The Athletic Philosopher Podcast

Episode 72:The Two Types of Endurance Athletes - Space vs. Chase

This is a straight up philosophizing episode that took a sharp turn into a talk with myself about my upcoming jump into the world of endurance triathlon competition.
Coming out of my last 50 mile race, I started thinking about what kind of person gravitates towards these ultra endurance events. Thinking about myself and Tribal Training head coach and founder Ryan Dreyer helped my come up with two frames, the endurance athlete who's addicted to the 'chase' and the one who needs it for the opening up of 'space.'
But as I went through the different sketches of these general characters, I realized in real time that this is actually a podcast about my own internal dialogue about reticence about entering into a new arena for myself, one I've long thought was just 'not for me.'
So in the end, this podcast is an excellent example of how making meaning through the training ends up revealing tremendous lessons of self while giving you the clear path forward on how you can improve current limits by training and competing from the heart! Basically I end up coaching myself the same way I coach my guys, how cool!
If you are interested in fitness and life coaching opportunities you can contact me here: drjordanbgoldstein@phyaacademy.com
Follow me on Social Media: X (Twitter) / Substack
Apply to join Team Tribal here: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training 

Episode 71: Why the heart knows the Truth and how training helps you find it

This is another direct response episode to a conversation I started on social media about the difference between the mind searching for truth and the heart knowing the Truth. 
I dive deep into why the center of your body must be the place that points towards meaning and break down why the mind cannot be the one that's providing the aim in this crucial area of your life. 
The element of physically training the body from a spiritual perspective gives you a perfect way to understand how this relationship between these parts of your being must interact to give you holistic health in body, mind, and spirit. 
From my perspective as a coach, athlete, and philosopher I've seen too often how people get tripped up by the shortcuts of the mind in finding purpose and meaning in life. This is how you get things straight. 
To inquire about my coaching options, either 1-1 or group contact me here: https://www.phyaacademy.com/pages/contact
Follow me on Social Media: Twitter (X) / Substack 

Episode 70: Personal Transcendence through Sport Interview: The unrecognizable Jason Parker and the Oracle Rumble 50 miler

This is the second interview in my new series "Personal Transcendence Through Sport" and I'm excited for everyone to hear the story of Jason Parker who found a familiar yet unknown version of himself through conquering the Oracle Rumble 50 miles trail ultra we ran together on Jan 31, 2026 with 11 of our Tribal Training Teammates.
Hear how this one moment is the culmination of years of intentional work to improve himself as a father, husband, and fitness coach through dedicating himself to athletic pursuit. 
Get inspired by his breakthrough and how it's rippling through every aspect of his life and get some of that FIRE for yourself by playing sports you love and competing for the love of the game and the challenge of self it presents you.
Follow Jason here: Twitter / Substack 
Listen to his NSD Podcast Episode here: Spotify / Apple
Inquire about Jason's coaching here: https://www.cyclestridetraining.com/
Follow Jordan here: Twitter / Substack
Inquire about Jordan's coaching here: https://www.phyaacademy.com/pages/contact

Episode 69: Personal Transcendence Through Sport Interview - Phil Lee, Life by Design, and the Oracle Rumble 50 Mile Ultra

The first interview of 2026 kicks off a new series I'm hoping to bring to the Athletic Philosopher and there's no better first guest that Phil Lee. The series aims to bring on people who have seen their lives break open through athletic pursuit, real stories of transcending themselves by taking on big physical challenges in sport.
Phil Lee is the creator and owner of ENAK Seasonings, a bi-vocational pastor, endurance athlete extraordinaire (2x IronMan), and a teammate of mine on Tribal Training. He served our team at our latest Team Ultra at the Oracle Rumble 50 milers in Arizona by being our full time chef and crew member.
In this discussion, we explore a central theme of Phil's life, trusting his internal compass to push forward into the scary unknown instead of staying in the comfortable, yet miserable known. We talk training, building businesses, travelling the world, and what he experienced firsthand serving the team as part of his own journey.
Follow Phil on X (https://x.com/PhilipLee_ENAK) and Substack (https://trustthecompass.substack.com/) and go pick up all his seasonings (https://enakflavors.com/)
Follow Jordan on X (https://x.com/JB_Goldstein) and Substack (https://jordanbgoldstein.substack.com/) and reach out here for coaching inquiries (https://www.phyaacademy.com/pages/contact)
 

Episode 68: On Competition and why adult athletes have no choice but the compete

After a spirited discussion on the value and utility of competition in adults athletics in my Temple coaching group I decided to bring out the big guns and make a full and passioned argument on behalf of getting into the game out of necessity.
This is especially important for adult athletes who don't want to get caught back up in the world of chasing goals, outcomes, and achievements for their own sake through athletic competition and would rather exercise as a means of personal expression, artistic creativity, and self improvement. 
I discuss the ways in which we should instead view the competition as a chance to prove our characters and how we develop them through the training. The competition is connected intimately to the ways in which we know ourselves through the training by testing us in ways the training cannot. 
So instead of training to compete, we instead compete so we can train more fully aware and alive. Let's keep winning together team! 

Episode 67: The Meaning of Completing My First Solo Ultramarathon

We're back with the first episode of 2026! 
Come along for the ride as I recap the Frozen Gnome winter 50K trail race I completed on January 10, 2026 and how I'm able to use the race result as a measuring stick for personal development and character growth.
I took on my first solo race as a way to attempt to better understand and harmonize elements of selflessness and selfishness that at times battle eachother intensely inside my mind. My history in racing has seen me give away my own physical potential to help guide and coach others along the way, but started to become a crutch that allowed me to shrug off 'going all in' on performance. 
In this race, I got great information on how I can better balance these two desires in my life outside the arena, in business, coaching, parenting, and of course back to training. 
My race recaps are lighter on the 'what happened' and heavy on 'why it matters,' a perfect entry into 2026 and using training as a vehicle of self discovery on the path towards self mastery. 
Let's keep winning together team!
For all coaching inquiries, 1-1 and group coaching, contact me here: https://www.phyaacademy.com/pages/contact 

Episode 66: The Recap of the 'off the couch' fast and smooth snow marathon

In this episode I recap the events of my 'off the couch' fast and smooth marathon attempt from December 4, 2025. 
Tale of the Tape: 26.2 Miles (23 on snow) / 3 hr 57 min 11 second elapsed : 3 hr 54 min 58 second 'chip' / 18F (-8C) / Kid pickup 30 minutes after ending 
Come inside the effort as I go deep into how I took down a snow marathon in my own unique style. I break down the gear, the pacing, the fueling, the logistics, the mindset, the heartstance, and the takeaway lessons from a wild training effort en route to my first solo ultra marathon, a winter 50K in January. 
Leave inspired to craft your own creative and daring vision of what fitness inspired by your spirit and heart can become in your life. Be an artist in sport and use your body as the canvas to create beautiful experiences and expressions of self. I live it everyday and this was just one more piece for the portfolio. My hope is that you begin to view your fitness this way and begin making beautiful art of your own! 
Coaching inquires (1-1 and The Temple Group): https://www.phyaacademy.com/pages/contact)
Tribal Training inquiries: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training
 

Episode 65: Planning my 'off the couch' fast and smooth marathon (LIVE PODCAST)

This was a fun experiment in podcasting, my very first LIVE podcast that was streamed on Twitter as I recorded. I wanted to bring you inside of how I think about planning and executing improvised physical challenges that are just for me. 
I'm running an 'off the couch' fast and smooth marathon but winter has conspired to complicate the entire idea of why I wanted to do it. But as often happens, the true meaning emerges not in the ease but in the adversity that's in the way. Instead of lamenting that a certain 'time' can't be hit now and why bother with that, the struggle to just figure it out and give an honest go with your best effort is never off the table. 
And for me, that's what makes fitness fun. Not having everything perfect but having to make the good emerge out of the chaos of life. This is as inside my mind as I've gotten when it comes to how these wild challenges come about and how I figure out how to take them down.
Onward to 26.2 frozen miles! 

Episode 64: Inventing Sports Traditions from American Thanksgiving to the NHL in Utah

This episode I fall back into professor mode and take a deep page out of my old academic expertise, the connection of certain sports to certain national identities, to mine the meaning out of two big time sporting events I experience this week. The first was a Saturday Night hockey game in Utah and the second is the wave of NFL games played on the American Thanksgiving Holiday.
Come along for a journey through history and interpretation as I discuss the meaning of both ice hockey and American football as national sports, one looking to take root in a new environment (Utah) and the other deeply engrained in the national consciousness (football).
I end with a direct takeaway lesson as a coach who guides individuals, athletes, and the Temple Group I run through difficult new journey in their lives on how to successfully learn something new. Just as these traditions that we now know by heart had to be invented and learned, so to can you adopt successful approaches to getting fit, living by life by your own design, and breaking limits you believed impossible. 
This one was a ton of fun, hoping to bring more specific knowledge from my old professor days into future pods. 
If you are interested in contacting me with interest in coaching, individual or group, contact me here: https://www.phyaacademy.com/pages/contact
If you are interested in becoming an endurance athlete who plays with his heart and aims towards his best potential, join us at Team Tribal here: https://www.traintribal.com/tribal-training  

Episode 63: The 'Enter the Game' Method of Training

In this shorter episode I take you inside one of the coolest methods of training I've created for myself as an athletic artist. This 'Enter the Game' method is a perfect way to calibrate the tension between the measures of training and the meaning of training.
It's a way to hold yourself accountable to a high standard of progressing in your sport while also taking the pressure off having to be 'on' for hard workouts when the body and life aren't priming you up for a good day in the arena. 
I describe how this method evolved from my interest and how I use it during my runs to not only ensure I'm getting better, but that I'm always allowing my enjoyment of the activity to be at the forefront of as many training sessions as possible.
If you are interested in learning this method and being guided on how to incorporate it into your own fitness rituals contact me and let's discuss what coaching option would be best for you: https://www.phyaacademy.com/pages/contact
If you want to consume more of my creative work, head on over to my Substack and become a subscriber and don't miss the 4-5 articles I produce each week: https://jordanbgoldstein.substack.com/