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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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.
Why do a lot of runners wear racing flats during workouts? Why some runners follow a 7 day training cycle vs a 10 day training cycle? Why do runners incorporate squats and deadlifts in their training - What are its benefits? Find out in today's podcast from Coaches Ruairi and Dylan.
Imagine running 250km (about 155) miles in 6 stages across the most inhospitable deserts in the world while carrying everything you need for the entire race on your back. Whether you think that sounds incredible or miserable, you’ll probably agree the idea is fascinating.
Samantha Fanshawe, president of the 4 Deserts Race Series at RacingThePlanet, manages ultra stage races all over the world in some of the harshest conditions from the Atacama Desert in Chile to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia to the Namib Desert in Africa to the coldest desert in the world, Antarctica.
Sam tells Coach Claire what it’s like to race these events, what you need to do to train and prepare, and who should (and should not) sign up for an event like this. It’s a fascinating dive into the world of some of the toughest races on the planet, and you can enjoy it from the comfort of home!
Sam has always been a citizen of the planet. She is a Brit, born in Peru and schooled in Pakistan for a few of her early years. She graduated from the University of Leeds with a joint honors degree in Maths and Biology, then went off to explore parts of the world such as Sydney, Australia, before returning to the United Kingdom to work in business development of corporate clients in the recruitment industry. After a couple of years, her company transferred her to Singapore, followed by stints in Penang, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Sam has mastered the art of dragon boat racing, competing in the Dragon Boat World Championships. She also plays squash, hikes, rides horses, and mountain bikes. She fell in love with running while living in Asia, starting with half marathons before running the Singapore Marathon, sprint triathlons, adventure races, and ultimately ultramarathons including the Hong Kong Oxfam Trailwalker, the Gobi March, Vibram HK 100, and Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset.
In 2005, Sam volunteered at the hottest race on record, the Gobi March, a seven-day, 250km footrace. She fell in love with the spirit of RacingThePlanet and became a staff member, and has since worked over 20 RacingThePlanet/4 Desert events.
5:18 You have a very interesting background, living all over the world. How did you first get involved with RacingThePlanet?
6:23 Can you describe what these events are like? I’d love to hear what they are and what kind of people sign up for them?
9:12 How many people actually really run every single day and how many people do more of a walk/hiking?
9:46 The participants pretty much have to bring everything as far as food. They don’t have to bring a tent I understand, but pretty much everything else?
11:02 How has the pandemic affected RacingThePlanet?
12:47 Let’s talk about training for the race. Let’s fast forward to 2021 when everything is perfectly healthy. How would you recommend training for something like this? Is it similar to marathon training?
14:05 Training for the race with a backpack is super important, right?
15:01 I imagine you have a lot of repeat athletes who do this over and over again, but I would love to hear about the first timers. What challenges do the first-time racers tend to face?
16:44 What kind of food do people eat on something like this? I imagine it would be different if you’re running or walking because you can chew a lot better when you are walking, but what kind of foods are most people bringing in their backpack every day?
19:23 You’ve got all of your food for all six stages in your backpack the whole time. Is that what you’re saying? No one takes it for you to the next stage.
19:43 I imagine not everybody makes it to the finish line. What are the reasons that you see that most people have to stop the race?
21:52 What kind of people should NOT sign up for a race like this?
23:03 I bet you have a whole collection of amazing stories from races as epic as this. Can you share a few of the more memorable stories of things that have happened in some of these races?
25:19 I noticed that registration for Antarctica is by invite only. Can you explain?
26:57 I imagine you’re not dealing with heat in Antarctica, but there’s probably some other challenges like dealing with the cold and maybe frostbite. What are the other challenges in Antarctica?
27:56 How many times have you gone to Antarctica now?
28:29 What is the future for RacingThePlanet? Is there anything new in the works?
Questions I ask everyone:
30:09 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you first started running, what advice would you give yourself?
31:11 What is the greatest gift that running has given you?
32:35 Where can listeners connect with you?
“The whole ethos of the race was not only to take people to amazing places and to achieve things that maybe they didn’t think was possible like covering 250km on foot across a desert, but also to make people realize that you can survive for seven days in a desert without the internet, without your phone, without a comfortable bed, without a shower, and just with everything you can carry on your back.”
“Our goal is to encourage people to finish, but within the cutoff times and safely and when they’re in the right position to do so.”
“When you think you’re done, you think what you’re going through is nothing compared to what some other people are going through, not just in the race, but in life as well.”
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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 today's episode, Coach Hayley talks about electrolyte drinks and guidelines for electrolyte replacement. Listen now to find out when do you need electrolytes and when plain water is fine.
Should you accumulate a lot of mileage at an easy pace in training? Or should you try to reach race-specific speeds frequently? Is it necessary to do all of your runs faster if you want to get faster? In today's episode, Coach Claire look at one study that addresses this topic of training intensity problem.
In today's episode, Coach Michael talks about his experience as a high school runner and college athlete, and why is it worth to consider college sports from an athlete's perspective.
Coach Dylan and Coach Ruairi welcome you back to another episode on running headlines where we cover the latest events and actions that happened in the running world during the past week or so. Listen now!
Running, and more specifically, running with her dog helped change Nina’s life and her mental health, and she talks with Coach Claire about how running can be an effective tool for managing mental health issues, the challenges and limitations of running, the importance of community, even a virtual one, for keeping your spirits and your training up, and for all you new pandemic puppy owners, she shares tips on how to run with your new friend.
Her poem "Memorial" won the Dublin Arts Council's Poet's Choice Award and an early draft of her memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How Running with My Dog Brought Me Back from the Brink, (previously titled Twenty-Six Point Freaking Two) was short-listed for the William Faulkner - William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition Award. The book was awarded a Maxwell Medal in the Human Animal Bond category of the Dog Writers Association of America writing competition. It is a #1 Amazon Bestseller in the "mood disorders," "bipolar disorder," and "running & jogging" categories. The book was selected by Ohioana Library to be included in the 2020 Ohioana Festival.
Nita also coauthored the popular writing journal, You Should Be Writing: A Journal of Inspiration and Instruction to Keep Your Pen Moving, with Brenda Knight (Women of the Beat Generation.)
Nita earned a journalism degree from The E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, a law degree from The Ohio State University, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Goddard College. She serves on the board of the Women's National Book Association of San Francisco. For ten years, she studied with and assisted best-selling author Natalie Goldberg (Writing Down the Bones) at week-long writing workshops teaching the "rules of writing practice" and leading participants in sitting and walking meditation. Goldberg authorized Nita to teach "writing practice" and Nita has taught for nearly twenty years.
When she's not writing and teaching, Nita runs. She has completed three full marathons, 27 half marathons (in eighteen states), and more than 80 shorter races. Nita lives in central Ohio with her husband and biggest fan, Ed, and her yellow Labrador running partner, Scarlet (aka #ninetyninepercentgooddog).
2:41 Let's start with your running journey. How did you begin to run regularly?
5:03 Your running journey is also connected to your mental health journey. Can you talk a little bit about that?
7:46 What was it like finding a running community?
10:14 How specifically has running helped your mental health?
11:49 I think it’s pretty well known that everybody who gets a running habit going, you feel good, at least when you stop running. Sometimes when you actually are running it doesn’t always feel good, but most of the time we feel good after we run, but there is a limit to that. You can only run so many miles in a day. You can’t always rely on exercise for all of your mental health issues. Where do you kind of draw the line and say, “Yes, running is a tool but I need some extra help?”
14:16 Sometimes you need actual therapy beyond running; don’t you agree?
15:41 I would also like to talk about you running with your dog, Scarlet. A lot of runners have dogs, and dogs help us get moving and get active, but you decided to write a book about that. Can you talk a little bit about that?
19:03 What other tips do you have for someone who just got their pandemic puppy and want to start running with the dog?
20:59 I know a lot of people who run with dogs who will maybe do their warmup with the dog and then circle back home and drop the dog off and then do a longer run. Is that something that you’ve had to do? In marathon training, you can’t take your dog for 20 miles or something like that.
23:21 I would imagine if you’re doing any kind of speed work or some kind of session where you need to do that, that must be a challenge with a dog?
24:21 Many runners have, like you, found running later in life. How has your running changed as you age?
16:13 With your running and the pandemic, all the races have been canceled for the most part, a lot of us are left without goals. Are you still running and training without that goal and deadline?
28:44 I’ve started to see these socially distant races come up, and it just makes me wonder, is everybody going to wear masks when they run, which is obviously hard, and how do you stay six feet apart, what if you want to pass somebody? Have you looked into any of that, like how they’re going to do that?
31:49 I would love to hear more about when you are depressed or going through a mental health episode, you know that running makes you feel better, you know that calling a friend makes you feel better, you know that intellectually, but because you’re depressed and not feeling good, you don’t feel like doing those things. So how do you start moving when you don’t want to move? How do you reach out when you don’t want to reach out? Any tips?
35:37 Let’s say I’m a brand new runner and I want to find community. Where would you suggest me going?
Questions I ask everyone:
38:09 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you first started running, what advice would you give yourself?
38:55 What is the greatest gift that running has given you?
39:42 Where can listeners connect with you?
“I had to find something that suited me in a way, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, and running did that.”
“I really think that it’s kind of ironic that I ended up writing a book about running. I couldn’t have done that without the focus and endurance that I had from marathon training.”
“Having gone through an injury, coming out the other side, realizing that it’s going to be okay, that’s been one of the great things of having done anything, but especially running for a long time, seeing those patterns.”
Take a Listen on Your Next Run
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Depression Hates a Moving Target
John Bingham "The Penguin" books
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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 today's podcast, Coach Hayley talks about some training tweaks that master runners can make to optimize their running performance and their health going forward. Tune in now!
What is running biomechanics? How improving your mechanics can help improve your running performance and reduce susceptibility to injury? Find out in today's podcast from Coach Claire.
What the running community thinks about participating in 2020 races such as London Marathon? In today's episode, Coach Michael talks about the email responses he received on this topic and the reasons runners gave on why they want to run or not to run a race.
In this episode, Coach Dylan interviews Coach Ruairi about his latest race experience and then both talk about their race plans during this pandemic. Listen now!
3:03 On your bio on the Without Limits website, it says you are a life-long runner and fitness guru. Can you tell us a little bit about how you fell in love with running and eventually became a coach?
4:27 How was your progression from going from running 2 miles to running a 50K or 100 miles? Did you really just get an invitation for a 50K and you were like, “Sure, why not?”
5:18 How did you start getting into race directing?
6:31 Can you talk about some of the events that you organize?
7:35 With the pandemic, most running races around the world have been canceled and runners and race directors have had to make massive changes, and I wanted to talk to you about that. You decided to go ahead with your "Carolina Reaper," which this year was called the "Carolina Rona Reaper." Can you talk about the decision to go ahead and what safety measures you had in place?
9:31 I would love to get into the details of the safety measures you have in place. So for the Rona Reaper race, how did you actually do it? What do the safety measures actually look like?
11:06 Were runners wearing masks during the race?
12: 01 What’s your advice if somebody did want to sign up for one of these races? How do you pass somebody at a socially safe distance?
13:01 It's my understanding that the governor of SC issued an executive order prohibiting large groups, but it's up to local law enforcement officials to enforce that if they choose. How did you address this issue? Did you work with local law enforcement while organizing your event?
14:13 How do you address those who might be critical to hosting events like this during the pandemic, especially as cases are rising?
15:23 What about the next races coming up? Any particular challenges with those?
16:24 I’ve seen a lot of thumbs up for what you’re doing. What are some of the people who have attended your events or wanted to attend your events, what kind of reaction are you getting from them?
17:12 I would imagine if you were positive for COVID, it would be pretty hard to run a 30-mile or a 30-hour race?
17:57 What do you think is the future for racing in general? All of the majors have been canceled, the major marathons, with the exception of London. Probably by the time this airs, London will finally kick the bucket. What do you see as the future of racing?
21:39 Are there any silver linings or things that you have learned from this whole experience that you think will help you put on better races in the future?
26:03 I’d love to talk a little bit more about virtual races. Obviously, for a lot of people, that is the only option, and it’s harder obviously mentally to train for a virtual race. It’s not the same dopamine rush as it is having a real in-person event. How would you as a coach coach somebody who is training for a virtual event, or somebody who is just not on board with virtual but needs that carrot?
29:16 How do you feel about virtual racing? With technology there are a few things happening that some companies are doing to make it a little more interactive and make it feel like you’re racing somebody else. Have you seen any of these new technologies?
32:13 What is up next for you and Upstate Ultras?
Questions I ask everyone:
33:22 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you first started running, what advice would you give yourself?
34:06 What is the greatest gift that running has given you?
35:34 Where can listeners connect with you?
“Once I knew I wanted to start coaching and I wanted to meet some runners, I’m like, ‘Well, you know what? The best way to meet runners is to put on a race.’”
“Everything in life has a risk. We did everything that we possibly could to minimize the amount of risk that I thought was basically attainable for us as a race organization, but you’re going to have risk whether it’s endurance running or walking down the street or driving your car to Target. There’s always a risk.”
“We just focused on what can we do for the community right now, and putting on a virtual race is a great way.”
Take a Listen on Your Next Run
Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel
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Follow Matthew 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!
In today's podcast, Coach Hayley gives her top five tips to prevent injury that she mastered over 20 years of running. Tune in now to find out what mistakes she made along the way so that you don't make the same ones again!
What is balance training? What is the science behind it? Is it worth doing balance and proprioception exercises as a runner? How improving your balance can help prevent injuries? Find out in today's podcast from Coach Claire.