Run to the Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide to Running

Train the Body You Have to Get the Body You Want: Tianna Bartoletta 0

Follow Jocelyn 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!

Download this Episode

Apr 28, 2021

Tianna Bartoletta is one of the best sprinters in the world, and she’s on hand to teach all of us, even the endurance runners, what we can learn from short distance running. Really short.

For most of us, a sprint is less than 20 seconds, which is the distance short enough to reach your top speed completely anaerobically, or without needing oxygen for fuel. Past this point, your lungs scream for oxygen and you will probably not be able to sustain the effort.

Why should long distance runners care about those 20 seconds? Because by tapping into your anaerobic system a couple times a week, you teach yourself to burn that fire just a little hotter, and train your other gears to run a little more smoothly and efficiently.

Tianna also talks about what surprising things endurance runners can learn from long jumpers and yogis, how to frame our body talk in a positive way, how she’s adapted her training as she’s aged, and her gold-medal-winning, world-record-breaking Olympic relay experience. This episode has something for everyone, whether you’re a walker, a sprinter, or an endurance monster!

Tianna is a 35 year-old American sprinter and long jumper. She is a two-time Olympian with three gold medals. She ran the lead leg in the world record setting 4 × 100 m relay team in 2012, handing the baton to Allyson Felix. At the 2016 Summer Olympics she won two more golds, first with a personal best to win the long jump then again leading off the winning 4 × 100 m relay team.

In non-Olympic years, Tianna has won the World Championships 3 times and competed as a pusher on the U.S. bobsled team in 2012.

And if all of that weren't amazing enough, she’s also a registered yoga teacher, writes a blog at tiannabee.com , and her memoir, Survive And Advance, will be released this June!

Questions Tianna is asked:

4:37 This conversation is a little bit delayed because you got a surprise drug test at 7:00 in the morning. Can you talk about that?

5:09 Can you talk about the 60-day transformation that you posted? What happened? I thought you looked great before, but now you’re like a sculpture. It’s amazing. Can you tell me how that happened?

9:01 I remember reading in one of your Instagram threads that you said you were hungry during your 60-day transformation, and that’s not something that we really like to admit. Why did you want to tell people like, “Hey, yes, this is working but to be perfectly honest, I’m hungry?” Why did you want to share that part about it?

11:45 You'll have to forgive me for asking what might end up being very basic questions, but our listeners mostly are endurance runners. So when somebody says, “I’m going to go run 100,” they’re usually talking about 100 miles not 100 meters, and you are a 100-meter specialist among many of your talents. So I would love to learn more about what it takes to be a good 100m specialist?

13:41 When you say you’re allergic to running long, you obviously don’t just run 100 meters in training and then stop. You do obviously run long. So what’s a long run for you?

17:17 Let’s talk about Stephanie Bruce. One of the bright spots of 2020, an obviously crazy year, is that you two connected, and I would love to hear about that story.

19:39 In 2020, obviously Tokyo was delayed. What was that like for you when you found out the news?

22:12 In both 2012 and 2016, you were a part of the gold-winning 4x100m relay team, in the lead leg position, handing the baton to Allyson Felix. Talk us through that. What makes a good relay team? How does the coach determine the order? How many times do you practice that baton pass?

24:19 What was your favorite moment from those games?

25:19 You are also a gold medalist in the long jump, and I want to talk about the world record there. The American world record and the overall world record, those are very, very old from the ‘80s and ‘90s. What’s it going to take to break it?

29:00 You recently had a meet where you were jumping really, really well, and you registered under the team name AARP. Can you explain that?

30:37 What’s your key to longevity in this sport then? What makes you at your age still able to perform at such a high level?

32: 17 How do you get your ego out of the way when training? How do you tell yourself, “No, it’s okay to step back?”

34:19 Let’s talk about yoga. One stereotype about runners is that they really don't have to be all that flexible. You are a yogi and you are super flexible. Can you share how yoga physically helps you, and then we get more into the mental side of it?

36:44 You have a book coming out. Tell us about that.

37:57 When does your book come out?

38:10 What do you think long-distance runners can learn from sprinters, jumpers, and yogis?

39:27 How often do you do plyometrics?

40:14 What's next for you?

Questions I ask everyone:

40:39 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give yourself?

41:04 What is the greatest gift running has given you?

41:17 Where can listeners connect with you?

Quotes by Tianna:

“You realize how much of our eating is just habit and mindless snacking. And so that’s really the biggest transformation is that everything is mindful. Everything I ingest is done with that little pause, like why am I eating this? What is it for? And that’s been the difference and my body has really responded to that.”

“I loved not realizing that we broke the world record. Somebody had to point it out to us in 2012. I just knew we won and we won by a lot.”

“You have to be able to put your ego aside and say, ‘This is what my body needs. Sure, I can see that my rivals and competitors are doing six days a week but I can’t do that.’ And at the end of the day, you have to train the body that you have. That you actually have. Not the one you wish you had; the one you have. And that’s the key.”

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel

Mentioned in this podcast:

Tianna Bee

Survive and Advance

Follow Tianna on:

Jump Start Your Running With Plyometrics: Duane Scotti 0

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.

Apr 21, 2021

You probably know that strength training can help a runner minimize injuries but what about plyometrics or jump training? Do runners really need plyometrics? Wouldn’t that lead to more injuries? Dr. Duane Scotti thinks the opposite is true.

Dr. Duane Scotti, DPT, PhD, OCS is a running physical therapist, run coach, host of the Healthy Runner podcast, and founding owner of SPARK Physical Therapy, and has been a leader in the rehab and running community for over 17 years. He is passionate about helping runners feel strong and confident so they can stay healthy and become lifelong injury free runners!

Dr. Duane truly believes that anyone can run and that all runners should be treated differently as athletes. He is on a mission to change the traditional thinking that running causes “overuse injuries” and you must “take a break” in order to get better. Through run specific training (exercises and running progression) you can build your body to be a strong resilient runner and stay active, stay healthy, and just keep running!

You may think it’s counterintuitive to take time out from your running to work on your jumping, but running is a series of one-legged hops so incorporating some plyometric training into your workout plan to get better at those one-legged hops can dramatically change how well you run and how good you feel while running.

In this episode, Duane explains exactly why plyometrics is important for runners and shares what he thinks are the key muscles runners should focus on, and also gives some great examples of non-jumping strength training exercises that all runners should do to become better and stronger. Some exercises were even new to Coach Claire!

Through the Healthy Runner community, Duane strongly believes living an active lifestyle can help you stay healthy and live a pain free life. At SPARK Physical Therapy, Duane guides his clients in achieving a high-performance active lifestyle through his in-person clinic and virtually anywhere in the world. You could be a runner who aspires to complete your first half marathon, or you could be an experienced marathoner of 30 years. Duane has been the fitness and health support system and the go to resource for coaches, trainers, and runners.

Duane is also honored to be a part of team UCAN as a featured expert dedicated to training strategies and innovation. He has his clients’ best interest in mind as evidenced by constantly creating and sharing new videos, podcast episodes, and blog posts to help runners improve their confidence and strength for running. Through his programs, coaching, and virtual rehab, Duane has successfully helped thousands of runners crush their running goals, hitting personal bests over the years. He has a passion for helping runners of all abilities stay healthy and prevent injuries in order to get back to the workouts and runs they love!

Questions Duane is asked:

5:27 You’re a physical therapist who specializes in runners. Can you tell us a little bit about your own running journey and how you came to focus on runners in your practice?

6:30 You used to dance. What kind of dancing did you do?

7:20 What is plyometrics and why is it good for runners?

9:06 I’m going to play a little devil’s advocate for you here. So if we are jumping all the time, running is a series of hops from one foot to the other, if we’re already jumping all the time, why do we need to do more jumping?

10:03 How do your muscles function differently when you’re running and jumping versus strength training?

11:06 Are plyometrics for every runner?

12:43 Let’s say I am a Level 1 runner. I run three days a week, speed work one day, easy day one day, long run on the weekend, and I’ve never done any plyometrics before. What would your prescription be for me?

14:26 You’re saying that we need to practice landing softly in the gym as well as when we’re running?

15:22 What’s Level 2 plyometric training?

19:32 When I was in super heavy marathon training, the miles piled up, I was running every day, and the last thing that I wanted to do was jump around because I would be so tired. So what do you say to somebody who’s really deep into marathon training and who is balking at a little plyometrics?

22:00 One thing about plyometrics, at least in my experience, is that it ends up being really high cardio. For the most part, I want to get my cardio from running, not from my extra activities so what’s your position on that? How much do you really need or are you a fan of getting your heart rate up in non-running activities?

24:10 At least with other kinds of strength training, a little goes a long way for runners because we’re not trying to get huge and strong and build muscle mass and deadlift a million pounds. We are trying to be not weak for running, so we can get away with a little less strength training than some other kind of athlete in a different sport. So is the same true with plyometrics? Can I just do like five, ten minutes a week and call it good?

26:44 There are some runners, especially older runners and runners who are injury prone, who are afraid that jumping is either too hard or not something that they should do. How do you address that?

29:00 Before plyometrics, what kind of other foundational strength work should we runners be doing every week?

32:10 Let’s talk about examples for each of the muscle groups runners should be focusing on in strength workouts.

39:23 What are some exercises for hamstrings and quads?

43:28 What I’ve been doing for my hamstrings, just to get some feedback to see if I’m doing the right or the wrong thing, is I have a really big exercise ball. So I will lay down on the floor like I’m getting into a glute bridge and I’ll put my heels on the exercise ball and push with my heels the ball away and then pull it back in, and push it in. My hamstrings are on fire when I’m done with that. I can do 10 or 15 and I’m calling for mercy. But you’re saying that’s a little bit different than the Nordic one you recommend?

44:46 One thing you said a little bit earlier that I want to go back to real quick. You talked about some runners being hamstring dominant. I’ve encountered a lot of quad dominant runners. What are your thoughts on that and what’s going on there because most of the people I know who have problems or injuries tend to be really quad dominant?

47:17 When you say we need to work on eccentric exercises, I assume that means you’re a fan of some downhill running because that’s eccentric?

Questions I ask everyone:

48:37 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give yourself?

49:10 What is the greatest gift running has given you?

50:07 Where can listeners connect with you?

Quotes by Duane:

“One of my big principles is we need to train in order to run. So running is not our only form of exercise, our only form of training. We actually have to train in order to run successfully and stay healthy.”

“I am not about, you will see some camp style classes or bigger programs, not going to drop any names, but they go to like failure and they’re doing like 50 box jumps because that’s the WOD that is posted and you’re going to do 50 of them no matter what. No, I’m a big believer in more the quality and how you’re feeling when you’re doing the exercise in order to get the benefit that you want to get from the exercise.”

“One thing about the calf muscle before I forget is endurance. So runners should be able to do 25 single leg heel raises or calf raises.”

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel

Mentioned in this podcast:

The Relatable, Rambling Runner: Matt Chittim 0

Follow Duane on:

Listen & Subscribe to the Healthy Runner Podcast:

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.

Download this Episode

Apr 14, 2021

The Relatable, Rambling Runner - Matt Chittim

Most running podcasts focus on professional runners. Matt Chittim’s Rambling Runner podcast focuses on dedicated amateur runners who are working hard at the sport while also balancing running with the rest of their lives.

That’s not to say Matt ignores the elites. He also covers the other end of the spectrum with his Road to the Trials podcast which follows the training, racing, and experiences of some of America’s best runners as they prepared for the Olympic Trials.

As an athlete, Matt is a former college basketball player and coach. He started running at a young age with an occasional 5k or track season but most of his running was at the service of getting fit for other sports. After college Matt started taking running more seriously and eventually became fully invested in the running community.

Matt is currently working through a year-long journey called Mastering 40 in which he is hoping to break 40:00 in the 10k after turning 40 years old. He talks to Coach Claire about his training ups and downs and what motivated him to set this “stretch goal.”

Matt also talks about how his Ramblin Runner podcast got started, his most memorable interview, and what he thinks the differences are between professional and amateur runners. He is a natural storyteller who brings a unique perspective to the running community!

Questions Matt is asked:

3:50 Most of us know you from your popular running podcast Rambling Runner. Can we go back to the beginning of how it all got started and how it's going now?

8:10 What do you attribute the growth of your podcast to?

9:32 What have been some of your most memorable interviews?

11:05 Who is still on your list of dream interviews?

13:28 You’ve got another show, Road to the Trials, which obviously interviews the best of the best, the elite Americans who are gunning for the Olympic Trials, so you have interviewed your share of elites and you’ve interviewed your share of just recreational runners. What would you say is the difference between the two?

15:54 PTs probably love working with professional runners because they do what they’re told more than amateur runners do.

18:38 You have a new series within your podcast called Mastering 40 that you started last August, dedicated to chronicling your journey of breaking 40 minutes in the 10k. Let's talk about that and what you are doing to prepare.

21:29 How’s your Mastering 40 goal going?

22:21 How did you injure your knee and how did it affect your training goal?

23:07 Do you have a date for your goal? When’s the time trial?

24:26 What kind of races are you looking for to prepare for your time trial?

25:19 What are all the other things you’re doing? What's training like? Nutrition, sleep, all that good stuff, etc? How are you doing in those areas?

29:28 Another project of yours is Road to the Trials. Can you talk about that and who you bring on the show?

32:33 We could talk about how great such and such race was but you really learn so much more when everything falls apart.

36:54 What's next for you? What happens when you break 40?

Questions I ask everyone:

40:01 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?

40:46 What is the greatest gift running has given you?

41:00 Where can listeners connect with you?

Quotes by Matt:

“I started the Rambling Runner podcast with the idea of there’s a lot of running podcasts out there that I really liked and the vast majority of them were talking to professional runners... and I was like, ‘All right, no one’s talking to amateur runners. Let’s do that.’”

“Professional athletes in any sport are incredibly gifted athletes, and I think that the thing that’s easy to miss sometimes for dedicated amateur runners is sometimes they hold themselves to too high a standard. These folks, they were awesome at running the minute they started running.”

“One of the things I’ve learned through the show is that just like anything else, racing is a skill. It’s not just a test of fitness.”

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

Leave a space for libsyn link

Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel

Mentioned in this podcast:

The Rambling Runner podcast

Road to the Trial‪s podcast

Amino Co - RunnersConnect

Anchor - The easiest way to make a podcast

InsideTracker.com

RunnersConnect Retreats

Follow Matt on:

How Much Protein a Runner Really Needs: Dr. Robert Wolfe 0

Twitter

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.

Apr 7, 2021

As runners, we think about how to fuel properly. That includes carbohydrate and protein, but what about essential amino acids? How do they help us optimize our nutrition to become the best runners we can be?

Dr. Robert Wolfe, Ph.D, is here to talk as both a scientist and a runner. As the director of the Center for Translational Research on Aging and Longevity at the University of Arkansas, he focuses his research on the regulation of muscle metabolism. His research publications have been cited an impressive 75,000+ times, and he shares how amino acids might be able to help your performance and recovery.

Dr. Wolfe has also been running for 60 years and has run an amazing 62 marathons under 2:30 in his lifetime! Coach Claire talks to him about his running career, how to stay young and healthy, what happens in the body when we run, and how our food can help us before, during, and after the run.

Dr. Wolfe also shares his thoughts on the importance of keeping a consistent exercise routine as we age, so there’s definitely a lot of great food for thought in this episode!

Dr. Wolfe’s undergraduate studies were at the University of California, Berkeley, and he completed his Ph.D. degree at UC Santa Barbara’s Institute of Environmental Stress. Dr. Wolfe served as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School for nine years. Prior to accepting his current position in 2006, he was at the UT Medical Branch at Galveston, where he held the John H. Sealy Distinguished Chair in Clinical Research and was Chief of the Metabolism Unit at Shriners Burns Hospital.

Dr. Wolfe has received a number of awards and invited lectureships in recognition of his work. He received the Herman Award from the American Society of Clinical Nutrition for his career contributions. He has published over 452 peer-reviewed research articles, 126 review articles, three books, including the major reference source in the field of stable isotope tracer methodology and has 5 patents. His papers have been cited 50,663 times (h index= 122), and 16,423 (h index =65) since 2011. Dr. Wolfe has been funded continuously by the NIH for his entire career and frequently held two NIH grants per year as Pl.

The focus of Dr. Wolfe’s research is on the regulation of muscle metabolism, particularly as affected by aging and stressors such as injury, sepsis and cancer. His research has been performed largely in human patients and normal volunteers. Dr. Wolfe has developed models using stable isotopes to quantify a variety of metabolic processes in human subjects including the oxidation and production of fatty acids, various aspects of carbohydrate metabolism, and the rates of muscle protein synthesis, breakdown, and the transport of amino acids between blood and muscle tissue. Dr. Wolfe is the Director of the Center for Translational Research in Aging and Longevity at the Reynolds Institute on Aging.

Questions Bob is asked:

3:33 Before we talk about the science of exercise metabolism, I want to hear about your running journey. You’ve been a runner for over 50 years with 62 marathons under 2:30. Can you tell us a little bit about what your story is and how you started?

5:15 I can’t imagine that every single run was super fun, so I would love to talk about what your training was like, how you trained for marathons and what are the key ingredients in the recipe for a marathon?

8:06 How old were you when you did your last sub-2:30 marathon?

8:59 As far as fueling goes, what does an endurance athlete need before, during, and after exercise?

12:09 What are amino acids? What are the different kinds (essential, branched chain, etc)? And how are they used in the body?

14:56 When we’re eating enough dietary protein, does that mean we are automatically eating enough of the essential amino acids that we need?

16:53 What is the optimal amount of essential amino acids we as individuals need?

18:44 Obviously protein requirements are going to be different for an endurance runner and a bodybuilder, right?

22:51 Is the purpose of taking amino acid supplements to get everything you need for optimum performance without having to eat more food?

25:24 Is there a limit to how much amino acids the body can absorb at one?

27:55 Does the body have a way of storing essential amino acids?

29:22 If you take in too much essential amino acids, do you just excrete it?

29:44 How are the amino acids from the Amino Company produced?

32:09 How do you use amino acid supplements? Do you take it before your run, after, or even during?

36:40 When you are taking amino acids during exercise, do they activate hormones in your body?

41:00 Does your company have an amino acid formulation to help me with my insomnia too?

41:41 Besides leading the Amino Company, you are also the director of the center for translational research on aging and longevity at the University of Arkansas. So what's the secret to staying youthful and vital as we age?

43:39 Do older athletes have an advantage when it comes to longevity and aging?

Questions I ask everyone:

45:32 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?

47:02 What is the greatest gift running has given you?

47:54 Where can listeners connect with you?

Quotes by Bob:

“Generally speaking, I think the protein aspect of the diet is extremely important but as far as dietary protein, when you’re eating as many as 4 or 5,000 calories a day, even a low protein diet is going to provide enough dietary protein to meet your protein requirements.”

“It’s important to understand that the dietary requirements are telling us not only how much protein we should eat, but how much of each individual essential amino acid we should eat, are predicated on the baseline amount we need to avoid deficiency. And so the key aspect, what we’ll talk about with specific amino acid supplementation, is that for optimal physical functioning, particularly with stress like exercise training, that the baseline amount of essential amino acids that you need to avoid deficiency is really not optimal.”

“One of the things that obviously we’re trying to do is with running is to improve muscle function and muscle strength without increasing muscle bulk because it’s just extra weight.”

“The thing which is obvious when you see a lot of older people is that ability to function physically is really the primary determinant of quality of life. If you can’t get up out of a chair then medical costs and everything else go out the window, but just being able to do the activities you like is so important.”

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

Leave a space for libsyn link

Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel

Mentioned in this podcast:

The Amino Company

The Center for Translational Research in Aging and Longevity | UAMS Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging

How to Finally Win Your Inner Negative Mental Battle and Become Stronger and Faster: Dr Jacob Cooper 0

RunnersConnect Retreats

Email Coach Claire

Follow Bob on:

Email Dr. Wolfe

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.

Download this Episode

Mar 31, 2021

Many runners face constant negative mental battle when the run starts to get hard. If you are frequently struggling with negative thoughts, there is a way to win the mental battle.

Dr. Jacob Cooper has the answers.

Jacob breaks down exactly what you need to do and exactly when you need to do it, to convert your self-talk that’s telling you to quit, to an ally that lets the real you triumph. So if you want to perform better at running, or really at anything in life that's challenging, keep listening and be ready to apply Dr Cooper's techniques, and finally win the negative mental battle when running hard.

Jacob is a clinical sport psychologist who serves as the director of sport psychology at Appalachian State University in Western North Carolina. A former college athlete himself, he has worked with professional and amateur athletes, Olympians, and Paralympians. He has an extensive background in mental health and how it ties to performance. Jacob has developed a style of working with athletes that focuses on them holistically, with the goal of performance optimization in the pursuit of excellence.

Jacob Cooper Ph.D. - Full Bio

Dr. Cooper is a clinical sport psychologist who serves as the director of sport psychology at Appalachian State University in addition to his own private practice serving professional and amateur athletes. He is a member of the United States Olympic & Paralympic athlete mental health registry, which consists of a selected group of specialized sports psychologists who are thoroughly vetted by the USOPC and then made available to current U.S. Olympians & Paralympians.

As a former collegiate offensive lineman turned amateur triathlete and runner (Hello Clydesdale Division!), Jacob has worked with athletes at the Olympic, Professional, and Division-1 level over the course of his career. As a sport psychologist, Dr. Cooper brings an extensive background in mental health and performance enhancement. To this end, he has developed a style of working with athletes that focuses on them holistically, across the spectrum of future-oriented performance optimization, current personal barriers/stressors, as well as more significant mental health issues that can inevitably show up in the pursuit of excellence.

As a doctoral student at Boston University, he completed clinical practicums within a variety of settings, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Federal Bureau of Prisons system (BOP) along with multiple D1 college sport medicine teams as a performance consultant. Additionally, he has published scholarly articles and cultivated a unique approach to working with athletes and teams that integrates the latest research, evidence-based strategies, and technology to help them reach their goals.

In addition to high performance populations, he has a unique background and training in the areas of rural mental health, trauma recovery, serving low help-seeking populations, and military psychology. He has provided performance optimization for military personnel prior to their deployments as well as counseling for veterans transitioning back to civilian life throughout Western North Carolina, Indiana, and Boston.

Dr. Jacob Cooper- Ph.D. Clinical Sport Psychologist.

Director of Sport Psychology Services at Appalachian State University

Licensed Clinical Psychologist & Health Service Provider (HSP)

U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Sport Psychology Registry Member

Education Background:

B.A.- (Psychology) Taylor University (Indiana)- 4 year scholarship athlete & team captain (Football)

Dual Masters Degree- Ball State University (Indiana)

M.S.- Sport and Performance Psychology

M.A.- Clinical Psychology

PhD- Counseling Psychology (Sport and Performance Track)- Boston University

Matched Clinical Residency - Charles George Veterans Hospital - Asheville North Carolina.

Questions Jacob is asked:

3:59 I first found out about you from an Instagram post that the folks at ZAP posted. You were working with the elites at ZAP helping them build some mental strength. Can you tell me a little bit about how you worked with them?

5:03 How do elite and regular runners find motivation and purpose when a lot of races have been taken off the board?

6:19 Maybe this pandemic is a silver lining or maybe it’s a gift because we can look at our running in a different way because we’re all going to get slower as we age and performance is a huge part of why we do it, at least for some people, but once you take those PRs and the clock away, why do we run? That’s got to be the most important thing, right?

7:28 We always talk about, “I want to get mentally tough,” because clearly it’s not just our bodies. We can train our bodies to do certain things but if the brain is not onboard, the train’s not going to get all the way to the station. So how do we train our brain to be mentally tougher when things get hard?

8:30 I’m going to use myself as an example. When I’m running really hard or trying for a specific goal, I have the devil and the angel on my shoulder. I have the voice saying, “Go, go, go. You can do this.” And then I have a very, very sweet devil saying, “Everybody still loves you no matter what you run. You can slow down. This is really hard.” So I’m fighting these two opposing things that are 100% me and I really want to tell the devil to shut up and I really want to keep moving hard. How do I do that?

11:30 So the feelings come and we’re supposed to say, “Oh hello, feeling,” and let it go on its way. Is that what we’re supposed to be doing when we’re trying to run that 400 meter repeat really hard?

12:43 Can you give us a few examples of mental tools that we can use? What’s in the toolbox?

14:37 What is radical acceptance in your RISE model?

16:32 What does the I in RISE mean?

23:50 What does the S in RISE mean?

25:23 Do you have any hints for people who don’t know what their optimal performance cues are?

26:18 When I’m running well in a race or in a group setting, I definitely lock on the dude in front of me. I’m laser focused on him and I pretend that I have a rope attached to him and I pretend that he’s pulling me. And I just link up to him like a train like I am not letting this person go. It works for me.

27:13 What does the E in RISE stand for?

29:06 Let’s talk about the difference between psychology of teams and the psychology of athletes that are in an individual sport. Can you address that a little bit? Or is it the same just on a different level? Are we all talking to ourselves like we would talk to a bunch of people?

31:58 What about teams of runners? What about groups of runners where they’re obviously not always running the same races but they train together? They are in a team environment where they eat, sleep, and work out together and it’s been proven that we work differently in a group setting. Can you talk about that?

33:31 Especially with the pandemic, we’re seeing more and more runners find support, find a tribe, find a group of people online that they haven’t been able to find before, and a lot of people are finding it incredibly helpful. Especially runners are typically Type A, loner, data nerds (or maybe I'm just speaking for myself!), but a group setting isn’t typically comfortable for people who love to spend hours alone running, so any advice for that lone runner who maybe shies away from a group?

35:48 You help athletes work on their mental health issues. And we think about elite runners especially as just having these super tough brains that are as tough as their bodies and they are able to do amazing things that the regular people can’t do. So we think that they are just some kind of machine when it comes to their minds but I suspect that you find some mental health issues. Can you talk a little bit about that?

39:36 People who drive themselves so hard to be excellent, they’re a specific breed of people and you look at them and you wonder if they did have some trauma. Why in the world are they pushing themselves to these extreme limits? Do you find that that is really the case that people that are just absolutely at the top of their game are more likely to have had some kind of trauma in their past?

41:58 One thing I really wanted to talk to you about is the whole concept of balance. When we are striving for something, whether it's athletics, a career, parenting, sacrifice is inevitable and balance is simply not possible (or desired). How can we reach our goals without letting everything else fall apart?

45:21 What is next for you and what questions in sports psychology are you looking to get answered in the future?

Questions I ask everyone:

48:54 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?

50:04 What is the greatest gift running has given you?

51:33 Where can listeners connect with you?

Quotes by Jacob:

“That ‘why’ is such a valuable thing and it’s very easy in athletics to sometimes lose touch with that.”

“I think that it’s helpful to have multiple fuel sources because there’s costs to them all.”

“Your attention is a muscle. It’s like a spotlight that allows you to shift to what matters most right now. I call these optimal performance cues or OPCs.”

“Anywhere that there’s pressure and stress, we’re all capable of that impacting us and manifesting in the form of some level of mental distress whether it’s just some symptoms of anxiety, depression, eating disorders, trauma, or it’s like a full blown chronic disorder and something like that.”

“There’s going to be times and seasons of life that feel unbalanced. But I believe that in every season of life it is possible and worthwhile to live in a way that reflects our values.”

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

Leave a space for libsyn link

Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel

Mentioned in this podcast:

ZAP Endurance

Follow Jacob on:

dr.coopercc@gmail.com

What All Runners With Kidneys Need to Hear: Dr Sherry Mansour and Dr F Perry Wilson 0

Running with Heart

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.

Mar 24, 2021

How many marathon runners have acute kidney damage after they cross the finish line? According to a Yale University study, the answer is a shocking 55%. So if you’ve ever run a marathon, the odds are slightly better than 50% that this has happened to you.

But don’t worry. The damage tends to be temporary, resolving itself after a few days. So we heal, get stronger, and move on. But what if something goes wrong?

Dr. Sherry Mansour and Dr. F. Perry Wilson are kidney doctors or nephrologists at Yale, and they share their expertise on running and your kidneys. Dr. Mansour actually led the research on marathon runners and kidney research. They talk to Coach Claire about who is susceptible to acute kidney damage from running, what we can do about it, and what we still need to learn.

They also discuss ibuprofen which can cause kidney issues, and how it can be used safely by runners. They also delve into kidney stones. If you’ve ever had one, you know they are extremely painful. They cover how to minimize the risk of kidney stones and what precautions kidney stone sufferers need to take when running long distances.

If you are a runner with kidneys, this is one conversation you don't want to miss!

Dr. Sherry Mansour grew up and attended medical school in New York. She graduated in 2010 and received the Highest Academic Achievement Award. She was elected valedictorian of her class and was also inducted into the Psi Sigma Alpha National Osteopathic Scholastic Honor Society. She went on to complete residency training in Internal Medicine at Stony Brook University Medical Center, where she was chosen as chief medical resident. She was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, Stony Brook Chapter in 2012. She then joined Yale New Haven Hospital in 2014 as a Clinical Research Nephrology fellow. She also completed her Master of Science from the Yale School of Public Health in 2019 with a focus on Chronic Disease Epidemiology. Since her arrival at Yale, Dr. Mansour has been working on identifying novel repair biomarkers in blood and urine to better predict long-term kidney and heart disease outcomes after AKI, and improve overall patient care. Her K-23 proposal is focused on understanding the role of a vessel repair pathway, known as the Angiopoietin pathway, in graft outcomes after deceased donor kidney transplantation.

A link to Dr. Mansour’s full biography including links to her research and publications is:

Yale Medicine Profile - Dr Sherry Mansour

Dr. Wilson grew up in Connecticut, before attending Harvard College where he graduated with honors in biochemistry. He then attended medical school at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, before completing his internship, residency, and fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2012, he received a Masters degree in Clinical Epidemiology, which has informed his research ever since. At Yale since 2014, his goal is using patient-level data and advanced analytics to personalize medicine to each individual patient. He is the creator of the popular online course "Understanding Medical Research: Your Facebook Friend Is Wrong" on the Coursera platform.

A link to Dr. Mansour’s full biography including links to his research and publications is:

Yale Medicine Profile - Dr F Perry Wilson

Questions Dr. Mansour and Dr. Wilson are asked:

6:33 Dr Mansour, you did a study a couple years ago at Yale that studied the effects of marathon running on the kidneys. Can you explain how the study was conducted and what you found?

7:50 So marathon runners have markers like people in the ICU. That sounds horrible. Should we be worried?

8:31 Why do runners suffer from Acute Kidney Injury? Is it unique to running? Do swimmers suffer from this too?

9:23 Sherry, you said that you just run for fitness, so I assumed you would be a marathon runner since you studied the effects of marathon running on kidneys. Can you tell me why you chose to study marathon runners?

10:38 Perry, are you a marathon runner?

10:48 Perry, what questions do you have when it comes to kidneys and running? Have you experienced dehydration? Have you tested your own urine after a race?

12:13 What role does dehydration, your sweat rate, and sodium play into the types of injuries that the kidneys have after endurance racing?

14:28 It’s very difficult and actually not advised to drink the same amount of fluid that you actually lose during a race. What kind of advice would you give for somebody who says, “I know I sweat a lot. How much do I drink? How much salt do I put in my water?” Are these questions that you’ve been able to figure out yet?

16:28 Runners, especially older runners, worry about salt because their doctors say they shouldn’t intake a lot of salt if they have high blood pressure. Or if they have other kidney problems, they might have been advised to be on a low salt diet. How does that play into while you’re exercising? Should you continue to not consume much salt just because you’re supposed to be on a low salt diet?

17:46 Runners hear a lot about ibuprofen. A lot of people call it Vitamin I and take it when they’re feeling sore. Some people even take it before a race so they won’t feel sore, and we as coaches try to advise against this. Can you talk about the link between ibuprofen and kidney injury?

22:08 One of the reasons I wanted to have both of you on the show is because I recently suffered from a kidney stone, something I haven't talked about until today. I’m a healthy, athletic person and did not expect it. It was the worst pain of my life and as an athlete, I'm struggling to find good advice for hydration for kidney stone sufferers. Perry, can you give me some advice?

25:00 Through my research I’ve found that kidney stones are fairly common. Is that correct?

25:16 What do kidney stone sufferers have to do as far as exercise goes? I’m absolutely dehydrated at the end of a marathon. Is that more dangerous for me than it would be for someone who doesn’t have a kidney stone history?

26:59 I haven’t heard of people talking about how endurance runners and kidney stones interrelates at all, so I think there’s a lot of people out there that are hungry for this advice. Like I said, that’s why I want to have you guys on the show. So we can still run, we can still get a little dehydrated, but our risk is going to be a little higher is what you’re saying?

28:21 I think most runners now take Tylenol instead of ibuprofen, which hurts our liver instead of our kidneys. There’s also some evidence that Tylenol actually affects your brain and makes your perception of effort go down. So any time there’s something like that, runners are like, “Give it to me. Give it to me.”

29:25 Acute Kidney Injury from marathon running is typically temporary. When do we have to worry that something could be wrong and damage could become chronic?

31:17 Have you looked at people who you measured right after the race and then looked at them a few days later to see if the damage was resolved?

32:15 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?

33:41 Where can listeners connect with you?

34:12 Do you know why students at Yale aren’t allowed to run outside?

Quotes by Dr. Mansour and Dr. Wilson:

“This urine really we see in the hospital all the time when patients are in the ICU when their blood pressure is really low so we didn’t think that we would see something similar in runners but that was sort of the main finding that kind of surprised us.” (Dr. Mansour)

“I wish I were a runner. Every time I do studies with marathon runners, they’re so inspiring, they’re so dedicated. It’s really a great crowd to be around, but I’m just not like that. I don’t have the stamina.” (Dr. Mansour)

“There might not be that much of a correlation between how you feel and what’s going on in your kidneys because I was convinced I was going to see the most terrible stuff based on how I was feeling at the end of that race and my kidneys kind of shrugged it off.” (Dr. Wilson)

“A kidney stone is painful but it isn’t going to kill you either, so you have to think about the benefits.” (Dr. Wilson)

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

Leave a space for libsyn link

Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel

Mentioned in this podcast:

Article: Marathons and Kidney Damage: What Runners Should Know

Dr. F Perry Wilson on Twitter

Follow Drs. Mansour and Wilson on:

Dr. Mansour on Twitter

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.

Download this Episode

Limits are An Illusion: Alex Hutchinson 0

Mar 17, 2021

When you’re running hard, pushing yourself to extremes, which do you think is the more limiting factor, your body or your brain? Alex Hutchinson has done extensive research on exactly that question.

The Toronto-based author and journalist focuses on the science of endurance and fitness. You may know him from his book ENDURE: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance or from Outside magazine where he’s a contributing editor and writes the Sweat Science column.

Alex believes that our limits are elastic, stretchable, and as of yet, undefined. He and Coach Claire discuss those limits, and also tackle hydration, fueling, carbohydrates, strength training, aging and more. And just for fun, they also get into the science of why Coach Claire loves an out-and-back course way more than a loop!

Alex also writes the Jockology column for The Globe and Mail, and his writing has appeared in Canadian Running magazine, Popular Mechanics (where he earned a National Magazine Award for his energy reporting), the New York Times, and he was a Runner’s World columnist from 2012 to 2017.

Prior to ENDURE, Alex wrote a practical guide to the science of fitness called Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights? Fitness Myths, Training Truths, and Other Surprising Discoveries from the Science of Exercise, which was published in 2011. He is also the author of the 2009 book, Big Ideas: 100 Modern Inventions That Have Transformed Our World.

Alex started out as a physicist, with a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, followed by a few years as a postdoctoral researcher with the U.S. National Security Agency, working on quantum computing and nanomechanics. During that time, he competed as a middle- and long-distance runner for the Canadian national team, mostly as a miler but also dabbling in cross-country and even a bit of mountain running. He still runs most days, enjoys the rigors of hard training, and occasionally races, but hates to think of how he’d do on an undergraduate physics exam!

Alex’s best-selling book Endure has a forward written by Malcolm Gladwell, another famous Canadian runner and writer, and the updated version is now out in paperback.

Questions Alex is asked:

3:34 You are an author and a journalist, but you really seem like a scientist at heart. How did you get into writing about fitness and endurance sports?

5:22 What fascinates you most about how the body works when exercising?

6:10 Your book Endure, if you could really sum it up, I would say that it is trying to discover whether it’s the body or the brain that’s mostly the limiting factor when you’re trying to go to extremes but it’s clear that it’s a mix of the two. You can’t say, “Oh, it’s just the brain” or “It’s just the body.” Can you talk a little bit more about how they’re interrelated and what we are finding out?

7:41 Tim Noakes is a South African scientist that has been very controversial. He’s written a lot of things that turned out to be totally true and then he’s written a bunch of things that maybe people have not found to be true. Can you talk a little bit about the controversy, both the good and bad things that Tim Noakes has contributed?

10:35 I would love to distill the lessons that you’ve learned so far about things that can help runners do better. The two main topics I would love to get into are hydration and fueling. Let’s talk about hydration specifically for the marathon. Hydration needs are different for every type of body. Are there any rules of thumb that recreational runners should think about when coming up with a hydration plan for the marathon?

15:25 ‘Drink to thirst’ is starting to become more popular but there are some populations that their thirst isn’t reliable. I’ve heard that as you age, your sense of thirst is not as strong. Have you heard that as well?

18:05 We could talk about fueling during the race or we could talk about nutrition in general, but what I have found is that human studies are just notoriously bad when it comes to nutrition because we’re not rats and we can’t put humans in cages and measure everything. So what would you say are the limitations to studying nutrition on humans?

23:53 Let’s get into the great carbohydrate debate. As I often tell people, what’s frustrating about the word carbohydrate is that lentils, lollipops, and lumber are all carbohydrate. And if you say do eat carbohydrates or don’t eat carbohydrates, clearly those three things are processed differently in your body. First of all, why do we lump carbohydrate? It’s an absolutely massive category of food and clearly our body treats it differently. Carbohydrate is the preferred fuel of the brain. It’s the preferred fuel of the muscles. So why isn’t everybody on the carbohydrate train?

25:35 Sugar or simple carbohydrate is bad if you’re not exercising but it’s exactly what you need if you are trying to run a fast marathon.

27:29 A keto diet could be exactly what an ultramarathoner would want to do. They’re not so concerned about ultimate speed; they’re concerned about eating all the time. Isn't that what they say about ultras is that it’s not really a running race; it’s an eating race?

28:58 What’s the point of all this science if the answer is always “It depends?”

30:22 Let's talk about strength training. What is the minimum effective dose for a runner who is highly active and competitive but not at the elite level?

34:36 What is the minimum effective dose of strength training for somebody who is actively training to be competitive in a race but still at a sub-elite level?

40:10 I think a lot of what we attribute to normal aging is actually more of lack of activity, and all the decline is mostly for the couch potatoes, the more sedentary people, and we runners think that maybe we’re immune to all of that stuff. Would you agree a little bit with that?

44:12 You recently wrote an interesting article about the science of finish lines or teleoanticipation and you related it to not knowing when the pandemic will end. Can you explain?

47:46 I like out and backs better than loops because I know what to expect on the way back. There’s science that proves it, right?

49:28 The brain loves knowing what to expect and it predicts what’s going to happen whether it’s right or wrong, right?

49:42 What questions are left unanswered? What kind of science are you looking forward to in the future?

51:33 I think everybody wants to figure out how to make their brains stronger, not just in running but in life and dealing with little kids.

Questions I ask everyone:

52:22 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?

53:32 What is the greatest gift running has given you?

53:58 Where can listeners connect with you?

Quotes by Alex:

“For every situation that you think of the answer is both. The answer is “Yes.” It’s just like nature and nurture. The answer is your fate is 100% nature and it’s 100% nurture, and your physical performance is 100% your body and 100% your brain.”

“If you look at the list right now of the top 100 men’s marathon times ever run, 98 of them have been run by Kenyan or Ethiopian marathoners so if they’re doing something wrong, I want to do it wrong like they’re doing it because they’re pretty successful. And if you look at the data, in both cases they’re getting more than 60% of their calories throughout the day from carbohydrates. And for the Kenyans, apparently it’s more than 20% of their calories come from the added sugar that they put in their oatmeal and their tea. So is this healthy for a couch dwelling office worker in North America? Probably not. But if you want to run fast or if you’re training hard, sugar is not only like you can use it, but like you said, you need it.”

“There is some pretty interesting evidence showing that older runners like Masters runners get a much larger and more immediate benefit from weight training for their running than younger runners do because the younger runners have more muscle to spare.”

“Your body knows, even parts of your body that you wouldn’t think know exactly where the finish line is.”

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

Leave a space for libsyn link

Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel

Mentioned in this podcast:

Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

Alex Hutchinson | Outside Online

Track Club Babe Kim Clark Is Running for Good 0

Follow Alex on:

Twitter

Facebook

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.

Download this Episode

Mar 10, 2021

Kim Clark’s 110,000 Instagram followers know her as Track Club Babe. Kim microblogs daily offering inspiration, encouragement, and rock-solid training advice learned over years of running. Fun note: The Run to the Top was the very first running podcast she listened to!

Kim ran her first marathon in high school. It was a six-hour disaster but she survived. Years later, in her late 20s, Kim decided to train seriously for another marathon and record her journey. Today she has a 3:11 PR and a massive following of runners.

Kim is a former human rights lawyer turned commercial real estate agent in her hometown of San Diego, CA, who creates her social content each evening. She’s done a ton of research throughout her running career and has of course had her ups and downs and is happy to teach and share her positivity with her online community.

In this episode, Kim shares her story along with some great running knowledge including what she eats to fuel and recover, training mistakes she’s made, over-training, and her thoughts on weight loss as it pertains to runners. Enjoy listening to running influencer @trackclubbabe!

Questions Kim is asked:

3:42 When I invited you to be on the show, you said the sweetest thing about how this was a full circle moment for you. Can you explain?

4:49 You chopped almost three hours off your marathon time. Tell us about your journey.

7:59 What made you want to start a blog and give yourself the nickname Track Club Babe?

9:45 What were some of your early training mistakes?

12:57 What do you eat now before running?

14:08 You have a really big following on Instagram and you give training advice and things that work for you that people just absolutely eat up. What do you get asked about the most?

15:34 Your running journey hasn’t exactly been perfectly smooth so I would love to hear about some of the times you’ve had plateaus and you broke through them.

20:14 Results are addictive when you get big PRs. You just think, “Well, if I just do a little bit more… “ But clearly there’s a breaking point.

26:26 One post of yours I noticed recently was about weight loss to get faster. Can we talk about this?

30:37 I think it’s super helpful to spread that message that thinner is not faster so I’m really glad we’re talking about that.

32:57 Let’s talk about food. What’s your favorite recovery food? What do you like to fuel up on when you’re in marathon training?

33:53 With your Instagram following being so big and working on your blog, are you still working as a full-time realtor as well?

35:25 What’s it like during COVID with no races for you?

37:01 How did you get through all the mental baggage of taking time off from running?

39:11 What’s next for you?

Questions I ask everyone:

42:36 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?

43:20 What is the greatest gift running has given you?

43:55 Where can listeners connect with you?

Quotes by Kim:

“We all love to run and no matter why you’re running, whether it’s just for the joy of it or competitively, it makes it more fun when it feels a little bit more effortless and you can go a little bit longer and a little bit faster, and it just makes it more fun.”

“I think the internet’s an awesome place for just teaching you so much, and then just being connected with so many runners around the world helps so much to read from their experiences, learn from them.”

“I figured out how to qualify for Boston and I figured out training for me. The key for every person is just figuring out what is going to connect for you and your body and for where you’re at.”

“There’s so many things that you can be doing that have nothing to do with weight that are going to move the needle on your speed, and that’s what we should be focusing on and not just being so obsessed with weight, which honestly, if you want to try to be frail and run fast; that’s not going to work either. You want to be under-fueled and try to run fast; that’s not going to help you.”

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

Leave a space for libsyn link

Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel

Mentioned in this podcast:

Follow Kim on:

Is Running Ruining Your Knees: Yale's Dr. John Fulkerson 0

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.

Mar 3, 2021

What is it with runners and knees? If you run, you’ve heard “I used to run but it hurts my knees.” Although running is not inherently bad for your knees and staying active helps keep your knees healthy, a lot of runners eventually stop running because it hurts their knees too much.

Older runners, especially men, have to be particularly diligent in their strength training and stretching to avoid knee pain. So which is it? Does running cause people knee problems or are certain people predisposed to knee problems and would have issues regardless of whether they ran or not?

To get to the bottom of this issue, Coach Claire speaks with Yale orthopedic surgeon, Dr. John Fulkerson. Dr. Fulkerson specializes in sports medicine and focuses on treating patella instability, which refers to the kneecap sliding in and out of position.

Dr. Fulkerson has been at Yale for over 40 years and he is leading the way in cutting edge technology to help those who suffer from debilitating knee issues. He talks about who’s most at risk for knee problems, what does and doesn’t work for prevention, the simple exercise that you can do today that can help keep your knees running smoothly and pain free, and why those of us who are fortunate enough to be runners should feel gratitude for our running, even on those bad run days!

Dr. Fulkerson received his medical degree from and also completed his internship and residency at Yale University. His awards include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Patellofemoral Foundation, a Sports Medicine Fellow Educator Award from the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Connecticut, Connecticut Orthopedist of the Year, the San Francisco Bay Area Lifetime Achievement Award, U.S. News and World Report Top Doctors, and the Wisdom House Community Service Award (with his wife Lynn).

He founded the International Patellofemoral Study Group and the Patellofemoral Foundation. He has been head team physician for the NHL Hartford Whalers and Hartford Wolfpack, and a team physician for the U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey and Trinity College in Hartford.

Dr. Fulkerson is known for orthopedic surgical innovation and has lectured worldwide. His publications include Disorders of the Patellofemoral Joint as well as many other chapters and monographs on the same subject. He also published the non-orthopedic book Thin Lines: A Vineyard Journey.

Questions John is asked:

3:00 What every runner wants to know is, is running bad for your knees?

4:44 What other people besides older people need to be careful about running safely? You said that there are some people that maybe aren’t as well suited to running as far as their knees go at least, so who are we talking about here?

5:53 Your specialty is patella instability. Can you talk about exactly what that is and maybe give us a quick anatomy refresher here?

7:11 So patella instability is when the kneecap is actually moving around is what you’re saying?

7:42 The patella groove depth is just genetic, you get it or you don’t? It’s just how you were born? Or does it have anything to do with the activities we do?

8:24 Can you talk about some of the specific problems that runners face with their knees? Give us a definition of what’s runner’s knee?

10:30 You mentioned core instability, and that’s something as I coach I talk to my runners about is that often knee problems are actually a symptom. They’re not actually the problem. It’s something higher up in the chain. The hips, the core, or maybe in the lower part of the leg or the ankles, something like that. Can you talk about how the knee is related to everything else that’s going on in the chain?

11: 57 What are some other exercises besides jumping rope that you recommend that can help with people who complain about knee issues?

12:24 How do you stretch the knee?

13:47 Let’s say we have a runner who complains of knee problems. He is doing everything he’s supposed to be doing, all the stretches, all the strengthening, rock solid core, but still cannot get away from the knee pain. At what point is surgery the best option?

14:59 How does 3-D printing work as a diagnosis tool for knee pain?

16:10 This sounds like cutting-edge technology at Yale. Is this something that is spreading across the country? Are we going to be able to find this in Kansas? Or is this pretty limited at the moment?

17:44 When we’re talking about knees and joints in general and aging, the next thing that tends to come to mind is arthritis. And when I was researching this before interviewing you, I learned that there’s all sorts of different kinds of arthritis which I was not aware of. I thought arthritis was just arthritis but apparently it’s not. Can you talk about arthritis, especially in the knee, that runners are likely to encounter as they age?

20:07 My dad used to jog three miles every other day and he stopped in maybe his 60s because it hurt his knees too badly. Am I going to have the same fate? What do you think?

23:34 Let’s go back to cartilage. You mentioned the various things that happen to our cartilage as we age. Is once the cartilage is gone, it’s gone, or it degenerates to a certain point? Does it regenerate? What exactly is going on with our cartilage?

25:00 How do we take good care of our cartilage? Is it just listening to your body and eating well? Is there something that we can do that will help prevent it if we happen to be prone to this?

26:47 As far as running shoes go, would you say nice, cushioned shoes or a nice drop? I would imagine you’re going to say no barefoot running. What would you say about shoes?

26:41 I have a runner who is in his late 50s and has always had knee problems since I’ve been working with him, and his big thing is downhill running. Downhill running is really, really tough on him. Can you give some insight on why that is and maybe some advice about what he should do?

30:51 Are you saying we shouldn’t avoid downhill running if it doesn’t give us pain?

30:59 A lot of people say that most of the symptoms that we tend to associate with aging are actually more associated with inactivity, and I wanted to get your thoughts on that because I know a lot of people who are runners and their friends say to them, “Oh, well that’s just bad for your knees. Maybe you shouldn’t run.” What’s your take on that?

Questions I ask everyone:

33:48 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?

35:27 What is the greatest gift running has given you?

36:53 Where can listeners connect with you?

37:17 What are you working on next?

Quotes by John:

“I think that running is a natural activity for people. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t descended from people who could run. I think it’s a survival skill. So I’d say for the majority of people, it’s very natural.”

“Runner’s knee is a broad term. It’s basically any runner that has pain in their knee.”

“Core stability is the first thing we recommend for many people with anterior knee pain, is just maximizing the core, working on the hip external rotators.”

“One of the things I like to think about is running really is a privilege. For those of us who are able to run, I think it’s great. And we love it, and it’s so hard for people when they lose that ability for any of the reasons that we talked about. It is a privilege that we should enjoy if we can. And so I don’t have the feeling at all that people should not run to protect their joints or something like that. If everything lines up and they’re the right structure, then it’s not a problem. Enjoy it.”

Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel

Mentioned in this podcast:

John Fulkerson, MD < Yale School of Medicine

Follow John 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.

Download this Episode

Capturing Speed: Nike Photographer Cortney White 0

Feb 24, 2021

Even if you’ve never heard of Cortney White, you’ve probably seen her pictures. Cortney is one of the few female professional photographers snapping shots of elite runners at sporting events. What’s even more impressive is she is 100% self-taught. How good is she? Her photography is all over the internet and she works with Nike’s elite training group in Portland, Oregon, the Bowerman Track Club.

Cortney also lives in a van full time, previously used running as a means of staying fit for all her other athletic endeavors, and has had to combat a serious medical condition affecting her legs called compartment syndrome.

Cortney shares her interesting story with Coach Claire starting with her enjoyment of trail running in college while she studied business and IT, and how surgery on her legs resulted in a move to Portland and a “regular” job at a large accounting firm with running pushed to the back burner.

Cortney quickly realized she wanted to switch careers and seized an opportunity to work at a startup where she fell into the role of photographer for the brand.

Without any career aspirations or professional knowledge, Cortney photographed some friends and others in the Portland running community and fell in love with photography. Within a few months, she was able to quit her job and combine both passions by doing full-time sports photography, including work with the Bowerman Track Club. She quickly fell back into the running community, but this time from behind a lens.

Along with her personal story, Cortney talks about which athletes love to get their picture taken, who doesn’t, and how to get that perfect running picture, which makes for a fun and fascinating episode!

Questions Cortney is asked:

2:31 I first learned about your work on Instagram. I follow a lot of professional athletes and I noticed that your name kept coming up in t photo credits. How did you start photographing runners at the elite level?

3:30 Are you completely self-taught? You just sort of accidentally became a pro photographer?

4:15 When you knew this was going to be more than just a hobby, did you just like fall down the rabbit hole, just obsessed and learned everything you could? Is that how it happened?

5:16 Why running? You were a runner yourself, right?

6:31 I read that you had an injury that forced you to stop running. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?

8:34 You film the best athletes in the world and yet you can’t participate in this sport itself. You seem to have a good attitude about it but didn’t that just crush you?

9:42 How’s your injured hand now?

10:23 What is it like shooting the Bowerman Track Club? Can you talk about what the logistics are like shooting athletes on the track?

13:16 Who on the Bowerman Track Club loves getting their picture taken and who doesn’t? Can you name some names?

14:06 Every runner knows this. It’s really tough to look great when you’re running really, really hard and you’re working hard. So I would love to hear your tips, both as a photographer and as a runner, how do you look good in running photographs? How?

16:16 I recall a lot of pictures that I’ve seen you take where you must be somewhere at like the 300m line, like the inside of the curve or something, and you have the trees in the background, and all the Bowerman babes are like all in flight at the same time. Their trailing leg is just back at… like they’re floating in air. And I’m just like, how does she do that?

16:55 How staged are some of your shots outside of the track? You do photo shoots with the athletes too, right? Walk me through some of those. What are those like?

18:39 I’m sure it’s interesting to see the athletes kind of out of their element when you’re doing photo shoots.

19:41 Let’s talk about how things have changed. Obviously 2020 with COVID and the race scene was extremely different last year. The Bowerman Track Club along with other professional groups put on races that were very secretive, very last minute. Can you talk about this scene there with some of those races that they put on? What was it like and how was it different from the previous year?

22:16 You’re the one that’s documenting this craziness that we’re going through. Pictures of their coach Shalane Flanagan wearing a mask, hugging the women at the end. These are pictures that are only going to be during this special, crazy period of time. They’re going to be iconic. Have you thought about that?

24:11 What is your favorite part of the job? What do you look forward to the most when you wake up every day?

25:06 One interesting thing about you is that you live in your van full time. How did that happen and what do you love about van life?

28:12 You’re doing all your editing and everything in the back of the van? Is that how you do it?

29:50 What's next for you?

Questions I ask everyone:

31:17 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?

32:40 What is the greatest gift running has given you?

33:01 Where can listeners connect with you?

Quotes by Cortney:

“I absolutely love shooting runners. I love the stories and how it is such like an individual sport but then you apply it to this team aspect. I didn’t mean to end up in this but I’m so glad I did.”

“I actually prefer more of like the documentary event style photos because I love capturing real things that are happening, but of course, you’re going to have to, especially when it comes to product, or if an athlete just want some portraits for something, or if it’s for a different brand, you will have those staged photos.”

“I pretty much only shoot with natural light. I don’t do lighting setups or any of that. I really like it to feel as natural as possible.”

“It’s interesting to be living through this and thinking that in several years, we’re going to look back on this and these moments and realize that this was all a part of history.”

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

Leave a space for libsyn link

Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel

Mentioned in this podcast:

Portfolio - Cortney White

Bowerman Track Club (bowermantc.com)

PWURE: Data-based Sports Nutrition

Follow Cortney on:

Danny Dreyer and Sinead Haughey: How Mindfulness Can Help You Run Pain-Free 0

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.

Feb 17, 2021

When ultramarathoner and running guru Danny Dreyer attended a tai chi class in 1999, a lightbulb went off.

He believed the martial art’s principles of alignment, relaxation, and balance could allow him to finally make the next leap in training, and he wasn’t disappointed.

After he began incorporating tai chi into his running, Danny not only witnessed dramatic improvements in his performance, but he also wasn’t getting injured anymore.

In fact, he’d finish a run feeling exactly the same as when he started.

Wishing to share his discovery, Danny founded ChiRunning through which he’s helped thousands of runners conquer injury and run more efficiently to reach new levels.

A mindful and process-driven exercise rather than simply a means to an end, ChiRunning is also known as “moving meditation”, and it’s helped both recreational and elite athletes reduce impact for improved health, better performance, and more enjoyable running.

Listen in as Danny discusses the benefits of ChiRunning as well as how to master the technique so many runners swear by today.

Evie Serventi and TIna Muir: Train Your Brain 0

Feb 10, 2021

Tina Muir talks with Evie Serventi, a competitive runner and swimmer, the Deputy Editor of Running Fitness magazine in the UK and Sports Psychologist in this encore from 2017.

In this episode, they talk about the importance of Mental Training and techniques for training our brains to help us run better and to not sabotage the effort we put into our physical conditioning.

As you will hear, Evie and Tina have a wonderfully close relationship. and you will come away with actionable steps that will get your brain and body working more effectively together.

Download this Episode

Jonathan Beverly and Sinead Haughey: Keys to Avoid Burnout 0

Feb 3, 2021

Running isn’t always forgiving.

Between injuries, mental ruts, and the curve balls life sometimes throws at us, finding long term success and remaining engaged in the sport can be incredibly difficult, and Sinead Haughey talks with Jonathan Beverly about his book Run Strong, Stay Hungry, in this encore from 2017.

The book reveals the habits and mentalities of more than 50 veteran runners who are still running fast decades after they started.

A writer for Runner’s World, Podium Runner, and lifetime runner himself, Jonathan will give us a peek into the lives of runners like Bill Rodgers, Deena Kastor, and Joan Benoit Samuelson to show us what it takes to avoid burnout and achieve longevity in the sport – both physically and mentally.

Quotes by Jonathan:

“The physical burnout usually comes because of a lack of variety: doing the same thing and the same type of training over and over again.”

“People overcomplicate it: always having a detailed training plan, hitting certain splits – it becomes obsessive…and when that happens, either you’re doing it all or you’re failing.”

“Gary Allen talks about how a recipe has to be followed exactly: if you don’t have half a teaspoon of baking soda, things are going to blow up….But a chef knows that you put a little bit in and see what happens.”

Jay Dicharry and Tina Muir: Strength for Runners 2017/02/06 Encore Presentation 0

Jan 27, 2021

Coach Tina interviews Jay Dicharry in 2017.

Jay is a renowned expert in biomechanics and physical therapy and is also the author of Anatomy for Runners. In this episode, he challenges us to reevaluate parts of our accepted, conventional training and running wisdom.

He does a great job of deconstructing clinically complex concepts into easily understandable ideas and examples. He breaks down things like Strength Training versus Power Training and the differences between joint limitation or blockage, shortened tissues, stiffness / sticky tissues, and dynamic mobility.

Our conversation covered a lot of ground and included many additional resources as noted by the links below. This may very well be an episode that you will want to listen to multiple times to explore these and evaluate what changes you may want to integrate into your own personal program.

Here are some of the topics we’ll discuss today:

How biomechanic training can help Pre-Hab or prevent injuries.
Biomechanics fact vs. fiction and the ongoing critical evaluation of prior assumptions.
How to leverage strength training to improve your running while reducing your volume.
How to evaluate a potential strength coach or options if you don’t have access to one.
Risk / Reward balance of using different types of shoes for training / racing.
Jay’s Mobility / soft-tissue work philosophy.
The difference between ‘stretching’ and ‘dynamic mobility’ and which you should do before a run.

Quotes by Jay:

“There’s still the folks out there saying ‘Running is going to kill you and you need to stop’.”

“I don’t like being the person paving the way; I like being the person helping people.”

“ ‘What’s the ONE thing to do?” and the reality is that life isn’t that simple, right? If it was, then nobody would have problems.”

“There is very good research out there to show that running does NOT make you strong. Running efficiency DOES improve when you improve the way that you carry yourself.”

“At the end of the day, the runners who are serious find a way to get in the weight room. The runners I work with, the people I’ve introduced to this, I don’t know any of them who have STOPPED doing this at all even from a novice up to an elite level.”

“The goal is to build a running-specific plan to RUN better, not just to lift more weight in the gym.”

“If it’s not improving running economy and making your body more robust in terms of injury reduction, then you shouldn’t be doing it.”

“If you’re a soccer player and you’re more accurate in shooting goal with your right foot, that’s fine, right? But, when you run both legs have to show up.”

“I’m not looking to train a muscle; I’m looking to train a movement.”

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel

Mentioned in this podcast:

UVA Speed Clinic

Run To The Top podcast with Max Prokopy

The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Joe Friel's Blog

Bryan Heiderscheit, PT, PhD

Christopher M. Powers, PhD, PT, FACSM, FAPTA

Irene Davis, PhD, PT, FAPTA, FACSM, FASB

Reed Ferber PH.D., CAT(C), ATC: Director - Running Injury Clinic

2017 UVA Running Medicine Conference

PubMed Website

MedLine Home Page

Jack Daniels's Run Smart Project

Book: Anatomy For Runners

Run To The Top podcast with Dr. Santos

Run To The Top podcast with Drew Watts

Saucony Stride Lab app for iOS

Saucony Freedom Shoes

Steve Magness Amazon Author Page

Runner's World Article: How to Use a Lacrosse Ball for Recovery

Carrom Balance Board

Hyperice Vibration Ball

Rep Lab - Jay's lab blog

Tina’s Dynamic Warm-up Drills

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.

If more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, it means I can reach out to and get through to the top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!

Download this Episode

World-Class Running is Still A Hobby for Keira D’Amato 0

Jan 20, 2021

Keira D’Amato is a world class runner who broke the American record in the 10 mile and clocked an incredible 2:22 at the Marathon Project this past December, but incredibly, she’s a full-time realtor and running is her side gig.

Keira, an unsponsored Realtor and mom of two from Virginia, unexpectedly placed 15th at the Olympic Marathon Trials last February, emerging onto the American running radar after a comeback mission that spanned over a decade.

Keira was a rising star at D1 American University, even beating future Olympians Molly Huddle and Amy Cragg. Then an ankle injury and subsequent surgery seemingly ended her running career for good.

Switching gears, Keira started working at her mom’s real estate company, started a family, and called herself a “hobby jogger.”

She started training hard again to fulfill her life-long dream of becoming an Olympian, continuing to get faster and faster even as the pandemic shut down the world and Tokyo postponed the Olympics.

In 2020, Keira got an unofficial Olympic standard in the 5K, ran a blisteringly fast 4:33 mile, and in November, Keira became the fastest American woman in the 10 mile. To cap off the year, Keira clocked a truly world-class time of 2:22 at the Marathon Project last December, coming in second place behind Sara Hall, a 12-minute improvement over her time at the trials.

As remarkable as all that is, running is still a hobby for Keira. She remains a professional realtor, not a professional runner. She talks to Coach Claire about running at an elite level while being a full-time realtor and mom, what 2020 was like for her, including the Marathon Project and her PRs, and how she trains for both speed and distance. As a bonus, this fun and inspiring episode even includes some corny mom jokes! Enjoy!

Questions Keira is asked:

4:14 What an amazing year 2020 turned out for you in running! After what you call a decade of "hobby jogging" you have emerged as one of the best American distance runners, breaking the American record in the 10 mile and clocking an incredible 2:22 at the Marathon Project in December. Can you talk about what last year was like for you?

5:43 It’s easy to think that you just came out of nowhere, but you ran Division I in college, you were coached by Matt Centrowitz, even beating out a few future Olympians in races back then. What were your plans for your running career back then?

7:06 I imagine it must be such a mind shift to think, “Okay, my life is headed in a certain direction,” and you get injured. “Well, my life is not going in that direction.” And then to get a second chance. Not many people get a second chance like you got.

9:39 You have become one of the distance moms. The field of American female distance runners right now is so deep, and most of them are moms which would be unheard of not that long ago. How do you feel that motherhood has intertwined with your running? Do you think there’s something to do with it that makes you a better runner?

11:34 When your kids were younger, did you do the running stroller thing?

12:46 Let’s talk about the Marathon Project last month. You had a massive PR and came in second place. What about your training said that “Hey, I can do this. I can get a sub-2:30. I can get close to 2:20.” What kind of workouts, what kind of things were going on in your mind that told you, “Yeah, I’m a contender?”

14:22 Did you have any thoughts of running out with Sara Hall and going for the American record at the time?

15:13 Not only did you kill it in the marathon but you got a new 5K PR and a mile PR this year. How does training for those shorter distances, or at least testing yourself at those shorter distances, how does that relate to your marathon, and what would you say to that 20-yr-old girl that you used to be that you’re pretty much beating all the time now?

17:57 Would your advice to somebody who is let’s say plateauing in the marathon be to do track work? What would be your number one tip to get a breakthrough like you had?

18:45 Speaking of your training, you are on Strava and your Strava feed is like a corny mom’s joke, so I would love to hear what’s your favorite corny mom joke?

20:16 We have something else in common besides running. You are a realtor. I’ve been a realtor for almost 19 years now so I can relate to that. You still work full time as a realtor and you’re not sponsored as a pro runner. Tell me about that.

22:35 That’s a great point. You think, “Oh, you’re an elite runner, you should just get signed and have running, running, running all over your life,” but the fact that you can be riskier because you have real estate as your income source, running isn’t about money for you.

23:58 I read somewhere that you do real estate negotiations while you’re on a run, on an easy run.

25:06 You said multiple times in this conversation that you are going to be an Olympian, so what’s next for you?

25:29 You’ve hit the Olympic standard in the 5K, right, but it was unofficial? Is that correct?

Questions I ask everyone:

26:30 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you started running, what advice would you give?

27:41 What is the greatest gift running has given you?

28:27 Where can listeners connect with you?

Quotes by Keira:

“I think through all the chaos, and all the hurt, and pain, and just everything that happened in the negative space in 2020, I really clung to running to be my hope, to be my good time, to be my goals.”

“It’s important to keep the mileage up and to make sure you’re getting your long runs and your tempo runs too, but I think just developing your speed. Like when I first did a marathon, I think that was like my 5K pace too, and then I’ve been able to drag my 5K pace down so much that now I feel really comfortable running marathon pace, so I think that that’s the key.”

“I live, I train, everything about me is elite athlete. If you look at my life, I have a very similar structured life to the elite athletes but just instead of taking as many naps or having some downtime and going on Netflix binges, I’m doing my real job.”

Take a Listen on Your Next Run

Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel

Mentioned in this podcast:

Keira D’Amato – Stone Properties (stonepropertiesva.com)

FlipBelt.com

Follow Keira on: