Coach Bennett's Podcast

Episode 131. Why I Didn't Break 4 I had a few big goals when I was running and racing competitively. One of those goals was breaking 4 minutes in the mile. Well, as you can probably surmise from the title of this episode... I didn't. But my failure to break 4 has led to this soon to be very successful episode of Coach Bennett's Podcast. That is assuming all of you listen to and share the episode with everyone you know. Anyway, in the episode I break down a whole bunch of reasons why I believe...

Transcribed - Published: 11 December 2025

Episode 130. How To End The Year Running The end of the year is not the time that people start running. In fact, the end of the year os when most people stop running. Poor weather, less hours of sunlight, holiday obligations and travel, work and life stressors - it all adds up to less if any running getting done at all. That's why we have Episode #130! Because we're going to flip the script. We're not going to wait until the New Year to start running or start running again. This good ol...

Transcribed - Published: 4 December 2025

Episode 129. Maybe Is A Power I headed out on my run today and it was drizzling. I though to myself that maybe I'll run 15 minutes... but maybe I'll run 20 minutes... and maybe I'll run 25 minutes. The power here resided in the word maybe. The ownership and the excitement and the honesty and the possibility was all birthed and made possible by that word maybe. This episode is about how you can make your running better by incorporating that word... maybe.. into your training and your running a...

Transcribed - Published: 27 November 2025

Episode 128. Winter Is Coming. Get Ready To Run It. Winter is coming. Just ask Jon Snow or really anyone from the Stark family. All my Game of Throne nerds are nodding their heads. The rest of you are confused. That's okay! Because this episode is actually about running. Running in winter to be specific. I start by telling you how to get into the groove. Yes, there will be a special nod to Madonna. And I'll talk about the importance of getting into gear and getting inspired and getting ...

Transcribed - Published: 20 November 2025

Episode 127. Now What? The race is over. The training cycle is finished. You crossed. the finish line. Now what? I've wanted to do this episode for a few weeks. So, I was super excited when it came time to record it. The problem was that I had a bad cough. The kind of cough that won't let you speak more than two sentences without coughing. And, I'm in a car driving across the country. Luckily, I happen to know the best coach in the world AND I'm driving across the country with her. So, ...

Transcribed - Published: 13 November 2025

Episode 126. Just Wait A Minute Sometimes all it takes to set a day straight or a run right is a minute. But you'll need the strength and confidence to wait a minute and reset or refresh or retry or redo. I did just that today. Because I needed to tell myself to just wait a minute and take that minute to recharge. So, take 30 minutes here and now and listen to the latest episode of Coach Bennett's Podcast before you head out for a recovery run or long run or fartlek run or decide to start run...

Transcribed - Published: 6 November 2025

Episode 125. How To Have A Better Race This is a special one. Because it's episode 125! And because running a race is special. And because we have Coach Bennett the Greater as a guest. That's right! Tammie Bennett of the Show Up Society is back! And this is also a special episode because you all asked for an episode on what you could do before race day and on the starting line on race day and on the other side of that starting line on race day so you have a better chance to run a better...

Transcribed - Published: 30 October 2025

Episode 124. Moving On Sometimes the hardest part of a race isn't the race. And sometimes it's not even the training you need to do so you can race that race. Sometimes the hardest part is after the race. It's letting go. It's moving on. We can give so much to a training cycle. We can put so much into the journey. We can invest so much into race day and the outcome. We can suddenly find ourselves lost and adrift when it's all over. This episode is about acknowledging all of this. And it's abo...

Transcribed - Published: 23 October 2025

Episode 123. Success Success. What is it? How do you define it? How do you measure it? What happens when you don't reach a goal? Is there such a thing as partial success? So many questions. Even more answers in this episode. Inspired by getting to talk to so many of you at the Berlin Marathon, Portland Marathon, Chicago Marathon, I wanted to make sure we talked about success from the point of view of the athletes and a coach. So, check it out. And thank you for inspiring me with your efforts ...

Transcribed - Published: 16 October 2025

Episode 122. On The Starting Line We all stand there on starting lines. Together. Alone. With the unknown ahead of us. No guarantees. This episode is inspired by so many of you that have reached out over the last few weeks to ask about the starting line. Over the last few weeks I've been to the Berlin Marathon, the Portland Marathon, Half Marathon, 10K and Kids Mile, and now I'm recording this episode in Chicago with this great city's marathon only a couple of days away. I talk nerves, confid...

Transcribed - Published: 9 October 2025

Episode 121. Ready, Set, Go! This is a really special episode. Because I get to talk about something that is near and dear to my heart - how to introduce the sport to kids (and adults). About ten years ago, I helped create something called Ready, Set, Go! for Nike Running. It was a guide for both kids and the adult in their lives that was going to help introduce them to this wonderful sport. Well, we decided to refresh Ready, Set, Go! and I couldn't be more excited about it. ...

Transcribed - Published: 2 October 2025

Episode 120. Keep It Easy It’s not just about making sure you run easy when you’re supposed to run easy. Keeping it easy is also about making sure you’re not making the hard stuff harder than it needs to be. Give this latest episode of Coach Bennett’s Podcast a listen and you’ll be a little better equipped to keep it easy… or at least help keep yourself from making the hard stuff harder. Cheers, Coach Bennett Send us a message Be sure to send any and all questions and comments to the ...

Transcribed - Published: 25 September 2025

Episode 119. Getting Ready For The Big Day You got a big day coming up? Is it a race? 5K? 10K? Marathon? Maybe it's an exam you need to take or a presentation you need to give or a conversation you need to have. No matter what your big day is you can be better prepared to take it on AND enjoy it. How? How can you be better prepared and enjoy that big day more? So happy you asked! Just listen to this episode and there's a real good chance you're going to come up big on the big day. Cheer...

Transcribed - Published: 18 September 2025

Episode 118: Better Autumn Running It's time to... wait for it... fall in love with running in the fall. Get it? Pretty great, right? I know. I just got whatever that thing is. Anyway, this episode is a few of my favorite tip and even a few rules for better Autumn running. So, fall back in your favorite chair or hit your favorite trail (or treadmill or road) and enjoy the latest episode. Cheers and thank you for listening! Coach Bennett Send us a message Be sure to send any and al...

Transcribed - Published: 12 September 2025

Episode 117. All I Got It's been a tough couple of weeks. So much travel. Dropping kids off on the other side of the country. ER visits. Sickness. Heimlich Maneuvers. 7 year streaks being broken. Podcasts not getting published... or at least getting published a week later. So, this is the episode you're getting. It won't be the longest Coach Bennett's Podcast ever. It won't have the most rambles or even gloriously terrible weak jokes. But it is all I got. And it's the best I could do. I hope ...

Transcribed - Published: 4 September 2025

Episode 116: Goals: How To Set, Change, Drop and Achieve Them It's always a great time to talk about goals. And when you talk about goals you need to talk about more than how to set them. You need to know how to change and adjust goals and how to drop goals too. Big goals. Little goals. Medium sized goals. Long term goals. Short term goals. We cover it all. So, enjoy the show and please know that one of my goals in making this episode was to help you have a better chance achieving all of your...

Transcribed - Published: 21 August 2025

Episode 115. Get Out Of Your Own Way We all do it. We self-sabotage. We trip ourselves up. We set ourselves up for something less than success. Well, this episode is all about ways we can get out of our own ways so we can run ourselves somewhere better without the self-destructive hurdles and barriers we place in front of ourselves. And obviously you need to listen to Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac. And because my brain decides to simply go rogue here is Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac to...

Transcribed - Published: 14 August 2025

Episode 114. Recovery On The Run You've probably heard me say that great running dependent on great recovery. Well, it's the truth. And if you can recover great and do that consistently you're going to give yourself the best chance to run great. So, listen up. Because this episode is all about how you can recover better and recover better consistently. None of the things I talk about in this episode are recovery techniques that you can't start taking advantage of today. Because almost everyth...

Transcribed - Published: 7 August 2025

Episode 113. Get Fast Buckle up buttercup! Because we're about to go fast talking about getting fast. I do my best to rip through this episode... fast. That means the rambling on this episode may not be non-existent but it's sure not excessive. And yes, it was not easy for me to not ramble. It's also not easy for me to not write sentences with double negatives. I digress. Sit back or start it up... no matter how your listening to the show or what you're doing while you listen to the show... I...

Transcribed - Published: 31 July 2025

Episode 112. 5 Ways To Build Confidence Being confident takes work. And that means that confidence is something that can be built up, grown, maintained. That also means that confidence is something that can be torn down, weakened, atrophy. So, we're going to discuss a few ways that you can work on and build confidence. I know I named this episode 5 Ways To Build Confidence but I'm not entirely sure how many ways I actually talk about. I feel like it's more than 5 though. Anyway, it's a great ...

Transcribed - Published: 24 July 2025

Episode 111. Setbacks (How To Deal With Them) It's inevitable. If you show up consistently... if you chase after great goals... if you get better and want to get better... if you try your best... you're going to need to deal with setbacks. How you deal with those setbacks will help decide just how consistent you'll continue to be and whether you'll chase down those goals or not and whether you'll get better and better and if you'll get closer to your best. So, let's talk setbacks. Shall we? W...

Transcribed - Published: 17 July 2025

Episode 110. Risk and Reward. Some risks can lead to great rewards. Some rewards are not worth the risks. Whether you realize it or not every run and race you do and rest day you take has risks and rewards associated with them. This episode is all about the relationship between the two. This episode was inspired by the mile run by Faith Kipyegon in her Breaking 4 attempt and the 1500m race run by Jessica Hull at the Prefontaine Classic the following week. Enjoy the episode and be sure to chec...

Transcribed - Published: 10 July 2025

Episode 109. It's OK To Not Be OK It's OK to be OK. It's OK to not be OK. But it's not OK to say you're OK when you're not OK. And it sounds like a lot of you are not OK. The good thing is that you are reaching out to me and admitting that you're not OK. That takes honesty and strength. Both of those things help you when it comes to running by the way. You're also reaching out and asking for some help. (Asking for help is another sign or strength.) That's why I'm doing this episode. And if yo...

Transcribed - Published: 3 July 2025

Episode 108. How To Slow Down (So You Can Speed Up) Sometimes you need to slow down so you can speed up. Yes, it makes sense. And it's true. In fact, it's essential to understand if you want to get better at this fantastic sport. That's why we're going to talk about it on this episode. You'll learn why it's important and how to do it just by listening to the show. Pretty good deal if you ask me. So, sit back or stand up or go for a walk or a run and enjoy the podcast. And yes, this episode is...

Transcribed - Published: 26 June 2025

Episode 107. 7 Ways To Make Your Running More Fun It doesn't matter how fast or how far you can run. There's always an opportunity to make your running more fun. And if you can make your running more fun then you can make your running better and if you can make your running better then you can make the runner doing that running better. That was definitely a run on sentence. But I hope it was easy to understand. Because if you can figure out how to get better and have fun getting better then y...

Transcribed - Published: 19 June 2025

Episode 106. I Believe. I figured it was time that I told you what I believe in. Especially, since I believe in you! But this is episode goes old school. There was once a time when seven statements I wrote on a cheap legal pad became the foundation for NRC... and how so may of us (including me) look at ourselves and support ourselves and cheer for ourselves. YOU deserve the best if you are trying your best. Cheers, Coach Bennett Send us a message Be sure to send any and all questi...

Transcribed - Published: 12 June 2025

Episode 105. Happy Global Running Day Sure, this episode may be dropping the day after Global Running Day in many parts of the world... the sentiment remains true. Happy Global Running Day! I'm taking the opportunity to state what it means to be a runner and how we can best acknowledge and experience and what it means to be a part of this sport. So, press play and turn up the volume and get ready to celebrate, share and save the sport on Global Running Day 2025... or the day after Globa...

Transcribed - Published: 5 June 2025

Episode 104. 7 Ways To Make Your Summer Running Better This could actually be 5 or 6 or maybe even 8 or 9 ways. I'm not exactly sure. I kind of went into a zone there for a little while and when I came out of it the episode was done. Doesn't really matter. What does matter is that by the end of the episode you're going to know a whole bunch of different ways you can make your summer running better! And that's a good thing! So, enjoy the episode and thank you for listening. Cheers,...

Transcribed - Published: 29 May 2025

Episode 103. Comebacks Don't call it a comeback? No, call it a comeback! Coming back from an injury? It's a comeback. Coming back from sickness? It's a comeback. Coming back from a life event? It's a comeback. Coming back from a long season or a big setback or a tough race or a great one? Comebacks! You know what? Every time you come back to a starting line it's a comeback! This episode is all about how you can make any comeback a return to the starting line that gets you to a finish line exc...

Transcribed - Published: 22 May 2025

Episode 102. How To Do More So, you want to know how to do more? I get it. More is better, right? Well, maybe. Maybe not. That's why before we decide what we need to do more of (or less of) we need to have a conversation. And that's what this episode is... a conversation. I'll give you a series of questions that you need to ask and answer before you decide what you need to do more of. If you're an athlete then this is an essential episode. And if you have a body you're an athlete. This ...

Transcribed - Published: 15 May 2025

Episode 101. Searching For Balance. We're all searching for some balance in our lives and in our running. But I don't think there's such a thing as perfect balance. I believe we're just trying to balance all our imbalances as best as we can. And that's what this episode is all about. If we can look from a different and more supportive point of view and give a little more grace and have a little more empathy towards out own balancing acts we're going to have a better chance of maintainin...

Transcribed - Published: 8 May 2025

Episode 100. Why Do You Run? Why do you run? This is a conversation... but it's also a celebration of running. And it's a celebration of runners. That means it's a celebration of YOU! Hey, great opportunity to thank you for getting us here... Episode 100. This podcast is for YOU! So, enjoy the show. Be ready to join in on the discussion. Because this is about why WE run. And there is no WE without YOU. Cheers, Coach Bennett Check out the video that those teenagers watched th...

Transcribed - Published: 1 May 2025

Episode 99. You Gotta Have Faith It was announced today that Faith Kipyegon is going to try and break 4 in the Mile this Summer in Paris. What was that? I said that Faith Kipyegon has committed to trying to run under 4 minutes for a mile in June. You read that right, twice. This episode is about Faith and faith and Breaking 4 (that's what this is being called) and Breaking 2 and Eliud Kipchoge and this episode is about you and me and goals and confidence and failure and success an...

Transcribed - Published: 24 April 2025

Episode 98. A Pep Talk For You (And Me) This wasn't what I had originally planned for this episode. But sometimes the best plan is a different plan than what was originally planned. So, I listened to all of you and recorded the episode you all needed to hear and not the episode I wanted to make. I hope you enjoy this little pep talk. And to be honest... I think I needed it just as much if not more than any of you. Thank you for listening to and sharing Coach Bennett's Podcast. Cheers, C...

Transcribed - Published: 17 April 2025

Episode 97. How To Schedule Your Runs Sometimes the hardest part of running isn't the running. It's scheduling the running. When and why do we run when we run? Is it okay to switch up the schedule? How flexible can we be? What should we take into consideration when setting up a week or weeks of training? Wouldn't it be great if there was somewhere to get all these questions answered? I'm wicked witty. See what I did there? Because here is a place where you can get all these questions an...

Transcribed - Published: 10 April 2025

Episode 96. How To Get Through A Tough Run It doesn't matter how fast you are. It doesn't mater how long you've been running, It doesn't matter how experienced you are as a runner. It doesn't matter how many times you've seen the Gaslight Anthem in concert. You're going to have some tough runs. I'm hoping that this episode helps. Because if you can have a better run when you you're having a tough run you';re going to have better runs and that means you will become a better runner. Enjoy...

Transcribed - Published: 3 April 2025

Episode 95. How To Make Gains With No Pains Anyone that’s says “no pain no gain” has no idea what they’re talking about. There are so many gains you can make with no pain involved. Doesn’t mean there won’t be hard runs and tough races and struggles along the way on your running journey. But none of that should be dependent on pain. Give this episode a listen and if you’ve still got that poster from the 80’s or 90’s up on your wall that say “No Pain. No Gain”… it’s time to take it down. ...

Transcribed - Published: 27 March 2025

Episode 94. 5 Tips For A Better Long Run. Why give you one tip for a better long run when I can give you five? No need ot ask why not I don't give six or seven. That's just being obnoxious. Give this oddly absent of rambles episode a listen and learn about how being fueled and hydrated, knowing where you are going and what you are doing, packing a parachute and one or two other tips I can't remember right now can help you have the best possible long run. Cheers to you and thank yo...

Transcribed - Published: 20 March 2025

Episode 93. The Story Of The First Gold In The Women’s Marathon It's the first race I can remember watching. And it's stayed with me ever since. I'm talking about the 1984 Women's Olympic Marathon. This was the first time women competed in the Marathon in the Olympic Games. I was just a little kid. But I knew that what I was watching was special. From the breakaway move Joan Benoit (Samuelson) made barely 5K into the race to the final brutal lap of Gabriela Andersen-Scheiss this race ma...

Transcribed - Published: 13 March 2025

Episode 92. You And The Best Runners In The World. You got a lot in common with the best runners in the world. You know that right? Because you should know that. In fact, you have way more in common than not. Don't believe me? That's fine. You once believed you couldn't do all sorts of things that you've since done. So, I'm used to it. I'm hoping that this episode goes a long way to remedying your disbelief. And if you can start to understand just how much you and the best runners in the worl...

Transcribed - Published: 6 March 2025

Episode 91. How To Coach Yourself (And Others) Better One of the goals I have as a coach is that you need me less and less. That's right. Every time we get together I want you to be closer to becoming your own best coach. And we're going to discuss some of the way you can work on becoming a better coach to yourself right now. Spoiler alert: it's going to be a series of questions to ask yourself. And the key to answering those questions the right way is to be honest because an honest answer is...

Transcribed - Published: 27 February 2025

Episode 90: How To Run Better In Cold Weather If you're in the depths of winter or winter is on its way or you're just one of those fantastic souls that's always game for learning more... this episode is for you. I'll take you through some of the most foundational ways to make your running better on those cold, cold runs. We talk about windchill and base layers and hydration and sweat and hats with pom poms on them and so much more. So, what are you waiting for? Press start and listen to the ...

Transcribed - Published: 20 February 2025

Episode 89. Stressed Out Stress is real. Stress is a natural response we have to situations that feel out of control or hard to manage. So, if you're human... you're going to get stressed out. And right now, there seems to be a whole of stressed out runners. We're going to talk about what stress is. We're going to talk about how stress and especially long term and heightened stress can have negative impacts on your running. But this episode is about running and this is not about running...

Transcribed - Published: 13 February 2025

Episode 88. All The Small Things Yes, it's a Blink 182 song. And yes, it's a great song. But this episode may be even better. Because we're talking about all the small things that you can do to make those big things you want to do easier to do... or at least more likely to be done by you. Now seems like a great time for this episode because now is always the right time ot talk about this topic. And because everyone seems to be stressed out and exhausted and having hard time making it th...

Transcribed - Published: 6 February 2025

Episode 87. Metrics That Really Matter You've got the classics. You know what I'm talking about. The OG running metrics. Minutes. Meters. Miles. But there are some new cats and dogs in town too. Metrics that can also help you measure and understand your performance and progression. Metrics like cadence and heart rate. And there are more like the wildly diverse personal bests metric and the always fun metric known as... fun. Yes, fun can and should be a metric you pay attention to when ...

Transcribed - Published: 30 January 2025

Episode 86. Motivation. My motivation for this episode was you. Yes, you. You've been reaching out telling me you're losing motivation or you're afraid your motivation is lost. Well, if you're reaching out that means you still got some. And if you listen to this episode my hope is that you'l have a little more motivation to fuel what it is that you want and need to do. I could ramble on about all the different things that I go over in this episode but I think it's best if you just hit...

Transcribed - Published: 23 January 2025

Episode 85. Inspire. Inspire. Inspiration. Inspired. That's a verb, noun and adjective there. All essential to a successful runner. And all three can seem elusive at times. This episode breaks down the meaning of those words. Then we discuss how and who we can inspire, what it means to be inspired, and where we can find inspiration. Theres even a mindset minute with coach bennett the greater, tammie bennett of the show up society. If all that talk about nouns and verbs and adjectives and def...

Transcribed - Published: 16 January 2025

Episode 84. When Easy Isn't Easy. Sometimes it can feel like everything is hard. Yes, sometimes it can feel like even easy isn't so easy. That's okay. Because on this episode we're going to talk about how we can better handle times like these. Sometimes the key is simply asking ourselves a few questions. Other times it's about making changes, giving ourselves a little grace, backing off or yes... pushing on. There are a lot of takeaways from this episode and it's one that makes sense ...

Transcribed - Published: 9 January 2025

Episode 83. This Can Be Your Best Year Ever! Welcome to 2025! Could this be your best... year... ever? Maybe. At least it makes sense to try to have your best year ever. It does to me anyway. And I hope after this episode it makes sense to you too. That's why we're going to go over some of the ways I think you can set yourself up to have your best year or training cycle or season of running ever. We'll talk about belief and pints of water and rocks in your backpack (just listen t...

Transcribed - Published: 2 January 2025

Episode 82. New Year's Resolve. I love resolutions. I do. But I love resolve even more. What can I say? I'm a verbs guy. Nouns and adjectives are wonderful. But if we are being honest then we know that it's the verbs that power and inspire all those nouns we love and adjectives we aim for. And that's why we're going to talk about resolutions through the lens of that word resolve. And we're going to talk about how we can set ourselves up to carry out those resolutions we are reso...

Transcribed - Published: 26 December 2024