Final Surge Podcast

Welcome to Episode 59 of the Final Surge Podcast where today we welcome legendary coach Dennis Barker. Dennis was the long-time coach of Team USA Minnesota where his athletes achieved 75 top 3 finishes in US Championships and 29 different athletes made world championships teams. We talk about some fundamentals of training and his new book The River Road.   How did you get your start in running? You founded Team USA Minnesota in 2001, at that time there was Team Hanson, Mammoth, maybe Oregon Project around that time, how has that team aspect lead to a resurgence in American distance success? We were solid in the 70’s and 80’s, and we have had this resurgence, what happened in the 90’s where the US fell off the map so badly? USATF teaches a strict periodization where coaches such as Salazar do more year-round training, how have you seen that change? You mentioned you ran a lot of local races. If you look at local 5k/10k runners, how should they structure their year of training? How does a coach who has coached