How NIKE Pro Running Coach Alex Ostberg Reframes Running Nutrition — Donuts as Rocket Fuel, the Durability Lag, Building Injury-Proof Mileage & What To Do After A Bad Race
THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST
Dominic Schlueter
4.9 • 821 Ratings
🗓️ 30 March 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs
What if the secret to running faster is eating a donut?
World-class coach Alex Ostberg is back for another monthly breakdown of his newsletter, The Rundown; and this one might be his most thought-provoking yet.
Dominic and Alex tear through four recent editions, starting with a piece that'll make your clean-eating friends squirm: The Case for Junk Food as a Runner. Alex breaks down the real physiology behind post-run refueling—and why your muscles genuinely don't care where your carbohydrates come from.
From there, the conversation shifts to one of the most emotionally charged moments in any athlete's season: the bad race. Alex's piece, What Not to Do After a Bad Race, has a surprisingly sharp analytical edge, pulling from NBA data, Fidelity investment research, and a controversial Super Bowl call to make the case for why one result should almost never rewrite your entire plan.
Then Alex lays out The Best Way to Guarantee Improvement; a question every runner asks and very few coaches answer honestly. The aerobic vs. anaerobic breakdown is clear, practical, and backed by real science.
Finally, they close with Five Rules for Building Mileage Without Getting Injured. The "durability lag" concept and the Ferrari-in-a-Prius metaphor will stick with you long after this episode ends.
Tap into The Rundown Recap Special.
If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it. Comment the word“PODCAST” below and I’ll DM you a link to listen. If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend!
Comment the word “PODCAST” below and I’ll DM you a link to listen.
If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend!
S H O W N O T E S
-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs
-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run
-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ
-My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en
-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | A quick note before we hop into today's remarkably insightful conversation of the podcast with |
| 0:05.1 | Nike professional running coach Alex Osberg. Alex writes a newsletter for me every Thursday, |
| 0:09.6 | completely free. It's completely free to sign up to subscribe to. I've left a link in the show |
| 0:14.3 | notes as I do in every single podcast episode, but it should be the top link at the top of the |
| 0:18.9 | show notes. If you scroll down, whether you're watching on Spotify, listening on YouTube, Apple podcast. Doesn't matter. It's in the show notes. It's on my social media as well, if that's easier for you to go and find it. But this newsletter every Thursday breaks down actionable tools that you can directly apply into your running to become a faster runner, a better runner, a more sustainable runner. It's the best bang for your buck, even though that phrase shouldn't even apply because it's completely free, but it's the best bang for your buck resource in this sport of running to get better. I firmly believe that every edition is a three to five minute read every Thursday, free in your inbox, written by one of the greatest coaches, running coaches in the entire world. And without further ado, if you don't believe me, just listen to God Talk in today's |
| 0:57.5 | conversation. |
| 0:58.2 | Appreciate you all. |
| 1:01.6 | Ladies and gentlemen, we are hopping right back into another monthly breakdown of the |
| 1:06.7 | rundown by the running effect written by multi-time all-American world-class coach friend of the podcast |
| 1:12.5 | Alex osberg Alex let's kick them off with a piece that I loved from you and for those who are |
| 1:18.2 | new to this podcast every month we break down four editions from a world-class newsletter that |
| 1:22.6 | that Alex writes for the running effect best place you can go to if you want to have a five minute |
| 1:28.1 | free edition every single Thursday in your inbox that will help you become a better runner. |
| 1:31.7 | One of those core pieces is always going to be nutrition. And I always love when you write about |
| 1:36.4 | nutrition. Love this title, a little provocative in 2026, the case for junk food as a runner. |
| 1:41.5 | And I love this because we all know the runner who is like |
| 1:45.0 | maniacally focused on quote unquote clean eating and can't fathom reading a piece like this. |
| 1:50.8 | So Alex, speak directly to him. Where did this piece come from? Yeah, sounds good. So the origin |
| 1:54.8 | of this piece is that I started this semi-regular tradition. I don't do it every week, but I do it many weeks, |
| 2:02.4 | is I will, I'll drive to voodoo donuts before our long run. And then, you know, after the |
| 2:07.8 | athletes finish up their 90 minutes, a two-hour long run, a lot of times with some intensity, |
| 2:11.7 | I'll pull out this giant pink box of donuts from the back of my car and hand him out to the |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dominic Schlueter, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dominic Schlueter and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.