The MicroCast

A Leadville Win and a Leadville DNF: What Both Taught Us About Training

Leadville 100 week gave Microcosm both ends of the sport in a single day: coach TJ David's athlete McKendree Hickory won the women's race in her 100-mile debut, and TJ hi

Is Training Making You Slower?

Your easy pace is slower than it was two months ago. Workouts feel harder. You're doing more volume than you've ever done — so shouldn't you be getting faster? A listene

Downhill Running Science: Eccentric Loading, the Repeat Bout Effect & Descending Technique

Email us your listener questions or hot or nots at microcosmcoaching@gmail.com. Check us out online at microcosm-coaching.com Downhill running is a technical skill, not

Recovery Is the Ceiling: The 5 Things Blocking Your Recovery (Plus Soft Rock, Hot or Not, and Debriefing Your First 100)

Recovery is the ceiling on your training — not your mileage, not your workout schedule. Zoë Rom and TJ David break down the five places recovery falls apart for endurance

Race-Specific Training: Are You Actually Training for YOUR Race? Plus: the best running belts, pre-race strength training, and make-up miles

ou've built the fitness. Now what? This week we're digging into training specificity: how to shape your training around the actual demands of your goal race, whether that

What Fitness Actually Is: The 5 Systems Every Runner Trains (Plus Running in Wildfire Smoke)

What is fitness, really? VO2 max, lactate threshold, running economy, durability, and neuromuscular power — in this episode we break down the five distinct systems hiding

Heat vs. Altitude Training for Runners: What Actually Works (+ Golden Hour, Probiotics & Time-Based Training)

Heat training and altitude training are two of the most obsessed-over (and most misunderstood) tools in endurance running. In this episode, Zoë and TJ break down the actu

Durability: How to Stop Fading Late in Races (Plus Antihistamines, Yard Work & the "Ultra Bod" Myth)

Durability is the word every endurance runner has latched onto — but what actually is it, and how do you build it? Zoë and TJ break down durability for marathon and ultra

AI vs. Human Coaching, Hiding Your Heart Rate in Races, Cramps & Training in Humidity

Sign up for our open house here! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0KnmFGBxZNYqTAZDNFSRUL86UXK7gCIVDDlLtWJBp5WoVvQ/viewform?usp=header AI vs. human coaching is

Building the Long Run: Endurance, Fueling, and the Mental Game of Going Long

🏃 Microcosm Open House — Wednesday, June 11th at 5:30pm MT (virtual). Meet the coaches, ask anything, no pressure. Sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0Kn

How to Know If Your Training Is Actually Working (The N of 1 Experiment)

Sign up for our free open house here! (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0KnmFGBxZNYqTAZDNFSRUL86UXK7gCIVDDlLtWJBp5WoVvQ/viewform?usp=header) How do you know if

The 5 Metrics That Actually Matter in 2026 (And Why Most of Your Data Is Noise)

Check out the fuel tracking app here! FuelFlow Running metrics, wearables, and training data get a reality check this week as Zoë and Kylee Van Horn cut through the nois

Running Economy Explained — 5 Levers That Work, 4 Myths to Ignore

Running economy is one of the most misunderstood concepts in endurance training — and one of the most trainable. In this episode, Zoë Rom and TJ David break down what run

How Hydration and Sodium Make or Break Your Race

Hydration is one of the most overlooked levers in endurance performance — and one of the most punishing when you get it wrong. In this episode, Zoë and TJ unpack why dehy

Why You Should Always Be Training + Coach TJ's Canyons 100k Race Recap!

This week we welcome you behind the scenes of Microcosm Coaching with a quick introduction to Coach Zachary Russell, an athletic trainer and strength coach whose multispo

5 Reasons Your Fitness Is Stuck (and How to Get Unstuck)

Why does your running fitness plateau, and what can you actually do about it? Zoë and TJ break down the five real reasons endurance athletes get stuck, a lack of training

The Science of Periodization: How to Actually Structure Your Training Year

Most runners follow a training plan. Very few understand the architecture behind why it's built the way it's built, and that gap is exactly where progress stalls. This w

5 Signs You're Ready to Race (And 5 Signs You're Not)

Most runners ask one question before a race: did I finish my training plan? But fitness and race readiness are not the same thing — and in this episode, Zoë and TJ break

UTMB Chianti Castles UTCC 120k Race Recap + Fueling Short Runs and Psychedelics for Running?

Zoë and TJ are back from Italy and kicking off April with a packed episode. First up: coach Kyle Jones: a masters athlete and ultra running specialist with a focus on hel

The Performance Trap: What Elite Male Athletes Get Wrong About Discipline, Leanness, and Control

If you've ever thought "I'm not dieting, I'm optimizing", this episode is for you. We're dropping this one from the Your Diet Sucks vault because we think it belongs in