Podcasts about boulder running clinics

Alex Lyons is a tremendous coach and I'm so happy he not only joined me on the podcast, but that's he's part of the Boulder Running Clinics 2020-21 Winter Webinar Series.  Alex is the girl's coach at Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Illinois. The girls have had tremendous success in both cross country and track during his time as the head coach. Alex spent part of his collegiate running years at American University where Matt Centrowitz was his coach and we discuss how Coach Centrowitz's approach influenced his coaching. In this wide-ranging conversation, we spend a significant amount of time on training and why he does what he does with his athletes. Thank you Alex for being the first guest in the podcast!

Alex Lyons is a tremendous coach and I'm so happy he not only joined me on the podcast, but that's he's part of the Boulder Running Clinics 2020-21 Winter Webinar Series.  Alex is the girl's coach at Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Illinois. The girls have had tremendous success in both cross country and track during his time as the head coach. Alex spent part of his collegiate running years at American University where Matt Centrowitz was his coach and we discuss how Coach Centrowitz's approach influenced his coaching. In this wide-ranging conversation, we spend a significant amount of time on training and why he does what he does with his athletes. Thank you Alex for being the first guest in the podcast!

Three former guests on the podcast discuss a variety of topics, starting with a definition of the term “speed” and how that term fits into the training of distance runners. Specifically, Jeff Boelé and John O’Malley discuss acceleration and why it may or may not be useful for distance runners. The conversation then moves on to a discussion of terminology across a spectrum of intensities, including threshold and vVo2max running. Later in the podcast John and Jeff Boelé address a question Joan Hunter submitted regarding sub-max velocity work and their answers are fantastic.  This podcast is in many ways an extension of the conversations these three men and Jay Johnson have been engaging in via a text thread for the past year.  While technical at times, the majority of the information in this podcast will be useful for coaches with two years of experience, coaches with 20 years of experience and everyone in between.  For complete show notes visit CoachJayJohnson.com. Included is the link to the 20-minute video of Jeff Boelé’s neural session practice, the video that John O’Malley says is a must-watch. If you'd like some transcribed excerpts of this podcast please join Jay’s email list by visiting CoachJayJohnson.com.  Finally, John, Dr. Messer and Jay all spoke at the 2020 Boulder Running Clinics and at the end of the podcast Jay shares a coupon code that will give you $10 off those videos. Visit BoulderRunningClinics.com to purchase the videos.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  John O’Malley   A Brooks “Top 25 Most Inspiring Coaches” award winner, Coach O’Malley has an unprecedented coaching resume. He has had the unique ability to coach the “average” runner in addition to being able to take elite runners to the highest levels in Illinois and United States history. His cross country teams at Sandburg H.S. have qualified for state 14 years in a row, which accounts for every year he’s been coaching. His teams have placed in the top 10 in state eight separate occasions out, including three top-four finishes, a runner up in 2014 and a state championship in 2015. Without their #2 runner, his team placed 4th at NXN in 2015 after qualifying and placing 16th in 2014. In addition to coaching two NXN teams, he has coached two individual qualifiers.   He coached two-time Illinois state champion, 8:29 2-miler, 3:59 miler, only double Footlocker and Nike National Champion, Lukas Verzbicas. Last year Dylan Jacobs won Footlocker Midwest Regional, making Coach O’Malley the only coach to have coached two Footlocker Midwest Regional champions. Jacobs would go on to be a double All-American at NXN and Footlocker as a junior. At Detweiller Park, the Illinois state cross country course since 1972, two of O’Malley’s runners have broken 14:00, a feat only achieved by a total of six runners in Illinois history. His ability to create a culture in which all his athletes are fully engaged and determined is perhaps best exemplified by David Gleisner who as a healthy senior did not manage to make the team’s top seven and run at state or nationals, but would run 9:16 for 3200 that spring.   On the track, O’Malley has coached five runners who have run 4:10 or better for 1600 and 15 runners 1:57 or better in the 800. His 4 x 800 relays have been most dominant. Having run 7:46 or better for the last six consecutive seasons, they placed in the top five in state seven times, including two state champion relays and setting the Illinois State Record of 7:37.3. In all, he’s had ten different foursomes run under 7:48. Additionally, Sean Torpy set the all-time Illinois State Record in the 800 of 1:47.9. His 4 x mile relay won the 2016 New Balance Indoor National title. Sean Torpy would go on to become the Illinois state champion in the 1600, Chris Torpy the Illinois state 800 meter champion, and his team won three of the four distance events at the state meet in 2016, a feat only achieved two other times in state history. Last spring, after graduating three of his four state champions from 2016, his 4 x 800 came back to place 2nd in state in 7:46 and Dylan Jacobs ran 4:07 for 1600. O’Malley has coached three Gatorade Athletes of the Year: Lukas Verzbicas, Sean Torpy and Dylan Jacobs.   The Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Coach of the Year, NFHS Coach of the Year, United States Track and Cross Country Federation Coach of the Year, Coach O’Malley’s coaching resume is perhaps only surpassed by his teaching accolades, which includes the Northwestern University Distinguished Secondary Teacher Award, the Stanford University Excellence in Teaching Award, the Illinois Education Association Leadership in Action Award and the Western Illinois University Inspiring teach award.  Dr. Jeff Messer  Dr. Jeffrey I. Messer serves as department chair and faculty in exercise physiology for the Exercise Science Department at Mesa Community College, Mesa, Arizona.   Dr. Messer has published research in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, The American Journal of Physiology and The Journal of Applied Physiology. Most recently, Dr. Messer and co-authors published a 2016 paper entitled “A Simple Hydraulic Analog Model of Oxidative Phosphorylation.”   Dr. Messer applies his passion for teaching and scholarly inquiry through his strong involvement in coaching both interscholastic endurance athletes and, periodically, pre-secondary and post-collegiate endurance athletes.   Dr. Messer has been recognized by the United States Track-&-Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association as the 2016 National Girls High School Cross-Country Coach-of-the-Year.  From 2006 – 2012, Dr. Messer served as co-head coach for cross-country and assistant coach (distance) for track-&-field at Xavier College Preparatory, Phoenix, Arizona. The Xavier College Preparatory cross-country program earned six consecutive (2007 – 2012) Arizona high school girl’s state cross-country championships. During the three-year period from 2010 – 2012, the Xavier College Preparatory cross-country program concluded the associated cross-country seasons ranked 22nd, 8th, and 21st in the United States. During the 2012 Arizona high school track-&-field season, Xavier College Preparatory had twelve (12) student-athletes average 5:13 for the 1,600-meter distance.   In February 2013, Dr. Messer began to serve as head coach for girl’s cross-country and assistant coach (girls’ distance) for track-&-field at Desert Vista High School, Phoenix, Arizona. The Desert Vista High School girls’ cross-country program earned the 2013, 2014, and 2016 Arizona high school girls’ state cross-country championship. In late-May 2014, the Desert Vista High School girls’ distance program was ranked by MileSplit US as one of only two girls’ high school track-&-field programs in the United States with “top ten” groups in each of the 800-m, 1,600-m, and 3,200-m events. In December 2014, the Desert Vista High School girls’ cross-country program finished fifth (5th) at the Nike National High School Cross-Country Championship and thus concluded the 2014 high school cross-country season as the fifth (5th) ranked high school cross-country team in the United States. More recently, the Desert Vista High School girls’ cross-country program finished sixth (6th) at the 2016 Nike National High School Cross-Country Championship.   Subsequent to the 2016 high school cross-country season, Dr. Messer retired from his head coaching endeavors in order to expand his community college leadership pursuits.   Most recently, Dr. Messer returned and transitioned to the Desert Vista boys’ distance program as a volunteer assistant for the 2017 cross-country season. The Desert Vista High School boys’ cross-country program earned its first opportunity to compete at and ultimately finished eighth (8th) at the 2017 Nike National High School Cross-Country Championship. During the 2018 and 2019 Arizona high school cross-country seasons, Dr. Messer served as a volunteer assistant for the Desert Vista High School girls’ and boys’ cross-country programs.   Additionally, Dr. Messer serves as the coach for professional runner Jessica Tonn. Miss Tonn recently finished as national runner-up at the October 2019 USA Track-&-Field 5-K Championships and hopes to compete at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Track-&-Field Trials.   Jeff Boelé  Jeff has a unique background as a coach. In his near 20-year career, he has worked with middle school, high school, collegiate, professional, and masters athletes.  With a background as an endurance athlete, Jeff got his start coaching distance athletes at Greenville College in Greenville, IL in the summer of 2000. Upon moving to Boulder, CO in 2005, Jeff's coaching exploits started to diversify. He started working with a small group of post-collegiate athletes and eventually began helping at Lyons middle/senior high school (Lyons, CO) a few years later. It was at Lyons that Jeff's coaching acumen was refined. Brought on to coach the high jump, Jeff took the challenge of becoming a great jumps coach seriously, and that meant taking a deep dive into the speed/power world. Eventually, Jeff handled programming for the cross country team and all event groups (sprint, jump, throw, distance) for the track and field team. He had direct oversight of the jumps and distance events.    In 2015, Jeff met renowned coach Dan Pfaff at the ALTIS training enclave in Phoenix, AZ. Through this mentorship, Jeff was inspired to pursue a massage therapist license.  Becoming a licensed therapist in 2017 was one more skillset Jeff added to his coaching toolbox. The combination of sports therapy, speed/power and endurance training have equipped Jeff well for his current role of working with professional and semi-profession distance athletes in Boulder, CO.    Jeff has a proven track record of fostering a culture where athletes of all ages and abilities are able to develop and see continued progress in their athletic pursuits. Jeff holds USATF Level I and II (endurance) certifications and a jumps event specialist certification from the USTFCCCA. Additionally, he is a licensed massage therapist in the state of Colorado  Jeff works with or has worked with a number of notable athletes and teams.  Paul Roberts - 2 x Nike Cross National qualifier, 5th place Footlocker Cross Country (2015), IAAF World Cross Country qualifier (2015)  Katie Mackey - Multiple time US national champion, IAAF Indoor World Championship and Diamond League participant  Lyons high school - 16 team state championships (cross country/track) and numerous individual state champions since 2010 

Just a quick update to let you know that a new episode will be released every Monday. Most episodes will be interviews, but every so often Jay will do a Q&A. Jay goes into a bit of detail about the 2020 Boulder Running Clinics, which is an example of the only ads that will be on the podcast - ventures that help Jay keep the podcast going. Please join his email list by going to coachjayjohnson.com. If you have a question that you'd like him to answer on the podcast please send it to jay@coachjayjohnson.com with "podcast" in the subject line. Finally, if you're on iTunes and would be willing to rate the podcast that would be greatly appreciated.

Kim O’Malley is a Youth Development Specialist with 20 years of experience designing and delivering leadership curriculum in a wide range of settings. Kim has been a public high school teacher, head cross-country and track coach, an outdoor trip leader, a parent education facilitator and a professional development coach, blogger, public speaker, mom, and seasoned ultra-marathoner. Kim’s coaching career began as an undergraduate student at Northwestern University when upon discovering the university lacked a running program- started her own. She co-founded Northwestern’s running club, served as its president and coach, and eventually elevated the program to varsity status at which it remains today. Kim has successfully led large co-ed cross-country and track programs with diverse populations in California and Colorado. She led the North Monterey County girls’ cross-country team to the first sectional championships for any girl’s program in the school’s history while focusing on holistic coaching practices that prioritized personal wellness, character development, and leadership. As a program manager for the national non-profit organization Girls Leadership and a curriculum specialist for the Girl’s Athletic Leadership School network ( GALS INC), Kim is committed to equipping teachers, coaches, parents and students with the tools they need to bring holistic, relationship-based teaching and learning into the arena. Kim’s career reflects her life-long passion for connecting leadership, athleticism, and social-emotional development. In this interview Kim discusses how coaches can “coach the whole athlete,” a topic Kim will cover in detail at the 2020 Boulder Running Clinics. She also discusses Social Emotional Learning and how coaches can use that framework when working with their athletes.

Welcome to episode 144 of the Final Surge podcast. We welcome back the founder of the Boulder Running Clinics Jay Johnson to talk about his clinics and the state of high school distance running. What are the most successful programs doing and how are people incorporating things like speed more into their programs. I have been to several coaching clinics and I can say without a doubt that Jay's Boulder Clinic is the most informative and useful one I have ever been too. Enjoy this episode and if you attend the clinic in January come to say hi to me.    1:40 Intro to Boulder Running Clinics 4:03 You have been around the high school running scene for around 20 years now. It has changed a lot. What has been the biggest change you have seen? 8:02 You can have coaches sharing ideas and talking to each other but if they are doing different things how do you know what to implement.  17:33 One probably is you need to look at the whole system not just workouts because the system works as a whole.  25:55 Clinic is Jan 17, 18. Who else do you have presenting? 29:13 There was a lot of talk last year about Feed The Cats, can you talk about what that session was about? Resources Boulder Running Clinics Website Jay on Twitter

Howard Russ just completed his 11th season as men’s and women’s head coach for Beavercreek High School in Beavercreek, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton. In 2018, Russ’s girls won their first OHSAA Division One state championship, and Russ had his first state champion individual with junior Taylor Ewert. Ewert is a 4-time All-American including a 3rd place finish at NXN and 4th place at Footlocker in 2018. She was also the New Balance Outdoor National champion in 2000 meter steeplechase in 2018. In this interview, Howard shares how he's used the information from High School Running Coach and the Boulder Running Clinics to inform his training and improve as a coach. He talks about Timo Mostert's 2-mile power runs, and Dan Iverson's distinction between goals and targets. Just two of Howard's take-home messages from these two resources.  Thanks Howard for taking the time to talk. Learn how to become a member of High School Running Coach here. If you would like to purchase the videos from the Boulder Clinics 2018 High School clinic click here. 

Jeff has a unique background as a coach, in that he was a distance runner in high school and college. He moved to Boulder, Colorado, to train, and found himself coaching the jumps at Lyons High School, just north of Boulder. He took the challenge of becoming a great jumps coach seriously, and that meant taking a deep dive into the speed and power world. Jeff has a tremendous understanding of how distance runners can benefit from that training. We get a bit technical during the interview, which I love because a successful coach, one who already knows how to develop athletes and has a culture where kids work hard and love the sport, can better understand how lifting and multi-throw may fit into their training plans. Example: Jeff coached Paul Roberts, who finished fifth at Footlocker and made the world cross country team as a junior in high school (and I should note that Lyons HS has less than 300 students). Jeff shares that before they did focused work in the weight room, Paul would run his last 400m of a 1,600m race in 61-62, and run his last 400m of a 3,200m in 64-65. Fast forward to Paul’s senior year and he was closing in 58, and even 57-point, in the 1,600m, and was able to close in 61 in the 3.200m. Finally, Jeff has had the chance to not only go through the Altis coaching education offerings, but he has a close relationship with Dan Pfaff, one of the best track and field coaches in the world (many say THE best). I really enjoyed hearing how those experiences have shaped him as a coach. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This episode of the Coaching Runners podcast is brought to you by the Fundamentals Education Course and the Boulder Running Clinics. Two great resources for coaches who are looking to take their program to the next level. If you have questions or comments about the show, please email me - Jay@CoachJayJohnson.com

John is the only person to have coached two Footlocker Champions (Lukas Verzbicus and Dylan Jacobs). He’s also had tremendous success coaching 800m runners: 26 boys have run under 1:58 and 9 under 1:54 under his guidance. This interview with John O’Malley was recorded in November of 2018, soon after a disappointing cross country season for his team. John talked about elements in the program he’ll be working on in 2019. John’s candor during this first part of the interview is really special. We then talk about winter training, specifically what he does to improve speed, to improve, as he likes to say, “wiring.” If you’re in San Diego or Houston in the winter, the track is clear and you can do this work, but if you’re in a suburb of Chicago, the track can be covered with snow and ice. The end of the interview was a lot of fun: “If you could shadow one athlete between now and Tokyo, who would it be?” and “What is your favorite non-distance event in the Olympics.” Loved his answers. Thanks John for your time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This episode of the Coaching Runners podcast is brought to you by the Fundamentals Education Course and the Boulder Running Clinics. Two great resources for coaches who are looking to take their program to the next level. If you have questions or comments about the show, please email me - Jay@CoachJayJohnson.com

Welcome to the Coaching Runners Podcast, hosted by Jay Johnson.  The goal of the podcast is to help high school coaches broaden their knowledge of the craft of coaching and help them take their programs to the next level. Jay interviews coaches at all levels of the sport, as well as athletes, sports scientists, and medical professionals. These interviews, ranging in length from 60 to 120 minutes, are released on Sundays. Most Wednesdays shorter episodes are released, featuring content from High School Running Coach and the Boulder Running Clinics. If you have questions or comments, please email Jay at Jay@CoachJayJohnson.com. Enjoy the show!

John O'Malley is unquestionably one of the best high school coaches in the country. As the boys coach at Sandburg HS (IL) he has had teams run 7:46 or faster in the 4 x 800m the last four years. In cross country he has coached two Footlocker National Champions - Lukas Verzbicas (2009) and Dylan Jacobs (2017) - an accomplishment no other high school coach can claim. In these three excerpts from his full interview with High School Running Coach, he discuses the elements of success, the importance of building a culture, and the importance of having a progression of training. Coach O'Malley will be speaking twice at the Boulder Running Clinics in January, 2018. BoulderRunningClinics.com. Become a member of HighSchoolRunningCoach.com and get Coach O'Malley's documents on training philosophy, as well as day by day training for outdoor track.

Jonathan Dalby is one of the most successful coaching in the country. He had two teams qualify for the Nike Cross Nationals this past week. His boys earned a podium spot, finishing 3rd, while his girls team finished 6th. Only Fayetteville-Manlius had a higher combined team finish. In this interview, which are excerpts from his full length interview on HighSchoolRunningCoach.com, he talks about the elements of success, such as being consistent and putting in the work. He then goes ins a discussion about team culture and not underestimating the social aspect of the team. Finally, he shares a guiding training principle of going from general work to more specific work. Jonathan is speaking at the January 2018 Boulder Running Clinics and his presentation on coaching freshmen will videoed. Check BoulderRunningClinics.com for that video.

Welcome to Episode 64 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome Joan Hunter. Everyone who knows the unpredictability of a high school cross country race. So when a team goes 1-5 for a perfect score it is a pretty special day. When it happens at the State Championship meet it is even more so. When you get the top runners from around the state it is hard to have 1-5 all from the same school. That is exactly what Joan’s team Loudoun Valley did this past weekend in Virginia. We talk to Joan about her training philosophy, her expectations for the season and what she expects at Nike Regionals. If you want to hear more from Joan, she will be speaking at the Boulder Running Clinics coaches conference put on by Jay Johnson. Can you give us your background on your running, how you got started with running and how that ended up with your current coaching position? If you were a 2x State Champion but never ran until you were a Junior in high school, that means you had a lot of natural talent. Did you not realize your ability when you were younger? What did your post-collegiate running career look like? I believe you used Tom Tinman Schwartz as a personal coach for a while? What have you learned from Tom, what training philosophies have you taken away from what he has done in the past that you use in your coaching? Your team just went 1-2-3-4-5 for a perfect score of 15 at the Virginia State meet on the boys' side, how does that feel? Going into state what was the game plan, did each runner have their own race play or did you have a team plan for them? How did the race develop, did they go straight to the front and lead or did they close later? A few years ago you had a good team that was dominated by your son, sub-4 miler Drew Hunter. How does this team differ now that you have so much more depth? How much did having Drew as part of the program help grown the program? Coming into this season your boys were talked about as possible NXN title contenders. Did the team set any goals coming into the season or did you talk to them about expectations at all? Last year your boys went to Nike Regionals and came in third and just missed an automatic bid to Nationals. This year you are currently ranked as the #1 team in the country, I know you can never take for granted you will win a Nike Regional race, but how confident is your team going into the qualifier? How do you keep your team ready in this two-week block leading up to Nike? What does your week this week look like? During the season do you use training blocks like a 3-4 week period or do you look at the season as a whole? You came in 3rd at Nike Regional last year, what did you learn, how has your training changed leading into this year? What is the breakdown of your team between seniors, juniors, sophomores? You talk about how you progress your runners, how does the training differ between the top sophomores vs what a senior may do? How have you been using Final Surge in your planning this year? You are going to be speaking at Jay Johnson’s Boulder Running Clinics this winter in January, do you know what your topic will be? Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute Favorite endurance/running book? - Healthy Intelligent Training- Keith Livingstone Current trainers you are wearing? - Adidas Favorite race? - 800 Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Smoothie Your favorite workout - 200 repeats   Coaching Clinic with Joan Hunter put on by Jay Johnson Tinman on Final Surge  Drew Hunter on Final Surge Joan Hunter on Twitter

Dr. Jeff Messer is both a high school coach and an exercise physiologist.  He is widely recognized as one of the best high school coaches in the country. This interview is a rebroadcast of an interview between Jay Johnson and Dr. Messer from Jay's CoachJayJohnson podcast.  At the time of that recording Dr. Messer was coaching at Xavier College Prep; he now coaches at Desert Vista, both in the Phoenix, AZ. Dr. Messer has presented at the Boulder Running Clinics.  You can watch excerpts from his presentations for free on YouTube or you can purchase the entire presentation - both video and audio files - at BoulderRunningClinics.com.

In this episode we discuss Jay Johnson, running coach, writer, producer of RunningDVDs, and director of Boulder Running Camps and Boulder Running Clinics’, background in running from his middle school years to his experiences running at University of Colorado. He explains how he got into coaching and his proudest moments as a coach. Jay reveals the four pillars of his coaching philosophy, including what it means to run easy and the phenomena of cardiac drift. Lastly, Jay shares exciting developments with the Boulder Running Clinics and details on their information packed videos.