From 4:36 as a Freshman to 4:00 as a Senior: Caden Leonard on Chasing Sub-4 In The Mile, Being Coached By His Dad, and Why He Refuses to Visualize Losing
THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST
Dominic Schlueter
4.9 • 821 Ratings
🗓️ 21 April 2026
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
He's 0.08 seconds from the four-minute mile, and Festival of Miles is the race he's had circled all year.
Caden Leonard arrives in St. Louis as the top-ranked high school miler in the country—coming off a 4:00.07 indoor and a 4:01.02 outdoor, the fastest mile ever run by a prep athlete on Texas soil. Last year he ran this same race through a stress reaction nobody knew about.
This year he's healthy, hungry, and done waiting.
In this conversation, Caden breaks down exactly how he plans to race the most loaded high school mile field of the year– with Jackson Spencer, Quentin Nauman, Alan Webb's record hovering in the background—and why his strategy isn't to chase a time, it's to win. He talks about extending the kick to make the hurt last longer, staying on the pace instead of reacting to it, and what it cost him last year to give guys like Quentin a head start he couldn't make up.
He also gets into what sub-4 at Festival of Miles would actually mean; not just for him, but for his dad, who has now coached two Carroll milers to the doorstep of the barrier. Caden watched Reed Brown do it online as a kid and decided that was the standard.
Festival of Miles is where he finds out if he's right.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ladies and gentlemen, today I have the privilege of sitting back down with Caden Leonard as he journeys through his final season in high school where he is chasing, not just after the sub four minute mile barrier, but national titles in winning every race, competing in every race in his own words that he enters into. |
| 0:16.7 | Caden is one of the most consistent runners of our generation. |
| 0:20.1 | It seems any race he enters, he's either winning it or competing for the win this past cross-country season. |
| 0:25.4 | I'm not mistaken, he plays third at NXN and third at the Forks Cross Country National Championships. |
| 0:30.1 | Again, displaying that consistency in whatever race he chooses to compete in. |
| 0:34.6 | He comes from the great state of Texas where he's won multiple, multiple |
| 0:38.2 | state championships, set all sorts of records and is an absolute legend of the sport. In today's |
| 0:45.0 | conversation, we break down his training, how it differs cross country versus track, racing his dad |
| 0:49.7 | in a 30-meter sprint, losing his freshman year and why he thinks he could get redemption this |
| 0:54.1 | year and also break his dad's 800-meter record. His his freshman year and why he thinks he could get redemption this year |
| 0:54.3 | and also break his dad's 800-meter record. His dad is one of the most legendary coaches in the sport |
| 0:59.8 | in high school and has had the privilege of coaching Kaden throughout his four years in high school. |
| 1:04.7 | We also talk about Kaden's hopes and dreams for the festival of Miles race, how he thinks he can |
| 1:08.9 | potentially take down Quentin Naumann, Jackson Spencer, all the top guys this year, and we break down his training, his mindset, all that fun stuff, recovery techniques, visualization. I hope you guys enjoy this one as much as I did having it. A special thank you to Hoka for bringing this series to life as we document and journey with the top athletes in the sport competing in this this year's 2026, Hoka Festival Miles. |
| 1:28.5 | If you guys want to learn more about that race, |
| 1:30.6 | the athlete need program, the race schedule buying tickets as we get closer on June 4th, |
| 1:35.1 | you can go to STLFestualmiles.com to get all that information. |
| 1:38.6 | I hope you all enjoy this conversation and find value from this conversation with Mr. Texas, |
| 1:43.5 | a man who could be on top |
| 1:44.8 | of every podium in each race he chooses to compete in this spring and summer. |
| 1:49.0 | Enjoy my conversation with the one and only, Caden Leonard. |
| 1:54.7 | Ladies and gentlemen, he's back. |
... |
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