Habits and Hustle

Episode 497: Nick Thompson: How Running 100 Miles Taught Him to Run a $13 Billion Media Empire

October 28, 2025

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  • Running serves as a powerful microcosm for life, teaching grit and providing mental clarity that translates directly into business success and habit formation. 
  • Nick Thompson's significant improvement in marathon times in his 40s was unlocked by overcoming a self-imposed mental limit set by his previous performance before illness. 
  • Consistent daily practice, even when facing daily obstacles, is the most crucial lesson learned from running that applies directly to achieving goals in business and life. 
  • The CEO of The Atlantic, Nick Thompson, attributes his success in growing the publication's subscribers from 800,000 to 1.35 million to rigorous paywall optimization driven by constant A/B testing of offers, meters, and traffic sources. 
  • Nick Thompson's strength training and mobility work comes primarily from functional, high-intensity play with his active sons, rather than traditional gym routines. 
  • Extreme endurance running culture can foster unhealthy body image standards, exemplified by coaches telling athletes to look like "a skeleton with a condom on," which contributes to eating disorders and physical breakdown in young athletes. 

Segments

Introduction and Guest Credentials
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(00:00:01)
  • Key Takeaway: Nick Thompson is the CEO of The Atlantic and an American record holder in the 50K for runners 45+.
  • Summary: Nick Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, is introduced as the American record holder in the 50K for his age group and the top-ranked 50-mile runner for 45+ this year. He is also the author of the memoir, The Running Ground, which connects running lessons to life and business. The segment begins with a sponsor plug for Magic Mind performance shots.
Father’s Influence on Running
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(00:02:09)
  • Key Takeaway: Thompson’s initial introduction to running at age five was driven by his father using the sport to cope with personal turmoil.
  • Summary: Thompson began running with his father in the late 1970s/early 1980s as his father trained for a marathon while his life was falling apart. His vivid memory includes watching his father run the 1982 New York Marathon, which deeply impacted him emotionally. The father’s background involved escaping poverty in Oklahoma for elite education before facing career and personal crises.
Running as a Life Microcosm
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(00:05:34)
  • Key Takeaway: The realization that self-imposed mental limits dictate performance spurred Thompson to write his book exploring running’s life lessons.
  • Summary: Thompson realized he plateaued at a (2:43) marathon time for a decade because he only aimed to match his pre-illness speed, not surpass it. Breaking this barrier led to a (2:29) marathon in his 40s, highlighting that mental limits often outweigh physical capacity. Running is viewed as a microcosm for life, teaching grit through enduring hard things.
Running’s Role in Confidence and Identity
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(00:08:15)
  • Key Takeaway: For Thompson, running became a source of confidence and social acceptance after being cut from the high school basketball team.
  • Summary: Thompson views running as a simple activity that forces deep introspection, making it a powerful tool for understanding oneself. His second entry into running occurred in high school after being cut from all basketball teams, finding success and acceptance through track. He acknowledges a genetic predisposition for long-distance running due to his lean body type.
Injury Prevention via Posture Training
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(00:13:14)
  • Key Takeaway: The Alexander Technique, learned to treat debilitating guitar wrist pain, provided Thompson with posture adjustments that prevent running injuries.
  • Summary: Thompson suffered severe wrist pain from playing guitar, which was resolved quickly by learning the Alexander Technique, a posture training method. He applies these body-holding principles to his running form, which he credits for his durability over 25 years of running. He also advocates for alternating running shoes to vary physical stress distribution.
Training Smarter in Later Years
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(00:48:28)
  • Key Takeaway: Thompson achieved his fastest marathon time in his 40s by implementing a structured training plan involving specific weekly workouts targeting VO2 max and lactic threshold.
  • Summary: After his father’s death, Thompson began working with coaches at age 43 to systematically improve his speed beyond his previous plateau. His training included three hard days per week: Tuesday for VO2 max repeats, Thursday for lactic threshold work (e.g., 4x2 miles), and a long run of 20-22 miles on the weekend. This structured approach reset his mental barriers against running faster paces.
Mental Strategies for Endurance Racing
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(00:45:05)
  • Key Takeaway: Ultra-endurance racing requires switching between dissociation (enjoying the process) and intense focus (maintaining a specific pace) depending on the race goal.
  • Summary: During a 100K race, Thompson learned to turn off his data monitoring and dissociate by imagining he was a child running in the woods to manage the overwhelming distance. Conversely, when attempting a record in a 50-miler, he locked into a narrow focus, using mantras like ‘one, two, three’ to maintain balance and concentration as his body failed.
Marathon Training to Ultra Prep
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(00:49:13)
  • Key Takeaway: Marathon speed was built by mentally resetting fear thresholds through high-intensity, short-distance workouts.
  • Summary: Nick Thompson used structured workouts like 4x2 miles or 2x3 miles, followed by long runs up to 22 miles, to improve both physical and mental capacity. Coaches used short, fast intervals (under five minutes per mile) to make the sub-six-minute marathon pace feel less intimidating. This training culminated in a (2:29) marathon before transitioning to ultra-marathon training.
Unconventional Cross-Training Revealed
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(00:50:23)
  • Key Takeaway: Consistent, functional movement through play, not formal strength training, prevented Nick Thompson’s running injuries for over a decade.
  • Summary: A physical therapist noted Thompson had not missed a workout in 12 years despite doing no formal strength or mobility work. His cross-training consisted entirely of active play with his sons, including wrestling, soccer, and parkour. As his sons aged, this evolved into weightlifting alongside them, such as spotting his 11-year-old on the bench press.
CEO Daily Habits and Diet
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(00:54:31)
  • Key Takeaway: Nick Thompson maintains a strict pescatarian diet focused on whole foods, nuts, seeds, and green juice to fuel his high-volume running.
  • Summary: Thompson starts his day with oats mixed with chia seeds, flaxseed, nuts, fruit, coffee, and green juice for breakfast. Lunch and dinner focus on salads, vegetables, and protein sources, adhering to a pescatarian approach. He acknowledges the necessity of consuming carbohydrates to support his intense running schedule.
The Atlantic Subscription Growth Model
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(00:55:33)
  • Key Takeaway: The Atlantic’s profitability stems from prioritizing subscription revenue through meticulous paywall optimization and testing, rather than advertiser demands.
  • Summary: The Atlantic has grown from 800,000 to 1.35 million subscribers, shifting from losses to profitability primarily through subscription growth. The business model focuses on running massive tests to determine the optimal paywall placement, price points, and entry points based on traffic source (Google, Twitter, newsletter). The core editorial strategy remains hiring top journalists to write what they believe is best, then building the business model around getting readers to pay for that content.
Signal Chat Scandal Subscriber Spike
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(01:01:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Editor-in-Chief Jeff Goldberg’s accidental inclusion in a secret White House Signal chat drove tens of thousands of new subscriptions to The Atlantic.
  • Summary: The story of Jeff Goldberg being mistakenly added to a White House Signal chat drove significant subscription numbers. Thompson theorizes the error occurred because Michael Waltz saved Goldberg’s initials as ‘JG’ instead of his full name, leading to him being added instead of the intended trade representative, Jamison Greer. Goldberg handled the situation by leaving the chat upon realizing classified information was being discussed, reporting the story meticulously, and calling the White House for comment, which reflected positively on the institution when the White House later denied the story’s accuracy.
Ultra Running and Lifespan Debate
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(01:09:21)
  • Key Takeaway: The theory that exercise shortens lifespan by depleting a fixed number of heartbeats is countered by the fact that exercise lowers resting heart rate, creating a complex balance.
  • Summary: The discussion addressed Donald Trump’s theory that humans have a fixed number of heartbeats, suggesting excessive exercise could shorten life. Thompson noted that while intense exercise raises the heart rate during activity, the resulting lower resting heart rate might offset this over a lifetime. Furthermore, extreme fitness can mask poor lifestyle habits, and excessive training may increase risks like atrial fibrillation, though the net benefit of endurance exercise is likely positive.
Dark Side of Elite Running Culture
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(01:16:35)
  • Key Takeaway: Elite running culture often pressures athletes, particularly women, toward dangerously low body weights, leading to injuries, hormonal issues, and eating disorders.
  • Summary: Thompson recounted a coach’s instruction to weigh two pounds per inch, making him feel 19 pounds overweight at 165 lbs as a lean runner. He cited coach Mark Wetmore telling runners to look like a ‘skeleton with a condom on,’ which is psychologically damaging, especially for young female athletes who suffer broken bones and amenorrhea. While leanness aids speed in events like the marathon, ultra-running favors slightly more muscle mass, and women show an advantage over men in races exceeding 200 miles due to fat storage.
Journalistic Feats and Friendships
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(01:23:16)
  • Key Takeaway: Nick Thompson maintained a long correspondence with Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, initially by asking about George Kennan, leading to deep personal revelations.
  • Summary: Thompson’s most interesting reporting involved developing a friendship with Svetlana Alliluyeva, who was living anonymously in a Wisconsin nursing home. He initiated contact by inquiring about her acquaintance, George Kennan, which led to hundreds of letters detailing her complex life, including her father sending her boyfriend to the Gulag. He was only able to publish the story after her death, revealing a fascinating perspective on the Cold War era.