress from legitimate concerns.We hope that this episode will give you practical strategies to manage the mental side of racing and build confidence in your process.Follow us on Instagram and Facebook Interested in hiring a coach? Email us at [email protected] or head over to our website.Please follow, share and review our show!

You’ve had a great training cycle…until that one bad workout. Your legs feel heavy. Your Garmin tells you you’re “unproductive.” You miss a few runs, head out on vacation, or start comparing your mileage to everyone else’s, and suddenly you’re questioning everything.In this first episode of a two-part series, we’re tackling the most common sources of runner anxiety that arise during a training cycle and sharing how we help athletes separate normal training stress from legitimate concerns.We hope that this episode will give you practical strategies to manage the mental side of training and build confidence in your process.Join us next week for Part 2, when we tackle the anxieties that show up as race day gets closer.Follow us on Instagram and Facebook Interested in hiring a coach? Email us at [email protected] or head over to our website.Please follow, share and review our show!

If you’ve been staring at your weather app wondering whether you should head out the door or stay inside, this episode is for you.This week, we tackle one of the most common questions we’ve been getting from runners: Should I run when the AQI is high? Remember:consistency wins over single workouts, and sometimes the smartest training decisions are the hardest.Follow us on Instagram and Facebook Interested in hiring a coach? Email us at [email protected] or head over to our website.Please follow, share and review our show!

After a big announcement and a conversation about recent races, we welcome Cat Fitzgerald, PT, of Custom Performance in New York City , for an important discussion about underfueling, Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S), and injury risk in runners.Cat explains how insufficient energy intake can affect recovery, bone health, hormones, performance, and the body’s ability to withstand training. They discuss signs that a runner may be underfueling, why RED-S is not limited to athletes in a particular body type or at a particular level, and how runners can better support their training through adequate nutrition and recovery.Cat Fitzgerald is a physical therapist with Custom Performance, a New York–based practice that helps athletes return to sport, build resilience, and stay healthy through individualized physical therapy and performance care. Learn more about Custom Performance at customperformancept.com.

After graduation, travel, and a run-in with a rodent/mammal, we are back with updates, along with some hot weather racing and training tips!

If your running feels stagnant, the problem may not be your training plan at all. In this episode, we break down ten overlooked factors that can quietly sabotage performance, recovery, and consistency. In this episode, we explore the hidden non-running issues that often prevent runners from reaching their goals.Follow us on Instagram and Facebook Interested in hiring a coach? Email us at [email protected] or head over to our website.Please follow, share and review our show!Special shout out to our friend, Mitchell Wool, owner of the Bean Bag Catering, who caters small gatherings to large events in the DC area! (www.thebeanbag.com).