THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

NEWSLETTER: https://therundownbytherunningeffect.substack.comThe magic workout you're chasing doesn't exist. In fact, the urge to prove your fitness before race day might be the very thing that breaks you.Alex Ostberg is back for our monthly recap of The Rundown, his weekly newsletter that lands in your inbox every Thursday. The former Stanford and UNC All-American, now an assistant coach at Nike's Swoosh Track Club in Eugene, joins Dominic to unpack the four biggest pieces from the past month—and the timing couldn't be better with cross country season underway.First up: why the best runners gain fitness instead of proving it, featuring Jakob Ingebrigtsen's carrot-farming metaphor and the cautionary tale of the indicator workout that helped derail Alex's senior cross country season. Then the duo digs into bicarb—what it actually does inside your muscles, why the old soda-loading era was a deal with the devil, and whether the one-to-two-percent edge matters for anyone who isn't already elite.From there, the conversation moves upstream. Racing depends on training, but training depends on the lifestyle underneath it, and Alex walks through the four environmental defaults he changed at Stanford that made discipline automatic. Finally, the conversation that saved his running career: Coach Milt holding up a mirror to a struggling sophomore and reminding him, "You wanted this."Along the way: negative visualization, hardship inoculation, Warren Buffett on trust, and why willpower always loses to the environment.Subscribe to The Rundown (always the first link below) and get faster in three to five minutes every Thursday.Tap into the Rundown Recap Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.S H O W  N O T E S   -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ-My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffzBehind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZLuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20

Your body doesn't know the difference between Coca-Cola and watermelon. And according to registered sports dietitian Cortney Berling, that might be the most freeing thing a runner can learn.

Back for her third appearance on The Running Effect, Cortney joins Dominic to dismantle the food rules holding runners back, starting with the sport's most controversial question: does weight loss actually make you faster? Her answer is a masterclass in why general nutrition advice fails athletes, especially female ones. 

The guidelines on your food label were built around a 154-pound reference man from 1941, not a marathoner in a training block, and definitely not a 14-year-old girl navigating puberty.

Cortney shares her own story of underfueling, doing everything society called "healthy" until she lost her period and, for a time, her ability to have kids, and explains why the runners plateauing hardest are usually the ones eating the least. Her rule is simple: only run the miles you're willing to fuel for.

Along the way, the two get refreshingly practical. Why full-sugar Coke beats Diet Coke after a long run. Race-day fueling blueprints for cross country and multi-race track meets. The hydration equation every runner should know. Why eating before bed isn't the sin you've been told it is, and how liquid calories save high-mileage athletes drowning in grocery bills.

But the biggest takeaway might be Cortney's fifth and final point: your relationship with food matters just as much as the food itself. You don't earn your food by running, you earn your run by eating enough.

Tap into the Cortney Berling Special. 

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.

S H O W  N O T E S   

-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs

-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run

-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ

-My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz

Behind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZ

LuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop

$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20

Coaching: Eat Well Perform Better 

Instagram:  @eatwell.runbetter

Josh Kerr didn't chase the mile world record, he created it. And the man who spent six years helping him build the mind to do it is finally telling the story.

Jose Maresma is Kerr's sports psychologist, a clinical exercise physiologist with 35 years of experience spanning the Olympic Training Center, the NFL, NBA, special operators, ER doctors, and CEOs. Their partnership started with a pickaxe: Maresma invited Kerr to his men's group, where the Olympic medalist cracked through four inches of ice at six in the morning and realized the anxiety felt exactly like stepping on a starting line.

This conversation goes far beyond race tactics. Maresma and Dominic dig into the trauma that drives high achievers; the belief that love and belonging are contingent on succeeding; why so many people find running as an outlet; and where anyone can start doing the inner work. Maresma opens up about the loss that led him to become a meditation teacher, and breaks down practical tools you can use today: breath work, the physiological sigh, nasal breathing, and how to pull your mind back into your body mid-race.

Then there's the record itself. Maresma takes us inside the final session, the time trial that felt "too easy," the cue to surrender rather than fight, and what he saw from the stands when Kerr and his pacers locked into formation like fighter jets.

What sets Josh Kerr apart? Not discipline. Curiosity, brutal self-honesty, and the healthiest ego Maresma has seen in 35 years.

Tap into the Jose Maresma Special. 

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.

S H O W  N O T E S   

-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs

-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run

-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ

-My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz

Behind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZ

LuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop

$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20

Find Jose's work at embodiedspirits.com or @josevo2max on Instagram

Pete Julian didn't beat cancer—he survived it, and that distinction shapes everything about how he coaches.

The Union Athletics Club founder sits down with Dominic for one of the most reflective conversations in the show'shistory. Julian opens up about coaching across cultures—helping Suguru Osako escape Japan's ekiden machine, swapping pep talks for pure logic with Germany's Koko Klosterhalfen, and why Shannon Rowbury remains the most impressive athlete he's ever coached.

He makes a case few pro coaches will: America's best coaches aren't in the NCAA or the pros—they're in high schools, and nearly every great athlete he's ever had was built by one. From there, the conversation becomes a masterclass in mindset: living the life of a champion; the “1% rule;”, why the “balance” the internet sells you is a lie; why women are routinely undertrained with kid gloves; and what separated Mo Farah and Galen Rupp from everyone else. Hint, it was never talent.

Then it gets personal. Being diagnosed with cancer at 28, one week before his first World Championships. Splitting from Nike and starting over. Rediscovering “idealistic Pete.” And an unflinching stretch on Alberto Salazar, grace, forgiveness, and why Shelby Houlihan shouldn't be racing in a sports bra from Target.

Whether you're a seven-minute miler or chasing medals, this one will change how you show up tomorrow.

Tap into the Pete Julian Special. 

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.

S H O W  N O T E S   

-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs

-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run

-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ

-My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz

Behind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZ

LuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop

$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20

Trenton Sandler didn't care about running until his senior year of high school. Now, he's a 3:42 1500m man with 130,000 followers watching every step.
 
The Arkansas transfer joins Dominic the day before his move to Fayetteville for a conversation about one of the strangest paths in the NCAA. A lifelong soccer player who only ran track to stay in shape, Trenton parlayed a 1:55 time in the 800m into an SEC roster spot, spent two years buried in injuries, then watched his LSU distance group collapse from 12 guys to three. 

He left the team in February, coached himself through the spring, and ran his 3:42 PR—at Arkansas, of all places.

They get into the recruiting visit that sold him on the spot, the ACC program that essentially would have banned him from posting, and his brutally honest answer to "Olympic medal or a million followers?" 

Plus, pressure as a trainable skill, why "it's cringe until it works," the reason he doesn't answer the "is my mile time good?" DMs, his 2028 Olympic Trials math, and the plan to pivot hard into entertainment once the spikes hang up.

Also discussed: the Ryan Trahan era he completely missed, his running-creator Mount Rushmore, Erin Brown's rage-bait genius, the jorts discourse, and the Mexican breakfast restaurant where a soccer kid learned Spanish and raked in $35 an hour.

Whether you're a modest recruit with big goals or building something people call cringe, Trenton's story is proof that consistency (and betting on yourself) compounds.

Tap into the Trenton Sandler Special. 

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.

S H O W  N O T E S   

-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs

-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run

-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ

-My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz

Behind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZ

LuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop

$20 off your next Attuned scan: https://attuned.health/discount/TRE20?ref=TRE20

YouTube: trenton Sandler YouTube Channel.

Instagram: TrentonSandler

TikTok: Trenton Sandler