Smart Athlete Podcast: Recent Episodes
Solpri
Shop Solpri: https://solpri.com/shop Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solprisport/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/solprisport A multi-time Canadian Champion who represented Canada in the Tokyo 2020/2021 Olympics in the sport of Canoe Slalom, Haley Daniels, speaks to me today to share her incredible experiences as an athlete and RBC Olympian. She's also currently finishing her degree in Business, Commerce and Entrepreneurship, and preparing for a new career.We begin to talk about her previous training preparation when it was winter time and how she stayed sane while traveling to different places to train and compete. She also shares with me how they do fundraising to fund their expenses and how she fought for gender equality in the sports she has been for years.Listening to Haley's journey proves how brave and dedicated an athlete she was. This leads our talk to know more about what athletes really feel and encounter.As Haley is preparing for something new in her career, she tells me why transitioning is the hardest thing to do and what she has been practicing that will help her reach her goals.If you are retiring or retired from sports, what's your plan after? Do you struggle with something? Watch the full interview and learn more from Haley about how she handles these situations.Visit her website: https://www.haleydaniels.ca/Connect with Haley at:https://www.instagram.com/haleydanski/
Shop Solpri: https://solpri.com/shop Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solprisport/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/solprisport A coach who is a multi-sport athlete joins me today to share his experiences working with athletes. He is a cyclist, MS candidate in exercise physiology, and founder of Develo Coaching, Lucas Wall.I initially ask Lucas how he gets to meet his athletes and start their coaching journey. He mentions various approaches which actually work for him. To add, he is also the coach of our previous guest, Alexey Vermeulen (episode165), and he stresses the different beneficial scenarios they both gained.If you're new to working with a coach, Lucas has a lot of things to share that involve different approaches he does to help athletes generate high performance, prepare for pre-season, and choose the appropriate fuel.He also shares his thoughts on why fuel is a limiter, the benefits of practicing fat burning for fuel, and why he encourages his athletes to have plan B for a lot of scenarios.Watch the full interview to learn more!Connect with Lucas at http://www.develocoaching.com/
Shop Solpri: https://solpri.com/shop Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solprisport/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/solprisport Today, I sit down with someone who's known as "The Data Guy". He joins us today to share his ideas and wisdom about consistency, performance optimization, data application, and more. He has master's degree in Sports Performance and Human Biology, is the host of the Sports Science and Recovery podcast, a book author, and the founder of Own It Coaching, Justin Roethlingshoefer.As mentioned above, Justin has been doing a lot of different things. So I come up to think and ask him how did he do what he's been doing and what pushed him to go through these.From there, he tells me the root of developing his habit and how his life during his younger years has contributed to his present life and career.We also discuss the different processes that could help a person feel the actual results from a situation he/she has put effort into. And this sounds like a game-changer for sure!Hit the play button to hear more from Justin about facilitating career shift, building habits, and identifying the application problem.Visit their website: https://ownitcoaching.com/Connect with Justin on:https://www.instagram.com/justinroeth/https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-roethlingshoefer-ms-7252a766/
Shop Solpri: https://solpri.com/shop Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solprisport/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/solprisport A former Canadian snowboarder joins me today to share her incredibly roller coaster ride-like experiences as an athlete. She's currently a competitive CrossFit athlete, a content creator, and host of All In podcast, Natalie Allport.I begin to ask Natalie about her snowboarding journey, and she tells me the real things that she lets herself encounter during a race. Some may focus on their time goal, but what do you think is hers?She also shares what happened while competing in CrossFit workouts in Shanghai that made her discover her weakness and where she's good at, and how she handled it.Moreover, Natalie tells me why she had a negative mindset towards running and how she did marathons.Listen to the full interview to hear more about what she loves about being in sports.Check out her YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/NatalieAllport Connect with Natalie on:https://www.instagram.com/natalieallport/ https://twitter.com/natalieallport https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalieallport/
Shop Solpri: https://solpri.com/shop Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/solprisport/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/solprisport A Doctor of Chiropractic joins me today to tell us how she started her chiropractic career and how she helps moms who want to get back into running after giving birth. She also does running, skiing, and mountain biking, Dr. Alyssa Salava.A little "exciting" talk initially brings us to get to know more about her when she tells me why she moved from the US to Canada while pursuing her chiropractic career.She started running in high school where she was a very competitive athlete. But similar to other runners, she also experienced running related injuries and, unfortunately, was judged by their college coach.Dr. Alyssa then sought help from different medical experts about her condition, and her healing journey was facilitated by a chiropractor. She shares with me why this journey of hers also contributed to her decision of becoming a chiropractor.We also touch down talking about why babies need chiropractic and how she works with them as well as with their moms (prenatal and postnatal).Ready to learn more from Dr. Alyssa? Hit the play button to get started!Connect with Dr. Alyssa on:https://www.instagram.com/dralyssasalava/ Check out her online courses here: https://runningwildchiro.com/store
Today, we hear an extraordinary journey from the youngest person in the world who completed an Ironman on 6 continents! He formerly worked with Uber and, is currently, a sales enablement manager at Briq, Connor Emeny.In achieving our dreams, motivation and determination are some of the key things we should possess. With Connor's journey to completing Ironman in different parts of the world, I ask him what made this unforgettable moment possible and what challenges he faced despite the pandemic hit.He also tells me about his experiences in various sports prior to doing his first 6 months of training for Ironman and where he exactly got the idea of completing the race on different continents. As we deeply talk more about his Ironman journey, Connor shares his most stressful race yet the most memorable one out of 6 races he completed. He then mentions why setting a goal bigger than yourself is important.Watch the full interview to get to know more about Connor and his experiences as a young athlete.Connect with him on:https://www.instagram.com/connor.emeny/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/connoremeny/
I sit down today with a former Divison II Baseball player who got obsessed with health and wellness since he started training for baseball at the age of 14. He is now a performance and health coach for men and the founder of PER Wellness, Tim Perreira.Tim and I are obviously doing different sports so I get curious and ask him what's with a baseball game and what it takes to be entertaining for him. He added the current challenges baseball faces, including getting better with the rule changes.This leads us to talk about motivation and contentment, not only in sports but also in real life. He also shares with me how he thrives to become better after experiencing depression for years and how it led to launching his coaching business.Moreover, as I ask Tim how he defines success, he tells me what self-realization theory is and what kind of mentality he considers to hold.Watch the full interview and discover what he means about unconscious and subconscious conditioning.Connect with Tim on:https://www.instagram.com/tim.perreira/https://www.linkedin.com/in/timperreira/https://www.instagram.com/per.wellness/
A coach, writer, yogi, and 100% a "Body Nerd" joins me today to share her modern approach to coaching her clients about movement and how she manages her business. She has her degree in exercise physiology, is the founder of AE Wellness, and host of The Body Nerd Show, Alex Ellis.As we start our talk, Alex and I discuss her business and how her day goes as a business owner which leads to her not wanting to do a traditional job anymore. If you also own a business, do you think you can relate with her?Taking care of our bodies is not something everyone knows how to properly pull off, right? And so Alex tells me the things she does to teach her clients how to help themselves when they start to feel something isn't going well with their bodies.Alex added how she interacts with her clients virtually and her mission in The Body Nerd Show. She also stresses the benefits of working with a coach and forming habits when performing any "movement".Wanna know more about why she's a body nerd? Hit the play button to find out!Visit her website at www.aewellness.com Connect with Alex on:https://www.instagram.com/hollaformala/ https://www.facebook.com/aewellness https://www.tiktok.com/@aewellness
Journey to 100 FKTs: https://youtu.be/GMg5bMtixPs I sit down today with the top-ranked fastest known time athlete who first landed his feet on the track before climbing into different mountains. An unusual event pushed him to change his athletic career that also led to his journey to be the first person to have set 100 FKTs. He's a school teacher and sponsored athlete of Athletic Brewing, Jason Hardrath.We begin talking about how he actually lives his life and what his journey really is as a person. And as a teacher, he tells me what he does and loves the most in this role.Jason then mentions "roles" in society and how it becomes a societal problem that can make people, who don't know how to integrate with their normal life, feel hollow and empty.We also discuss things related to athletes' life such as the real value of being an athlete, identity recognition, liminal space, and the "antidote" to post-race and post-adventure blues. Moreover, Jason shares a meaningful idea about spending time in nature that contributes to making people reconnect with themselves and handle difficult emotions.There are more amazing things to hear from Jason so watch the full interview and find out his reason why he said, as a teacher, he doesn't teach for school. Connect with Jason on:https://www.instagram.com/jasonhardrath/ https://www.jasonhardrath.com/
Today, I speak to a pro runner who represented two countries in the Half Marathon championship in 2013, is a 2nd place finisher in the 2007 Chicago Marathon, qualified at the Olympic trials thrice, and is a co-founder of Roll Recovery, Adriana Nelson.Being a pro runner at her age makes me wonder what are the challenges Adriana has faced while building her career and as she continues to be a pro runner. And so we hear from her how she started running and what's the biggest challenge she encountered as an athlete.Her experiences in running and the discipline she gained from it have truly paid off in what she is doing now. She also tells me how she approaches her fellow athletes on and off the track.If you're someone who's nearing making a big transition from being an athlete or other profession to another career, Adriana shares a few tips to keep in mind that may help you better prepare for what's coming your way.Adriana and I also talk about how she and her husband started their own company, Roll Recovery, and the different challenges they had overcome during the critical process of turning their product into reality.Hit the play button to hear more from Adriana!Connect with her on:https://www.instagram.com/adi_nelson/ https://twitter.com/adi_nelson https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriana-nelson-24538975/ Check out their products here: https://www.facebook.com/ROLLrecovery/ https://www.instagram.com/rollrecovery/ https://rollrecovery.com/
A former pro road cyclist sits down with me today to share his thoughts about the athlete-company relationship and his experiences as a cyclist. He's currently a professional gravel cyclist, who rides with a mini dachshund, Willie, and a co-host of the show From The Ground Up, Alexey Vermeulen.
As an athlete, we experience good and bad things while doing the sport we love. And so I ask Alexey what comes to his mind to switch from road to gravel cycling. He then openly shares what he thinks about road racing as time passes by and what are the barriers one may experience from it.
We also touch down talking about the feeling of fulfillment, especially to his experience upon having the change of path in his athletic career, and what he thinks about making decisions as an adult.
Moreover, if you or someone you know plans about getting a sponsor from certain companies, Alexey has something to tell about what you need to learn before proceeding and how athlete-company relationships should work to benefit from each other.
Watch my full interview with Alexey to learn more and find out what's the interesting thing about Leadville!
Connect with Alexey on: https://twitter.com/alexeyvermeulen https://www.instagram.com/alexeyvermeulen/ https://www.alexeyvermeulen.com/
I sit down today with a distance runner and cyclist who has her Doctor of Physical Therapy and previously won in the Michael Jackson moonwalking competition in 2014, Dr. Sarah Zimmer.
She's from a place full of athletic people, so we hear from her about the different situations she had with her patients as a physical therapist. But before we move forward, she shares with me how she got into physical therapy and what she loves to do most in this profession.
Dr. Sarah also mentions how she diagnoses her patients with injuries and why she has to be a detective in this kind of situation. Moreover, I get a chance to learn from her the process she does in helping athletes to load properly and understand the importance of each procedure she applies.
Before we end our talk, I ask Dr. Sarah's approach to women who wants to get back to exercise after giving birth. She also addresses some related "myths" that are circling around.
Hit the play button to learn more from Dr. Sarah and share this video with anyone who needs to watch this.
Connect with her on: https://www.instagram.com/boulder_sports_physio/ https://www.bouldersportsphysio.com/about-me
A former Division 1 runner who turned out to be a Cat 2 cyclist joins me today to tell us about his journey of shifting his sports and how he evolves as a competitive athlete. He's also a running coach and has a Doctorate of Physical Therapy, Jimmy Picard.
Some may change their athletic career to experience different levels of challenges as they go on. However, Jimmy's decision to start racing as a cyclist was unplanned so he tells me when and how it started.
Learning how he "fell in love" with cyclo-cross, I ask Jimmy to share with us what it really looks like and what he did to move to Category 2 in a short period of time.
We also discuss strength training which involves lifting weights. And Jimmy gladly gives ideas of what having a strength routine consists of and why should you not be worried about getting bigger if you lift weights.
Watch the full interview to hear more from Jimmy and learn about the importance of doing easy pace, having preventive maintenance, and building healthy relationship with athletics.
Connect with Jimmy on: https://www.instagram.com/redefinephysio/ https://twitter.com/jimmyp_dpt https://redefine-pt.com
Today's guest gladly shares with us his experiences and knowledge as a physical therapist and biomechanist. He is an orthopedic clinical specialist who focuses on helping athletes with injury prevention and the founder of Long Run Physiotherapy, Ryan Wooderson.
As a man who loves to spend most of his time outside during his younger years and became obsessed with sports, this led Ryan to begin his journey as a Physical Therapist and support athletes with their performance.
He focuses on helping runners, and I ask Ryan his insights on runner's knee - whether running is the root cause of this issue or not. And he tells me the important thing that beginning and existing runners should know about it.
Moreover, I gather from him the most common question he gets from runners related to heel striking. Do you think you have the same question as them?
We also touch down on the importance of eccentric loading, the most common injuries for runners, and his thoughts on changing people's biomechanics, especially for young athletes.
Watch the full video to learn more from Ryan and find out what's the first thing he does to celebrate his wins.
Connect with Ryan on: https://www.instagram.com/longrunphysio/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-wooderson-pt-dpt-ocs-17446711/ https://www.facebook.com/longrunphysio
Or visit his website https://www.longrunphysio.com/
A professional ultra runner for Nike Trail sits down with me today to share her athletic career journey and coaching experiences. She has won 3 USATF National Championships, has a Master's Degree in Sport and Performance Psychology, is an author of Mental Training for Ultrarunning, and, currently, is a Mental Performance Consultant at Strive Mental Performance, Addie Bracy.
I begin to ask Addie about how she was recruited as a Division I (DI) athlete, and she then tells me the different experiences she had which contributed a lot to her performance to progress and made her become a team captain and school record holder.
As she's a performance consultant, I confirm with Addie how a coach sees an athlete's performance and know whether he/she fits in the team. From there, I gather from her that there are two predictors that give an idea of how long an athlete might be performing in the sport.
Moreover, we talk about the negative mental self-talk of athletes, and Addie gladly shares what she does to help athletes handle it. She added what's this "trap" that collegiate and professional athletes easily fall into that leads to having an unproductive mental performance.
She also openly talks about her plans on retiring from running and her realizations throughout her athletic career.
Watch the full interview to hear more from Addie and find out what thing she considers as one of the biggest mental barriers to ultrarunning.
Connect with Addie on: https://www.instagram.com/addiebracy/ https://twitter.com/addiebracy https://www.linkedin.com/in/addie-bracy-65a80417/
A strength coach who's been working with athletes for two decades now joins us today to provide us some insights into what he does as a strength coach to young athletes and the founder of his own company. He's the founder and CEO of REPerformance and served as Team Canada’s Special Olympics Power Lifting Coach, Callen McGibbon.
I initially ask Callen about his experience when coaching the active youth and he tells me his "cool" way of doing so which shows how dedicated he is to make these kids more aware and prepared for their health in the future. As a coach, he shares what could be the possible reasons for getting young athletes more prone to anxiety.
We also touch down discussing his experience in starting the REPerformance and what it actually does that makes a huge impact on kids' health. He tells me how their programs work and their mission in providing quality physical education.
As we finish our talk, I get to ask Callen how he started being interested in exercising and who influenced him the most. Stay tuned until the end and find out what he has to say about this season's question.
Tap the play button to learn more!
Connect with Callen on https://www.linkedin.com/in/callen-mcgibbon-61a19a30/
Visit their website https://reperformanceapp.com/our-mission/
I sit down today with a sports medicine physical therapist who has over 25 years of experience in this field, has Ph.D. in Holistic Nutrition, a guest lecturer for the Ohio State physical therapy program, and a certified strength and conditioning specialist, Dr. Chris Kolba.
His experience and knowledge in strength and conditioning are really vast knowing how many years he's been in this field. So I come to wonder and ask him how did he reach this career and what made him continue to teach. Dr. Chris also tells me the things that kicked at the moment he knew what he wanted to achieve.
As Dr. Chris is working with different patients with injuries, I ask him how he teaches them to do a routine to prevent injury. He also stresses the facts about strength and balance that his patients need not only for sports-related activities but also for life especially if someone is living independently.
Moreover, we discuss the rehab programs he teaches to people and he mentions the key component to keep in mind and his recommendations when guiding them.
There's more to learn from Dr. Chris in today's episode so watch the full interview to find out more about what he suggests for people who go to the gym, how he works with firemen and police officers, and injury prevention.
Reach out to Dr. Chris via email at: chris.kolba@osumc.edu
An endurance cyclist sits down with me today to share her experiences in adventure cycling along with her journey coming into this sport. She previously studied law and journalism and is also now a full-time cartoonist and speaker, Tegan Phillips.
We initially talk about her "impromptu" trip to the states to train for an upcoming cycling event and her realization of what it's like to live with other athletes and the need for individualization.
Before Tegan set her foot on the pedals, she studied law and journalism, and I ask her how and why she divert to another career. So she gladly tells me that switching to cycling was made after watching a cycle touring video introduced by her father.
Tegan's passion for getting into different adventures led her to draw comics and she tells me what adventure mindset she has and why she still uses her "fingers" to draw despite buying various stylus.
There's more to hear from Tegan so watch the full interview and find out what she did to continue cycling when "quitting" comes to her mind.
See her amazing comic works on https://www.instagram.com/teganphillipscomics/ and https://teganphillips.com/
Connect with Tegan on: https://www.facebook.com/teganphillipscomics https://www.linkedin.com/in/tegan-phillips-unclippedadventure/
A multi-sport practitioner joins me today to share his experience in helping athletes and knowledge on how to maximize performance. He has worked as a performance director in NCAA, NBA, NHL, and is currently the Director of Performance Science at Northstarr, Dr. Jeremy Bettle.
I initially ask Dr. Jeremy what a performance director brings about to athletes and how he works with them. He then tells me the different factors that contribute to athletes' performance optimization.
Before we dig deeper into his responsibilities, we talk about his journey in reaching this role and the things that made him decide to pursue building systematic ways to better manage and guide athletes.
As Dr. Jeremy has worked with multiple athletes in different sports, I come to wonder and ask him if a "transferable skillset" is possible. And so he gladly talks about it as clearly as possible to guide other athletes who plan on changing sports.
Moreover, we touch down on various topics including how to use data from modern performance trackers, the importance of human connection in analyzing athletes' performance, and how behavior impacts performance.
Watch the full interview to learn more from Dr. Jeremy!
Connect with him on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-bettle-56603526/ https://twitter.com/drjeremybettle
Get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Running-Your-First-Ultra-Customizable/dp/1624141420
I sit down today with a well-known ultra runner who is a Patagonia Ambassador, 2-time Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc champion, the youngest female to finish the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning, and the author of the book "Running Your First Ultra", Krissy Moehl.
We start to discuss the running community events she has been involved to and how these events are being held with various people which contribute to the growth of sports.
Things nowadays have been easier to access due to modern technology so I ask Krissy how sports evolved based on her experience, how she got into ultra during her early years, and what methods were she exposed to that are largely different from the present.
We also touch down on how she balances her life with the different workloads she has, and Krissy gladly shares the helpful tools she used to keep her at ease and be aware of her energy levels.
Watch the full video to hear more from Krissy and find out her reasons for writing her book.
Connect with Krissy on: https://www.instagram.com/krissymoehl/ https://twitter.com/krissymoehl
Visit her website http://krissymoehl.com/
An award-winning documentary film director joins me today for a "quick" talk about her experiences as a former Olympian and in her current career. She has competed in rowing in the 1992 Olympics and, now, is the founder and CEO of 50 Eggs, Mary Mazzio.
You may also wonder how Mary transitioned from athlete to filmmaker so I started our talk by asking her how it happened and what made her pursue this career.
Mary also shares with me the unexpected results she and her team received after releasing the films they created and the "emotional experience" she learned.
Talking about her films, she tells me the reasons for taking extraordinary topics and what's her purpose in exposing them.
As you listen to her story, you may come to think that certain opportunities really knock on our door and it's on us how to make it work to see the results if we really want it.
Watch the full interview to find out the recent film she's working on and where to stream them.
Connect with Mary on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marymazzio/
Visit her website: https://www.50eggs.com/
Follow 50 Eggs on social media: https://www.instagram.com/50eggsfilms/ https://www.facebook.com/50eggsfilms/ https://twitter.com/50eggsfilms
A former steeplechase runner sits down with me today to share her experiences as an athlete and the responsibilities she does to help her fellow women athletes. She's a former American record holder in the 2,000- and 3,000-meter steeplechase, the 2004 US Olympic Trials Steeplechase Champion, and, currently, the Director of Technology at Dimensional Innovations, Ann Gaffigan.
As everybody may not be familiar with steeplechase yet, Ann and I initially describe how this race event works and what to look out for.
I also ask Ann what made her do the steeplechase. She then tells me her reasons and a few issues that women experienced during this event.
Getting to know more about what other things Ann does, we talk about how she got involved in the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Board and the different responsibilities she takes in this organization. She also shares the mission they set for athletes who are part of it and the things involved in keeping athletes stay competitive.
Watch the full interview and find out about Ann's experience in her first steeplechase event.
Connect with Ann on: https://twitter.com/anngaff https://www.linkedin.com/in/anngaffigan/
Check out Brooks Running at https://www.youtube.com/user/brooksrunning
A pro ultra runner joins me today to share her interesting story how it feels like to be a pro athlete and the lessons she learned upon building her career in running. She is a former kindergarten teacher turned pro ultra runner with numerous wins, the first American at the UTMB in 2018, and has qualified at the Olympic marathon trials, Cat Bradley.
I initially asks Cat why she switched to being a pro athlete and how her day looks like especially having sponsors obligations to pursue. She then shares the different struggles she experienced and what she realized later on about spending her time wisely.
How we use our energy for certain things matters most of the time so as to not get exhausted from the load of tasks piling up. And this is where Cat also tells me how she approached the burnout from years of training and what she recommends to other runners who feel the same. She stresses that taking time to rest is "not" a failure.
As we talk more about her running journey, I gather from Cat that something "ruined" her collegiate career. And this leads her to tell me what things to unteach to young athletes.
Play the video to hear more from Cat and find out how she celebrates her wins then and now.
Connect with Cat on: https://www.instagram.com/catberad/ https://www.facebook.com/catberad/
Visit her website https://www.catberad.com/
Get the book here https://theunbreakablebody.com/shop/
I sit down today with the founder of Fit For Real Life and The Unbreakable Body, and the author of the book Becoming Unbreakable, Kate Galliett. She earned a B.S. in Exercise Science so we get a chance to talk about the different approaches she does to take care of her body and help her clients.
Kate has explored different life situations which brings her to share what an "explorer's mindset" is and how it helped her to see various opportunities to learn.
We can't deny the fact that there's something within us causing us to limit our capabilities. So Kate and I also talk about the "signal response principle", and she honestly shares a health-related experience she has been through following this guide. Would you consider this principle too upon learning what results she gained?
Kate also tells me how to trust our bodies, why should we listen to our bodies, and one of her goals in life which shows how much she cares for other people around her for them to get better.
Watch the full interview to learn more!
Visit her website: https://theunbreakablebody.com/
Connect with Kate on: https://www.instagram.com/kategalliett/ https://www.facebook.com/katieonbelay
Today, we hear an inspiring story from a certified running coach and personal trainer, an ultra runner, and the founder of Project Love Run, Filsan Abdiaman.
The reasons why she started running may not be similar to the previous guests we had but this may be something to be admired as it shows how strong she is to handle such difficulties and overcome the problems that occurred along the way.
As Filsan is making a switch to the path she thinks is right in running, she discovered various values for herself that are worth to be shared with her fellow runners. Self-love is one, and she tells me what she gained from it.
She also shares why she created the Project Love Run and how women runners, who experience difficulties in finding true self-worth, could benefit from it.
Watch the full video to learn more and find out what she considers a "superpower".
Visit her website https://www.projectloverun.com/
Connect with Filsan on: https://www.instagram.com/runnersinstinct/ https://www.instagram.com/projectloverun/ https://www.facebook.com/projectloverunn/
Take the Sisu quiz here: https://sisu.racereadycoaching.com/
A former professional triathlete joins me today to share her thoughts on building athletes' positive mindset and her transition journey from pro to non-pro athlete. She placed 4th at the Sydney Olypics, won the 2008 Ironman 70.3 World Championships, is the author of The Champion Mindset: An Athlete's Guide to Mental Toughness, and the founder of Race Ready Coaching, Joanna Zeiger.
We begin our talk discovering how she manage to get enough exercise she needs despite having health issues that prevent her from achieving more of what she could possibly do. She also shares what "best friend" she has during this challenging times.
As I wonder how she transitioned from being a pro to a non-pro, Joanna explains the reasons behind it and mentions what she misses more as a professional triathlete.
Going through her PhD story, Joanna then tells me how she did her dissertation while in Sydney Olympics. From there, I learn how focused she is on various things and why she does those stuff.
She also conducted different research studies that includes the effects of fun on performance, the truth about mental toughness on athletes, and the effectiveness of cannabis for her health issue.
There's a lot more we cover in today's episode so check out the video to learn more!
Visit Joanna's website: https://racereadycoaching.com/
Connect with her on: https://www.facebook.com/RaceReadyCoaching https://twitter.com/joannazeiger https://www.facebook.com/joanna.z.shenk https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanna-zeiger-1460165/
I sit down today with a former competitive equestrian athlete who completed the Goggins challenge, has a degree in behavioral psychology, and, now, is the EY Global lead in their Athlete Programs in Women Athletes Business Network, Kristy Ingram.
Horseback riding, based on my personal experience, is really a great thing to do and Kristy gives us more details on what it's like being an equestrian and how to gain a good bond with a horse to have a wonderful ride.
Some of you, just like me, may wonder why she joined the Goggins challenge so I ask Kristy what made her transition to another sport. She then tells me the different skills she had (including the skill she had her whole life) and how she managed her sleep, nutrition, and hydration when doing the Goggins challenge.
We also touch on talking about their organization, EY, and she shares what they do, who are they, why they are connected with the athletes, and how they unite business and sports. She also mentions the three important things they seek from athletes to make a successful team and successful business.
Watch the full video and learn what other programs their organization does for athletes.
Connect with Kristy on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kringram/ https://twitter.com/kristypingram
Visit their organization's website: https://www.ey.com/en_us
A Boston Qualifier joins me today and shares her knowledge and experiences in running. She is a running coach and the founder of Elevate Your Running, Sara Manderscheid.
The beginning of her running career came from the time when she reached her breaking point in 2019 while she works in the marketing world. So I ask Sara what really made her decide to transition into running miles.
After exploring the journey to running, Sara then hosted various community group runs where she gather with other people to experience "endorphins". She then proves how she finds joy in running and coaching people.
Sara also shares her thoughts about what beginner runners should do if they are having difficulty in figuring out their pace, how they should think about their results, and how they can overcome the negative self-talk which is common to athletes.
There's more to learn from Sara and she gladly shares what she wants runners should keep in mind as they pursue their running careers.
Hit the play button to get started!
Check out her website https://elevateyourrunning.com/
And connect with Sara on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramanderscheid/ https://www.instagram.com/sayrahrunshappy/ https://www.facebook.com/sara.manderscheid1982 https://www.facebook.com/elevateyourrunning/
Today, I sit down with the CEO of US Corporate Wellness who has completed 11 Ironmans, has PhD in Performance Psychology, was recognized as "The World's Fittest CEO" in 2016, and is a co-founder of the Catalyst Coaching Institute, Dr. Bradford Cooper.
In our initial talk, Dr. Bradford exposes how he coaches his clients and explains what a wellness coach really does. He then shares his thoughts about "coaches" who only tell you what to do to reach your goal.
Dr. Bradford also shares his experiences in working with different people which proves that there's no same solution for different persons. He emphasizes that results and solutions are completely individualized.
Before we get to the last part, we touch down talking about the research he'd been part of about sleep and mental toughness for athletes. He also tells me what motivation interviewing and intrinsic motivation are.
So hit the play button to learn more!
Connect with Dr. Bradford on: https://www.catalystcoachinginstitute.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/optimalhumanperformance/ https://twitter.com/Catalyst2Thrive
Get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Katie-Spotz/e/B0151VNA7M%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
How does it feel being alone for...70 days? Join me today as I listen to our guest's challenging yet inspiring journey in the ocean. She's known as the youngest person to row in the Atlantic Ocean for 70 days alone, the 1st person to swim the entire length of the Allegheny River and the 1st person to run non-stop the 138 miles across Maine in 33 hours, Katie Spotz.
Hearing the 70 days alone makes us wonder how it is possible for her to survive so I ask Katie what's the secret behind this amazing journey she had done. Not only she does it for her to set a record but also to support the clean water charity - which has helped a lot of people already.
Katie then tells me the mental tool she applied along with the motivation gained behind all the adventures she run into. Though Katie mentions that she initially avoided endurance sports when she was young.
As there are other charity projects out there, I also ask what makes her choose the clean water charity.
Listen to the full interview and find out Katie's biggest struggle in endurance challenges.
Join Katie with her projects: https://www.katiespotz.com/
Connect with her on: https://www.facebook.com/hellokatiespotz https://www.instagram.com/katiespotz/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiespotz/
Today's guest is an avid skier, runner, local beer enthusiast, and non-profit manager, Kyle Robidoux.
He has played various sports since childhood and, just like with other guests, he didn't like running at first but ended up in this sport for quite some time now.
Kyle is a visually impaired athlete so I ask him how he runs with a guide and what he feels when people see him racing. He also tells me about an important "piece of communication" he provides to his guide.
Despite many people, coming from a good place, calling him an inspiration to be out on the trail with them, Kyle insists that he is not. And goes into more detail on why exactly that is.
Watch the full interview to learn more about Kyle and find out the reason why he continues to run more miles.
Connect with Kyle on: https://www.kylerobidoux.com/ https://www.instagram.com/blindbeerrunner/ https://twitter.com/kyleRrobidoux
Get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Elite-Minds-Differently-Competitive-Maximize-ebook/dp/B01H640KFW/
Today is a jampacked talk with an awesome guest who is a performance psychology consultant, a founding member of the Leadership Resource Center, and the author of Elite Minds: How Winners Think Differently to Create a Competitive Edge and Maximize Success, Dr. Stan Beechan.
I initially ask Dr. Stan how he works with athletes and business people who want to be more competitive by improving their mental health. He carefully explains the main problem his clients encounter and what's his resolution in addressing each problem. And I gather from Dr. Stan the two things that people do when they have problems.
We touch on what he wants people to understand about fear and anxiety and why having courage as a skill is important and how it can lead to becoming a response to the things we're always afraid to face.
Dr. Stan also stresses what sports can do to someone's life to avoid being lonely and his suggestion to people who are becoming "unhappy".
There's more to learn from him so watch the full interview, and also get to know the scariest thing he plans to do this year.
Connect with Dr. Stan on: http://www.drstanbeecham.com/ https://www.facebook.com/elitemindsbook/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-w-stanley-beecham-54ba325/
I sit down today with a pro ultrarunner for Adidas Terrex, a CTS coach, an exercise physiologist, a science writer, and, currently, the woman who has the FKT on the 171 mile Tahoe Rim Trail, Corrine Malcolm.
I begin to ask Corrine how setting a new FKT works. Would you believe that she isn't an outcome-oriented person but a process-oriented despite setting a new time record? As Corrine thinks that some people are more focused on the result, she shares what's the benefit of being a process-oriented athlete.
She also tells me how she plans before going on a trail, when not to proceed on the Tahoe Rim Trail, and what causes problems on a race day.
We also touch down on the effects of "ageism" and "self-comparison" in running as we age.
Before we end our talk, I ask Corrine about her transition journey from cross country skiing to biathlon to ultrarunning as well as the most important thing she prioritizes as an athlete.
Watch the full interview to learn more!
Connect with Corrine on:
https://www.instagram.com/corrinemalcolm/ https://twitter.com/corrinemalcolm
Read more of her written articles at https://www.irunfar.com/author/cmalcolm
Have a good laugh in today's episode as I talk to a dad joke aficionado, distance runner, Organizational Psychologist, and the founder and CEO of Endeavorun, Jake Tuber.
We start our conversation by clarifying what a "dad joke" actually means and what a "pun" is - for those of you who might be confused (I'm looking at you Kevin). He also shares some cool and witty ideas that some entrepreneurs may apply to their businesses, specifically book publishers.
As we continue our talk, we touch on a serious and deep topic about how to deal with kids to ensure they adapt to real things happening around them throughout their development stages as well as how to manage their behavior when they are exposed to technology and media nowadays.
Jake then tells me what his business, Endeavorun, provides to its participants and why he created it. I'm sure you'll love and admire the different programs he offers to this community.
Learn more about Endeavorun on: https://endeavorun.com/ https://www.facebook.com/EndeavoRun/
Connect with Jake on: https://www.instagram.com/heycoachpotato/ https://twitter.com/heycoachpotato https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaketuber/
Today, I sit down with a former award-winning TV news journalist who is now coaching moms and the founder of The Mother Runners, Whitney Heins.
At the beginning of our talk, we discuss the different experiences she had in her previous career and what made her transition to coach and lead mother runners. She then shares a few mental health tips, especially for those who love to spend time on social media.
Whitney also tells me about some bad habits she had as a runner and how she managed to cope with them in just a few months which makes her call herself a "smarter runner".
Before we reach answer this season's question, we also share a quick fun talk about "poop" and I ask Whitney what's her take on my "product" idea.
Ready to be a smarter runner? Hit the play button to get started!
Connect with Whitney on: https://www.themotherrunners.com/ https://www.facebook.com/themotherrunners https://www.instagram.com/themotherrunners/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJr43_AR0RrorEVdfZxMl6g
Do you love to travel?
Today you'll hear about the "cool" experiences from a mountain athlete, author, coach, inspirational speaker, and the founder of Grand Dynamics, Tim Walther.
At the beginning of our talk, Tim tells me how traveling change his life and what he learned from it leading him to gain better personal development.
This gain also made him start a plan in building his business, Grand Dynamics, to help enhance the performance of many people seeking dynamic achievements.
As Tim is motivated to develop and hone his abilities, he bravely performed a cold immersion where he stayed in a cold river in Iceland with no clothes on. This unique experience leads him to develop a sharper mindset and create his strategies how to overcome various fears.
Tim also gives us a glimpse of what his new book is all about including the adventure method processes.
Join us today to learn more!
Visit their website at: https://granddynamics.com/
Connect with Tim on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwalther/ https://www.facebook.com/granddynamics/ https://www.instagram.com/timwalther007/
I had a chance today to talk to a former pro cyclist and Olympian who became the 1st North American to wear the leader's jersey in the Tour de France, and is currently an IT professional, Alex Stieda.
Transitioning his career from a cyclist to an IT pro was something he didn't expect. So Alex tells me the full story behind this opportunity and how he was able to adapt to it given that this kind of new career needs technological knowledge.
As technology keeps evolving, I ask Alex how this affects cycling and the benefits he gained from it that made him accept the change.
We also discuss his journey of being a good descender and his realization towards the recommended way of teaching cycling skills.
Apart from learning his career, I get to know how Alex typically approaches his children as a former pro.
Watch until the end and listen to Alex's wonderful answer to our season 4 question.
Learn more about Alex on: http://www.stiedacycling.com/
Connect with him for more updates on: https://www.instagram.com/alexstieda/ https://twitter.com/alexstieda https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-stieda/
Today you'll hear about some fascinating work involving nature and health from a former pro adventure racer, author, dual degree holder at Yale University, and, currently, the CEO of Nature Quant, Jared Hanley.
Before he and I talk more about his company's mission, I ask Jared what an adventure racer really is. He then tells me the different outdoor sports he joined and the number of race days he did to complete such kind of event.
I also get to know how he and Dr. Chris Minson (Ep. 130) met and how the company Nature Quant was formed including their third co-founder's role.
Jared's company has the task of trying to get people off their screens, like the time spent listening to such great podcasts as this, and back out into nature to get their full "nature dose."
Jared's passion for numbers and nature is truly a big help to most people who are having difficulty in managing their health.
Watch the full interview to learn more of Nature Quant and Jared's goal.
Connect with Jared on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-hanley-041406113/
Learn more about Nature Quant on: https://www.naturequant.com/ https://twitter.com/naturequant https://www.linkedin.com/company/naturequant/
I sit down today with an ultra marathon Clydesdale back-of-the-pack type runner, a coach, and a chicken farmer, Sherri Donohue. She's packed with interesting things to share about her journey as an endurance runner and coming to the point where she even considers herself a runner.
Out of curiosity, I initially ask Sherri about how she started raising chickens, and so she tells me why she treats them as "pets with benefits".
Sherri started running late but it doesn't stop her to see a lot of good things in running. So I ask her what makes her start running and why as a back-of-the-pack type runner.
She also shares her first DNF experience in a race, and the reason that made her not to continue it shows how much she listens to her body. Sherri stresses the need of looking at circumstances when you feel you can't finish the race.
Keep watching until the end and find out how she stays positive in the pain cave.
Connect with Sherri on: https://www.trailrunnersjourney.com/my-story/ https://www.instagram.com/trailrunnersjourney/ https://www.youtube.com/c/SherriDonohue/about https://www.facebook.com/trailrunnerartist
Today I get the chance to sit down with sport psychologist and runner, Adrienne Langelier.
As we start out our conversation I ask Adrienne to detail her non-traditional path to running. From her place of being younger and having performance anxiety so bad that she avoided running collegiately, to then running as a low level pro.
Then we talk about the importance of the stories we tell ourselves and why we latch on to temporary situations and make them into "permanent" character traits.
Adrienne shares the importance of "not wasting your suffering." Something that all of us will come up against at multiple times in our lives.
Through that topic we get onto discussing the importance of defining your humanity through something other than your "successes" in sport.
Check out Adrienne on all of her channels: https://www.langelierspc.com/ https://www.facebook.com/LangelierSPC https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrienne-langelier-m-a-lpc-963a1926/ https://mobile.twitter.com/alangelier https://www.instagram.com/adrienne.langelier/
Today's guest gives us a wide understanding as to why sport psychology exists and why athletes shouldn't ignore it. He has competed and won multiple swimming national championships at the Masters level, is an entrepreneur, author, and speaker focusing on sports psychology in performance optimization, Brian Bergford.
Brian works with athletes who want to develop a customized performance system and I ask him how he sets up different approaches to his athlete's unique needs. He then stresses the importance of paying attention to mental performance aside from physicality.
Brian also discusses how athletes should address their injuries, why he is proactive about it, and what happens to ignored muscle systems that are out of balance.
Our big topic we try to crack is diving deep on the issue of why. Why do we perform as athletes and how do you figure out your why that drives you. Many athletes have no idea why they do what they do and figuring that out gives them a key advantage to performing at a higher level.
Watch the full interview and get ready to hear more valuable discussion with Brian.
Check out Brian's services here: https://www.bergfordperformance.com/
Connect with him on: https://www.instagram.com/brianbergford/ https://twitter.com/brianbergford https://www.facebook.com/bergfordperformance/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-bergford-35158912b/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChDApMAW_mPsAqAnxhtqICA/featured
Today, I sit down with an athlete who experienced an eating disorder and tells us how she survived it. She has masters in English, is an author of the poetry books "Surviving 23" and "I Like It Cuz It's Pink", and an ultra runner, Sarah McMahon.
Being an athlete with health problems is tough especially when it comes to eating foods and maintaining our body built.
Sarah tells her story on what she experienced when she had an eating disorder and how it affected her mental health during college. Her recovery wasn't easy and I can only be on the outside looking in at how big a challenge recovery truly was.
As we discuss her past journey, she then realizes an important mindset she could've had while she was a student athlete. This also leads to sharing what she thinks is a secret weapon to every athlete.
Moreover, we touch down a few "true" scenarios involving student athletes and their schools.
Hit the play button to learn more!
Visit her blogs at: https://www.theprosiest.com
Connect with Sarah on: https://www.instagram.com/mcmountain/ https://www.facebook.com/sarah.mcmahon.775 https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-mcmahon-creative/
I sit down today with a former banker and, now, a VP Of Business Development for ToolCASE LLC and founder of NoZeroDays.com, Sam Piccolotti. He has 30 years of experience as an endurance athlete and is the first person to finish a unique event in an Ironman competition.
Knowing that bankers make good money I ask Sam his reason for leaving his banking position. And his honest answer never involved the pay. It is more valuable we could ever imagine as he's a family man and an athlete who wants to pursue more in life.
He tried to balance his life to enjoy his personal desires and he tells me how important it is for him in pursuing his ambitions and knowing what his passion is.
He sticks to his vision when starting something new. So Sam shares with me how he started his company by realizing a simple action in daily life which also proves that time is gold.
We also dive into exactly where the idea of No Zero Days came from including the phrase itself.
Learn more about his services by visiting his website at: https://nozerodays.com/
And connect with him on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spiccolotti/ https://www.instagram.com/nozerodays_colorado/
Grab JoJé Bars at 20% Using Code smartathlete20 Visit their website at https://jojebar.com/
Today's episode brings a little bit of food cravings as our guest, Jess Cerra, shares what she eats as her fuel for training and race. She's a former pro XTERRA triathlete, pro road cyclist, and, currently, a professional gravel cyclist. She has a master’s degree in Exercise Physiology and is the Founder of JoJé Bar.
I initially ask Jess why she chose this type of "cake" and what effect it had on her performance. As we talk more about this fuel food, I also ask her what her strategy would be to keep being hydrated during the upcoming Birkie race.
She tells me how she is preparing for this race and the important lessons she learned as this is her first time to join the Birkie event.
Her past "horrible" experience also leads her to make JoJé Bar with macronutrients that would help other athletes or active people during their training.
Jess mentions that she doesn't have a coach right now and we may wonder how is she doing with her Birkie training, right?
Listen to her reasons and let us know what you think.
Visit their website at https://jojebar.com/
Connect with Jess on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-cerra-a2306245/ https://www.instagram.com/jesscerra/ https://twitter.com/jesscerra_
Today's guest gives me a boost for this new year and season through sharing his athlete career experience and his wisdom on how to improve living our life.
Most of you may know a lot of things about him which includes being a 6 time Ironman world champion, 10th time champion at the Nice International Triathlon (Ironman France), inaugural ITU world champion, ESPN's Greatest Endurance Athlete of All Time in 2012, and, now, the founder of Mark Allen Sports, Mark Allen
With the help of my friends, I'm able to ask Mark various questions and learn a few tips from him about preparing for races, challenging yourself, using technology for training, nutrition and fitness.
Mark also tells me what physiological fitness really is and why athletes should follow this as well. Do you think you apply this to your training?
If you are going into a race, you may want to hear what's one of the biggest parts of Mark's preparation in races and skills that an athlete should practice. And if you want to go faster, he also has recommendations of what you could use.
So since we talk about enhancing performance, this leads us to discuss Mark's "secret" to recovery and how important it is in every athlete.
Lastly, as a coach, Mark reveals why he prefers to coach age groupers than the pros.
Watch the full interview and let me know in the comment section what you think of Mark's answer to this new season's question.
Connect and explore with Mark on: https://markallensports.com/ https://tennantproducts.com/ https://www.fitsoul-fitbody.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo1wRRtMrNVfK6A15b3NfBA https://www.facebook.com/markallencoaching/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/markallen08/
Have you ever avoided training in the heat because it's unbearable? You might want to rethink that after listening to the podcast today.
Today, I talk with professor of Human Physiology at the University of Oregon, expert in Environmental and Exercise Physiology, and who has Ph.D. in Exercise Science, Dr. Chris Minson.
I start off asking him about the different research studies he has done which lead us to talk about managing heat stress in athletes.
There are various ways Chris mentions how to use heat stress to improve athletes' performance even when in cooler environments. He also tells me how he studies athletes' heat management - what device or machine he's using.
One thing I notice in research studies, the subjects are mostly men. So I also ask him what he thinks is the reason behind it as well as if there are struggles in doing such studies.
This leads to Chris telling me why he has developed such a passion for getting more studies about women specifically over the years and that he wants to make sure people understand that female athletes are not simply small male athletes.
Watch the full interview to learn more about heat acclimation, heat therapy and the different physiological changes to occur.
Connect with Dr. Christophen on: https://twitter.com/chrisminson https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-minson/
Today I sit down with the race director for the Vancouver Beer Mile who had his PB that he's most proud of, his 6:59 beer mile. He's an endurance sports enthusiast and co-founder of RunGuides.com, Cory Jennermann.
To begin our talk, I ask Cory about the beer mile running and he gladly shares his experiences with it as well as his personal technique for this kind of race. You may want to try it if you're running the beer mile soon!
We discuss how he and his team find races to be placed on their site: RunGuides.com. Their beginning faced different challenges which led them to continue developing this website to provide accurate details to runners who are looking for various races. His previous work experience is one of the influences that made him co founded this run guide service.
Listen the whole way to hear Cory's few pieces of advice to new runners including how to deal with performance data and why should a runner limit beliefs to her/himself.
Find your runs/races here: https://www.runguides.com/
Connect with Cory on: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-runguides/ https://www.instagram.com/runguides/ https://twitter.com/runguides https://www.facebook.com/runguides
My guest today has been competitively running for 13 years, weightlifting for 7+ years now, has her masters in public health, is the founder of Strong Runner Chicks, and is a running coach, Megan Flanagan.
As someone who's moved largely around their own city - I have to ask Megan about how she moved to different places growing up and how she adapts to the new place she's currently living in. Given that she's a runner - can you take a wild guess where she feels like she's able to put down a few roots and stop moving at least for a bit?
We touch on her running career and I ask about why she stays racing competitively instead of becoming more casual about the sport like many post-college runners. She mentions how she loves the process of training and building community with fellow runners.
We dive into the deep end as I ask her why it was important for her to build a community specifically for women runners. Strong Runner Chicks started off as a bit of a side project, but has really grown into something much bigger than Megan anticipated and I get to hear all the details about the projects she's working on with the group now.
Megan also tells me why she hasn't got injured and what training she loves doing most of the time.
Join me today and listen to Megan's humble answer to my "new" question for next podcast season.
Connect with Megan on: http://www.strongrunnerchicks.com/ http://www.meginspire.com/ https://www.facebook.com/strongrunnerchicks/ https://www.instagram.com/strongrunchicks/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/flanaganmegan/
Today's guest is a former civil engineer who is now bringing a new kind of wellness solution to everyone. She is the owner of Koru Wellness Ltd, Executive Director of World Halotherapy Association, founder of UK Halotherapy Network, Erin Lee.
In the beginning of our talk, as I'm really curious with her career transition, I ask Erin how she switched to doing halotherapy from structuring buildings and residential properties. And her story tells how her new life makes her more grateful and pursue the halotherapy solutions.
Prior to halotherapy, Erin does install saunas in different homes to bring wellness. As time passed by, an idea popped up in her mind to upgrade the wellness solution. I can tell this new idea was a success since she experienced the life changing result after trying it out on her own.
There's a bunch of benefits that Erin mentioned to me about halotherapy and if you want to try it, she offers a special discount to anyone who uses the code "SA101" on all of their products here https://halotherapysolutions.com/halotherapy-infrared/
Register to learn more about halotherapy here: https://worldhalotherapy.com/world-halotherapy-conference/ Contact Erin at erin@halotherapysolutions.com
Today I sit down with the first American to win the Olympic gold medal in Whitewater Canoe Slalom and, now, a performance coach, Joe Jacobi.
He's currently residing in Spain and I ask Joe what made him move to this place and how he adapts to the country's speaking language. He gladly tells me how he respects their heritage and makes the citizens comfortable meeting him.
As most of you may have heard the metaphor I often use, "life is a river", I get a chance to talk about it with Joe and ask him what made him use the river as a metaphor for life in his current book. And he has valuable insights I want you all to hear that may help you realize how to paddle to live our life.
Joe also shares with me how he "connects" with the river to better navigate his kayak when in a competition.
Get more updates about his book and his social life via: http://joejacobi.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobijoe/ https://twitter.com/JoeJacobi https://www.facebook.com/5withjoe/ https://www.instagram.com/joe_jacobi/
Today I have the great opportunity to sit down with a man who's doing the work to get people back on their feet, figuratively and literally, but you won't see him parading on social media about his work. So he is what I would consider one of the many unsung heroes of the sports medical world - doing what they can to keep us healthy. And that man is runner, cyclist, footballer and podiatrist, Mark Gallagher.
Mark tells me about his time playing football growing up and why he had a competitive edge despite not being the most technically gifted player.
For the times I have an injury - I know that I prefer seeing a medical practitioner who also has a personal athletic discipline. I ask Mark whether he thinks that gives him an advantage over his colleagues that don't have a sport they play.
We talk about the phenomenon where people tend to minimize their own problems when they see someone else or hear of someone else with a problem greater than their own. Mark tells me how he approaches patient in that situation and it speaks to how he treats all of his patients.
Mark gives me a little tidbit on his suggestion for runners returning from injury I've never heard about before in my 20 years of running. It makes complete sense and I wish it was more widespread in thought than just in his corner of the world.
Mark and I also talk about another common psychological phenomenon - where people only do just enough work to get by instead of working hard enough to recover 100% and prevent problems in the future.
Be sure to stick for the end for Mark's take on my Season 3 question: how do you stay motivated after failing to reach a goal.
Today I have the chance to sit down with the storied CEO of Republic Brands - Paul Marobella.
Despite being in his early 50's he's still playing hockey and keeping engaged with the hockey community as a whole through his efforts to help increase minority representation in hockey as a whole through the NHL's diversity and inclusion council.
Because of his large swath of obligations I have to ask Paul how he is able to fit in all of his work and personal hobbies into his schedule. I often advocate for doing your workouts early in the day to avoid decision fatigue so I wanted to see Paul's take on his own situation.
Paul and I commiserate over the necessity for a team: for all of us. Regardless of whether you play a sport, own a business or are just trying to live your best life.
Given his experience running such large and complex organizations I have to ask Paul about how to deal with setbacks: something we all deal with. Whereas I temporarily lose my sh*t and then fix it, I want to know how does Paul approach his problems.
Before we end our chat we come back around to what it looks like from a boots on the ground level to bring more minority players into hockey.
To see what he's up to now find Paul at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marobella/ https://www.instagram.com/marobella/ https://twitter.com/marobella
How did you sleep last night?
Today the Director of Clinical Sleep Science at Cerebra, Dr. Amy Bender, joins me to discuss how to get a quality sleep - especially for athletes. She's also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at University of Calgary, has helped develop the only validated sleep screening tool for athletes, a former basketball collegiate player and triathlete so I'm sure we're going to have a lot of fun.
We start talking about the two famous football players who sleep a lot including the man who is now one of my hometown's most iconic figures and Dr. Amy tells me why quality of sleep is more important than the duration for athletes.
I also ask her about my own sleep problems like when I get really tired but don't feel sleepy at all. If you feel the same, hear out Dr. Amy's insights about the factors that affect difficulty in sleeping and see if you do such things.
We also dive down the rabbit hole of caffeine: should you, shouldn't you and does it make sense for sports. She shares with me some study about the effects of caffeine on athletes' sleep and her personal experience in taking it.
Lastly, we talk about banking sleep, circadian rhythm, and how useful naps are.
If you are someone who needs to improve sleep and learn more about it, just hit the play button to get started!
Connect with Dr. Amy on: https://twitter.com/Sleep4Sport https://www.instagram.com/sleep4sport/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/dramymbender/
Today I get the chance to chat with former pro triathlete and the successful entrepreneur who founded Skirt Sports, Nicole DeBoom.
We start off talking about our similarities - especially our need to create things and to not stay still. Nicole describes herself as a great starter, but possibly not the best person to hang around in any given business long term.
And on that note we talk about how she's spent the last year - not working - and figuring out what is next.
It wouldn't be a chat with a triathlete if we don't talk triathlon and we share another goal we both had as we pursued pro careers (her to a much greater degree of success): just to break even.
Much like my own journey to start Solpri - Nicole found inspiration to start her own business while training triathlon and seeing a problem she had that she wanted to solve.
Before we sign off Nicole gives me the inside scoop on her brand new business that wasn't even launched as we recorded this episode.
Her new business is focused on capturing and sharing the stories of our lives and our families lives. Check it out at https://www.inthenood.co/
To get in touch with Nicole go to https://nicoledeboom.com/
Our guests today bring up new ideas about healthcare and fitness who both completed Masters of Physical Therapy and now are co founders of The Movement physio and co hosts of the PT Coffeecast: Dalton Laino and Will Nicholson.
They introduced themselves as a "married" but "not married" couple and they explain to me what kind of cool relationship they have.
As we begin our discussion, I notice something Will has on which leads us to talk about marketing and branding they do in their business. They also tell me how they influence people to think better about healthcare and fitness - plus giving an example that running isn't bad for knees!
In treating their clients, Dalton and Will share with me their thorough process to ensure that they aren't just treating injuries but also transforming their clients to be resilient. Additionally, they tell me how they help their clients gain their "external locus of control" and how they guide them to be responsible for their own health.
Watch the full video and learn more about how they make their clients transition to a better version of themselves.
Connect with Will and Dalton via: https://www.instagram.com/willpatnick/ https://www.instagram.com/dlaino.93/ https://www.instagram.com/themvmtpts/ https://www.themovementphysio.ca/
Today I speak to the 514th American sub 4-minute miler and qualified for the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials who is now a senior community manager at Tracksmith, Louis Serafini.
He became an intern in Kraft Sports Group which interests me to talk about his past experiences, and he gladly shares with me how helped in the marketing strategy for the New England Patriots.
Moreover, Louis openly tells how he struggled to plan what his future would be when he was in college and how he put himself to where he is now. He also shares a few tips on how to handle this kind of struggle if you find yourself not knowing what's next.
Talking about his position at Tracksmith as the community manager, there's a lot of interesting programs he prepares to make sure their participants are satisfied being on their team and receive equal treatment.
Particularly I'm interested in how they've built up a growing 5k event called the Twilight 5000 - where community members are given the chance to race a track style 5k like the pros.
His "passion" in serving a community leads him to pursuing a goal that he wants to accomplish before he quits running.
Hit the play button to hear more interesting things from Louis and his thoughts on why sports is cool!
Follow or connect with Louis on: http://www.instagram.com/tracksmithrunning https://twitter.com/louisserafini https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-serafini-9a17b53b/
A Masters All-American sprinter, Steven Sashen, joins me today to discuss various insights around sports, marketing, and his business, Xero Shoes. He was an internationally-known Internet marketing expert, software designer, and former co-host of TV show, Disk Doctors prior to starting his shoe company.
Before we get into the main agenda, Steven and I share a laugh as we brainstorm funny ideas about things to do in Boulder and why we should start a podcast on Wedding Planning.
Since I have him captive - I ask Steven a bit about why he seems to have bounced around to so many different industries, being what most people would consider successful at the majority of his endeavors.
Which brings us around to his current business he runs with his wife - Xero Shoes. It was started somewhat by accident but it's grown into a big deal.
Steven has also tried a lot of different sports, however, after a 30 year hiatus he picked up sprinting again and we talk about his current career as a masters athletes competing anywhere from the local to the world stage.
Find the shoes at: https://xeroshoes.com/
Visit the links below to connect with Steven: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashen https://twitter.com/XeroShoes https://www.instagram.com/xeroshoes https://www.facebook.com/xeroshoes
Today I sit down with a former collegiate and professional hockey player, who is now a trail runner, a running coach at Rugged Conditioning and host of Trail Running Women podcast, Hilary Spires.
Her beginnings in the world of sports came very early as she started playing hockey at the age of 3! She got influenced by her older brothers which led to her leaving ballet and hitting the ice instead. Hilary also shares with me all the other sports she has done in her lifetime - it's a lot.
Hilary's start to her hockey career was unlike many young women in Canada in that she was able to become a pro and also go back to playing collegiately. Something which is generally prohibited - though the circumstances at the time she was brought on to play professionally led to her begin given an exemption - something she didn't appreciate until later on.
We talk about how she adjusted to being on a team as a 16 year old with women twice her age as well as her time in MMA, moving on to trail running and why she is still pursuing new sports every year.
Hilary also speaks to me her insights on how kid athletes should be treated whether he/she lacks in other things.
Watch the full interview to learn more about her experience in major sports and how she performed.
Connect with Hilary Spires in IG https://www.instagram.com/hilsport55/ or visit her website: https://ruggedconditioning.com/
Today, a professional mountain biker joins me to share her wonderful journey of becoming an endurance athlete and an entrepreneur. She's a world champion, a health coach, a podcaster, and the founder of Moxy & Grit, Sonya Looney.
Most of the previous guests I have talked to played a single or a couple of sports to find the best one that suits them. But it's quite different from Sonya who played soccer, tennis, raced marathons, joined a music band, and cycling before she ended up making a name in mountain biking.
Sonya tells me her reason behind trying different sports that really changed her life and helped her reach her goals.
Speaking of reaching goals, she also gives a few reminders for athletes who are trying to only focus on the outcome of their hard work.
So let's hear more from Sonya to find out how she became one of the world's best endurance mountain bikers and what made her join the biggest races in the world.
Learn more about Sonya through visiting her website and following her social media accounts: https://www.sonyalooney.com/ https://www.facebook.com/looneysonya https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonyalooney/ https://twitter.com/SonyaLooney
You can grab Sarah's book at: https://amzn.to/2WBcp4r
Our guest today is an author of the book, The Trail Runner's Companion, an ultra runner and ultra running coach, Sarah Lavender Smith.
Age doesn't matter in some aspects of life but in sports, Sarah tells me why it's important and she shares with me at what age she started running.
As an ultra running coach, Sarah not only encourages her clients how to excel in their performance but also makes them show humility among their fellow runners in a competition.
I ask Sarah her experience in transitioning from road to trail running and she then provides a few tips for runners doing trail running on how to handle the various adjustments. She also does running alone so she mentions her style when doing it.
There's a lot more to learn from Sarah that you may need to hear to improve your next run especially when it involves altitude adaptation.
Connect with her on: https://www.therunnerstrip.com https://www.facebook.com/TheRunnersTrip https://www.instagram.com/sarahrunning/
Our guest today is an author of the book, The Trail Runner's Companion, an ultra runner and ultra running coach, Sarah Lavender Smith.
Age doesn't matter in some aspects of life but in sports, Sarah tells me why it's important and she shares with me at what age she started running.
As an ultra running coach, Sarah not only encourages her clients how to excel in their performance but also makes them show humility among their fellow runners in a competition.
I ask Sarah her experience in transitioning from road to trail running and she then provides a few tips for runners doing trail running on how to handle the various adjustments. She also does running alone so she mentions her style when doing it.
There's a lot more to learn from Sarah that you may need to hear to improve your next run especially when it involves altitude adaptation.
Connect with her on: https://www.therunnerstrip.com https://www.facebook.com/TheRunnersTrip https://www.instagram.com/sarahrunning/
I sit down today with a former pro cyclist and, now, a co-founder of Israel Cycling Academy and the founder and Director of Gino Bartali Youth Leadership School, Ran Margaliot.
As I always ask our guests about their journey in sports, Ran's story may surprise you on how he started his since he tells me it happened by "mistake". But the mistake and frustration he experienced gradually led him to do inspiring things.
Ran teaches young athletes how to build milestones in their sports careers. Because he spends so much time giving back to his community I have to ask him "Do athletes in general have a responsibility to give back?" His response was unexpected, but definitely on point.
Altogether an insightful and well thought out conversation, speaking with Ran is just what the doctor ordered if you're looking to live a meaningful and active life. .
Learn more about the Gino Bartali Youth Leadership School here: https://www.ginobartalischool.com/
Or connect with Ran on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ran-margaliot-17a09b13b/
Our guest today, Michelle Mead, is a multi-sport athlete who became part of gymnastics, ballet, dancing, running, and cycling. A life-threatening accident changed her path in sports and now works with different businesses to improve their processes.
Her experience in this accident may sound scary knowing there's a low survival rate but her determination to survive and recover is really something everyone should hear.
She shares with me her recovery process and how her goal in sports shifted.
Michelle tells me how she felt after learning what her like could be like as an elite athlete after the surgery. This also sheds light on what it takes to be at an elite level and how difficult it is to give up when you don't want to.
In the middle of our conversation, Michelle and I share laughter after hearing what she did when she came back home from the hospital. Can you guess what it is?
Listen to learn more from an inspiring athlete survivor!
If you need Michelle's help with your business, you can reach out to her in the following social media accounts:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellemead/ https://twitter.com/runnertridugirl https://www.facebook.com/michlmead https://www.instagram.com/michlmead/
Today, I sit down with the former pro freestyle skier and co-founder of Cintri Media, Evan Schwartz. His sports career and business bring us insights of how to excel despite the difficulties crossing our paths.
I initially ask him how he started skiing and he tells me a "sweet" story about training during his childhood. This reminds me of the season 1 question about the perfect recovery food and I ask Evan whether this "sweet" is still his go-to.
Evan tells me how his life transitioned from being an athlete to business owner. As I wonder how media businesses help others, he mentions some of the key services they do to make other businesses' products promoted in several modern ways.
Another thing that surprised me is find out Evan knows AK Ikwuakor (Ep. 106). Evan then shares with me how they met and what kind of experience he had with him.
I also asks Evan his idea on how young athletes perform their best at their age (e.g. bagging gold medal at Olympics) and what's the good thing about it.
Play the video and listen to how Evan stays active.
Interested to see their media projects? Visit their website at https://www.cintri.media/
Our guest today, Maryke Louw, proves that doing online consultation is not only not crazy, but can be the best way to bring solutions to injured people. She has a masters in Sports Injury Management and has two telemedicine businesses which continue to grow.
The Internet has been a great help to everyone's lives in different aspects whether its for business or personal needs. Its convenience makes Markye's medical business reach its success to treat her patients anywhere.
But when she started it, she shares with me how people reacted to her idea and even called her "crazy" for doing an online consultation as a physio. This didn't stop her to continue what she believes in making her patients reach out to her easier especially during the time of pandemic when everything turned out to be done virtually.
Markye tells me the key skill that she has which helps in identifying the pain and treating the injury of her patients.
Moreover, aside from her two businesses, she's also involved in building an app which diagnoses sports injuries and designs individualized treatment plans without interacting with a physiotherapist. This was an idea of an athlete whom she helped get treatment through online consultation.
Let's hear more about how she was able to manage to successfully establish this kind of method of treating patients online.
Want to try their online consultation? Visit the links below:
https://exakthealth.com/ https://www.sports-injury-physio.com/ https://www.treatmyachilles.com/maryke-louw
Today I sit down with a former Canadian Pro Triathlete, Certified Exercise Physiologist, PhD candidate, and an online triathlon coach, Alex Coates.
While she's in their lab during our interview, I get to ask how they perform their test on athletes who contribute to their studies and she tells me about the current experiment she is working on.
Alex had an amazing transition from a high school graduate to pro triathlete at a young age. Her various experiences when pursuing her performance goals led her to train and coach more athletes. She also explains what makes young athletes get faster.
As we talk more about gaining weight and what nutrients to take in, I ask Alex how she convinces athletes to eat more when gaining weight and her insights about following different diets.
We also talk about Alex's area of specialty - overtraining. And how to avoid getting yourself into trouble by training too much without recovering. Her advice goes against traditional training thought so you might be surprised what she recommends for a training regime.
Watch the full interview and let's find out from Alex how athletes can perform better.
Connect and learn more with Alex!
https://www.oneathlete.ca https://twitter.com/superalex_c https://www.instagram.com/superalex_c/
Today, another South African pro cricketer joins me to share his inspiring story and journey, Lwandiswa Zuma.
Our talk begins with me asking why Lwandiswa does a 4k run and how he benefits from it even though he openly tells me that he hates running. To help him get a little more out of his running without hopefully hating it - I share a couple tips on how to make running more enjoyable for anyone.
As a fast bowler, he tells me how he conditions his body to maintain his power. And it's good to hear from him why it's important to take care of the body when doing heavy training.
Lwandiswa also tells me about the painful experience he endured when he had a back injury and what was the root cause of it. Something that doesn't occur in the cricket world anymore to his knowledge.
I'm sure you can feel how hard it is for him to have handled this kind of situation and how he perfectly managed it throughout the recovery period.
This experience led him to inspire more young athletes and proved how sports changed his life.
Listen to our conversation to hear more great stories from him!
You can connect with him through the following social platforms:
https://www.instagram.com/lwandi57/ https://www.facebook.com/lwandiswa.zuma https://twitter.com/lwandi_97 https://www.instagram.com/lwandi57_realtalk/
It's an enlivening talk with Kevin Carr and Mary Kate Feit who are the authors of the book, Functional Training Anatomy. Kevin is a strength and conditioning coach and manager at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning (MBSC) while Mary Kate is an assistant professor of strength and conditioning in the School of Physical Education, Performance, and Sport Leadership at Springfield College.
First off, I ask them what pushed them to write the book and how it goes when it comes to dividing their duties in filling in information since they are both working on it. Kevin also mentions the people who are involved in making them come up with creating this medium to serve as a guide to active people.
Our conversation flows within the content of their book that also gives me more understanding when it comes to doing the proper training and performing different movements. As for movements, Kevin answers my question if he will be doing a video series to show the correct posture and movements that are demonstrated in their book.
Kevin and Mary Kate openly share their story about how their respective clients improved a lot while following their training programs. Mary Kate mentions as well how she gives programs to the people who want them.
Since they also encounter people who have been injured due to training, Kevin tells me what they specifically do for them, which is something most people will truly admire to hear from him.
There's more to learn from them so watch this full interview and find out their straightforward but uplifting answers to our last question.
Want to connect with Kevin and Mary Kate? Follow them on: https://twitter.com/coachkevincarr https://twitter.com/mkfeit https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevincarrcfsc/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-kate-feit-0293677/
Today I talk with a running coach and an ultra runner who set the new American record of 95 marathons in 95 days, Alyssa Clark.
She tells me about how she never set out to do 95 marathons and the thing that set the whole journey in motion.
I also ask her if she will make another attempt to further her record again in the future.
Alyssa honestly expresses her thoughts with me when she became the talk of the town after setting the record.
Despite my power going out in the middle of the interview we somehow manage to get back to our conversation and finish up the last 20 minutes.
Moreover, she shares advice to those people who are planning to be a runner and how to make yourself more connected to running.
Watch the full video and find out what's Alyssa's go-to fuel food.
Want to connect with Alyssa? Check her out here: Instagram: @theory_in_motion Website: alyssaclarkruns.com
Today's a good time to reminisce about past sports events with a former pro triathlete who has seen significant changes in the sport. Now he is the Executive Director and Race Director for Run Ottawa and the Director at Canadian Endurance Sports Alliance, Ian Fraser.
Before we jump into our main discussion, Ian shares his previous experiences with businesses he managed that helped him to come up with fresh ideas to make his career more productive.
We discuss how triathlon has changed over time and what his thoughts are on the present tools and strategies used in promoting races. He stresses one of the best things that happened with their current charity events with the help of modern technology.
He also mentions to me what's the difference between an Executive Director and Race Director which are two of the important roles needed to bring fun and successful running events. To make this kind of event, Ian pointed out the "value proposition" that should be delivered to every event participant.
Play the video to hear more Ian and listen to his answer on how to be a great athlete despite the continuous changes in sports.
If you want to be part of their running events, just visit: www.runottawa.ca/ro#
Or connect with Ian on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ian-fraser-a8b07516/
I sit down today with AK Ikwuakor who does a lot of different things (just like me). He is an entrepreneur, consultant, founder of Coach AK enterprise, former Top 10 world-ranked athlete from the University of Oregon, and a start up coach at Google for Startups.
We start our talk about how mindset affects a person's decision and actions towards different situations. He emphasizes how to correctly use and apply the various thoughts that keep popping into making decisions. There's also one thing AK mentions how to make a change in one's life aside from having consistent motivation.
AK tells me before he became a speaker that he was afraid of public speaking because he thinks he might commit a mistake. Time passed by and he realized this one thing that made him recover from his fears and performed his best speech.
He also shares with me how someone can recover from fears and react to unexpected situations. When he once experienced a canceled event, that's when he looked into another direction which gives a valuable result.
As he has been helping a lot of people, I ask him what are his reasons behind it. So hit the play button to hear more from AK.
Our guest today is a 2x champion of 100m hurdles, 2008 Olympian, educator and coach at Phillips Exeter Academy, and an entrepreneur of nonprofit business, Toyin Augustus.
During her early years as an athlete, she shows how strong she is in facing different obstacles including disqualification from the competition. She didn't let these stop her from continuing where she is good at.
We discuss how socialization affects athletes to be where they want to be and Toyin tells me how she effectively deals with it by changing her perspective.
She also shares with me how she interacts with the young athletes she's coaching and encourages them how to process their journey in reaching their goals.
It's indeed a fun and meaningful conversation with her so hit the play button to hear more from Toyin.
I get to talk today with a former pro runner who qualified for 2 World Championships and, now, the head coach for Knoxville Distance Project, Patrick Gildea.
Because he has been running for many years now, I ask Patrick how his relationship with running has changed over the years - from his competitive highs in the 28's for his 10k to now. He tells me about his various experiences with running, what running gives to him and the "old school" style of logging his runs he still does with this "crazy" technology called pencil and paper. How do you log your runs?
Patrick tells me about the benefits of running in the morning as he usually runs at 5 am. And he tells me other athletes have been training earlier than him.
Being a coach takes a lot of courage and Patrick shares how he ended up as a coach despite not being confident to teach other people what to do.
Listen to learn more about how Patrick's life goes with running.
Today's talk is full of valuable ideas shared by a 2:39 marathoner, certified USA Track & Field coach, and the founder of Strength Running, Jason Fitzgerald.
Every runner aims to run faster and better but there are a lot of things to consider and practice when you want to achieve your goals and NOT get injured. Jason comes in to share his great ideas that can change your perspective on running and strength training.
Doing a warm up is one of the things we emphasize due to its important role in a runner's journey. Do you consistently warm up before any runs?
I also ask Jason his opinion on how shoes and GPS watches can affect a runner's performance and he gives some simple advice that every runner should hear.
Lastly, he mentions a key to preventing recurring injuries and a tip to those runners who are struggling to train consistently.
Want to learn more secrets to be a faster runner? Hit the play button to get started!
Today I sit down with a 2x Olympic Ski Racer, an ultra runner, and the founder of ELITEAM, Doug Lewis.
Our talk is full of new ideas on how young athletes can reach their peak performance by NOT specializing in their sport at a young age. Doug shares with me the essential skills you should learn and the key to achieving goals based on his experiences as an athlete.
He also has some extraordinary reasons why he got into ultra running even though he hated running during his youth. These made him train better and they continue to inspire the young athletes who join his camps and programs.
Moreover, he explains to me how to respect the danger of overtraining and why he calls himself a risk averse athlete - despite bombing down snow covered hills at 60+ miles an hour.
Watch this video and get started to learn more with Doug!
If you plan to make your kids be a complete athlete, check out their programs here: https://eliteam.com/
Our guests today are both part of the Cool Planet organization who bring solutions for climate change to their local communit of Edina MN and beyond.
Paul Thompson is a cross country skier who finished 40 Birkie ski races (a 55k race), a former Peace Corps Volunteer, and a co-founder of Cool Planet organization. Alix Dvorak is a volunteer of Cool Planet and the creator of Green House Game.
Most athletes get to try different sports before they discover where they're best at. Paul shares what's his first sport and how he ended up skiing which made him do Birkie ski for 40 years. Have you heard of Birkie Fever yet?
Along with his amazing experience in Birkie, I asks Paul and Alix how people can contribute to retaining a stable climate. This topic is very important for everyone to know so even though we do simple acts, it brings a huge impact to the environment.
Alix also explains how the card game was developed and how it can affect people to help with climate solutions.
Want to know more about what they are up to? Check the links below:
citizensclimatelobby.org braverangels.org rpcv4ea.org coolplanetmn.org
Back today from where the podcast started is my coach who wears many hats - former coach of Paralympic Gold Medalist Shawn Morelli, CPA, father, and founder of his own non-profit - Ryan Ross.
This episode is in part a reflection of my own training as my coach and I talk about my current challenges trying to get back into the best running shape of my life - which means cutting weight for the first time in my 20 years of endurance sports.
Because we talk frequently we jump into dealing with the hard truths very quickly: dealing with the realities of calorie burn in various sports and how it plays a role in our objectives. As well as how calorie burn isn't the most important factor if you're trying to get leaner.
Ryan tells me a little about his opinions on what can go wrong if you're cutting too much weight as well as his thoughts on my "superfood" selection.
Because food is on our minds we also get to talk about his newly founded non-profit: The Kansas City PBJ Project.
By coming back for episode 100 my coach gets to be the only person to answer all 3 season specific questions: stay around until the end to hear about how he deals with staying motivated after failing to reach a goal.
My guest today is a retired US Army Colonel, author of the book "Grow Your Grit", and the founder of The Fivecoat Consulting Group, David Fivecoat.
In his 24 years of service as an infantry officer, I asked him what made him join the military. His answer is not the typical due to influence of relatives or friends but because of this "strong" interest he had by doing something.
After his journey in the military, he found more "joy" in building his own business where he helped enhance the leadership of other people and business operations of companies through executive coaching.
He shares one easy way to help yourself decide whether to continue doing something or not. This may be helpful to those who are struggling to plan their day.
We also discuss some of the components of grit and what made him write his latest book.
Watch this video to learn more.
My guest today, Leah Gingrich, is a storied swimmer as a Six-Time Big 12 Champ and Two-Time All American. But she thought she had left that all behind. Being burnt out from swimming by 2012 just before her third Olympic trials - she left swimming and wouldn't touch the water or a workout for 6 years.
Yet somehow, she's found herself training for a 3rd Olympic Trials, trying to fulfill a lifelong dream after thinking she would never swim competitively again.
One of the big changes she's undergone is improving her mental outlook and gearing down her total yards to accommodate where she is in life now. Despite the lower time in the pool, she's still notching new best times.
We talk about the struggles of the grind of being a high achiever and the challenges it presents to both their bodies and minds.
I share with Leah my secret technique for running my best times and she confirms my expectations that she has been through it as well, but we agree it is super difficult to pull off.
Before we go Leah tells me about how she lives and thrives having a coach that's also her boyfriend. While it might not work for everyone - there's one simple and crucial concept that they nail which makes that relationship work.
The life of a pro athlete is difficult no matter what the sport, but swimming in particular shares the same problems triathlon has - it's really visible during Olympic years and almost invisible the rest of the time. My guest today, Olympic Bronze Medal Swimmer Kim Vandenberg was subject to this rule as well.
This dynamic makes it harder for pros in these sports to live and train to their fullest because of the demands life puts on you. Kim shares with me how "lucky" she was to make it through her time as a swimmer with a lot of assistance coming from different places to help lead her through 5 shots at the Olympic Trials.
Now that she coaches one of her biggest aspects of coaching is making sure young swimmers don't fall into the easy trap of only thinking of swimming. She wants to make sure they identify with more passions outside of swimming so that the stress of swimming itself is reduced and enjoyment goes up.
We talk about the importance of mentorship, her availability through Rise Athletes as well as the importance of mental health - leading to her decision to currently be working on a graduate degree in developmental psychology.
I present the idea of doing a "pros and joes" swim meet so we can finally compare what average joe looks like compared to the top swimmers in the sport.
Before we go I have to ask and fortunately she obliges - Kim gives an impromptu piano concert at my request (thank you again Kim) so you want to stick around for that near the end.
Getting out of my bubble is a must-do on my monthly checklist and this definitely qualifies - today I'm talking to Pro Cricket player from South Africa, Mangaliso "Mangi" Mosehle.
Though as I give a disclaimer at the beginning of the video - call quality isn't as good as we'd hope for - it is important to remember that we live in the future and take some of these technologies for granted. I still have a pretty meaningful conversation with Mangi despite the lag.
We jump into a little bit of cricket talk as I ask him about the differences between the two formats T20 (2020) cricket and Test Cricket - why one might be better than the other.
But ultimately we wind our way around to figuring out what it means to be a great athlete. The qualities it takes to be a great man and a great person. As well as touching on some of the cultural challenges that both the US and South Africa share in regards to expectations of what it means to be a man.
Check out my conversation with Mangi if you want to expand your mind and heart to the next level.
Today, I sit down with one of the top performing coaches who has worked with the San Francisco 49ers, is the a author of 3 books including today's subject The Happiness Handbook for High Achievers, and has a PhD in Computer-based optimization, Dr. Fergus Connolly.
I start our conversation by asking him what he does when taking a time-off, in which I discover his "secret" hobby, and he shares why it's also ideal to do other things aside from what you currently good at doing (or your career)
We discuss the influence of social circles and how they affect your life's trajectory. Given how important it is: I ask Fergus if he knows a good way to change your social circle and when it's necessary.
Fergus also tells me about how to deal with negative thoughts - even though we can't always control them there is definitely a way to deal with them.
Hit the play button to hear from Fergus on how to be not just an achiever, but a happy one at that.
Today I sit down with another high achieve guest, former D1 rower at Princeton who went on to coach there for 3 years. Eventually winding her way around to working at Hydrow like previous guest Aquil Abdullah. Today's guest is Hydrow's Director of Exercise Research & Innovation - Kristin Haraldsottir.
I start off with the question that comes to a lot of people's minds when it comes to rowing machines - how many calories am I going to burn? This simple question has a much more complicated answer than you might imagine.
One of the common themes of many of my guests stories is that they all seem to fit together well in hindsight. Kristin herself admits to getting a few lucky breaks along the way, but also feeling like the harder she worked the luckier she got.
After finish undergrad and coming back to coach with Princeton it gave Kristin a whole new and wider perspective on exactly what rowing is - what rowing means - and what athletes at each level of the sport can learn from it.
Listen to my chat with Kristin to get a better perspective on how we all have different paths, but success comes in many forms and can be achieved if we continue to try.
Today I sit down with a former Olympic rower who plays double duty in his day job at Hydrow as both athlete and software engineer - Aquil Abdullah.
Even before we get started I knew Aquil was going to be a really fun guy to hang out with and he didn't disappoint - starting our conversation after a day of skiing with his family his energy bursts through the screen.
As we get going I have to interject my own enthusiasm for seeing that his daughter is in martial arts before we move on to talk about how it's possible anybody gets into rowing in the first place.
Aquil was originally a Football and Track & Field guy - a classic combination. His reason for rowing was entirely selfish, but it ended up being a fateful decision which would eventually lead him to the Olympic stadium.
He tells me about the obvious - the lack of accessibility to rowing for a lot of people and his initiatives to make it more accessible to anyone.
I ask Aquil about his Olympic journey and his path was a wild ride including time spent sleeping on a Motel floor.
After it was time for him to retired Aquil found his way through the software engineering world to eventually end up in his unique position at Hydrow - a company that makes rowing equipment with social connectivity.
Because he failed to qualify for the 2000 Olympics and came back to qualify in 2004 - Aquil is the perfect person to answer my question for this season: How do you stay motivated after failiing to reach a goal?
My guest today, Eric Bell, brings a bunch of inspirational thoughts he gained from his past experiences. He's a former professional triathlete, has a Master's Degree in sports psychology, and, currently, is a medical device representative at Abiomed.
We begin our chat with Eric sharing his athletic experiences - from former D1 track athlete to pro triathlete and how he compares it to the industry where he's in now. There are a lot of life-changing scenarios you will want to hear especially if you are thirsty for motivation.
Eric, like many of us, is not a superhuman without the ability to ever do wrong. He's gone through struggles and he has one really important piece of advice for when you're struggling in life. This isn't just for prevention from possible issues in the future but a way that will lead to a successful path in the long run.
And when we are working on something we want to achieve, we cannot stop failures from happening. Eric mentions to me some ways he believes anyone can be great at what they're doing.
He also shares with me his incredible vision that most people need to have.
Let's hear more from Eric Bell and reflect on our actions!
My guest today, Chemical Engineer - Linh Le, left academia in the middle of his PhD to pursue a once in a lifetime opportunity to turn a novel scientific material - graphene - into a real life product.
After getting his startup going, like many of us, his business was turned upside down by the pandemic so it was time for another pivot.
He took that cutting edge material which is both hydrophobic (water repelling) and anti-viral to create a very unique and potentially much more effective mask than the run-of-the-mill cloths masks which are everywhere. Have you seen this kind of mask yet?
As the pandemic started, Linh shares with me how their team was affected and how they were able to continue operating to come up with a new product.
There's more "smart" innovation we talk about which I'm sure you'd be interested to hear as well.
Play the video to learn more.
My guest today, Dr. Andrea Becker, who has a PhD in Sports Psychology shares thoughtful and useful information how coaches help their athletes to perform at their best. She's also an associate professor at Sacramento State and a sports psychology coach.
As we begin our talk, I ask her how being a sports psychology coach works and how exactly they work with athletes. More importantly, she manages to tell me how they treat their athletes.
She tells me about the differences between what it means to be a good coach and a great coach. Andrea goes on to tell me the number 1 thing every coach must do if they want to be in the "great" category.
Lastly, I ask her how she makes athletes overcome being uncomfortable when they first interact with their coach.
Ready to hear more from her? Hit the play button now!
Today I sit down with Marcelo Bravo who's a scientist entrepreneur, author of Dream Design Surf, and a triathlete.
We start our conversation with a Marcelo's take on how he manages his day and where you may get an inspiration too (if you are struggling). He also shares how he came up with writing his book which talks about life realizations and designing the life you want.
As we talk about his career, he tells me what made him change his path from being an employee for years at Proctor & Gamble to an entrepreneur. And being an entrepreneur in familiar surroundings to a business where he doesn't have any experience.
Through Marcelo's meaningful conversation with other people, he was able to change a person's life whom he met 10 years ago! This shows how he really empowers people and gives them a chance to be successful.
Let's hear more creative ideas from Marcelo and discover what they are working on in their clinic.
Our guest today, Dr. Mike Ormsbee, is an associate professor at Florida State University, is the Associate Director for FSU's Institute of Sports Sciences & Medicine and has his PhD in Bioenergetics. He has over a decade of experience in endurance competitions.
As we start our talk, he shares with me how he does his duty in their lab and how the students he handles work on their case studies.
Doing research is a challenging task especially if we want to compare it to real-life results. Dr. Mike explains to me how they perform their research both in lab and field and stresses how being "statistically significant" isn't always the hold standard for knowing something is really having an affect on athletes.
We touch on one of the most talked about topic when it comes to sports: nutrition timing. I also find out the interesting truth about how nutrition should be handled by every athlete.
If you are ready to hear more about the facts about what Dr. Mike does and his recommendations for nutrition timing and more - hit the play button!
It's full on motivation today with our guest, Kon-ick MacFarlane-Hunt. He's a triathlete, mental health advocate, entrepreneur and wellness coach (that's why you'll hear some positivity you may need).
Due to the tough times we are experiencing, sometimes we tend to lose that "energy" we need to strive harder for our goal. Kon-ick has a lot to say to everyone who needs that "energy" back on track.
It was a productive talk with him as he shares what realizations he had as an adult. That sometimes we forget how to live our lives and give importance to things or people close to us. He stresses one reason why it happens that may make us think again about how we want to live.
He also tells me what exercise he created for himself that helps how to construct his day (it might be "perfect" for you too!).
Before I get to my season 3 question "how to stay motivated after failing to reach a goal" Kon-ick turns the tables on me and I get to be a guest on my own show for a bit - answering his questions to help along our discussion of discovering your "why."
Want to hear more from him? Watch this video and join us!
Today, I sit down with Steve Davis who is an entrepreneur, certified yogi, professional engineer, and triathlete. A man after my own heart with all his interests.
I initially ask him about the cult of engineering - whether it's real and if he's on the inside. . We also talk about how people see a person based on his/her current career and how that person sees himself/herself.
Steve shares with me how he has transitioned from one career to another and how he successfully manages them regardless of whether he's in a startup of 10 people or a large corporation of thousands.
I also ask him how he started his company and he shares different issues he has been through. And there's one thought he mentions that I believe is really important for every business owner to hear.
Ready to get more inspiration? Hit the play button to watch my full interview with him.
Today's first episode of Season 3 of the Smart Athlete Podcast brings you different ideas on how can you build your own success with our guest, Alex French. He's the CEO of Get Bizzy Inc and an ultra-endurance athlete - covering a multitude of disciplines from running to cycling to obstacle course racing. Very timely for this new year as we all need positive vibes.
Alex shares with me all of what he has been through to put get his company where it is today. Including some of the insider secrets that you may not know about startup life and what it truly means to raise venture capital.
The life of an entrepreneur is never boring and we all take different paths. Alex on one road and me on another, but this leads to making him be more creative in thinking about what to do next to overcome those unexpected obstacles in the path he's chosen.
You'll want to stick around to the end to hear Alex's answer to my new season 3 question: How do you stay motivated after failing to reach a goal.
I speak today to a former collegiate swimmer and co-founder of Rain Therapeutics, Dr. Robert Doebele.
As the saying goes, "when one door closes, another door opens". This is how the story of Dr. Robert went for his collegiate swimming career. Which ends up with him winding his way around to the path that he's on today.
After a time in academia he's left for more full-time work in private practice at Rain Therapeutics. Though I often think of the transition from one job to another as being jarring - Dr. Robert's story shows me how things can go much more smoothly with some planning ahead of time.
Dr. Robert specializes in researching cures for very specific kinds of lung cancer. These solutions are often referred to as targeted therapies. We talk about the differences between the broad strokes of chemo and he explains to me how this "targeted therapy" works.
If you need a little hope for the future then listen to my conversation with Dr. Robert Doebele and know that there are great people working on creating a brighter future for humanity.
My guest today, Dr. Christine Morrison, is a chemistry professor and competitive triathlete who has a PhD in Chemistry. Though we often think about our professors in one dimension - their teaching - Christine shares with me a fun fact about her that not a lot of people know to start our conversation.
Her sports background is unlike any other guest I've talked to so far - starting in speedskating and winding her way through several sports to her current endeavors in triathlon.
Would you believe that she hated running when she was a kid but, now, she's doing Ironman? She shares her story of how she ended up to appreciate running and what was her stepping stone.
If you are doing long slow miles and find it a bit monotonous, Dr. Christine tells me how she enjoys it which may help you do the same.
As she is a goal-oriented person, I learn a bunch of positive ideas she has in mind. She briefly introduces the different studies she's handling which I find really exciting which I hope these will lead to success.
Watch this video and hear more interesting things from Dr. Christine!
It was a great time to talk with Pro Ironman Triathlete and Behavioral Scientist, Pete Dyson. He tells me a little about how his work in dealing with people's psychology has affected his training.
And he tells me how with no experience in the airline industry - he ended up giving one of the closing speeches at a major airline business conference.
I ask Pete what his insights are about the effects of behavior change towards culture. We often know we should or shouldn't do something, but do the thing that's bad for us anyway. This is where Pete comes in to tell us about how "nudges" can help us fulfill the potential we really want to come to fruition.
Pete tells me a bit about how he spent his years with the Ogilvy company before his current post with the Department of Transport.
Before we go he also tells me his various experiences as an Ironman Triathlete and mentions some race strategies to avoid burnout.
Today I sit down with Dr. Rachel Horak who is an Education Specialist and has a PhD in Biology. She was also a swimmer and became a coach for at time after college.
All of this led to one of her most "noteworthy" life milestones - having spent over 100 days at sea conducting research.
Before we get down to our main topic, I ask Dr. Rachel what made her start her new interesting career and how the experience was working on it. Through this, I find out what made her take biology and pursue her career in the science field.
With her previous work, specifically in research, she explains to me their process in getting data for the subject which is an eye-opener to other people who might be wondering how it was done.
She also shares her story about how having a great mentor is really important in choosing your career. Which is what I believe she is now providing to other young professionals, both in her previous field and in her current work.
I talk today to Dr. Sylvia McLain who has a PhD in Chemistry and is a visiting lecturer at the Department of Chemistry in University of Sussex.
I asks her initially about her research which relates to some various types of sugars, drugs and proteins. Apart from these, she points out why water is important to our body. Though we all know water is essential to our survival - the actual role water plays as it interacts with all the components of life is still yet unknown.
She also mentions that there's a way to design a chemical that can affect the diet of some people (hint: sweet). But it's funny to think that some people want to avoid eating food with chemicals but aren't aware that we actually consume chemicals all the time. Sounds confusing?
As humans, we have different habits but some have bad effects on our health. Dr. Sylvia shares her experiences as a runner and swimmer and her reason on why she started running. Then now why she continues to swim and the effect it has on her mind.
Tap the play button to hear more interesting stories from Dr. Sylvia!
Today I have the privilege to sit down with the co-founder of The Gatorade Sports Science Institute, Dr. Bob Murray.
As we get going I ask Dr. Bob how he had the opportunity to be at the beginning of such an iconic institution in sports research. More pointedly - I ask him whether he feels like it was simply luck that landed him in the right place at the right time.
He shares his story of how he was able to get into founding an institute in Gatorade and how his expertise was applied.
As we continue Dr. Bob tells me his intent of writing the second version of his book The Practical Guide to Exercise Physiology which is helpful to any fitness professionals and amateurs alike. The book presents its information in such a way that anyone can grasp it and get enough out of it to make your training more effective.
If you are looking for answers about recovery, training in different temperature and altitude adjustment, Dr. Bob carefully explains each topic both in our chat and in his book.
So sit with us today and learn a little about the storied history of Dr. Bob Murray and how he can help you become a better athlete.
Today, I sit down with Sarah Schlichter who's a registered dietitian and develops recipes for athletes. She explains different things around diet that every person should know (most especially, athletes).
Currently, there's a movement around "intuitive eating" which is Sarah's specialty. I ask her more about how do we get back to eating by intuition and what it truly means to be following this non-diet mentality.
We discuss how "culture" affects people's eating habits and what's the common reason people come to her.
Sarah also stresses one reason why an athlete's performance will suffer if that person continuously focuses on one thing.
If you're ready to change your eating habits, hit that play button to get started.
I talk today to the author of Mining the Social Web, founder of software companies Throwdowns and Strongest AI, Matthew Russell.
Matthew tells me about how he incorporates technology into his fitness routine - specifically how his companies help the CrossFit and functional fitness communities.
He explains to me why he decided to launch his software companies and how he was able to develop them. I ask Matthew about how effective AI can be in judging a person's fitness. Previous academic guests have expressed skepticism in how accurate wearable fitness technology so I pose this question to Matthew since he is working on wearable technology.
Before we end the episode we discuss some of the challenges an entrepreneur in any field faces.
Today I sit down with a former NCAA runner and, now, founder of his own business Coaching on the Run as a certified coach, Matt Mills.
He shares how he started and pursued to be a coach by following his "inner instincts" and how he became motivated by "discomfort". He was previously in a different industry and there was a certain moment that led him to shift his career. This is something most people are doubting to do due to "fear".
It is also great to hear from a coach who has passion to guide other people who want change their life. If you are now feeling afraid to make a change on what you usually do, coach Matt has something to say to you.
As a coach, he not only helps runners to reach their running goals but also this kind of leadership which anyone could benefit from and important to own.
Let's hear more from coach Matt and be inspired by his experiences.
I talk today to UC San Diego Swimming & Diving head coach, Marko Djordjevic. He shares with me some of the most common problems he's helped athletes overcome over his swim coaching tenure.
We delve into the challenges of being a coach and "meeting athletes where they are" instead of forcing them into a system which may or may not be right for them. Each athlete has different characteristics, attitudes and performance levels. So what does a coach need to see from them to be successful in a team they will join?
Coach Marko has a lot to say about it and it may help other coaches out there how they can gauge their athletes.
He also shares one thing that he's looking into an athlete when recruiting them.
Before we sign off I ask Marko what's the biggest change in his athlete's mentality he's seen over the last 20 years of coaching.
Let's dive into today's episode and hear from Coach Marko.
Today I sit down with a yoga teacher who's also a triathlete and founder of Yogitriathlete, Brian Gumkowski. He serves and works with athletes to help them with mental growth aside from physical training.
Brian and I dive down a deep rabbit-hole into figuring out what makes us tick and why we hold ourselves back as athletes and people.
He shares with me an important activity that his athletes do to keep them in their correct path - and it doesn't involve physical training.
Brian explains why you need to continue taking on challenges and what you need to do when you have a "dual mind" - that will make you change your mindset moving forward.
Before we get to my season 2 question "the purpose of sport", he mentions the importance of having a mindset training whenever you are achieving a goal.
In today's episode, I talk to a triathlon coach who started in 1995 and co-founder of The Triathlon Coach, Simon Ward.
He tells me about his first triathlon experience, where everything was hand-timed using an antiquated technology we now refer to as pen and paper. Being a good sport and taking a little ribbing from me, Simon tells me how he soon after did his first Ironman and the events that led to him coaching.
He shares in detail the different significant moments about triathlon in the UK.
We commiserate over the idea that Triathlon needs more money and it largely revolves around getting more TV coverage. I try to hype Simon up to become a co-host with me and to find some secret weapons to truly bring triathlon to the masses' living rooms.
Today, I talk to former collegiate track and field athlete and now founder of her own business called The Mental Clutch, Jenna Fuchs. Jenna is also a Certified Mental Performance Consultant which leads us to know more about our mental performances as athletes aside from focusing on the physical aspect.
First off, have you ever thought of your unique identity? We tend to try out new things we find interesting but how can we nail it? Jenna shares her thoughts about this which every athlete needs to pay attention to.
She specifically pinpoints one thing that can make us fulfill that identity we're longing to be. She also brings some ideas on how one person can strengthen his/her identity aside from creating a new one
Being in a sports psychology field wasn't her ideal career at first but there's something that draws her attention and made her interested to pursue this. It made her brave and believe in herself more.
Jenna also shares an inspiring scenario where "failing" was given true meaning to her and how it helps her to think effectively.
Today I sit down with Dr. Max Paquette who has a PhD in biomechanics and is currently an associate professor at the University of Memphis. He has been part of multiple research studies that focus on improving runners performance.
If you are relying on distance to determine how you perform in your training, this is the day that will make you stop doing it moving forward. Dr. Max shares a lot of knowledge about why distance isn't the best measure of stress load and what are the ways to measure your performance.
He has coached his wife as a pro runner and through this, it made him better analyze how an athlete could better assess their performance.
It is important that you constantly assess how you perform from when you get started until today as it will make you realize what has been working and what's not with the training you are doing.
I ask him if there is currently or will be in the future - a technology that can provide a stress metric to runners and he answers it clearly from his point of view as a scientist which I think is very accurate (hint: RPE).
Lastly, he shares a simple but helpful thought about how to get into long term success in running.
Today I sit down with Geoff Burns who was a biomedical engineer and now is working as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan.
There he's studying the biomechanics of runners - hopefully to solve all of our running form problems once and for all.
If that wasn't enough of to keep him busy he's also a is a professional ultra runner so he shares what he's learned from these experiences.
He tells me how he ended up with his current career and how he pushed himself to get through it. Recognizing something in his colleagues that he was lacking - leading to the search for a new career.
As an ultra runner, Geoff tells me what kept him to loving racing and why he continues to train.
A lot of the "secrets" of running he and I discuss are something many runners experience, but not all realize how important they are. If you tune into these experiences than can change both who you are and how you experience the rest of your life.
I talk today to a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics and a running coach, Allison Koch, who shares her experiences in being a dietitian for athletes.
She initially didn't love running but eventually through the influence of her father who was a marathoner, learned to enjoy it a lot and did longer runs in her early years.
Despite COVID-19 setbacks, she is pursuing her dreams of coaching and continuing to serve athletes who want to improve their performance.
I ask her my season 1 question: if you could only choose 1 recovery food for the rest of your life what would you choose. She also shares a common issue that some people run into that needs to be addressed during any amount of training.
Allison focuses on helping people with the routine of being healthy rather than telling them what to eat and what's not. And she tells me something that shouldn't be missed when creating a training plan.
So join me to find out tips from Allison to help us better perform in what we do as runners.
In today's episode, Dr. Matt Jordan shares with me the experience when working with athletes to study their performance.
He holds a PhD in Medical Science and Masters in Exercise Physiology. Matt shares with me some advice from his mentors as he comes into a career of his own as a sport scientist and coach.
Studying an athlete's performance is not easy to measure and there are different methods to consider. Matt tells me about an early time using instruments to measure athletes where he forgot the thing that has become his #1 rule.
We talk about injuries and whether or not it's possible to predict them. Plus the timeline for recovery when you become injured - regardless of if you're an elite athlete or not.
Before I give him my season 2 question: what's the purpose of sport, I ask Matt as a scientist whether rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is worth anything in his world.
Today I sit down with a former pro hockey player and owner of RAD Hockey, Brett Beebe.
He shares some great lessons based on his past experiences when he was starting to play hockey. One of the things he says to me which I know you will totally agree with, is that people nowadays are constantly looking side to side and keeping up with other people rather than focusing on their own journey.
We talk a lot about his journey running his business and how RAD Hockey helps kids and coaches to reach their goal in sports. It is important for one person to know where his/her motivation comes from as this will help in keeping up with his/her pace.
If you plan to bring your kids to enroll in his programs or in any other programs, it is necessary to get your kids to have a mindset of what they are expected to be in that program. This will help the coaches to pursue in developing their abilities in sports. It's like giving back the effort they gave in teaching the kids.
And it is really important to show support to kids as it will boost their confidence in sports they are after and truly express their abilities. Remember, sports can take you into a lot of places in this world.
Today I speak with an expert mountaineer who has touched a lot of lives with stories of inspiration. John Beede is an entrepreneur, author, global speaker and Everest climber shares his own experiences and reason why he has stuck with mountains.
Not all people are the same and they have different perspectives of how they want to achieve something. But John is able to turn those doubts into reality with the help of his talks that are based on his own personal experience as a climber.
He shares with me the deep reason why he feels the need to climb and what he thinks of people who can't make it through. Regardless of if you're a climber or mountaineer - John's stories can touch your life and give you a different perspective on how to live and what happiness actually is.
One of John's lessons is for everyone to find their own Everest. He tells me the 3 ways someone can do this. Along with these, he shares one of the most important behaviors a person needs to have to accomplish what they want.
Get Doug's Book: A Pound of Kindesss at apoundofkindness.net Use code: D3Day for Free Shipping
Today I sit down with Doug Cornfield, former Division 1 Runner at the University of Georgia and current co-founder of Disability, Dream and Do - an organization enabling kids with disabilities to realize their potential.
As we get going I ask Doug about what they do at Disability Dream and Do including their flagship sports camps. They never ask parents to pay for the kids to attend and how they fund their venture is both unique and eloquently simple.
Doug tells me about a little about his history at Merrill Lynch and when he met Dave Clark, his co-founding partner of Disability Dream and Do.
Both Doug and Dave encourage parents who have kids with disabilities to live by a simple and powerful philosophy which he shares with me (about 24 minutes in).
Although he wasn't able to join us today, Doug gives me a little more insight on his co-founder Dave, who's one childhood story inspired the book A Pound of Kindness.
Before we sign off - Doug tells me about his new book plans and how a host of inspiring people are helping him create a literal new chapter for people to read.
Today I'm talking to Katie McGibbon, a Performance Scientist in Swimming currently working in Australia. She shares with me one of the most important skills that should be developed by athletes and a little about her PhD research.
Though Katie is originally from the UK she is currently staying in Australia for good reasons. She tells me that there's really no better place than the Queensland Academy of Sport to study high level swimmers like she does. It's a culture where everyone grows up swimming so the talent pool is deep - making for plenty of research subjects.
One of her research projects she shares with me focuses on pacing profiles and she tells me about how people pace in competitions versus training.
Though many of the identified strategies that could help swimmers be faster seem obvious on the surface, the culture and psychology holding people back is deeper than the data.
Because the pool is inherently not a laboratory with precise measurements and instruments; Katie shares some ways on how she measures a person's pace. As well as a unique strategy being used by swimmers that results in better pacing profiles.
Today, I speak with Julia Roman-Duval, an astrophysicist and a marathoner who ran in the 2016 Olympic Trials in the US.
We talk about recovery methods including her go-to method to relax after a peak marathon race.
She tells me about an unexpected event that led to postponing a race which she spent a lot of time preparing for.
She also shares with me how she does her training to get in her best shape, how she stays motivated in running, and what's the important thing she does after a marathon.
Julia also shares a little about her astrophysics research at the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Today I sit down with award-winning, Applied Psychologist at Rice University and runner who has ran a marathon in all 50 states and every continent, Michelle "Mikki" Hebl.
We talk about some of her exciting adventures as she ran those marathons and also a bit about her work at Rice where she focuses on issues related to diversity and discrimination.
She also tells me about how friendship and a bond is created when running and the whole mentality of running culture.
We discuss the difficulties of aging and changing goals over time. Figuring out whether the goal is the point or if the journey itself is the goal.
Today I sit down with former pro triathlete and artist Vanessa Raw.
We dive right in on how she got started with her triathlon career and eventually making the British triathlon team.
She gives me a rare insight into the potential downsides of high end sports training - the things which are rarely shared when an athlete is still active in their career. Which leads us into a discussion of a potential culture change that might bring about better health for all athletes involved.
We also talk about the personal changes she went through to find a place where she is now more happy and fulfilled.
Vanessa was kind enough to do our interview in her current studio so she gives me the tour and shows me some of her artwork.
I ask her about what life as an artist is like and why in the world she would choose two careers, triathlon and art, which are both notoriously difficult to making a living at.
Today I sat down with former Olympian Skiing Coach, former pro cross country skier and triathlete and co-author of The Uphill Athlete: a manual for mountain runners and ski mountaineers, Scott Johnston.
We discuss how he went from being a near Olympic level swimmer to cross-country skiing.
He tells me about his time at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs and his training as a developmental swimmer and how burnout influenced his switchover to cross-country skiing.
We talk about the essential ingredients in training endurance athletes regardless of their particular discipline. Scott tells me about the one thing you can not skip as an endurance athlete as well as one area of development that can actually hurt you.
Before we go I ask him about fat adaptation and the role that diet plays in allowing endurance athletes to burn more fat as fuel so they can go harder, longer.
Today I sit down with competitive powerlifter, powerlifting and strength coach, and clinical research coordinator at the Geneiva Foundation in the Gate Lab, Claire Zai.
She shares with me what she does in the Gait Lab and some of her responsibilities.
Claire also tells me about her future plans and goals.
We discuss the basics of what competitive powerlifting is and how a competition is scored as well as some of the basic strategy.
Claire gives me a rundown on one of the topics she's passionate about: periods. And why taking periods into account matters in terms of women's strength training and competition.
Today I sit down with cyclist, scientist and author of "Bicycle Diaries", David Kroodsma.
He shares with me how he got into cycling and his 20,000+ mile journey across the north american continent - from the US to Argentina.
He tells me about how he interacted with the culture on his ride and the benefits of traveling alone as well as why it's good to hide your tent!
David lets me know how the cross-continent trip influenced his book and why he wrote it at all.
Before we go I ask him about the work he's doing and his research projects over at globalfishingwatch.com.
Today's guest was a referral from an earlier guest, Ian Bolliger. And much like Ian, Pavel has a lot to say about climate change and the environment, but from a bit different perspective.
Pavel tells me about how he took a roundabout journey to get into running starting from a trek in 1989, the year I was born. He tells me about how he takes this epic ultra runs and uses them as a teaching tool to make people aware of climate change.
I get educated on some of the visual and measurable impacts that climate change has on the environment and us. Things you can't argue against as being part of a completely natural climate cycle.
We speak about the possibility that COVID can make a positive impact on the climate change conversation as well as the dichotomy between personal responsibility and group action.
The high point of our conversation centers around what we should actually be doing and what's the most practical way forward: baby steps or a giant leap into a different lifestyle?
Today's podcast affords me the chance to sit down with a guy who is all over my digital world of eCommerce - Ezra Firestone.
CEO of Boom by Cindy Joseph, Zipify Apps and the Founder of Smart Marketer, Ezra has been in the eCommerce space and building online businesses for over a decade now.
But before that, he grew up in Hawaii learning Judo and working to become a top competitor all before the age of 18.
If you're considering getting into an online business Ezra gives an easy tip for figuring out how to differentiate between shysters and the real deal.
Ezra tells me about his backround in Judo and how a familial connection got him started in the discipline when he was 4.
He shares with me what transfers over from martials arts to the rest of his life and why that makes him as successful as he is at the things he wants to do.
Because we are all pressed for time I have to ask Ezra how he manages all of his time and seemingly appears everywhere on the internet in the ecommerce space while running a couple other businesses.
This also transfers over to his personal life to make sure he is taking care of his health, his family, relationships and his businesses.
Today's guest is triathlete and Human Performance Engineer at specialized, Jesse Frank.
We talk about all of the work he's doing at specialized in the wind tunnel. Optimizing people's aerodynamic position and now starting to work on thermodynamic performance of apparel.
Jesse tells me about group rides at Specialized with his co-workers as well as the advantages of drafting off another cyclist.
I ask Jesse about the things that affect us the most when we're trying to set up a really aerodynamic time trial position.
Since he lives in Santa Cruz we commiserate over each of our own Santa Cruz 70.3 experiences.
If you've been out running or cycling for any amount of time you've probably been yelled at. Recently Jesse had such an experience so we talk about how to deal with people that yell or cuss at us while we're out working out.
Jesse tells me about why we've seen golf ball dimples be removed from bicycles, but is now appearing on clothing.
Before rounding out our conversation we talk about the other Jesse, Jesse Thomas, in the mix and my misremembering him wearing a wetsuit on a bike during a race (sorry Matt!).
Pro cyclist and MIT doctoral grad Christina Birch sits down with me today to talk cycling.
I ask her about how she got into cycling "late" in life eventually leading to her current circumstances of racing at a professional level.
We discuss the impact that race directors have on our lives. The way a good race director will both foster a sense of community and make race days more fun.
Christina shares with me some of her thoughts about racing at the top level, making race plans and learning to let go.
As we continue our chat Christina and I talk travel plans for races and how she deals with going a long distance before an important race.
Being that we're both overthinkers I give Christina the same advice my college coach once gave to me about why stupid people are so much faster than me.
I ask her about how she trains for vastly different cycling disciplines from gravel to track racing.
Before moving on we talk about dealing with fear and the effects of aging on the mind.
As we round out our discussion Christina and I discuss the differences in training methods between running and cycling.
I ask her about her PhD at MIT and how she decided to go from full-time academia to full-time athlete.
At the end of our chat I ask Christina my season 2 question: What's the purpose of sport? And we talk about the importance of reaching your potential.
My guest today is none other than former Harvard Hockey player and member of the 2018 Korean Olympic Women's Hockey Team, Randi Griffin.
Randi tells me about growing up following her mom's dreams for her, learning to figure skate. Then after a time deciding and being encouraged by her father to move to hockey instead.
I ask her about the culture of fighting in hockey and whether it has a place or is simply for entertainment value.
As I continue my conversation with Randi she tells me about how figure skating had an impact on her hockey career.
I ask her whether she has the clout yet to impact kids the way some of her hockey heroes growing up impacted her.
We discuss the ever present argument of luck vs skill when it comes to becoming a professional athlete in a team sport and being able to compete in the Olympics.
Before moving on Randi tells me about her Olympic experience and the luck involved in the long-shot story of being able to play for the Korean national team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.
In the last part of my talk with Olympian Randi Griffin we switch to talking about her PhD and why it matters that we figure out seemingly "trivial" things like the changes in the shape of monkey skulls.
Randi tells me about her transition to Data Science and how she came to work at a private company instead of pursuing academia.
I ask Randi how she stays so productive in a world designed to distract us and keep us from being able to focus.
Before we sign off I ask Randi my Season 2 question "What is the purpose of sport?" and she tells me a few different opinions on it. As well as sharing how this idea impacted her and her teammates on the Korean Olympic team.
Today I get the fortune to sit down with a pair of former D1 runners and active scientists, Dan Feeney and Melissa Mazzo.
We jump into Dan's career as a pro triathlete and why he didn't feel the need for an official retirement.
I realize after the fact that I have technically met Dan 8 years ago through our mutual connection, but there was no reason for either of us to remember each other.
Melissa shares the importance of training with a team even after college is over and tells me about her time spent with the Boulder track club.
We move onto Dan's current career trajectory: working at Boa Technologies, makers of the Boa Fit System.
As our conversation continues Melissa tells me about her thoughts on applying her own PhD in integrative physiology. The choice between academic life and private industry is becoming less of a struggle.
Then the three of us debate the merits of the Nike Next% and try to figure out the age old debate of where should technology stop and human performance begin. What is cheating and what is progress?
In the last part of our chat I ask Melissa about her research into stretching. And more importantly I try to figure out if we've finally killed static stretching once and for all.
I ask the both of them as coaches what a common pitfall they see in their athletes is and Dan delivers a highly usable piece of advice.
Before we wrap up and I ask them the purpose of sport we commiserate over the idea of being comfortable being uncomfortable.
On today's episode, I sit down with 3-time Iron Man finisher, paramedic and author of upcoming book, "Running Wild", Bobby O'Donnell as he shares with me the inside track of how he came about documenting his travels and eventually publishing a book.
Bobby also tells me about the genesis of his journey, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and how even though he and his family were physically fine, the event took a toll on him.
Bobby shares with me how meeting other people and hearing stories and experiences helped him learn to love running again and also influenced him in writing his book.
He tells me about how connecting with people became therapeutic for him.
in the last part of our chat Bobby and I talk about finding balance in life and going ahead and taking the opportunities to travel as they come into your life.
We discuss the possibility of using those experiences to enrich your life.
He also shared about his adventures in Antarctica: the joys and perils of running with penguins.
Climate scientist and skier Ian Bolliger sat down with me and discussed climate change and whether or not we are going to make it or are we doomed.
He shared with me about his research into the actual dollar cost of climate change and what part of his research is relevant to the real world.
As I continued my talk with Ian, he shares with me why he got into this line of work and what overall objective he likes to achieve.
He tells me about extreme events and how they are affected by climate change.
Ian then gives me a bit of his background in school and how he got to where he is now.
As we finish our discussion we discussed about starting over after the current happenings in the world and how we can focus on more positive items in order to essentially "rebuild" after covid-19.
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Award winning Journalist and author of the new book Why We Swim, Bonnie Tsui, spends some time with me to discuss a major dream of both of ours right now: swimming in kiddie pools.
All jokes aside Bonnie tells me about the beauty of swimming in open water and when is the best time to truly experience nature in that setting.
She tells me about how people who have a fear of water can overcome that fear and find the bliss she talks about in the new book.
Before we move on, Bonnie shares an experience she had during her writing process when she went through the whole process of free diving for food through preparing and eating a meal with her family from that food.
Bonnie tells me a little about the theme of her book: how we find peace in the water and its affect on our brains.
We discuss the idea that sometimes our intuition leads to interesting and revelatory research topics in science.
Along those lines we head down a rabbit-hole to discuss the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics.
Which leads us back to the cognitive benefits of being able to shut your brain off while you're in the pool.
In the last part of my chat with Bonnie we continue our talk about sensory deprivation and it's effects on our ability to relax.
Bonnie shares with me her one, somewhat painful, experience with mindfulness practice at a nearby Buddhist temple.
We continue to discuss the idea that turning your brain off can actually lead you to be more mindful and more productive.
Before we head off into the season 2 question: what is the purpose of sport? Bonnie tells me about how she is seemingly able to jump into so many different writing genres effectively including how she has written an intriguing and effective children's story.
Sitting down with Christian Posch, board certified dermatoligist and international handball refree, we discussed how medicine and they way we treat patients has come along.
We also discussed record systems throughout the world and how it has evolved and changed as well as the problems with trying to make a universal fit among systems.
We continue to talk about potential benefits and challenges faced when tackling this problem.
Christian and I discussed expanding life spans in humans and what happens when things go wrong and we have to face the consequences.
We also discussed handball and how that relates to american football and the ages of players.
Despite our obsession about sports, Handball is not popular in the US. Christian and I tackle the possibility of how to change that.
Continuing our discussion about handball, Christian and I discussed his career as handball referee.
He discussed about how he would like his handball referee career go.
As we round our our conversation Christian tells me about how he feels when players want to argue with a referee.
My coach and I discuss the business aspect of dealing with Covid-19 and how they are coping in our local community.
We talked about how stress and the troubling time we are going affects the training of athletes.
Ryan thinks that we are getting out more because people realize how important it is to still stay active so that when all these troubling times are over, we come back stronger.
As I continue the conversation with my coach we talk more about how to stay motivated when you have no races. I offer a suggestion on why a Coach is so invaluable during a time like this.
We shift to the challenges of dealing with a global pandemic and my coach's take on the current stimulus bill.
As a certified personal accountant he sees the insides of many small businesses and people's personal finances, giving him a unique insight most of us don't get.
In the last part of my chat with my coach we discuss the balancing act of bringing businesses educated politicians to Washington.
We continue the discussion about the coronavirus stimulus bill and the pork barrel measures that were included in the bill.
Ryan tells me about the possibility that right now is an opportunity for us to realize a new normal and become a better more fit population.
He shares with me one of what he believes to be the most critical things right now: making sure your immune system is in top shape. A priority to take before any training considerations.
Personal trainer and paralympic trial swimmer Travis Pollen sits down with me to discuss some of the challenges and opportunities people with disabilities face in the realm of sports.
He shares some of his experiences growing up and the unique situations he found himself in he might not have experienced otherwise.
As I continue my chat with Travis he tells me about some of the challenges he faced in high school and how he feels about those things.
As we round out our conversation Travis tells me about life as a personal trainer.
He also sheds some light about the myths and misinformation of training people with disabilities.
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Winner of the Brooklyn Marathon in 2015, Hope Phelan sits down with me to discuss how her art and running have come together.
After running the Boston Marathon in 2013, the year of the bombings, Hope took comfort in painting scenes of the Boston Marathon.
She continued painting the scenes and had a show at Marathon Sports to raise money for the One Fund, which is the Boston Marathon Bombing charity which eventually lead to a big corporate sponsor asking her to do a commissioned work.
Though painting is what brought Hope to a conversation with me, that isn't all that she does.
Hope tells me about a brand new mural that is on display i which she painted for the Girls on The Run Vermont.
She shares with me that she paints to express the feeling she gets when she is running. The feelings that you don't really know unless you are a runner.
As we close out our conversation Hope tells me how she feels like while some people are born with a natural talent for running, she really feels like the more you run, the better you get.
I ask Hope why she chose to do the Steeplechase. Something I ask any of my fellow current and former Steeplechasers.
As usual for season 2 I sign off by asking Hope what she thinks the purpose of sport is.
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I start my conversation with award winning filmmaker, Victoria Negri, with a bang by asking her how she deals with imposter syndrome.
We discuss the problem of freedom - do people thrive when they have endless choices or are restricted.
Victoria tells me about the themes that are of interest to her in film-making, the inspiration for her award winning film Gold Star and her upcoming feature Ultra.
I ask her about what it was like to direct herself and the planning period for Gold Star.
Victoria and I then dive off the deep end and talk about how growing up with older fathers affected our psyche.
She shares with me how the mentality she took from her father was brought into her film ventures and life in general.
I ask her about the costs of film making and how you ever find the money to produce even a small budget film.
In the last part of my chat with Victoria I ask her about how anyone makes a living from film making when they aren't already a super star.
She tells me about the misconceptions people have about film making and the 2 most annoying questions she gets over and over again.
We transition into the challenges we face in running and how some of those things lead us to serendipitous events in our lives.
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Despite our time zone difference Madie graciously made time to spend some time with me to talk about a lot of things.
First being why in the world she would knowingly adopt 2 very energetic large dogs.
But we quickly transition to a passion of hers (which she's also quite good at): Gig rowing.
Being a mostly land-based athlete I ask Madie to tell me about the what and why of gig rowing.
She describes the various strategies you use and the details of racing as well as a photo finish race.
Madie and I continue our chat about gig rowing and she tells me how the sport and training has developed into a more "professional" atmosphere over time.
I ask her how the sport's culture compares to ivy league style rowing, previous guest Evan Pardi had talked about.
We transition into talking about Madie's PhD research into micro-plastics.
She shares with me some of the major problems with micro-plastics as well as the difficulties in resolving the problems they pose.
Madie and I continue our conversation about the problems with plastic in our environment.
She shares her philosophical ideal about how we should treat plastic and how manufacturer's should plan for its creation.
I give my thought on what I see as the ideal situation to resolve our world's current dilemma and am happy to hear Madie's take on my suggestion.
Before we head off to the Season 2 question "the purpose of sport" she tells me about one simple thing we can all do that seems to have little effect, but in reality would make a huge impact on the planet.
I can't say I have much experience with police, positive or negative, but being able to sit down with Chula Vista Police Officer Chris Lawrence allows me the chance to ask dumb questions and get intelligent answers.
We start off with me asking about Greg, the contact with CVPD that suggested I talk to Chris.
I ask Chris about his childhood and what inspired him to both want to be in the military and later his current role as a police officer.
He tells me about how some of the older more experienced officers have a way with people that does not involve the personality often portrayed in the media of the rough and tumble "GET ON THE GROUND!" police officer.
Chris shares with me a little about police department procedures and how training varies across the country.
As Chris and I continue our conversation we shift to talking about the impact of national news on the American cultural psyche.
We debate the pros and cons of isolationism vs total interconnectedness and its effects on us as people.
Chris tells me about the changing perception of police around the country, from when he grew up to now.
He also shares about the culture at Chula Vista PD that may not be found in all precincts.
After Chris got cut off from a bad connection he switches devices to rejoin me and we get to talk about Baker to Vegas - an all law enforcement 120 mile relay race.
I ask him how he maintains such a positive outlook on life despite the challenges he has faced.
Before we sign off with my season 2 question "The purpose of sport" - I ask Chris how we are able to motivate and impart our life's wisdom onto our children.
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As I begin my talk with Ben we dive into why he isn't a better Canadian playing ice hockey, but instead plays field hockey.
All jokes aside - Ben educates me on the sport and how he got into it. As well as the identity shift he had to make after retiring from the sport.
In the middle of my talk with Ben I ask him about what keeps him motivated now that he doesn't have an Olympic games to train for.
He asks me a little about my history in competing, before we move on to the star topic of the show: his Olympic experience and how that all felt.
As I round out my chat with Ben I ask him about training for and competing in the Olympics while simultaneously working on a PhD. A feat not many could stomach.
Ben tells me about the research he was doing in genetics.
Then I ask how or if its possible to apply certain types of research models to humans, prior to human trials.
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In my first interview with a pro off-road triathlete, I have to start off with giving Evan a hard time about the combination of his mustache and Pre poster in the background.
He tells me about the world of X-terra (off road triathlon) and the challenges of racing in an ever changing environment.
Evan lets me know that the sense of community is entirely different than the world of road triathlon and he has a theory about why this occurs in X-terra and has stayed that way as the sport has grown versus the nature of some more high profile road events.
As we head into the next part of our chat, Evan shares his ethos on how sports events should be, in his opinion. Something more alike how he grew up while competing in rowing.
We continue our discussion about community and cultural differences between different branches of sports, both multi-sport and general american sports.
Evan tells me more about his theory on how the stakes of the race affect the atmosphere of comradery.
In the last part of our chat, Evan tells me about his life as a doctoral student and professional bass player.
No, not the kind that would front for Green Day, though I'm sure he's capable, the kind that plays in professional symphonies.
Before I ask my season 2 question "What's the purpose of sport?" Evan tells me about his take on this absurd cult of loving "pain" in triathlon that abounds in pro and amateur fields alike.
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I often get the chance to talk with people way above my mental pay grade and Dr. Cheryl Keller Capone is no exception.
Fortunately we start out conversation talking about her athletic past: injuries, running and how she transitioned into multisport.
Cheryl tells me about losing her identity as a runner because of injury and we commiserate a bit on the topic.
Before moving on she tells me about one triathlon she really enjoyed that involves jumping off a ferry for the start.
As we start into the second part of our chat, we jump right into Dr. Cheryl's research history in sequencing various genomes. Starting with flies as a model and later moving into mice.
She tells me about a time where she felt burnt out from academia and made a switch over to DNA Forensics, helping exonerate some suspects in cases based on DNA evidence.
Just as this part comes to a close we begin talking about a project of huge importance to humanity involved genomes, the VISION project.
In the last part of my talk with Cheryl, she tells me the differences between the dry lab and wet lab people - how they are both separated and together as a team in various aspects of pushing research forward.
I ask her about whether people in similar disciplines to her are opting into data science to sort research now instead of doing the research itself.
Cheryl explains to me the use of modeling in her field as a (hopefully) predictive measure for patterns in genome sequencing.
Before I ask her my new season 2 question, she tells me about the new research in gene editing and it's possible applicability to help people with conditions like sickle cell.
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As I sit down with my guest today, Joan Meiners, we dive right into talking about how she went from a PhD in a completely unrelated field to being a journalist.
Starting with a mutual situation for us, talking to big names being a nobody. We've discovered similar things along the way.
I ask her about her history in cycling and her journey towards that from a running background in college.
Joan tells me a story about how she got to meet the woman she was named for, Joan Benoit Samuelson, the first woman to win an olympic gold for the marathon.
Joan continues her story about meeting her namesake, Joan Benoit Samuelson.
She tells me a little bit about walking on to the college track team and how she didn't think she was very good at running. At least at first.
We jump back to the shared topic of talking to sports icons we idolize and how that makes us feel.
Then Joan shares a story with me about when the tables were turned and she got recognized as an athlete.
I ask her as a journalist how can we separate good from bad science.
In the last part of my chat with Joan we talk about the ever prescient topic of our time: the age of spin. How do we separate reality from fake news?
Joan shares with me one method she finds helpful to verify the truth, best we can.
We go into a more existential conversation thinking about how sometimes we as people reach impasses because we come from different ontological views (looking at the basis or reality from different starting points).
Before time runs out I have to ask her about her bee research and how you actually catch 50,000 bees.
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In my first chat with 2 guests at the same time, I get the chance to speak with co-authors of the Happy Runner, David and Megan Roche.
We start off with my questioning their habits in how they get ready for the day since they work from home like me.
I ask them point blank, what's the point of the book and what is a happy runner?
We discuss the importance of examining your reality and your identity.
Megan and David tell me about how important setting realistic attainable goals are in your overall life's journey.
We get off on a track that's always been important to me, realizing our own mortality as a motivation to accomplish the things we want.
As I continue my conversation with Megan and David I tell them about a philosophy one of my mentors shared with me: that life is meaningless unless you imbue meaning on it.
They tell me about their method for writing The Happy Runner: in that they wanted to make sure they stayed true to themselves in their authorship.
Megan and David talk to me about the importance or realizing your self worth without judgement on the athletic field of accomplishments.
Then they share with me how to find motivation to reach your potential as a person and athlete.
In the last part of my conversation with Megan and David I dive off the deep end and ask them about the meaning of life. Though I share my own thoughts on what it may possibly be.
We talk a little about how language forces our perception of the world through the words we have available to use to describe our reality.
I ask them more about a chapter in their book specifically about finding your why and how they go about finding a meaning and purpose behind what they do.
Before we finish up - I have to dive deeper into Megan's why for pursuing a PhD when she is already an MD and doing a dozen other projects.
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In my talk with coach Marco Nicoli we jump into some primary research he did for us at Solpri a while back - using power data from his running athletes. Really pointing to the effectiveness of reducing your ground contact time.
To read his research go here
https://solpri.com/learn-to-run-like-a-pro-part-1-how-much-time-you-touch-the-ground-affects-your-speed/
Marco gives his thoughts on the "more is better" mentality often found in endurance training. Including his own life threatening experience with training almost 40 hours a week.
Being a quantitative personality, Marco loves the numbers, but I ask him whether there's a qualitative and feeling approach that takes place in his coaching philosophy.
I share my recent experience with RPE and using that to my advantage instead of relying solely on the number data.
Since Marco uses a power meter to run I ask him to sell it to me since I'm so focused on RPE.
We talk about how using power helps eliminate some of the day to day emotional ups and downs to give more accurate feedback about how to train and how training is going.
Marco shares with me how he dug deeply into one of his athlete's data to figure out he had tight muscles that needed to be stretched. An indication that he could improve his athlete's speed without any increased fitness.
We get into running form and whether there is a right or wrong way to run.
Marco and I commiserate over the agreeableness of numbers, they are more straightforward than dealing with the psychology of people.
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In today's chat I speak with World Record Holder and paddle board badass Victoria Burgess.
Since I'm a mostly dryland kind of guy, aside from my occasional triathlon, I ask her all about what Stand Up Paddle board is about in the competitive scene instead of just instagram worthy yoga pictures.
We get into the meat and potatoes of her claim to fame, crossing the Florida strait on a paddle board. A trip from Cuba to Florida, spanned by only 2 people, Victoria as the first woman and just as importantly, the fastest time to date.
Victoria and I continue discussing her world record crossing of the Florida strait. Specifically diving into her meal prep as well as the kind of mental training needed to take on this 27+ hour challenge.
Surprisingly, though in some ways not, I ask her about life as a firefighter while paddling and getting her PhD at the same time.
She tells me a bit about her new venture in trying to fuel high performance careers with great nutrition instead of foods of convenience.
In the last part of my talk with Victoria we finish up with her thoughts on how to fuel high performing professionals like firefighter, police and military.
She tells me about how much there's left to uncover in the world of eating for performance as well as some of her personal food induldgences.
Not one to miss out on an opportunity, I ask Victoria about her choice in recovery food since it's her specialty to help people with that. Stay tuned to the end for her answer.
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As I start my chat with Sarah we jump into the looming question - what the heck is going on with her background? The significance of a formation of stars on a wall of a space scientist can't be random and in fact there's a story behind it.
I ask her the question she gets most often "Why study space at all?"
She tells me more about my question as well as the purpose and usefulness of academic research as a whole.
Before moving onto a new topic Sarah shares with me the reality of getting grant money and using it for research - how it's not misappropriated like a lot of people think.
Sarah and I jump into talking about her actual research - studying the atmosphere of Titan and how to actually go about doing that kind of research.
I ask her about the instruments used and how you can realistically measure the chemistry of an exoplanet without physical samples.
Unlike some people suggest - Sarah tells me that the size of your telescope does in fact matter.
As time goes on and we develop better instruments Sarah lets me know that eventually we may have something sensitive enough to aid us in our search for extra terrestrial life.
Sarah's Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PlanetDr
In the last part of my chat with Sarah I ask her whether it's possible to make back door deals to get cool telescope time and she enlightens me about the reality of getting time on our planet's most precious telescopes.
We talk about the differences between working for NASA - something I imagine would be the holy grail for space scientists - and working in an academic environment like Johns Hopkins.
Before we get going I have to ask her about how and why she opened an Etsy store.
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Former pro mountain biker and all around nice person, Anne Galyean sits down with me this week to discuss what she's doing now - protecting the environment from potential disaster.
As we start our conversation I ask Anne about the mundane, how she deals with her bike commute to work.
After we exchange pleasantries we head onto what Anne does on her every day job - checking the environmental safety of a variety of products.
In the middle of our chat before we shift gears I ask her how it's possible to figure out large environmental impact studies when they are potentially not feasible in the real world.
We shift gears onto Anne's career as a pro mountain biker.
I share with Anne my rule on facing fear head on so as not to be controlled by it.
In the last part of my talk with Anne we continue on our conversation about fear and its importance in the psychological lives we live.
Anne shares her tips on how to overcome fear when you've injured yourself and have a tough time coming back to doing your normal activity where you got injured.
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Talking with one of my most engaging guests, Mike Haggadone, I learn about how he found himself running ultras. Often looking to win, but trying not to emphasize winning as the purpose of his adventures.
We talk about the sense of family that's earned through a shared struggle.
The element of fun comes into play for a lot of my guests and Mike is no different as we chat about how fun plays a role in some of our best times.
Our conversation takes a turn when we talk about self worth and the role of culture in our motivation to be winners.
Before heading off to the next part of our conversation we discuss how sometimes people in the back of the pack have more insight about what the purpose of a race is than those in the front.
I share a little about my emotional first career win that happened in 2019 and the life lessons learned in my almost 20 year journey to get that win.
Mike shares his insights on how the process is the reward rather than arriving at a destination of winning as the reward.
We get into the title part of this episode as Mike talks about how gratitude plays a role in his running and its effect on his life.
Mike tells me about how there needs to be a shift in culture and academic culture in realizing that failure is an essential part of growth.
In the last part of my talk with Mike I challenge him to give justification about why running is not therapy - a hot button issue that's been brewing in the running community.
We try to tackle the inefficiencies of spoken language in communicating the meaning we want to convey to one another.
Mike shares how running has expanded his ability to view existence and given him vocabulary to express his experiences in a broader way.
Before we head off to the eponymous season 1 question I ask everyone - I share my opinion on the role of empathy in understanding our world.
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In today's episode I sit down with John Kelly - ultra runner and one of only 15 people to have completed the Barkley Marathons.
I ask him how he found himself get into ultras in the first place. Something that varies with each guest I find myself speaking to that has decided to truly go the distance in running.
He gives us an explanation of what Barkley is and what is happening out in the woods in Tennessee. Success comes for very few people and John has his own idea on who it is that is most likely to succeed to Barkley.
John and I chat about the purpose of running outside of being able to run fast.
I ask John about how much are ultras a race of attrition rather than speed and the power of the mind.
As a father, John has a unique perspective on how to approach motivating his kids while realizing that not everyone has the potential to be the best in the world. I ask him about how he deals with these sometimes opposite attitudes of believing anything is possible while knowing everyone has limits.
I ask John about his Guinness Book of World Record's attempt at the marathon dressed as a video game character.
As we start part 3 I ask John what reason he has to be out there doing 100+ mile races like Barkley when there's often little chance of finishing.
John shares how he found himself as a pro triathlete, setting the record for the slowest swim for a sub 9-hour ironman.
As we diverge in our conversation John shares what he's doing at his current job in analyzing cyber security risks of various companies.
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As I sit down with Professor Baar we jump into why a Canadian is wearing a coat in Canada and how he didn't play the national sport of Hockey.
More importantly we jump into his thoughts on how unstructured play affects athlete's abilities later in life.
Keith shares with me about some of his early research where they were trying to build machines with muscles.
As we get into the meat of our conversation Keith shares why he and many people in the exercise physiology field go into the kind of research they do.
We talk about the process of going from research to practical ways to unlock an athlete's potential.
One of the big area's of discussion from Dr. Baar's research is the effect of mTOR on our biology. We get deep into the effects and usefulness of mTOR.
Within our talk Keith shares how a Keto diet can play a very useful role for us in a specifically dangerous situation.
In the last part of my chat with Keith he does his best to educate me on the cycles of growth or activation that the body goes through.
We discuss the troubles of applying science to real application and how there are certain people with a certain set of skills that really get athletes to apply the science to their routine.
In his research Keith has talked about how cardiovascular exercise has a certain affect on the body as well as strength training a different effect. I ask him about how much work is necessary to get all of the benefits of both worlds and his answer is a little surprising.
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A familiar face, my friend Todd Buckingham who first appeared on episode 3 returns to complete some unfinished business as we chat about his new position as the Head Exercise Physiologist at Mary Free Bed's Rehabilitation.
Recently Todd came back from the Ironman World Championship in Kona. Not as a competitor, but as a fellow team member of Every Man Jack where he performed some testing on his teammates to gather data.
I ask Todd how to deal with sweating a lot for someone like myself who sweats more than average. He shares a simple, no nonsense way to ensure that dehydration doesn't derail my racing as well as the physiology behind it.
In the middle of my chat with Todd I ask why the performance lab even exists at Mary Free Bed and who they aim to serve.
I give him a hard time about using the lab to his advantage to be an even better athlete himself.
As a recurring theme Todd reminds me that I need to run slower for my long runs to really maximize my running potential. Even with my experience something I have trouble heeding at times.
I share with Todd my anticipated plans to run the Manitou Incline (covered in another video)
Todd gives me an admonition on shoes and a story about how he set his new half marathon PR, 10k PR and 5k PR all in the same race.
We cover some biomechanical efficiency as well before going off to part 3 as we discuss stride length and Todd's research we talked about in Episode 3 of the podcast.
In the last part of our chat Todd and I continue to talk about running biomechanics. He dismisses a huge myth about stride length, running speed and height.
One of our big reasons for Todd coming back on the show today was to discuss a research paper he wrote to try and make the USA Triathlon National Championship more fair after what he believed was an unfair setup in 2018.
We talk about our shared issues with drafting penalties and the current system of giving penalties during a triathlon.
Since we already know Todd's favorite recovery food (PB&J) I ask him a little more daunting question to end our chat today.
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As I sit down with international travel writer and newly bound author Will McGough, I have to tell him how much I hate him from the beginning of his book.
Before I get into my detest; we chat about his life as a travel writer and how a seemingly idyllic career has its own challenges.
We talk about travel and how to be authentic even though Will is on assignment and how to deliver better travel writing than just being a listicle writer.
I ask Will about his sport background since he is a little atypical for my guest list.
In the middle of our talk we jump into why Will's first triathlon ended up being an Ironman and how he ended up being forced into trying to participate in this race with only 3.5 months to prepare. My belief that couch to marathon is a dumb idea is only exacerbated by Will's predicament of couch to Ironman.
As he goes through his training mentally we talk about how your perceptions of what is normal get warped through endurance training.
We talk about how pointless listening to negative opinions is: even in the face of an almost impossible challenge.
Will asks me about my own perspective about training and whether I'm addicted to training. I share a little bit more of my own story to him and the purpose of my own training.
I ask Will about his emotional journey in his couch to Ironman endeavor.
Will shares that he noticed a change in culture in the triathlon community and some people who have become annoyed at people just looking to finish.
I ask him whether the experience has had any long lasting effects on his personality or if it was only an ephemeral experience.
Then before I ask my season 1 question I ask everyone we talk about the power of belief and how being naive can be a powerful tool in your toolbelt.
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I sit down with Pro Triathlete Adam Feigh to talk about racing and we jump right into what he's doing during his off season. Still racing as it turns out - so we talk about his approach to why continue to race in the off season.
Though it isn't just Adam making these decisions, he speaks about how his coach helps him figure out when to push and when to hold back.
I ask about his recent bout doing 2 ironmans within 3 weeks of each other and the mental preparation it takes to prepare your mind for the pain before you go into this kind of situation.
I ask Adam to walk me through his unfortunate DNF at Ironman Lake Placid. Nobody wants to DNF, especially not a pro, and he lets me in on the reason he had to DNF as well as how that affected him in the following weeks.
We discuss the merits of electronic vs mechanical shifting and buying upgrades for your bike equipment based on how it affects your speed & fitness.
I give Adam a little chance to share his experience with his sponsor Epix who also make my custom Team Solpri suit. They don't sponsor this podcast, but they do make a good uniform.
In the last part of my talk with pro triathlete Adam Feigh I ask him about the strategy of pro racing - whether it's worth it to try and race against other people during an Ironman or if it is more imperative to stay on your own race plan.
Part of his qualification for coming on a show like this one is because he has more going on than just his athletic prowess - which is that he is a travel nurse. A demanding and ever changing position that adds stress to the life of a pro athlete for sure so I have to inquire about how he deals with that.
Before we run out of time Adam tells me about his decision to move away from his original home and why finding a place where people are active leads to the roads before safer for cyclists.
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Today I sit down with registered dietian nutritionist, podcast host and infectious personality, Katie Hake.
Though I work with a registered dietitian I was not familiar with Katie's credential moniker, Registered Dietitian Nutrionist so we start off by me trying to figure out what that is.
Katie shares a bit of her backstory in how she got to being a registered dietitian as well how some naivety about the field helped her move forward with it.
We talk about the mental struggles that people go through with food because of its pervasive nature in our lives.
Because of these negative attitudes we can hold about food, I ask Katie about how we can self diagnose a bit to see if our relationship with working out and food is healthy.
We lean into the fact that working with people and food is in part a job of psychology and not just knowing nutrition facts.
Katie shares a bit about her own diet philosophy and how it varies from a traditional stand on the scale and only look at the numbers approach.
In the middle we get into Katie's thoughts on training people to eat intuitively.
We discuss the problem of motivation and how it isn't possible to create motivation in someone.
As the conversation moves on Katie and I talk about priorities and the myth of not having enough time in the day for things that important to you. As well as how self-care is not really an option to a healthy life.
We jump onto the abundance mentality and I share my own philosophy of why adopting the abundance mentality is helpful even supposing it wasn't true.
In the last part we jump into dealing with the psychological reality of growing up in a place of food insecurity. A situation which affects about 20% of the US's children each year.
One of Katie's initiatives for her clients is to clean up their social media and have a proper social media diet - I ask her what that all entails.
We tackle how Katie deals with diet cults and the mentality behind dieting. As she says it herself, being a fan of non-diets doesn't make her anti diet (listen in to see what she means here).
Check out more of Katie's wisdom on her website katiehake.com and you can listen to her podcast the Fit Friends Happy Hour through her blog.
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Get Nancy's Book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2LMVKmK
As I sit down with Nancy we talk about a lot of eating habits that should be common sense by now, but aren't. Her guidebook tries to keep you on track with this simple principles to healthy eating.
We talk a little about her approach to diet cults and how she helps people stuck in the diet yo-yo.
One of the common themes we continue to talk about is how the needs of athletes are vastly different than the average consumer - something that isn't often communicated in mass media.
As we jump into the middle of our chat I ask Nancy about how people can get off the diet Yo-yo that mainstream culture often promotes.
Nancy shares some very simple eating strategies that aren't expensive for people to improve their basic diet.
We try and tackle the weight obsession our culture has and how even 4th grade girls are getting the idea that they need to diet and be thinner.
Nancy shares what is one of the most simple, but profound ideas about being in shape - accentuate your own figure instead of trying to aspire to a genetic blueprint that you don't own.
In the last part of my chat with Nancy we jump right into a big topic: changing our entire culture. Nancy suggests a basic idea of how you can fix your own paradigm: responsibility.
We discuss a principle I found that I like "You can eat anything you want as long as you make it."
I ask Nancy about the idea when people say they are "too busy" to eat healthy and she dispels why that's a myth.
We move on and I ask Nancy about whether a vegetarian diet is sustainable and where vegetarians go wrong.
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In today's brief episode of the Smart Athlete Podcast I sit down with Science Journalist and Author Christie Aschwanden to talk about her new book, Good to Go.
Christie lets me know why she even took an assignment to write about recovery at all.
She shares some of the experience that her readers have had by being able to not worry about recovery anymore.
In the middle of my talk with Christie she lets me know about the reason to debunk pseudoscience, even if it has a placebo type effect and isn't harming anyone.
We talk about one of my personal missions - pushing people's ability to know RPE - rate of perceived exertion.
In the last part of my chat with Christie I ask about what to do about dangerous recovery methods - that also probably have zero positive effect for people.
Christie takes on what seems to be a big pet peeve of hers - supplements. We talk about how some big names in the triathlon world got caught up in a short ban from racing due to tainted supplements.
She does concede one specific situation where a "supplement" is useful.
Before we sign off I ask her if she has kept up with any recovery method despite it showing no evidence of real positive effect and she does have an answer for me.
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Part of the fun of doing this podcast is the pleasure in meeting not well known people doing really cool things - that's where Debbie Booth comes in.
Creator of Water is the New Gym, Debbie shares with me about her work in increasing mobility and the ability to live independently with a whole range of people. From those of us with disabilities to athletes.
We get straight into what she does and the amazing stories of the people she gets to work with.
In the middle of my talk with Debbie I ask her to share some of the most inspirational stories of clients she has worked with.
Throughout our talk Debbie shows how much dedication she has to her clients through her personal philosophy of enabling them to live a full life.
In the last part of our chat I start by asking Debbie how she got down the path of life to where she is now - helping rehabilitate people. She's done both regular training and working with clients with medical needs, but her own journey is how she got here.
I ask her if there's plans for expansions or what the dream is in creating Water is the New Gym
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Get Matt's Books on Amazon. Life is a Marathon: https://amzn.to/2PTCKqA Racing Weight: https://amzn.to/2HMCpQ4 Diet Cults: https://amzn.to/2LIeDWP 80/20 Running: https://amzn.to/2PR8RHA
As I sit down with author Matt Fitzgerald I have to wonder how I got to this place. I've personally had a copy of his book Racing Weight on my shelf for almost 8 years now. I certainly consider myself fortunate that Matt was willing to talk to me.
As we get going in our chat I give Matt a hard time about his bold office color - though am somewhat envious of his energetic environment choice.
Matt shares his methodology for coming up with all of the articles and books he writes. How he's become so prolific in publishing.
I ask Matt whether he thinks that being a working writer - following his passion - kills his passion for writing.
Matt and I go down a Buddhist rabbit hole and I get a little insight as to why he's had so much exposure to the religion.
We talk about the difficulty of injuries for most of us and the amazing perspective his brother has about his own running injuries. I accidentally stumble upon the topic of Matt's new book that is in the works - The Comeback Quotient.
In the middle of my talk with Matt we talk about his resilience over time and the evolution of becoming a tougher runner - even hitting a new personal best in his 40's.
We talk about the 80/20 principle - the pareto principle, and how it affects our training both mental and physical
I make a complete guess as to the role of fun in maximizing performance.
Matt and I dive down a hole on how to cultivate our own ability to suffer. Then remark on the interesting notion that it isn't fun to win a race easily.
We talk about our own love of the chase - the mental preparation of how to be the best version of ourselves we can be and how that's a lifelong endeavor.
We finally in the last part of our conversation we get onto his new book Life is a Marathon. I ask him about what kind of response he's gotten so far from the book and the reality is as expected - incredible.
His response from some of the running community on the other hand has been a little bit off - which I take objection to.
Matt shares with me what it means when he says Love is Sacrifice - one of the chapter titles in Life is a Marathon.
I pose to Matt the question "Is suffering necessary to achieve your best self?" His response is short and to the point.
This leads us to his opinion on the purpose of sport.
Before we exit the interview I ask the season 1 question about what recovery food Matt would pick. His non-answer is exactly what I was looking for from him and really one of the most insightful so far.
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In the beginning of my chat with Thomas I ask him why he's changed sports so many times. From running to cycling to duathlon back to running the onto obstacle course racing (OCR). His reasoning, makes complete sense.
We dive into some of the infrastructure and landscape differences between the US and Europe that affects training and every day life.
I then ask him how he ran his fastest 5k (sub 16) at almost 30 years of age - one word sums up his method.
In the middle of my chat with Dr. Solomon we jump into the specifics of training for obstacle course racing versus a traditional cross country race.
He lets me know about the sports changes over the last 5 years and how they hope for an olympic bid.
Thomas shares with me the importance of having child-like fun with your sport.
In the last part of my chat with Thomas we tackle the question all aging athletes are faced with - what to do after sport ends.
I give him a little time to explain how he became such a prolific researcher - publishing or co-authoring over 70 papers.
He shares with me a little insight into his unique perspective on what we should really be focusing on with scientific studies and how we can create a bigger impact.
Before I ask my season 1 question - I ask him what red flags a layperson like you or me can look for in research to know it isn't good science before being drawn in by faulty claims.
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In the beginning of my chat with Biomedical Engineer and Triathlete Fiona Mangan, we talk about here return to Brittany - a place she spent many summers as a child.
She tells me how although her dad was a triathlete, Irish culture and her own thoughts on the sport growing up made her a pretty unlikely candidate to try it out.
I get an education on Irish sports and why kids only choose a couple options of sport growing up.
She shares with me about her time in Thailand and her work on some organic farms there.
In the middle of my chat with Fiona we talk about an outsider's perspective of the US before spending time here.
How she accidentally found herself getting into triathlon at Georgia Tech and the experience of her first go at it.
I ask her about how she was qualified to be one of only 4 students chosen from her university to study abroad.
We start talking about life working at a biomedical startup.
I ask her if she knows about the other Fiona Mangan dopplegangers in Galway and she lets me know a fun fact about the name Fiona where she lives.
This leads us into a rabbit hole of how Fiona had her own startup when she was 16.
Before signing off we chat a little about plans for life if money was no object and how our perception of reality is reality itself.
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As a special treat I get to sit down with ultra runner and nutritional expert Stephanie Violett as she spends time in Europe to train and work this year.
We start our conversation with her sharing an injury that's kept her from racing Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc this year and why she traveled all the way to Sweden to treat it.
I ask her more about how she's so free to pick up and leave for Europe for the summer. She assures me despite the appearance on her instagram she does actually get work done.
She shares with me some of the research she's done with female ultra runners and the affect running has on appetite.
In the middle of my talk with Dr. Stephanie she tells me about the importance of individualizing nutrition plans for people and how this affects GI distress in many of her clients.
I ask her about a increasingly popular runner's "scientific" research into nutrition and it's controversial take on what we should be eating. This leads us into a discussion about the problems of when bad science becomes pop culture.
We trade a few stories of pushing ourselves and talk about balancing performance with being healthy and why it's important to not solely define yourself by running.
In the last part of my talk with Dr. Stephanie I get her to share her personal opinion on the best way to deal with chafing for ultra runners.
I then try to take her back in time to get her to share how she became a runner and how it was somewhat a reluctant journey because she had other plans.
In the last part of my interview with Stephanie she talks about the namesake portion of this episode - losing the layers of ego you build up when you're running an ultra.
Then also dealing with managing and checking your ego during the struggle that ultras bring to know whether you are hurting and okay or hurting and need to let this one go.
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As I sit down with Matt to chat we talk about the team of guys he coaches - a group of post-collegiate runners who are still competitive.
I have my own reasons for continuing to compete, but I ask him what do all these guys have in common that still want to push themselves to their limits for seemingly no reason?
Matt shares with him how he went from growing up in California to winding up in Idaho by choice. He also lets me know about why it's important he let his own research interests take a back seat sometimes.
In the middle of my chat with Matt we discuss the research he helped do which is often cited - how inactivity is associated with a slew of diseases.
I ask him about how we should be looking to change our cities and society to be more conducive to a healthy lifestyle.
Then he shares with me some information on how exercise even in small amounts can have an impact on health.
I ask him what the deal is with studying ultra runners and why they're so fascinating.
In the last part of my interview with Matt he tells me why ultra runners guts are so interesting. What it means for you and me may surprise you.
I dive into what can only be described as a potentially touchy subject - his own history with injury and where that leaves him now. Matt shares with me some of the difficulties he's faced and where he is now in terms of coming to peace with those things.
Before we sign off Matt gives me a quick tip on one method to aid athletes in their recovery process.
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As I sit down with Coach Lundo I jump right into a pressing matter of the summer - how to acclimate to the heat. He shares a tip he's had his runners in Minnesota use to do a winter to summer acclimation as well as how long he usually sees it take for real heat acclimation to occur.
I ask him about how he came to running and he tells me about revelations he had as a kid about where his talents lay versus where his dreams wanted to take him.
We then talk about his transition from shorter endurance races to post collegiate competition in the marathon resulting in his 3 olympic trial appearances.
I pose to him a simple question: if sprinting is largely genetic, is long distance running also genetic or is it more trainable?
In the middle of my talk with Coach Lundo I ask him about his work as head coach of Team USA Minnesota - how does he recruit athletes and what are their daily lives like?
In an effort to help feel better about my own collegiate career being constantly sidetracked by injuries I ask Chris whether his time at Stanford was derailed at all by injury - his answer was at least a little comical.
I ask him about one of his graduate research studies where he hoped to figure out how to accurately predict an athlete's marathon time through shorter distance testing.
In the last segment of my talk with Coach Lundo I ask him about another study he conducted where he tested to see if there were any significant effects of using plyometrics for recreational runners training for a marathon.
We talk a little about the problems with athletic studies - the shortfalls that are somewhat necessary and errors he sees in other studies that occur.
A new study he's helping facilitate with a grad student seeks to verify data that's not easily attributed, but often cited from hillrunner.com
As our talk winds down Chris shares a short, but funny story about adventures in modifying the default setup of a treadmill to accommodate marathon training for hilly courses.
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I sit down with former pro triathlete and head coach of the San Diego State Tri Club to chat about his student athletes and their desire to be better - despite no financial incentive for their collegiate career.
We talk about cutting his pro career short as he's only 26 at the time of this video as well as the difficulties of being a pro triathlete through financial hardships.
Zack tells me a bit about how he fell into coaching
In the middle of my talk with Coach Zack talks about his thoughts on coaching mental strategies for his athletes.
He shares with me his move from Finance to coaching and his hope to continue with Finance at the same time as coaching despite his historical distastes for all things math.
I prod him a little about his background as an undergrad and he shares more about his history in aviation as well as learning to fly at a young age.
In the last part of my talk with Coach Zack we talk about finding meaning in work and if there's a purpose to sport.
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As I sit down with former NCAA Division 1 Decathlete and current NCAA Track and Field Coach Ben Yocum - I try to convince him to commit to his next full Ironman will a little peer pressure - only time will tell if it works.
We talk about the pitfalls of life sneaking up on you and how that affects the consistency of training.
Later on he regales me with the story of his first (and only?) Steeplechase race. He confirms a long held suspicion I have about the race.
I ask him how all his athletic history can translate into help for his young athletes now.
In the middle of my chat with coach Ben he recalls his very first triathlon ever - moving from highly competitive decathlete to doing a sprint triathlon wasn't nearly as glamorous as Ben thought.
We talk about mixing coaching and training and managing priorities between personal and professional goals.
Ben shares a tip for me and any other time starved athlete looking to maximize their performance.
In the last part of my conversation with Coach Ben we deep dive into running mechanics - sit back in your chair for this one as Ben has spent significant time studying the biomechanics of the best runners and shares his tips on how to achieve maximum efficiency on two legs.
Also see - Carl Lewis on youtube for Ben is talking about.
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As I sit down with all around badass Ashley Anderson for this episode of the Smart Athlete Podcast, I start off by giving her a hard time about eating breakfast for dinner.
I may receive some hate for it, but brinner has never been my thing - feel free to change my mind.
She shares with me how she is imminently finishing up dental school and sometimes it is easy to feel a little out of place. As well as how her sport career in triathlon and running has affected her academic life.
I ask her about the influences in her early life that led her to dental school and choosing her particular specialty and she tells me about how giving back to the community has often been a part of her life.
Ashley lets me in on the personal side of her life by sharing a little bit about her long distance relationship and trying to make that work.
In the middle of my conversation with Ashley we talk about how she met former Smart Athlete Podcast guest Greg Grosicki and his impact on her sporting career - leading to a huge running PR and ventures into the multisport world.
We commiserate a bit over both of our desires to have a coach that is more than someone who writes workouts. A coach to us is someone who is a friend, a confidant, and a person there for you in the highs and lows.
Ashley goes on to share with me the difficulty of balancing each day of intense dental school with training to be the best triathlete she can be.
We wander into a discussion about pain - the differences about pain and Ashley shares a story of a surprise medical discovery she found out about after the fact that was significant news to her.
In the last part of my talk with Ashley we jump back to her early sporting days - being a nationally competitive equestrian. She gives me the ins and outs on equestrian life as well as an easy way for me to get back into riding as a casual participant.
Since Ashley is also into yoga I ask her if she knows former SAP guest Richard Fineman. Though she's never met him, he did help upgrade her ride and fine tune some of the workouts she's doing on the bike with power.
Before I ask my closing question we talk a little about how overthinking workouts can affect them and the difficulty that mentally engaged people often have in shutting their brain down to get optimal sport performance.
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In the beginning of my talk with newly minted MIT PhD Richard Fineman we talk about fellow Smart Athlete Podcast guest Greg Grosicki's advice for Richard throughout grad school and the secret he's been keeping from Richard.
Since he's a newly minted PhD in Medical Engineering, Richard has been looking for employment both in the private sector and in Academia - he talks about the pros and cons of both and I share my opinion on one of the greatest moments in working in a private company developing unique products.
We talk a little about whether altruism can actually be real.
In the middle of my talk with Richard we discuss his research at MIT in Medical Engineering and human biomechanics as well as how some of this might be applied in the private sector.
Richard shares his opinion on machine learning in society - how it can aid us and the potential downfalls of relying too heavily on AI decisions.
He also gives me a little insight into what wearing a spacesuit feels like from his time working as a NASA fellow.
In the last part of my chat with Richard I bring up the beer mile wager between him as well as former smart athlete podcast guests Greg Grosicki and Corey Robinson.
Richard was the champion of that endeavor despite being the slowest runner so he shares with me his "secrets" to being the beer mile champ.
We diverge as I ask him about becoming a certified yoga instructor - something that takes 200 hours of work to complete. He lets me know how yoga has affected his triathlon career and what has happened in the wake of not being as active with it anymore.
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On today's episode of the Smart Athlete Podcast I sit down with doctor of human bioenergetics, Greg Grosicki.
I ask Greg if he's ever considered changing his name after I fumble with all the G's - good thing I'm not the host of a podcast or anything.
We hop into talking about Greg's research and lecture in human muscle performance as well as the importance of the gut microbiome.
To listen to Greg's lecture go to the youtube video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrKxd...
Greg shares his time management strategy for life - never say no to things you love.
I try to get some practical advice out of Greg for someone who's never worked out before and finds themselves in their golden years trying to play catch up.
Greg shares some hopeful news for us as we lose muscle through aging.
I ask Greg whether the compensation muscle fibers go through as we age helps us keep our speed up while running so that we can run like we are 19 when we are 60.
I ask Greg how he deals with the wrongful attribution of scientific research and results into pop articles and clickbait.
Though I love Bill Nye as he was a part of my childhood, I make the case for why Bill Nye isn't the best person to teach us science and why Academicians fail to gain the following that some science influencers have.
A little over halfway through we start to dive into Greg's current research on the gut microbiome.
I ask Greg for the definition difference between Microbiota and Microbiome and take a few minutes to get my head around the phrase "gene expression." In short - it's the amount of a particular gene that shows up that helps Greg identify which bacteria are present in the gut.
Out of curiosity I ask Greg why different people have different microbiota - even twins with radically different microbiomes.
In the last part of my talk with Greg I ask him about whether the US is the place that destroys your gut bacteria and makes you fat - something an article I saw suggested.
Greg tells me about how his research affects his coaching.
We talk a bit about labral tears for athletes and Greg has his opinion on what most people should do based on what operative results are available and how it applied to him.
As a new baby approaches for Greg we talk about how parenthood is going to change his lifestyle a little bit and how he's planning on rocking the running stroller.
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Today I sit down with pro triathlete and PhD student Mike Meehan. We talk a little about what actually makes a pro triathlete a pro - is it money or a license to race?
I pose to him a question surrounding a lot of mystery about the pros - who actually makes a real living from racing? Mike gives a bit of insight to how some people get creative with finances to make the dream a reality.
He opens up about having hip surgery and the impact that's had on his training as well as his return to training post surgery.
In the middle of my talk with Mike he shares a little about starting triathlon early in life. Much like Hunter Kemper he began triathlon well before most of the people who compete against him that transplanted from other sports.
I question Mike on why he didn't take up collegiate sports on scholarship and he provides a quip back as to why it wasn't his focus.
We talk about how the relationship between sponsors and athletes develops at the pro level and the challenges both sponsors and athletes face in this relationship.
In the last part of our talk I ask Mike about his current research on fluid mechanics. Plus where he's at in the process of earning his PhD while still racing as a pro.
He shares a surprising insight about his relationship with triathlon and how what many people dream about - being a full time pro - might not be as appealing as you think.
I try to dig deeper to see if there's a huge motivation behind why he likes spending his time on research that can make an impact in the community, but he luckily lets me down with a beautiful response.
As always I ask last thing - what's Mike's one choice for recovery food if he only gets one - his response will have New Yorkers and Chicago natives alike cheering.
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I sit down with former Olympic hopeful swimmer and current engineering mad man Bryful Sun to talk about life, the universe, and everything.
As we sit down we share the experience of feeling impending doom closing in on you if you procrastinate about anything and Bryful's reasoning for doing so.
He shares how his parents shaped him to be a person who invests in yourself and the perspective they shared with him early on.
Bryful tells me how he went through a series of sports before finding swimming and how he got the point of wanting to make the Olympic team. He threw everything at the task he could - but stalled out in his training for 2 years before burning out and dealing with the fallout from that.
In the middle of my talk with Bryful we harken back to my conversation with Chris Douglas about how athletic performances don't really define us as people.
Bryful makes a little suggestion on how he has a full-time job and also manages a full training schedule while avoiding burnout.
We dive into Bryful's transition to collegiate Division 1 running and the injuries he sustained from training as he became a runner.
I ask him to give his high school self advice on how to avoid some of the problems he encountered in his athletic journey - he tells us what we already all know, but so rarely listen to.
We talk about his complicated college trajectory jumping several schools to get to his ultimate goal of learning at Georgia Tech. His switch to Georgia Tech led to a odd series of events which had him fall into triathlon by accident.
In the last part of our conversation Bryful laments the cost of cycling equipment - something we can all relate to.
He shares his new athletic aspirations now that he's smarter and preparing with experience instead of youthful exuberance.
We shift gears as I need my curiosity quenched about what Bryful does for a living as an engineer. Turns out he effectively works as the "engineer whisperer" - those engineers who help all the teams coordinate and work together as well as communicated their clients wishes to those teams.
As per every episode I ask my daunting question about the one food for recovery that Bryful would choose and he doesn't let us down with his answer.
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As I sit down to talk with Corey we jump into his work in global marketing for an international drug company and his reason for wanting to step away from such a lucrative position.
As we finish talking about Corey's marketing career we head into something that intrigues me - his life transformation.
From one thing to another Corey continues to embrace change into his life - in the fact that he used to be a 215 pound football player and made the transition into a much leaner 170 pound competitive amateur triathlete.
Corey shares his high school love for Men's Health Magazine and how it shaped his lifting routine at the time.
Then I plug another curiosity of mine and get Corey to open up his experience with setting his own PR in the beer mile.
As we veer to the end of our conversation about the beer mile we started in Part 2, Corey and I get onto the big question: why do your very first full Ironman at Mont Tremblant?
Corey shares his experience at the venue having self-coached his way to finishing his first full ironman and going back later to share the midnight finish with his parents.
Corey's experience inspired his father to complete his own full ironman and they shared a race together back at Mont Tremblant a few years after his first attempt.
I marvel at Corey's discipline to work 40-60 hours a week and train for a full ironman, but he shares his secret that keeps him motivated to get it all in and why it makes him HAPPY.
As with all my guests I ask Corey what his number 1 recovery choice is and he picks something his registered dietitian girlfriend can be proud of. Follow all his antics on instagram at C_Rob802
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In the first part of my conversation with Rebekah we talk about her time as a division 1 runner and her history with becoming injured.
Then we dive right into what is bio geometric integration and how does it differ from regular chiropractic medicine.
Rebekah also offer some advice on how to deal with pushing yourself hard, but not going too far into the road to injury.
Diving deeper I ask Rebekah to share if she has any ways to discern the truth inside of the voices we hear in our own heads.
She also shares a bit about her own healing process with bio geometric integration and how she was introduced to the field
Rebekah shares with me a little about how feel plays a large role in her chiropractic practice.
Faith is also an important part of Rebekah's life and life journey so I ask her about how her faith affects her practice.
Since being injured Rebekah hasn't worked out much, but has big plans for returning to running with a 50k race.
If you have more questions for her you can find her at her website aldridgechiro.com
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In this episode of the Smart Athlete Podcast I speak with triathlete, former wall street employee and all around interesting guy - Matt Bach.
We start off talking about the time he's spent the last couple years finishing his MBA and making his jump off wall street to something he's more passionate about.
Through the prioritizing of life he's gone from winner of Ironman Maryland to struggling with 1.8 mile runs, but has plans on coming back in time.
Why he turned away from becoming a pro triathlete is a big point of discussion and Matt's story is deeply rooted in maintaining his health overall. Not sacrificing his future for a temporary present pursuit.
He speaks at some length about the struggle many male triathletes go through - low testosterone. And the steps he had to take to return some semblance of normality to his hormones and life.
In the middle of our discussion Matt and I continue to explore a bit more about the realities of low testosterone in endurance athletes.
We find ourselves moving towards a short discussion on the skinny vs strong culture that is slowing shifting in both running and triathlon. As well as it now being acceptable or even desirable for women to be strong instead of just thin.
Matt shares a bit on what exactly he did on Wall Street as well as why he decided to walk away from potential millions of dollars in earnings.
I pose the question to Matt "What is money?" and his thoughts are worth listening to.
In the last part of my talk with Matt we talk about his jump over to work at UCan and what he does there as well as the history of UCan and why it may be an important breakthrough to both people with a rare genetic disorder and the endurance community.
For 15% off orders from UCan use the code smartathlete during checkout.
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In today's episode of the smart athlete podcast I sit down with PhD candidate and competitive triathlete - Chris Douglas.
We discuss his reasons for not going prior after some absolutely stellar performances in the beginning of his racing career 2016.
How he had what one would be considered a terrible follow-up year to his highlights in 2017 as well as his time racing with team Every Man Jack.
Out of curiosity I poke his brain a little about his experience running in college and the injuries sustained during that time. Trying to figure out what led him to injury and abandoning running as a single sport competitively.
We talk about a high light or really low light of Chris' triathlon career at a race where he almost died. Many people would take away a positive - in that they know they can push themselves to the end of their limits. Chris took away something a little different with the help of Every Man Jack CEO Ritch Viola.
We dispel the myth the endurance athletes are masochists - we are after something besides self induced suffering.
I also pose to Chris my hypothesis that the best athletes have some history of suffering and see what he thinks. We of course end up on the current poster boy for my theory - Lionel Sanders.
He does suggest that there is one common thread of how all of these very competitive athletes end up being able to spend so much time training.
You aren't on this show if you aren't a smart athlete and Chris is definitely that. In this last part of our chat I learn more about Chris' research in combustion dynamics (as well as what that actually entails).
We also talk about the all important question - what would you eat as your only recovery meal for the rest of your life. Chris's answer should delight the carnivore in you.
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I sit down with professional triathlete Cecilia Davis-Hayes to talk a bit about her most recent accomplishment - finishing medical school. She tells me how being split between the worlds of triathlon and medical school sometimes had her dealing with imposter syndrome.
I ask her the pointed question of - can she possibly continue to race triathlon professionally and be in residency at the same time. Her answer is thoughtful and to the heart of it.
She also prescribes for me how to deal with changing identity over time to become the next version of who she is.
In the middle of my conversation with Cecilia we talk about the dangers of cycling. Her devastating crash several years ago really illustrates the reason why crit racing is so dangerous.
Post crash we commiserate about having both broken bones and discuss the kind of anxiety you have getting back in the saddle after you crash.
in the last part of our chat I point out the tough question "Why is cycling so dangerous?" People often point to inexperience as the culprit for why so many crashes happen, but Cecilia points to another more likely reason that the sport is more dangerous than it is portrayed in the media.
We jump back in time to the period of her life she spent in France teaching English to kids before she entered med school. France was the place she learned to love cycling. I practice my rusty French and Cecilia obliges me in my attempt.
Cecilia spends a lot of time traveling and shares with me her number tip for reducing stress while traveling.
Before heading off towards the end of the show I remember to ask her about the concussion research she did. She shares with me a little tidbit on an interesting correlation that seems to be appearing in concussion research that links concussions and further injuries.
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In this episode of the smart athlete podcast I interview Dr. Jason Karp - author of Run Your Fat Off and 7 other books.
We discuss what the book is about as well as how to stay consistent in running when you are starting as a beginner.
Later we talk about how society is set up to help you fail and what you can do about it.
Before finishing up with part one we touch about dealing with negative self talk that crops up for everyone in their fitness journey.
We discuss what to do if you can't run and still want to lose weight. He mentions a few of his favorite exercise activities as well as the best guideline for choosing what you should do to burn the most calories possible.
We move onto his book The Inner Runner and talk about his moments of self discovery in running.
We move onto talking about the secret mind of the best runners. What motivates the best runners that we know.
In the last part of my discussion with Doctor Jason Karp we talk about how to run faster as you get older and the goals you have as you are past your prime years.
We talk a little about how kenyans run faster and why their lack of technology plays into their training techniques.
Last, we hit on why women should have a different training schedule for men and Dr. Jason's book on running for women.
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Today I welcome ITU Amateur World Champion Todd Buckingham to the show. Todd's laundry list of accomplishments runs the gamit from national champion to world champion in various multisport disciplines, but he didn't always compete in triathlon.
Todd and I discuss his growing up as a baseball player and how he came to be a triathlete.
Further into our conversation we talk a little about Todd's research for his dissertation he conducted with athletes at the USAT age group national championship.
His results are a little surprising and buck some conventional wisdom about what we should focus on as athletes to maximize our speed.
I ask Todd a little about being a PhD level student athlete.
We recall the 2016 age group national championship and Todd's big mishap prior to racing. An accident that could have derailed his competing at all.
His story highlights the importance of perseverance and practicing racing prior to race day.
After winning the national championship Todd had the opportunity to turn pro - but declined. We talk a little about his own decision not to become a professional triathlete and stay amateur.
He went on to become world champion in 2018 and we talk about what comes after standing on top of the world as an amateur.
Before we go we hit the most important part of our conversation - how Todd has become the #1 most recognized cinnamon roll connoisseur.
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I speak with Registered Dietitian Gloria Stoverink about why nutrition is so complicated. Turns out she tells us why nutrition is important and why nutrition isn't complicated at all.
We talk about how she came to be a competitive runner at a division 1 school and the beginning of her path to becoming a dietitian.
Gloria also makes the case that your favorite internet blog is not the best place to get your nutrition information and why 90% of the information out there is misleading.
Gloria and I discuss whether you can meal prep and use staples or if you need to eat fresh for absolutely every meal.
We also tackle a controversial topic, why is america so fat? Gloria also wants to convince you that you do like vegetables and has a tip for how you can overcome your distaste for something.
In the last part of this episode of the Smart Athlete Podcast Gloria and I discuss micronutrients and mentality and if keto is a bad diet.
We also talk about what is a good carb?
Last before signing off we talk a little about Gloria's personal plans for competitive running and triathlon for the future.
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Do you know how important your inner fire is? Motivation is everything according to USAT Certified Level 2 Coach Ryan Ross. We talk about how Coach Ryan got to the point where he raced and coaches triathlon.
We also talk about why having a coach is essential to your development as an athlete. If you're ever asked yourself "Do I need a coach?" and you weren't sure of the answer, then Ryan will definitely have the answer for you today.
As my interview continues with USAT Level 2 Coach Ryan Ross we find out more about why do you need a coach. Because motivation is everything there is an important role for a coach to play and Ryan discusses what that is.
We also confront the idea that triathlon is only for rich people when I confront him with the question "Is triathlon expensive?" Lastly, we have a short talk about strengthening our mind-body connection when we talk about how to become stronger mentally.
In the last segment of this episode I talk with Coach Ryan about is there a right way to run?
We also talk about a controversial topic of can stretching make you faster? Many triathletes come to the sport with very little cycling experience whereas that is Coach Ryan's background in single sport prior to multi-sport. He shares his best tips on how to be a faster cyclist.
Lastly, we also touch on a personal success story of his through one of his athletes - Paralympic Gold Medalist Shawn Morelli.
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