The Physiology of Endurance Running Podcast · Dan Nash and Owain Zerilli

The art of coaching - with David Chalfen

·1 hr 42 min·5 clips

David Chalfen says coaching is "people business," not just sessions and splits.

The show brings on David Chalfin. He is framed as one of the most respected coaches in the UK, working with athletes just below the pro level, with runners going sub-14 for 5Ks, 28-minute 10Ks, and half marathons in the low 62s. That alone says a lot about the level. The conversation looks at how running has changed over more than 20 years, how his coaching approach has shifted as more of it has moved online, and how race culture in Europe and the UK has changed around those shifts. It stays grounded. Instead of getting lost in polished theory, it spends time on what coaches actually do with athletes, how they judge improvement, and why the club scene still matters even as the sport gets more digital. Lab testing comes up. The discussion does not dismiss it, but it keeps asking whether the data leads to a better training decision or just fills a spreadsheet. That is the useful part. Chalfin and the hosts talk through why thresholds can often be estimated well from race pace and long experience, especially when an athlete has been in the sport for years. The limits show up too. At the elite end, two athletes can look similar on performance and still get there through very different physiological routes, whether that is a bigger VO2 max with less efficiency or the opposite. Nothing is tidy. That is part of the appeal, because the show keeps checking assumptions instead of pretending coaching is a clean formula with one right answer. The club scene gets its own time. Chalfin talks about how teams, road relays, and the old social side of racing still matter, even if they have to fit around work and real life. The sport has changed. So has the way runners are coached, but the episode keeps circling back to the same practical question: what actually helps an athlete get faster without wasting time. It ends on the human part. The value is in the mix of experience, skepticism, and simple day-to-day coaching logic that only shows up when people are talking honestly about training.

As heard by us

A grounded look at coaching where small gains, practical judgment, and usable data matter.

The episode keeps its focus on David Chalfin and the coaching work that sits just below the pro level, which gives the discussion a useful, practical shape.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want coaching talk between club life and threshold work.

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