I do not have a new conversation to share with you this week but I am going to re-run a previous episode of the podcast with Lindsay Flanagan that was recorded in early 2020, just a few weeks before the Olympic Trials Marathon, where she ended up finishing 12th. Since that day in Atlanta, Lindsay has made some huge breakthroughs in the marathon and as a fan, it’s been super fun to watch. This past April she was 11th at the Paris Marathon in a personal best 2:26:54, and then, just a few months later in July, she won the Gold Coast Marathon in Australia, breaking the tape in a new course record, and another personal best, 2:24:43. It was fun to revisit this conversation and hear Lindsay’s thoughts on the marathon and what she’s learned from it over the years, dealing with injuries throughout her career and navigating periods of time when she couldn’t run, what she’s learned as a coach of age-group athletes, and a lot more.
This week’s episode is a long one but it’s a pretty special conversation with one of my first post-collegiate running heroes, Peter Gilmore—who, incredibly and ironically enough, is now my teammate on the West Valley Track Club Masters racing team. In this conversation, we talked about all of that but what I was really interested in was his path back to the competitive side of the sport a few years ago after an 8-year break from serious training and racing. We got into how and why he came back in 2018, as well as why he retired in 2010 in the first place, and that part of the conversation went in a direction I didn’t expect it to go. We also talked about what’s different for him now as a Masters athlete now versus when he was younger, what it was like spending six weeks training in Kenya right after college and what he learned from that experience, and a whole lot more.
In the sixth installment of Common Ground, a monthly podcast co-hosted by me and Dinée Dorame of the Grounded Podcast, we shared our respective personal updates before geeking out on all things World Athletics Championships, which just wrapped up over the weekend.
Steve Magness makes his second appearance on the podcast. In this episode, Steve opened up about his struggles with OCD, which isn’t something he’s ever talked about publicly before. We talked about the idea of toughness, and “tough love,” and how his perceptions of both have changed over time. We also discussed different leadership styles, what works and what doesn’t, and a lot more.
In this episode, three-time Olympian Diane Nukuri talks about her childhood in Burundi and how running came into her life. She told me how she’s used running as a vehicle for exploration and opportunity from the time she was a teenager and also what it was like to leave her home country for track meet when she was 16, knowing she wasn’t going to go back. Diane talked openly about adjusting to life in Canada and then the U.S., she me told some good stories about her partner, five-time U.S. Olympian Abdi Abdirahman, we discussed how having a good “off” switch has helped her have a long competitive running career, and a lot more.
This week’s conversation is with Marquis Bowden, who you may remember from Episode 132 back in the fall of 2020. In this episode, we talk about that transition and what it’s been like for him. We discuss trauma, hardship, reaching out for help, and prioritizing mental health. Marquis told me about trying to take his running to the next level, navigating injuries from both a physical and emotional standpoint, the importance of leaning into his community, especially during tough times, and a lot more.
Hills and Twos is a staple early season session for a number of top high school, collegiate, and professional programs that combines a set of short, hard hill repeats with a set of short, fast intervals. I’ve been doing some version of this workout since college, the Bowerman Track Club has their own take on it, and a couple of Georgetown runners even named their podcast after it.
The "Reverse Michigan" workout is an ascending ladder on the track—starting with a fast 400m, ending with a strong mile—interspersed with longer stretches of tempo running off the track between intervals. It's a great blend of speed and strength that can be beneficial to nearly any runner whether they're training for the mile, the marathon or anything in between.
Hill workouts should be an essential part of any runner’s training repertoire. They provide a lot of benefits for a relatively steep price: speed, strength, fitness, focus, challenge, and confidence all wrapped into a tidy package of uphill repeats.
