14 FEB 2024 · Sometimes, change can be a good thing. Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy catch up with professional runner Emma Grace Hurley shortly after she made her first US team, placing second at the USATF 10km Cross Country Championship. Emma Grace, or EG as many call her, recently moved from her home state of Georgia to follow coach Andrew Begley to Indianapolis, where they have started a new training group under the name of Heartland Track Club. She talks about the difficulty of that decision, how her transition to the "(much) colder climate has been, and her plans for the season leading up to World Cross Country Championships in Serbia. EG is a rising star in the distance world - you don't want to miss this conversation!

25 OCT 2023 · In episode #65 of the podcast, Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy interview the new elite head coach of the Atlanta Track Club, Tommy Nohilly. Tommy brings with him an extensive background and experience in running both as an athlete and coach. Tommy began his career as a high school track and field athlete and excelled at the steeplechase, which he continued running into his college career, going on to win a national championship in steeplechase in 1989. He also represented the U.S. at the world championships in the steeplechase in 1995 and 1997. Tommy also brings a robust coaching resume to the table and most recently was involved as a coach for the New Jersey New York Track club and helped coach some of their middle distance runners to national and world acclaim. He then went on to co-found the Empire Elite Track Club in 2021. Tommy's coaching philosophy is a health first and individualized perspective that really shines in its maturity and depth of perspective. During the interview, Tommy discusses the priority he places on getting to know his athletes as people and really emphasizing connecting with them on a human level to help them realize their personal as well as professional growth. He talks about learning the different factors that motivate certain athletes as well as his intent to create a safe place for growth as athletes push themselves to the limit in their physical training. During the interview with Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy, Tommy also discusses his evolution as an athlete and how that informed his coaching philosophy and his focus on holistic health for his athletes including recovery practices, emphasis on sleep and nutrition, and the importance of strength training for longevity. Part of Tommy’s focus on building strong athletes is grounded in his foundations with strength and conditioning as he has a degree in exercise and sports sciences and extensive mentorship in the strength aspect of running. Tommy really has brought a growth mindset to the evolution of his career and transition to coaching and his gratitude for the sport is readily apparent. You will love the positivity that radiates through the way he talks about the sport of running. This episode is sure to get you fired up for the future of the Atlanta Track Club! Let's go!

4 OCT 2023 · In episode #64 of the podcast, Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy interview the voice of the Atlanta Track Club, Ronnel Blackmon. Ronnel discusses how training for the upcoming NYC marathon has sparked a renewed love of running (he ran high school track) and how he uses running as a platform to inspire others, cultivate community, and give back to others. Ronnel is running as a member of Team in Training and using the marathon as a platform for fundraising for this group that supports the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. Ronnel is a proud husband of Tinika Blackmon and father of their two children and is often recognized as a “local celebrity” in Atlanta sports and social circles. During the interview Ronnel talks about his background in various sports growing up playing basketball and football and his pursuit of fitness motivated in part by his modeling career. He also talks about his training and humility in working to become an emcee and his process of personal growth in pursuing this new professional role. Ronnel goes on to talk about his guiding principles in life and what grounds him in addition to sparking his passion and zest for life. As he says, “Well, you know I give four F’s…It’s faith, family, fitness, and fashion” The energy Ronnel brings to the conversation around running cannot be denied! He discusses his own personal growth and resilience that training for a marathon has taught him. He also talks about his own podcast, “Holla Black,” and the inspiration that led to its creation of leaving a legacy of positivity with his voice and others who use their leadership nurture inclusiveness. The podcast title “BLACK” stands for “Brave Leaders that are Accountable for Communicating Knowledge.” This episode really brings the hype! Give it a listen!

20 SEP 2023 · In episode #63 of the podcast, Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy interview semi-professional runner and co-founder of the Wild Ox Elite Running Club, Cole Streich. Cole is a former Division One cross country and track & field athlete, who began his running career at South Dakota, finishing out his collegiate career at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. Cole is a data analytics engineer and a passionate advocate for running community and culture. He has raced various distances throughout his career but excels and expresses the greatest passion for track events from 5k races to steeple chase. During the interview Cole talks about his passion for running and the vision that led to starting Wild Ox Track Club in 2022. He also discusses some of the factors that he feels have been important to his competitive career, including a holistic view of health and seeking out guidance from trained professionals such as physical therapists and strength coaches and the value that programs such as RUNSource from Wild Ox partner, Fast Bananas, can offer such as runner-specific health resources including strength workouts, recovery practice, and nutrition advice. Cole also discusses some of his training cycles and what he has found most beneficial in his own evolution as a runner including diversifying his movement practices by playing other sports growing up. As he says, “I definitely am a proponent of and would really recommend playing other sports and engaging different muscle groups and engaging different mental side of sports.” Cole discusses how running has been an important thread not only throughout his athletic career but also as a foundation of his family and friend relationships. He talks about the bonding that has taken place between he and his brother in both running with Wild Ox and also the communities that he has found in diverse parts of the country within running club communities. Part of this magic is what inspired him to start Wild Ox and the support and comradery it has cultivated in the short time it has been around is truly special! This episode is full of laughs as you hear about how hairstyles like the mullet could make you faster?! And the reason that 15-20 elite runners were cruising around in banana costumes earlier this year! You will definitely want to give this whole episode a listen…because even though it starts off with some running community love and training tips, it’s business in the front and party in the back ya’ll! Enjoy!

6 SEP 2023 · In episode #62 of the podcast, Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy interview Kat and Sara, two sisters who are two years apart in age and are both accomplished collegiate distance runners (they have also been working with Dr. Kate for over a decade!). They share their stories of how they got into running and their diverse paths through middle and high school running and into their respective collegiate running careers. Kat shares about how she ran a year at Baylor before transferring to Samford and her struggle with injuries throughout her collegiate career. Sara talks about how when she first started running, she “hated it,” but grew to love track and field and how she went on to really enjoy her collegiate running experiencing at SCAD where she studied design. During the interview, you will here Kat and Sara discuss their passion for the sport of running including the running communities and teammates that they valued at different stages in their running evolution. Kat expresses the sentiment that she has for her relationship with running saying, “I kind of think running is one of those things like art or music that we all have this, art form, this thing in life that we own and it is just ours.” During the interview, we also get to hear about Sara’s passion for movement science and helping others along their health journey’s through movement, nutrition, and positive mental health. With this aim, Sara also explores her future directions in returning to school for a master’s program of study in kinesiology and discusses the opportunity that she has to run competitively again given that she still has collegiate eligibility left! She also talks about how her training in Oregon with the club team, Bowerman Elite Track Club, has set her up to return to competitive running feeling fit and full of inspiration! This is a great conversation about all things running, running culture, and the support that family and running community can provide. Don’t miss this great interview with two amazing people!

23 AUG 2023 · In episode #61 of the podcast, Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy interview psychologist, Dr. Chris Stanley who is also an author, researcher, and mental performance coach. He specializes in sport and performance psychology and currently works at Florida State University as an associate in research. Chris has worked with endurance athletes at many levels and has been involved with USA Track and Field since 2014. He has also been involved as a psychology faculty member at multiple universities in the United States. During the interview, Chris talks about how to optimize mental health in athletes and the importance of a collaborative approach between trained psychologists and other healthcare providers. He explains some of the principles that he uses to teach healthcare providers and coaches how to screen for athletes who may benefit from further trained psychological help, how to support athletes with positive practices like self-care, and some ideas on integrating mental rest into athlete’s routines. Chris begins the interview discussing the possible stigma of seeking mental health services for athlete and the common theme that he often sees of using performance enhancement as a gateway to gaining interest from athletes about the power of psychological strategies and coaching. He also talks about empowering athletes with tools to better self-manage their mental health and how leveraging strategies like self-care, mental rest breaks, and physiologic down regulation with techniques like deep breathing exercises can help with overall health and performance gains. Chris discusses some approaches that he has used with different athletes to help them understand the idea of taking mental rest from sport. Some of these include finding times without having reminders of training and sport, such as being in environments without sports related pictures, medals, or other visual displays. He also talks about how the analogy of “training cycles” can resonate with athletes who are used to taking recovery weeks from physical training, but may struggle to identify the need for mental rest. If you are interested in the mental side of performance as an athlete and optimizing your mental health as a human, you will want to give this one a listen!

9 AUG 2023 · In episode #60 of the podcast, Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy interview Dr. Sara Raiser, a sports medicine doctor at Emory University and specialist in running medicine. Dr. Raiser has a unique perspective on treating injured runners having been involved in competitive distance running and triathlons as an athlete and also undergoing extensive training throughout her career being mentored from experts around the country in running medicine. Dr. Raiser first discusses her entry into the world of running when she was talked into a 5-mile run with her sister, subsequently experienced the challenge, feeling of accomplishment for sticking it out, and then of course the incredibly sore muscles after such an effort with NO prior training. But, as she says, “I was hooked,” and so she went on to run competitively in high school and then for a short stint as a cross country athlete at Emory University before being sidelined by injuries. During the interview, Dr. Raiser discusses some of the advanced training that she received at various stages in her career from running medicine experts and researchers from around the country. She explains the nuances of running medicine and how she has embraced this niche within the sports medicine world and really flourished as she eagerly soaked up knowledge from each of her professional settings and mentorship opportunities. Dr. Raiser hits on many useful tips of information including some of the indicators and factors she discusses with athletes in making decisions on when and if it is appropriate to stop running altogether (HINT: if you are limping when you run, STOP running!). Dr. Raiser and Dr. Kate and Kacy paint a picture of how they are able to practice collaboratively in treating athletes from the Atlanta Track Club as well as other runners in the Atlanta community who seek care first with physical therapy or with Dr. Raiser in her practice in Emory Sports Medicine. Dr. Raiser talks about her emphasis on multidisciplinary care for runners and the importance of taking into consideration the key areas of training, biomechanics, nutrition, and psychology. She also expresses her gratitude to be able to work in tandem with high-level physical therapists like Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy to extend the best care to the athletes that she works with across the continuum of their injury from diagnosis, to rehabilitation, to injury prevention. You won’t want to miss Dr. Raiser’s answer as Dr. Kacy asks her to envision what her message would be to the masses if she were the “Surgeon General of Running”… This interview is a great look at the collaboration that can happen within an incredibly caring team of healthcare professionals and some insight into the world of running medicine. We know you will LOVE this episode with Dr. Raiser.

26 JUL 2023 · In episode #59 of the podcast, Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy interview Brad Miles, a former collegiate distance runner, current ultramarathoner, and co-founder of LEVER, a company manufacturing body-weight support system for treadmills that allows individuals to train at reduced body weight percentages. During the interview, Dr. Kate and Brad bond over their love of business ideas and multiple business startups surrounding running. Brad initially came into running as a high school athlete where he ran track and cross country and describes how he knew that running would be a lifestyle for him. After high school, Brad continued his running career by competing in cross country and track for Baylor University while concurrently pursuing his business interest in the marketing and entrepreneurship program there. Brad tells the story of how he and his business partner started their business of LEVER movement after college when they met while in Boulder, Colorado. He talks about part of the inspiration for LEVER being his use of an Alter-G Treadmill (reduced body weight treadmill system) while training at Baylor and being surprised at the limited access to this technology for the endurance community in Boulder. He discusses the unique design of the LEVER system and how he and his engineer business partner have created a design that allows for effectiveness and also a lightweight portability that makes it practical for use and travel. He describes the specifics of the system including a quick set up time (think less than 5 minutes!) and great ability to reduce loading overall and create a rich opportunity for training aerobic energy systems without building up as much joint and tissue loading. He mentions that the LEVER system is designed to be able to offload up to 45 pounds of body weight during treadmill training! During the interview, Dr. Kate, Dr. Kacy and Brad talk about some of the training implications for using body weight reduced running technology like LEVER. They talk about Brad’s own success when he used LEVER leading up to his win in the Silver Rush 50 miler after suffering a bout of patellar tendinitis after a 20-mile training run. They talk about some of the potential benefits for healthy endurance athletes as well as potential applications for rehabilitation within a physical therapy setting. You won’t want to miss this informative conversation about the LEVER product and the future of reduced body weight training! Give it a listen!

12 JUL 2023 · In episode #58 of the podcast, Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy interview Lauren Blankenship, professional running coach, business owner, and former competitive collegiate distance runner at Samford University. They discuss her love for the sport of soccer prior to beginning her running career followed by her introduction to running as a sophomore in high school. Lauren achieved early success in high school track and cross country and then went on to compete for Samford University where her accolades in distance running continued! As a collegiate runner, Lauren won three conference titles in cross country, multiple conference titles in track and field at distances ranging from 3,000 meters to 10,000 meters and was a three time all-American. During the interview, they also talk about her coaching career including an early opportunity to coach at her Alma Mater, followed by a move back to Georgia (where she is from) where she has held multiple coaching positions for high school and collegiate runners. Beyond all of her successes as an athlete and coach, Lauren has been involved in the running world through various jobs at running stores and in marketing roles including stints at West Stride, a female-owned running store in Atlanta and at Fleet Feet running store in Decatur, GA where she first met Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy. With these different experiences, Lauren talks about how much she learned about running culture, footwear, and gear as well as being extended opportunities to step into private coaching. This storyline then became more prominent for her, which may be of no surprise once you learn that she strongly considered a path in counseling before her coaching career took off. Lauren’s passion for coaching individual runners and investing in holistic components of success as an athlete and distance runner really shine through in her interview. Finally, Lauren talks about her vision and future directions for her personal coaching business with private clients. Lauren also shares some of her experiences with coaching at different levels including high school athletes, collegiate coaching and her love for helping out private clients now and runners from the recreational to elite level. You won’t want to miss this foray into running culture and tips from Lauren on how she leverages her running background and plethora of diverse coaching experiences to help her current clients.

28 JUN 2023 · In episode #57 of the podcast, Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy talk briefly about blood flow restriction (BFR) training including the science behind it, safety considerations, dosing of exercises and applications in physical therapy and specifically for endurance athletes. They talk about how they use BFR to improve rehabilitation for athletes with a diverse range of injuries including tendinopathies, bone stress injuries, and muscle strains. As explained in the episode, BFR allows for training of muscles and strength in an area of injury without overloading or compromising the healing tissue. They also emphasize the power of BFR to improve strength in endurance athletes and how this can lead to performance gains and more robust athletes! Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy first discuss what BFR is and the principles behind its physiological effects in the body. As Kacy explains, “What we get when we use blood flow restriction training is we create this environment while we’re exercising that’s very similar to high intensity exercise. So, it’s as if we’re doing a high intensity effort, but we don’t have to load our body that much.” They also talk about some of the principles and variables to consider with BFR training including occlusion pressure (i.e., how much blood flow is restricted), training sets and repetitions, placement of the cuff, and exercise selection. Dr. Kate and Dr. Kacy introduce the use of BFR with certain orthopedic procedures and treatment that falls under the category of “orthobiologics,” or the use of biologic agents to leverage a tissue healing response. Orthobiologics can include stem cell therapy, platelet rich plasma (PRP), and hyaluronic acid injections and Dr. Kacy briefly discusses what goes into the preparation of PRP treatments. Dr. Kate also mentions some fascinating research about not only the local muscle effects, but systemic effects of BFR including improving strength and conditioning in the contralateral limb! Dr. Kate and Kacy also include some important information on safety considerations with BFR and talk about the use of a less safe form of BFR sometimes seen in gym settings that includes the use of bands that don’t register occlusion pressure and so do not standardize how much blood flow is going to the arm or leg. They recommend only using devices that monitor occlusion pressure for safety, and as Kate says, “Don’t chase the pump!” If you have been curious about BFR and interested in learning more, this episode is for you!