Office Hours: Florida Coach Will Palmer On His Approach To Coaching, Reflections From Working With Parker Valby, Developing Talent

Office Hours: Florida Coach Will Palmer On His Approach To Coaching, Reflections From Working With Parker Valby, Developing Talent

“The really great athletes – they all have a superpower. [It’s about] what makes them uniquely excellent and helping them understand what their superpower is and how they wave that sword around…You may not have laser vision, but you can fly. How do you use your ability to fly and max that out?”

In just two years, Will Palmer has overseen quite a bit of success for the Florida Gators distance program. In 2023, as the associate head coach for cross country and assistant track and field coach, Palmer led the Gators’ women to their highest national ranking since 2009, an SEC championship, and a second place finish at the NCAA East Regionals. In addition to all of that, he and his wife Samantha were the coaches behind Parker Valby's record-breaking dominance, guiding her to NCAA titles, collegiate records, and her first Olympic team.

Before arriving in Gainesville, Palmer made an impact at Alabama, helping the women's team to an SEC title and a podium finish at the NCAA Championships in 2022. His coaching career also includes stops at Georgetown, Western Kentucky, Iowa State, and Oklahoma, shaping some of the best distance programs in the country. So today we dive into the vision behind Florida's rise in cross country, what made Parker Valby's training and mindset so unique to be part of, his coaching philosophy, and what he's building in Gainesville – plus lessons from a career spent developing talent and much more.

If you've been enjoying these office hours episodes, shoot me a message with other coaches that you'd like to hear from. We've got interviews with Mike Smith, Diljeet Taylor, Ed Eyestone, Laurie Henes, Dave Smith, Alex Gibby, Mark Coogan, and other top coaches in our archives.

Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram

Guest: Will Palmer | @willpalmxc on Instagram

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Nick Roche, Scott Olberding: Jacuzzi Boys In Berlin With Big Goals

Nick Roche, Scott Olberding: Jacuzzi Boys In Berlin With Big Goals

We decided to check in briefly with our friend Nick Roche, who made his first appearance on the CITIUS MAG Podcast in April, and CITIUS MAG stats editor Scott Olberding. In his first appearance on the show, Nick publicly stated that he would like to get after a U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier even if his personal best is 2:27 from last year's Berlin Marathon. Scott also has OTQ dreams. Both these guys manage full-time jobs while training at a high level. Nick works at Adidas. Scott works at Columbia Sportswear. They train together as members of the Jacuzzi Boys Athletic Club. They're a group of fun guys with lofty, fast goals. Now they're both in Germany for this weekend's Berlin Marathon. Nick will go for the trials mark. Scott recently had an Achilles scare and will be looking to run his best. I decided to tap into their minds before their big race and get some insight into how two normal dudes approach their biggest race of the year. Follow them: Nick Roche - https://www.instagram.com/nickroche/ Scott Olberding - https://www.instagram.com/isthatsol/ This episode is brought to you by the Legs Are Feelin Good™. Get out there and get yourself the most popular running mugs! Link here: rdbl.co/2MWgkSZ

15 Sep 201836min

Eliud Kipchoge Mini-Episode: A Really Brief Chat With the World's Best Marathoner

Eliud Kipchoge Mini-Episode: A Really Brief Chat With the World's Best Marathoner

We definitely over-hyped this episode but it's a short (very short) interview with Eliud Kipchoge that was initially meant to be a story that never materialized into writing. The world has known much of Eliud's story as a professional runner because he burst onto the scene at 18 years old. I tried to find out a little bit more about his childhood. He was short on some of his answers but I was able to find a little more to share. So we decided to convert some of the sound bytes into a podcast. I did end up writing a short appreciation of Eliud for SI.com, which you can read here: on.si.com/2OeGY79 This weekend, Eliud will try to run a personal best at the Berlin Marathon. His PB is 2:03:05. The world record is 2:02:57. He's won an Olympic gold medal. He's won Berlin and London multiple times. Regardless of whether or not he gets it, he's had a tremendous career thus far and is the greatest of all-time in my opinion. This episode is brought to you by the Legs Are Feelin Good™. Get out there and get yourself the most popular running mugs! Link here: https://rdbl.co/2MWgkSZ

14 Sep 201813min

Kyle Merber, Paul Snyder on the 2018 Hoka One One Long Island Mile

Kyle Merber, Paul Snyder on the 2018 Hoka One One Long Island Mile

Paul Snyder and Kyle Merber meet up in Brooklyn to chat about the 2018 Hoka One One Long Island Mile, which will be held on September 5th at Bay Shore High School. If you're in New York, come out to watch the races or join the community races. Sign up at http://longislandmile.com/ Check out the fields for the races below: Women: Emily Lipari, Amanda Eccelston, Kate Van Buskirk, Shannon Osika, Danielle Aragon, Emma Coburn, Stephanie Schappert, Cory McGee, Ce'Aira Brown, Rachel Schnieder, Helen Schlachtenhaufen, Nikki Hitlz, Katrina Coogan, Sara Sutherland Men: Chris O'Hare, Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, Graham Crawford, Sam Parsons, Ben Blankenship, Neil Gourley, Eric Avilia, Sam McEntee, Charlie Grice, Rob Napalitano, Daniel Herrera, Colby Alexander, Cristian Soratos and Ben Flanagan

3 Sep 201841min

The Big Meet Pod - Zurich DL

The Big Meet Pod - Zurich DL

The Big Meet Pod is back with a recap of Day 1 of the Diamond League finals. This one took place in Zurich, ya know, in Switzerland? And boy oh boy was it a BIG ONE.

30 Aug 201845min

Dana Giordano on Discovering A Five-Pound Tumor At 14, Fundraising $10K for Kids With Cancer

Dana Giordano on Discovering A Five-Pound Tumor At 14, Fundraising $10K for Kids With Cancer

Dana Giordano, a former All-American at Dartmouth and full-time employee/runner for Reebok, joins the show to give more insight into her inspiring story ahead of her run at the Falmouth Road Race on Sunday. In 2008, doctors discovered a 5-pound malignant ovarian teratoma which needed to be removed from her ovaries. She underwent surgery and made a full recovery before joining her high school track team in New Jersey and eventually developing into a star distance runner for Dartmouth. 10 years later, Dana is coming off a season in which she dropped her 1,500 meter personal best to 4:08 and made the 1,500 meter final at the U.S. Outdoor Championships. We recap some of her season and untraditional path back to the professional ranks. After a short break from training, Dana will be running the Falmouth Road Race on Sunday but has set the goal of raising $10,000 for Boston Children's Hospital. We're almost there! Less than $1,500 to go! It is her way of giving back to the hospital that cared for her. We talked about her background and story. If it inspired or moved you, please consider donating. The links to her fundraising page and story can be found below. Boston Children's Donating Campaign: http://fundraise.childrenshospital.org/site/TR?px=1283925&fr_id=1770&pg=personal Her full story: http://citiusmag.com/dana-giordano-boston-childrens-hospital-falmouth-fundraiser/ If you enjoy this podcast, check out the other shows on the CITIUS MAG Podcast Network including the 1609 Podcast, Price of a Mile, Running Things Considered and more. Long live CITIUS MAG. If you want the site and podcast to continue going strong, please consider pledging any dollar amount monthly to show your love and support for what we do. Any amount is greatly appreciated. Your help will feed the bloggers. Visit Patreon.com/CITIUSMAG today.

14 Aug 201849min

Courtney Frerichs On Breaking the Steeplechase American Record, 8:55 Goals, Finding Her Speed

Courtney Frerichs On Breaking the Steeplechase American Record, 8:55 Goals, Finding Her Speed

Courtney Frerichs of the Bowerman Track Club joins the CITIUS MAG Podcast just days after setting the American record in the steeplechase at the Monaco Diamond League meet. She ran 9:00.85 to break Emma Coburn's previous American record of 9:02.58. Frerichs was second in the race behind Kenya's Beatrice Chepkoech, who broke Ruth Jebet's world record of 8:52.78 by eight seconds with a 8:44.32 victory.  Frerichs is now the sixth-fastest woman of all-time in the steeplechase and she's not done yet. She shares some insight into her lofty goals for the Brussels Diamond League and the next two years of her career. We've transcribed some of the best excerpts of the podcast and you can read them on CITIUSMAG.com. You can catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review. We are also now on Stitcher and now Google Play! If you enjoy this podcast, check out the other shows on the CITIUS MAG Podcast Network including the 1609 Podcast, Price of a Mile, Running Things Considered and more. Long live CITIUS MAG. If you want the site and podcast to continue going strong, please consider pledging any dollar amount monthly to show your love and support for what we do. Any amount is greatly appreciated. Your help will feed the bloggers. Visit Patreon.com/CITIUSMAG today.

27 Juli 20181h 17min

Stephanie Bruce on Patience with Breakthroughs, Young Jeezy, Coming Back From Pregnancy + More

Stephanie Bruce on Patience with Breakthroughs, Young Jeezy, Coming Back From Pregnancy + More

Several CITIUS MAG Podcast listeners have requested an episode with Stephanie Bruce and we finally made it happen! Steph is on a roll this summer with a third place finish at the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships 10,000 meters, which she then followed up with a win at the AJC Peach Tree 10K (U.S. 10K Championships). That win marked her first U.S. national title and a personal best (32:21) by more than 30 seconds. We caught up with Stephanie before the end of her summer racing season to discuss how she managed to bottle up her fitness and disappointment from the London Marathon in April and turn it into a breakthrough at 34 years old. A win in Atlanta in 2018 is good but one in 2020 when the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials roll into town would be even better. We discussed the outlook of the women's marathoning scene and her approach to such a deep era in the sport. Stephanie is also a mother to two boys. She's been very open on social media about how she manages to be a good mom and professional runner. We discuss her road back into competitive running post-pregnancy with some advice for other women. Plus listener questions and a new addition to the famous final three questions. It's now the Famous Final Four! All that and more on the latest episode of THE CITIUS MAG Podcast. You can catch the latest episode of the podcast on iTunes so subscribe and leave a five-star review. We are also now on Stitcher and now Google Play! If you enjoy this podcast, check out the other shows on the CITIUS MAG Podcast Network including the 1609 Podcast, Price of a Mile, Running Things Considered and more. Long live CITIUS MAG. If you want the site and podcast to continue going strong, please consider pledging any dollar amount monthly to show your love and support for what we do. Any amount is greatly appreciated. Your help will feed the bloggers. Visit Patreon.com/CITIUSMAG today.

25 Juli 201859min

The Big Meet Pod - Monaco DL with special guest Chris Chavez

The Big Meet Pod - Monaco DL with special guest Chris Chavez

Ryan Sterner and Chris Chavez go over the Monaco Diamond League meet, which they have dubbed the biggest meet of the year. That makes this the Biggest Meet Pod. World Records, American Records, Meet Records galore, this is one you don't want to miss.

21 Juli 201837min

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