The Endurance Drive Podcast

In this week's episode, we're recapping Elena's speedy race and “effort PR” at the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati. We talk through why Elena chose to race a road marathon as part of her build for UTMB, her flexible approach to setting A/B/C goals, how she managed internal and external pressure, why feeling bad during the taper doesn't mean you're going to have a bad race, the mental prep she did to get ready for race day, how she designed and executed her race plan on a challenging course, why body weight has so much less to do with performance than we might think, what it was like to coach her husband Will (who also crushed it!) for this race, and why self-belief was the number one factor that led to her incredible performance. Katie and Elena also cover some fun insights on when and how to choose a big vs. small race, why the ability to “say yes” to anything physically is one of the greatest benefits of endurance training, how we think about integrating chat GPT into our training and coaching strategies (or not), and female athlete body pressures. This is a super rich episode full of insights for any athlete — check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here.To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

This week's episode is jam-packed with insights across a bunch of different topics! We riff on: how to think about training during the first hot and humid days of the spring; how to plan out your fueling strategy for long workouts and races; troubleshooting low motivation and/or fatigue; the pros and cons of indoor vs. outdoor intervals on the bike; handling high-pressure situations by having a calm conversation with yourself; optimizing recovery after big days; using races or group rides as organic fitness tests; how to build durability on the bike; why skipping and other plyometrics can revolutionize your running; and Jim's minimum effective dose 15-minute run workout for time-crunched athletes. We also hit some fun swimming-related gear picks of the week and answer listener questions on clip-in pedals. Check it out!View extended show notes for this episode here.To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

This week's episode is another grab bag full of recent insights from racing, training, and spectating! Elena and Katie cover a bunch of fun topics including: insights from the Boston Marathon; how to optimize your training schedule for variables like multiple sports, good vs. bad weather, recovery, and social time; pre-race nerves and anxiety; processing bad races; gender breakdowns in Ironman and ultra training; emotions and training; what rucking is and how to incorporate in your training; how the menstrual cycle impacts overall feel in training; and fun new marathon prep workouts. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here.To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

This week's episode is a grab bag full of fun insights related to: the how and why of training camps, considerations for buying a new or new used bike, navigating race-day uncontrollables, impulse control in racing, how and when to “burn a match” in workouts or races, GI issues on long runs, the post-race blues, and lessons from interval training. We also debrief Jim's recent bike trip in Europe, answer some questions related to “hitting the wall” after Katie's recent marathon (hot take: there is no wall), and cover some fun tech-y gear picks of the week. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, Elena and Katie recap Katie's recent BQ marathon. We cover why Katie decided to pivot from triathlon training to marathon training, why she kept the race a secret until after she crossed the finish line, how relatively low mileage and a ton of cross training kept her injury-free throughout the build, how she integrated heavy weighted strength into her run training plan, how she approached unexpected adversity leading up to the race, mindset tools that helped her in training and racing, her fueling and pacing strategies, and her key takeaways from the race experience itself. This episode is a good listen for anyone who is marathon-curious or who likes a good story about the importance of flexibility and resilience! Check it out. View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode of the podcast, Elena and Katie are welcoming on a repeat guest who always has plenty of life wisdom to share. Gina des Cognets — an executive coach for teams and individuals and a badass athlete herself — talks us through how she approaches uncertainty and risk in the pursuit of ambitious goals, practical strategies for establishing a routine, and how to think about balance between career, sport, family, and life. She also talks us through her evolution as an athlete, and specifically how she and Katie have collaborated on her training in recent years, how she thinks about listening to her body vs. pushing harder, what races and goals are most exciting to her in training and how that has evolved over time, and how she has approached perimenopause as an athlete. In addition to Gina's awesome perspective, Katie and Elena riff on some insights related to courage and anxiety in workouts, body image, and down weeks and share some fun gear picks of the week related to gels, apparel, and super shoes. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, we're bringing on a very special guest and friend of the pod. Eli Burakian is an ultrarunner, coach, guidebook author, mountain photographer, dad, race director, and all-around adventurer whose love of the sport and passion for helping other people make him one of the most interesting people we know. We chat through Eli's most recent ultrarunning achievement: completing the Grand Slam in 2024, a series of four 100-mile ultras in a period of 14 weeks. Eli also shares stories from the many FKT (fastest known time) adventures he has completed, including a multi-day trek across the entire country of Iceland and from the southern to northern borders of New Hampshire. We learn about the fueling, recovery, and training tactics he has brought to these extraordinary undertakings, the mindset tools he employs when the going gets tough, and how he wants to bring his knowledge into the coaching space. Finally, we chat about Eli's upcoming trail running retreat in the White Mountains and how you can get involved. This is a jam-packed, can't-miss episode — check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

We're starting the transition to from base season to race season fast! This episode covers a bunch of topics we're thinking about as our athletes welcome spring, the build phase, and even some races. We talk through the what, why, and how of tapering, the common pattern we see of bad race simulations and good races, reminders on the benefits of zone 2, and how to make easy aerobic training more bearable. We also do a deep dive (no pun intended) on common swim technique issues, cues to address them, and why making the swim a low metabolic stress event needs to be the goal of triathlon swim prep. Finally, we chat through the pros and cons of TrainingPeaks' new “See How I Stack Up” feature and share some fun challenges and gear picks of the week. Check it out!View extended show notes for this episode here.To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

This week's episode leans hard into sports science as we share some new thoughts on creatine, sodium bicarbonate, and caffeine for performance. We also talk through the why and how of lactate testing and whether this is a worthwhile thing to spend your time and money on, the “feel and stair test” as an organic and data-free way to assess your training readiness, how our coaching styles have and have not evolved over time, and how we approach coaching men vs. women. We finish up with some fun challenges and gear picks related to self-care and sleep. Check it out!View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, we're diving into a bunch of different thought-provoking topics: how to think about training when you're dealing with grief or other high LSS events, how to modify bike workouts during indoor/outdoor shoulder season, when and how to use super shoes, adapting workouts, persevering through workouts, push vs. pull forces in working towards your goals, low cadence cycling, the coach/athlete relationship, tapping into different swim speeds, and more. This episode was also all about gratitude for what we have (and for the podcast!) when life feels extra tough. Stay well, peeps! View extended show notes for this episode here.To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, Katie and Elena hit on a grab bag of topics that have been coming up from athletes and listeners recently: trying new types of athletic events, coping with winter, fueling FAQs, supplements, body image follow-ups, and more! With a mix of personal anecdotes and learnings from our community, we had a blast with this one and hope you find it useful too. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here.To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, we're bringing back a fan-favorite repeat guest: physical therapist and athlete extraordinaire, Neil MacKenzie! Neil talks us through common training and recovery mistakes athletes make in the late winter and early spring, how to tell if a rehab plan is working, how to use pain as a useful indicator, how to support injured athletes from a psychological and emotional perspective, best practices for bone stress injuries and REDs treatment, run warmups, strength training, mobility, home assessments for imbalances and other issues, PT goodness of fit, and a lot more. This episode is jam-packed full of actionable advice for all athletes! View extended show notes for this episode here.To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, Katie and Elena tackle a big topic that has gotten a lot of interest among our listeners — the intersection of body image and endurance sports. We talk through external and internal pressures related to body image, challenges in thinking about how bodies change over time, whether weight is a useful metric to track or not, situations and circumstances in which body image concerns can be more activating, fueling and body image, and reframes that can be helpful for thinking about fitness, fueling, and our bodies. We also cover some fun insights related to shame and missed workouts, fueling higher-intensity workouts, vitamin D deficiency, not judging early-season workouts, and treadmills as a tool for hills and speed. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here.To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

This grab-bag episode was packed full of a ton of fun topics! We dive into how to deal with very windy conditions in deep winter training, withholding judgment from workouts, re-evaluating your goals, how to track LSS over time, gels and carb intake, dehydration in the winter, whether you actually should do your pick-ups or not, 'strain' and 'body battery ' as made-up stats, how new athletes should approach Ironman prep, when and how to use SIM shorts, staying calm in the water, HIIT and endurance training, and more. Come for the insights and stay for the banter!View extended show notes for this episodehere.To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this grab bag episode of the podcast, Katie and Elena catch up about recent happenings in their coaching and training lives including: how to think about training if you get sick, trusting the process, the concept of being "in your body" in sports, trying new sports, what it means to fuel enough, and mental reframes in the context of body composition. We also do a deep dive on two bigger topics: how to integrate skiing (of any kind!) with endurance training and an extended female athlete Q+A in honor of National Girls and Women in Sport Day. This episode is jam-packed full of insights for everyone -- check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, we're talking through our top tips for making triathlon—arguably one of the most expensive recreational sports—at least somewhat more economical. We cover non-negotiable must-have gear and equipment items, nice-to-have but not necessary items, gimmicky items that you shouldn't waste your money on, hidden costs to be aware of, and how to budget more effectively. We also deep dive on a bunch of fun coaching and training insights including Life Stress Score (LSS), not letting Garmin health data gaslight us, gear and strategies for cold weather running, mental imagery, and setting a ‘theme' or intention for your day. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, Katie and Elena sit down with coach, elite runner, physical therapist, and friend of the pod Hanna Prunty. Hanna shares some exciting news—that she and Coach Kevin are expecting their first child in June!—and dives deep into the journey she followed in order to optimize her hormonal health for pregnancy. Hanna shares powerful reflections on why more isn't always better, how challenging it can be to make major changes to your fitness and fueling routine when you are operating at peak performance in endurance sports, and the lessons she learned about balance and herself along the way. She also tells us about how she integrates her training and career as a physical therapist with her current coaching role, and how she approaches helping athletes achieve their goals from a standpoint of health, wellness, and longevity in sport. This inspiring episode has something for everyone. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

Welcome to the new season, athletes! We are back in full swing with training and coaching, so Jim and Katie sat down for an extended insights episode all about what we are learning from our athletes (and from ourselves!) in the first couple weeks of the new year. We cover: good and bad data, going high vs. low in Z2, workout ordering, logistics of a training week, intentions and resolutions, “gentle January,” engaging the parasympathetic state, hunger cues, and a whole lot more. We also do a deep dive on TrainingPeaks Virtual, a new online cycling competitor to Zwift, and introduce a new bonus segment. This was a fun one — check it out!  View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

We've spent a lot of hours sharing ‘the key principles that guide our approach to endurance training and coaching' on this podcast, but we've never sat down and distilled all of those principles into a single one-stop-shop episode that covers our coaching philosophy. In this episode, we're doing just that: talking through ten of the biggest and most important principles that shape how we think about training and coaching. Highlights include person-first coaching, the 80/20 intensity distribution, grounding in the intention of the workout, fueling the work, preventing injuries, strength, durability, and lots more. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

We're kicking off the new year with an episode all about goals and intentions for 2025! Katie and Elena reached out to our community for inspiration about what's motivating them this year and came back with a ton of physical and mental goals that span endurance, self-improvement, and everything in between. We also did a deep dive on coaching and training insights related to "how to solve for the right race," how to process tough race days, and how to practice shame resilience in the context of sports. Finally, we cover some of our own goals and intentions for the coming year. Happy New Year! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

We're closing out 2024 with a recap of some of our biggest lessons learned and some coaching and training innovations we're looking forward to in 2025. We cover the importance of mindset, why belief is crucial for performance, how goal mapping has helped us and our athletes, why comparison is the thief of joy, how to modify under high stress, the role of everyday nutrition vs. sports nutrition, training with the seasons, and more. We also go over some fun coaching and training insights related to Zwift, FTP tests, nordic skiing, and strength training, and we reflect on what it means to have reached our big one-year milestone of the pod. Thank you so much to all of our listeners to this point — we're so pumped to see what 2025 brings! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

We're in that awkward time between Thanksgiving and Christmas where life feels like equal parts joyful, dark, and downright weird, so Jim, Katie, and Elena sat down to chat through what's been going on for us in coaching, training, and life in recent weeks. The result was a rich episode filled with our collective thoughts on topics that range from mechanical durability to fighting disconnection to grief processing to self-compassion to marathon pacing to mental health to super shoes and more! Come for these and other extended insights, and stay for two bougie gear picks of the week and one stocking stuffer. Check it out!  View extended show notes for this episode here.  To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, we are joined by Tim Richmond, the Head Race Director of Max Performance, to learn a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes at a triathlon race. Tim shares how he became a race director and grew his successful family-run triathlon business, how he handles gear and equipment, how he manages and organizes volunteers, how he responds to unforeseen circumstances on race day, and how you as a triathlete can have the best race experience. Jim and Katie also reflect on some of our most fun experiences on the Max Performance race circuit in our last decade of training and coaching. Finally, we cover some fun insights and listener questions related to injury recovery, grounding in the intention of the workout, threshold testing, and more. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

We are going full “woo woo spirituality” in this episode to talk about how endurance sports can operate as a spiritual practice. We specifically chat through why we are interested in the intersection between endurance sports and spirituality, how we define and conceptualize spirituality, spirituality at its best and worst, endurance as a vehicle for constant self-reflection, the pursuit of feeling “enough,” endurance as a way to give back to others, and how our own relationships with endurance sports have evolved over time. Our goal is not to have the final say on any of these big and complex topics, but rather to get the conversation going and “caveat the hell out of” our free-formed thoughts. We also cover some fun insights related to tempo training, the rule of thirds, and Katie's recent ankle injury, and we share a lot of laughs about signs from the universe in the process. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here.  To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

The start of the season is right around the corner, so this week we're putting together an extended list of things that you can do to be ready to hit the ground running (and swimming and biking) once it all begins. We cover mindset and mental prep, balancing your nervous system, organizing your life logistics, hitting the gym, getting back into Zone 2 aerobic training, addressing recurring injuries, sprucing up your pain cave, and a whole lot more. We offer cover several coaching and training insights related to gravel biking, strength training, turning off Strava AI, days off, stress management, and the Ironman World Championships in Kona. This is a jam-packed episode — check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here.  To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, Katie and Elena welcome Brittni Nicolodi (previously Gorman) to the podcast to chat all things wellness and performance for athletes. Brittni is an Ayurvedic Medicine Practitioner and a mountain athlete who combines her love for endurance adventuring with her passion for preventative wellness. She explains what Ayurveda is, her journey to becoming an Ayurvedic Practitioner, what imbalances and other health challenges she sees most frequently in the endurance athlete population, the importance of holistic health and trusting your gut, how to integrate eastern and western medicine approaches in a holistic care team, and so much more. She also shares several actionable steps that you can take today to reduce stress and optimize your own health and performance through the lens of preventative wellness. Check it out!  Brittni's website: https://mountainsforbreakfast.com/ Follow Brittni on Instagram:  @mountainsforbreakfast.coaching @mountainsforbreakfast View extended show notes for this episode here.  To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, Jim, Katie, and Elena drill into why trail running will make you faster and stronger in all endurance and fitness domains, even if trail running isn't your primary sport. We cover who should trail run, why trail running is such a secret weapon, how to get started (logistically, physically, and mentally), what data or metrics are most useful to pay attention to in trail running, how to make trail running part of your fitness routine as an urban athlete, strength training considerations, and our favorite trail running workouts, gear items, and memories. We also do a deep dive on why we (mostly) hate the new Strava AI insights and answer a listener question on how to approach racing at altitude if you live at sea level. Even if you have never set foot on a trail, this is a can't-miss episode! Check it out.  View extended show notes for this episode here.  To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, Elena and Katie welcome Megan Chacosky to the show. Megan is a performance dietitian and chef extraordinaire who has built a career blending her expertise in sports nutrition with her love of cooking and her passion for supporting athletes as humans. Megan served as a Performance Chef and Sports Dietician for the US Olympic and Paralympic committee before moving to Vermont to do the same at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center for the Green Racing Project's athletes. We cover Megan's journey into her current position, common nutrition struggles for endurance athletes, how athletes can make fueling both easy and enjoyable, how nailing the more mundane elements is the best path to longevity in sport, how athletes can build healthier relationships with food, and a whole lot more. Check it out!  View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

October means two things: it's pumpkin spice latte season and it's Ironman World Championships season! In this week's episode, Coach Katie and Coach Kevin—both 2X Ironman World Championships qualifiers—break down their respective journeys to the Kona ticket. We cover the training, budget, lifestyle, logistics, and mindsets that helped them achieve their goals, and we also offer tips for athletes who simply want to level up their Ironman game. We also answer a bunch of listener questions related to hydration, ERG mode, and saddle sores, and share coaching and training insights on mindfulness, DNFs, and when to call it quits. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, we crowdsourced yet again and asked our community to share their thoughts on self-belief. As always, we are so impressed by the wisdom, vulnerability, and insights of our listeners. Thank you all! Katie and Elena summarize the findings and dive deeper into how self-belief helps our performance, how it translates into life, how we build it, how we lose it, and the tools our community members are using to maintain it. We also have our own spiritual tangents and fair share of musings on this very important yet complex topic. Whether you are feeling on the top of your game, faking it 'til you make it, or struggling to cultivate your own self-belief right now, this episode is for you!  Links to additional content discussed: Katie's 2023 Ironman Lake Placid race report  Huberman Lab Podcast: How to Build Immense Inner Strength (Interview with David Goggins) Huberman Lab Podcast: How to Increase Your Willpower & Tenacity Phily Bowden Berlin Marathon Goals View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

We are celebrating 50 episodes of The Endurance Drive Podcast this week with our first ever AMA (ask me anything) episode. We are so grateful to our listener community for tuning in every week and sending in such awesome questions. Check this episode out to hear our thoughts on how our approach to training has changed over time, what advice we wish we could tell ourselves at the beginning of our athletic journey, how we balance SBR during busy seasons of life, what our favorite post-race and “my body is not a temple” foods are, and a whole lot more. We also cover a bunch of fun insights related sport psychology, serving our communities through endurance, swim technique for beginners, and dry shirt season. This was such a fun episode to record - check it out and get excited for another 50! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future podcast, use this form or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

This week, we're diving into the process of how to set goals for your next season of training and racing. We start with identifying your purpose, which is ultimately the fuel that powers the engine of any endurance journey. We then drill into choosing different levels of outcome goals, identifying the process goals that it will take to achieve your outcome goals, mapping out goal achievement strategies, and overcoming barriers to achieving your goals. We sprinkle in some insights from our own goal-mapping journeys, as well as cover additional fun topics including: optimizing training during travel, how to approach choppy triathlon swims or windy bike courses, how culture breeds success, connections between the mind and heart in endurance sports, and a whole lot more. Check this one out and go set some goals for 2025! View extended show notes for this episode here.  To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, Katie and Elena welcome Catherine Rocchi, a competitive gravel cyclist, backcountry skier, climber, trail runner, triathlete, all-around adventurer, and longtime friend to the podcast. Catherine shares about how she developed from a runner in the suburbs of New York to an Alaskan multi-sport adventurer; how optimizing her training for joy, social connection, and unstructured adventure has helped her excel in races; how beginners can start to get involved in adventure sports; and how to build community through endurance and adventuring. We also dive into some heavier but incredibly important and relatable topics, including how movement can impact our brain chemistry (for better or for worse) and how to manage risk and handle emergencies in the backcountry. The interview culminates with the story of how Catherine survived a grizzly bear attack in northern Alaska while biking the 800-mile Alaska Pipeline route just a month ago, and how encounters like that—and any experiences of trauma—can impact us physically and mentally. This is a very profound interview, and we are so grateful to Catherine for sharing her story! Check it out.  View extended show notes for this episode here.  To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

A lot of our athletes have had their eyes on signing up for races next season, so in this episode we're deep diving on the most important things to think about when planning your race calendar. Highlights include: an honest evaluation of your skills and experience level, calendar mapping of your life commitments, finding your why, race logistics, cost considerations, and more. We also answer some fun listener questions on aligning high-volume training with busy lives, how to tap into different swim speeds, how to get more comfortable on the bike, and what our podcasting process looks like. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future episode, please use this form or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

Fresh off a summer in Paris with Team USA, Mac Morse joins Katie and Elena this week to share her perspectives and wisdom gained from a career working in athlete development with the best of the best. We cover Mac's own career as an elite athlete, her entrepreneurial path to creating The Sideline Perspective—a platform for injured and retired athletes to find support and community—and her current role in Athlete Development with the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee. We dive deeper into the business of sport and how we can unpack the nuances of its impact through owning our narratives, both internally and externally. And we get a bonus treat of her poetry! This episode is about humanizing all athletes, from the recreational runners to the Olympic champions, and it isn't one to be missed! Check out The Sideline Perspective on Instagram, online, or through their podcast! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future podcast, use this form or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, we are bringing it back to basics with Intervals 101. We cover what intervals are (and what they are not), why do intervals, when to start doing intervals, how to determine what intervals are appropriate for you, basic considerations and mistakes with intervals, and examples of a basic interval progression in our programming. We also cover lots of fun coaching and training insights related to the off season, using repetition as a way to track progress, overcoming workout anxiety, positive mindset tools, defining race goals, the magic of high-carb fueling, and more. We had so much fun with this episode—check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future podcast, use this form or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, Katie and Elena chat about a bunch of different topics that have featured in both of our lives in recent months, including highs and lows in training, health struggles as an athlete, and the idea of going "all in" on something you love. We specifically dig into Elena's decision to start and DNF the Lavaredo Ultra Trail in the Italian Dolomites, important insights she has picked up about health and fueling in the last several months, and an exciting next chapter of focusing on endurance training and coaching as a primary career objective. We hope this episode is relatable for listeners out there going through the ups and downs of training and life, and we close with an important lesson: when you commit, magical things happen! Check it out. View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future podcast, use ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's party episode, we are welcoming all four coaches (Jim, Katie, Kevin, and Elena) onto the podcast for the first time ever to share their tips and tricks for how to crush a fall marathon or half marathon coming off a summer triathlon season. We hear about why marathoning is so hard on the body, how to structure a marathon or half marathon training week, favorite workouts for marathon and half marathon, mental training for long runs and races, and lots more. Jim and Katie also cover some fun coaching and training insights including season planning tips for 2025, aging and endurance sports, the magic of no-watch swimming, what happens when our training priorities or values come into conflict with each other, and a deep dive on a new paper covering principles of Norwegian endurance training. This episode is jam-packed full of something for everyone. Enjoy! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future podcast, use ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

The main topic of this week's episode is why the off-season may actually be the most important season of all. We discuss what chronic stress does to our bodies, how to shift our training focus from fitness to wellness, the magic of Zone 1, three levels of recovery and their varied time horizons, what happens if you don't respect the off-season, and a whole lot more. We also share additional insights from Ironman Lake Placid and Sea to Summit, answer a great listener question about how to get into triathlon as a brand-new beginner, and introduce two new sort-of-joking segments that seem to come up in every single one of our podcasts: the "Ironman is hard" segment and the "eat our words" segment. Enjoy! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future podcast, use ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠this form⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In our second ~emergency podcast episode~ of 2024, Elena catches up with Katie about the Sea to Summit Triathlon, where Katie came back from a 20+ minute deficit after taking a wrong turn on the bike course to run down five women on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail and finish first on top of Mt. Washington with a run course record. We chat through her uncertain road to the starting line, racing under pressure and strategies for taking pressure off, the importance of cultivating your own performance bubble, focusing on process goals over outcome goals, perfecting the “car door pee,” and effective mental strategies, among other topics. This episode is full of clichés that somehow all proved to be true for Katie on race day. The biggest ones? You can be down but never out of the fight; don't give up; believe in yourself; and no one runs the Whites off the bike like Katie Clayton runs the Whites off the bike. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future podcast, use ⁠⁠⁠⁠this form⁠⁠⁠⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, we go over key takeaways from the 25th iteration of Ironman Lake Placid, where Katie was on course all day as a spectator and coach rather than a racer and where a dozen brave Endurance Drive athletes toed the line. Sub-topics include: creating a performance bubble, avoiding high LSS on the day before the race, chaotic swims, fueling and hydration insights, digging deep when the day becomes more mental than physical, and more. We also get an update on how recovery is going for Jim at 12 weeks post bike crash, share insights related to tapering and post-race blues, and a whole lot more. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future podcast, use ⁠⁠⁠this form⁠⁠⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

Thanks to our awesome listeners, we were able to build out an entire episode worth of content requested by our community! We skip a single big topic in favor of a medium-dive on a bunch of really awesome ones: a six-step emotional regulation strategy to use when workouts feel rough; how to distinguish between training fatigue and "deeper" fatigue; more examples of mental work in practice; how to crush Ironman and 70.3 spectating; our favorite endurance adventures in New England; when to get a TT bike and what to be thinking about; tips for dealing with plantar fasciitis pain; and a whole lot more! Check it out. View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future podcast, use ⁠⁠this form⁠⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, we asked our community to tell us about their best and worst race days—what happened, what factors led to success or failure, and what lessons they learned. We then mixed in a bunch of our good and bad race day stories to come up with an episode that's full of actionable information about how you can approach racing, as well as a lot of laughs as we dig back through the racing archives. We also share coaching and training insights and answer listener questions related to mishaps on race sims, mental strategies for racing, bike care and maintenance, FTP in racing, and a whole lot more. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future podcast, use ⁠this form⁠ or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

This week's episode covers a lot of fun topics! First up is a recap of lessons and insights from the Cohasset Triathlon, Katie's first race of 2024. We then cover more insights from Jim related to active recovery principles, swim technique, dual-sided power meters, and bike fitting. Our main content is a deep dive on some of our favorite workouts for Ironman and 70.3 in the Endurance Drive library, including paddles and buoy sets, low cadence Zwift climbing, 10" max sprints, and more, which we hope will be useful for our athletes to understand the intention of the workout and for our other listeners to try out some new sessions in their own programming. Enjoy the listen! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be featured on a future podcast, use this form or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, Katie and Elena sit down for an hour of wisdom from the woman who does it all: triathlete, mom, career woman, and community champion Laura Fay. Topics include: how Laura has found and built communities in sport throughout her life as an athlete; how she built a career in executive coaching and what principles make effective leaders and athletes; how to balance career, being a parent, and endurance sports; the physical and mental effects of aging in athletics; and the mental toll and comeback process of a major injury, among lots of other topics. We also chat through when and how to effectively listen to your body in endurance training. This is a can't miss episode with one of our favorite people - check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be answered on a future podcast, use this form or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this super fun episode, we're celebrating a whole bunch of big milestones including: Jim's return to riding six weeks after his crash and surgery, Katie officially earning her title of "PhD Coach Katie," and most importantly, six months and 35 episodes of our podcast! To mark the occasion, we're returning to a format we used in episode five of the podcast and reflecting on the big lessons we've learned in the last six months of training, coaching, and podcasting. This was one of the most fun episodes we've recorded, so come for the wisdom and stay for the laughs about what constitutes a recovery week. View extended show notes for this episode here. To share feedback or ask questions to be answered on a future podcast, use this form or email: Katie@TheEnduranceDrive.com.

In this week's episode, Coach Jim sits down with Coach Katie and Coach Kevin to cover everything you need to know about our Beast of the East: Ironman Lake Placid. Katie and Kevin have both qualified for the Ironman World Championships not once, but twice, at Ironman Lake Placid. We chat about the history of Lake Placid and why it's such a special race; the nitty gritty details of the swim, bike, and run course; the crazy weather and conditions we have seen at Placid; the key workouts that prepared us to qualify for Kona at Placid twice; and considerations for why you should or shouldn't sign up. We also go over many general Ironman training and racing considerations you should be thinking about for any Ironman race. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here. Share questions and feedback for future podcasts here.

In this week's episode, we asked our community about the intersection of mental health and endurance sports. We were blown away by the vulnerability and powerful insights that people shared! We dive into how endurance sports helps optimize or manage mental health, how endurance sports can get in the way of mental well-being, and the tools that members of our community have used to help take care of their mental health. We also share stories from our own experiences with mental health and endurance sports. The upshot of all of this is that if you are struggling with mental health and sport, you are not alone. Thank you to everyone who shared experiences to help us create this episode! View extended show notes for this episode here.

In this week's episode, we had fun coming up with a long list of mistakes that we have either made ourselves or seen as coaches at some point in our endurance journeys. We hope that by sharing those mistakes with you, you can skip ahead to following the best practices for optimizing your performance and well-being as an athlete. Topics include: zone training, fueling and recovery, gear, skills and technique, racing, open water swimming, and a whole lot more. We also get an update from Jim on how his bike crash recovery is going, share a bunch of fun data-driven insights, and answer some A+ listener questions. Check it out! View extended show notes for this episode here.

In this week's episode, we welcome a very special guest to the podcast: Susan Dunklee, a 3x Olympian and 2x World Championship Silver Medalist in the sport of biathlon. Susan currently directs the biathlon program at Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Vermont, and she shares her wisdom on a ton of topics including: life as a professional athlete, mindfulness in sport, balance, sense of place, training on the east coast, highs and lows throughout her career, and what life looks like in her post-competition phase. We also catch up with Elena to hear how her 100 mile recovery has been going and share a bunch of coaching and training insights from a busy couple of weeks. We're excited for you to listen to this episode! View extended show notes for this episode here.

On our 30th (!) podcast episode, we're continuing on our theme of best practices for race week by covering everything you need to know to crush your Ironman or Half Ironman / 70.3 race day! We go over pre-race breakfast, how to execute a proper warm-up, and our best tips and tricks for approaching the swim, T1, the bike, T2, and the run. This episode also features an interview with Coach Jim about his recent bike crash and subsequent surgery—a super scary experience, but we hope that sharing the lessons Jim has learned so far and will continue to learn throughout the recovery process will help us support listeners and athletes experiencing similar incidents. We're excited for you to hear this one! View extended show notes for this episode here.