What drives us as humans to push our physical and mental limits in endurance events?

Michael Crawley is a 2:20 marathoner, professor of anthropology at Durham University, and author of the new book To the Limit: The Meaning of Endurance From Mexico to the Himalayas.

We talk about:

• The collective nature of running culture
• Why we voluntarily sign up for exhausting endurance activities
• An evolutionary perspective on running
• Technology's role in modern running
• Incorporating endurance into daily life
• How Michael's personal endurance approach has changed through his book research

Send this episode to your running friend who's also a history or culture nerd, and make sure they subscribe to the Strength Running Podcast!

Links & Resources from the Show:

• Michael's latest book, To the Limit: The Meaning of Endurance from Mexico to the Himalayas

• His previous book, Out of Thin Air

• Follow Michael on Twitter, Instagram, or Bluesky

• Get a free mindset training for runners.

Invented by renowned physical therapist Jay Dicharry, MOBO helps you stabilize your stance with an innovative rocker board that’s set up on two fins. The design effectively forces you to drive your big toe into the board to improve your stability. I was pretty arrogant going into my first session on the MOBO Board. How hard can it be to balance, right? Well, I was humbled pretty quickly!

Even if you’re a good runner, better balance, stability, and proprioception is going to help you have a more powerful stride and prevent more running injuries. You’ll learn how to improve the efficiency of the kinetic chain from your hip to your big toe. Because as Jay likes to say, it’s not just how strong you are, but how well you use that strength.

I was recently at a weekend physical therapy workshop (lol I was the only running coach) and learned how important (and rare) this simple movement is. Save 10% with code STRENGTHRUN10 at checkout at moboboard.com.

After resisting most supplements for the better part of my life, I’m cautiously changing my tune. I’m now a Masters runner and in my personal life, I’m optimizing for longevity. I want to be my healthiest self for as long as possible and I’m excited to partner with Previnex to make that happen.

Previnex uses the most bioavailable, clinically tested ingredients, the optimal form and dose of each ingredient, pharmaceutical grade manufacturing, testing of raw ingredients and finished products. For every purchase you make, they also donate vitamins to kids in need.

Their new Muscle Health Plus is something I'm now taking. Turning 40 - and having a thin frame - has made me realize that I need to prioritize lean muscle mass to stay healthy and age well. Muscle Health Plus has creatine, essential and branched chain amino acids, and it's designed in a way to maximize protein synthesis and the absorption of amino acids.

Muscle Health Plus will help you prevent muscle damage, which is particularly important for aging runners who want to protect themselves from muscle loss and recover faster after hard workouts. As is true for all of their products, Previnex adheres to the highest of standards: their ingredients are clinically proven to do what they say they’re going to do.

Previnex offers a 30-day money back guarantee. If you don't feel the benefits of their product, you get your money back no questions asked. With their focus on quality and customer satisfaction, I hope you’ll try it! Use code jason15 for 15% off your first order at Previnex!

If you had the chance, would you sign up to run 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 different continents?

Becs Gentry is a popular One Peloton instructor, the 4th place finisher at the 2021 UK Olympic Trials, a former Nike Run Club Coach, and a 2:32:01 marathoner.

She’s getting ready to start the Great World Race on November 15, 2024.

We talk about:

• Whether Becs expects more challenges physically or logistically
• How Becs intends to approach each of the 7 days
• The recovery strategies Becs will implement throughout the week
• Expected challenges of the Antarctica marathon
• Becs’ goals for the weeklong race
• The months of preparation and training involved in the attempt

Send this episode to a friend who you think would run the Great World Race!

• Becs on Instagram
• My VO2 Max test results
• Get recovery and injury prevention tips from 9 elite runners.

After resisting most supplements for the better part of my life, I’m cautiously changing my tune. I’m now a Masters runner and in my personal life, I’m optimizing for longevity. I want to be my healthiest self for as long as possible and I’m excited to partner with Previnex to make that happen.

Previnex uses the most bioavailable, clinically tested ingredients, the optimal form and dose of each ingredient, pharmaceutical grade manufacturing, testing of raw ingredients and finished products. For every purchase you make, they also donate vitamins to kids in need.

Their new Muscle Health Plus is something I'm now taking. Turning 40 - and having a thin frame - has made me realize that I need to prioritize lean muscle mass to stay healthy and age well. Muscle Health Plus has creatine, essential and branched chain amino acids, and it's designed in a way to maximize protein synthesis and the absorption of amino acids.

Muscle Health Plus will help you prevent muscle damage, which is particularly important for aging runners who want to protect themselves from muscle loss and recover faster after hard workouts. As is true for all of their products, Previnex adheres to the highest of standards: their ingredients are clinically proven to do what they say they’re going to do.

Previnex offers a 30-day money back guarantee. If you don't feel the benefits of their product, you get your money back no questions asked. With their focus on quality and customer satisfaction, I hope you’ll try it! Use code jason15 for 15% off your first order at Previnex!

Thanks to AG1!

We’re also supported by AG1, the greens superfood mix. This is a category-leading greens mix that has 75 vitamins and minerals, prebiotics, probiotics, antioxidants, and adaptogens. It’s recommended by professional athletes and has over 7,000 positive reviews.

One scoop per day is what I’ve been doing to help me fill in any nutrition gaps in my diet. It also provide a nice boost of energy and focus throughout the day. With all 3 of my kids in school, I know I need to support my immune system or else I’m getting sick and can’t train.

I also love that AG1 has changed over the last decade. They’ve made 53 improvements to the formula based on the latest research to make these nutrients more absorbable and rigorous with the 3rd party testing that they do.

For our listeners, they are offering a year’s worth of free Vitamin D and 5 free travel packs of AG1 with your first purchase. You can sign up for single shipment or for a monthly drop – the choice is yours. Check out AG1 to redeem your offer today.

"Tissue tolerance" might be a hard term for the average runner to define. But it could also be how you prevent your next big running injury.

Phil Batterson, PhD, is a former competitive runner with a background in human bioenergetics.

As the founder of Critical Oxygen, he gives athletes and coaches knowledge, testing, and coaching to optimize their physiology and maximize endurance performance.

We talk about:

• How pliability, range of motion, and mobility affect tissue tolerance
• The impact of shock on the body while running
• Approaching training with injury prevention in mind
• Strength training and plyometrics to build tissue tolerance
• The role of cross training in injury prevention and adaptations
• How proteins help runners stay strong, but many aren't eating enough of it
• Hill training as a tool to improve tissue tolerance
• Why you don't need to barefoot run

Send this episode to your friend who's prone to running injuries so they can take action today.

• Listen to How to Improve the 3 Running Thresholds (Z2, LT, and VO2 Max) to hear Phil on another Strength Running Podcast episode.
• Critical Oxygen website
• The Critical Oxygen Podcast
• Phil on Instagram
• Critical Oxygen on YouTube
• Injury prone? Grab our free injury prevention email series to structure training with injury prevention ideas built directly into your training program.

A big thanks to DrinkLMNT for their support of this episode! They make electrolyte drinks for athletes and low-carb folks with no sugar, artificial ingredients, or colors. They are offering a free gift with your purchase at DrinkLMNT. And this does NOT have to be your first purchase. You’ll get a sample pack with every flavor so you can try them all before deciding what you like best.

DrinkLMNT's products have some of the highest sodium concentrations that you can find. Anybody who runs a lot knows that sodium, as well as other electrolytes like magnesium and potassium, are essential to our performance and how we feel throughout the day.

If you’re not familiar, LMNT is my favorite way to hydrate. They make electrolytes for athletes and low-carb folks with no Sugar, artificial ingredients, or colors. I’m now in the habit of giving away boxes of LMNT at group runs around Denver and Boulder and everyone loves this stuff.

Boost your performance and your recovery with LMNT. They’re the exclusive hydration partner to Team USA Weightlifting and quite a few professional baseball, hockey, and basketball teams are on regular subscriptions. So check out DrinkLMNT to get a free sampler pack and get your hydration optimized for the upcoming season.

Thanks to Chafed & Cranky Coffee!

If you know me personally or watch our YouTube videos, you know that I love caffeine and coffee in particular. We all know the performance benefits of caffeine at this point: it’s the world’s most studied drug and is the most effective, legal performance enhancing drug on the market for runners. If you’re not supplementing with caffeine before and during your big races, you’re missing out on faster finishing times.

Chafed & Cranky is a quirky brand that I love. But despite the fun branding, it’s a high quality product with a variety of organic, fair trade, and single origin roasts to choose from. Because I like to be on brand, I go for a light roast since it has a higher caffeine content and I grind the beans fresh for my personal French Press in the morning.

Treat yourself to delicious, high quality, performance benefitting coffee with Chafed & Cranky. Use code JASON at checkout to save 15% at chafedandcranky.com.

You might give carb loading a quick thought in your taper, but are you actually looking at the current science to make it effective?

Jonah Rosner is an applied sport scientist who spent the past 10 years working with athletes and teams from all major American Professional Team sports.

Jonah is a running coach and a certified strength and conditioning specialist who uses the latest sport science technology to individualize running programs. Jonah was also the sport scientist on hand during a recent fitness retreat where I had my VO2 Max measured.

We talk about:

• The old vs. new recommendations for carb loading
• The relationship between carbs and GI stress
• Pre-race breakfast and in-race fueling
• Jonah's personal approach to carb loading
• Gender differences in carb loading
• Force plate testing and injury prevention
• VO2 Max testing and Jason's experience from running camp

Send this episode to a friend with a race coming up so they can consider effective carb loading.

• Jonah's Carb Load Guide

• Jonah's Newsletter, Marathon Science

• Jonah on Instagram

• Subscribe to the Strength Running YouTube channel for my VO2 Max test and hundreds more videos.

We are supported by 2Before, a powerful sports supplement made from New Zealand Blackcurrants designed to increase endurance, manage inflammation, support immunity, and promote adaptation. 2Before helps to boost performance by increasing blood flow, making it more efficient for the body to pump oxygenated nutrient-rich blood into the muscles.

So, if you want to try to boost your performance and immune system, use code JASON for 30% off 20 packs and multi-serve packs at 2Before.com.

Thank you to 2Before for supporting Strength Running!

After resisting most supplements for the better part of my life, I’m cautiously changing my tune. I’m now a Masters runner and in my personal life, I’m optimizing for longevity. I want to be my healthiest self for as long as possible and I’m excited to partner with Previnex to make that happen.

Previnex uses the most bioavailable, clinically tested ingredients, the optimal form and dose of each ingredient, pharmaceutical grade manufacturing, testing of raw ingredients and finished products. For every purchase you make, they also donate vitamins to kids in need.

Their new Muscle Health Plus is something I'm now taking. Turning 40 - and having a thin frame - has made me realize that I need to prioritize lean muscle mass to stay healthy and age well. Muscle Health Plus has creatine, essential and branched chain amino acids, and it's designed in a way to maximize protein synthesis and the absorption of amino acids.

Muscle Health Plus will help you prevent muscle damage, which is particularly important for aging runners who want to protect themselves from muscle loss and recover faster after hard workouts. As is true for all of their products, Previnex adheres to the highest of standards: their ingredients are clinically proven to do what they say they’re going to do.

Previnex offers a 30-day money back guarantee. If you don't feel the benefits of their product, you get your money back no questions asked. With their focus on quality and customer satisfaction, I hope you’ll try it! Use code jason15 for 15% off your first order at Previnex!

From poor tune-up races to switching up nutrition, pro runners face the same lessons more casual runners do.

Laura Thweatt is a 2:25 marathoner, professional runner for Saucony, and former US cross country champion.

She placed 5th in the 10k at the 2016 Olympic Trials and 5th in the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials.

We talk about:

• The emotions before a goal race and working with a sports psychologist during a taper
• Using a training journal to calm pre-race nerves and boost confidence
• Injury management with high mileage
• Handling a bad tune-up race
• Laura’s goals and strategies for the Chicago Marathon (which she had to pull out of after recording due to an Achilles injury)
• Laura’s approach to nutrition and using higher carb products during long runs
• How runners can celebrate breakthrough performances and absorb them before moving onto new goals

If you liked this episode, could you take a minute to leave a 5-star rating and review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts?

• Laura on Instagram
• Get your own Performance Training Journal to prepare for your next personal best.
• Boost your mental toughness, banish pre-race anxiety, and build more confidence before your next race.

We are supported by 2Before, a powerful sports supplement made from New Zealand Blackcurrants designed to increase endurance, manage inflammation, support immunity, and promote adaptation. 2Before helps to boost performance by increasing blood flow, making it more efficient for the body to pump oxygenated nutrient-rich blood into the muscles.

So, if you want to try to boost your performance and immune system, use code JASON for 30% off 20 packs and multi-serve packs at 2Before.com.

Thank you to 2Before for supporting Strength Running!

We’re also supported by AG1, the greens superfood mix. This is a category-leading greens mix that has 75 vitamins and minerals, prebiotics, probiotics, antioxidants, and adaptogens. It’s recommended by professional athletes and has over 7,000 positive reviews.

One scoop per day is what I’ve been doing to help me fill in any nutrition gaps in my diet. It also provide a nice boost of energy and focus throughout the day. With all 3 of my kids in school, I know I need to support my immune system or else I’m getting sick and can’t train.

I also love that AG1 has changed over the last decade. They’ve made 53 improvements to the formula based on the latest research to make these nutrients more absorbable and rigorous with the 3rd party testing that they do.

For our listeners, they are offering a year’s worth of free Vitamin D and 5 free travel packs of AG1 with your first purchase. You can sign up for single shipment or for a monthly drop – the choice is yours. Check out AG1 to redeem your offer today.

Do super shoes give runners who use them an unfair advantage? Do they make it impossible to compare modern finish times with earlier performances?

Sabrina Little is a trail and ultra runner, formerly a professional runner for HOKA. She has won 5 national titles and a World silver medal, she previously held American records in the 24-hour and 200K, and she was 2013 USATF Ultrarunner of the Year.

Sabrina earned her doctorate in Philosophy and teaches ethics at Christopher Newport University.

We talk about:

• The ethical concerns of super shoes
• Sabrina’s lack of satisfaction post-5k due to wearing super shoes
• The distortion between effort and outcome when wearing super shoes
• The nuance of fairness and privilege as they relate to super shoes
• The need for clear shoe technology definitions and regulations to maintain the “spirit of sport”
• Why runners and coaches need to advocate for the intrinsic value of running

Continue the super shoes conversation by sending this episode to a friend with your thoughts.

• Sabrina on X/Twitter
• Sabrina on Instagram
• Sabrina's book, The Examined Run: Why Good People Make Better Runners
• Find Sabrina Little on Strava
• Want to learn more about super shoes? Tune into episode 227 with biomechanics and sport science PhD Geoff Burns.
• Hear from top track, road, and ultra runners on how they stay healthy.

A big thanks to DrinkLMNT for their support of this episode! They make electrolyte drinks for athletes and low-carb folks with no sugar, artificial ingredients, or colors. They are offering a free gift with your purchase at DrinkLMNT. And this does NOT have to be your first purchase. You’ll get a sample pack with every flavor so you can try them all before deciding what you like best.

DrinkLMNT's products have some of the highest sodium concentrations that you can find. Anybody who runs a lot knows that sodium, as well as other electrolytes like magnesium and potassium, are essential to our performance and how we feel throughout the day.

If you’re not familiar, LMNT is my favorite way to hydrate. They make electrolytes for athletes and low-carb folks with no Sugar, artificial ingredients, or colors. I’m now in the habit of giving away boxes of LMNT at group runs around Denver and Boulder and everyone loves this stuff.

Boost your performance and your recovery with LMNT. They’re the exclusive hydration partner to Team USA Weightlifting and quite a few professional baseball, hockey, and basketball teams are on regular subscriptions. So check out DrinkLMNT to get a free sampler pack and get your hydration optimized for the upcoming season.

We are supported by 2Before, a powerful sports supplement made from New Zealand Blackcurrants designed to increase endurance, manage inflammation, support immunity, and promote adaptation. 2Before helps to boost performance by increasing blood flow, making it more efficient for the body to pump oxygenated nutrient-rich blood into the muscles.

So, if you want to try to boost your performance and immune system, use code JASON for 30% off 20 packs and multi-serve packs at 2Before.com.

Thank you to 2Before for supporting Strength Running!

Want to run faster with fewer injuries? Take a look at your gait.

Jessica Wulke is a dual board-certified specialist physical therapist in orthopedics and sports. She has extensive experience treating professional athletes and continues to treat athletes in the NFL and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

Jessica was the leading gait analysis and running injury therapist at Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation.

We talk about:

• The basics of gait analysis for runners
• Common issues that gait analysis can identify, like hip and core weaknesses
• Hip drop, crossover gait, and foot pronation or supination
• How strength training can help your form and prevent injuries
• The expected timeline for retraining running form
• How running form impacts performance
• How to be proactive in staying strong and reducing injury

Send this episode to a friend who you want to be your accountability buddy for form drills!

• Jessica on LinkedIn
• Academy Medtech Ventures
• Get my favorite form cues and how to implement them in your training.

We are supported by 2Before, a powerful sports supplement made from New Zealand Blackcurrants designed to increase endurance, manage inflammation, support immunity, and promote adaptation. 2Before helps to boost performance by increasing blood flow, making it more efficient for the body to pump oxygenated nutrient-rich blood into the muscles.

So, if you want to try to boost your performance and immune system, use code JASON for 30% off 20 packs and multi-serve packs at 2Before.com.

Thank you to 2Before for supporting Strength Running!

We’re also supported by AG1, the greens superfood mix. This is a category-leading greens mix that has 75 vitamins and minerals, prebiotics, probiotics, antioxidants, and adaptogens. It’s recommended by professional athletes and has over 7,000 positive reviews.

One scoop per day is what I’ve been doing to help me fill in any nutrition gaps in my diet. It also provide a nice boost of energy and focus throughout the day. With all 3 of my kids in school, I know I need to support my immune system or else I’m getting sick and can’t train.

I also love that AG1 has changed over the last decade. They’ve made 53 improvements to the formula based on the latest research to make these nutrients more absorbable and rigorous with the 3rd party testing that they do.

For our listeners, they are offering a year’s worth of free Vitamin D and 5 free travel packs of AG1 with your first purchase. You can sign up for single shipment or for a monthly drop – the choice is yours. Check out AG1 to redeem your offer today.