Carrie interviews collegiate coach and NBC Olympics commentator Chad Salmela! Chad shares his scientific approach to training and discusses challenges he faces as a coach. They also chat about his breakthrough into NBC Olympics commentary and his role as a husband and father.
Show notes for this episode can be found at ctollerun.com.
Chad Salmela
As a junior competitor, Chad was one of the Midwest’s top junior cross country ski racers, then switched to the sport of biathlon at age 19. After eight years of competing nationally and internationally as a member of the United States Biathlon Team, he moved directly into the assistant coach position for the U.S. Biathlon Team in 1998, while finishing his college degree at Middlebury College in Vermont. After graduation, Chad built and coached a national junior development program for biathlon, managed the 2002 Olympic Games biathlon competitions in Salt Lake City, served as assistant coach and wax technician for the U.S. junior world championship biathlon team, coached cross country running at the Marshall School in Duluth, and announced ski events across the country and on television. Chad was the biathlon color commentator for NBC's coverage of 2006 Torino Olympics and added cross country skiing and Nordic combined to his duties at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, he was the analyst of the cross country ski events, biathlon and the cross country skiing portion of the Nordic Combined. Chad became a household name for his exciting calls of the action. He began his first season as the head men’s and women’s cross country coach at St. Scholastica in 2016. Salmela had been the school’s men’s and women’s Nordic ski head coach the previous 10 years. He will also assist with the men’s and women’s track & field programs. In his 10 seasons coaching CSS skiers, Chad led both the men and the women to Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) Championships in 2015. He coached Paul Schommer to the programs' only All-America honors in 2014. In total, under his tutelage, the Saints had 12 NCAA qualifiers in his 10 seasons, including 10 since 2012. Chad was an assistant under recently retired Coach Steve Pfingsten for the first few years at St. Scholastica and prior to that had a role as a high school running coach. Since then he has spent time consulting several elite and master-elite marathon and distance runners.
Carrie interviews Olympian Adam Goucher! They chat about his Run the Year program, battling injuries, and the controversial doping scandal.
Recorded June 16, 2017
Show notes for this episode can be found at ctollerun.com.
Adam Goucher
Adam attended the University of Colorado where he was a 4-time NCAA champion and 11-time All American. Career highlights include 8-time USA Champion, 7-time World Champion Finalist, and 2000 Olympian. Adam is the co-author of Running The Edge with his best friend Tim Catalano. They also developed the Run The Year virtual fitness challenge. He currently resides in Boulder, Colorado, with his wife, Kara, and their son, Colt.
Carrie interviews elite runner Drew Hunter! They chat about his decision to sign with Adidas straight out of high school, his struggle with lyme disease and his racing plans for 2017.
Show notes for this episode can be found at ctollerun.com.
Drew Hunter
Drew Hunter is an American distance runner from Purcellville, VA. He is the national indoor mile record holder for high school athletes, a feat he achieved in 2016 with a time of 3 minutes 57.81 seconds. Drew won the High School Boys 3000-meter race as a high school sophomore at the Penn Relays Carnival in 2014. He went on to set the national sophomore class record in the 3000m in 8:16.31. In the fall of 2014, Hunter placed 4th at the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships. He won the New Balance National Indoor two-mile national title in a winning time of 8:48.22. He started his outdoor season with a 4:07 victory at the Penn Relays, becoming the first high school athlete since Olympian Matt Centrowitz to own both the high school boys 3K and mile Penn Relays titles. Hunter achieved a season best of 4:02.36 at the Adidas Dream Mile at the Adidas Grand Prix. In 2015, Drew set a course record of 14:26 at the Foot Locker South regional meet before winning his first Foot Locker National title in 14:55.7. In his indoor debut, Hunter broke the high school boys national 3k record with a time of 7:59.33 at the Camel City Elite meet in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He followed up that performance with another national record in the high school boys indoor mile, running 3:58.25 at the Armory Track and Field Invitational. By doing this he became the 8th High School Athlete to break 4 minutes in the mile. He was also the second High School Athlete to break 4 in the mile indoors. Hunter then waited two weeks before resetting the record with a 3:57.81 performance at the Milrose Games. He signed a 10-year contract with Adidas in July 2016 and went pro instead of running in a collegiate program.
Carrie interviews elite runner and ultramarathoner Camille Herron! They discuss Camille's recent win at the Comrades Marathon in South Africa, how she fits training into her schedule and her upcoming racing plans.
Show notes for this episode can be found at ctollerun.com.
Camille Herron
Camille is a long distance runner from Oklahoma City, OK. She is a three-time Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier, 20-time marathon winner, Guinness World Record holder for racing in a Superhero costume, and currently aiming to become the first woman to win a marathon in all 50 US States. She won the 2015 USATF 100K National Championship at Mad City in 7:26:24, her debut at the distance. She also became the first 3-time winner of the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. She won the 2015 IAU 100K World Championships with a personal best 7:08:35. In December 2015, she won the IAU 50k World Championships in Doha, Qatar in a time of 3:20:58. In 2016, Camille transitioned to trail running. In her trail debut in April, despite a severe hamstring injury she finished 4th at the Lake Sonoma 50 Miler. After recovering and making a comeback, in July she finished as the 1st female and 4th overall at the White River 50 Miler, running the 2nd fastest time ever (7:36:42). In September she set a 27+ minute Course Record at the Ultra Race of Champions 100K in 9:36:05. In 2017, she made her international trail debut at the second Ultra-Trail World Tour event, winning the Tarawera Ultramarathon in a new Course Record time of 8:56:00. In June 2017, she dominated the ladies race of the 87km Comrades Marathon, run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and won in a time of 6:27:35.
Carrie interviews elite runner, American Ninja Warrior, and mom-to-be Rose Wetzel! Rose talks about growing up in a large family, her husband's battle with cancer, and her time on American Ninja Warrior. She also shares details about her pregnancy and her excitement to be a mom!
Show notes for this episode can be found at ctollerun.com.
Rose Wetzel
Rose Wetzel is a Georgetown University middle distance runner who now competes professionally as an obstacle course racer and a competitor on American Ninja Warrior. Her athletic journey zigged and zagged along since she first stepped foot on a track in high school twenty years ago, taking her from an 2x 800m high school state champion to a junior All-American 1500m runner at Georgetown, only to hit a bump after college, a bit burnt out. She experienced a "quarter-life crisis" in her early 20s, gained weight, ran local road races in costume for fun, and somehow still qualified for and ran the Boston Marathon, only to fall back in love with running and pursue the 2012 Olympic Trials in the 1500m. She came up short, but had a blast and took her rejuvenated fitness level to the obstacle course racing world, where she's finished top 5 in the world at the Spartan World Championships and made it to American Ninja Warrior Finals the last two years. She's grateful to her sponsors: CLIF bar, Marriott Rewards and HumanN, who continue to support her throughout her pregnancy. She's due July 17, 2017, and she's determined to make it back on the Spartan Race World Championship starting line 2.5 months later. Rose plans to compete strong for years to come, as she feels like her best as an athlete is still to come.