THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

Brandon Miller is done being overlooked. 

The Brooks Beast is riding the hottest streak in American 800m running: four straight wins, including a takedown of world indoor champion Cooper Lutkenhaus at the Prefontaine Classic, and a 1:42.19 stunner over Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi in London that made him the fifth-fastest American in history. 

In this conversation, Dominic and Brandon dig into the season that turned a former prodigy (nine AAU national titles and maybe the most-watched kid in FloTrack history) into the man of the moment.

Brandon opens up about the loss that lit the fire: walking off the track in tears after taking fifth at last year's USA championships, then hiding from social media for a month because he couldn't escape the highlights. He explains how coach Danny Mackey took that loss just as hard, why he runs only 30-35 miles a week, and how watching Josh Kerr call his shot on the mile world record (then deliver it minutes after Brandon's London win) raised the bar for the entire Brooks Beasts group.

There's also the origin story you probably don't know: Brandon nearly signed with Nike out of college before a teammate's advice (and his parents' due diligence) steered him to Brooks. Plus, they chat about the finger-over-the-lips celebration at Pre, why nobody on the start line cares that Cooper Lutkenhaus is 17, an impassioned defense of Noah Lyles as track's great entertainer, and his pitch for a Netflix documentary on the golden age of American 800m running before LA 2028.

Tap into the Brandon Miller 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

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

Instagram: @bmillertrackstar

Eric Avila quit racing, but he didn’t quit the sport altogether.

The 2021 USATF Road Mile champion spent eight years with Adidas before walking away in 2024. This included a torn plantar fascia, a contract offer attached to a marathon move he didn't want, and a competitive fire that quietly fizzled out. What surprised him wasn't missing the racing. It was losing the structure that had organized every morning of his adult life.

Now he runs a sports group out of Southern California, and he's direct with Dominic about how the money actually works. They talk about why you have to be roughly top ten in your event before anyone pays you, why high school NIL deals are a separate marketing bubble most athletes are built to age out of, and why the scholarship (not the shoe deal) is the realistic prize for nearly every kid. He also guesses at Josh Kerr's world-record bonus and weighs whether the sport will ever shed its contract NDAs.

The back half is a coaching clinic.

Avila builds training backwards from racing, argues most high schoolers show up with exactly one pitch, and caps his senior boys near 45–50 miles a week while loading the quality inside it. He walks through the traffic-light plan he gives athletes mid-race, what he taught a young Hobbs Kessler about leaning into pain, and why he'd rather an athlete learn to win than learn to time trial.

Underneath all of it is one idea borrowed from European soccer: a real academy pipeline, built here, for runners.

Tap into the Eric Avila 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

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

Instagram: @avilaericc

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

Fitness is rented, never owned. But the rent is far cheaper than most runners think.

Alex Ostberg returns for the monthly breakdown of The Rundown, and this month's four editions split neatly into two halves: what actually happens when you stop training, and how to think clearly about training in the first place.

Alex opens with the principle of reversibility and the psychology that distorts it—losses loom roughly twice as large as equivalent gains, which is why a two-week break triggers panic wildly out of proportion to the physiology. He walks through the Dallas Bedrest Study, then the Coyle detraining data showing a two-phase drop: an early fall driven almost entirely by plasma volume contraction, followed by a slower mitochondrial enzyme decline. The reassuring part is what survives: capillaries, ventricular volume, and mitochondria themselves are structural and stubborn. You don't fall from the top floor to the basement —you fall to the mezzanine.

Then the case for doing it on purpose. Alex mandates enforced breaks for his athletes, argues that reduced training cuts losses roughly in half versus doing nothing, and shares Jerry Schumacher's balloon metaphor for why regaining fitness is easier the second time.

The back half turns to coaching itself: confirmation bias; autobiographical coaching, the observe-hypothesize-measure-update loop; and why writing your hypothesis down before you test anything is the whole ballgame. Alex closes with the mistakes he's made, including his own biased-reporter problem with athlete pain.

Read The Rundown: free, every Thursday. Link in the show notes.

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/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

There are no names on the back of an Air Force jersey, and that's exactly the point. 

While the rest of college running chases NIL money, transfer portals, and eighth-year seniors, Ryan Cole is quietly building a national contender out of American kids who signed up for something bigger than themselves.
In today's conversation, Dominic sits down with the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where every one of 4,000 cadets is on full scholarship, the campus sits at 7,000 feet, and your first day of college involves getting yelled at off a bus at basic training. 

Coach Cole explains his core philosophy and how the Academy's structure turns overlooked recruits into stars—like Ryan Johnson, who arrived with a 9:20 two-mile PR and left drawing comparisons to Grant Fisher and Sam Gilman, the latter of whom he now shares workouts with.

The two dig into the recruiting cues that separate a great athlete from a great cadet-athlete, the historic 2016 women's team that became the first service academy squad to qualify for a D1 NCAA Championship, and the emotional story of taking over the program after the sudden passing of his mentor, the legendary Ralph Lindeman. 

Plus, the beloved alumni tradition at Nuttycombe, why runners make great officers, and Cole's case that the service academies may be the last true development programs left in the NCAA.

This one's about culture, commitment, and the name on the front.

Tap into the Coach Ryan Cole 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

Note from Dominic: for the first time in 800 episodes, had a weird issue where Ann's recording didn't save the last 5ish minutes of the podcast. So if it ends semi-abruptly that's why. Thank you for your understanding (: Enjoy!

Ann Dunn wasn't looking for one of the biggest jobs in collegiate distance running. 

Then she came home from a run to a text from Chris Miltenberg, and two months later, she's the new head coach of UNC women's cross country.

Dominic sits down with Ann just two weeks after Carolina made it official, and she shares the full behind-the-scenes story: the phone call with Milt, why he decided to split the men's and women's distance coaching so each group gets a dedicated touch point, and what made her say yes. Ann explains how a decade away from the NCAA (earning a master's in exercise physiology, building Formula Complete Fitness from the ground up in Charlottesville, and coaching The Covenant School to state titles) turned out to be an advantage, not a gap on the résumé.

She opens up about holding humility and confidence at the same time, the conversation with her husband Jason that made the move possible, and the FaceTime call from Maddie and Reese (her former Covenant stars, now Tar Heels) after Milt dropped the news. Ann also revisits her own Wisconsin story, where her team climbed from last in the Big Ten to fourth at NCAAs in two years; lays out her goals for Carolina (top 5–10 nationally, competing for ACC titles); offers advice for high schoolers making the jump to college running; and pushes back on Dominic's claim that American teams can't win NCAA titles in the international-talent era.

New chapter, new coach, same standard: Carolina blue with big goals.

Tap into the Ann Dunn 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 

Instagram: @coachanndunn

Website: https://www.formulacompletefitness.com/