Science of Running

Steve Magness and John Marcus continue their peaking series by reframing peaking as maintaining fitness while eradicating fatigue so athletes can express existing fitness on race day, rather than expecting a magical performance boost. They emphasize that peaking is as psychological as physiological: coaches must set realistic expectations that racing will still feel hard, shift…

Steve Magness and Jonathan Marcus discuss how coaches should define a training approach without falling into two traps: having no coherent philosophy by mixing everything, or rigidly copying one system with no flexibility. They argue training must account for environment and reality (altitude, heat/humidity, sea level), athlete population, and psychological constraints, not just physiology or…

Coaching Successful, Part 1: Defining Your Philosophy and Boundaries Steve Magness and Jon Marcus begin a “coaching successful” series by arguing that sustainable high-level coaching depends less on perfect training plans and more on clearly defined philosophy, boundaries, and principles. They discuss the messy identity shift from athlete to coach and warn about “boundary creep,”…

The Illusion of Optimization: Balancing Physiology and Neurology in Coaching In this episode of the Coaching Coaching Podcast, hosts Steve Magness and John Marcus dive into a deep discussion about the complexities of coaching that lie beyond the modern obsession with optimization. They argue that true coaching success comes from a balance between understanding physiology…

Balancing Fitness and Robustness: The Importance of Neuromuscular Coordination in Training In this episode of the On Coaching Podcast, Steve Magness and Jon Marcus discuss the concept of ‘fit but flat,’ exploring the phenomenon where athletes excel in metabolic fitness but fail to perform competitively due to a lack of neuromuscular coordination. Using examples like…