The Running Explained Podcast

Sara Hall on Marathon Recovery, For The Love Of The Grind, and Racing Past 40

Thu, 22 Oct 2026

Pro marathoner Sara Hall joins Coach Nick and Coach Amanda one week after the Chicago Marathon to talk marathon recovery, motherhood, and her memoir, For the Love of the Grind.

After 21 years as a pro and 23 marathons, Sara's recovery plan is refreshingly unsexy: eat a lot, sleep a lot, and spend time with the people who showed up for you. She explains why how you fuel the whole build matters more than any post-race gadget, how she plans to bounce back at CIM in December, and what racing without ego looks like in her 40s.

We also dig into life alongside American record holder Ryan Hall (who now meditates three hours a day, because of course he does), the magic mushrooms chapter, adopting four daughters from Ethiopia, and why becoming a mom made running feel lighter instead of over.

Topics: marathon recovery, back-to-back marathons, masters running, running parents, the pro running industry, and the best piece of training advice Sara has ever received.

Today's episode is sponsored by CEP and Running Explained listeners get 15% off their entire order when shopping CEP Running online through November 15! Shop CEP Running and enter code LRL-NYC-15 at checkout.

Offer ends November 16, 2026, at 3:00AM EST. Limit one use per customer. Cannot be combined with other discounts.

Timestamps

0:00 Welcome to the Running Explained Podcast

0:51 Who is Sara Hall? 21 years as a pro

1:27 For the Love of the Grind and learning to love the process

3:06 Why your dreams can look totally different than you planned

4:07 Chicago Marathon recap: undercooked vs overcooked and the heat

6:35 How an elite recovers after a marathon (hint: eat and sleep)

9:39 Your recovery starts before the race: fueling the whole build

10:43 Why sharing the journey is where the joy lives

13:42 Writing the memoir: self-doubt and the 2024 Olympic Trials

17:01 Life in Ryan Hall's shadow and the stages of ego in sport

20:36 The magic mushrooms chapter and the faith pushback

23:26 Ryan Hall goes all in (again): three hours of meditation a day

25:02 How motherhood changed success, pressure, and running

29:31 Adopting four daughters from Ethiopia

31:58 Sending a daughter off to run at Rutgers

33:24 Sara and Ryan: 21 years of alternating highs and lows

36:56 The plan for CIM: bouncing back with a December marathon

39:45 Running camps and the Hall Steps Foundation

41:49 Rapid fire: best advice, biggest surprise, the pro running industry

46:43 Where to follow Sara

Links

Sara Hall on Instagram: @sarahall3

Running Explained on IG: @runningexplained

Training plans and coaching: https://runningexplained.com

The Weekly Stride newsletter: https://www.runningexplained.com/theweeklystride

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Olympian Carrie Tollefson Chicago Marathon From the Broadcast Booth, Running Identity, and Finding Joy

Thu, 15 Oct 2026

Olympian Carrie Tollefson joins Coach Amanda and Coach Nick days after broadcasting the 2026 Chicago Marathon. Carrie made the 2004 Olympic team in the 1500m, won five NCAA titles at Villanova, and now runs her mouth more than her legs (her words) as a marathon broadcaster and host of the C Tolle Run podcast.

In this episode, we cover:

• What the Chicago Marathon looks like from the finish line broadcast position

• Why Carrie ran three marathons just to commentate them better

• The human stories behind Hawi Feysa, Clayton Young, and Vinny Mauri

• How to handle negativity and why running needs a “positive thread”

• What everyday runners can learn from pros (you deal with the same mile 21)

• Running identity after competition, plus balancing career, kids, and 20-minute runs

• Prize money, the running boom, and celebrity run clubs

• Why success comes from finding your joy, not your finish time

• The Secret Interview Questions (and a story her mom will not love)

Come Join Amanda and I for the NYC Marathon Webinar and Live Q&A on 21 October from 6-730 EST. We will answer all your questions and walk you through EVERYTHING you need to know about the NYCM from the second you arrive to when you leave. Learn more and sign up here

Today's episode is sponsored by CEP and Running Explained listeners get 15% off their entire order when shopping CEP Running online through November 15! Shop CEP Running or enter code LRL-NYC-15 at checkout.

Offer ends November 16, 2026, at 3:00AM EST. Limit one use per customer. Cannot be combined with other discounts.

Key timestamps

06:58 Chicago Marathon 2026 from the booth

19:17 What everyday runners can learn from pros

23:16 Running identity after competition

33:28 What the running community gets right

40:33 Redefining success

42:01 Secret Interview Questions

Find Carrie:

• C Tolle Run podcast, the RunDot Podcast, ctollerun.com, Instagram @carrie_tollefson

Training plans and coaching: https://runningexplained.com

The Weekly Stride newsletter: https://www.runningexplained.com/theweeklystride

Enjoyed this one? Rate and review Running Explained and share it with your running friend (or someone you do not like, maybe they will like it).

Marathon Recovery and Why Recovery Starts Before Race Day

Thu, 08 Oct 2026

How long should you rest after a marathon? Coach Amanda (fresh off her fall marathon) and Coach Nick cover marathon recovery from taper week to your first run back.

Pre-race recovery: why sleep across your whole training block matters more than the night before, packing a carb-load cooler for race travel, compression socks vs. calf sleeves on flights, protecting your social battery, and how long a shakeout run should be.

Post-race recovery: why you should eat within an hour of finishing (even when you are not hungry), how to plan food at big-city marathons, how many days off to take (10 days to 2 weeks for Amanda, 7 days minimum for Nick), why workouts can take up to 8 weeks to feel normal, the recovery tools coaches actually use, and how to handle the post-marathon blues.

Offer ends November 16, 2026, at 3:00AM EST. Limit one use per customer. Cannot be combined with other discounts.

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

2:44 Pre-race recovery and taper

7:14 Sleep before a marathon

11:00 Compression socks vs. sleeves for travel

16:13 Shakeout runs

26:08 Post-race recovery starts at the finish line

29:03 What to eat after a marathon

38:50 How long to rest after a marathon

45:59 Favorite recovery tools

50:34 Post-marathon blues

Training plans and coaching: https://runningexplained.com

The Weekly Stride newsletter: https://www.runningexplained.com/theweeklystride

Enjoyed this one? Rate and review Running Explained and share it with your running friend (or someone you do not like, maybe they will like it).

Runner Q&A with Sports Dietitian Stevie Lyn Smith: Carbs Per Hour, Ferritin, Burnout, and First Marathons

Thu, 24 Sep 2026

We did an old fashioned listener Q&A, and because you all sent in a stack of nutrition questions, we called in the big guns: sports dietitian Stevie Lyn Smith, RD, CSSD, back for round two.

Coach Amanda and I cover the coaching side while Stevie brings the fueling science. We get into how many carbs per hour you actually need on long runs (and why the answer is a range, not a flex), how to juggle fast 5Ks, marathons, and heavy lifting by building training seasons, and how to keep burnout from wrecking your year. Amanda goes on a legendary rant about lottery FOMO. I explain resiliency data points and why belief beats hard work at your absolute peak.

Then we help a first time Philly marathoner avoid the mile 20 wall, dig into the new ASH ferritin guidelines (and why ferritin alone does not tell the whole iron story), and answer the big one: can you safely cut weight before a marathon? Spoiler: Stevie said yes to cutting a bagel. That is it.

Offer ends November 16, 2026, at 3:00AM EST. Limit one use per customer. Cannot be combined with other discounts.

Listener questions answered:

1. How many carbs should I take on long runs for my December half marathon?

2. I love fast 5Ks, long distance, and lifting heavy. How do I prioritize?

3. How do you keep from burning out?

4. How can I help my brain catch up to my running and believe in myself more?

5. I'm running my first full at Philly. How do I push without hitting the wall at mile 20?

6. Why do runners need higher ferritin levels than non runners?

7. Can I safely cut weight before a marathon for performance?

Resources and links

• Ferritin, Iron, and Anemia with Callie Roseland:

• Back to Back Marathons with Coach Corky

• Stevie on Instagram: @stevielynlyn | Website:stevielynrd.com

• Running Explained coaching and training plans: runningexplained.com

• Send us your questions: hello@runningexplained.com

Check out our new Kickstart Program

Enjoyed this format? Rate and review the show and tell us. If you want more Q&A episodes, we will make it happen.

Bone Density, Menopause & Marathon Training

Thu, 17 Sep 2026

Coach Amanda and Coach Nick talk masters running with coach Kim Nedeau (Training Inclined) about how mileage, recovery, and strength work should change after 40, plus what the research really says about bone density, menopause, and weighted vests.

Kim built her coaching practice, Training Inclined, and her women's community, Train Like a Master, after her own injury-prone running years. In this episode: deload weeks and recovery science, the strength work masters runners can't skip, telling normal age-related slowdown from an actual training gap, bone density and perimenopause, training through osteopenia and arthritis, whether weighted vests actually build bone, and navigating body image and weight gain through menopause.

Offer ends November 16, 2026, at 3:00AM EST. Limit one use per customer. Cannot be combined with other discounts.

Our Guest

Kim Nedeau is a running coach, educator, and the founder of Train Like a Master, a training and education community for women 40 and over who want to keep running, get stronger, and perform well as they age.

Kim has spent more than a decade coaching runners and exploring the intersection of running, strength training, injury prevention, and healthy aging. Her work focuses on helping women understand how their training needs to evolve as they get older, which can mean setting new personal records or sometimes slowing down. Kim is also a masters runner herself, so she knows the highs and lows firsthand, sometimes finding herself running surprisingly fast for a master, and other days wondering how she got so slow.

Through her coaching, writing, and educational work, Kim brings an evidence-informed but practical perspective to topics like muscle loss, bone health, menopause, injury, recovery, and performance in the masters years.

Find Kim Nedeau:

• kimnedeau.com / https://traininginclined.com/

• Instagram: kimnedeau_traininginclined

Reach out via email at hello@runningexplained.com