PODCASTS, CONVERSATIONS & WRITING
Coaching involves a great deal of listening, questioning, reading, and learning.
Whether you’re looking for a specific training topic or simply enjoy thinking more deeply about endurance sport, I hope you’ll find something useful here.
Not sure where to begin? Browse conversations based on what you’re interested in.
Elizabeth has contributed to numerous conversations through the Another Mother Runner community, discussing the practical and personal sides of endurance training.
These episodes reflect her experience as both a coach and an athlete, including the challenges of balancing training with a full life, making sound decisions, and continuing to develop over time.
Coach Liz co-hosts a conversation with Mike Reilly, the longtime Voice of Ironman, and Sarah Wassner Flynn, his co-author on Finding Your Finish Line. Liz opens with what makes racing at Kona special. Then the authors share how Mike’s famous finish-line call came to be, the stories behind the book, and why naming your fears and taking small, intentional steps matters.
Coach Liz and Sarah welcome Angie and Trevor Spencer of Marathon Training Academy for a practical guide to 26.2. They cover when you’re ready to take it on, how to manage training anxiety, why a “fed” runner is a better runner, and how to pace both training and race day.
Heat physiologist Christopher Minson, Ph.D., of the University of Oregon joins Coach Liz and Sarah to explain what heat does to the body and how to train and race smarter when temperatures climb. One surprising takeaway: heat training should start in midwinter.
Coach Liz and Sarah talk with Coach Dimity McDowell and three participants about the Grand Traverse, a one-day trail event in Duluth where you choose your own distance and pace. They cover how to train for a long day on your feet, how hiking 21 miles compares with running a half marathon, fueling on the trail, and the power of companionship.
Sport psychologist Dr. Erin Ayala joins Coach Liz and Sarah with practical strategies for getting your brain on board with training. She also explains why “scary, joyful, and new” challenges are worth pursuing. It’s useful whether you’re preparing for a first 10K or a world championship.
Practical considerations for endurance performance when temperatures rise.
Practical ways to work with the mental demands of running and challenging training sessions.
Why recovery matters to adaptation and how athletes can better balance training stress with the time needed to absorb it.
How perfectionism can influence the athlete experience and the value of developing more flexible expectations.
A conversation about returning to the full IRONMAN distance after nine years away, including preparation, training decisions, and race execution.
How to approach a return to running with patience, appropriate progression, and realistic expectations.
A conversation about participation, belonging, and the experiences of runners across different performance levels.
A discussion about evaluating priorities and approaching a new training year with clear, realistic goals.
What athletes can learn from activities outside their primary sport and how new experiences can broaden athletic development.
A discussion about training, family responsibilities, and finding space for athletic goals.
A look at deep-water running as a training option and how athletes may incorporate it into their routines.
Coach Liz talks with Coach Michelle Lake about her years in endurance sport as a competitor, coach and business owner, how her coaching approach has evolved, and building something that lasts.
Coach Liz joins Dr. Carrie Pagliano to talk about coaching female athletes across life stages: pregnancy and postpartum return to sport, fueling, strength training, and raising young female athletes with healthy relationships to their bodies.
Not everything that makes us better athletes comes from training.
Books can change how we understand motivation, learning, performance, relationships, and the choices we make. They can also challenge assumptions we’ve carried for years.
In Miles of Books, Elizabeth Waterstraat and Sarah Bowen Shea explore books and the ideas they bring into endurance sport and everyday life.
The conversations move beyond traditional training advice to consider how reading influences the way we think, coach, compete, and live.
Recorded in front of a live audience at the first FeistyFest, this episode explores Shawn Achor’s The Power of Beliefs. Coach Liz unpacks how self-belief, community, and gratitude shape performance, and she shares six strategies for changing the beliefs that hold athletes back.
Daniel Coyle’s Flourish is a book about meaning, joy, and connection. Coach Liz connects it to the athlete’s life: softening your grip, building deeper relationships with training partners, and practicing presence in the final miles of a race. Feeling fully alive turns out to be a skill you can train.
Coach Liz pulls four books off the shelf: Winning the Mental Game, Built to Finish, Inner Excellence, and Elite Minds. She discusses pre-race fear, how expectation shapes performance, and why excellence comes from incremental growth rather than perfection.
In a shift from her usual performance-focused picks, Coach Liz discusses Maya Shankar’s The Other Side of Change, a book about who we become when life makes other plans. She talks about the power of awe to get you out of your own head, ways to reframe time away from sport after an injury, and a garden metaphor from the book that stays with you.
What separates athletes who rise to the moment from those who shrink from it? Coach Liz breaks down Performing Under Pressure and explains how to see a big moment as a challenge rather than a crisis, and how to make a high-stakes moment feel smaller. She also tells the story of a solo pre-race pep talk in a port-a-potty.
Elizabeth Svoboda’s The Art of Pacing is about balancing short-term demands with long-term thriving. Coach Liz discusses choosing rest as a form of principled dissent. She also explains why the “struggle phase” at the start of a run or a project is normal, and why it’s not a sign to quit.
David Epstein’s Inside the Box argues that constraints make us better and that more freedom doesn’t mean more possibility. Coach Liz shares how that applies to training: cutting distractions during workouts to sharpen focus, and why limits can lead to better races. Plus, find out whether you’re a “satisficer” or a maximizer.
Nir Eyal’s Beyond Belief is about getting out of your own head and making forward progress. Coach Liz explains why beliefs aren’t facts, how anticipation affects what the body can do, and why stacking small wins builds the confidence big goals require.
Leslie John’s Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing makes the case that openness deepens connection. Coach Liz explains how sharing thoughts and feelings helps carry the emotional load of striving, what silence communicates, and why sharing makes us more human.
Jennifer Breheny Wallace’s Mattering is about the need to feel seen and to know we add value. Coach Liz talks about recognizing the difference you make, how she defines success, and the “impact file” she keeps for hard days.
Brad Stulberg’s The Way of Excellence argues that excellence feels more like ease than strain. Coach Liz explores why values matter, and how curiosity, discipline, and reflection help athletes, leaders, and parents keep growing. She also explains why this book stands out from the crowded personal-development shelf.
The first non-fiction episode of Miles of Books. Coach Liz dives into Olga Khazan’s Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change and what it means for athletes: why openness helps on race day, how conscientiousness supports consistent training, and how being a little more outgoing can deepen your connection to the sport. She also shares three more favorites on change and time: How to Change, Four Thousand Weeks, and Unwinding Anxiety.
A discussion about courage, possibility, and how people approach meaningful goals.
How asking better questions can influence learning, decisions, and personal development.
A conversation about small changes, experimentation, and developing sustainable habits.
Exploring mental performance, learning, and the process of developing skill.
A discussion about creativity, identity, and making room for meaningful pursuits.
Exploring purpose, priorities, and the decisions that support long-term goals.
A conversation about quiet, solitude, and the role of reflection in a busy life.
A discussion about purpose, direction, and personal growth.
Some ideas benefit from a conversation. Others deserve the space of a written piece.
Elizabeth’s contributions to Another Mother Runner and other publications explore training, racing, mindset, and the experiences that shape athletes over time.
Reflections on returning to Kona, preparation, competition, and lessons from the experience.
Considering how the pursuit of perfection influences the way athletes train, race, and evaluate themselves.
Reflections on a season of local sprint triathlons, competing as a masters athlete, and recognizing athletic accomplishments.
Questions about motivation, goals, and the broader role of running in an athlete’s life.
A reflection on change, growth, and reconsidering what matters.
Exploring pre-race nerves and ways athletes can respond to them constructively.
Practical considerations for preparing for and executing a marathon.
Considering the place of ambition and meaningful athletic goals in adult life.
A reflection on recovery, rest, and the importance of making space away from constant activity.
Elizabeth Waterstraat is the founder and head coach of Multisport Mastery, established in 2007.
She has spent 20 years coaching endurance athletes and 26 years participating in endurance sport as an athlete.
A USA Triathlon Level III Coach and five-time IRONMAN World Championship finisher, Elizabeth continues to train and compete as a masters athlete.
Her work focuses on individualized coaching, long-term development, athlete education, and the relationship between performance and the broader human experience.
Through writing and conversations, she explores questions that extend beyond workouts and race results, including how athletes learn, adapt, make decisions, and find meaning in sport.
Elizabeth is available for selected podcast conversations, interviews, articles, and educational events.
Topics may include triathlon and IRONMAN preparation, training and racing as a masters athlete, learning to swim as an adult, athlete development, coaching women, performance mindset, and the relationship between reading and sport.
For inquiries, please include your publication or podcast, intended audience, proposed topic, and timing.
Email: msmtricoach@gmail.com
