The MicroCast

Microcosm Coaching
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The Microcosm Coaching Podcast helps endurance athletes—whether you're a road runner, trail runner, or training for your first marathon or 100-miler—get more out of their training with evidence-based advice, effort-based coaching, and expert mindset support. Hosted by professional coaches and athletes, each episode explores practical strategies for race prep, running recovery, mental performance, and sustainable training. If you want to build fitness, avoid burnout, and find more joy in running, you're in the right place.

  1. Why You Should Always Be Training + Coach TJ's Canyons 100k Race Recap!

    -4 ДН.

    Why You Should Always Be Training + Coach TJ's Canyons 100k Race Recap!

    This week we welcome you behind the scenes of Microcosm Coaching with a quick introduction to Coach Zachary Russell, an athletic trainer and strength coach whose multisport background spans Ironman, triathlon, marathoning, and trail running. He shares what kinds of athletes light him up to coach and how his experience across disciplines shapes the way he builds plans. Then Zoë and TJ dig into TJ's recent Canyons Endurance Run 100K, which he completed roughly 80 minutes off his goal time after a brutal stretch of life context, including his dad's ongoing health and the loss of his uncle the night before the race. They talk about how Cliff and TJ restructured the build entirely, doing more base earlier and less intensity later, and yet Training Peaks read his fitness as identical to previous cycles. They get honest about caretaker stress, mental bandwidth, the choice to keep the door open to joy even when training feels heavy, and why the comparison trap between seasons can quietly steal everything. The bulk of the episode tackles a listener question from Delaney, who has noticed the same faces at every ultra and is wondering whether stringing races together actually counts as training. Zoë and TJ define training the way Microcosm uses it, intentional movement with an adaptive purpose, and reframe it as a continuum rather than a binary. They unpack the B race concept, the difference between racing it and running it, the lily pad effect of bouncing race to race without ever integrating what you learned, and the diminishing returns of using events as a substitute for consistency. They also offer a few honest questions to ask yourself, including whether you would still be putting in this volume if nothing were on the calendar, and what it means to build a higher floor in the interstitial periods most runners ignore. Have a question for the show? Email us at microcosmcoaching@gmail.com and check out microcosmcoaching.com to learn more about working with our coaches.

    1 ч. 4 мин.
  2. 5 Reasons Your Fitness Is Stuck (and How to Get Unstuck)

    22 АПР.

    5 Reasons Your Fitness Is Stuck (and How to Get Unstuck)

    Why does your running fitness plateau, and what can you actually do about it? Zoë and TJ break down the five real reasons endurance athletes get stuck, a lack of training intentionality, under-recovery, chronic under-fueling, a mismatch between training and event demands, and failing to apply progressive overload across more than one lever. This episode also features a coach spotlight with James Nance, a Microcosm coach specializing in multi-sport athletes and RED-S recovery, TJ's mindset heading into race week at Canyons 100K, and a Reddit question on why your legs fall apart after your first 50K. New to Microcosm? Roster spots are open — email microcosmcoaching@gmail.com or visit microcosmcoaching.com.

    58 мин.
  3. The Science of Periodization: How to Actually Structure Your Training Year

    15 АПР.

    The Science of Periodization: How to Actually Structure Your Training Year

    Most runners follow a training plan. Very few understand the architecture behind why it's built the way it's built, and that gap is exactly where progress stalls. This week, we break down the science of periodization: what it actually is, how to structure a full training year around it, and the most common mistakes that keep athletes stuck in the gray zone. We cover training intensity distribution (pyramidal vs. polarized vs. mixed), block versus concurrent periodization and what the research actually supports, the five phases of a well-built training year, and why your easy days are probably not easy enough. Zoë also shares what she's noticed firsthand after switching to a block-style approach in her own training, the good, the bad, and the PRs. Before the main topic, we run through a Hot or Not triple-header: Nomeo broccoli sprout shots (real mechanism, no peer-reviewed human data yet), the Apex Narwhal palm cooling device (the Stanford science is interesting, the application for runners is not), and pelvic floor PT, which gets a full endorsement for every runner, regardless of gender or whether you've ever been pregnant. New to Microcosm? We'd love to be your coaches. Reach us at microcosmcoaching@gmail.com or visit microcosm-coaching.com.

    1 ч. 4 мин.
  4. 5 Signs You're Ready to Race (And 5 Signs You're Not)

    8 АПР.

    5 Signs You're Ready to Race (And 5 Signs You're Not)

    Most runners ask one question before a race: did I finish my training plan? But fitness and race readiness are not the same thing — and in this episode, Zoë and TJ break down the physiological and psychological framework that actually tells you whether you're ready to toe the line. They start with the foundational model: fitness + freshness + specificity. Using the Banister fitness-fatigue model, they explain how both signals decay at different rates (fatigue's half-life is roughly 7–10 days; fitness is 40–45) — and why that gap is exactly where your race-day performance capacity lives. From there, they go sign by sign through five indicators you're ready — including aerobic decoupling and cardiac drift as readiness metrics, what glycogen supercompensation actually feels like during taper, why race-specific physiological systems (VO2max, lactate threshold, SGLT-1/GLUT-5 gut adaptation) can't be faked on race day, and how pre-race anxiety and pre-race arousal are the same physiological state with a different cognitive label. Then the five signs you're not: climbing out of a fatigue hole your neuroendocrine system is still broadcasting, missing race-specific work that willpower can't replace, running on a pain you've been rationalizing, under-fueling and under-sleeping your way to the start line, and the hardest conversation in coaching — when your goal and your fitness aren't in the same zip code. They also get into: Hot or Not on energy drinks at aid stations, AI-generated Spotify playlists vs. human curation, multi-day races and FKTs, and Prancercise (yes, really). Topics covered: The Banister fitness-fatigue model and why fitness and freshness decay at different ratesAerobic decoupling (Pa:Hr) and cardiac drift as race readiness signalsTraining Stress Balance (TSB): what the +10 to +25 range actually meansGlycogen supercompensation during taper — and why you should not get on a scaleVO2max, lactate threshold, and time-on-feet: the specificity gapGut training: SGLT-1 and GLUT-5 transporter adaptation, and why 12 weeks out is not too earlyPre-race arousal vs. anxiety — the Alison Wood Brooks reappraisal researchHPA axis dysregulation, HRV, and the neuroendocrine signals of a fatigue holeDOMS vs. injury-relevant pain — the checklist coaches actually useWIG, WAG, and WOG: cascading race goals and why rigid goals aren't ambitiousMore at microcosm-coaching.com. Join the Foothills community for $10/month — group coaching, Slack community, and twice-monthly roundtables with Microcosm coaches.

    1 ч. 12 мин.
  5. UTMB Chianti Castles UTCC 120k Race Recap + Fueling Short Runs and Psychedelics for Running?

    1 АПР.

    UTMB Chianti Castles UTCC 120k Race Recap + Fueling Short Runs and Psychedelics for Running?

    Zoë and TJ are back from Italy and kicking off April with a packed episode. First up: coach Kyle Jones: a masters athlete and ultra running specialist with a focus on helping athletes who are all in on the long game, whether that's accumulating volume safely or solving the full puzzle of race-day logistics that go far beyond training. Then it's Hot or Nots. On the docket: incline stretch boards for calf and Achilles work (the evidence is real, but eccentric loading beats passive stretching for most underlying issues), packaged Rice Krispie Treats as race fuel (the macros check out — 27 to 30 grams of carbs, glucose plus fructose, low fiber — but the chewability at mile 50 is another story), Ziploc bags in ice bandanas (hard pass: the evaporation is the whole point), hybrid athletes as a category (the jury is out, but the coaches aren't your girls if high rocks is your thing), run clubs (yes, with a firm caveat on effort), and microdosing during ultras (the research case for decriminalization is strong; the research case for running 100 miles on psilocybin is still pending). The listener Q this week tackles one of the most common rules in running: you don't need to fuel for efforts under 90 minutes. Zoë and TJ break down why that's only half the story. There are actually two separate mechanisms at play — the metabolic pathway most runners know, and a neurological pathway most don't. Receptors in the mouth and upper GI tract signal the brain the moment carbohydrates are detected, easing the protective fatigue response before a single calorie has been absorbed. This has been demonstrated even when athletes swish a carb solution and spit it out. For high-intensity efforts like a hard half marathon, the case for fueling is stronger than the 90-minute rule suggests — and the practical takeaways are in the episode. The back half is a full race debrief on Chianti. Zoë ran an hour faster than last year and still came in 13th. TJ walks through how to approach a post-race analysis when the headline result doesn't tell the full story — and how Zoë's coach surfaced a key data point she almost missed entirely: cardiac drift. In 2025, Zoë's cardiac drift was 9.54% over the course of the race. In 2026, it was negative 1.39%, meaning she was actually able to access higher heart rates at the end of the race — a direct signal of aerobic durability built by keeping easy days genuinely easy, week after week. The conversation covers what cardiac drift actually measures, why gray zone training works against this adaptation, and what the terrain-specific limiter was that explains the placement gap.

    1 ч. 13 мин.

  6. 17 МАР.

    The Performance Trap: What Elite Male Athletes Get Wrong About Discipline, Leanness, and Control

    If you've ever thought "I'm not dieting, I'm optimizing", this episode is for you. We're dropping this one from the Your Diet Sucks vault because we think it belongs in the feed of every endurance athlete. We brought in coach TJ David, former professional skier and elite endurance athlete, and Sean Van Horn, elite athlete, Kylee Van Horn's husband, and someone who spent six years not telling a single person he was struggling, because the way it shows up in men doesn't look like what we're trained to recognize. It looks like discipline. It looks like being serious about your sport. It looks like The Rock's morning routine and Chris Froome dropping weight before the Tour. From the outside, and often from the inside, it looks like exactly what you're supposed to be doing. That's the trap. We get into the data (it's stark,and most of it is probably still an undercount), the cultural pipeline from GI Joe to fitness influencers to the manosphere, why the diagnostic tools were literally designed for someone who is not you, and what coaches and training partners can actually do when they see it in someone they care about. Sean also shares his own story, which takes guts, and is worth your full attention. You don't have to identify with any particular label to get something out of this one. If you train hard, care about performance, and have ever used food or exercise as a way to feel in control of something, this conversation was made for you.

    1 ч. 19 мин.
  7. 5 Most Overhyped Ideas in Endurance Training (And What Actually Works)

    11 МАР.

    5 Most Overhyped Ideas in Endurance Training (And What Actually Works)

    Meet coach Kyle Jones, a master's athlete dedicated to helping other runners achieve their biggest goals, no matter their age. See more and book a free consultation call at microcosm-coaching.com. Every few months, a new training idea goes viral, and suddenly it's everywhere. Zone 2. Cycle syncing. Ketones. Heat suits. Ninety grams of carbs an hour. The science behind most of these things is real. That's not the problem. The problem is that real science is getting stripped of context, flattened into a hot take, and sold to athletes who haven't built the foundation that makes any of it matter. In this episode, Zoë and TJ break down five ideas that are genuinely overhyped, not because they don't work, but because the way they're being applied and marketed almost always skips the part where they actually become useful. They cover the five-zone model and why zone obsession can accidentally produce the worst possible training distribution, the booming female-specific training industry and what the 2025 research actually says about cycle syncing, performance supplements like creatine, sodium bicarb, and ketones and where the hierarchy breaks down, the ninety-gram carb protocol and why it's solving a problem most recreational athletes don't have, and heat training protocols and how fitness alone outperforms heat exposure for the vast majority of athletes. The through line across all five: marginal gains are real, but they sit on top of a foundation. And if the foundation isn't there, no intervention is going to save you. Sleep, consistent training, fueling the work, and getting your brain right, those are the levers worth pulling first.

    1 ч. 11 мин.
  8. Should You Run Twice a Day? The Science Behind Running Doubles

    4 МАР.

    Should You Run Twice a Day? The Science Behind Running Doubles

    Running twice a day sounds serious, but is it actually right for you? This week, Zoë and TJ dig into the full science of doubles: what they are, what they're definitively not, and how to know if you're actually a candidate. Plus, a round of listener-submitted Hot or Nots and a great question about why early morning runs feel so much harder. First up, meet Coach James Nance, a multi-sport specialist who coaches cyclists, runners, and skiers through big goals without burning them out. He's based in Fort Collins and has a knack for athletes navigating injury cycles, overtraining, and RED-S. If any of that sounds like your situation, reach out at microcosmcoaching@gmail.com. Then, a deep-dive Hot or Not round featuring listener submissions: inversion tables (the effects last minutes, not months), muscle scraping (the original theory has been pretty much debunked), CBD and THC cream (weak evidence, real anti-doping risk), and Superfeet insoles (a rare instance where the research actually delivers, prefab orthotics perform as well as custom at a fraction of the cost). Before the main topic, TJ answers a listener's question about why Zone 2 feels brutally hard at 5 a.m., and it turns out it's not just you. Core temperature, sleep inertia, cortisol, glycogen state, darkness, and cold all compound to inflate your RPE before you've even hit the first mile. There's real science here, and real solutions. Then: doubles. An elite running a morning threshold session and an afternoon shakeout is doing something fundamentally different than a recreational runner cramming two hard efforts into a day. Zoë and TJ break down the physiology of why doubles work when they work (hint: PGC-1α, mitochondrial biogenesis, and aerobic signaling), who's actually a candidate, the gray zone trap, the ego trap, and why energy availability is non-negotiable if you're going to add volume this way. Bottom line: doubles are a tool, not a trophy.

    58 мин.
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The Microcosm Coaching Podcast helps endurance athletes—whether you're a road runner, trail runner, or training for your first marathon or 100-miler—get more out of their training with evidence-based advice, effort-based coaching, and expert mindset support. Hosted by professional coaches and athletes, each episode explores practical strategies for race prep, running recovery, mental performance, and sustainable training. If you want to build fitness, avoid burnout, and find more joy in running, you're in the right place.

Информация

  • Автор
    Microcosm Coaching
  • Годы выхода
    2024 - 2026
  • Выпуски
    225
  • Ограничения
    С ненормативной лексикой
  • Авторские права
    © Microcosm Coaching
  • Сайт подкаста
    The MicroCast

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