Podcast: Episode 154 with Andrew Bumbalough

Mario Fraioli | March 29, 2021

“You just run so much when you’re training for the marathon that if you don’t truly love it, you won’t really enjoy it. I think for most of my career prior to that I was so focused on performance and valuing the competition and what it gave me from that standpoint but I think as I transitioned to the marathon I really became interested in this idea of running for running’s sake. And as I started to do that I started to notice other people. You go to a marathon, whether it be Boston or Chicago or wherever, you’re immersed in a sea of runners—you’re starting on the line with forty or fifty thousand other people and everyone has a different story of why they’re there and how they got there.”

Andrew Bumbalough is a recently retired professional athlete who spent the entirety of his career training and racing with the Bowerman Track Club, where he put up personal bests ranging from 3:37 for 1500m to 2:10 for the marathon. Amongst his numerous accomplishments, he finished 5th at the 2018 Boston Marathon, represented the U.S. in the 5000m at the 2011 world championships on the track, and won a national 5K title on the roads in 2013.

We had a wide-ranging conversation that I really enjoyed and I think you will too. We talked about Bumbi’s last race—the Olympic Trials Marathon, where he dropped out at 16 miles—and when he knew it was time to retire from the sport. He told me about his 10-year relationship with coach Jerry Schumacher and what makes him such a successful coach, what his relationship with running has looked like since he retired, and how his body has responded to the reduced training load. We discussed getting into coaching and how he approaches working with a wide range of athletes, the work he’s done in footwear product innovation and how technology advances have changed what’s possible in both training and racing, what he makes of some of the eye-popping times we’ve seen on the track and roads over the past year, and a lot more.

Andrew Bumbalough: High Gear Running | Instagram | Twitter

the morning shakeout: Instagram | Twitter

Mario Fraioli: Website | Strava

This episode is brought to you by:

— Goodr: Goodr sunglasses are just the best! I’ve been wearing them for the past few years and they don’t bounce, they don’t slip, they’re polarized to protect your eyes, and they come in a nice range of styles and fun colors. They’re the most affordable performance shades on the planet with most pairs costing only $25 to $35 bucks a piece. If you want to support the podcast and treat yourself to a pair of goodrs, head over to goodr.com/MARIO or enter the code MARIO at checkout for FREE shipping on your first order. Look good, run goodr!

Music and editing for this episode of the morning shakeout podcast by John Summerford.