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Get to Know Jason: An Interview with Strength Running’s Jason Fitzgerald

Jason is the driving force behind Strength Running’s website, video channel, and podcast, but you may not know as much about his life behind the scenes. Today Jason gets interviewed about his history, advice for runners and entrepreneurs, his current aspirations, and more!

jason performance psychology

As your coach and podcast host, Jason is usually the one doing the interviewing and trying to help you get the most from your running. But this week’s episode is a little different! Jason’s friend and fellow coach, Sara Manderscheid, agreed to spend some time talking with him about who he is behind the microphone.

Sara is a running coach and Boston qualifier with more than 15 years of competitive experience.  She hosts the Elevate Your Running Podcast and Elevate Your Running camps held in Boulder, Colorado. After Jason spoke at one of her recent camps, several campers requested to learn more about him personally.  So Sara and Jason sat down to discuss his history with running, how Strength Running came to be, and many of his favorite things related to the sport.

“A sport that lights me up”

Despite almost trying out for golf, Jason decided on running instead when he joined his high school track and cross-country teams. Thank goodness! The camaraderie the team provided, along with his constant drive to improve, helped Jason find a sport that lit him up then and has continued to do so for decades.

Jason started his career after college in the environmental field, but began to pursue his passion on the side when he purchased the domain name for Strength Running back in 2007. Two years later the website came to fruition, and by the following year he was blogging regularly to create more content for the site. Jason jumped headlong into podcasting in 2016 with the Strength Running podcast, which has become one of his favorite parts of his work.

Jason Podcasting

Whether it’s his work or his running, Jason has always been excited about the process of improvement. In running (and most things in life), you get out of it what you put into it. Whether it’s training for a marathon or building Strength Running to help thousands of runners, for Jason it’s about enjoying the journey and process of getting there.

Through running and coaching, Jason found a passion that has consistently given him the intrinsic motivation to continue to improve. He continues to keep an open mind about whatever the end product may be. Sara talks in depth with Jason about his career, his personal life, and of course all things running, including:

  • Mindsets and mantras
  • Favorite race distances
  • What he craves after a long run
  • Past training failures and what he wished he’d learned sooner
  • Favorite types of podcast topics
  • Advice for runners and entrepreneurs
  • His preference for super short shorts!

Enjoy their conversation to learn more about your favorite Strength Running coach!

Subscribe to the podcast in Apple PodcastsSpotifyStitcheriHeartRadio, or Google Play.

Links & Resources from the Show:

Thank you Elemental Labs!

A big thanks to Elemental Labs for their support of this episode! They make electrolyte drinks for athletes and low-carb folks with no sugar, artificial ingredients, or colors. And you can get a free sampler pack of 4 flavors and 8 individual packets when you pay $5 in shipping.

Elemental Labs’ products have some of the highest sodium concentrations that you can find. Anybody who runs a lot knows that sodium, as well as other electrolytes like magnesium and potassium, are essential to our performance and how we feel throughout the day.

The citrus flavor has quickly become my favorite. I’m drinking one a day now to help me get enough fluids in our dry Colorado air. It’s tasty and delicious and I find that I’m not peeing every 45 minutes throughout the day, which might be an indication I wasn’t eating enough sodium.

There’s now mounting evidence that higher sodium intake levels are not unhealthy – and athletes need substantially more than your typical sedentary person. Of course, ask your doctor if you’re worried. But for those athletes running outside in the heat, an electrolyte replacement makes a lot of sense. So check out Elemental Labs to try their new flavor or get a free sampler pack. 

Thank You Athletic Greens!

Thank you to our sponsor, Athletic Greens! They are a health and wellness company that makes AG1. This is a category-leading greens mix that has 75 vitamins and minerals, prebiotics, probiotics, antioxidants, and adaptogens.

One scoop per day is what I’ve been doing to help me fill in any nutrition gaps in my diet. It also provide a nice boost of energy and focus throughout the day. With all 3 of my kids in school, I know I need to support my immune system or else I’m getting sick and can’t train.

I also love that AG1 has changed over the last decade. Athletic Greens has made 53 improvements to the formula based on the latest research to make these nutrients more absorbable.

For our listeners, they are offering a year’s worth of free Vitamin D and 5 free travel packs of AG1 with your first purchase. You can sign up for single shipment or for a monthly drop – the choice is yours. Check out Athletic Greens to redeem your offer today.

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