Episode 67: Coach Jonathan Marcus on the Art of Coaching and Improvement

The Strength Running Podcast

Jason Fitzgerald

Health & Fitness, 10k, Beginnerrunning, Marathontraining, Fitness, Injuryprevention, Marathon, Halfmarathon, Running, Sports

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2018

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jonathan Marcus is to running as Charlie Munger is to investing: a coach that uses “elementary, worldly wisdom” to mold his athletes into high-level runners.

His past coaching and running industry experience includes:

Assistant track coach at Portland State University
Division I / NAIA / post-collegiate club / Oregon High School levels
Involvement with the Portland Track Festival, USA Track & Field, NIKE’s Bowerman Track Club, and the Run Portland/Team Athena running clubs

He was appointed USA Track & Field High Performance Coordinator for the men’s middle distances in 2011 and his national role with USATF included serving as co-meet director for the prestigious USATF High Performance track meet held annually at Occidental College.

Currently he’s the Director of High Performance West, an elite training group in Portland Oregon. He also has an incredibly enlightening and action-packed podcast with fellow coach Steve Magness called On Coaching that I highly recommend.

What I most respect about coach Jonathan Marcus is that he’s a lifelong learner: always reading books, learning, educating himself, and connecting with others to improve his ability to perform at a high level as a running coach.

Our wide-ranging discussion might surprise you because we talk about some interesting topics that, on first examination, don’t appear to be truly about running or coaching!

Issues like:

The books that Jonathan is reading (and why they’re not all running books)
Empathy and bias (and why these are crucial traits for coaches)
Vision (and how this relates to your success as a runner)
“Cognitive coping skills” for racing and challenging workouts

For those who want to transcend beyond an elementary understanding of running, this conversation is a fantastic primer on the nuances of high-level running achievement.

I think you’re going to love it.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ready, set go.
0:04.0	This is episode 67 with the co-founder of High Performance West,
0:08.0	the prior assistant coach of the Portland State University track team
0:12.0	and coach to many elite and up-and-coming
0:14.0	athletes, Mr. Jonathan Marcus. Buckle up runners you're in for a real treat today I'm talking to a high level coach who is a student of the sport, someone who loves learning and teaching and communicating with the greater running community,
0:39.0	my guest is Mr. Jonathan Marcus, a philosopher of sorts when it comes to high performance.
0:44.3	He was previously an assistant track coach at Portland State, and before that he spent time
0:48.6	as a coach in the Division I, N.I.
0:51.1	Let me start over. N AIA, post-collegiate club in Oregon High School
0:57.1	levels. Jonathan has also been heavily involved in the local and national running community
1:02.3	with the Portland Track Festival,
1:04.4	USA Track and Field, Nike's Bowerman Track Club, as well as the Run Portland and Team
1:09.6	Athena Running Clubs. He was appointed USA Track and Field High Performance Coordinator for the
1:15.3	men's middle distance in 2011 and his national role with USATF included serving
1:21.7	as co-meet director for the prestigious USATF. S. A. A. T. F. High Performance Track, an elite training group in Portland, Oregon.
1:35.0	He also has an incredibly enlightening and action-packed podcast that I love and listen to myself
1:41.5	with fellow coach Steve Magnus called on coaching. I highly recommend it.
1:46.5	All right, before we start our conversation today, I'd like to announce a new sponsor for the podcast, Steady MD. I recently learned about this new type of medical care
1:56.8	for runners and I immediately reached out to its founder, Dr. Josh Emder. What he's done is create a platform that connects runners with a
2:05.4	primary care physician who's also a runner. And this is critical. I think anybody
2:09.7	who's seen a physical therapist who isn't a runner knows that you're not going to get the same
2:15.2	care from a sedentary provider. They're just not going to understand your need to get back
	...

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