Barbara Powell

Season 12, Episode 30 | May 5, 2026 From defining what it means to push personal limits daily to recounting her iconic 2018 Boston Marathon victory, two-time Olympian Des Linden offers valuable insights into the mental and physical aspects of running. She offers strategies for balancing training, overcoming setbacks, and adapting to challenges, and she shares insights from her journey around staying disciplined and resilient.

I can’t say for certain where I first heard about the Life Time Leadville Trail 100 Run. As a high school and college runner, I had a faint idea that there was a subculture of runners who’d go for long, unbelievable-at-the-time distances. For someone who was training for the 5K on trails and the 800 meters on the track by running about 30 miles per week, I couldn’t fathom 100 miles in a week — let alone over the course of 24 hours.

In a perfect world, my fitness routine would look like this: Three or four 60- to 90-minute strength-training sessions each week 180 minutes of cardio each week (including one high-intensity workout and one long-duration endurance effort) 10,000 incidental steps each day (in addition to whatever cardio I might do) Two or three targeted mobility/neurobics sessions each week A daily outdoor walk within 30 minutes of waking up A daily bedtime yoga and meditation practice Seven to nine hours of...