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PODCAST · sports

Salty Talks

by Coach Jason Saltmarsh

Science-based training for high school distance coaches, from the coach behind 31 state champions. Salty Talks delivers short, no-fluff episodes on periodization, athlete development, race strategy, and the methods behind championship cross country and track programs. Hosted by Jason Saltmarsh, USATF Level 2 Endurance Coach and 2018 NH Cross Country Coach of the Year, drawing on 25 years of coaching and the training philosophies of Lydiard, Daniels, Vigil, and the Norwegian Method. One insight per episode you can use at practice on Monday.

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Episodes

  1. Reading the Course, Racing the Hills

    Championship courses reward the runners who rehearse them. How to read a course, where to spend and save on the hills, and why Derryfield finds out who really did the work. Course-specific racing for the meets that matter. Full transcript and show notes:...

  2. Sleep Is the Cheapest PR: Recovery for the Championship Push

    As racing load peaks, recovery is the whole game. Why chronic sleep debt quietly wrecks seasons, the ratio Josh Kerr lives by, and the team norms that turn rest into a scheduled skill instead of an afterthought. Full transcript and show notes:...

  3. The "Michigan" Is Not for You: Why Famous Workouts Backfire

    The pro workouts that go viral are built for pro recovery. Why copying elite sessions breaks teenagers, and how to steal the intent of a famous workout without the injury bill that comes with the exact prescription. Full transcript and show notes:...

  4. Why Even Splits Are a Myth: 5K Race Strategy

    Even splits sound smart and cost you races. What the world record pacing data actually shows, why the first mile decides the last, and how to train runners to deploy their fitness tactically on championship day instead of blowing up early. Full transcript and show notes:...

  5. The XC Workouts That Build a Championship Engine

    Three workouts do most of the work in a cross country season. The threshold run that builds the engine, the critical velocity session that builds 5K fatigue resistance, and the eight second hill sprints that build the chassis. How to pace all three without a lactate meter, how to fit them into a...

  6. The Pre-Race Warmup That Actually Matters

    The warmup is not a ritual you perform before the race. It's the first 400 meters of your race plan, and it happens 45 minutes before the gun. Timed for the first meets of the season. Coach Saltmarsh breaks down what a warmup is actually doing physiologically, the one phase almost every high…

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  7. The Speed Reserve Nobody Talks About

    Your 5K runners are slow because they can't sprint. Last meet of the season, we needed a body for the 4x400 and someone said the fatal sentence: "He's in shape, put him in the relay." My best miler split 64. A sophomore sprinter who has never voluntarily run more than 600 meters split 52 and made...

  8. Coaching Female Runners: RED-S and What Coaches Miss

    The topic most coaching resources skip. What RED-S is, the warning signs that show up in training data first, real calorie needs for female distance runners, and how to develop athletes without breaking them. SHOW NOTESFull article: Coaching Female Distance Runners, What the Science Actually Says...

  9. The 4-Year Burnout Crisis

    Why so many promising freshmen are done by senior year, and why “more miles always” breaks them. The Zone 2 case for training slower to race faster, and the numbers that back it up. SHOW NOTES Full article: Zone 2 Training for High School Runners, Solving the 4-Year Burnout Crisis...

  10. Coaching Middle School XC

    Coach Jason Saltmarsh takes on the job almost nobody plans for: getting handed a middle school team. Most coaches make one of two mistakes with it. They water down the varsity plan, or they treat it as supervised recess. Both cost you the same thing, which is the freshman class that walks in two...

  11. Running in the Heat Without Wrecking the Season

    A freshman on a July tempo run tells her coach she's fine, she just needs to get used to the heat. She wasn't fine, and she'd just turned a physics problem into a story about being out of shape. With a dangerous heat dome sitting over much of the country this week, Coach Saltmarsh breaks down how...

  12. How Katelyn Tuohy Trained

    A girl runs 13:21 at Van Cortlandt as a sophomore, and her coach's first thought is how to make sure she's still running in four years. That instinct is the whole story. In this first case-study episode, Coach Saltmarsh walks the full arc of Katelyn Tuohy's career, from seventh-grade national...

  13. How Josh Kerr Broke the Mile World Record on 70 Miles a Week

    Episode 3 — How Josh Kerr Broke the Mile World Record on 70 Miles a Week 3:42.66. The first human under 3:43. A 27-year-old record, gone. And Josh Kerr did it on 65 to 70 miles a week, six days out of seven, with two workouts, no double days, and no lactate meter anywhere in sight. Coach Jason...

  14. How Many Miles Should a Freshman Run?

    The number is the wrong question. Here's the right one. Coach Jason Saltmarsh answers the single most-asked question in high school distance coaching, and explains why volume rarely breaks freshmen, intensity does. You'll learn why running age matters more than the birth certificate, the three...

  15. 31 State Champions: What Actually Works

    The hardware isn't the point. The process is. In the first episode of Salty Talks, Coach Jason Saltmarsh opens up about the moment at Derryfield Park that changed how he coaches, and why 31 state championships came from everything around the workout, not the workout itself. You'll hear why the...

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

Science-based training for high school distance coaches, from the coach behind 31 state champions. Salty Talks delivers short, no-fluff episodes on periodization, athlete development, race strategy, and the methods behind championship cross country and track programs. Hosted by Jason Saltmarsh, USATF Level 2 Endurance Coach and 2018 NH Cross Country Coach of the Year, drawing on 25 years of coaching and the training philosophies of Lydiard, Daniels, Vigil, and the Norwegian Method. One insight per episode you can use at practice on Monday.

HOSTED BY

Coach Jason Saltmarsh

CATEGORIES

sports running

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Salty Talks have?

Salty Talks currently has 15 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is Salty Talks about?

Science-based training for high school distance coaches, from the coach behind 31 state champions. Salty Talks delivers short, no-fluff episodes on periodization, athlete development, race strategy, and the methods behind championship cross country and track programs. Hosted by Jason Saltmarsh,...

How often does Salty Talks release new episodes?

Salty Talks has 15 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.

Where can I listen to Salty Talks?

You can listen to Salty Talks on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts Salty Talks?

Salty Talks is created and hosted by Coach Jason Saltmarsh.
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