The MicroCast

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

The MicroCast is a sports podcast hosted by Microcosm Coaching, with 242 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Microcosm Coaching hosts The MicroCast, a sports show with 242 episodes published.

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  The MicroCast

  Running Advice That Aged Badly: 6 Running Myths Debunked (Lactic Acid, Stretching, Cadence & More)

  Oct 1, 20261h 5m

  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 nervous system, the caffeine you might be missing, and when this becomes a red flag. TJ gives an update on his health: he's been diagnosed with sarcoidosis after being misdiagnosed with HAPE at Leadville. Zoë recaps Mammoth Trailfest and shares a first look at next year's race plans. Resources mentioned Cochrane Review (2022): running shoes for preventing lower limb injuries PEACE & LOVE framework for soft tissue injuries (Dubois & Esculier, BJSM ) Coaching: microcosm-coaching.com | Email: microcosmcoaching@gmail.com Rate and review wherever you listen. It really helps!

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  The MicroCast

  Am I Ready to Move Up in Distance? (And Should I Practice Walking?)

  Sep 22, 202659 min

  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 during ultra training, especially on tired legs in high-volume weeks? We explain why power hiking is a race skill, why fixed run-walk ratios work well in training but poorly in races, and why extra walking can be stress without much stimulus. From there, we cover how to identify your real weaknesses. That means separating a bad day from a pattern, finding root causes instead of symptoms, and deciding which limiters to address first. Spoiler: it's often fueling and hydration. We share practical approaches for improving speed, climbing, descending, durability, and your gut. We finish with the signs you're ready to move up, what does and doesn't change in training as races get longer, the special demands of 200 milers, and when it's better to wait. Plus, meet Microcosm coach Kylee Van Horn: nearly 20 years of coaching across road, track, and trail, a registered dietitian's lens on fueling, and a hot take about why you can't cross-train your way to a 100 miler. In this episode: Kylee Van Horn coach spotlight Listener question: should you practice run-walking? Power hiking vs. walking, and why fixed ratios fail on race day "Stress, not stimulus": the hidden cost of extra walking volume Why the ultra distance "ladder" is a myth How to find your weaknesses and root causes Prioritizing limiters: low-hanging fruit first Training for speed, climbing, descending, durability, and GI tolerance Signs you're ready to move up in distance Why 50K and 100 mile training look more similar than you think What makes 200 milers different When not to move up, and the six-year test Want to work with Kylee or another Microcosm coach? We have roster spots available. Email microcosmcoaching@gmail.com or visit microcosm-coaching.com. If you liked this episode, subscribe, follow, and leave us a review. We read all four of them.

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  The MicroCast

  Ability vs. Ambition, Repeating Races, and Why You Might Gain Weight While Training

  Sep 16, 20261h 1m

  Zoë's article on Ability vs. Ambition YDS 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 durability" actually means in a training context, and why the most successful athletes usually aren't the most talented — they're the ones willing to sit in that discomfort long enough to close it. From there: why repeat a race you've already done well twice, why you technically can't (same course, different athlete, different river), how Zoë structures a year around two big hundreds using a rule of thirds, and how she's managing the comparison trap and her mental diet heading into a deeper field than she's ever raced. Then a listener question that comes up constantly: "I'm training more than ever and I've gained weight instead of losing it. Is that normal?" Yes — and here's what the scale is actually measuring: glycogen and the water it binds, inflammation from tissue repair, blood volume, food in transit. Plus what the research really says about body weight and injury risk, and when weight change is worth a conversation with a doctor.

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  The MicroCast

  How Much Volume Do You Actually Need? Minimum Dose, Optimal Dose, Frequency, and Distribution

  Sep 9, 20261h 5m

  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, the optimal dose, and the maximum recoverable dose, and why most runners should be asking about the middle one. How often: what 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 days a week actually get you, and why frequency is the most overlooked tool for newer runners. How long: why 15 + 5 is not a 20-mile long run, and why the cost of a run doesn't rise in a straight line. And where: easy/hard distribution, the weekend-warrior trap, and why back-to-back long runs are a tool rather than an organizing principle. It all starts from the same place — the week you can actually repeat, found in your TrainingPeaks history, not the week you're proudest of. First, TJ has an answer for what happened at Leadville. Then: a listener question about Nordic skiing all winter and protecting running fitness for a spring 50K, and Hot or Not on mocktails, aid station hydration mixes, and Tiger Balm. Questions for a future episode: microcosmcoaching@gmail.com Coaching and community: https://microcosm-coaching.com

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  The MicroCast

  A Leadville Win and a Leadville DNF: What Both Taught Us About Training

  Aug 26, 20261h 3m

  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 — pacing discipline and a reluctance to lean into discomfort late in races — mattered more than overhauling everything. She raced her dress rehearsals under fatigue, ran a conservative early pace by design, and degraded only 8.25 percent over a hundred miles at altitude, where ten to fifteen is considered excellent. On the DNF: the difference between confidence and self-efficacy, why protecting mental bandwidth during race week is a training variable, and what it's like when a heart rate that should read 114 reads 140 at mile ten. TJ walks through the internal argument, the broken poles on Hope Pass, the decision at Winfield, and how he's processing a race he trained two years for. Plus a listener question up front: can you build a Boston qualifier on a treadmill, and what has to happen outside anyway. Questions for a future episode: microcosmcoaching@gmail.com Coaching and community: https://microcosm-coaching.com

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