The RunRX Podcast

Should runners spend more time strength training and stretching? In this episode of the RunRX Podcast, Coach Caroline and Coach Valerie explain how combining strength training with stretching can help runners improve mobility, build strength, increase range of motion, and support a more efficient running stride. Instead of feeling like you need to spend an hour lifting weights or take a long yoga class, learn how to make strength and flexibility work together in a practical training routine that supports your running goals.
Coach Valerie explains why running should remain the primary focus of a runner's training, while strength exercises, stretching, and running drills serve as valuable supplements. She shares how RunRX strength combinations pair a strength exercise with a stretch or running drill during recovery between sets. This approach helps runners challenge their bodies without adding unnecessary training volume or continually fatiguing the same muscles. By balancing strength work with recovery, runners can work on flexibility and elasticity while preparing their bodies for their next run. You'll also learn why you don't need to complete every exercise in every workout to make progress and why exercise quality and a balanced routine matter more than simply doing more.
The conversation also explores why runners need to train their entire bodies, not just their legs. While lunges, squats, step-ups, and deadlifts can help develop lower-body strength, running mechanics also involve your upper body, shoulders, neck, arms, and posture. Coach Valerie discusses how strengthening the upper body and the muscles that help support the head and neck can be especially important for older runners and people who spend much of their day sitting or standing at work. You'll hear why repeatedly exhausting the legs during strength workouts may not be the best strategy for runners, and how incorporating upper-body exercises and stretching can create a more balanced approach to training.
Discover how combining strength training and stretching may help you feel more mobile, develop greater elasticity, improve your arm swing, open your chest for breathing, and move through a more comfortable running stride. Whether you're an experienced runner, a mature runner returning after an injury, or someone who wants to keep running without constantly fighting aches and pains, this episode offers a fresh perspective on making strength and mobility part of your running routine. Learn more about the RunRX Method, access coaching and guided workouts, participate in live Zoom sessions, and explore gait analysis and personalized support through the RunRX membership.
Visit https://runrx.fit to learn how RunRX can help you understand your running mechanics, build a stronger foundation, and work toward running pain-free.

Can you split your long run into two shorter runs and still prepare for a marathon? In this episode of the RunRx Podcast, Coach Caroline and Coach Valerie discuss how breaking up long runs can change the way you train, recover, and prepare for race day. Instead of following the traditional approach of building mileage until you reach a 20-mile long run, Valerie explains why RunRx focuses on cumulative mileage, time on your feet, running consistency, and developing efficient running form. Whether you're training for your first marathon, preparing for a 30K, or trying to improve your performance at longer distances, this conversation challenges the idea that you must complete every long run in one session to become a stronger runner.
Coach Valerie shares how her approach to marathon training evolved through her work with Dr. Nicholas Romanov and the Pose Method of Running. Rather than asking recreational runners to complete increasingly long, exhausting runs, she encourages them to build a strong running foundation and distribute their training throughout the week. That might mean running for an hour in the morning and another hour in the evening, completing a longer run one day and another run the following day, or accumulating quality running sessions over several days. The goal is to help runners train consistently without unnecessarily exhausting their bodies or increasing their risk of overuse injuries. Valerie also explains why recreational runners should be cautious about copying elite athletes' training plans without understanding the context behind their mileage, recovery periods, and running pace.
The conversation explores why running by time instead of focusing exclusively on distance can be especially helpful for recreational and age-group runners. RunRx uses a training approach that combines running sessions, intervals, skill drills, strength training, and recovery to help runners improve their movement and build endurance. Breaking up training does not mean avoiding longer runs altogether. Instead, it allows runners to accumulate quality work while paying attention to how their bodies respond. Caroline and Valerie discuss the importance of mental fatigue, recovery between sessions, and learning to recognize whether you need fuel, fluids, a short reset, or a change in your running form. They also explain why the goal is to reach race day feeling prepared, confident, and capable of continuing to run rather than feeling worn down by training.
If you're tired of feeling pressured to complete a traditional 20-mile long run, struggling to recover between workouts, or worried that missing a scheduled distance will ruin your marathon preparation, this episode offers a different way to think about endurance training. Learn why consistency matters, how to make your training fit your schedule, and how the RunRx method helps runners develop better movement while preparing for longer distances. Your marathon training doesn't have to leave you exhausted or injured to be effective. The goal is to build a foundation that helps you run more consistently, feel stronger, and enjoy the journey to race day.
Discover the RunRx approach to running form, injury prevention, strength training, and personalized coaching through the RunRx Academy app or at RunRx.fit.

Coach Caroline and Coach Valerie break down one of the most common running problems: shin splints. Valerie explains why she calls them a “slap injury,” how reaching the foot out in front of the body acts like hitting the brakes, and why that repeated impact can travel through the foot, shin, knee, and hip. She also explains how thick, cushioned shoes can hide the impact and make runners more likely to actively reach for the ground instead of pulling the foot up and moving correctly. 10.16.2026 Shin Splints
The episode also covers what shin splints can turn into if they are ignored, why they can develop into a stress fracture, and why ice, rest, and stretching alone are not enough if the movement pattern is still wrong. Valerie shares her own history with shin splints, how she realized she should not have to ice her shins every night, and why learning the Pose Method changed her running by helping her reduce impact and move more efficiently. 10.16.2026 Shin Splints
Most importantly, this episode makes it clear that you do not have to wait until you are pain-free to get help. Valerie encourages runners to come in while they are injured so they can work on the movements they can do while they recover. The goal is not just to calm the pain for today, but to change the way you move so the injury does not keep coming back.

▶️ Free 30-Day RunRX Reboot — Skill, Strength & Self-Care https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0N-GZ0AosI&list=PLDPcF8ZrDdILC8bYyn2zR-4xvqKRzp2re
▶️ Join the RunRX Membership https://runrx.fit/join-runrxstrong
Website: https://runrx.fit App: RunRx Academy — search “RunRx Academy” on Apple App Store or Google Play Support email: support@runrx.fit

Coach Caroline and Coach Valerie talk about why RunRx has stayed consistent since 2018 while so many other running voices keep changing their message. Valerie explains that physiology has not changed, gravity has not changed, and the basics of human movement are still the same even as shoes, gadgets, AI, and new trends keep evolving. The episode looks at why runners are often pulled toward quick fixes, why so much online running advice focuses on shoes, stretches, or isolated “weaknesses,” and why that approach can leave people with more confusion than real answers. 10.9.2026 We do not change 10.9.2026 We do not change
The conversation also explains why RunRx teaches a standard of running while many others still avoid defining what proper running movement actually is. Valerie talks about her background in personal training, aerobics, and kinesiology, and why those fields all require movement standards, certifications, and correct form before progress. She contrasts that with the common advice runners receive to “just run,” and explains why that mindset leads many people into injury rather than progress. The episode shows how Pose Method, gravity, and correct movement patterns give runners a repeatable way to improve instead of chasing the newest trend. 10.9.2026 We do not change 10.9.2026 We do not change
Caroline and Valerie also discuss how AI and other modern tools can provide a lot of data but still fail to tell runners what to actually do with it. The episode points out that speed and endurance are byproducts of good movement, not the starting point, and that runners improve most when they learn how to move correctly first. Valerie closes by reminding listeners that the work is not easy, but it is effective, and that the RunRx method has produced consistent results because it is built on the same principles that have been working for decades.
▶️ Free 30-Day RunRX Reboot — Skill, Strength & Self-Care https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0N-GZ0AosI&list=PLDPcF8ZrDdILC8bYyn2zR-4xvqKRzp2re
▶️ Join the RunRX Membership https://runrx.fit/join-runrxstrong
Website: https://runrx.fit App: RunRx Academy — search “RunRx Academy” on Apple App Store or Google Play Support email: support@runrx.fit

Coach Caroline and Coach Valerie dig into one of the most common questions runners ask: why do my legs get tired before my cardio does? Valerie explains that leg fatigue often comes down to two big things: whether you are using muscle elasticity or relying on active muscle contraction, and whether your head and upper body are lined up correctly while you run. She breaks down why muscles fatigue more quickly when they are trying to control movement the whole time, and why running efficiently means allowing the body to work with gravity and elasticity instead of fighting against it.
The episode also focuses on posture, balance, and why the head matters more than most runners realize. Valerie explains that your body is always trying to keep your head in balance, and if your head is forward or back, the rest of your body has to work harder just to hold you upright. That extra effort can show up as tired legs, lower-body fatigue, and a run that feels harder than it should. Through gait analysis, daily practice, and weekly check-ins, RunRx helps runners learn how to hold their line, improve alignment, and build a better running pattern over time.
If you have ever felt like your legs burn out too fast, this episode explains why that happens and what to work on first. Instead of just trying to run more, Valerie shows why the answer is usually better alignment, stronger posture, and more efficient movement. With the RunRx immersion, gait analysis, and daily practice, runners learn how to reduce fatigue, improve their form, and run in a way that feels more natural, more controlled, and less tiring.
This episode is grounded in the transcript’s focus on leg fatigue, muscle elasticity versus active contraction, head alignment, gait analysis, and the 30-day immersion.
▶️ Free 30-Day RunRX Reboot — Skill, Strength & Self-Care https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0N-GZ0AosI&list=PLDPcF8ZrDdILC8bYyn2zR-4xvqKRzp2re
▶️ Join the RunRX Membership https://runrx.fit/join-runrxstrong
Website: https://runrx.fit App: RunRx Academy — search “RunRx Academy” on Apple App Store or Google Play Support email: support@runrx.fit