Episode 497: Nick Thompson: How Running 100 Miles Taught Him to Run a $13 Billion Media Empire

Habits and Hustle

Jen Cohen

Education, Health & Fitness, Business, Self-improvement, Entrepreneurship

4.4 • 800 Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2025

⏱️ 88 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How does a CEO who runs 100-mile races turn around a struggling media company? In this episode on the Habits and Hustle podcast, Nick Thompson, CEO of the Atlantic, joins me to share how the mental strategies that get you through mile 40 of a mountain race are the same ones that grow a publication from 800,000 to 1.35 million subscribers. We dive into why daily practice beats talent in both running and business, and the dark side of elite running culture that creates eating disorders. We also discuss the Signal chat scandal that drove tens of thousands of new subscriptions. Nick Thompson is the CEO of the Atlantic, which has grown profitable under his leadership after years of losses. He's also the American record holder in the 50K for runners 45+ and author of The Running Ground, a memoir exploring how running shapes life, business, and relationships. What We Discuss: 03:14 - Why Nick started running at age 5 with his father during a family crisis 08:46 - How running is a microcosm for life and teaches grit through hard things 14:24 - The Alexander Technique: How a guitar wrist injury prevented 25 years of running injuries 28:16 - Why consistent daily practice is the most important lesson from running 50:04 - How Nick got faster in his 40s by training smarter with specific workouts 55:40 - How the Atlantic grew from 800K to 1.35M subscribers through paywall optimization 1:01:10 - The Signal chat scandal: How Jeff Goldberg was accidentally added to the White House group chat 1:12:10 - Trump's "fixed heartbeats" theory and whether ultra running shortens your lifespan 1:17:25 - The dark side of running: Why elite coaches tell athletes to look like "a skeleton with a condom on" 1:19:19 - How running culture creates eating disorders and destroys young athletes' bodies …and more! Thank you to our sponsors: Therasage: Head over to therasage.com and use code Be Bold for 15% off Air Doctor: Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HUSTLE for up to $300 off and a 3-year warranty on air purifiers. Magic Mind: Head over to www.magicmind.com/jen and use code Jen at checkout. Momentous: Shop this link and use code Jen for 20% off Manna Vitality: Visit mannavitality.com and use code JENNIFER20 for 20% off your order Prolon: Get 30% off sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Program! Just visit https://prolonlife.com/JENNIFERCOHEN and use code JENNIFERCOHEN to claim your discount and your bonus gift. Find more from Jen: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagement Find more from Nick Thompson: Instagram:@nxthompson Website: https://www.nickthompson.com/

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, guys. It's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.
0:07.2	Okay, you guys, Nick Thompson is on the show today. Nick is the CEO of the Atlantic.
0:13.2	He is the fastest, well, he's actually a record holder, the fastest runner of his age group of 50K, right?
0:22.4	Or say it nicer than I did.
0:25.1	I'm the American record holder in the 50K for guys 45 up,
0:29.0	and I'm the top ranked in the world for guys 45 up this year in the 50 mile.
0:34.0	Kind of complicated, but.
0:35.3	It's like a tongue twister.
0:36.8	It's a little bit. It's a little confusing.
0:38.1	He's basically the fastest man in the world in his age category for 50K, right?
0:45.0	For kind of like weird races.
0:46.7	For like ultramarathons.
0:49.0	And don't forget, also, he is now the author of the running ground.
0:53.7	Yes.
0:54.0	Which is a memoir slash running book on,
0:59.2	and that's actually been like has a lot of life lessons, business lessons, which is why I like it.
1:04.4	I hope so. And he's on the show today. So by the way, how we do this show is we start with a
1:09.9	magic mine healthy shot.
1:11.3	I'm not a drinker, and I'm sure you're not either, given what you do for fun. So this is basically
1:17.6	a bunch of, like, yummy, good stuff for you, like Ashwagwanda. Ashwaganda, I can never say that.
1:24.1	Ashwaganda. So that's so many times today. You can look at the ingredients if you'd like, but it's basically a performance shop. So what you really should be doing is taking one of these before you do one of your big runs. And it will keep you super focused and keep your mind right. I'm all in favor of red beet. I'm all in favor of olive oil. I'm all in favor
1:44.3	everything in this. It's really great and green. And it tastes delicious. Bumeric, Lionsmane. It's good stuff. It's really good. No, no. It's like really good. Take it right now. Yeah. And we just go cheers. And then we do them down the hatchet. I've had a lot today. Wait, all of it at the same time?
	...

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