Loading...

PODCAST

The MicroCast

Microcosm Coaching

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

sports running

All Episodes

01:04:42

Running Advice That Aged Badly: 6 Running Myths...

The MicroCast ·

2026/10/01

Lactic acid, static stretching, stability shoes, heel striking, 180 cadence, and icing everything: some running advice has not held up. Coaches Zoë Rom and TJ David cover six common myths, what the research actually shows, and why some of these ideas have stuck around for so long. Zoë also apologizes to everyone she sold motion-control shoes to in Northwest Arkansas.Also in this episode:A listener asks why they feel wired and can't sleep after long runs. We cover what's going on in the

en

00:59:11

Am I Ready to Move Up in Distance? (And Should I...

The MicroCast ·

2026/09/22

Ready for your next ultra distance? Maybe. In this episode, we tackle the question of when to move up from the 50K to the 50 mile, 100K, 100 mile, and beyond, and why the "ladder" framing might be steering you wrong. Distance alone doesn't say much about what a race demands. A mountainous 50K can ask more of you than a runnable 50 miler, so we talk about how to size up a race by duration, terrain, and your own capacity.We start with a listener question: should you practice run-walking

en

01:01:18

Ability vs. Ambition, Repeating Races, and Why You...

The MicroCast ·

2026/09/16

Zoë's article on Ability vs. AmbitionYDS Episode on "Racing Weight"There's always a gap between where you are as an athlete and where you want to be. Zoë wrote about it for UltraSignup , "Closing the Gap Between Ability and Ambition", and this week TJ reads it back to her, days before she lines up at Run Rabbit Run 100 for the third time. They dig into Ira Glass's idea of "the gap," why admitting you want to be great feels so vulnerable, what "spiritual

en

01:04:45

How Much Volume Do You Actually Need? Minimum Dose,...

The MicroCast ·

2026/09/09

How many miles a week do you need to run to get better? It's the question coaches hear most, and the annoying answer is: enough to create an adaptation, not so much that you can't absorb it. The body doesn't experience a mileage total. A mile on a 14er and a mile on a track are completely different stresses, which is why time at effort is a better way to think about volume than distance.TJ and Zoë break volume into four levers. How much: the difference between the minimum effective dose,

en

01:03:04

A Leadville Win and a Leadville DNF: What Both Taught...

The MicroCast ·

2026/08/26

Leadville 100 week gave Microcosm both ends of the sport in a single day: coach TJ David's athlete McKendree Hickory won the women's race in her 100-mile debut, and TJ himself dropped at the Winfield turnaround after nearly fifty miles of not being able to breathe.Zoë and TJ take both apart honestly. On the win: what five months of coaching actually changed, why TJ inferred McKendree was naturally durable from four years of training history, and how identifying two points of friction —

en

00:57:23

Is Training Making You Slower?

The MicroCast ·

2026/08/19

Your easy pace is slower than it was two months ago. Workouts feel harder. You're doing more volume than you've ever done — so shouldn't you be getting faster?A listener wrote in with exactly that question, and it turned into a full episode. Coach TJ and Zoë unpack why feeling slower in a big block is usually the block working, not the block failing — and how to tell the difference when it isn't.The core idea: fitness and performance are not the same thing. Fitness is the

en

00:58:24

Downhill Running Science: Eccentric Loading, the...

The MicroCast ·

2026/08/12

Email us your listener questions or hot or nots at microcosmcoaching@gmail.com.Check us out online at microcosm-coaching.comDownhill running is a technical skill, not a fitness problem, and this week Zoë Rom and TJ David break down the science of eccentric loading, the repeat bout effect, and how to descend faster without trashing your quads. They go inside the muscle to explain what actually happens to your sarcomeres on a long descent, why delayed onset muscle soreness peaks a day or two later

en

00:59:36

Recovery Is the Ceiling: The 5 Things Blocking Your...

The MicroCast ·

2026/08/05

Recovery is the ceiling on your training — not your mileage, not your workout schedule. Zoë Rom and TJ David break down the five places recovery falls apart for endurance athletes: not sleeping enough, chronic underfueling, easy days that drift into the gray zone, treating life stress like it doesn't count as training stress, and never taking a real down week. They walk through the physiology of why fitness is actually built between sessions — mitochondrial development, angiogenesis, muscle

en

00:54:43

Race-Specific Training: Are You Actually Training for...

The MicroCast ·

2026/07/15

ou've built the fitness. Now what? This week we're digging into training specificity: how to shape your training around the actual demands of your goal race, whether that's a road marathon, a 50K, or a 100-miler like Leadville or Hardrock. Specificity is the sexy stuff athletes love to obsess over, but it's also where we see the most expensive mistakes. We break down what race-specific training actually means, when it belongs in your training calendar, and the traps that cost

en

00:56:53

What Fitness Actually Is: The 5 Systems Every Runner...

The MicroCast ·

2026/07/08

What is fitness, really? VO2 max, lactate threshold, running economy, durability, and neuromuscular power — in this episode we break down the five distinct systems hiding inside that one word, how each one develops, which respond fastest to training, and which age best. If you've ever chased a watch number and wondered why your race results didn't follow, this framework explains why "getting fitter" is actually five separate questions — and how periodizing your training over years

en

01:04:38

Heat vs. Altitude Training for Runners: What Actually...

The MicroCast ·

2026/07/01

Heat training and altitude training are two of the most obsessed-over (and most misunderstood) tools in endurance running. In this episode, Zoë and TJ break down the actual science: what heat adaptation does to your blood plasma, why "poor man's altitude" is a myth, and how the EPO-to-hemoglobin response really works up high. They cover who should bother with heat or altitude training at all, the two questions to ask before you start, and why fundamentals like consistency, sleep, and

en

00:57:29

Durability: How to Stop Fading Late in Races (Plus...

The MicroCast ·

2026/06/17

Durability is the word every endurance runner has latched onto — but what actually is it, and how do you build it? Zoë and TJ break down durability for marathon and ultra runners: the difference between aerobic durability (heart rate drift and cardiac decoupling over long efforts) and mechanical durability (the eccentric loading that blows up your quads on late-race descents), why a smaller engine that doesn't fade beats a bigger one that falls apart, and why the only real path is years of

en

01:04:26

AI vs. Human Coaching, Hiding Your Heart Rate in...

The MicroCast ·

2026/06/10

Sign up for our open house here!https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0KnmFGBxZNYqTAZDNFSRUL86UXK7gCIVDDlLtWJBp5WoVvQ/viewform?usp=headerAI vs. human coaching is the big question this week: can a chatbot really build your training plan, or is it a premium cookie cutter? Zoë and TJ break down what coaching actually is — the plan plus the relationship, communication, and buy-in that no model replicates — and dig into the research, including why studies lag behind the tools athletes are actually

en

00:53:59

Building the Long Run: Endurance, Fueling, and the...

The MicroCast ·

2026/06/03

🏃 Microcosm Open House — Wednesday, June 11th at 5:30pm MT (virtual). Meet the coaches, ask anything, no pressure. Sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0KnmFGBxZNYqTAZDNFSRUL86UXK7gCIVDDlLtWJBp5WoVvQ/viewform?usp=header💪 Want coaching without the full 1:1 commitment? Join Foothills for twice-monthly Ask the Coaches sessions — $10/month with code Foothills10 at microcosmcoaching.comLong runs, ultramarathon training, and fueling are at the heart of this all-time favorite episode, back

en

01:07:32

How to Know If Your Training Is Actually Working (The...

The MicroCast ·

2026/05/27

Sign up for our free open house here! (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0KnmFGBxZNYqTAZDNFSRUL86UXK7gCIVDDlLtWJBp5WoVvQ/viewform?usp=header)How do you know if your training, supplements, or recovery hacks are actually working — or if you're just fooling yourself? Zoë and TJ break down the science of the N of 1 experiment and how to self-coach intelligently in a world flooded with biohacks, miracle protocols, and "this one weird trick" content. Borrowing Feynman's first

en

00:58:11

The 5 Metrics That Actually Matter in 2026 (And Why...

The MicroCast ·

2026/05/20

Running metrics, wearables, and training data get a reality check this week as Zoë and Kylee Van Horn cut through the noise of HRV scores, readiness ratings, and AI coaches to name the five numbers that actually move the needle in 2026. The episode opens with a familiar character: the athlete double-fisting a Whoop and a Garmin who hasn't strung four consistent weeks of training together in six months. From there, the conversation breaks down what makes a metric genuinely useful, is it

en

00:52:16

Running Economy Explained — 5 Levers That Work, 4...

The MicroCast ·

2026/05/13

Running economy is one of the most misunderstood concepts in endurance training — and one of the most trainable. In this episode, Zoë Rom and TJ David break down what running economy actually is, why it matters more than VO2 max for marathoners and ultra runners, and the specific levers you can pull to get more output for the same input. Using the analogy of miles per gallon, they explain how two runners with identical VO2 max can run race times that differ by 20+ minutes — and what's going on

en

01:01:22

How Hydration and Sodium Make or Break Your Race

The MicroCast ·

2026/05/07

Hydration is one of the most overlooked levers in endurance performance — and one of the most punishing when you get it wrong. In this episode, Zoë and TJ unpack why dehydration is so much more than feeling thirsty, walking through the cascading downstream effects on your gut, your blood, your muscles, and ultimately your race result. They cover gut osmolality and why a too-concentrated drink mix actually pulls water the wrong way, the link between plasma volume drop and cardiac drift, and why dead

en

01:04:20

Why You Should Always Be Training + Coach TJ's...

The MicroCast ·

2026/04/29

This week we welcome you behind the scenes of Microcosm Coaching with a quick introduction to Coach Zachary Russell, an athletic trainer and strength coach whose multisport background spans Ironman, triathlon, marathoning, and trail running. He shares what kinds of athletes light him up to coach and how his experience across disciplines shapes the way he builds plans.Then Zoë and TJ dig into TJ's recent Canyons Endurance Run 100K, which he completed roughly 80 minutes off his goal time after a

en

00:57:31

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

The MicroCast ·

2026/04/22

Why does your running fitness plateau, and what can you actually do about it? Zoë and TJ break down the five real reasons endurance athletes get stuck, a lack of training intentionality, under-recovery, chronic under-fueling, a mismatch between training and event demands, and failing to apply progressive overload across more than one lever. This episode also features a coach spotlight with James Nance, a Microcosm coach specializing in multi-sport athletes and RED-S recovery, TJ's mindset

en

242 results

Similar Podcasts

The FF Dynasty - Dynasty Fantasy Football

Dynasty Fantasy Football

Fantasy Baseball Today

CBS Sports

Campus2Canton

Campus2Canton

Yahoo Fantasy Forecast with Matt Harmon

Yahoo Sports

NASCAR Gambling Podcast

Sports Gambling Podcast Network