Most running podcasts focus on professional runners. Matt Chittim’s Rambling Runner podcast focuses on dedicated amateur runners who are working hard at the sport while also balancing running with the rest of their lives.
That’s not to say Matt ignores the elites. He also covers the other end of the spectrum with his Road to the Trials podcast which follows the training, racing, and experiences of some of America’s best runners as they prepared for the Olympic Trials.
As an athlete, Matt is a former college basketball player and coach. He started running at a young age with an occasional 5k or track season but most of his running was at the service of getting fit for other sports. After college Matt started taking running more seriously and eventually became fully invested in the running community.
Matt is currently working through a year-long journey called Mastering 40 in which he is hoping to break 40:00 in the 10k after turning 40 years old. He talks to Coach Claire about his training ups and downs and what motivated him to set this “stretch goal.”
Matt also talks about how his Ramblin Runner podcast got started, his most memorable interview, and what he thinks the differences are between professional and amateur runners. He is a natural storyteller who brings a unique perspective to the running community!
Questions Matt is asked:
3:50 Most of us know you from your popular running podcast Rambling Runner. Can we go back to the beginning of how it all got started and how it’s going now?
8:10 What do you attribute the growth of your podcast to?
9:32 What have been some of your most memorable interviews?
11:05 Who is still on your list of dream interviews?
13:28 You’ve got another show, Road to the Trials, which obviously interviews the best of the best, the elite Americans who are gunning for the Olympic Trials, so you have interviewed your share of elites and you’ve interviewed your share of just recreational runners. What would you say is the difference between the two?
15:54 PTs probably love working with professional runners because they do what they’re told more than amateur runners do.
18:38 You have a new series within your podcast called Mastering 40 that you started last August, dedicated to chronicling your journey of breaking 40 minutes in the 10k. Let’s talk about that and what you are doing to prepare.
21:29 How’s your Mastering 40 goal going?
22:21 How did you injure your knee and how did it affect your training goal?
23:07 Do you have a date for your goal? When’s the time trial?
24:26 What kind of races are you looking for to prepare for your time trial?
25:19 What are all the other things you’re doing? What’s training like? Nutrition, sleep, all that good stuff, etc? How are you doing in those areas?
29:28 Another project of yours is Road to the Trials. Can you talk about that and who you bring on the show?
32:33 We could talk about how great such and such race was but you really learn so much more when everything falls apart.
36:54 What’s next for you? What happens when you break 40?
Questions I ask everyone:
40:01 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
40:46 What is the greatest gift running has given you?
41:00 Where can listeners connect with you?
Quotes by Matt:
“I started the Rambling Runner podcast with the idea of there’s a lot of running podcasts out there that I really liked and the vast majority of them were talking to professional runners… and I was like, ‘All right, no one’s talking to amateur runners. Let’s do that.’”
“Professional athletes in any sport are incredibly gifted athletes, and I think that the thing that’s easy to miss sometimes for dedicated amateur runners is sometimes they hold themselves to too high a standard. These folks, they were awesome at running the minute they started running.”
“One of the things I’ve learned through the show is that just like anything else, racing is a skill. It’s not just a test of fitness.”
Take a Listen on Your Next Run
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Mentioned in this podcast:
Anchor – The easiest way to make a podcast
Runners Connect Winner’s Circle Facebook Community
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