Run Fast, Run Forever Presented by Lever Movement Episode 04: Under Armour Coach, Cory Leslie's Guide to Creating a Sustainable and Fit Distance Program
Host - Brad Miles
Guest - Cory Leslie, Head Coach UA Mission Run Distance Team
How does a distance coach transform a group of individual athletes into a cohesive and successful running team? Cory Leslie, the head coach of the Under Armour Mission Run Distance Team in Baltimore, Maryland, walks us through the beginnings of this professional team, their journey to success, and the guiding philosophy: consistent effort yields results over time.
Cory shares how the Under Armour team was formed, why Baltimore was chosen for training, and how Under Armour's excellent facilities and wellness team have been crucial. He breaks down the steps to building a winning running team from the ground up.
Team dynamics, the critical balance between training and health, and recent indoor season triumphs underline the conversation, with personal bests and notable performances signaling the team's rising trajectory. Cory emphasizes the Lever system's integral role in both rehabilitation and daily training and recovery, advising athletes to embrace such innovations to stay competitive.
Tune into this episode of “Run Fast, Run Forever” to hear Cory share his ambitions for the Boston Marathon, the buzz around the team's outdoor season, and their journey towards the Olympics. Discover training insights on achieving excellence and innovation in running.
Quotes:
- “I think our success comes down to putting the right people in place. We're a very selfish sport. We are a sport where, ultimately, your goals and your dreams, you have to be a bit selfish with that. So it was pleasantly surprising to the guys that care about each other's success as much as they do to see them excited and feed off of the things that each other are doing. And so when we have that, that's when we kind of took off.” (11:56 | Cory Leslie)
- “As a coach, when you're kind of nitpicking and splitting hairs and trying to find those additional 1%, you're in a really good place. And so for us, it's not necessarily reinventing the wheel. It's just building off of what we've done in the past and learning from some of those things that I wish I would have done a little bit differently as a coach last year, putting those in place this year and not getting too carried away. No matter how excited I get when these guys start to exceed expectations and race results, staying the course, I think it kind of keeps me in check now too, and not getting too carried away and throwing more of these guys than what we had maybe initially planned. Because if what we're doing is working, if we stay the course and we stay healthy and we keep checking the box, we don't need to hit home runs. We just check the box every day.” (18:22 | Cory Leslie)
- “If you're the one feeling good that day and other people aren't, it's your job to pull your teammates along and make sure that they're getting through things you know as well. And then you're going to have a day where you need to rely on them to do it for you.” (24:16 | Cory Leslie)
- “When I say we're running 115 miles, it's 115 miles in 9 days for some of our guys. 20 of those miles are on the Lever. It's not because they aren’t healthy and they are coming back from an injury. It's because we know it's going to keep us healthy.” (29:26 | Cory Leslie)
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