At age 75, legendary coach and Olympian Jeff Galloway is almost as famous for walking as he is for running. Jeff says his run-walk-run method of training enables people to run longer and faster with much less risk of injury, and his half a million followers agree.
In this episode, Jeff talks about how he developed his walk/run technique and how everyone from absolute beginners to the fastest runners can benefit from it. He also shares with Coach Claire how he’s getting more steps in while working from home, how runners can stay motivated during the pandemic, what his Magic Mile is and how to use it for training, and what he’s doing at age 75 to ensure he can keep running until age 100 and beyond.
Not only is there a lot to be learned from Jeff in this interview, but he also has a new book out called Galloway’s 5K/10K Running, Training for Runners & Walkers. The book describes Jeff’s Run Walk Run method and how it can be used to reduce aches and pains and fatigue while improving race times. It includes training plans, easy-to-read advice on medical checkups, nutrition for runners, fat-burning workouts, choosing the right running shoes, how to stay motivated, and a race day checklist. The book is definitely a great tool for runners at any level!
Jeff worked his way from being an average teenage runner to an Olympian. His book Galloway’s Book on Running is the best selling running book in North America. He also wrote columns for Runner's World for 20-plus years, he’s an international running and fitness speaker, and as a coach, has helped 400,000-plus average people train for their goals. His Run Walk Run marathon training program boasts an impressive 98% success rate.
Questions Jeff is asked:
3:35 At this point in your career, you are almost as famous for walking as you are for running! Can you talk about what you love about walking in general and its benefits for runners?
9:09 How would you recommend all of us who are working from home get more transition time between sitting at our computers and running and get more steps in? How do we get our work done and still get in all our steps?
10:51 Maybe because we’re all stuck at home and the gyms are closed, I see more people in my neighborhood than ever out walking, out running, out doing things, people you’d never see before. So what advice would you give to someone just starting out?
14:58 Should runners of all levels use walking in their training and racing? What’s your opinion on intermediate-to-advanced runners?
16:12 I’m a steady runner. I run even splits no matter what, and in the last marathon that I was in, there was somebody next to me who was leapfrogging me. And he was running super fast and then he would walk, and then I’d pass him, and he’d run super fast and then he would walk. And this is at a sub-three-hour marathon pace, and so I was just like, “That is pretty impressive to see someone doing that,” because in order to get to the finish line in the same time as me, his run section would have to be significantly faster to make up for the walking. So I thought that was very interesting.
17:32 Is there a proper technique to walking or can you just go out and walk like you always do?
18:43 The walk in the run/walk method is not just a stroll; this is a walk with purpose?
19:42 Let's talk about the Magic Mile. What is so magic about it and how do you use it for training?
22:03 So you just go out, you run a mile as fast as you can, and then you pop it into a calculator. Is that it for the Magic Mile?
23:53 When I use the Magic Mile calculator on your site, my predicted marathon time is far slower than what I actually could run for the marathon. Can you explain this?
25:21 My Magic Mile calculator result could just mean that I’m bad at short distances and better at long distances, right?
25:43 In a recent podcast, I asked leaders in the running community what they did to continue running for life, and I actually got somebody wanting to know what you do. They asked for you specifically, so I would love to hear your thoughts on how you’re going to keep running to 100 and beyond.
30:16 A lot of runners and walkers really look forward to having a race on their calendar, and with 2020 being as crazy as it has been, not all of us have those races on the calendar. How would you talk to those people who really get motivated by races when there aren’t any?
33:43 What is next for you?
Questions I ask everyone:
36:40 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
38:57 What is the greatest gift running has given you?
39:55 Where can listeners connect with you?
“There are a lot of people that won’t start running unless you tell them, ‘Well, just walk. Give it a try.’ And then if they’re interested, I offer them a proven way to add small segments of jogging or shuffling in a 30-second to 60-second timeframe so that they gradually introduce the body to the running motion. And I found that almost anybody can get into running, get all the benefits, and not have aches and pains if they have the right Run Walk Run.”
“If you want to walk, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with walking. You honestly are not going to get the brain benefits that you get even from five seconds of running at a time.”
“If runners want to run faster in races, then it’s definitely a good idea to put the walk breaks in.”
“The whole thing about running as you get older is all based on what your body part can handle that’s getting irritated, and I call those weak links. We all have weak links and we have to be attentive to them, and at the first irritation of a weak link, you back off, you treat it, and you go on.”
Take a Listen on Your Next Run
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Jeff Galloway | The official site of Run-Walk-Run
Book: Galloway's 5K/10K Running, Training for Runners and Walkers
Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community
https://www.precisionhydration.com/
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We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
Elevating American Distance Running: Ben Rosario
Ben Rosario is the head coach of the HOKA Northern Arizona Elite. His athletes have been wildly successful in recent years, with the most notable being Aliphine Tuliamuk's win at the 2020 US Olympic Trials. His athletes Stephanie Bruce and Kellyn Taylor also finished in the top ten of that race, and on the men's side, Scott Fauble, a 2:09 marathoner, came in 12th.
In this episode, Coach Claire talks to Ben about the Olympic Marathon Trials, focusing on how well his female athletes did, how HOKA NAZ treats female athletes, especially in light of the Nike Oregon Project, and why he thinks so many female runners are still posting PRs well into their 30s. Ben also shares some great coaching advice, his training philosophy, and his insight into why so many world records have been posted during COVID.
At the time of this recording, Ben was preparing for The Marathon Project held on December 20. Coach Claire asks Ben for his predictions and will post the results here in the show notes following the race.
Like many coaches, Ben started out as an accomplished runner himself as a member of the Hansons Brooks team and he competed in the Olympic Trials twice before turning to coaching full time.
In his six+ years with Northern Arizona Elite, Ben’s athletes have won U.S. National Titles in cross country and on the roads at 10k, the half marathon and the 25k, as well as New Zealand National Titles on the track and the roads.
HOKA NAZ Elite athletes have recorded 8 top-10 finishes at World Marathon Majors.The team has been represented at the World Cross Country Championships, the World Half Marathon Championships, and at the World Track and Field Championships.
His athletes have also competed at the European Athletics Championships, the Great Edinburgh International XC Meet, the NACAC Cross Country Championships, the NACAC Track Championships, the Pan American Cup Cross Country Meet and the Pan American Games.
In 2016, the team produced two sixth-place finishes at the Olympic Trials Marathon and two fourth-place finishes in the 10,000 meters at the Olympic Track and Field Trials. At the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials, four HOKA NAZ Elite athletes posted top 20 finishes, including three in the top eight in the women’s race led by Aliphine Tuliamuk–the Trials Champion.
Questions Ben is asked:
4:19 2020 has been pretty crazy for everyone in the world but specifically for the team that you lead, Northern Arizona Elite. Let's go back in time to February when you were getting ready for the Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta. Can you take us back there and recap what you were thinking?
5:10 Atlanta is a pretty tough course with all the hills. Obviously that was not a problem for at least your female athletes.
5:28 Your athlete, Aliphine Tuliamuk, won the women's race and was planning to head to Tokyo when the world shut down. What was that like as her coach?
6:41 I would love to talk to you about Aliphine Tuliamuk’s recent announcement that she is pregnant and due in January. As her coach, I’m sure she came to you and said, “Hey, Ben, this is what I’m going to do.” What was that conversation like?
7:26 How tough was it keeping Aliphine’s pregnancy a secret?
8:33 You are quite experienced in elite mom runners. Several women on your team are moms and are still just killing it. I would love to talk about Kellyn Taylor, Stephanie Bruce. I would love to talk about Stephanie for a minute. She is almost 37 years old and still getting PRs in the 10K. How is that possible?
10:14 It didn’t used to be so long ago that mid-30s was old for a runner but now that’s not the case, and I think maybe it has something to do with belief, too, seeing all these new great examples.
11:06 I want to keep going back to the women because you have been coaching some really great ones obviously, and American women are seeing a resurgence in endurance running. American men maybe not so much. Would you want to talk about that?
12:32 I want to talk to you about how women are treated in this sport. We’ve all heard about the crazy things with the Nike Oregon Project and how Kara Goucher was treated when she was pregnant. I don’t think that it’s going to be the same story with Hoka. I would love to have you share what you could say about how Hoka supports its female athletes.
15:06 I think you’re right that when all that came out about the Oregon Project that we thought as fans, “Oh. This is the way they’re all treated.” But it’s great to hear that that’s not the case.
15:34 Whenever I get a coach on, I love to talk about coaching advice to hopefully help someone who’s listening become a better runner. Do you have different training approaches for the kids who come straight out of college than you do for your veteran elite runners?
17:03 Let’s talk in a little bit more detail about the training advice. Most runners get the advice hard days are hard; easy days are easy. But then you throw in some medium days. I think that’s where a lot of recreational runners trip up is those medium days. Can you talk about those and what they’re for and how you use them?
19:22 You don’t always have to run your hardest, right?
20:11 You're also a fan of high mileage and I want to know what that means to you because as runners we all want to run as much as possible but clearly there’s a point when high is too high. So what is that point? Obviously it’s individual, but how does somebody know what is high for them? Where’s that sweet spot?
22:51 Besides your athletes, this year we've seen so many world-record breaking performances in 2020, which seems counterintuitive since there have been so few races, the world is not normal, and people can’t train the way they usually do. What do you attribute that to?
24:14 I’m sure the cynics would say the number of world-record breaking performances in 2020 are because of the shoes or because there’s not enough drug tests in COVID. What do you say about those kinds of things?
25:25 So you think there should be regulations on running shoes like them being available to the public or there’s a stack height, that kind of stuff; is that what you mean?
27:00 What's next for you and your athletes? How do you predict the running world will change in 2020?
28:29 This will probably air after the Marathon Project this weekend, but I would love to have you handicap it a little bit, tell us who’s all racing and what do you predict?
31:40 How many participants are there for the marathon?
Questions I Ask Everyone:
32:17 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
33:31 What is the greatest gift running has given you?
33:56 Where can listeners connect with you?
“I think what we’re learning is that women can run really well into their mid-to-late 30s, and we’re learning that not only from Steph but Shalane, Des, Kellyn, Molly Huddle; all kinds of women in the US and beyond are showing that in distance running, women keep getting better.”
“In general, my goal anyway is to keep people around here for a really long time. So we’re definitely taking a long-term approach and we’re not trying to necessarily throw everything at them right away. We’re trying to slowly add pieces over time, and you see that with the folks who have stayed with us for a long time just getting better and better and better and better, and that’s what we want.”
“I think uninterrupted training leads to great performances for anybody at any level.”
“The sport has a side to it now that is very technological. And so does golf. And so does swimming. And so does baseball, right? And every sport almost. And like all those other sports, we need to make sure that the playing field is fair.”
Take a Listen on Your Next Run
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https://www.precisionhydration.com/
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Is Nike too big to fail?
Matt Hart is a freelance journalist whose new book Win at all Costs investigates Nike’s Oregon Project, diving into its culture of cheating, lying, and misogyny. The book is a page-turning sports thriller reminiscent of a Shakespearean drama with one of the top coaches in the world felled by hubris.
Coach Claire talks to Matt about the rise and fall of former coach Alberto Salazar, if he is indeed a villain through and through, the win-at-all-costs mindset of sports today, how young athletes are affected, the women at Nike, if Nike has some redeeming qualities as an organization, and if most people even care about any of this. It’s a fascinating discussion that is sure to appeal to true crime fans!
Matt Hart’s writing covers sports science, human-powered adventure and exploration, performance-enhancing drugs, nutrition, and evolution. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, National Geographic Adventure, Outside, and Men’s Journal magazine, among others. His reporting on the investigations into Salazar appeared on the front page, above the fold, of The New York Times in May 2017. In addition to his access to the Gouchers, other sources for the book include former Nike employees, athletes, and coaches; famed sports-scientist and Oregon Project whistleblower Steve Magness; and Olympic marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter, among many others.
About Matt’s Book WIN AT ALL COSTS:
In May 2017, journalist Matt Hart received a USB drive containing a single file—a 4.7-megabyte PDF named “Tic Toc, Tic Toc. . . .” He quickly realized he was in possession of a stolen report prepared a year earlier by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). It was part of an investigation into legendary running coach Alberto Salazar, a Houston-based endocrinologist named Dr. Jeffrey Brown, and the cheating by Nike-sponsored runners. The file began Hart’s reporting on the Nike Oregon Project and led him to uncover a win-at-all-costs culture of greed, corporate malfeasance, and abuse.
WIN AT ALL COSTS is an explosive and revealing narrative depicting the deception and performance-enhancing drug use at the Nike Oregon Project. Hart writes richly detailed portraits of athletes Kara and Adam Goucher, Galen Rupp, and Mo Farah, as well as the coaches and doctors at the root of the cheating. The book recounts how the secretive program began to unravel when Steve Magness, an assistant coach to Salazar broke the code of silence by alerting USADA. He was followed by Olympians Adam and Kara Goucher who, risking their prosperous careers, became whistleblowers on their former Nike running family at headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.
Combining sports drama and corporate exposé, WIN AT ALL COSTS uncovers a relentless culture of deceit and drug misuse at Nike; as well as abuse of power, gender discrimination, medical malpractice, and systemic cheating at the highest levels of professional athletics. The book is also a cautionary tale about the excess of greed, corporate malfeasance, and the pushing of athletic boundaries. Deeply researched, unsettling, and ultimately entertaining, WIN AT ALL COSTS will astonish readers by the extremes that coaches and athletes will go to achieve athletic greatness—no matter the cost.
Questions Matt is asked:
3:20 On your website, you say that humans learn through storytelling. What made you want to tell the story of Nike and its infamous coach, Alberto Salazar?
4:28 Your new book, Win At All Costs, is a fascinating deep dive into the world of Nike, from its scrappy, rebel beginnings to the behemoth brand that it is today. Essentially, it's a "David becomes Goliath" story. How would you describe the changes that the company went through from its humble beginnings to today?
6:33 Let's talk about Alberto Salazar. When he started out as an athlete he became one of the greatest American marathoners, and then became an absolute legend as a coach. I was struck reading your book how Skakespearean he really is. He’s like this man in power brought down by his hubris. How would you describe him as an athlete, coach, and father?
10:18 It’s easy to paint Alberto Salazar as the evil cult leader who got everybody under his spell, but how do you see that? Obviously there were people complicit in it and athletes at the top of the sport, some of them are willing to do anything to get ahead too. So how do you see it? Do you see Alberto as just the evil cult leader or is it more complicated than that?
13:25 Galen Rupp was what, 15 or 16 when he began to be coached by Alberto? That’s a child, and you’re not really able to make decisions, especially when somebody who has a reputation like Alberto comes into your life and says, “Hey, I see something special in you. Let me take you under my wing.” I have a lot of sympathy for Galen Rupp. I know not everybody in the running community does, but I do. But he’s an adult now, so we’ll see what happens with his career.
15:12 It’s like you want to hate Nike for all of the things that they’ve done, but yet they also have the Bowerman Track Club which is like women supporting women. Shalane Flanagan is now one of the coaches there. If you look at them on Instagram, it’s just like picture perfect empowerment and everything that it’s supposed to be. It’s just like how can you have two things like that in the same town and in the same company?
17:56 It’s easy to kind of say, okay, Alberto was the bad apple, but we’ve got Jerry Schumacher and he’s the best, and he’s wonderful, and still that Nike is just that one guy. But a lot of the stuff you talk about goes higher up than just Alberto Salazar. It goes to everybody above him, and I thought that it was really eye opening when you talked about salaries. In the world of running, it’s very secretive how much pro runners make, and you were able to find out that Kara Goucher got paid $35,000 while her husband Adam got paid $90,000 when they joined. Can you talk about that and about why they were willing to tell you that?
20:11 Compared to just about any other professional sport, coaches’ salaries all seemed incredibly low. And maybe it’s because obviously running doesn’t bring in the money that the NFL does. We don’t sit around watching running, at least not too many people do, which still I think is very bizarre that there’s millions and millions of runners in the United States and yet track and field and running is not that interesting to people. Why do you think that is? Why doesn’t running have the fan base that baseball or the NFL or something like that does?
22:24 I coach a lot of athletes and many of them just simply aren’t interested in what the elites do. And this leads me to my question for you. This whole scandal with the Nike Oregon Project, has it affected Nike at all as far as sales? People are still buying their shoes, right?
24:28 Nike is still paying for the defense of Alberto Salazar. Any insight on why?
26:13 Did you interview Mary Cain for the book?
26:57 Alberto was a son figure and a father figure and so many of the athletes say that, “He’s like a father. I love… “ Even Kara Goucher was like, “He’s a father figure to me. He’s the best,” and all of that, and now it’s a very different story.
28:26 You talk in the book about how Alberto Salazar who has $1 million budget or something, he has access to the latest technology, and massage therapists, and all of that, he would personally massage Galen Rupp, and there’s a couple things that you might be suspicious are going on there when that happens, but it seems like that was the testosterone. Is that what you found? It just seems weird to me.
31:29 There were stories of athletes being prescribed things for ailments that they didn’t have. Everybody on the team had a thyroid problem all of a sudden. And then there were the L-Carnitine infusions, and obviously infusing yourself with anything is against clean sport. But when they were caught, they just said, “Oh, it didn’t do anything for me.” Do you want to talk a little bit about the whole infusion story?
34:26 Is there a USADA test for L-Carnitine, because it’s an amino acid?
35:06 I’m surprised L-Carnitine hasn’t become more of the thing because to be perfectly honest, when this whole story broke, I was training for a marathon and I went to GNC and got myself some L-Carnitine. People see this and hear this, recreational runners or sub-elites, and they’re like, “Huh, that’s interesting.” And yet, they go ahead and follow that gray line. It’s almost like exposing the truth encourages more people to cheat, do you think?
37:44 I’d love to talk a little bit about the women at Nike. We learned all about Kara Goucher and her reduction clause. So when she decided to have a baby, she basically was not paid. So she was not paid for a very long period of time while she still was technically working for Nike. Again, this goes back to the contracts being super, super secretive. Do you think at least that has changed in the world of running for women as far as how they’re treated when they decide to have a family?
40:09 What do you feel is the future of sports and running and Nike?
42:52 Hopefully with the good example of the Bowerman Track Club, Nike might be able to change for the better from the inside, and then with work like yours, hopefully will change for the better from the outside.
44:13 Matt, what’s next for you with your running and your writing?
Questions I ask everyone:
45:01 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
46:15 What is the greatest gift running has given you?
46:51 Where can listeners connect with you?
“As an athlete, I learned this through the reporting, that Alberto Salazar would try basically anything to try to improve performance. Now that’s not all drugs and illicit means. That’s kind of anything from massage to dry needling to whatever else might be in the popular culture of athletes at the time.”
“Athletes at the end of the day are 100% responsible for what they put into their body. Any athlete that’s working with Alberto Salazar, it does want to aggressively pursue hard training and they’ll do kind of whatever they’re asked or whatever they think can help them stand on top of the podium, and that’s the win at all costs sort of zero sum game that sports have become.”
“Of the $36 billion Nikes makes a year, some $4.6 billion of it is the run category, and so that’s I think their largest category, to sell to runners. Now it’s a different question of whether we want to watch those runners run.”
“You have to imagine years of training at a level you simply couldn’t maintain without drugs changes you physiologically. You’re steps ahead or you’re stronger or you’re faster. And so, that’s a whole other discussion, the long-term benefits of drugs and is someone still a cheat if they’ve gotten off them.”
Take a Listen on Your Next Run
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Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community
https://www.precisionhydration.com/
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We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
This week’s guests are a little different from our usual guests such as Olympian Jared Wade or top race director Dave McGillivray of the Boston Marathon or yoga instructor Adina Crawford to name a few. The athletes in this podcast aren’t household names but still impact lots of runners. They’re founders of some of the top Facebook running groups around the world and they have agreed to collaborate on this special episode.
Facebook is a great platform for runners around the world to interact, share advice, and build virtual communities, which is especially important during these times. Coach Claire joined several of these Facebook running groups to try to find out what members were discussing and what questions the runners had.
For this episode, Coach Claire decided to focus on advice for how to keep running for as long as possible, and so asked each of the guests the same question: What do you include in your running routine that will help ensure you are running for life?
The responses were great. Each guest had something a little bit different to say, and all of it is good advice that will hopefully help keep you running and motivated for life. So get ready for six guests, one question, various accents, and some great answers coupled with Coach Claire’s expert commentary!
Question All Guests Are Asked:
What do you include in your running routine that will help ensure you are running for life?
Guests:
06:06 Karen Guttridge, Running Like A Wrinkly
08:30 Andy Jones-Wilkins, East Coast Trail and UltraRunners
11:50 Fred Scraire, Running Motivation Club
14:35 Mindy Bayless, Trail Sisters Asheville
16:14 Ken Michal, UltraRunning and Running Stupid
18:26 Steve Rice, Runners Helping Runners
Take a Listen on Your Next Run!
Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel
RunnersConnect Free Virtual Training Summit, Dec. 10-13
Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community
https://www.precisionhydration.com/
Guest Facebook Groups
East Coast Trail and UltraRunners
We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
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Elite distance runner Becky Wade Firth, a standout at Rice University in Texas, was expected to turn pro after graduation. Instead, she chose a different plan that changed her life and how she looks at running and training.
Becky decided to travel the world, but not just to see and explore like a typical college-age kid. She applied for and won a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to travel the world to learn how others run. Over the course of 12 months, Becky traveled solo to 22 countries including Switzerland, Ethiopia, New Zealand, and Japan to learn about some of the world’s most fascinating running traditions, and she captured her experience and findings in her book RUN THE WORLD.
Coach Claire talks to Becky about how her year abroad affected her and what she learned from this incredible experience. They also get into Becky’s cross training, her experience with orthotics, similarities between recreational and pro runners, and Becky’s perspective on running in a year without in-person races.
Becky is still an avid writer and in addition to her book, you'll find her work all over the web in places like Runner's World, Outside, Podium Runner, Women's Running and more. She is also a food lover and traveler.
Part of two sets of twins born 20 months apart, Becky grew up in Dallas, Texas, before making her way to Rice University on a track scholarship. There, alongside the world’s greatest teammates and coach, she fell in love with the distance running lifestyle and by the time she graduated, was a junior national champion, an All-American in cross-country and track, and an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 10K and 3K steeplechase.
Since then, Becky has moved up to the marathon, signed with Flynn Sports Management, relocated to Boulder, Colorado, and gotten married. She’s competed in three more Olympic Trials (4 total: 2 in the 3K steeplechase, 2 in the marathon) and qualified for 2 senior USA teams (2018 and 2020 World Half Marathon Championship, the latter of which USATF sadly pulled them out of). She now has her eyes set on the 2021 US Olympic Track Trials, faster PRs over all distances, and many more writing projects—ideally a second book before too long!
Questions Becky is asked:
3:54 Instead of going directly from college to the pros, you took a year off to travel to 22 different countries to learn what runners do all over the world. What were some of the biggest similarities and differences you found when compared to American running?
5:19 Some of the countries you went to are obviously the big running countries that we all think about, Japan and Africa, New Zealand, all of these places, but you didn’t end up just going to those places; you took a couple of detours. Anything you want to tell us about that and what you learned about that?
7:17 Were you worried at all before you left? Because people who are on track to do amazing things in whatever sport it is, they kind of get nervous about change, they kind of get nervous about getting out of their schedule. Were you worried when you took off for a year that your running might suffer?
9:01 I think that if you want to learn more about your own country, the only way to do it is to leave it, so I highly encourage everybody who can in college just to get out of America to see what the rest of the world is like.
9:43 What was it like coming back to the States after that experience? Do you think it made you a better runner?
10:51 Recreational runners think the same thing as professional runners, “Are we doing enough? Should I be resting? Should I be doing heel lifts?” Or whatever it is. You just think that “I’ve got to do it in such a perfect way,” and there’s room for flexibility.
11:44 2020 has been obviously a very strange year for everybody, but I'd love to know how you are doing specifically and how you've been training.
15:12 Let’s talk a little bit about your cross training. I’ve looked through your Instagram. There’s a lot of pictures of you in the pool and I know you aqua jog. Can you help us out and give us some tips to make aqua jogging less boring?
20:03 Besides your book, you are a pretty prolific writer. You write articles for lots of running magazines and online places, so what are some of your tips? I know you recently wrote an article for Runner’s World about challenging the conventional rules of running. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?
22:26 Why do you wear orthotics? What is it for you?
23:28 We think of orthotics as a temporary solution, but to hear that you’ve been wearing them for 10 years, that’s super interesting.
23:55 Another conventional rule of running you challenged in your Runner’s World article was the 30-minute window, that you have to eat 30 minutes after you stop running, and you found that not to be true.
25:08 One thing I’ve been asking almost everybody this year is without in-person races, s really hard for a lot of people to find motivation, and for a lot of people it’s going to be a really long time until we race again. Do you have any tips or any suggestions to kind of keep that spark, and what can you do as far as training goes in a world without races?
28:51 What’s coming up for you in the future? What have you got your sights on?
Questions I ask everyone:
30:00 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
31:02 What is the greatest gift running has given you?
32:01 Where can listeners and charities connect with you?
“It really allowed me not only to see how the best runners in the world train, and some of the strongest, most kind of iconic running traditions are, but I also got to see so many just passionate recreational runners and see how running influences their life to just the same degree as someone whose career it is but in a different way.”
“I think there are maybe components of successful training systems that people maybe can apply, but there’s really not that. I think one of my fears was that I was going to go travel and see that what it takes to be a really good runner is to be like 100% dialed into running. That’s your life. That’s all you do. You do everything perfectly, and I literally never saw that, so that was kind of validating.”
“I think there are a lot of things you can do, nothing that is exactly like racing because I just find like the whole atmosphere, and like official results, and the community and everything, that’s really what makes road racing special to me and to a lot of people I think, but there are other ways to I think really stay engaged with the sport and stay on top of training and still work towards goals.”
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Runner's World Article: When You Can Challenge Conventional Running Wisdom
Runner's World Article: Alternative Outlets for Your Competitive Fire
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The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
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The biggest difference between elites and the rest of us is not simply talent; it’s mental resilience.
Matt Fitzgerald has been studying elites his entire career and has learned what techniques the best of the best use to get there. In his new book, The Comeback Quotient, Matt talks about a philosophy called ultrarealism and how we can all apply it to add some extra oomph to our training and push to the next level.
Matt is a well-known endurance sports author, coach, and nutritionist. His many books include How Bad Do You Want It?, 80/20 Running, and The Endurance Diet. Matt’s writing has also appeared in numerous magazines, including Outside and Runner’s World, and on popular websites such as podiumrunner.com and nbcnews.com. He is a cofounder and co-head coach of 80/20 Endurance and the creator of the Diet Quality Score smartphone app. A lifelong endurance athlete, he speaks frequently at events throughout the United States and internationally.
Matt’s work has given him access to some great athletes who have shared their secrets about what it takes to truly become the best in the world, and it’s not just about raw talent or genetics; it’s about the mind. It’s about leveraging science and psychology and philosophy into mental toughness. In The Comeback Quotient, Matt combines those elements that he’s compiled from the best in sport to deliver actionable advice and techniques that any athlete can use to improve.
If you haven’t heard of David Goggins, look him up. He overcame an abusive upbringing to transform himself into a Navy Seal, Air Force Ranger, and competitive ultramarathoner, and he is undeniably one of the toughest minds out there. He’s just one example from Matt’s book that he and Coach Claire discuss as they talk about the qualities that athletes like David have that we can all develop in ourselves.
Matt’s new book The Comeback Quotient comes out in December 2020, and if you are as interested in training your mind to be as fit as your body, make sure you get a copy!
Questions Matt is asked:
6:15 You've written several books on endurance fitness that also seem to have a healthy dose of psychology woven in. What is it about the mental side of the sport that interests you so much?
7:49 I have two little kids, and when they run, they run as fast as they can and then completely poop out. They have no sense of pacing or anything like that, so obviously that’s something that we have to learn.
8:30 Your new book that’s coming out is called The Comeback Quotient. Can you give us a summary of what it's about and why you wanted to write it?
9:56 One thing that you talked a lot about in your book was a philosophy called ultra-realism. Can you explain what that is and why it's important not just for athletes, but for life?
12:24 It sounds so simple when you say, “Just make the best out of it.” How simple is that? But why is it so hard?
14:16 If our brain is so good at predicting, then what do we do when we haven’t thought out a way to get around the obstacle?
16:50 How do you override everything your brain is telling you when you’re in pain?
18:51 You did have a few examples in your book of people who like David Goggins and the Slovenian skier who won Olympic bronze after she had punctured a lung and broken a bunch of ribs. I don't want to be that mentally tough!!! That just sounds pretty stupid some of these things though. Where’s that line?
20:39 Besides just reading your book, how can athletes actively practice mental fitness? It's pretty simple to learn how to physically run your best, but how do you mentally train? Any advice with that?
23:59 You definitely have some stories in the book about people freaking out and things not going so well.
26:37 You basically said to some of the athletes that you’ve coached to stop BSing themselves, and sometimes that’s some realism that’s hard to hear too.
28:13 One thing I definitely have done in a race myself is BSed myself in a positive way and told myself, “It doesn’t hurt. It’s fine. Nothing is wrong here. You can keep going,” when that’s not really the way I feel at all. So I don’t know how that falls into it. I feel like I’m lying to myself in a positive way, if that makes sense.
31:02 Another thing that struck me is a lot of sort of… I don’t know if we call this a self-help book, but a lot of books that are trying to get into the psychology of performance, they only talk about the really positive things. This is called The Comeback Quotient. We’re expecting to read a whole bunch of comeback stories and have everybody get the gold medal at the end, but you included several people who didn’t come back “successfully,” and I’d love to hear about why you chose to do that?
34:02 I think there’s a lot of people, especially new runners, seem to struggle with accepting things that don’t go as expected. Would you say that?
36:37 Another part of the book was your personal journey to train for a triathlon using the mental training techniques that you learned from the ultra-realists. Without giving too much away, what were some of the lessons that you applied for yourself?
39:54 One thing I thought about when reading your race report is it’s very common for people to set goals. So you’ve got your A goal, shoot-the-moon goal, B goal, C goal, but most people aren’t really happy with that C goal. I think that maybe being actually happy with your C goal is like a mental trick that you can do because you didn’t get your A goal in your triathlon, right? And you’re still super, super happy. And how is that possible? How are you not upset that you didn’t get your A goal?
41:44 When does the book come out and what's next for you?
Questions I ask everyone:
43:22 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
44:09 What is the greatest gift running has given you?
45:12 Where can listeners and charities connect with you?
“I’m still running at 49 and I just believe that the most obtrusive barriers in endurance sports are the mental barriers.”
“The people who are able to make the very best of the very worst situations in endurance sports, they do so through a process of just facing reality.”
“Whether or not you’re already the most resilient person in the world, if you simply just copy what the ultra-realists are doing, you will start to develop those qualities.”
“You’re not dependent on reality, kind of the stars aligning. It just doesn’t matter. You can succeed in any situation simply by making the best of it even if the end result is not what you originally wanted.”
“It is about the process. Ultimately, when it comes down to it, like you have one race day for every 100 training days or whatever, so those training days you should be enjoying.”
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Imagine being able to run and heal through an injury. Or imagine significantly increasing your weekly mileage while healthy, while also minimizing your chances for injury, increasing your speed, and improving your recovery. Wouldn’t that be great? Brad Miles, the founder of Lever Running says it’s not only possible, but scientifically proven.
Brad created his Lever system to deliver the benefits of body weight supported running in a convenient, portable package that costs a fraction of the AlterG. The what? The AlterG is basically a big, fancy, eye-poppingly expensive treadmill that takes some of your weight off as you run. It’s a bulky piece of equipment that NASA uses, not your local gym, and certainly not your average runner. And for years, it was the only player in the market for body weight supported running.
Enter Brad, who says that the Lever makes everything that’s hard about running easier. He shares use cases with Coach Claire about how injured athletes have benefitted from body weight supported running using his system, and also how healthy athletes have leveraged it to up their game. He describes the technical aspects of his system and how it works, and after hearing about it, you’ll probably find yourself visiting his website to check out the videos and see the Lever in action.
Please note: Lever Running is not a sponsor of the Run to the Top. This is not an infomercial, but we do talk about the product in great detail in order to introduce you to something that just might help you run faster and injury free.
Brad is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He started getting serious about running in high school where he helped his team win two State cross country titles, won an individual State cross country title, as well as the Footlocker Northeast Championship. He went on to run cross country and track for Baylor University and was named as Baylor's Cross Country Runner of the Decade.
Brad first experienced the benefits of body weight support first hand in college, and soon his business degree was put to good use. He and co-founder Ryan Ognibene started LEVER in 2019 after they recognized the overwhelming need for a mobile, athlete-friendly body weight support system to compete with the AlterG. The primary goal with LEVER was to take technology that was once reserved for the elites and make it available to everyone.
This episode is for everyone interested in breaking the injury cycle, cross training while running, or getting faster!
Questions Brad is asked:
7:22 You first experienced body weight supported running in college. Can you talk about that experience?
8:05 Were you injured when you first tried body weight supported running?
8:13 The AlterG is a pretty expensive piece of technology, is that right?
8:32 AlterG was basically the only game in town as far as taking gravity off your run, is that right?
8:52 From a physiological point of view, what does taking the weight off running actually do for you?
9:32 Because AlterG is such an expensive piece of equipment, not a lot of people have access to it, so I don’t think a ton of people besides the real running nerds know a whole lot about body weight supported running. So what made you decide to make a competitor?
10:37 Let’s talk a little bit about the Lever product. It’s basically an AlterG in a bag?
11:28 How much body weight can the Lever support?
11:35 Can you tell us a little bit more about what this is used for? Why would I want to have something like this?
13:32 In the use case you just described, you talked about a woman using your device to significantly increase her mileage. How was she able to do this safely?
14:28 Are you saying that anybody can use your product and basically double their mileage in a couple of months?
15:24 As a coach, I know that the best thing to do to become a better runner is to run, but there’s an upper limit to that. So basically, it sounds like using body weight support could be like cross training, the most specific cross training that you could possibly have. Would you agree with that?
16:10 Let’s go back to what Lever was originally designed for, which was injured runners. Do you have any stories that you could share about some of your clients?
17:56 Any surprising kind of uses that you’ve seen?
19:05 How do you use Lever for speed?
19:49 If the Lever makes it easier to run, isn’t it de-training by using it?
20:45 Let’s say you’re running whatever pace for your tempo run and your heart rate is X, you want to make sure your heart rate is still at X, but obviously that speed, that pace is going to be much faster with the weight taken off using Lever is what you’re saying?
21:59 Does your Lever pace translate to when you go outside? Do you run at the same pace or somewhere in-between your Lever and outside pace?
22:24 I went to your website and watched the videos and one thing I noticed is that you have to wear specific shorts in order to use this product. Can you tell me about the shorts and why that was a design feature?
23:26 You went with the shorts instead of some kind of harness system?
24:06 What are the shorts like?
24:44 What are the limitations to the body weight support device? Specifically I’m thinking about heavier runners. Is there an upper limit or is there even a lower weight limit?
25:37 The Lever takes off 45 pounds max no matter what your body size, right, not a percentage of the person’s body weight?
25:56 Do the shorts come in all sizes for all runners?
26;04 Could this potentially be a way for heavier runners to get more running in with less pounding?
26:51 What kind of reaction do you get when you bust this out in the gym?
28:07 What's next in the technology?
29:06 For those who are interested in getting this for themselves, you have both a rental option and a purchase option, is that correct?
Questions I ask everyone:
30:35 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
31:29 What is the greatest gift running has given you?
32:16 Where can listeners and charities connect with you?
“One of our users just recently reached out to us and said, ‘Guys, thank you so much. I have been able to improve my marathon time from 3:09 to 2:42.’ Big jump.”
“If you can cross train but still run, you’re getting more benefit out of each step that you’re taking.”
“Far too often, a lot of athletes just fall into this repeatable pattern of like injured, getting healthy, injured, getting healthy, and so we’re trying to help athletes break that.”
“We wanted to make sure that the experience was still the experience that you have running, not a very uncomfortable… And again, I’ve run in AlterGs. They are uncomfortable at times, and so we wanted to create a very natural motion of running.”
Take a Listen on Your Next Run
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We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
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If you’ve run for charity, you’re probably wondering how charities have been doing this year with so few races being run. Or maybe you’re looking for inspiration and motivation during these uncertain times. If so, this week’s guest, Susan Hurley, may provide the answers you’re seeking.
A former New England Patriots cheerleader, Susan brings the high energy, creative mind, and fun approach required to motivate, inspire, and lead others to achieve personal goals through fitness and running, while also raising funds for small nonprofits through her organization CharityTeams.
CharityTeams helps nonprofits raise money for good causes through the use of running races and athletic events. Running for charity takes a lot more than just asking your friends and family for money. It takes a lot of organization, and Charity Teams helps take care of the details.
Susan shares how 2020 has impacted charity running and what she sees for the future, through virtual racing and beyond. She also talks about her app, Charge Running, which she’s developed over the last 3 years with a team in Chicago. Charge Running is a live virtual training and racing platform, which is especially relevant now when there are so few in-person races.
Susan started CharityTeams when she recognized the need small nonprofits had for support in valuable athletic fundraising opportunities, and she created a niche sports-related business around that. CharityTeams has blazed a trail for many nonprofits to grow and set the bar high in the athletic fundraising industry. Her teams are some of the most desired to run on. She is a certified RRCA professional running coach and fundraising expert.
Susan is a professional at developing team brands and understands what it takes to keep them succeeding. Her network in the industry is extensive and she has a strong ability to work with runners of all backgrounds in running and fundraising building lasting friendships in her groups and strong ambassadors for charities.
She is formerly a New England Patriots Cheerleader and continues to dispel the words of her mother, that "You can't be a cheerleader your whole life."
Susan's marathon personal best is 3:16 and she continues to run The Boston Marathon, NYC Marathon and Chicago Marathon each year, as well as many other races.
(Qualifying for NY and Chicago)
She has been running since she missed the bus in 2nd grade.
She has qualified and competed in the World Triathlon Championship in Hawaii.
She continues to run competitively while raising funds for various causes.
Susan completed the first ever 2017 Fenway Park Marathon and the first ever Gillette Stadium Marathon. She is a two time finisher of the Mt. Washington Road Race in 2018 and 2019.
She finished her first 50K at the Marine Corps Marathon weekend in 2021.
Susan also works on special projects such as the Bobbi Gibb sculpture project which will be unveiled in April of 2021. This beautiful statue named after the children's book, The Girl Who Ran, was sculpted by winner of the Boston Marathon and trailblazer for women’s running, Bobbi Gibb. It is of herself. In 1966, Gibb popped out from behind forsythia bushes in Hopkinton to become the first woman to run Boston.
After listening to Susan, maybe you’ll be inspired to run for a higher purpose!
Questions Susan is asked:
6:36 Your business, Charity Teams, has raised over $24 million for various non-profits. Can you tell us more about how Charity Teams works and how you started it?
7:39 Let’s say I am a charity and I want to raise money and I give you a phone call. What’s that conversation going to be like?
8:26 Charity Teams is like a one-stop shop then for fundraising?
8:57 Obviously 2020 has been strange for all of us, but especially in the running world with no races. What are charities doing?
9:48 Most runners, we race because we want to achieve a personal goal. What makes it different when you run for charity?
11:09 Let’s talk about the Boston Marathon for example. If you’re not fast enough to meet the qualifications, you can go ahead and sign up with a charity and run for charity. But there’s some big fundraising goals you have to meet which I think might be intimidating to some people, and maybe kind of stressful. So how do you encourage people when they’re facing some $5,000 goal or something like that? How do you encourage people because that seems a little scary to me?
12:41 Do you have anybody that you can think of in mind that is just a charity superstar? Any good stories that you can share with us?
14:23 Let’s talk about virtual racing. Virtual racing is here to stay I think for a while. I think it’s a challenge for some people because it’s not the same as in-person races, and you’ve kind of come up with a little bit of a solution for that with your app. Do you want to tell us a little bit about it?
16:22 So if I wanted to go out the door and go for a run using your Charge Running app, I just plug in my headphones and somebody will be telling me to run faster, or how does it work?
17:22 Is the Charge Running app course specific?
18:10 One of your projects you are working on is installing a statue of Bobbi Gibbs on the Boston Marathon race course. Can you tell us, for those who may not know, who Bobbi Gibbs is and why the statue’s so important?
19:08 What made you want to get involved in the Bobbi Gibbs statue project?
20:01 Do you know anything about the Bobbi Gibbs statue artist?
20:35 This year has been really challenging for a lot of people, so I would love to hear your tips since you’ve worked so much in the virtual race space, how do we stay motivated? How do we look beyond possibly having no races and nothing to plan for? What are your best tips for this?
22:20 Could choosing a charity and having to show up to a race for someone besides yourself be really motivational for some people?
23:27 What is next for you? You mentioned that you are training for some virtual marathons. What kind of things are you training for?
Questions I ask everyone:
24:42 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
25:37 What is the greatest gift running has given you?
26:10 Where can listeners and charities connect with you?
“The bigger charities have a lot of bandwidth to be able to provide services, but the smaller charities don’t, so the smaller charities is really where I have made my little bit of a niche, if you will. And so I’ve really helped a lot of small nonprofits grow.”
“I think you see a different breed of runner going into the charity world. Maybe not as fast. Definitely somebody that might be just more of an average runner trying to qualify, or maybe would never have the chance to qualify for an event, but they go into this charity space and they’re inspired and they can set goals and feel like they’re achieving a lot of great things.”
“With goal setting comes inspiration. Maybe find a nonprofit that is hosting a virtual run and use that for your inspiration in your goal setting so that you can continue to stay in shape as we move through this really uncertain time.”
Take a Listen on Your Next Run
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We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
As a runner, you prioritize your physical training, but what are you doing for your mental health training? Dr. Lara Pence (aka Dr. L) is a clinical psychologist who has spent the last 15 years working with endurance athletes to help them shed unhealthy patterns of behavior and build mental strength using curiosity as a tool to become mentally resilient and adventurous. By training athletes to dive deeper into the why behind their goals, she also helps them boost their mental toughness by creating a values-driven way of being.
Dr. L shares a lot of great info with Coach Claire on how to build mental strength, including discussions on the relationship between athletes and food, changing our personal narratives about our performance as we age, setbacks, and motivation. Having a fit mind is at least as important as having a fit body, and this is an episode everyone can benefit from.
Dr. L is an East Coast native who did her post-doctoral fellowship in Dallas, TX. She has since built her own private practice, becoming one of the most sought-after therapists in Dallas. She moved to Colorado in 2019 to become the Chief Mind Doc for SPARTAN, the world’s top endurance company. She also hosted the Spartan Mind podcast and served as a consultant to the organization on various mindset-focused initiatives.
Dr. L is also a coach for The Unbeatable Mind, alongside Mark Divine, founder of SEAL FIT. She has been featured in various publications and media outlets such as Good Morning America, the BBC, Glamour, Vogue, WebMD, Psychology Today, and The Huffington Post.
Most recently, Dr. L has launched her own podcast called Curious Minds with Dr. L, and she has a new product called LIGHFBOX, a simple program designed to exercise your mind, spark curiosity, and boost your mental fitness.
Get ready to strengthen your mind and boost your mental fitness with Dr. L!
Questions Lara is asked:
6:17 You like to call yourself an "active therapist" and that's not just because you are also a runner. What do you mean by that?
7:39 Let’s talk about the people you do work with and your own running background. How do you specifically work with runners?
9:34 Eating disorders and running. Obviously, to be at the top of your game, you need to be light and lean. Thankfully some elite runners these days are talking more about how getting too lean is really causing huge problems, but there is a fine line between being at your highest performance and whether that’s actually healthy or not. So how do you kind of dig through that mess?
12:15 Let’s go into the performance side of what you do, mental strength training if you will. A lot of people, when runners or athletes get to a certain level, they realize that it’s not just all about physical training. The mental aspect is absolutely huge, if not more important than the physical training. Everybody wants to know: How do we get mentally tough?
14:47 You’re saying that we should just be curious about why a race or a workout didn’t go well. How do you incorporate curiosity in success and failure when it comes to athletes?
17:12 I would love to hear about how you practice incorporating curiosity. Say I’m a runner and I’m trying to go after this big goal and I’m just getting frustrated. How do I practice curiosity to improve my mental strength?
20:33 What happens when you peel back the onion and maybe there’s not such positive motivation down there?
23:45 Obviously 2020 has been a crazy year, but for runners specifically, all their races have been canceled pretty much. And so the carrot that everybody has, that’s evaporated, and so a lot of the clients that I coach have just been like, “You know what? There’s no race on the schedule. I don’t really feel like training anymore.” What advice do you give runners who are training without races?
29:23 I read on your blog that you wrote an article recently about overcoming setbacks. Obviously as people, but also as runners specifically, setbacks can happen all the time, whether it’s just a bad workout or a big race that you train for that didn’t go so well. I’d love to hear your ideas about overcoming setbacks.
33:28 How about successes? Some people, surprisingly, don’t handle success very well. What are your thoughts on that?
35:54 I'd love to get your thoughts on comparison and competition. Runners compete in races and we compete against ourselves. That can be great, but that can also be pretty tough, especially if you were let’s say a high school or college runner and you’re now in your 40s, 50s, and 60s, and you’re just not the same person that you used to be. I would love to get your opinion and thoughts about Masters runners and about how as we get older, we’re not as fast as we used to be, and how can we still celebrate what we can do?
40:16 I think honestly, the runners that have the healthier outlook as Masters are the ones who were not competitive when they were younger, because they’re finding it all new and exciting, and every race is a PR, so it’s really special, whereas sometimes I get other athletes who competed before and it seems like they’re always looking backwards instead of looking forward.
42:31 What's next for you? You say that you have a race coming up in May. What are you training for?
Questions I ask everyone:
43:42 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
43:51 What is the greatest gift running has given you?
44:15 Where can listeners connect with you?
“One of the things that I love to do, one of my strengths, is actually knowing my limitations and knowing what’s the appropriate arena for me to explore something with a client and when it’s not.”
“The judgement that can accumulate inside of us is almost like energy, if you think of it as energy. It’s really toxic and can be really poisonous. And when we reduce the judgements and open up space for curiosity, it really allows for a willingness to learn and a willingness to absorb other information that can actually be helpful and fuel us.”
“In terms of setbacks, I really, really encourage individuals to have the mindset of everything is an opportunity.”
Take a Listen on Your Next Run
Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel
Podcast - Curious Minds with Dr L
LIGHFBOX self-reflection cards
Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community
Follow Lara on:
We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
Dan King is blistering fast at 61 years old. We’re talking world record breaking fast. He just broke the masters record in the mile for the 60-64 age group, running 4:49:08 to beat the 4:51:85 record set in 2012. But this amazing feat won’t count. Why? Listen in to find out.
Dan also talks about his surprisingly low-mileage training routine, how he incorporates a lot of cross training into his daily life, and his plant-based diet which he believes is key to his performance.
Despite being super fit, Dan has suffered a number of injuries, including plantar fasciitis that has plagued him for years. He talks about a procedure he had to alleviate his heel pain, and how he’s adapted his training and overall lifestyle to stay both fit and injury free.
Dan hails from Boulder, Colorado. At the University of Colorado-Boulder, he ran an impressive 5,000-meter PR of 14:34, but didn’t complete too much after graduation. After building a successful start-up company, he sold his business and retired in 2017.
As of this recording, Dan was preparing to run another mile race that would officially count as a world record if he repeated his August performance. Coach Claire will share Dan’s results at the end of the episode.
Dan is definitely proof that you can train well and be fast at any age, and that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all training plan that all runners must follow. Whether you’re a masters athlete or just aspiring to keep on running as you age, this one’s for you!
Photo credit: Todd Straka
Questions Dan is asked:
5:18 This past August, you ran 4:49:08 in the mile, which is faster than anyone in the world in the 60-64 year old age group. Now, I understand that this may not count as an official world record on a technicality. Can you explain this?
7:16 There’s another race in South Carolina on October 17th that will be USATF certified, and that should count for the world record. And by the time this airs, you will have already raced it, but hopefully you’ll get your official time at that one, right?
8:04 Can you tell us about the race and your strategy?
9:59 You've been a runner a long time. You ran for the University of Colorado in college. But you were not a miler back then, right? What made you decide to specialize in the mile now?
12:43 I would love to talk about your training. Your training is a little unusual for somebody at your level I would think. Can you talk about what a normal week looks like for you?
14:49 You’re missing a big element that most runners think is incredibly important, and that’s the long run. So no long run for you?
15:55 You’re not running a ton of miles or pounding a lot by running over and over again, but you’re spending hours and hours on your off days of running doing something aerobic. So you’re still building that aerobic engine, just not running all the time.
17:18 You have no rest days?
17:27 About 25 miles a week is all you put in for running?
17:52 I would like to go a little bit deeper into your injuries, and especially the plantar fasciitis. You had what’s called a Tenex procedure for that. Can you talk about that?
19:42 What was the recovery from the Tenex procedure like?
20:29 What is the eccentric calf-raise exercise?
21:13 Let's talk about diet and nutrition. Like me, you are 100% plant based. Can you tell us how you decided to become plant based, and what the benefits have been for you?
23:30 You’re plant based, which is not always the same thing as being a vegan. Is that correct?
24:30 What do you eat and where do you get your protein?
26:29 What are your favorite things to eat before a workout or after a workout?
28:19 I’d love to know what lessons have you learned being a Masters athlete that maybe you didn’t have to think about so much when you were younger?
30:17 What do you do for mobility and strength and stretching? How do you fit that into your routine?
31:12 After the race on October 17th, what’s next for you?
Questions I ask everyone:
32:54 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
34:23 What is the greatest gift running has given you?
35:20 Where can listeners connect with you?
“I was still under a five-minute mile equivalent, and that was when I was 56. And so it just sort of put a goal in the back of my head that when I turn 60, I want to see if I can still run a five-minute mile.”
“When I turned 40, I just redefined myself as an endurance athlete, not as a runner, and I haven’t not been fit since I’ve been 40.”
“I have gotten really consistent this year in terms of doing electrolytes post-workout. I feel like a lot of the injuries I get as a Masters athlete are because I get more easily dehydrated than I used to.”
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News Article - Dan King's Second Try at Official M60 Mile
“... was more than 4 seconds off his August mark of 4:49 at a meet in the same city. It barely missed the listed M60 American record of 4:53.01 by Nolan Shaheed in 2012.”
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The obesity-related death of his mother was a wakeup call to young, overweight Jeffrey James Binney. He could continue down the same path, or he could change his fate. And so he started running. And running. And running. All the way to the grueling Leadville 100 ultramarathon.
Jeffrey’s film Once is Enough chronicles his journey from couch potato to ultramarathoner. Fueled by grief and the desire to write jokes, his film is part documentary, part standup, and definitely unique!
Jeffrey and Coach Claire tackle such interesting subjects as why on earth he set his non-athletic sights on doing a 100-mile ultramarathon, how he trained, his plant-based lifestyle, and the scourge of blisters and chafing. If you like your motivation served with a side of laughs, this episode’s for you!
Jeffrey is a Salt Lake City based actor, singer, comedian, and "athlete." He grew up on a farm in Laredo, MO before moving to Brooklyn, NY and later Los Angeles after receiving his B.F.A. in Musical Theatre Performance from Missouri State University. Jeffrey has been seen on Late Night With David Letterman, in the 1st National Tour and Chicago Company of the Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and at comedy clubs and festivals across the country.
Questions Jeffrey is asked:
5:22 The reason I wanted to have you on the show is because I saw your film Once Is Enough on Amazon Prime this summer with my family. I subject my kids to a lot of documentaries and this is one that they actually liked! Can you tell us a little bit about the movie and why you wanted to make it?
6:42 While sitting in the hospital waiting room, you happened to pick up a copy of Trail Runner Magazine. What happened next?
7:54 Most people don’t go running a 100-miler basically off the couch, let alone the Leadville 100. What were you thinking?!?! :)
9:51 What was it like running the race under-trained and overweight? That must have been a huge challenge physically for you.
11:20 Don’t you have to qualify for Leadville? How did you get into Leadville?
12:26 What was your typical training week like or how did it progress over your 14 months of training?
13:51 How did you change physically through training?
15:23 Speaking of nutrition, you and I have a couple of things in common besides our gorgeous red hair. You and I are both plant-based! How did that fit into your training, your nutrition? What kind of things were you eating?
18:26 Most people think, “Oh, you’re on a plant-based diet. That means that you’re only eating twigs and potatoes and you’re going to be super thin, and clearly that’s not always the case for everybody, right?
19:17 Without giving away too much from the film, what kind of lessons did you learn? Just going through it and the whole filming and making a beautiful movie? What kind of lessons?
20:26 Do you think anybody can do this?
21:03 I would like to talk about the ultra running community. It’s kind of a special group of some very strange and wonderful people. Would you agree?
23:20 The aid stations are much better for ultrarunning, right?
23:40 I would love to talk about gear, like what kind of gear that you were using.
24:19 Do you still wear a bro?
24:49 Every ultrarunner, every runner, has to deal with chafing obviously. How do you deal with that?
26:58 There’s a point in the movie where you talk about your blisters that you had, and how did you deal with that? You look like you were in some serious pain there.
28:10 You manage your blisters better nowadays when you get them?
29:10 What kind of misconceptions have you come across in your running journey? When you started this, you had so much optimism about what this was going to turn out to be. What changed throughout your journey? What things were you surprised about?
31:21 What’s next for you? Are you still running? Obviously, COVID, there’s not a lot of races on the horizon, but what are you doing?
32:36 Some of the smaller trail races are still going on in person, so maybe there’s something you can sign up for that you could actually do in real life.
33:07 You’re still being coached by Ian Sharman, or are you on your own?
34:09 Questions I ask everyone:
36:08 Any new films on the horizon or was once enough?
“I just went on a hike a few years ago with some friends to one of the taller peaks here in Utah. I was getting to the top and I was really beating myself up because I just could not keep up with them. And I finally got to the top and I was like, ‘Why are you beating yourself up? You have 100 lbs on all of these people. You don’t come from a lifetime of fitness other than five years.’ And you’d think after this whole journey that I’ve been on that I would be able to keep that in better perspective, but there’s still time like that when I still have to check myself.”
“I never considered myself particularly outdoorsy. I certainly didn’t consider myself tough. And it turns out I was wrong. It turns out I am way, way stronger and tougher than I realized.”
“Most of the time I was running 20-plus hours per week on top of a full-time job. It’s literally a part-time job.”
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We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
Matt shares his knowledge with Coach Claire, dispelling a lot of common misconceptions about the benefits of massage for runners, but also talking about the benefits of massage for anyone, and he does so with a fair amount of humor!
You may recognize Matt as a long-time RTTT and Extra Kick expert contributor. He started his career as a strength and conditioning coach with the National Academy of Sports Medicine. In 2004, he focused on sports therapy, working with distance runners and endurance athletes.
Matt is currently part of a multidisciplinary team of physiotherapists, sports therapists, osteopaths, podiatrists and massage therapists, as well as a lecturer in Anatomy & Physiology. He writes for numerous websites and national magazines, including Runners Connect and Outdoor Fitness.
Along with his running podcast and website called Run Chat Live, Matt holds an annual RCL International Running Conference. The first one was held in Brighton, Sussex with ten world class speakers traveling from Australia, Canada, and the United States. This year, the event has gone virtual, and will be held on October 29th and 30th. Listen to the show for the 20% off promo code.
6:17 You are a running injury and performance specialist and massage therapist. We could talk about any number of running topics, but today I'd like to focus on massage for runners. Let's talk first about some of the myths about massages. What are they and how did they get started?
11:49 What about the toxins? People talk all the time about, “Oh, I’m flushing the toxins. My muscles are building up all of these toxins from the environment or from my run.” What does massage do for that?
13:18 Let’s talk about something that actually does build up in the muscles when we run hard, and sometimes we’re doing this on purpose, is to build up lactic acid. A lot of people think, “I’m going to go get a massage just to get rid of all that lactic acid.” Do you want to talk about that one?”
15:49 If lactate is a good thing, why does it hurt so bad?
16:05 What about improving circulation? I’ve heard that massage can help your circulation. Is that true?
18:03 When I have gotten a massage, they always tell me to drink a lot of water afterwards, and I assume that’s to flush out the toxins or whatever. Can you explain that? Why do they tell me to do that?
19:51 Okay, so we know what massage doesn't do, what does it do?
23:20 So, massage is good because it feels good?
24:26 I don’t know how the idea of massage being good because it feels good is going to be received by people who get massages all the time because they swear by it, like, “Oh, I had a knot in my neck and she just worked at it and I feel better,” or “Oh, I always get these cramps in my hamstring and after I get a massage, they’re totally fine.” There’s got to be something else going on here other than just relaxation.
28:12 What is it with muscle knots? Do muscles really physically knot? I would love to know what’s going on. You can sometimes feel like in your back a hard lump, and if you massage it, it can kind of smooth out. So what’s going on under the skin?
29:52 We often see those free massages at the end of a marathon. Should we be waiting in line for those or should we be skipping those?
31:26 Will massage make you less sore?
32:04 What about massage during taper week before your big race or a week after your big race? What do you think?
35:18 If the main reason for a massage is relaxation, we can always choose other techniques such as getting into a hot tub or doing meditation or yoga. Is there something very specific about massage that is different from other relaxation techniques?
37:20 A lot of us are missing out on the power of touch with the COVID. Are there any ways to get a massage safely these days or replicate the massage experience at home?
39:00 On a more personal note, you are organizing an online running conference at the end of October. Can you share the details about that?
Questions I ask everyone:
42:32 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
44:35 What is the greatest gift running has given you?
45:48 Where can listeners connect with you?
“If you are with a therapist who is telling you they’re breaking down scar tissue or they’re re-molding your fascia or something or changing the length of your muscles, then you have to question yourself whether they’re staying up to date with the latest evidence, and a lot of therapists aren’t.”
“Thanks to modern pain science and research which is developing, we know that you can’t fight pain with pain.”
“When we look and consider how important stress is in regards to delaying recovery, reducing the power of the immune system, on so many levels massage can help, not just runners, but any sports person, anybody, to function properly.”
“One of the interesting things which we forget is there’s plenty of people who have got pain when you push down on soft, unknotted tissue. There’s not a clear parallel either in clinical practice or in studies showing a correlation between tightness or lumps and pain.”
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We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
Were you one of the 30,000 people hoping to run the Boston Marathon this year? Are you hoping to run Boston next year? If yes, then you’ll want to listen to this episode with race director Dave McGillivray.
This year marked the first time since the first Boston Marathon in 1897 that the race was held virtually and not in person. Ordinarily, registration for Boston would have happened in September, but as of right now, October 2020, registration has been indefinitely postponed.
In this week’s interview, Coach Claire talks to Dave about how the virtual event went, how the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) has adapted due to the coronavirus, and what the future of the race might look like, including qualifications.
Dave also shares what he believes to be the silver lining of the pandemic, as well as his own personal health scare story which he started sharing once he learned his experience could help others.
Dave has been the director of the Boston Marathon since 1988, but he also practically invented the concept of running for charity when he ran across the United States to raise money for the Jimmy Fund in 1978. He ran 3,452 miles from Medford, Oregon to Medford, Massachusetts over 80 days, averaging 45 miles per day. He ended his run in Fenway Park to a 32,000-person standing ovation. He has personally raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and has been a source of inspiration to countless others.
Dave has many other incredible athletic accomplishments under his belt as well. 1980 was a big year as he became the 30th person to complete a Hawaii Ironman Triathlon by finishing in 14th place. In subsequent years, he completed the event an additional eight times. That year, Dave also ran 1,250 miles of the East Coast, starting in Winter Haven, Florida and ending in Boston. He was joined by wheelchair marathon pioneer Bob Hall to raise money for the Jimmy Fund, and they met with President Carter at the White House during the Washington, D.C. leg.
And that wasn’t all for 1980. Dave also raised more than $10,000 for the handicapped in the Run For Our Dreams Marathon, running 120 miles in 24 hours through 31 communities in Southeastern Massachusetts, finishing in Foxboro Stadium (now Gillette Stadium) during a New England Patriots game halftime.
In 1981, Dave raised $55,000 for the Jimmy Fund competing in an ultra triathlon which involved 1,522 combined miles of running, cycling, and swimming in six New England states. The race included running up and down Mt. Washington and swimming over seven miles from Martha’s Vineyard to Falmouth, Massachusetts where he was greeted by thousands on the beach.
As though running Boston wasn’t challenging enough, in 1982, Dave ran the marathon in 3:14 while blindfolded, accompanied by two guides, raising over $10,000 for the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Massachusetts.
In 1983, he swam for 24 consecutive hours, covering the distance of the Boston Marathon, to raise money for the Jimmy Fund. He also raised money for his alma mater, Merrimack College, by cycling over 1,000 miles through six New England states in 14 days. He raised more money for charity by cycling for 24 consecutive hours in a five-mile loop in Medford, Massachusetts for a total of 385 miles, while simultaneously directing the annual Bay State Triathlon which was taking place on the same course at the same time.
In 2004, Dave ran across the country a second time for TREK USA with nine other marathoners in relay style, raising over $300,000 for five children’s charities. In 2018, he accomplished the World Marathon Challenge, running seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.
To date Dave has run 158 marathons, including 48 consecutive Boston Marathons (32 of which were run at night after the official marathon.) His marathon personal best is 2:29:58. His Ironman personal best is 10:36:42.
Fun note: Dave has run his birthday age each year since the age of 12. In recent years, he has both run and cycled the miles.
In addition to being a super athlete and philanthropist, Dave is also an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and author. He has been recognized with numerous honors and awards over the years for his achievements, and through his DMSE Sports and DMSE Foundation, he has raised over $50 million for charity.
5:48 The Boston Marathon was held virtually this year, in September. How did it go?
7:49 I know the BAA discouraged people from running on the course this year, but many people unofficially did. What is your reaction to that?
9:12 I would love to rewind a little bit and go back to February and March of this year. What were you and the team at the Boston Athletic Association talking about in the early days of COVID?
11:29 Obviously throughout the summer you had to go virtual. What was that decision like?
13:05 As we record this, it is just before the London marathon, which shifted to an elites-only race. Was having an elites-only race an option for the Boston Marathon?
14:46 I don’t know how they’re keeping the spectators away in London. I just interviewed Jared Ward and he said, “I don’t know. I’m just showing up.” I don’t know how they’re keeping them away. I don’t know if you’ve had talks with them or no?
15:47 Looking forward to 2021, obviously there’s a lot of things up in the air. Usually in September, everyone is signing up for the next year’s Boston, and registration is to be determined. Can you shed any light on that and give us any hints?
19:01 How does next year’s Boston being up in the air affect qualifying? Usually you have an 18-month window of qualifying races, but obviously this year was totally different. Qualifying for the Boston Marathon is the Olympics for some people and it’s everything, and what they train for, and what they dreamed of for years, so how does that look from a qualification point of view?
20:34 And the virtual race, that’s not going to count for a qualification, correct?
20:43 If things do change and things are looking good for 2021, what kind of things have you learned from this year and how will it be different?
23:18 When you talk about potentially having a smaller field size next year, the first thing that obviously comes up means the faster runners would be qualified. Is that how you would shrink the field size, by increasing the times?
24:12 Boston isn’t the only race that you direct. You do direct some smaller races, and a smaller race, you have more flexibility to stagger the starts and things like that. Do you see some of the smaller races, Falmouth for example, coming back sooner than the major marathons?
26:49 On a personal note, every year after the end of the Boston Marathon you have a tradition of running the race yourself. Did you run on Patriots Day?
28:04 One thing that people might not know about you is that two years ago, you had open heart surgery, which is very uncommon considering you’ve been such a prolific runner for all your life. Could you talk a little bit about that?
32:07 What did your doctor say about running? Is running bad for your heart?
33:56 What kind of advice would you give someone who is training for Boston right now or that hopes to train for Boston?
35:06 Any silver linings from all of this craziness in 2020 that you can think of?
36:55 Questions I ask everyone:
“You had to reimagine. You had to start doing things that you don’t necessarily have a skill set in, whether it’s developing an app, or whether it’s developing a virtual expo. How do you do this?”
“We created a COVID committee of experienced scientists, epidemiologists, CDC folks, governmental folks, and put this group together to sort of help us come to some kind of intelligent conclusion as to truly what are we looking at here for next year’s Boston Marathon.”
“I learned a valuable lesson from my open heart surgery. Just because you’re fit doesn’t mean you’re healthy. And shame on me; I always thought it did.”
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BAA - Boston Athletic Association
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We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
Every runner dreams of running faster with less effort, with minimal chance of injury. To do that, we often think we need to “fix” our running form to become more efficient. Dr. Iain Hunter, a running biomechanics researcher, thinks you just might be wasting your time trying to run like someone you are not and tells us what to do instead.
Iain shares his expertise with Coach Claire on topics that include if running mechanics can be improved, footstrikes, how to build strength outside of running, how different types of footwear affect performance, how to know which shoes to choose, and how we can run faster.
Iain, a biomechanics professor at Brigham Young University, is also part of a research team that helped determine just how much the controversial Nike VaporFly 4%s really helps you run faster. He shares the results of the study and the actual range of performance improvement attributable to the shoes (Hint: It's not always 4%). His test subject for the study was none other than Jared Ward, the American Olympic Marathoner headed to London on October 4.
Iain has a mathematics education degree with a coaching minor from BYU, followed by a Master of Education in coaching. During this time, his interest in biomechanics grew, which led him to pursue a PhD in Health and Human Performance at Oregon State University. Iain teaches Biomechanics of Sport and Exercise and conducts research related to the biomechanics of distance running related to performance and injury. He also works with USA Track and Field, applying his research to elite distance runners. He has been a member of the American Society of Biomechanics since 2003.
Iain’s honors and awards include the USA Track and Field: USA Track and Field Sports Medicine and Science and the College of Health and Human Performance: College Teaching Excellence. For a list of his many publications and presentations, please refer to his bio at https://lifesciences.byu.edu/directory/iain-hunter.
4:32 You research and teach about sports biomechanics at Brigham Young University. Can you first define what exactly that means and how you became interested in it?
5:45 Would you say that athletes that understand their particular biomechanics well will be able to perform their best?
6:23 Let's talk about running mechanics. There seems to be no such thing as "perfect form" because top level athletes seem to run very differently and still succeed. But can you improve on your running mechanics to run more efficiently and therefore perform better? How?
7:44 Let’s talk about footstrike. Everybody asks, “Is there a proper way to hit the ground?” and “Heel striking is bad”, and “Forefoot striking is good.” Can you talk a little bit about that?
9:49 Runners come in all shapes and sizes. Taller runners are going to have a different cadence than shorter runners. Is that correct?
10:25 What about an athlete that continues to be injured and you look at something about their form. How do you make changes in a form because they really are getting injured from their preferred way of running?
12:55 I would think that if runners practice through their injury, changing their footstrike, that they would eventually learn to prefer that footstrike, but you don’t see that happening?
14:01 You kind of get used to running a certain way that’s right for your own body, and that’s hard to fix, right? So should we as coaches even both trying to change people’s form?
15:09 The most common reasons we think about changing our form is first of all, injury prevention, and second of all, speed and efficiency. We want to become faster runners over longer distances. So you say that it’s just more about practicing running that’ll become a better runner rather than changing our form?
16:11 What about outside of running? Surely you recommend strength training, and physical therapy, and all of that sort of thing. What sort of things should we runners be doing outside of the run?
18:30 Any tips for the knees?
20:04 Along with Olympian Jared Ward, you and a team of researchers set out to determine how much Nike's VaporFly 4% improved performance. How was this study done and what were the results?
22:10 What were the differences in the people who were at each end of the Nike VaporFly performance bell curve?
23:20 The results from your study have obviously been used to help other companies compete with Nike. Is that correct?
25:53 It’s more than just the carbon fiber plate; it’s the foam that does the work or a combination that makes this shoe effective?
27:03 I know that the foam, they have made some rules on the stack height of the shoe. Can you talk about what that is all about? Why would a higher shoe increase performance?
28:12 You mentioned that you saw that there was better recovery when wearing those shoes. Were you able to test that, like how a racer feels after the marathon?
28:49 Is the difference in muscle damage related to this new style of racing shoe simply because the foam absorbs some of the shock, or any reason why?
29:35 You’ve done a lot of research on shoes from barefoot shoes, minimalist shoes, spikes, all of that. Can you explain how our choice of footwear affects our performance overall?
32:14 Because different types of shoes serve different purposes, you should have a quiver of shoes in your closet?
32:47 How often should you change your shoes? When do you know when to toss them away or donate them? Any advice on that?
33:53 What are you researching now and what questions are you looking to get answered in the future?
36:18 Most people know if they are good uphill runners and downhill runners, right?
36:45 Do we have different mechanics on uphill and downhill, most people?
39:47 Any predictions for the London marathon coming up October 4th?
Questions I ask everyone:
37:26 1. If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
39:07 2. What is the greatest gift running has given you?
41:50 3. Where can listeners connect with you?
“I’d say trust the body first, but then take into account your own thoughts and coach’s thoughts to help guide some potential changes in your biomechanics.”
“With just about any human activity you can think of, the body realizes, ‘Here’s a way that I can do this with less energy cost to me,’ and running is included there, where if you just let it happen, that’s the technique that will use the least energy.”
“I like to say, ‘Well, why are you going on this run?’ And if they have a good answer for that, then I can suggest, ‘Here’s the appropriate shoe for that purpose.’”
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PodiumRunner article on Jared Ward and Iain Hunter helping Saucony develop faster racing shoes
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We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
Imagine doing everything right with your health and fitness, being in peak shape, and enjoying a super successful career announcing at the start and finish lines of some of the top marathons and races in the country, and then being slammed with a cancer diagnosis. What do you do?
If you’re Fitz Koehler, you become even more of an inspiration. In 2019, Fitz found a cancerous lump in her breast just seven weeks after a clear mammogram. True to form, she immediately began treatment, including chemo, to wage an all-out war against the cancer. The treatment was exhausting and debilitating. Did she take time off? No! She got on the phone to the race directors, informed them of her diagnosis, and then told them she would still be showing up for the races. And she did.
Fitz announced at all of her scheduled races, even when literally losing her hair while doing so. She continued to fly around the country, sometimes spending entire nights on bathroom floors, but she still showed up at the races where she both gave and got energy from the athletes.
Fitz is now cancer-free and shares her story and amazing outlook on life and running in this motivating episode with Coach Claire.
Fitz Koehler, M.S.E.S.S. is one of the most prominent and compelling fitness experts and race announcers in America. As the voice of the Los Angeles Marathon, Philadelphia Marathon, Big Sur Marathon, DC Wonder Woman Run Series, and more, she brings big structure, energy, and joy to sport. She’s also passionate about guiding others to live better and longer through her company, Fitzness®. Fitz has appeared on national media outlets and has worked as a speaker and spokesperson for corporations like Disney® and Office Depot®. She has also inspired millions of kids to get active through her successful school running/walking program, The Morning Mile®. Fitz enjoys water sports, strength training, animals, hugs, sarcasm, and travel. She lives in Gainesville, Florida with her husband and two kids.
4:53 Besides being a fitness professional, one of the things that you are most well-known for is race announcing. Can you tell us how you started and what exactly is involved?
7:48 You had a really full race schedule and were doing great. You’re absolutely uber-fit, and then all of a sudden, after doing everything right, you were hit with a cancer diagnosis. Can you talk about what your life was like just before your diagnosis? Did you feel invincible?
8:43 You had just had a clear mammogram a couple months earlier before your cancer diagnosis.
10:04 Can you tell us how the cancer diagnosis, that first few weeks, how it affected you and your family?
11:21 You’re known for being a positive person who encourages people all the time, and you had to deliver some pretty bad news. How was that?
12:49 You had a full race calendar, and after you made that video announcing your diagnosis you had to make some phone calls to the race directors that were expecting you to show up. What was that like?
14:47 As you were announcing the March 2019 LA marathon, your hair began to fall out during the race. Can you talk about that?
17:16 Obviously losing your hair has got to be difficult for anyone, but you chose specifically not to wear a wig and embrace your baldness. Can you talk about that?
18:54 How many races did you end up announcing during your treatment? And how difficult was it?
20:55 How did you have the confidence to call races? Anybody would have understood if you said, “Look, I’m just too sick. I’m going to take a pass.” How did you know that it was going to be okay?
21:33 Clearly your own exercise routine was thrown way out of whack by cancer. How did your exercise change and how did you build back up?
24:46 Why don't you like pink ribbons?
26:23 Coming full circle, you were back announcing the 2020 LA Marathon. Can you explain what that was like?
27:52 Now that you are cured of cancer, your life has no doubt been completely changed with the cancellation of races due to the virus. How have you used this time instead?
29:50 Tell us what the title of your book is and when it comes out.
31:45 What’s your advice on what to say to somebody who announces a diagnosis like yours?
33:28 What’s your next race on the calendar?
Questions I ask everyone:
33:52 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
34:46 What is the greatest gift running has given you?
35:11 Where can listeners connect with you?
“First of all, I whip them into a frenzy and then I yell, ‘Go!’ because we do not do boring races. And then I’m there at the finish line to welcome them home, and my intention is to make every single finisher feel like they won the damn thing, and if somebody goes home feeling disappointed, then I haven’t done my job.”
“Part of my platform as a fitness expert has always been annual exams, self-exams, and personally I felt like, ‘Gee whiz, if I ever have one cancer cell in my body, I want to know about it instantly so I could slaughter it.’ I just felt no mercy on cancer.”
“Stubborn is my greatest asset, my greatest curse. There was nothing going to hold me back, and when I make a decision, God help the person or thing that gets in the way.”
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My Noisy Cancer Comeback - pre-order signed copy
My Noisy Cancer Comeback will be released in October on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Audible, etc.
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Book: My Noisy Cancer Comeback, available on presale at Fitzness.com
Finding a cancerous lump in her breast seven weeks after a clean mammogram was terrifying. But fitness expert and race announcer Fitz Koehler refused to play the victim or allow cancer to steal her extraordinary career or time with family. In My Noisy Cancer Comeback, Fitz reveals the juicy and gory details of her 16-month battle, all while zigzagging across the United States. Enduring chemotherapy, radiation, and surgeries in the public eye wasn’t easy. You’ll laugh, cry, wince, and cheer as she chronicles the clash of an avalanche of side effects with 22 major race weekends. Her inspirational tale encompasses the terror of diagnosis, bald heads and black dresses, spectacular stages, parenting with cancer, perspective, and, most importantly, triumph. You’ll walk away grittier, more optimistic, and inspired to conquer any obstacle.
Follow Fitz on:
We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
Imagine doing everything right with your health and fitness, being in peak shape, and enjoying a super successful career announcing at the start and finish lines of some of the top marathons and races in the country, and then being slammed with a cancer diagnosis. What do you do?
If you’re Fitz Koehler, you become even more of an inspiration. In 2019, Fitz found a cancerous lump in her breast just seven weeks after a clear mammogram. True to form, she immediately began treatment, including chemo, to wage an all-out war against the cancer. The treatment was exhausting and debilitating. Did she take time off? No! She got on the phone to the race directors, informed them of her diagnosis, and then told them she would still be showing up for the races. And she did.
Fitz announced at all of her scheduled races, even when literally losing her hair while doing so. She continued to fly around the country, sometimes spending entire nights on bathroom floors, but she still showed up at the races where she both gave and got energy from the athletes.
Fitz is now cancer-free and shares her story and amazing outlook on life and running in this motivating episode with Coach Claire.
Fitz Koehler, M.S.E.S.S. is one of the most prominent and compelling fitness experts and race announcers in America. As the voice of the Los Angeles Marathon, Philadelphia Marathon, Big Sur Marathon, DC Wonder Woman Run Series, and more, she brings big structure, energy, and joy to sport. She’s also passionate about guiding others to live better and longer through her company, Fitzness®. Fitz has appeared on national media outlets and has worked as a speaker and spokesperson for corporations like Disney® and Office Depot®. She has also inspired millions of kids to get active through her successful school running/walking program, The Morning Mile®. Fitz enjoys water sports, strength training, animals, hugs, sarcasm, and travel. She lives in Gainesville, Florida with her husband and two kids.
4:53 Besides being a fitness professional, one of the things that you are most well-known for is race announcing. Can you tell us how you started and what exactly is involved?
7:48 You had a really full race schedule and were doing great. You’re absolutely uber-fit, and then all of a sudden, after doing everything right, you were hit with a cancer diagnosis. Can you talk about what your life was like just before your diagnosis? Did you feel invincible?
8:43 You had just had a clear mammogram a couple months earlier before your cancer diagnosis.
10:04 Can you tell us how the cancer diagnosis, that first few weeks, how it affected you and your family?
11:21 You’re known for being a positive person who encourages people all the time, and you had to deliver some pretty bad news. How was that?
12:49 You had a full race calendar, and after you made that video announcing your diagnosis you had to make some phone calls to the race directors that were expecting you to show up. What was that like?
14:47 As you were announcing the March 2019 LA marathon, your hair began to fall out during the race. Can you talk about that?
17:16 Obviously losing your hair has got to be difficult for anyone, but you chose specifically not to wear a wig and embrace your baldness. Can you talk about that?
18:54 How many races did you end up announcing during your treatment? And how difficult was it?
20:55 How did you have the confidence to call races? Anybody would have understood if you said, “Look, I’m just too sick. I’m going to take a pass.” How did you know that it was going to be okay?
21:33 Clearly your own exercise routine was thrown way out of whack by cancer. How did your exercise change and how did you build back up?
24:46 Why don't you like pink ribbons?
26:23 Coming full circle, you were back announcing the 2020 LA Marathon. Can you explain what that was like?
27:52 Now that you are cured of cancer, your life has no doubt been completely changed with the cancellation of races due to the virus. How have you used this time instead?
29:50 Tell us what the title of your book is and when it comes out.
31:45 What’s your advice on what to say to somebody who announces a diagnosis like yours?
33:28 What’s your next race on the calendar?
Questions I ask everyone:
33:52 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?
34:46 What is the greatest gift running has given you?
35:11 Where can listeners connect with you?
“First of all, I whip them into a frenzy and then I yell, ‘Go!’ because we do not do boring races. And then I’m there at the finish line to welcome them home, and my intention is to make every single finisher feel like they won the damn thing, and if somebody goes home feeling disappointed, then I haven’t done my job.”
“Part of my platform as a fitness expert has always been annual exams, self-exams, and personally I felt like, ‘Gee whiz, if I ever have one cancer cell in my body, I want to know about it instantly so I could slaughter it.’ I just felt no mercy on cancer.”
“Stubborn is my greatest asset, my greatest curse. There was nothing going to hold me back, and when I make a decision, God help the person or thing that gets in the way.”
Take a Listen on Your Next Run
Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel
My Noisy Cancer Comeback - pre-order signed copy
My Noisy Cancer Comeback will be released in October on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Audible, etc.
Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community
Book: My Noisy Cancer Comeback, available on presale at Fitzness.com
Finding a cancerous lump in her breast seven weeks after a clean mammogram was terrifying. But fitness expert and race announcer Fitz Koehler refused to play the victim or allow cancer to steal her extraordinary career or time with family. In My Noisy Cancer Comeback, Fitz reveals the juicy and gory details of her 16-month battle, all while zigzagging across the United States. Enduring chemotherapy, radiation, and surgeries in the public eye wasn’t easy. You’ll laugh, cry, wince, and cheer as she chronicles the clash of an avalanche of side effects with 22 major race weekends. Her inspirational tale encompasses the terror of diagnosis, bald heads and black dresses, spectacular stages, parenting with cancer, perspective, and, most importantly, triumph. You’ll walk away grittier, more optimistic, and inspired to conquer any obstacle.
Follow Fitz on:
We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
It is the end of an elite era. The beautiful training center in Blowing Rock, NC that has been home to some of the best endurance athletes in the country is for sale. What does that mean for the elite athletes that live and work there? And what about the adult and teen running camps that ZAP has hosted for the past 18 years?
Coach Claire talked to head coach and owner, Pete Rea to find out.
Pete Rea, the Elite Athlete coach at ZAP Endurance Team USA, has an impressive resume. He has led 51 athletes to Olympic Trials since the facility’s opening in 2002, and also coached the following:
Pete together with his wife, two-time Olympic trials qualifier Zika Rea, are coaches at the facility, host adult running camps during the summer and retreats all year. The facility has a state-of-the-art weight room, a bio-lab for physiological testing, and a 24-bed lodge. RunnersConnect has held fall running retreats at ZAP for years and it's always been a highlight of the season.
Big changes are coming to ZAP, however, and Coach Claire talks to Pete to discover what’s in store for the team and their beautiful 45-acre center. They also talk about the evolution of running since the ‘90s, what Pete sees as the future of running, and what’s next for him and the athletes he coaches.
Prior to ZAP, Pete served as a private coach to athletes of all ages and abilities in Atlanta, Georgia. He was also the distance events coach at The Walton School in Georgia. Pete was a distance running standout both as a prep athlete in Connecticut, at the University of Connecticut, and as a post-collegiate runner in the early 1990s. Pete has been a freelance writer for over 20 years for publications such as Running Times, Running Journal, and more than a dozen fitness publications around the US.
2:59 You've been the head coach at ZAP Endurance, formally ZAP Fitness, since the beginning in 2002. A lot has changed in the world and in the world of running since then. Can you talk about what those early years were like in the sport and at ZAP and how it’s changed?
5:59 How has the environment at ZAP changed now versus in 2002?
6:57 You mentioned that the ZAP facility is for sale. That’s a big part of why I wanted to have you on this show. Can you talk a little bit about that, what’s going on and what the future’s going to be like?
8:24 How does not having a training facility in the future, how does that change the group training model? Because they won’t be getting up together. They won’t be probably having their meals together as much anymore.
9:16 You mentioned that ZAP does group camps and group retreats, and that’s actually where we first met. RunnersConnect always has a training camp at ZAP. So what is that going to look like in the future?
10:33 What has the year 2020 been like for the athletes that you coach at ZAP?
11:59 What about the athletes that you have that have been injured? Have they been really using this time to heal and take care of themselves and scale back? At least maybe that is a silver lining for some of the people?
12:35 You have led 51 athletes to the Olympic Trials with ZAP. What does it take for an athlete to reach that level?
14:52 How would you describe your coaching style?
16:42 Time on feet matters, but you can’t go hard all the time, right?
17:17 Would you advise a recreational runner who’s looking to move up to the marathon to do a lot of running at a controlled pace?
17:46 How much slower than marathon pace would you say is a good recovery or easy run pace?
22:49 What advice would you give the people listening about training without a goal race? How do you stay motivated? How do you add a little spice to it? How do you keep that carrot in front of you when there’s no race?
24:39 Two of your athletes, Joe Stilin and Joanna Thompson, have recently moved to New York City, but they are still affiliated with ZAP. How will you work with them from a distance?
26:01 In 2019, the Swiss running company On became the official sponsor of ZAP. Can you talk about the change from Reebok to On?
27:19 What’s On’s answer to the Nike shoes? They’ve got some carbon fiber plates?
28:11 Any predictions for the London Marathon coming up?
29:13 What's next for your athletes? What are they training for?
“Athletes now are fully aware of the types of training others are doing both domestically and around the world, and that’s helped athletes who at one point probably thought they were training hard and then realized they weren’t.”
“We’ve got a couple athletes right now who are struggling with injury. The party line is, ‘Well, if you were going to be hurt, if there’s such a thing as a good time, it’s now.’”
“What he averaged over the long term was clearly one of his greatest strengths, not what he did over any given three weeks or even a month or six months.”
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Jared Ward is getting ready to race. He is one of the few elite athletes that will enter the elite bubble to race the London Marathon on October 4th.
Jared is an American marathoner who placed third in the 2016 US Olympic Trials and finished in sixth place at the Rio Olympics later that year. In 2019, he ran a personal best in Boston, finishing in 2:09, and then in Houston, at the half marathon in January of 2020, he was the first American man to cross the line in a PR of 1:01:36.
With a condensed training build, Jared is now in full marathon mode and he talks to Coach Claire about how his training is going and what the 20-loop course in front of Buckingham Palace might be like for him. They also discuss pandemic-related changes to his and his family’s life and how Jared stays inspired.
Jared lives in Provo, Utah, and when he’s not training for marathons for Saucony or chasing around his four little kids, he is a professor of statistics at Brigham Young University. He famously wrote his master’s thesis on the best way to pace a marathon, and he was on a research team that set out to analyze the performance advantages of rival shoe company Nike’s Vaporfly 4%. That research helped Saucony create the Endorphin Pro which Jared wore in Boston last year for his PR performance.
If you want to race against Olympic Athlete Jared Ward, sign up for the Chaski Challenge marathon relay this Saturday, September 12th. It’s a fun run for a good cause.
3:36 First of all, what a crazy year 2020 has been! Can you take us back to the beginning of the year, as you trained for the Olympic Trials in January and February, what you were imagining 2020 to look like for you?
5:34 What did you do with your training with no races in sight?
6:55 I watched an interview after the race with you and you could have easily dropped out of that race when you knew things were going pretty bad, and a lot of elites do that. They save their legs for another day, but you decided that you were going to finish the race, and I’d love to talk about what was going on in your head at that point.
12:50 Speaking of family, how are you handling four kids at home, home schooling, training, all of the craziness that we parents are going through right now?
14:20 Another interesting fact about you is that you take one day off of running each week because of your faith. Can you talk about this and how it affects your training?
17:05 Let’s talk about London. You have announced that you are going to be one of the few elites running the London Marathon on October 4. Can you tell us how that came about?
19:55 Let’s talk about the logistics of the London Marathon. It’s just loops around the park, right?
20:05 Are they allowing spectators for the London Marathon?
20:55 You obviously had to get special permission for travel and all of that. What are the logistics of traveling as an American to Europe right now?
21:16 Do you know how big the field for the London Marathon is yet?
22:06 Any predictions for the London Marathon, or is it just too crazy to even try to predict?
22:51 I would imagine that this type of course (London Marathon) would actually really play to your strengths. You’re a statistician, is that correct? And so you like the mathematical advantage of a 20-loop course?
24:14 On Saturday, September 12, you are headlining the men's elite virtual marathon relay called the Chaski Challenge, which is another virtual event put on by Tyler Andrews at Chaski Endurance. Can you talk about that and what it's all about?
26:38 So the Chaski Challenge is not a treadmill race? You can do this one outside?
28:23 What's next after London?
30:33 If racing can be done safely, then maybe it should be done, right?
Questions I ask everyone:
31:27 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you first started running, what advice would you give yourself?
32:31 What is the greatest gift that running has given you?
32:56 Where can listeners connect with you?
“I think it’s important for kids to see that even when it’s hard, it doesn’t mean we have to quit. We don’t have to give up.”
“I’ve come to appreciate now as a more seasoned marathoner that it’s a lot more about getting in enough training to unlock lifetime fitness than it is about some perfect marathon training block that tees the race up perfectly.”
“The Chaski Challenge on September 12th is creating an opportunity in a running world with fewer opportunities now than there were a year ago.”
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The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
Are you over-hydrating during your runs? Under-hydrating? How can you even tell and what should you do about it? Sweat, dehydration, and cramping expert Andy Blow talks sodium, fluids, and performance with Coach Claire in this super informative episode.
Andy has a degree in Sport and Exercise Science and was a regular podium finisher in elite short course triathlon racing in his younger days, but he learned about dehydration the hard way. Andy found that he suffered more than most racers in heat and humidity and at longer Ironman distances, frequently visiting the medical tent due to cramps and dehydration despite following common hydration protocols, and he ended with poor race results.
Andy sorted out his hydration needs thanks to years of trial and error. Turns out, he’s a very salty sweater. As proof that one size does not fit all when it comes to hydration, Andy loses nearly twice as much sodium per liter of sweat than does his head of operations, Jonny.
Motivated by his struggles, Andy specialized in electrolyte replenishment and founded Precision Hydration with the help of respected heart surgeon, Dr. Raj Jutley, who introduced Andy to sweat testing and the huge variances in sweat and sodium losses among athletes.
4:31 You are a former elite triathlete that learned about hydration the hard way. I would love to hear some of your horror stories about how failing to hydrate properly affected your performances.
5:38 What were you doing wrong specifically with your hydration?
6:33 Can you give us a quick history lesson on the advice that athletes have been given about hydration?
8:33 Do you think it’s true that being a little dehydrated is a lot better than being over hydrated?
9:39 How do you know that you are well hydrated and how do you get hydrated before you hit the starting line?
12:29 I was looking at the back of a thing of salt that I have and salt has about 600mg per quarter teaspoon of sodium in it, so can I just take my bottle of water and throw a little sodium in it and call it good?
13:55 Can you just tell us what we should drink?
17:17 How do we measure our own sweat rate and how do we measure our sodium losses?
22:01 Let’s talk about cramps because I have a pretty high level Masters Athlete that I coach and he is very, very fast. He’s a 2:27 marathoner, he’s almost 50 years old, and he often suffers in cramps, and for the most part, it’s at the end of the marathon, and he just powers through it. And we have not been able to figure it out. We think that it’s a muscle issue, but he is a strong hard worker, and so it’s really hard to figure out. Can you help explain the cramping issue?
27:36 Drink to thirst or drink to plan?
30:07 There’s a pretty common myth that if you’re 2% dehydrated, that’s too much. Can you talk about that?
31:58 How does somebody come up with a hydration plan? Do we just go out and run and see when we fall off the cliff? What do you suggest? Obviously trial and error, but let’s say I’m brand new to this whole thing. What advice would you give me?
34:35 Just like glycogen, we’re not trying to replace everything we lost during the actual event. Is that correct?
36:20 After the race, what do we drink?
Questions I ask everyone:
37:33 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you first started running, what advice would you give yourself?
38:06 What is the greatest gift that running has given you?
38:15 Where can listeners connect with you?
“I’ve had some very, very depressing long walks along highways by the side of the road at the end of an Ironman triathlon feeling like absolute garbage because of the problems I had with hydration.”
“Anyone who’s operating in a warm-to-hot environment who’s going for more than 90 minutes to two hours or doing lots of hard sessions on back-to-back days in that warm environment, they’re the people who benefit from really understanding their individual hydration needs a lot closer, and that requires a bit of investigation.”
“I quite often think that cramps that happen late on in endurance activities have a component that’s related to electrolyte imbalance.”
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How To Measure Your Sweat Rate
How To Start an Event Well Hydrated
How Much Dehydration Can You Tolerate?
How To Tell if You May be a Salty Sweater
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We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
In this week's episode, Coach Michael talks about the changes on our podcast shows, Coach Dylan's strength training sessions, the new live coach chats on YouTube and our upcoming RC mobile app. Tune in now!
In this week's Up-Tempo Talks episode, Coach Ruairi talks about the new 5k world record at Monaco Diamond League, FKT (Fastest Known Time) phenomenon among trail runners, and a showdown on the 1500m Irish National Championships. Listen now!
In this episode, Coach Claire delves into the details of Tom’s mask experiment, finds out if he thinks runners should wear masks, what his experience as a critical care doctor has been like in the UK with the coronavirus, and also what he thought about recent controversial RTTT guest Matthew Hammersmith who has been putting on in-person races during the pandemic. Spoiler alert: Tom is not fully for or against what Matt is doing. Check out his opinion and see if you agree.
Tom Lawton is an intensive care doctor with the Bradford Royal Infirmary in Yorkshire, England, a healthcare researcher, and triathlete. After being fat and wheezy through childhood, he took up rowing at his university, and hated running with a passion. Unable to run more than about a quarter of a mile without knee pain and a loud “slap” accompanying each foot strike, he foolishly ran (well, mostly walked while sobbing in pain) the London Marathon to raise money for charity. He then vowed never to run again.
A decade later and unfit once more, a drunken wedding bet saw Tom enter the first Ironman Wales. He started running under protest and arrived at the race having managed training runs of no longer than 10 miles. Undeterred, he excitedly scarfed down everything he’d picked up from the expo during the bike section. Alas, at least one of those things did not agree with him and he spent most of the run being sick. Nevertheless, he still somehow managed to beat his London Marathon time, which prompted him to pick up triathlon training for real.
Since then, Tom has continued to improve and has finished each of his last six iron-distance races in under 10 hours. However, the pandemic has put a stop to all that and he has been unable to train much since January due to a combination of work and the stress of caring for sick patients.
Tom desperately wants to get back to training, so he wants everyone to do whatever they can to keep this virus under control, and he has become a keen mask advocate. In order to prove they were safe to wear around the shops, he pushed a bit more oxygen through one by running to the ICU and back, and has spent the last few weeks exposed to the Internet’s underbelly in the aftermath with his aforementioned 22-mile run.
5:03 You are a critical care doctor in the UK who has recently gotten quite a bit of attention for running 22 miles wearing a triple layer mask to prove that wearing a mask does not cause a drop in oxygen levels. Before we get into that story, can you tell me a bit about what life is like with the pandemic where you are?
6:56 Can you talk a little bit about what the hospital you were working at was like in April with all the cases coming in?
8:20 Was your hospital overwhelmed with COVID patients?
8:50 In the United States, a big part of the decision to wear a mask or not seems to be a very political one. We Americans prize our freedom and individualism and some people just don't like being told what to do, so they don’t want to wear a mask. Are you seeing that in the UK as well, that kind of attitude?
10:54 Let's have you tell the story of the run that got shared around the world. How did you set it up and what’s the story?
14:47 Tell me about the mask you were wearing on your run?
15:49 How did you measure your oxygen levels on the run?
17:02 What kind of feedback are you getting from people? Are people saying that, “Well, you’re an athlete. Of course your oxygen levels are going to be great,” or “I have asthma. This isn’t going to work for me.” Did people say that you’re some kind of exception? Have you gotten any feedback like that?
18:49 You ran to work in a mask, and then presumably you wore a mask all day at work, and then you turned around and wore a mask and ran home. Is that right?
19:43 What you said before is you ran in a mask just to show that you could do it, but I’m gathering that you wouldn’t recommend it and it probably wasn’t great for performance. Is that correct?
22:05 I certainly know a lot of athletes who do live in big cities and run on crowded paths and they wear the neck gaiter or the buff because it’s easy to pull up and down. And you mentioned that Duke University study that came out, and it said that the buffs are actually worse than no mask at all because they break up the droplets and make them easier to spread. I’d love to get your thoughts on that.
25:01 A lot of people say, “Well, hey, if I’m healthy enough to go running or I’m healthy enough to go run a race, then I probably don’t have corona.” What do you say to people who say that?
26:06 We recently had a race director on this show and he was putting on smaller races, 200-to-300 people at the events, and with very minimal pre-race, post-race contact, but still, in a race, and there’s pictures of these races that you’re not six feet apart, you’re passing people, there’s crowds at the starts, so what do you say about holding races during the pandemic?
28:17 Part of the race director’s argument was there’s a mental health risk of not going out and seeing other people, and that’s hard to deny as well. People are kind of going a little stir crazy, but also some serious mental issues are happening because we are all stuck inside. Are you seeing that as well?
30:03 And on a personal note, how is your training going?
Questions I ask everyone:
31:37 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you first started running, what advice would you give yourself?
32:10 What is the greatest gift that running has given you?
32;59 Where can listeners connect with you?
“There have been a lot of people, especially with this mask-run context, they need to complain and say they don’t want to wear masks, and various forms of abuse. And a lot of them are American, but I’ve had Canadian abuse, I’ve had French abuse, I’ve had UK abuse, so it’s not just an American thing.”
“The purpose of doing this wasn’t to show that you should run in masks. It was to show that you could walk around the shops quietly in one, and the running was just to make it kind of more extreme and make it really obvious that if anything was going to make my oxygen levels drop, then running for 22 miles should have made it happen, and it didn’t.”
“This disease is about people thinking of others. Most of us involved in running are relatively young, we’re fit, we’re healthy. We are not going to die from coronavirus even if we catch it, but we could spread it to friends, to family, to people we don’t know who are more at risk, and those are the people we’ve got to really think about.”
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We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!
Why you need to do cool down exercises after a workout? How to properly cool down after running or racing? Coach Hayley explains in today's episode.
How to stay speedy and healthy when running in your 50s, 60s, and 70s? Can older runners do speed work without ending up injured? Coach Claire shares tips to help master runners increase speed and avoid injury in today's podcast.
In this week's episode, Coach Michael talks about the feedback we received on our daily podcasts and asks your suggestions about our plan of making a slight change with the podcast format.