Steve Magness is the head coach for the University of Houston cross country team. He also coaches several professional runners, such as Jackie Areson, Sara Hall, and Tommy Schmitz. He's been called "
The Mad Scientist of Running" by OutsideOnline.com for his intense love of digging into physiology and psychology. It took about one minute for him to warm up and dive deep into his unique and exciting theories that go far deeper than just running. He talks about a winner's mentality and how so much of endurance starts above the shoulders. His new book
Peak Performance will be out soon and if it's anything like this interview, it should be a best seller. At one point he said, "I have a theory for everything," and that's the truth. Enjoy.
In today's podcast:
- Accepting anxiety in order to boost performance
- How and why training gets overcomplicated
- Why he think a lot of us would be better off leaving our Garmin's at home
- Why coaching is usually more mental and emotional than physical
- Why we sometimes perform best when we feel bad
- Our bodies survival skills at work when we race our best
- The breakdown on Steve's new book "Peak Performance"
- We ask about the differences between his college and professional athletes
- Biggest differences between coaching women and men
- The best piece of advice Steve's ever gotten from a coach
- His take on the Sub 2 Marathon Hour Project
- His favorite runner of all time