The Endurance Athlete Journey
The Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast helps runners, triathletes, and endurance athletes train smarter, fuel better, and build long-term durability in sport.Hosted by Coach Justin and sports dietitian Katie, the show explores the training, nutrition, recovery, and mindset challenges endurance athletes actually face—without the confusion and generic internet fitness advice that often leads to burnout, inconsistency, and frustration.From first triathlons and swim anxiety to fueling mistakes, recovery, race-day expectations, and balancing training with real life, each episode combines practical coaching insight with evidence-based nutrition guidance and honest athlete conversations to help listeners better understand the “why” behind their traini...
Highway to HYROX Episode 3: Why Threshold Training Matters
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How do you build the speed you can sustain through eight runs and eight demanding workout stations?
In episode 3 of Highway to HYROX, I share the latest updates as I prepare for my first HYROX race—including lessons from a recent 5K, balancing running with strength training, and recognizing when competing goals become too much to recover from.
Then, I dive into why I’m prioritizing lactate threshold training for the running portion of HYROX. Drawing on emerging research and my endurance background, I explore how building sustainable speed may...
Training Zones Explained: How to Use Zones 1–5 for Endurance Performance
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Zone 2 gets most of the attention in endurance training—but it is only one part of the picture.
In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie break down training Zones 1–5, what each zone is actually doing, and why the right intensity depends on the athlete, the event, and the purpose of the workout. They also challenge some common assumptions around the “fat-burning zone,” Zone 3, heart-rate targets, and the idea that one training model works for everyone.
What You’ll Learn
Why training zones are better viewed as a contin...Was My First Win Repeatable? Racing Again 14 Days Later
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Two weeks after earning my first-ever win, I lined up again with a bigger question: was that performance repeatable—or was Patriot just one great day?
Giant Acorn answered that question with rough water, wind, hills, accumulated fatigue, and another two-day race weekend. In this episode, I break down what the double podium really showed me about competing, recovery, race execution, and the difference between the workload you can handle and the workload that actually produces the best adaptation.
What You’ll Learn
Why pe...Zone 2 Training: When Easy Training Isn't Enough
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Zone 2 training is everywhere—but what does Zone 2 actually mean, and should endurance athletes really build their training around it?
In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie break down why Zone 2 is harder to define than most athletes realize, why heart-rate numbers can create unnecessary confusion, and why the right intensity depends on your fitness, goals, available training time, and where you are in the season. Zone 2 matters—but it is a tool, not a complete training system.
What You’ll Learn
Why your watch may say...Highway to HYROX Episode 2: How to Fuel for Hyrox- Training, Race Day, And Recovery
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In Episode 2 of Highway to HYROX, I share an update on my training and take a deeper look at how to fuel for the unique demands of HYROX.
If you want to jump right into the Nutrition content and skip my training recap and you go to about 31:30 on the podcast episode.
Balancing running, strength training, race-specific workouts, and adequate recovery has required some experimentation. I discuss what my current training week looks like, why I’m prioritizing threshold running, and how I’m learning to adjust my schedule when...
The Injury That Keeps Coming Back: What Body Asymmetry May Be Telling You
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You can get stronger, follow the plan, hit your numbers—and still have the same side of your body keep breaking down.
In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie are joined by physical therapist Craig Depperschmidt to explore why endurance athletes are naturally asymmetrical, how repetitive training can magnify those patterns, and why recurring injuries may involve more than weakness or poor form. The conversation goes beyond muscles into movement, breathing, the brain, body awareness, and what it really takes to build durability for the long haul.
Wh...
Racing Twice in 24 Hours: What My Training Actually Prepared Me For
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Training hard is one thing. Knowing whether that training actually prepared you to race is another.
Coach Justin uses the Kinetic Multisport Patriot Race Weekend as a real-world test: an Olympic Aquabike on Saturday followed by a sprint triathlon less than 24 hours later. One race produced his first-ever win. The next exposed exactly where his training still falls short.
This episode breaks down what the weekend revealed about bike fitness, run durability, race-specific training, tapering, and the role fueling and recovery played in being able to perform...
Why Endurance Athletes Get Stress Fractures: Training Load, Underfueling and Bone Health
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A stress fracture does not automatically mean you trained too much—or trained badly.
For endurance athletes, bone stress injuries often develop when training load begins to outpace the body’s ability to recover, rebuild and adapt. In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie break down the bigger picture behind stress fractures, including training progression, underfueling, low energy availability, aging, hormones, nutrient intake and strength training.
If you are increasing mileage, returning to running, training through weight loss or simply wondering how a fit athlete can still end up w...
Highway to HYROX Episode 1: Starting a New Training Journey
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Highway to HYROX: Starting a New Training Journey
What happens when a longtime runner and endurance athlete decides to step outside her comfort zone and train for something completely new?
In this episode of The Endurance Athlete Journey, Katie kicks off a new series: Highway to HYROX. She’s training for her first HYROX race in Denver and taking listeners along for the entire experience—from figuring out what HYROX actually involves to learning how to balance running, strength training, recovery, and all of the uniq...
Don't Feel Ready for Your Race? Stop Trying to Prove It
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If one hard workout makes you wonder whether you’re actually ready for race day, you’re not alone. The mistake is assuming training should prove what you’ll be capable of when the race finally arrives.
In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie break down why race-specific work can create doubt, how accumulated fatigue can distort your perception of fitness, and why chasing certainty can lead athletes to do too much. The goal isn’t to eliminate uncertainty—it’s to arrive prepared enough to perform when it matters.
What Yo...
Don’t Wait for the Last Race: Jim Logan on Stage 4 Cancer, Ironman and Just Keeping Tri-ing
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What if you knew this might be your last race?
Jim Logan was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic colorectal cancer and told he might have six months to two years to live. Instead of stepping away from endurance sport, he kept training. Now, after chemotherapy, radiation, major surgeries, an ostomy, and repeated Ironman setbacks, he is preparing to race the Ironman World Championship in Kona.
But this episode is about more than cancer or Kona. Jim challenges endurance athletes to stop assuming there will always be another race, another season...
Aging as an Endurance Athlete: Body Composition, Performance and Training for Longevity
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If you’re an endurance athlete getting older, the goal isn’t to preserve the training you used to do. The goal is to preserve your ability to perform.
In Part 3 of our aging athlete series, we look at what happens when an experienced athlete still wants to get faster, stronger, and more competitive—but their body no longer responds to training exactly the way it once did. We cover body composition, strength, speed work, recovery, and why the best training plan may be the one you can consistently absorb for years...
Aging as an Endurance Athlete: Recovery, Injury Risk and Why Your Training Has to Change
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Your body may not recover the way it used to—but the harder part may be accepting what that means for the athlete you still expect yourself to be.
In Part 2 of our series on aging as an endurance athlete, we look at why recovery takes longer, injury risk becomes harder to manage, and sleep, strength, fueling, hydration, and nutrition matter more as you get older. We also get into the mental side of that transition: feeling like changing or missing a workout is failure, comparing yourself to other athletes or yo...
Aging as an Endurance Athlete: Hormones, Recovery, Bone Health and the Changes You Can’t Ignore
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Your motivation is still there—but your body may not respond to training, stress, and recovery the way it once did. Is that simply part of aging, a warning sign that deserves attention, or something you can actively manage?
In the first episode of this masters athlete series, Coach Justin and Coach Katie examine the hormonal, bone-health, sleep, fueling, and lifestyle changes endurance athletes may face as they get older. They also confront a difficult reality: preserving health and performance may require new strategies, medical guidance, and a willingness to stop tr...
The Endurance Rules That Don’t Work for Every Athlete
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The most confident advice is not always the right advice for you.
Endurance athletes are surrounded by rigid rules about training, race goals, indoor workouts, and fueling. But what happens when the accepted formula does not fit your fitness, experience, body, or life?
In this listener Q&A episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie explain how to evaluate common endurance recommendations, apply them with context, and make decisions based on the athlete in front of you—not a one-size-fits-all prescription.
What You’ll Learn
How...What to Do After a Disappointing Race: Should You Chase Redemption?
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You gave months of your life to a race—but the day you imagined never happened. Now you are left deciding what the result means, what went wrong, and whether another race will bring redemption or deepen the disappointment.
In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie share their own difficult race experiences and explain how to process a disappointing performance before making your next decision. Because the healthiest response is not always another registration—it is understanding whether you still want the training process or simply want a different result.
...
Should Endurance Athletes Use GLP-1s? The Risks of Chasing Race Weight
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What if reaching your race weight is the very thing that ruins your race?
GLP-1 medications may help an athlete lose weight, but using them during race-specific training can also reduce fueling, impair recovery, accelerate muscle loss, and limit the fitness needed to perform. You could arrive at the starting line lighter—but less prepared.
In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie examine where GLP-1 medications may fit for endurance athletes, when the risks can outweigh the benefits, and why significant weight loss should be treated as its ow...
How to Stay Fit When You’re Tired of Following a Training Plan
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You are tired of following a structured training plan, but you are also afraid that if you back off, you will lose fitness and have to start over.
That is the tension a lot of endurance athletes face after a big race, during the off-season, around holidays, or between major goals. You may not need a highly specific training plan all year long, but that does not mean you need to remove structure completely.
In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie talk through when it makes sense to...
Heat Acclimation: Why You Feel Slower—and How to Race Better in the Heat
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Training consistently but suddenly feeling slower? Your normal pace is harder to hold, your heart rate is higher, and every workout seems to take more out of you.
That does not necessarily mean you are losing fitness. Heat can mask the fitness you have built while adding stress your body must learn to manage. In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie explain how heat acclimation works, how to prepare for hot and humid conditions, and how to build heat exposure into training without compromising recovery.
What You’ll...
Could Low Iron Be Slowing You Down? Nutrition Deep Dive on Iron Deficiency in Endurance Athletes
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Feeling more fatigued than usual? Struggling through workouts that used to feel easy? If your training isn't matching your effort, low iron could be the missing piece.
In this solo episode, sports dietitian Katie takes a deep dive into one of the most common—and often overlooked—nutrition concerns in endurance sports: iron deficiency. Drawing from both the latest evidence and her own experience as a collegiate runner who battled severe iron deficiency anemia, Katie explains why iron is so critical for performance and how even "normal" lab results may not be o...
Why You’re Not Getting Faster on the Bike—and What Triathletes Should Do Instead
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You’re putting in the bike miles, completing the workouts, and watching the numbers—but the fitness still is not showing up when it matters.
The problem may not be effort. It may be that your training is developing the wrong qualities or measuring progress in ways that do not translate to race day. In this episode, Coach Justin explains how triathletes can build sustainable bike performance through purposeful progression, greater durability, better execution, and stronger real-world cycling skills.
What You’ll Learn
Road to Grandma’s Marathon: Marathon Recap- A Lesson in Grit
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In this episode, Katie shares a candid recap of Grandma's Marathon and reflect on one of the most challenging races of my running career.
After beginning training with hopes of running a personal best, an unexpected bout of Influenza B just eight weeks before race day changed the trajectory of her marathon build. Despite working hard to regain fitness, lingering doubts followed her into race day, forcing her to confront difficult questions about expectations, motivation, and what success really means.
Katie takes you through the highs and lows of...
Are You Getting Fitter—or Just More Tired? The Difference Between Training Hard and Training Well
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You can complete every workout, push hard, and finish exhausted—and still miss the purpose of the training.
Hard work is necessary, but difficulty alone does not make a workout effective. In this episode, Coach Justin explains the difference between training hard and training well, why fatigue must be managed rather than feared, and how to judge each session by the role it plays in the larger plan.
What You’ll Learn
Why a hard workout is not automatically a productive workoutHow effort, purpose, and recovery dete...Road to Grandma’s Marathon: Final Weeks of Training & Heat Training vs. Altitude Training
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In this final Road to Grandma’s Marathon episode before race day, Katie shares a candid look at the last few weeks of training, tapering, travel, and preparation leading into one of the most anticipated races of her season.
From testing a bargain pair of carbon-plated racing shoes and completing key marathon workouts, to navigating travel across Colorado, New York, Vermont, and eventually Minnesota, Katie discusses the realities of marathon preparation when life doesn’t always go according to plan. She reflects on adapting workouts, managing confidence after illness, balancing family comm...
Nutrition Deep Dive: The Carb Load Playbook For Improving Race Day Performance
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Carb Loading for Endurance Athletes: What Actually Works?
Is carb loading really necessary before a marathon, Ironman, or long endurance event? How many carbs do you actually need, and will carb loading make you feel heavy, bloated, or gain weight?
In this episode of the Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast, Board Certified Sports Dietitian and endurance athlete Katie takes a deep dive into the science and practical application of carb loading. With Grandma’s Marathon just weeks away, Katie shares both the research and her personal approach to ma...
Why Your Race Fueling Fails: How to Train Your Gut
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For Episode 100, Coach Justin and Coach Katie are tackling one of the biggest reasons endurance athletes fall apart on race day: fueling that was never practiced like training.
You may think your stomach is the reason your fueling fails. But for many endurance athletes, the real issue is simpler: the gut was never trained to handle the fuel being asked of it on race day.
In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie break down why fueling falls apart during long workouts and races, how gut training actually works...
Minutes vs Miles: Stop Chasing Distance and Manage Training Stress
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Miles can make a training plan feel clear. But they can also make it easy to chase a number without understanding the actual cost of the work.
In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie break down the difference between training by minutes and training by miles — and why the better choice depends on your experience, your goals, your sport, and the stress your body is already carrying.
If you are a runner, triathlete, or endurance athlete trying to follow a plan without overdoing it, this conversation will help yo...
Why Confidence Never Comes First
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What happens when the goal you can’t stop thinking about is the one you’re afraid to pursue?
Whether it’s your first race, moving up in distance, returning from injury, or taking another shot at something that didn’t go well the first time, many endurance athletes find themselves stuck in the space between wanting something and actually committing to it.
In this solo episode, Coach Justin explores the relationship between fear, confidence, and action. Using his own struggles with returning to Ironman racing and pursuing Unbound Gravel...
How to Tell if Training Is Making You Better or Breaking You
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If you train seriously long enough, eventually you hit the point where your body stops feeling “good.” Your legs feel dead. Recovery slows down. Workouts that normally feel manageable suddenly feel heavy. And then the mental spiral starts:
Am I adapting… or breaking down?
In this episode, Coaches Justin and Katie break down the difference between normal training soreness, accumulated fatigue, and genuine warning-sign pain. They discuss how endurance athletes misinterpret body signals, when soreness is actually part of progress, and how to recognize when your body is telling you so...
Road to Grandma's Marathon: Fatigue, Fitness, and Finding the Line
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In this solo episode of The Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast, Katie shares an honest update on her road to Grandma’s Marathon and takes listeners inside the reality of marathon training after a setback from illness. After battling the flu and losing valuable training time, Katie discusses the challenges of rebuilding fitness, navigating difficult workouts, and balancing confidence with uncertainty as race day approaches.
The episode also dives deep into the concept of functional overreaching — what it is, why endurance athletes sometimes intentionally push beyond their limit, and how to r...
Why Strong Runners Fall Apart in the Ironman Marathon
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Being a strong runner does not guarantee a strong Ironman marathon.
In a standalone marathon, you start fresh. In a full Ironman, the marathon begins after a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, hours of fatigue, fueling decisions, pacing mistakes, and muscular damage that have already shaped what your run can become.
In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie compare standalone marathon training with Ironman marathon training and explain why runners moving into long-course triathlon often need a completely different mindset. If you’ve ever assumed the Ironman run is “just...
Nutrition Deep Dive: The Evolution of High Carb Fueling
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In this solo episode of The Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast, Katie takes a deep dive into the fascinating evolution of endurance fueling and how high-carb strategies are reshaping modern performance. From the early days of marathon racing in the late 1800s—when athletes fueled with steak, eggs, whiskey, and even avoided water—to today’s precision fueling strategies of 80–120 grams of carbs per hour, Katie explores how sports nutrition has transformed over time.
Using recent breakthroughs in marathon performance, including two sub-2-hour marathon performances in the London marathon, Katie examines the majo...
Why Your Fitness Isn’t Leading to Better Race Results
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If you are fit enough to finish the race, but not durable enough to keep training, eventually the cycle catches up with you.
You build fitness, make progress, start to believe things are working — and then something breaks down. Injury, inconsistency, burnout, lost motivation, or another restart from square one.
In this episode, we break down the difference between fitness and durability, why chasing performance too aggressively can keep athletes stuck, and what it actually takes to build a foundation that supports repeatable progress.
What You’ll Lear...
Road to Grandma's Marathon: Returning After a Setback and The Pillars of Recovery
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In this episode of the Road to Grandma’s Marathon series, sports dietitian, coach, and endurance athlete Katie shares an honest update on her marathon build after being sidelined by illness for nearly two weeks. From elevated heart rates and lingering fatigue to rebuilding confidence after difficult workouts, Katie opens up about the physical and mental challenges of returning to training after getting sick — especially as a masters athlete balancing recovery with high mileage.
Katie walks listeners through her recent training week, including modified workouts, a challenging half marathon effort, and the...
Is Your Race Ruined After Missing Training? How to Adjust After a Setback
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You missed training. You got sick. Something flared up. Life got in the way.
Now the plan you imagined is not the plan you are actually living — and the question becomes: is your race still salvageable, or did the setback change everything?
In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie talk through how endurance athletes should adjust after illness, injury, missed workouts, or disrupted training. More importantly, they explain why trying to “make up” lost training is often the fastest way to turn one setback into a bigger problem.
Why Swimming Feels So Hard for Triathletes
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If swimming feels harder than it should, this episode is for you.
Coach Justin breaks down the most common swim questions triathletes struggle with — from feeling exhausted after 100 yards to panicking in open water, sinking legs, breathing problems, and why so many athletes stop improving despite spending more time in the pool.
This episode is not about swimming more mindlessly. It’s about learning how to swim with better structure, better awareness, and better efficiency so you can become more confident and capable in the water without feeling like you...
Road to Grandma’s Marathon: Navigating a Setback
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Podcast Summary – Navigating Setbacks in Marathon Training
In this episode of the Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast, Katie shares a real and raw update on her road to Grandma’s Marathon—one that didn’t go as planned.
After coming off a strong stretch of training, including a standout 16-mile tempo run, Katie was hit with a major setback: Influenza B. What started as mild fatigue quickly turned into a full week of illness, forcing her to step away from training and rethink her approach moving forward.
Instead...
The Running Questions Everyone Gets Wrong (Answered by Coaches)
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Most runners are asking the same questions—but they’re often chasing the wrong answers.
In this episode, Coach Justin and Coach Katie break down 6 of the most common running questions they hear from athletes—covering frequency, pacing, injuries, nutrition, speed, and endurance.
If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re doing enough… doing too much… or just doing it wrong—this episode will help you simplify your approach and focus on what actually leads to progress.
🔑 What You’ll Learn:
How often you should actually be ru...The Real Reason Your Race Falls Apart (It’s Not Fitness)
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You trained for the race.
You put in the hours.
So why didn’t your performance reflect your fitness?
In this episode, we break down the real reason so many endurance athletes underperform on race day—and it’s not because they’re not fit enough.
From pacing mistakes and poor fueling decisions to hydration errors and lack of race-day awareness, small execution errors can quietly build throughout the race until everything starts to fall apart.
And the hardest part?
Most athletes don’t even realiz...
What Comes After Your First Triathlon (Most Get This Wrong)
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You trained. You showed up. You crossed the finish line.
Now what?
For a lot of athletes, the end of a race doesn’t feel the way they expected. There’s pride, excitement… and sometimes an unexpected sense of emptiness. The structure is gone. The goal is gone. And the question becomes: what comes next?
In this episode of Triathlon 101, Coach Justin walks through what actually happens after your first triathlon—and how to approach your next steps with clarity instead of emotion.
This isn’t about im...
