From 4:18 To 3:59 In The Mile: How Riley Witt Built Bicarb 3.0 From His Dorm, The Talent Myth, And Why If You're Not Willing To Spend $2,000 On Your Running, You're Not Serious

THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST · May 19, 2026 · 59m

Website: ⁠bicarb.shop

Riley Witt doesn't think you need talent to break four minutes in the mile—he just thinks you need to want it bad enough to spend $35.

The Northwest Missouri State senior came on to break down the philosophy behind that take, and what followed was one of the more honest conversations about athletic ambition, economic reality, and the compounding edge of doing everything right.

Witt grew up in a class of 36 students in Osage, Iowa, ran a 4:40 mile his freshman year of high school, and genuinely believed that was fast.

He didn't have the training partners, the competition…