Iron. Stress. Ice Baths. Biology. NIKE Pro Running Coach Alex Osberg on the Four Training Science Truths Every Competitive Runner Needs to Hear
THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST
Dominic Schlueter
4.9 • 821 Ratings
🗓️ 25 April 2026
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
JOIN MY TEAM & SUPPORT A GREAT CAUSE: https://www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com/en/teams/5Nrld5?join=1
Every runner has a mental checklist of what's holding them back.
Iron deficiency, life stress, ice bath mythology, and the gap between ambition and biology probably aren't on it—but after this episode, they will be.
Alex Ostberg is back for the Rundown Recap, and he starts where most coaches start when an athlete is underperforming: iron. They discuss why iron is so central to the oxygen transport system, what symptoms to watch for before things get serious, and how to get tested without a physician's order.
The conversation then shifts to something harder to quantify: stress. Alex makes the case that mental load isn't separate from training—it modifies how the body adapts to it. He and Dominic dig into how elite runners like Grant Fisher and Jess McLean actually use added life structure to their advantage, and what high schoolers stacking SATs on top of race days can learn from Coach Milt's approach to finals week.
From there, the ice bath episode. Alex isn't anti-ice:he's anti-misunderstanding. The recovery oil study alone will make you rethink one of the most entrenched rituals in the sport.
The final piece ties it all together: biology moves slower than your ambitions. Alex breaks down why backwards-facing training plans are built on false certainty, and why the athlete who stops fighting physiology is always the one still standing at the end of a long season.
Tap into the Alex Ostberg Rundown Recap Special.
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If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Real quick note for you guys before we get into today's episode of the podcast. |
| 0:03.8 | I want you guys running with me on May 10th next month. |
| 0:06.9 | I'm captaining Team TRE for the Wings for Life World Run, and this is the only race on the planet with this format. |
| 0:12.8 | No finish line. |
| 0:14.0 | Over 300,000 people in 191 countries all start at the exact same second, 7 a.m. Eastern, and 30 minutes in, a virtual catcher car starts |
| 0:22.3 | chasing you down. It speeds up every half hour until everyone's caught. Could be a 5K, |
| 0:26.8 | could be 50 miles, run, walk, wheelchair. Everyone's in. Everyone's welcome to participate in this |
| 0:32.0 | challenge. Here's why this race matters. 100% of your entry free, every single dollar goes directly to spinal cord injury research. Not a cut, not most of it, all of it. The motto of the Wings for Life World Run is run for those who can't, and that's exactly the point. You're lacing up so someone in a wheelchair has a real shot at walking again. It's the rare race where the miles actually means something beyond you. So next steps for you guys, I've left a link in the show notes to download the Wings for Life World Run app where you will join Team TRE. I would love you to be a part of my team and help support such great cause. Again, Lincoln is in the show notes, join Team TRE, and enjoy today's episode of the podcast. I will be running with you. May 10th, come join me. |
| 1:11.8 | Support a great cause. Appreciate you all. Give me 30 seconds of your attention before we hop into |
| 1:18.2 | today's conversation. My friend, good friend, today's podcast guest, Alex Osberg writes a |
| 1:23.5 | newsletter every single Thursday for me that is completely free every Thursday morning directly |
| 1:28.4 | in your inbox. He's written 52 editions over the past year, one a week, and it's a field |
| 1:33.0 | manual for runners who want to get faster, want to get better, learn how to recover better, |
| 1:37.0 | learn how to improve their mental skills, their recovery skills, their training, their |
| 1:41.0 | biology. He dives into scientific topics, practical topics, coaching topics, |
| 1:45.9 | leadership skills, everything underneath the sun. This is the best newsletter on the running |
| 1:50.5 | market. I've known Alex for years. I've known he's had this wisdom. And so years ago, I came to him |
| 1:54.8 | with the idea, hey, will you write me a newsletter with your best thoughts? And he's done just that |
| 1:59.6 | and then some. I love this newsletter. It is my gift to the running world. And I would be greatly appreciative. If you checked it out, subscribe again, it's completely free. I've left a link in the show notes or just simply look up the rundown by the running effect on Google. I'm sure it will pop up on substack. And if you don't believe me, just listen to today's conversation. You'll quickly learn of Alex's wisdom and be able to extrapolate it to the newsletter as well |
| 2:20.7 | in knowing that the dude is smart, he knows ball, and he can help you become faster. |
| 2:25.4 | So without for their due, enjoy my conversation with the one and only, the legend, the writer of the run down by the running effect, Mr. Alex Osberg. |
| 2:34.7 | Ladies and gentlemen, we are back on the podcast, breaking down the last four |
... |
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