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 training and fueling decisions.
Whether you’re preparing for your first race or trying to become a more complete endurance athlete, this podcast gives you clear, experience-driven guidance you can actually apply to your training, recovery, and performance.
Episodes
108 episodes
How to Stay Fit When You’re Tired of Following a Training Plan
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-seaso...
Heat Acclimation: Why You Feel Slower—and How to Race Better in the Heat
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 fi...
Could Low Iron Be Slowing You Down? Nutrition Deep Dive on Iron Deficiency in Endurance Athletes
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 on...
Why You’re Not Getting Faster on the Bike—and What Triathletes Should Do Instead
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...
Road to Grandma’s Marathon: Marathon Recap- A Lesson in Grit
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 ju...
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Are You Getting Fitter—or Just More Tired? The Difference Between Training Hard and Training Well
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 differe...
Road to Grandma’s Marathon: Final Weeks of Training & Heat Training vs. Altitude Training
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 ...
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Nutrition Deep Dive: The Carb Load Playbook For Improving Race Day Performance
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...
Why Your Race Fueling Fails: How to Train Your Gut
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. ...
Minutes vs Miles: Stop Chasing Distance and Manage Training Stress
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 min...
Why Confidence Never Comes First
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 tim...
How to Tell if Training Is Making You Better or Breaking You
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:<...
Road to Grandma's Marathon: Fatigue, Fitness, and Finding the Line
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...
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Why Strong Runners Fall Apart in the Ironman Marathon
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 mistak...
Nutrition Deep Dive: The Evolution of High Carb Fueling
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 r...
Why Your Fitness Isn’t Leading to Better Race Results
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, ...
Road to Grandma's Marathon: Returning After a Setback and The Pillars of Recovery
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 li...
Is Your Race Ruined After Missing Training? How to Adjust After a Setback
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 everythi...
Why Swimming Feels So Hard for Triathletes
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, breathi...
Road to Grandma’s Marathon: Navigating a Setback
Podcast Summary – Navigating Setbacks in Marathon TrainingIn 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 ...
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The Running Questions Everyone Gets Wrong (Answered by Coaches)
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, in...
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The Real Reason Your Race Falls Apart (It’s Not Fitness)
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...
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What Comes After Your First Triathlon (Most Get This Wrong)
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...
Why You’re Training More… But Getting Worse
Most athletes think the key to improvement is simple: train more, push harder, and stack on more workouts.But what if that’s exactly what’s holding you back?In this episode of The Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast, we bre...
Road to Grandma’s Marathon: Training Highs, Lows & Fueling Smarter
In this solo episode of the Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast, Katie shares an honest and detailed update from her marathon training block as she prepares for Grandma’s Marathon.She walks through recent weeks of training, includ...
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