“You just watched an attempted murder,” says Graham Blanks as he catches his breath on a pole vault mat at the Harvard University indoor track.
His coach, Alex Gibby, prescribed Blanks a lengthy session. Three sets of 12 minutes at threshold pace (4:49 to 4:40 mile pace), followed by four fast 300-meter reps on the track. Blanks ripped the last interval in 41.9 seconds.
The 2023 NCAA Cross-Country champion—along with his teammate, Maia Ramsden—is the subject of an episode of the new running YouTube channel TRACK: All-Access.
The channel is the latest project from Gordon Mack, who spent the previous decade working at FloTrack and MileSplit, where he wrote articles, covered meets on-site, and co-hosted the FloTrack Podcast. Last year, after a career change, Mack got the idea of doing weekly workout videos. Now, he’s diving head-first into the venture, traveling across the country to create content with some of the biggest names in running.
Mack posted his first video—3-mile repeats with marathoners Conner Mantz and Clayton Young—to popular reception. Since then, he’s been releasing at least one episode every week and has featured the likes of Northern Arizona University stand-out Nico Young, high school star JoJo Jourdon, and 1500-meter Olympian Elle St. Pierre.
So far, he says it’s been a success.
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised and blessed and happy and thankful that people are responding positively,” Mack says. “When you start something, you have in your head the idealistic response, but you actually don’t know if it’s gonna happen until you put it out there. And fortunately, people seem to really like the content.”
Mack plans on releasing videos every Tuesday morning, but for the first few weeks, he’s uploading another video on Thursdays to give the channel some momentum. So far, TRACK: All-Access has over 7,000 subscribers, and the workout video with Nico Young has racked up more than 83,000 views.
While YouTube comments can quickly become crude, viewers seem to welcome Mack’s content. Sometimes they’ll offer feedback or encourage Mack to film episodes with specific teams. Some users have even joked that workout videos are prophetic.
“Babe wake up! All Access just posted another workout video 🥳 🤩” @sofodachimp2776
“Thank you for the back stage pass. I feel so honored to be part of this team.” @deviljames
“I’m starting to think track all access has the script” @orangepeanutyguy6569
The essence of the channel is in its name: access. Mack believes that track and field fans—himself included—crave more behind-the scenes content from athletes, outside of competition or media appearances. “We love watching them race, run records, and win championships,” he says. “But we also really love to see how they did it. And a lot of that is not really shown.”
After working in the running industry for over a decade, Mack has accumulated a rolodex of contacts with professional athletes and coaches. So far, the videos have focused on distance runners, but Mack plans on incorporating sprinters and field events into the mix as well.
Along with access, Mack wants the videos to be in-depth. Instead of editing the raw footage down into highlights, he prefers to show every rep of a session— even the more monotonous parts—to paint a full picture of training. The relationships between the athletes and their coaches are just as important, too. “[I’m] trying to give the user a viewpoint as if they got to watch the practice in full time for that full hour-and-a-half session,” he says.
Mack is a one-man show so far. He films and edits the entirety of the videos, and he has to get creative sometimes to keep up with the runners. When he was initially filming Conner Mantz for a workout in Provo, Utah, Mack sped alongside him on a bike—until he got a flat tire. He came back two days later with a car.
Although TRACK: All Access is still in its infancy, this isn’t a part-time job for Mack—this is his life for the foreseeable future. He plans on supporting the channel with YouTube advertising revenue, as well as working with brands on potential sponsorships down the line. Consistency is a cornerstone of the channel, and Mack plans to keep his output high.
“At the end of the day, it’s a very simple concept,” he says. “It’s workout videos with the best elite athletes in the varying degrees of our sport and the varying disciplines of our sport. And, hopefully, if I put out good content, people will like it.”
TRACK: All-Access tentative schedule
February 15—Boston University men (Distance)
February 20—Sophia Gorriaran (Harvard)
February 22—Northern Arizona University men (Distance)
February 27—BYU men (Distance)
February 29—Northern Arizona University women (Distance)
March 5—Kenzie Doyle (UMass Lowell)
March 7—Arizona State University men (Sprints)
March 12—Courtney Wayment/Anna Camp Bennett (Taylor Made Elite)
Theo Kahler is the news editor for Runner’s World. He is a former all-conference collegiate runner who’s based in Easton, PA. Previously, he worked as the newsletters editor at Runner's World, Bicycling, and Popular Mechanics.
