THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

Dominic Schlueter
  • 4.9 (808)
  • Running
  • Updated Biweekly

The Running Effect tells the best stories in running—and turns them into insight, inspiration, and tools to help competitive runners become greater. Every week, host Dominic Schlueter sits down with the fastest, smartest, and most inspiring people in the sport—from Olympic medalists to breakthrough athletes—to unpack the stories, lessons, and mindset behind elite performance. Whether you’re chasing a personal best or looking to understand how greatness is built, The Running Effect will make you a deeper fan of the sport—and a better runner.

  1. 14h ago

    Exclusive: Simeon Birnbaum On Going for the NCAA 1500/5K Double Title: Inside the Marco Langon Beef, the 3:31 Record Training, and Why He's Next Up

    Simeon Birnbaum, the NCAA 1500m record holder, is heading into NCAAs hungry, healthy, and ready to hurt people.  Dominic sits down with the Oregon junior days before the outdoor National Championships, where Birnbaum is eyeing a 1500m/5000m double on his home track in Eugene. The guys cover the full arc of his breakthrough season: from the December 3000m that broke Edward Cheserek's Oregon school record; to the Big Ten indoor sweep; to a 3:31.69 at the Oregon Team Invitational that rewrote the collegiate record book by over a full second.  Simeon breaks down the workout that tipped off head coach Jerry Schumacher that something special was coming; why he still refuses to train in super shoes; and what it felt like to watch the DMR fall apart at indoor nationals before channeling that fury into a runner-up finish in the 3000m the following day. The conversation gets into the strategic chess match of championship 1500m racing; the physical toll of the 1500/5000m double at regionals in brutal humidity; and what it means to finally arrive on the national stage as the favorite rather than the chaser. Simeon also reflects on the Penn Relays DMR redemption, his rivalry with Diadora teammate Marco Langon, and a 1:44 800m PR he ran more or less for fun.  With NCAAs at Hayward Field, he's not hiding the goal: walk away with two titles in front of the home crowd. Tap into the Simeon Birnbaum 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=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZL

    40 min

  2. 1d ago

    Brian Burns on Chasing 3:57 at Festival of Miles: the Training Behind the Breakthrough, the Nerves of One Final High School Mile, and a Shot at History

    The clock has beaten Brian Burns twice. June 4th at the HOKA Festival of Miles, he plans to return the favor.  Burns, a senior at Bentonville High School and committed to UNC Chapel Hill, joins the show eight days out from Festival of Miles—fresh off a ladder workout that confirmed what his coaches have been telling him all spring: he is in 3:57 shape. The gap between where he is and where he needs to be is not fitness, it's a finish line. The episode traces the full arc of how Burns got here. Growing up in Missouri, watching his older brother Connor run 3:50 at Festival of Miles as a junior. A DNF at the Midwest XC regionals that humbled him and quietly redirected him.  The mid-year transfer to Bentonville and what it meant to walk into a program run by Coach Mike Power, a former Olympian who has since become one of his most important influences alongside his father, Marc, who coaches the University of Arkansas women's cross country program. Underneath all of it runs one goal: becoming the first pair of brothers in high school history to both break four minutes in the mile. Connor did it in 2023 at this exact meet. Brian was there. He watched their dad sprint toward the finish line and followed without really knowing why. This time, he knows exactly why. Last year at the Festival, Burns finished last in 4:10. This year, things feel different. Tap into the Brian Burns 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 Instagram: @brianburnsy_

    38 min

  3. 3d ago

    Inside the Training of a High Schooler Chasing 1:47 in the 800: The Unconventional System of No Speed Work, High Mileage, and a Shot at History At Festival of Miles

    Austin Plewe ran a 1:49 at altitude and never trained faster than two-mile pace to do it.  The American Fork senior joins the show ahead of his Festival of Miles 800m debut to explain exactly how that's possible—and why his roughest year ended up being the thing that made him. Plewe is a product of one of the most consistent programs in the country. Coach Timo Mostert has been running the same aerobic-first philosophy at American Fork for over two decades, and it has produced Clayton Young, Danny Simmons, Casey Klinger, and now Plewe. No 800-specific sessions. No reps faster than mile pace. The speed is just there, evidenced by a sub-49 400 leg he threw down at the state 4x400 a few weeks ago. What makes this conversation worth listening to is how honest Plewe is about what it cost him to get here. His senior cross-country season came apart at the seams—a stress fracture, an emergency appendectomy two weeks before statemeet, then an illness before NXR.  He didn't have one good race all fall. What got him through was perspective, teammates, and a faith that the other side of that stretch had something better waiting. It did, in the form of a Simplot Games title, a US number-one ranking in the 800, and a fifth straight Arcadia 4x1600 title for the Cavemen. Now he's in St. Louis targeting 1:47, maybe 1:46—and he's already got a post-race alligator po'boy locked in if it goes his way. Tap into the Austin Plewe 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 Instagram: @austin_plewe

    37 min

  4. 5d ago

    From 7 Years of Chronic Illness to a Half Marathon in 14 Months: Josh Blatchford on Bioenergetics, Predicting Injuries Before They Happen, and the Science That Saved His Life

    Josh Blatchford couldn’t stand long enough to brush his teeth—and he was a personal trainer. After years of chronic illness nobody could diagnose, Josh hit rock bottom in 2020. He was bedridden, losing function on the left side of his body, and spending $30,000 a year on care that kept symptoms at bay for maybe six months before they came back harder. He had a two-year-old daughter he couldn’t lift. His mother-in-law found something called bioenergetic testing on a Facebook forum. Fourteen months after his first round of remedies, Josh ran the Columbus Half Marathon. He signed up to prove to himself he’d actually healed. He didn’t let himself believe it until he turned the corner toward the finish line. Now Josh is the founder and CEO of Attuned, the company he built around the technology that gave him his life back. On this episode, recorded in person in Columbus, Josh and Dominic get into how bioenergetic scanning works (hair and saliva samples; 60-plus years of science; and why it can flag a stress fracture weeks before symptoms appear), what separates the Endurance Scan from wearable data, how Dominic’s own scan caught his adrenal issues and flagged his achilles before he mentioned either, and why Josh won’t recommend a blanket supplement stack to anyone—even after taking 52 a day at his sickest.  One of the most honest and unusual founder stories to come through the TRE universe. Tap into the Josh Blatchford Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review!  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=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZL Instagram: @joshuablatch  Website: attuned.health

    1h 19m

  5. May 27

    Why Running Slower And Doing Less Will Make You Faster: Mario Fraioli On 22 Years Of Coaching Lessons, The B+ Workout Rule, And The Insecure Overachiever Trap

    Mario Fraioli has coached hundreds of athletes and written over half a million words about running—and his most important lesson is to do less.  He is the founder of The Morning Shakeout, a weekly newsletter read by tens of thousands of runners since 2015, a longtime running coach, and a Masters competitor still toeing the line himself with a 4:09 mile to his name.  Two days after the 2026 Boston Marathon, Mario sat down with Dominic to break down what he witnessed, what the sport is getting wrong, and what keeps him coming back every single year. In this conversation, Mario makes the case for his "Go One Less" philosophy and why the athletes most motivated to push are the ones most likely to break—a lesson he learned the hard way through stress fractures and disordered eating.  He shares what it was like training alongside some of the best runners in the country and being stunned by how slow their easy days were. And he talks about what curiosity (not ambition) has driven everything he's built, from his first newsletter issue sent to 200 people to the coaching business he never planned to have. Take the pursuit seriously. Don't take yourself too seriously. And just get started. Tap into the Mario Fraioli 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 Instagram: @mariofraioli  The Morning Shakeout Newsletter: https://themorningshakeout.substack.com/ Website: https://mariofraioli.com/

    1h 13m

  6. May 25

    From the Shadows to HOKA Festival of Miles: Chiara Dailey on Being Overlooked, Training Like A Pro, and Chasing a Sub-4:30 Mile In High School

    Braelyn Combe listed five girls she expected to contend with at Festival of Miles. Chiara Dailey's name wasn't one of them. That detail sits right at the center of this conversation: not as a grudge, but as fuel. Chiara has been one of the best prep distance runners in the country for four straight years: three consecutive California state cross country titles, a sub-4:40 mile PR, four straight national qualifications. She'll be the first to tell you she hasn't had that race yet. The one that changes the conversation. June 4th is where she's been pointing all spring. This episode goes inside what that actually looks like. She talks about working this season with Eric Avila (a former professional runner and longtime family friend) who shifted the texture of her training: more threshold, consistent lifting,a real focus on form she'd quietly been embarrassed about for three years. She describes her hardest workout of the spring, why she doesn't learn her sessions until after her warmup, and how she's been training her kick at every smaller meet in the postseason—going out in 32 and closing in 31. She also goes deep on what winning actually means to her. Her moonshot goal for FOM is sub-4:30 (nine seconds faster than her current PR) and she explains, calmly and without hesitation, why she'd rather win in 4:40 than run 4:29 and finish second. She signs off with a direct message to Braelyn: "I'll see you in Fresno and I'll see you in St. Louis." She's been around. She's done being overlooked. Tap into the Chiara Dailey Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review!  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=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZL Instagram: @chiaradailey

    32 min

  7. May 23

    From the Soft-Surface Myth to the Sub-2 Marathon: Nike Coach Alex Osberg on Training Science, Injury Comebacks, and The Secrets Of Elite Fueling From A Sub-2 Marathon

    -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs The myths runners live by are surprisingly hard to kill. Alex Ostberg is back with Dominic to dismantle four more of them. First up: the soft surface myth. Alex explains how the brain anticipates soft terrain and stiffens the legs before foot strike, largely canceling out whatever cushioning the ground provides. The real injury variable isn't surface, it's pace. Slowing from a 7:40 to a 10:44 mile can cut tibial stress injury risk by over 50%. Variability across surfaces beats avoidance of any one of them. From there, the conversation moves into the "8 Questions" edition and a broader critique of optimization culture. Only about 10 to 15 percent of runners, Alex argues, should even be thinking about supplements, sleep protocols, or anabolic windows. The rest need to nail the basics first.  The injury comeback piece brings the most personal material. Alex draws on his own two-year loop of reinjury at Stanford and UNC to argue that healing and readiness are not the same thing. Pain-free is a starting point, not a finish line. Two rules stand above the rest: invest fully in the protection phase, and pass a stimulus twice before progressing it. The episode closes on London 2026 and the fueling science behind the first sub-two. Sawe averaged 115 grams of carbohydrate per hour—a number that would have been considered reckless a decade ago. Alex breaks down the carbolution (dual-source transport, hydrogel delivery, gut training) and asks the question the finish line footage raised: have we eliminated the bonk? Tap into the Alex Ostberg Rundown Recap Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review!  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

    1h 1m

  8. May 21

    From Walking Away From Pro Running in 2018 to the Fastest American EVER at Boston: Jess McClain on the Greatest Comeback in American Marathon History

    Jess McClain went from anonymous to American course record holder in about two years. She'll tell you that it’s not actually that simple. The 2024 Olympic Trials were the moment the running world met Jess when she finished fourth in Orlando, out of nowhere—or so the story went. In this episode, she explains what that looked like from the inside: going in without expectations, with her husband Connor by her side, determined to be the person at the start line who was having the most fun. She'd been running at a high level since she was 12; the crowd just hadn't been paying attention. What followed (a Brooks contract renegotiated entirely without an agent; a 2:20:49 at Boston; a fifth-place finish with enough left in the tank to run down the woman in front of her on Boylston) was the product of four years of uninterrupted health, a weekly appointment with a bodywork therapist named George, and a training partnership with coach David Roche built on collaboration and gear-change work.  She describes going from 5:18 pace to 4:56 at mile 16 of a long run like it's the most natural thing in the world. She also gets honest about what the early pro years actually cost her—financially, physically, and mentally—and why being able to support herself outside of running completely changed her relationship to racing.  Eat enough, occasionally eat too much, but never eat too little—that's the philosophy. She's running the best marathons of her life on it. Two years out from LA and she's not rushing anything. Tap into the Jess McClain Special. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review!  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 Instagram: @jesstonn

    1h 1m
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4.9
out of 5
808 Ratings

About

The Running Effect tells the best stories in running—and turns them into insight, inspiration, and tools to help competitive runners become greater. Every week, host Dominic Schlueter sits down with the fastest, smartest, and most inspiring people in the sport—from Olympic medalists to breakthrough athletes—to unpack the stories, lessons, and mindset behind elite performance. Whether you’re chasing a personal best or looking to understand how greatness is built, The Running Effect will make you a deeper fan of the sport—and a better runner.

Information

  • Creator
    Dominic Schlueter
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    713
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Dominic Schlueter
  • Show Website
    THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

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