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    THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

    THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

    About

    The Running Effect tells the best stories in running—and turns them into insight, inspiration, and tools to help competitive runners become greater. Every week, host Dominic Schlueter sits down with the fastest, smartest, and most inspiring people in the sport—from Olympic medalists to breakthrough athletes—to unpack the stories, lessons, and mindset behind elite performance. Whether you’re chasing a personal best or looking to understand how greatness is built, The Running Effect will make you a deeper fan of the sport—and a better runner.

    Hosted By

    Dominic Schlueter

    Alex Gibby on Taking Harvard From 1 Point at the Ivy League Championships to Two NCAA Champions and What Separates Good Runners From Great Ones

    Alex Gibby on Taking Harvard From 1 Point at the Ivy League Championships to Two NCAA Champions and What Separates Good Runners From Great Ones

    October 16, 2026
    1h 7m

    Nobody builds a distance program at Harvard. Alex Gibby did it twice over 


    Alex arrived at Harvard in 2017 and inherited a program that had almost never made nationals, and didn't have a single athlete setting a PR after early February. Ten years later, the Crimson men have qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships six straight seasons, and Gibby has coached Graham Blanks to back-to-back NCAA cross country titles and Maia Ramsden to NCAA titles in the mile and the 1500m.


    In this conversation with Dominic, Gibby gets into how it actually happened. He explains why Graham's Achilles problems traced back to his toe strength, how he treats soft tissue injuries in athletes who sit at ninety-degree angles for nine hours a day, and why he bought six treadmills after last winter. He breaks down the recruiting profile he's built at a school where he only gets eight semesters: why he watches how a recruit's parents behave in the room, why "Type A+" kids get buried at Harvard, and why family of origin shapes how an athlete communicates with a coach.


    He also tells the story behind the infamous LetsRun thread—the squat racks, Graham's fake YouTube channel, and a men's team he calls world-class trolls. Plus, the disastrous first six months at William & Mary that changed his coaching for good, why distance running keeps losing the investment war inside power conferences, and the exact moments he knew Blanks and Ramsden were going to be special.


    Serious about the work. Never about themselves.


    Tap into the Alex Gibby Special. 


    If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.


    S H O W  N O T E S   


    -The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs


    -Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run


    -THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: 

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ


    -My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠


    -Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz


    Behind the scenes of The Running Effect: https://youtube.com/@dominicschlueter?si=PM9FjPc92eFUFEZ


    LuminaryThreads: luminarythreads.shop


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