the morning shakeout podcast

Ben Rosario has worn a lot of hats in the sport and industry of running: professional athlete and two-time U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon qualifier, co-founder of the Big River Running Company, race director, elite athlete coordinator, marketing director, author, and, most recently, founder, head coach, and director of HOKA Northern Arizona Elite. In December of 2024 Ben stepped away from his involvement with NAZ Elite to focus on the next iteration of The Marathon Project, a race that he co-founded and put on for the first time in December of 2020.In this episode—Ben's third appearance on the podcast—he and I talk about the return of The Marathon Project, his career as an entrepreneur in the running industry, running's third "boom," and a lot more.This episode is brought to you by: — Tracksmith, New Balance, Precision Fuel & Hydration, and Final Surge. All of these brands have missions I believe in and products that I trust and use myself on a regular basis. One of the best ways to support the morning shakeout is by patronizing the partners that help keep them going week in and week out. Check out this page some of the discount codes and special offers available exclusively to readers and listeners of the morning shakeout.Click here for complete show notes and sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.Music and editing for this episode of the morning shakeout podcast by John Summerford. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vincent Bouillard was the surprise winner (to some, anyway!) of the 2024 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, the most prestigious ultramarathon trail race in the world. The 31-year-old Frenchman, who works in product engineering and innovation at HOKA, broke the tape in 19 hours, 54 minutes, and 23 seconds, the third-fastest time in the 21-year history of the 105-mile race.In this conversation, which was recorded in early October 2024, Bouillard told me what life's been like since his big victory and what may or may not change for him moving forward. We discussed his life as an athlete and how he's honed his focus from a young age. He told me about his relationship with his wife, Kamilah Journét (who appeared on this podcast in 2020), why he shifted his focus to ultras a few years ago, how he trained for UTMB, and a lot more.This episode is brought to you by: — Tracksmith, New Balance, Precision Fuel & Hydration, and Final Surge. All of these brands have missions I believe in and products that I trust and use myself on a regular basis. One of the best ways to support the morning shakeout is by patronizing the partners that help keep them going week in and week out. Check out this page some of the discount codes and special offers available exclusively to readers and listeners of the morning shakeout.Click here for complete show notes and sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.Music and editing for this episode of the morning shakeout podcast by John Summerford. Podcast cover photo courtesy of Marzelle van der Merwe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I recently sat down with my good friend and frequent podcast guest Simon Freeman, the co-founder, editor, and publisher of my favorite running magazine, Like The Wind, for our third quarterly conversation of 2024, which you can listen to wherever you get the morning shakeout podcast. An excerpt of this exchange can be found in Issue #42 of LtW, which comes out this week. (You can buy a copy or subscribe here.)In this episode, which was recorded in August while the men's 1500m final at the Paris Olympics was taking place—if nothing else, listen in for our live reactions during that race—we spoke about pressure: what it is, where it comes from, and how we navigate it in running, work, and other aspects of our life. It was an insightful one, and we hope you feel the same way, so tune in wherever you listen to podcasts.This episode is brought to you by: — Tracksmith, New Balance, Precision Fuel & Hydration, and Final Surge. All of these brands have missions I believe in and products that I trust and use myself on a regular basis. One of the best ways to support the morning shakeout is by patronizing the partners that help keep them going week in and week out. Check out this page some of the discount codes and special offers available exclusively to readers and listeners of the morning shakeout.Click here for complete show notes and sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.Music and editing for this episode of the morning shakeout podcast by John Summerford. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I recently sat down with my good friend and frequent podcast guest Simon Freeman, the co-founder, editor, and publisher of my favorite running magazine, Like The Wind, for our first quarterly conversation of 2024, which you can listen to wherever you get the morning shakeout podcast. An excerpt of this exchange can be found in Issue #39 of LtW, which comes out this week. (You can buy a copy or subscribe here.)In this episode we talk about what it means to adopt a "professional" mindset when it comes to training and racing: being intentional with your time and workouts, taking the work seriously, not giving into your feelings, eliminating excuses, not overcomplicating things, and a lot more. We also discuss what professionals and elites can take away from us amateur athletes: the benefits of a well-rounded life, having interests, hobbies, and other "productive distractions" outside of running, dealing with failure, maintaining a healthy relationship with running, and a lot more.This episode is brought to you by: — Tracksmith, New Balance, Precision Fuel & Hydration, and Final Surge. All of these brands have missions I believe in and products that I trust and use myself on a regular basis. One of the best ways to support the morning shakeout is by patronizing the partners that help keep them going week in and week out. Check out this page some of the discount codes and special offers available exclusively to readers and listeners of the morning shakeout.Click here for complete show notes and sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.Music and editing for this episode of the morning shakeout podcast by John Summerford. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I recently sat down with my good friend and frequent podcast guest Simon Freeman, the co-founder, editor, and publisher of my favorite running magazine, Like The Wind, for the fourth and final installment (for this year, anyway) of our yet-to-be named quarterly conversation, which you can listen to wherever you get the morning shakeout podcast. An excerpt of this exchange can be found in Issue #38 of LtW, which comes out later this week. (You can buy a copy or subscribe here.) This time around, Simon proposed a philosophical discussion about seasonality and consistency and I was all about it. We talked about when to rest and when to build, running as a means to an end versus running as a lifestyle, the “flywheel effect,” and more.This episode is brought to you by:— Tracksmith. If you buy anything on Tracksmith.com, and you’re doing so for the first time, use the code MarioNEW to save $15 on your order of $75 or more. If you’re already a Tracksmith customer, use the code MarioGIVE and you can get free shipping on your next order and 5% of your purchase will go to support the Friendly House in Worcester, Massachusetts, an organization that is near and dear to me.Click here for complete show notes and sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.Music and editing for this episode of the morning shakeout podcast by John Summerford. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode of the podcast with Megan Young, Performance Coach with the Seattle Sounders professional soccer club. Megan is a rockstar with 15 years of experience working in collegiate athletics, and men’s and women’s professional soccer. She’s the 2023 National Strength and Conditioning Association Professional Coach of the Year and a voracious learner with numerous degrees and certifications on her resume. This was the first time I’ve ever spoken to Megan and it felt like catching up with an old friend. Megan has an incredible story and mission. In addition to her coaching successes, she was a collegiate thrower at UNC-Wilmington, she’s survived acute myeloid leukemia, and, as she wrote to me in some of our initial correspondence, her purpose in life is “building community and impacting others through education of a high performance lifestyle.”We covered a lot of ground in this conversation, including where her insatiable appetite for learning comes from, the importance of establishing effective communication strategies with athletes and colleagues, and what she means by living a high-performance lifestyle. Megan told me who and what opened her eyes toward coaching as a career path, what that path has looked like for her over the past 15 years, and why she believes coaches need coaches. She also talked about the importance of care and connection in the role of a coach, understanding the difference between passion and purpose, her personal goal to impact 100 million lives through her work, and a lot more.This episode is brought to you by:— Tracksmith. If you buy anything on Tracksmith.com, and you’re doing so for the first time, use the code MarioNEW to save $15 on your order of $75 or more. If you’re already a Tracksmith customer, use the code MarioGIVE and you can get free shipping on your next order and 5% of your purchase will go to support the Friendly House in Worcester, Massachusetts, an organization that is near and dear to me.Click here for complete show notes and sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.Music and editing for this episode of the morning shakeout podcast by John Summerford. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I had an awesome conversation with Don Swartz, who coaches my wife’s Masters swimming program at North Bay Aquatics in Marin County, California, and is someone I respect, admire, and try to emulate in my own life. Don was inducted into the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2013, he coached several swimmers to Olympic, World Championship and Pan-American teams in the early-to-mid 1970s, not to mention a handful of world records (including Rick Demont in the 400m freestyle when he became the first person in history to break 4 minutes in the event), and he’s widely credited with revolutionizing modern-day swim training with the introduction and implementation of cycle training (i.e. alternating hard days with easy days) in the early 1970s. At 77 years old Don is still on the deck, coaching both youth and Masters athletes at North Bay, and he’s beloved by his athletes and fellow coaches alike. I recently sat down with Don for a couple hours at his kitchen table to talk about his coaching journey, how he approaches working with swimmers despite never being a competitive swimmer himself, founding the Creative Performance Institute in the 1970s and teaching the mental side of sport to coaches and athletes, how he stays sharp, what keeps him going, and a lot more. This episode of the podcast is the second installment of the Coach-to-Coach series and it’s an instant all-timer (it’s got some Frank Gagliano vibes to it), full of amazing stories, anecdotes, and practical applications for coaches, leaders, and community builders across a wide range of domains.This episode is brought to you by:— Tracksmith. If you buy anything on Tracksmith.com, and you’re doing so for the first time, use the code MarioNEW to save $15 on your order of $75 or more. If you’re already a Tracksmith customer, use the code MarioGIVE and you can get free shipping on your next order and 5% of your purchase will go to support the Friendly House in Worcester, Massachusetts, an organization that is near and dear to me.— Goodr. Goodr sunglasses are just the best! They don’t bounce, they don’t slip, they’re polarized to protect your eyes, and they come in a nice range of styles and fun colors. They’re also the most affordable performance shades on the planet with most pairs costing only $25 to $35 bucks a piece. If you want to support the morning shakeout and treat yourself to a pair of goodrs, head over to goodr.com/MARIO or enter the code MARIO15 at checkout to get free shipping on your order. Look good, run goodr!Click here for complete show notes and sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday.Music and editing for this episode of the morning shakeout podcast by John Summerford. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.