All Things Endurance

Welcome the first ‘All Things Endurance’ podcast! In this inaugural episode, host Rick Prince chats with coach, Ben Rosario. Ben is the executive director, and former head coach of the HOKA Northern Arizona Elite professional running team – one of the top professional running teams in the world. Previous to his coaching career, Ben was a professional runner with the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project team.

In this episode, Ben discusses what amateur runners can learn from professionals, and specifically, Ben covers a multitude of areas that amateurs can apply to their training and racing to be the best runner they can be. Some of the areas that Ben discusses are pacing, the importance of rest, mental training, running form, training volume, strength training and speedwork.

So, if you’re interested in improving your running performance, go ahead and give this podcast a listen- you won’t regret it!

· Pacing (2:53): Practice makes perfect. To understand how to pace properly in a race, you must trial the exact pace you’re looking to hold in a race in training.

· Pacing (6:17): Not running slow is the number one mistake that most people make

· Pacing (2:30): How to get better at interpreting rate of perceived exertion

· Rest (18:20): Why is rest so critical for runners?

· Rest (23:55): Make rest-related goals

· Psychology (26:15): Correlation to being happy and running well

· Running Form (29:27): Key running form aspects

· Training Volume (36:34): Finding a sweet spot in your volume

· Strength Training (40:06): The importance of strength training

· Speedwork (43:55): The most valuable pace to train at

In this episode of All Things Endurance, host Rick Prince chats with coach Nick Hancock, owner of Maximum Mileage Coaching in the UK. If you’re looking to start or scale your coaching business, consider this podcast a must listen! Coach Hancock doesn’t hold back about his challenges, his successes and his best pieces of advice for new coaches. He also discusses his personal challenges that led him to start running and coaching.

1. Tell us about yourself and how you got into coaching

2. What was it like balancing coaching as your side gig and your full-time job?

3. When you made the decision to go full-time into coaching, was it a leap of faith or was your coaching income enough that you didn’t have many worries?

4. How long did it take to go from side-gig to full-time with coaching?

5. What are some of the things that you do attract and retain athletes?

6. If someone is looking to go full-time into coaching like you did, what are some tips that you have for them?

7. What are some mistakes that you did with respect to going full-time?

8. How do you balance your own training, coaching and family obligations?

9. What do you enjoy the most and least about being a full-time coach?

10. You have a coach that works with you. What advice would you give to coaches that are considering bringing on another coach to work with them?

Jeff Pierce is a former professional cyclist and the current CEO of Carmichael Training Systems (CTS). In Jeff’s distinguished cycling career, he rode for team 7-11, the first American to ride the Tour De France and in 1987, Jeff became just the third American to win a stage of the Tour De France on the final stage on the Champs-Elysees.
In his current role as CEO of CTS, Jeff is responsible for the overall operations and direction of CTS. In this episode, host Rick Prince chats with Jeff about the coaching landscape and how it has evolved over the years – as well as where it is heading.

Questions covered in this episode include:

1. Please tell our listeners about your sport background as well as your career post being a pro cyclist

2. What was the coaching landscape like while you were racing professionally?

3. How has training technology changed the coaching profession over the years?

4. What are some of the main reasons that athletes hire coaches at CTS?

5. What do you think the increase in demand of qualified coaches is due to?

6. Are there any significant trends that you see in the coaching landscape at CTS?

7. To be a successful coach, what are some of key qualities that athletes are looking for, as well as you as the head of CTS?

8. What are some current challenges that the coaching profession faces?

9. Where to you see the coaching profession in 5-10 years with respect to its evolution?

Lastly, as CTS is largely one of the first to legitimize the profession of endurance sports coaching, what do you attribute its longevity to?

In this episode, host Rick Prince chats with coach and physical therapist, Nicole Armbrust – owner of Jump Start Running, based out of Boulder, Colorado. Nicole specialized in working with female masters athletes and as such, this podcast discusses her decision to focus on working with masters athletes, as well as various aspects that are pertinent to masters athletes.

1. Tell us about your background

2. Your current focus is working with female masters runners. Why?

3. As a PT, are there any common issues that you see amongst master runners versus younger runners?

4. As a generalization, with respect to endurance sports, aging is often associated with increased – or at least not diminishing endurance, while youth, is often associated with speed and quickness... and quick recovery. Do you find this generalization to be true?

5. What are some of the most important considerations when working with masters runners?

6. I think a lot of masters athletes are concerned about becoming slower. How do you tackle this subject with your athletes and moreover, are there any main things to focus on?

7. As a masters athlete myself, I often reflect back on how I was faster when I was younger and I find myself comparing myself to that person – which inevitably leads to frustration. How do you deal with athletes like myself in this regard?

Do you find that masters athletes are more susceptible to injuries?

In this episode, host Rick Prince chats with former professional, and current elite masters cyclist, Laura Van Gilder. Laura is a former elite criterium champion, the winningest female US cyclist in history and the current UCI gravel world champion (60-64)... in addition to other national and world titles. In this podcast, Laura discusses many things, including her beginnings in the sport, her rise to becoming a professional cyclist, and how she manages to keep things fun and still race to this day! Laura is a legend in the sport of cycling and whether you’re a fan of cycling or not, this is an intriguing conversation.

1. Could you tell us more about your sport background and some of your many accomplishments

2. How many years have you been competing?

3. You’re known as a sprinter, but you live in a pretty hilly area. Have you found that training in a hilly area has given you an advantage over other sprinters on rolling/hilly terrain?

4. As you’ve progressed through your cycling career, how has your training changed/evolved?

5. With respect to various aspects of fitness (i.e., endurance, strength, explosiveness, etc...), how have these changed, if at all?

6. What keeps you training and racing?

7. How has your nutrition changed over the years of your career, if at all?

8. What advice would you give to other master’s athletes?

9. Given the popularity of gravel racing/riding, do you find yourself doing more gravel riding than road riding these days?

10. Given all your experience, if there is one thing that you’ve learned that you wish you knew when you were in the infancy of your cycling career, what would it be?

What cycling goals do you have for the upcoming year?