THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

Dominic Schlueter
  • 4.9 (807)
  • 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. 13H AGO

    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

  2. 2D AGO

    From 4:18 To 3:59 In The Mile: How Riley Witt Built Bicarb 3.0 From His Dorm, The Talent Myth, And Why If You're Not Willing To Spend $2,000 On Your Running, You're Not Serious

    Website: ⁠bicarb.shop  Riley Witt doesn't think you need talent to break four minutes in the mile—he just thinks you need to want it bad enough to spend $35. The Northwest Missouri State senior came on to break down the philosophy behind that take, and what followed was one of the more honest conversations about athletic ambition, economic reality, and the compounding edge of doing everything right.  Witt grew up in a class of 36 students in Osage, Iowa, ran a 4:40 mile his freshman year of high school, and genuinely believed that was fast.  He didn't have the training partners, the competition, or the context to know otherwise. What he had was an Exercise Science background, an obsessive attention to marginal gains, and a willingness to do things differently. That's where Bicarb comes in. Witt launched Bicarb 3.0 out of necessity (he wanted a sodium bicarbonate product that actually worked without the GI catastrophe), and built it into a business from his dorm room after going from a 4:11 mile to a 4:03 in two weeks on his first homebrew version. He walks Dominic through the science of how bicarbonate buffers hydrogen ions at the cellular level, why the longer distances are starting to adopt it, and what his proprietary kinetic gradient matrix technology does differently than anything else on the market. Underneath all of it is a runner who just ran 1:48 at the MIAA Outdoor Championships, holds a 4.0 GPA, and has one box left to check: a Division II national title. He's currently ranked second in the country in the 800m.  The clock is ticking. Tap into the Riley Witt 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: @riwitt03  Website: bicarb.shop

    59 min

  3. 4D AGO

    From Three Jobs and Minnesota Winters to 306 Miles & 73 Loops at BPN: Mark Dowdle on Winning G1M Ultra, the 2 AM Decision, and the Voice That Got Him Through

    Mark Dowdle ran 306.6 miles in 73 hours, drove 20 hours home, picked up a puppy, and was back umpiring youth baseball the next week.  That's either the most unhinged post-race recovery plan in endurance sports history, or it's the most honest thing anyone's said about who he actually is. This is the conversation Dominic was saving for after the race—and it delivered on the hype. Mark walks through the G1M Ultra from the inside: the moment on the first night at 2 or 3 a.m. where he made the irreversible decision not to quit; the loop where he noticed Kim and Harvey were off their timing and knew what was coming; and the final miles walking with Kendall as both men quietly sensed the race was ending.  The 13-second lap finish wasn't a dramatic sprint—it was two men who'd been through three days of mud and rain and dark deciding, together, to keep going one more time. What makes this conversation different from a typical winner's debrief is what Mark keeps returning to: the idea that who you are at a youth baseball game is exactly who you are at mile 290. His sister-in-law Lily's voice was in his earbuds pulling him through the low loops. The internal battle between wanting the race to end and wanting to see how far two people can actually go together. And the realization, standing upright after 73 hours, that he didn't have to perform for anyone. He also quietly drops that he's now officially a BPN athlete. The chapter he'd title What It Looks Like to Walk in Faith is just getting started. Tap into the Mark Dowdle 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: @mark.dowdle

    54 min

  4. 6D AGO

    The Effect: Luke Hopkins on His Unrelenting Pursuit of Greatness, How an Accident at 12 Reshaped His Life, His Ambitions in Ironman, and Inspiring a Whole Generation in the Process

    Luke Hopkins doesn't separate who he is from what he does—and that almost broke him. When a stress fracture pulled him off the training schedule he'd built his identity around, Hopkins had to face a question most high achievers never stop long enough to ask: what's left when the sport is gone?  In this episode, the guys dive into the psychology of performance: the difference between being intentional and being consumed; why the hardest workers are often the most emotionally repressed; and what therapy, faith, and a neuroscience degree have taught him about the person underneath the athlete. Hopkins traces his relentless work ethic back to a single moment at age 12, when a family accident forced him to decide what kind of person he was going to be. That decision made him exceptional. It also cost him things he's still learning to name.  He talks honestly about tying worth to output, the fragility of building an identity on strangers' approval, and why his brands not dropping him during the injury was one of the most clarifying moments of his career. The conversation covers hybrid training, what four-plus hours of daily training actually feels like, and the neuroscience behind why your brain is the limiting factor in any race—not your legs. But the episode's real weight is in the quieter moments: pride, fear, and what Hopkins would tell his 12-year-old self if he had the chance. Tap into the Luke Hopkins 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. If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend! If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend! 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: @lukehoplife  Youtube: @lukehoplife  Tiktok: @lukehoplife

    1h 10m

  5. MAY 13

    3:53.43. 25 Years Later. Still Unbroken. Alan Webb on the Pre Classic Mile That Outlasted a Generation and Why It's Still the Hardest Record in High School Sports

    Alan Webb still has the record. Twenty-four years later, nobody's touched it.  The American high school mile record (3:53.43, set at the 2001 Prefontaine Classic) has outlasted every shoe revolution, every bicarb protocol, and every perfectly concocted running shoe PR storm. In this conversation, Webb sits down with Dominic to talk about why that mark still stands, what it actually felt like to run it, and what the sport's fastest generation of teenagers is still missing. Webb is disarmingly honest about his own race.  Going into Pre that day, he wasn't chasing Ryun's record—he was chasing a decimal-second PR over 3:59. He was, in his words, playing with house money. The result was a 55-flat last lap with gas still in the tank, a closing kick he nearly stumbled into because he didn't realize how far ahead of his goal he was. That psychological accident, he argues, is exactly what most high school milers can't replicate on command. The conversation moves from race mechanics to coaching philosophy to the weight room sins of his own career—including a period where Webb, by his own admission, went full Arnold Schwarzenegger while training for the mile. He's candid about what he got wrong, what Coach Raczko got right, and how much of that South Lakes framework he's carried directly into his program at Ave Maria University. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, Webb lands on the thing that seems to have kept him in the sport long after the records and the contracts and the Nike deals: running, he says, teaches virtue.  That's not nothing. Tap into the Alan Webb 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: @alanwebb1

    57 min

  6. MAY 11

    From Depressed to Strava Killer: Zach Pogrob on Share Aura, Taking Strava's Crown, and Building the Greatest App the Running World Has Ever Seen

    He ran 63 miles on a broken stomach, launched a product the same week, and called it a good weekend. Zach Pogrob is back—and this time, the conversation goes deeper than any race result.  A month before the BPN G1M Ultra, he posted a photo at 220 pounds and admitted he had no business toeing the line. He showed up anyway, ran until his GI system shut down at mile 50, kept going on fumes, and walked away with a finish that looked like a DNF: but felt, to him, like proof.  That's the through-line of this entire episode: what it means to show up when the conditions aren't right, whether you'reentering a backyard ultra or building a startup with three people and no marketing budget. Zach breaks down the obsession economy behind ShareAura, a running app already hitting all-time weekly users with zero paid acquisition, and he demos the new Aura Run Cam live: a camera-first tracker designed to make sharing your run as easy as taking a photo.  He also gets into what running 10 miles before sunrise every morning can do to a life that's lost its direction, what it actually takes to compete with Strava, why the running industry suffers from fixed-mindset thinking, and why the best companies (like the best athletes) are almost always built by outsiders. Zach Pogrob is here and he’s not holding back. Tap into the Zach Pogrob 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. If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend! If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend! 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: @zachpogrob  X: @zachpogrob  Website: zach.blog  Youtube: @zach_pogrob

    55 min

  7. MAY 9

    Inside the Training and Mindset of a 4:30 High School Miler: Ellery Lincoln on Beating Pre-Race Nerves, Joining Jane Hedengren on the All-Time List, and Her Plan to Break the HS Record

    She threw up before every race. Now she's the fourth-fastest high school miler in American history. Ellery Lincoln is a Nike Elite junior from Lincoln High School in Portland, and her 4:30.00 at the 2026 Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays didn't arrive as a surprise so much as an inevitability—the product of two years’ worth of illness, setback, and a mantra she and her mom built together: consistency over perfection. In this episode, she and Dominic go deep on the story behind the fast times: the whooping cough that derailed her cross country season; the pneumonia that hit the day she landed in New York for Nike Indoor Nationals; and what it actually looks like to rebuild not just fitness but trust in a body that keeps letting you down.  She also talks about committing to the University of Oregon (where Shalane Flannagan coaches and where her connection to Jerry Schumacher runs deeper than almost anyone's) and why she chose Eugene even though staying in-state wasn'talways the plan.  She breaks down the pre-race anxiety that once had her vomiting before every race and how she worked through it; what it means to sit #4 all-time as a junior; and why her sightline is already past the high school record book and onto a professional career. The HOKA Festival of Miles is June 4th in St. Louis. She'll be there. So will Braelyn Combe, her best friend and the closest thing the high school mile has to a genuine rival right now. She's predicting sub-4:30 for the winner. For herself, she said 4:27.4. Tap into the Ellery Lincoln 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: @ellerylincoln

    38 min

  8. MAY 7

    Exclusive: How Trevor Painter Is Coaching Keely Hodgkinson to Break a 40-Year-Old World Record — Inside M11 Track Club, the Chase for 1:52, and Coaching the Fastest Women in the World

    Trevor Painter doesn't coach world record holders by accident—he builds them, one hard session at a time. Painter is the architect behind Keely Hodgkinson's indoor world record and Georgia Hunter Bell's World Indoor 1500m gold, and in this conversation, he pulls back the curtain on exactly how M11 Track Club operates.  He opens with what makes Keely truly special: not just her talent, but her composure, her work rate, and the almost unsettling ease with which she handles pressure. From there, the conversation moves into the unlikely origin story of one of the sport’s most successful coaching partnerships: how a semi-pro rugby league player turned 400m runner ended up building the most decorated middle-distance group in the world alongside his wife, Jenny Meadows. Painter gets specific on the training philosophy that separates M11 from the rest: high intensity, low mileage, and lactate numbers that have left their own physiologist scratching her head. He explains why cross-training is baked into the system for nearly every athlete in the group; why Sunday is a sacred rest day even for the best in the world; and why he believes practice should always be harder than the race.  He also addresses the outdoor world record directly—what he thinks it will take, when he thinks it can happen, and why he called 1:53.28 untouchable when he first signed with Nike. This one is for every athlete who thinks shortcuts are an option.  They aren't. Tap into the Trevor Painter 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: @faster_feet  X.com: @Faster_feet

    1 hr
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4.9
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807 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
    706
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Dominic Schlueter
  • Show Website
    THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

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