Coach Mark Coogan Shares Insights From His Successful Coaching Career | Insights From Coaching Olympians, National Champions, & Elle St. Pierre and Parker Valby

THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

Dominic Schlueter

Running, Sports

4.8 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today on the podcast is one of the most successful coaches in our sport, Mark Coogan.

Coach Coogan has had an illustrious career as both a runner, coach, and parent, and is currently leading the New Balance team–an elite distance running crew that began in 2014. (Notable stars on the team include Elle St. Pierre and Parker Valby).

Coach Coogan's personal running journey started at Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, Massachusetts. He then went on to run at the University of Maryland, where he specialized in the steeplechase. Coogan has the distinction of being the first Massachusetts native to run the mile in under four minutes.

Coach Coogan played basketball in high school–he was even skilled enough to receive scholarship offers to play basketball from some lower-level schools. He has PRs of 3:58.81 in the mile, 8:21.45 in the 2 mile, 8:26.90 in the 3,000m steeplechase, 13:23.72 in the 5k, and 28:19.07 in the 10k.

Coach Coogan's post-collegiate running career showcased incredible range (1988-2004): He ranked in the top 10 in the United States in the mile, steeplechase, 5k, 10k, and marathon during his career. He ran his marathon PR in the U.S. Olympic trials leading up to the 1996 games, where he ran a 2:13.05. (He ran 2:20.27 at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, placing 41st).

He retired from competitive running in 2004, and turned his focus to coaching. Coogan has spent time as the distance coach at Dartmouth College, Tufts University, MIT, and Phillips Exeter Academy.

Coach Coogan and his wife Gwyn (who ran the 10k at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics) have three children: daughter Katrina, who is a professional runner for New Balance Boston; Margaret, who runs for George Washington University; and son, William, who runs for UNC.

Coach Coogan's book, Personal Best Running: Coach Coogan's Strategies for the Mile to the Marathon, was released in 2023.

In today's conversation, Mark takes me through his years as a successful athlete and coach. We dive into insights from coaching Elle St. Pierre and Parker Valby and his philosophies around training.

Tap into the Mark Coogan Special.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	But when you race, like you want to kick your teammates' butt, you know, like, you're not going to like, hey, Parker, go ahead of me, you know, you had a bit of week.
0:06.9	No, like, you know, Katrina, you try to kill Parker in a race, you know, or, you know, beat him or Ellie.
0:12.5	Do not let Emily beat you in a 1500, or Emily, don't let Ellie beat you. You know, you guys race to the death, you know. But other, you know, except when we're racing,
0:22.9	you know, like, you know, like friends off the track, you know, you can be enemies on the track.
0:30.9	That was Coach Mark Coogan today on the Running Effect podcast. If you're not familiar with
0:35.8	Coach Mark Coogan, he's one of the most
0:38.0	successful coaches in our sport at the moment. I'll just name two of his athletes that I'm sure
0:42.8	many of you guys are familiar with, and that kind of illustrates his success, Ellie St. Pierre,
0:47.8	and most recently, Parker Valby, the internet sensation herself. One of the cool things about
0:53.4	Coach Coogan is he actually had a remarkably
0:55.6	successful career as an athlete himself. He actually has the distinction of being the first
1:00.6	Massachusetts native to run a mile in under four minutes. And then in his post-collegiate running career,
1:05.8	he ranked in the top 10 in the United States in the mile, steeplechase, 5K, 10K, and marathon during his career. Absolutely
1:12.3	remarkable. He retired from competitive running in 2004 and turned his focus to coaching full-time
1:17.4	where he spent time as the distance coach at Dartmouth College, Tufts University, MIT, and Phillips
1:22.2	Exeter Academy. He now coaches the New Balance Boston group where he's coached a plethora of
1:27.1	Olympians, national champions,
1:29.0	so many people who have done remarkable things in the sport, both on the men's side and more
1:33.6	particularly on the woman's side.
1:35.6	Today's conversation centers around the principles of success and excellence that Coach
1:39.9	Kugan has illustrated throughout his career.
1:42.3	Thorntly enjoyed this one.
	...

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