Miles Bryan returns to recap his massive personal best at Chicago and the training, racing, and life lessons learned along the way. Plus, Miles, Phil, and Travis share advice on self talk before and during a race, mental stratgies for approaching marathons, and the pieces outside of training runs that help yield race success. Thanks for a great ride to Chicago! We look forward to another training series coming soon! columbusrunning.com secondsflatpodcast@gmail.com

We're giving the inside scoop on logistics, course organization, weather, strategy, and more for the Mohawk Hudson Marathon. Looking for a fall marathon option for 2026 and beyond? Travis ran Mohawk Hudson last weekend. His experience will help you decide if this event is for you. And if you run it, he'll help you get to the finish line faster. secondsflatpodcast@gmail.com columbusrunning.com

It's race week and we're bringing you race predictions, course tips, carb load principles, weather advice, and more! Enjoy Chicago Marathon weekend! secondsflatpodcast@gmail.com columbusrunning.com

T-minus 2 weeks to Chicago! Max Hoffman, who ran 2:22 last fall at CIM, joins the show for a discussion about his training block and favorite sessions. Plus, we unpack taper strategies for the final days of the cycle.

It's less than three weeks to the Chicago Marathon! Friend of the show Blake Pratt returns, and we do a DEEP DIVE into his training toward a sub 2:40 goal. Questions, comments, or show ideas? email us: secondsflatpodcast@gmail.com columbusrunning.com Enjoying the Chicago Marathon series? Please leave us a 5-star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

We're inside one month to Chicago! This week we welcome Pegah Kamrani. Pegah shares her training, multi-year journey to the Chicago start line, and goals for race day. She's running big miles and has the guys from our previous two episodes in her sight!

You heard from Miles Bryan last week, now track from six to five weeks out to Chicago with his archrival, fellow 2:54 man Benjamin Byrd! Benjamin shares his past marathon experiences and goals, build, and strategy for the Windy City. columbusrunning.com Questions, comments, or show ideas? email us: secondsflatpodcast@gmail.com

We're back on the road to the Chicago Marathon for Season 2 of The Windy City Chronicles! It's 6 weeks to race day and we'll be welcoming a different guest each week as we unpack the training cycle and race day planning. This week it's Miles Bryan. Miles ran 2:54 at Chicago last year then followed up with a big half marathon personal best of 1:16 this spring. He shares insights from his Chicago experience, goals for 2025, and the details of his last week of training.

For many of us the long run serves a source of reflection on our place in the larger landscape of nature, humanity, creation, and existence. Author and teacher Mary Grace Mangano beautifully captures the spiritual essence of the long run in her article, "The Chapel of the Road," published last year in Plough Magazine. "The long run is a holy hour (or two, or three) that trains and shapes my heart," she writes. Earlier this week I had the pleasure of spending an hour with her discussing the shared, transcendent experience of the long run. Mary Grace's 2024 article: https://www.plough.com/topics/faith/prayer/the-chapel-of-the-road www.columbusrunning.com secondsflatpodcast@gmail.com

In 2016 Noah Droddy rose from relative obscurity to the center of our national track and field consciousness when he qualified for the Olympic Trials 10K in Eugene. Noah was a blue collar, former Division III collegiate runner who graced Hayward Field with flowing locks, a throwback mustache, a free spirit, and genuine child-like enthusiasm for his newfound place on the national stage. He became a cult hero for thousands who toil at their craft, logging countless unseen miles with little hope for financial reward. Then he became one of America's best marathoners, clocking a 2:09 in 2020 at the Marathon Project.

Chris Glover loves running. And he loves connecting people through running. If you've been to a group run in Central Ohio you know Chris. If you've seen a man dressed like a superhero at a local race you know Chris. Earlier this week Chris and I sat down for a conversation about his running journey and current projects. Along the way we discuss ways to add joy to your running experience while also getting faster. His aim is simple, genuine, and exceptionally valuable: bringing runners together so we all get better together. And he's doing it with an infectious laugh and a servant's heart. columbusrunning.com secondsflatpodcast@gmail.com Wnjoy the show? We'd love your feedback in a 5 star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!

With the U.S. Championships beginning this week in Eugene, and the World Championships in Tokyo quickly approaching, we're veering from our usual format for a look inside Japanese running culture, particularly the nation's unparalleled love for the marathon. The following is an updated and adapted version of an article I wrote leading up to the pandemic-delayed 2021 Tokyo Olympic Marathon. As you grind through long runs and workouts on the way to your next marathon, we hope you'll find inspiration in the shared experience of a nation obsessed with racing 26.2 miles.

Run with Rush, celebrating the life of our dear friend Josh Rush, 6am Saturday @ Unity Park in Greenville, SC. We hope to share miles and friendship with you this weekend.

We're back from summer break and considering a listener question about long run frequency within a marathon training block. Plus, there's big doping news, a new mile AR, and the hottest trending social media movement of the summer and autumn: #beatphil Special edition Mile 210 will follow tomorrow. secondsflatpodcast@gmail.com columbusrunning.com

Phil is headed to Grandma's Marathon and we're offering some last minute course strategy tips for everyone competing in Duluth this weekend. Then we discuss more on low risk, high reward training. In particular, we dive into the longstanding Phil v. Travis debate on continuous v. broken threshold runs. Thanks for all the great follow-up emails and questions!

The Columbus Marathon identifies itself as, "America's Most Meaningful Race." After spending the next hour with Darris Blackford and Alli Hile, we think you'll understand why that title fits the event. Darris serves as Race Director, drawing on a wealth of experience as he helps organize one of the Midwest's finest marathons. Alli was the original Marathon Mile Patient Champion representing Nationwide Children's Hospital -- the primary beneficiary of Columbus Marathon's extraordinary fundraising outreach and source of race day inspiration for runners and walkers. You can find full details for the 45th running of the Columbus Marathon on October 19 at: columbusmarathon.com Questions, comments, show ideas? Email us: secondsflatpodcast@gmail.com Enjoy the show? We'd love your feedback in a 5 star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! columbusrunning.com

Building off our listener questions from last episode, we're helping create a portfolio of workouts that will help you improve with low risk of over training, burnout, or injury!

We're back from Spring Break with a conversation about your questions: What are the best applicable lessons from the elite races at Boston and London for amateur runners? How can we adapt my training for summer heat? How can we use heat & humidity to enhance my training? Are my training sessions turning into races? What are indicators I can use to control effort levels in workouts? How much time should I spend training at 5K pace in preparation for a 5K race? We're discussing these topics to help increase the fun and effectiveness of your training! columbusrunning.com Temperature / Dew Point intensity chart: https://maximumperformancerunning.blogspot.com/2013/07/temperature-dew-point.html

After a recap of the 129th Boston Marathon, we unpack Conner Mantz's training block, analyzing the past 10 weeks of mileage, long runs, workouts, paces, racing, cross training, taper, and more! We're diving deep into all the details that helped build the second fastest American marathoner ever. Finally, we close by previewing the London Marathon. It features one of the most accomplished fields in marathon history.

Earlier this week I shared a conversation with New Balance Boston Coach Mark Coogan. He is truly one of distance running's great sages. His team includes current lions of our sport like Elle St. Pierre, Heather MacLean, and recent addition Parker Valby. Mark shares tales from New England's rich running tradition and his own elite career on the track, grass, and roads. We also unpack specific workouts that have yielded his athletes Olympic appearances and World Championships medals. But more importantly, we hear about his overarching training principles, which, I believe, can help guide all of us to greater success and joy in our running.