Keep Going

Hello, it's Steve Sisson, recording this in March of 2026. As you've probably guessed, this podcast has been retired — but I'm excited to share what's coming next.It's called oyo.run, & the focus is simple: self-coaching. Taking ownership of your running experience — as you should have been doing all along.I'll be your host, joined by a range of collaborators who'll help me break down the fundamentals of training & racing with as much clarity, precision & honesty as I can muster. We'll move across the full spectrum — physiology to strategy, mental skills to organizational planning — all with one purpose: to make you more invested, more effective, more motivated, & ultimately, to help you derive more meaning from everything you do as a runner.Think of it as the definitive resource for the self-coached runner.The name oyo.run carries a legacy & a story — and I'll unpack that in the very first episode, dropping April 1st, 2026. Yes, April Fool's Day. You'll find it wherever you get your podcasts.I'm bringing to this is fifty years of my own running & racing experience, as well as over thirty years of coaching expertise. My goal with these early episodes is to lay the foundation — the how & why behind the training systems coaches build. For some of you, this will be review. For others, it'll be critical background you've never had access to. Either way, my goal is to provide the foundation to develop your own system, or at minimum, to deeply understand the one you're already in. Eventually, we'll get deeper into the weeds with all manner of topics, guests & breakdowns. Alongside the free podcast, I'll be hosting a private online community resource for deeper exploration & discussion. More on that in the coming weeks. Now — you might wonder why a coach would give away the keys for free. That's reasonable, I guess, so I'l provide a clear answer: I benefit far more from working with an informed, thoughtful, reflective athlete than I ever could from one who simply follows orders. While my system has been honed through thirty years of hard-earned experience, what makes coaching truly rewarding is having an athlete who can take that knowledge into the arena of their own unique experience. So this isn't a pitch to stop working with a coach. If anything, I view this as a public service for coaches everywhere — including myself.Think of the difference between a cook who follows a recipe & a chef who understands balance, flavor, technique. I'd rather coach a chef. Someone who can take the fundamentals into the kitchen of their own experience & make something real with them - not just execute instructions they don't understand. &, as I'll argue throughout the entire podcast run, the athlete who knows gains significantly more benefit from any training or racing situation than one who simply follows. So join us April Fool's Day for episode one. All the information lives at www.oyo.run. I am honored & excited to share this project with you & Godspeed.

The final planned episode of the Keep Going podcast is a running homage to Town Lake & Austin, Texas. We've enjoyed being on this ride with all of you. We'll see you down the road. Godspeed, my friends, godspeed.

This episode breaks down an iconic & specific key session in the Telos Running marathon program as Michael prepares for the 2025 Chicago Marathon. The Dance is a marathon specific session that, on paper, looks like the following:2M warm-up6 sets of 2M at Marathon Goal Pace w/ 1M Float (continuous)0-2M cool-downJoin us as we dissect Michael's experience of this particular session. We hit on heart rate, paces vs efforts, how to adjust in session, etc.We hope you enjoy this deep dive on one race specific session. Godspeed, my friends, godspeed.

In this wide ranging episode we trace how being the best at what you do can play into a beautiful life. Dave Matthews Band, politics & if racing is dying off are the framing points but where we end up is being excellent is a personal journey.

In this very special episode, Michael shares his Atreyu journey. Having recently announced that Atreyu would not be continuing to produce shoes & would be shutting down at the end of 2025, Steve asks Michael some questions about his Atreyu journey. This episode is not the whole story, by any stretch, but it is a conversation around what really matters. We hope you enjoy this candid conversation around Michael's Atreyu journey. Godspeed, friends; godspeed.

In this episode Michael calls Steve out on his administration of hilly routes for easy long runs. We talk about hills, easy running & how hills can become your superpower. Godspeed, friends, godspeed. Note the inclusion of the fantastic Iron Maiden song, Run To The Hills from the classic album, The Number of the Beast.

An invitation to join the experimental Training By Feel Project which will follow an approach of training by feel for any race between 5K & a marathon this fall. If you are interested reach out to me directly at sisson at telosrunning dot com. Also, we are looking for listener input on topics for Michael & Steve to riff on for a maximum of 15 minutes. We'll take your topics & curate them with others of our own & the Telos Running community to put out a couple of hot/cold takes on any topic you'd like us to riff on. Just reach out at the email above. This one is super short & sweet, ya'll. Godspeed.

Even though we didn't plan this episode to link up so well with the last one (see Ep 88: Liminal Running (Part I): Breaking Frames), it just does. A continued bending of the tariffs impact on Atreyu & Michael's livelihood with one of Steve's major philosophical positions, soul-style. We really catch a groove here & are interested in your feedback, if you've got any. Thanks for listening, we truly appreciate our listeners. Godspeed, y'all, godspeed.

A little musical prelude where we talk about Dan Reeder, Ted Lucas & Charles Bukowski before we wander back into the AI discourse on our way to what beauty & art mean in our current crazy world. Steve asks Michael about these damn tariffs & we all get a great education on the struggles & strategies around running a small businessFor more on this please don't miss Michael's heartful & revealing Tariff Talk on his YouTube channel. This discussion was recorded on April 3rd & Michael's talk was released a week after this episode. At the time of this episode's release, there were 3.3K views & 182 comments on the video: that's a good bit of discussion around a critical issue for all of the running shoe industry. Consider this discussion as an early iteration on Michael's thinking around the challenges these tariffs will create. We hope you enjoy

Of of our heroes is the late, great Townes van Zandt & this episode is named after one of his great albums. In this episode we loop back to the ideas of running as Practice & running as Pursuit that we unpacked many months ago.

Shit is gettin weird around here, y'all. & fair warning: Steve gets really riled up on this one. & drops lots & lots of f-bombs. It's helpful to remind you that this is just a conversation between friends. If you take this episode's title at face value, you may be a bit confused for the first 10-15 minutes where we touch into personal addictions & thoughts on sobriety. Eventually we transition into our more general discussion around magic & the desire we all have for altered states. Our foundation is that our current models of what is real & how the world is represented by our senses are not up to the task of what we desire around meaning & purpose. We talk about how language & communication are complicit in the way we experience the world, how are conditioning & mindsets can hold us captive if we do not examine them closely & ensure they are working for you. We eventually get to a place where we recognize suffering is so helpful to our lived experience, especially as runners. For anyone interested in egregores see THIS reddit thread. Join us on a journey where we explore a magical way of experiencing the world & our running, more specifically.this is some deep shit, friends, Godspeed.

While this was entirely unintended, this episode feels like a part two of last week's discussion. This one leans into the struggles we both feel about this late capitalist, social media saturated attention economy as entrepreneurs & "experts" in our respective fields. What would happen if it all fell apart? Is mission enough? What is our expertise worth? We wrestles with these topics & many more in an attempt to stay optimistic & creative in a challenging market that seems to suck the soul from any entrepreneurial effort. We hope this frank & vulnerable conversation resonates with you. Godspeed, friends, godspeed.

We dive into a favorite topic of Steve's: listening to your body. Along the way we discuss the Japanese kōan, guitar pedals, old school running magazines, book collecting, etc. In this episode, Steve mentioned that he has an online lecture series created in 2020 that he was willing to offer. If you are interested, send Steve an email at sisson at telosrunning dot com. We hope y'all enjoy this one & godspeed!