Unlocking Athletic Potential: Recent Episodes
Ian Deeth and Johnny Tieu
Hosts Ian Deeth and Johnny Tieu discuss their passions of Sports, OCR, Running and Fitness with insights from athletes, coaches and industry experts to help YOU unlock your full athletic potential.
Ian and Johnny welcome back Spartan Pro Athletes Lou Guenier and Chris Davis who were on the UAP podcast a year ago.
Lou discusses his recent Spartan Beast Races races in Andorra and Morzine and how his training has progressed under his new coach Jon Albon.
Chris discusses he benefits of having a schedule and how he has untaken some new unique challenges during COVID including a 50km trial with his dog, Pumpkin.
World V40 400m Champion Gavin Stephens joins Ian to discuss their highlights and best takes from the Athletics programme at Tokyo 2020.
Former GB International and Sports Agent, Mike Skinner, joins Ian to debate whether Karsten Warholm's 400m Hurdles World Record is the greatest all time performance in Athletics.
Ian discusses the highlights of the athletics programme so far, including both the men's and women's 100m finals with former Scottish Senior and Great Britain Under 23 International Jon Oparka.
Ian welcomes back former guest, British Triathlete Ant Gritton to review the men's and women's individual triathlon and preview the mixed team relay.
Usually injury, choking on the big stage or a false start may be the unfortunate reasons why a medal contender fails to Unlock their Athletic Potential but this year the COVID factor could be the reason.
Former Irish international gymnastic , Nick Dunn, who has competed at World, European and Commonwealth Games, joins us to discuss the impact of COVID on these Games so far!
With one day before the delayed Tokyo Olympics starts, we spoke to Sports Presenter, Radzi Chinyanganya, who will reporting live for Discovery Channel UK / Europort.
Following on from our episode on ‘Essentials v Margin Gains’, Ian & Johnny discuss the non-essential products we love. These are products we could definitely do without but enjoy having in our performance arsenal. We only feature products we generally love but for each product, we will give a full disclaimer on where we got the product from, price and discounts we received and if we have any connections to the brand.
We have not been paid by any brands to promote their products
- Leg Compression devices including Air Relax and Normatec
- Foam Rollers including the Rollga and HyperIce Vibrating Roller
- LaCrosse Balls and Golf Balls
- Mini Bands / Resistance Bands
- Performance Insoles by Naboso
- HRV Trackers including the Oura Ring and Whoop Strap
- Portable Ultrasound Devices
- Percussion Massage Tools including the Hypervolt and Theragun
- AirWaav Mouth Piece
- Continuous Glucose Monitoring Devices like Supersapiens
- Meditation Masks like Power Mode
And products we want to know more about…
- Temperature Control Mattresses
- Contrast Therapy Tubs
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
We welcome multidisciplinary distance runner and coach, Jeff Ross, to the @unlockingathleticpotential podcast this week.
Jeff originates from Scotland but has been living in Malaysia for the past 10 years. At high school, he participated in cross-country running and track athletics but found his passion in squash for most of his adulthood. In 2013, now in his late 30s, he returned to running and has made incredible progress across a broad range of distances and terrains. Now at 46 years young, today’s guest continues to excel on the road, trails and stairs and is a regular race winner in Malaysia, not just in the masters categories but against elite athletes in their prime. The achievement that brought Jeff arguably the most attention was his third place finish in the Gobi March Race in 2017. He also ran a 16:30 5km dressed as a banana!
In this episode we discuss:
- The sporting moment that has brought him the greatest sense of happiness
- His athletic journey and rediscovering running in 2013
- Finishing third at the Gobi March in 2017
- Becoming a coach
- The mentors who have guided him and training principles he has employed
- Structuring training to be versatile over a range of distances
- Key routines and habits he employs to help him recover
- How Lila Movetech has been a game changer for his training
- The launch of ‘Total Running Club’
- His number one piece of advice to help everyone unlock their athletic potential
Find out more about TotalRunningClub.com here
You can find out more about Jeff’s recommended recovery, Hammer Recoverite, at hammernutrition.com.my
Jeff also discusses the Lila technology; you can find out more by clicking on lilamovetech.com
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
We welcome Great Britain’s long-distance runner Jake Smith to @unlockingathleticpotential.
Jake recently made headlines when he went from pacing the Cheshire Marathon to going ‘all in’ for the full distance, despite never running close to 26.195 miles before in any capacity… and on this marathon debut he clocked 2:11.00, which is an Olympic and World Championship qualifying time.
Jake’s other PBs are:
- 5km: 13:47
- 10km: 28:50 (28:00 in training)
- Half Marathon: 1:00:31 (GB under 23 record and third fastest Britain of all time)
His half marathon PB was achieved when he finished in 18th place at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Poland last year.
In this episode we dive into:
- Jake’s pacing plan going into the marathon and how his race eventually unfolded into going the full distance
- The key sessions that allowed him to run 2:11.00 on his marathon debut
- Whether he felt like he ran his best possible race
- How his running journey started, growing up in Hong Kong and some of the key milestones along the way
- Striking a balance between student life and trying to perfect his running craft
- His ability to compete over a range of distances and his preferred race distance
- Current goals and what he is doing to help make them a reality
- The carbon fibre running shoe revolution and his relationship with sportsshoes.co.uk (Use ‘JAKE10’ to get 10% off orders over 50GBP)
- The ONE biggest factor in helping Jake unlock his athletic potential
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
Ian and Johnny catch up on recent training and talk about the essentials which should be ever present in our daily lives and form the foundation of our training and balancing this with marginal gains.
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
This week on @unlockingathleticpotential we welcome three fellow hybrid endurance athletes, who also happen to be podcast hosts, who have all either very recently or the last few years have become dads:
George Edwards is a hybrid endurance athlete and trainer at Gymbox Farringdon although during this pandemic, he has set himself up with his own training lab at his home. He is also a host on the ‘Rise & Grind’ Podcast and is father to Ivy.
Luke De Benedictis is a fitness trainer based in Poole, Dorset and Spartan Pro Team Member. He is one part of the team that hosts the ‘Multi Sport Media’ podcast and dad to Harper
Jack Carpenter is owner and trainer at FieldFit in Suffolk. Jack is also on the Spartan Pro Team is the other co host of the ‘Multi Sport Media’ podcast and very very recently became a dad to Margot.
In this episode we discuss:
- The impact on training in the early stages of fatherhood
- The steps they took to prepare for fatherhood with regards to their own training and giving their daughter the best possible start to a healthy life
- The start of fatherhood and giving their daughters the best possible athletic foundations
- Aims for the season ahead
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
We welcome Tessa Philippaerts to the @unlockingathleticpotential podcast. Tessa is a multiple canicross world champion, originally from Belgium, now residing in Norway. She is also a running & canicross coach.
In this episode we discuss:
- How Tessa’s combined love for dogs and passion for running helped her discover canicross
- Her progression in the sport and the early successes and challenges on this journey
- Competing in her first World Championships in Borken, Germany, in 2011 as a Junior, where she ending up beating the times of al the senior women (and most of the men)
- The specific training sessions that help her (Tessa the runner) get in shape and her own personal aspirations /goals in running
- The team of dogs she runs with and how her training programme works
- The first steps for dog owners to consider when they start running as a duo recreationally (equipment, training, environment)
- The next steps for dog owners to consider if they want to start competing in canicross
- The ONE biggest factor in helping her and her dogs, as a canicross duo, unlock their athletic potential
Check out nonstopdogwear.com for professional gear for active dogs and their humans. Unleash your potential through ergonomic and innovative gear designed in Scandinavia.
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
We welcome professional endurance athlete, Myriam Guillot-Boisset to the @unlockingathleticpotential Podcast.
Some of Mimi’s amazing achievements include:
- Winning two Adventure World Championships (2011 and 2013)
- 2nd Place Spartan Ultra World Championships (2019)
- 3rd Place Spartan World Championships (2019)
- 47 Spartan Career Podiums
She also holds a masters degree in Sports Science and hosts a raw adventure camp with her husband Jackie in Tenerife.
In this episode we discuss:
- The start of her fitness journey and how this led to finding a passion for adventure and endurance events
- The race which has given her the greatest sense of happiness
- A recap on her epic Spartan Morzine Quadfecta weekend in the summer of 2019 where she won the Ultra, Beast and Super as well as running the open Sprint
- Racing the first USNS Elite Spartan Race of 2021
- What her training looks like
- Striking a balance between her love for racing, adventure and love for planet earth
- Her Raw Adventure Camps in Tenerife
- Future aims and goals
- The ONE biggest factor in helping Myriam unlock her athletic potential
Full details on many of the topics we talk about on this episode can be found at myriametjacky.com/?lang=en
Many thanks to Jack Bauer for providing statistical analysis for this episode.
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
Lauren Stroud is a two-time U.S. Olympic Marathon Trialist and has a PB of 2 hours 44 minutes over the distance. She also boasts some very impressive times over 5km (16:18), 10km (34:11) and the half marathon (1:14).
Lauren has recently made the transition over to Elite Obstacle Course Racing and Hybrid Endurance events, making her Elite Spartan Race debut at the USNS opener at Jacksonville in February. She then podiumed in her second race at San Antonio before going on to win the inaugural Spartan Dekafit in her home state of Texas.
In this episode we discuss:
- When the idea of competing in OCR first cropped up, her first experience at Savage Race and then why she decided to jump in for her debut at the USNS Elite Spartan Sprint race in Jacksonville
- Lessons learnt from Jacksonville and a race recap from her first podium in San Antonio
- A breakdown of her Dekafit victory
- Key sessions leading into these OCR races
- Future goals
- Striking a balance between being a mum and trying to unlock her athletic potential
- Breaking the Guiness world record for the half marathon pushing a stroller
- The ONE biggest factor in helping her unlock your athletic potential
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
Ian and Johnny discuss their thoughts on the first Spartan Races of the year as well as the nominees for the 2021 Laureus Sports Awards.
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.com
We welcome Asian based Spartan Pro athletes, Ilona-Jade Errington and Jamie Nunn to the @unlockingathleticpotential Podcast.
Both Ilona and Jamie started OCR racing in the open division and moved up to the competitive waves before heading into the Spartan elite wave where they are consistently podium contenders.
We hear about their journeys and follow on from our conversation with @nicolemericle on how together we can elevate Women’s OCR!
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
We welcome Boxing Strength and Conditioning Coach and Personal Trainer, Jon Ramos, to the @unlockingathleticpotentialpodcast.
Jon is the S&C Coach for boxing heavyweight, Derek Chisora, who has held British, Commonwealth and European titles. Derek once challenged for the WBC Heavyweight title against Vitali Klitschko in 2012, going the full distance before losing on points.
Jon was also a high performing athlete, competing in the top tier of the British Athletics League in both the Long Jump and Sprints and was a British University Long Jump Champion. He is also a BJJ practitioner.
In this episode’s introduction, Ian and Johnny discuss some of their key takeaways from the conversation which include a look at how boxing training principles may cross over to OCR. This includes:
- The Importance of training environments and training camps
- Having the right team and training partners and how the wrong team can be detrimental
- Training specific to combat your opponents weaknesses and how race tactics can be employed in OCR
- Dealing with difficult personalities
In our conversation with Jon, we discuss:
- Jon’s role in the Derek Chisora team.
- What the structure of a training camp looks like
- Jon’s journey into the world of Strength and Conditioning
- What he learnt from former World Heavyweight Champion David Haye, who is now Derek's manager
- What keep boxers in the sport for so many years
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
The use of music in the sport and exercise setting is commonplace and most us regularly use a playlist either pre-task or during our training sessions to accompany us. But how much thought goes into the choice of our music other than the fact we might like these particular tracks and what does the research actually prove?
This week we welcome to the @unlockingathleticpotential podcast, Professor Costas Karageorghis, a lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Brunel University London in the UK, who is one of the world’s leading experts into the effects of music on exercise and sport.
Costas is the author of two textbooks *Inside Sport Psychology’ and ‘Applying Music in Exercise and Sport’, 12 book chapters, 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and over 100 professional papers in sport and exercise psychology. He has made 120 conference presentations and given numerous invited presentations at national and international conferences, including 12 keynote lectures.
Textbook 1: http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products/the-inside-sport-psychology
Textbook 2: https://uk.humankinetics.com/products/applying-music-in-exercise-and-sport
His music research has been featured in newspapers around the world; the Times, Telegraph, Independent, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Sydney Morning Herald. In both 2011 and 2016 he was the recipient of the Sportesse Award for Sport and Exercise Sciences at the annual conference of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES).
Costas has acted as consultant psychologist to a number of international and professional athletes and has worked with a wide variety of UK governing bodies of sport (e.g. British Athletics, British Canoe Union, British Water Ski Federation and England Hockey). He has also worked and has ongoing collaborations with various multinational companies in the sports world and music industry.
Outside of his research, from 2007-11 he was head coach of the Great Britain Students Athletics Team. He has also managed and coached the Brunel University London Athletics Team since the early 90s.
During his spare time, Costas plays the piano, often performing in jazz and latin duos/trios, as well as with the BASES Band at national and international conferences.
In this episode we discuss:
- What considerations should individuals make when selecting music as part of their pre-workout routine
- How this may differ if you are listening to music as part of a team
- When can music help enhance physical performance during exercise
- Research into the area of music post exercise and during interval training
- Some of the most significant examples that the power of music has had on athletic performance
- Examples when we should not use music during exercise
- Costas’ number one piece of advice to anyone out there looking to use music to help them Unlock their Athletic Potential?
Here is the link to the Spotify account mentioned in the podcast if you are looking for some motivational playlists:
https://open.spotify.com/user/j8pyfvz4vrm3ez9szxfhu44xh
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
We welcome one of the dominant athletes from the world of Obstacle Course racing to the @unlockingathleticpotential podcast, Nicole Mericle.
Nicole is a 5-time obstacle course racing world champion and the current OCR 3km, Spartan Race World Champion and Spartan Trifecta Champion.
However, she is now on a new mission - to elevate women’s OCR and create a super team of female athletes, pushing them to unlock their athletic potential. Nicole is also passionate about helping increase women’s participation and depth in the sport.
In this episode we discuss:
- Her recent Instagram post on ‘the gender gap’ and her super plan to elevate women’s OCR
- Her own athletic journey and how background in running and climbing helped create the perfect foundation to compete in OCR
- The sporting moment that has brought her the greatest sense of happiness
- Her ‘Elevator Pitch’ to persuade newbie athletes to try OCR for the first time
- How male OCR athletes can also help elevate women’s OCR
- How companies such as Spartan can support her plan
- Which OCR events she rates as her favourite
- Her key advice for anyone looking to Unlock their Athletic Potential in OCR
You can find more details about Nicole’s Women’s OCR Development Team in the bio to her Instagram account.
The two book recommendations Nicole mentions in the podcast are:
‘Run the World: My 3,500-Mile Journey Through Running Cultures Around the Globe’ by Becky Wade
‘The Happy Runner: Love the Process, Get Faster, Run Longer’ by David Roche and Megan Roche
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
Parkrun is back in Australia and we welcome Lauren Reid to the UAP Podcast who set a new 5km Parkrun World Record Performance at the Parramatta Parkrun in Sydney on 23 January 2021 clocking an impressive 15:45. Lauren was born in Scotland but now resides in Australia and has an incredible range of impressive times over distances from the 800m (2:03) to half marathon (72:30)
During this episode we discuss:
- Her recent Parkrun World Record and how she planned to attack the previous mark of 15:49 set by Charlotte Arter
- How the race unfolded and reflections after crossing the line in a new WR of 15:45
- The start of her running journey and key milestones along the way, including her first 800m track race
- Returning to running after becoming a mum
- Her immediate focus on the 800m and 1500m but having great range all the way through to the half marathon.
- Current goals and the possibility of competing at a major championship
- Thoughts on the carbon fibre running shoe revolution and her favourite footwear
- The biggest factors in helping unlock her athletic potential
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with the Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
We welcome M40 400m World Champion Gavin Stephens to the UAP Podcast.
As a senior Gavin was a British Universities 200m Champion but stopped competing at 22 years of age as he switched sports to play semi-professional Rugby. At 35, Gavin decided to step back onto the track and over the next seven years, became progressively faster.
In 2018 he held the fastest time in the world over 400 for anyone over the age of 40, clocking 49.68, and became M40 World 400m Champion, winning gold against a stacked field which included 400m 2010 Commonwealth Champion Mark Mutai from Kenya.
Gavin is also a coach and race organiser and is based in Sussex in the UK.
In this episode we discuss:
- His journey as an athlete from junior to senior ranks and then picking up athletics again as a masters athlete
- His current training and similarities and differences to what he was doing as a senior athlete
- Life as a Masters athlete and why the community is key to his enjoyment
- His future goals
- Striking a balance between setting realistic times but still warning to see some kind of improvement as he gets older
- His work as a coach, his coaching style and the principles which govern how he coaches his athletes and well as the coaches who have had the biggest influence on his career
- What would Coach and Masters athlete Gavin have told a younger Gavin
- His number one piece of advice to help Masters Athletes Unlock their Athletic Potential
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
Related Article:
https://www.sussexathletics.net/news/athlete-spotlight-gavin-stephens/
We welcome Olympian and double Commonwealth gold gymnast, Lee McDermott, to the UAP Podcast. After a successful career as an athlete, Lee became the head coach for Cirque Du Soleil working in Canada, Japan and Las Vegas, where he was leading the team who created the Michael Jackson ‘One’ Show.
In this episode we discuss:
- His highlights as an athlete including competing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games
- His journey as an athlete, from discovering the sport to reaching elite level
- Staying motivated and the key behind skill progression
- Knowing when the time was right to move out of competing
- Moving into coaching the qualities which define a great coach
- How the feeling of doing well as an athlete compares to the feeling of seeing others do well as a coach
- His time with the Cirque Du Soleil including creating the Michael Jackson ‘One’ show
- Gymnastics training principles
- His one key piece of advice to helping everyone Unlock their Athletic Potential
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
We welcome David Watson, Vice president of Product at Spartan Race, the leading OCR Brand in the world, to the UAP Podcast.
We discuss:
- David’s role and the challenges of managing a global roster of 250+ multicultural athletes with widely varying personalities
- Common traits which he sees across the Spartan Pro Team which help them rise above the rest of the competition
- Lessons learnt from building a sport from scratch
- Spartan’s major challenges and successes over the past 12 months
- The success of the Spartan Games, what we can expect from the Games in 2021, and the roll out of sub-events from these Games to the wider Spartan community
- What we can look forward to from Spartan in 2021 including some this year’s Spartan Trail series
- Are we ever likely to see a World Championships in Asia?
- David’s male and female stand out Spartan athletes from his time with the company
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
Extra Links:
https://www.spartan.com/blogs/unbreakable-community/joe-de-sena
To launch Series 2, Ian and Johnny look back on their highlights of 2020 and then talk about how they are approaching the 2021 season which could potentially be full of many changes and challenges... but may also create some great new opportunities as well...
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
We wrap up the first Season of @unlockingathleticpotential with a talk on the topics we love including our take on the recent CrossFit Games, why we are looking forward to watching the Spartan Games and how our own training is progressing.
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.com
We have had a really strong response to our 5km series we have decided to add in one final lap. This week we speak to former U.C. Berkeley Long Distance Runner, Robyn Berry, who has PBs of 34:15 over 10km and 16:23 over 5km. She is the Current Head Coach of the Boys Cross Country and Track and Field Teams of Sir Francis Drake High School in Marin County, Northern California.
Robyn has won various coaching awards and her coaching philosophy is to foster an atmosphere where every athlete is respected in a low stress high intensity environment that values fun and rewards athletic ambition.
In this episode we discuss:
- What philosophy on what makes a great coach
- How she collaborates with her students to map out the season ahead
- Her coaching journey including major successes and lessons learnt along the way
- Being coached by her father and the influence that has played on her journey as both an athlete and coach
- Meeting her future husband, (28:59 10km runner Rod Berry) at the cOuples Relay in Maine and his influence on her running and coaching
- Key training sessions
- Other training considerations to help unlock your potential over the 5km
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.com
Photo Credit to Kevin Lozaw Photography & Joakim Arnesson
Additional information from Robyn:
Favourite Watch: Timex Ironman or Garmin Forerunner 35 GPS Running Watch.
Must haves for the athlete bag:
- PerformBettter Mini Bands - for core training with resistance
- The Stick Marathon - Yellow Grips 20 inch (The original rolling stick) or Triggerpoint STK Grip
Other helpful things:
- 2Toms Blistershield powder. Prevents blisters before they start
- Roll Recovery R8 - deep tissue massage roller (spring activated). Either tickles or hurts, depending on the athlete
Recovery drinks:
- Chocolate Milk
- Body Armor Orange Mango
Pre-race:
- Two cups of water every morning
- Eggs or Oatmeal
- Turkey Sandwich
("no apples or Chicken Tikka Masala!")
Other than that, it’s running - all you need is a good pair of shoes and some shorts!
Ian and Johnny round up the 5km Performance Series by diving into their ten top tips to get you 5km race ready.
There is also an opportunity to win a month of free training with Johnny.
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.com
Sarah Davies is a British International Weightlifter who gained her first international honours just a few years after starting the sport. In 2015 she became Britain’s first ever European U23 Champion and then claimed a silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast. Last year she set a British record for the snatch in her weight class and is in on course to represent GB at next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games.
Very recently Sarah became Chair of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Athletes Commission and she has been very vocal for a need for change in the upper tiers of the sport which has been the subject of much media attention after German ARD documentary ‘Lord of the Lifters.’
In this episode we discuss:
- Sarah’s journey from finding weightlifting in 2011 to gaining her first international honours
- The moments that have given her the most happiness
- Narrowly missing out on Commonwealth Gold in 2018
- Key sessions that have helped her compete at her best
- Sarah’s routine before each lift
- Her disappointments on this sporting journey and lessons learnt along the way
- Competing in beauty pageants in the UK and Philippines
- Becoming Chairperson of the new IWF Athletes Commission and some of the positives and challenges she has had to tackle so far in this role
- Some of the key life lessons that weightlifting has taught her
- How she will unlock her athletic potential and contend for a medal at the Tokyo Olympics next summer
In this episode we talk about a petition which Sarah set up to bring reform to the IWF Board. We’d love for our listeners to support by signing the petition via this link:
https://www.change.org/p/weightlifting-athletes-bring-reform-to-the-iwf-executive-board?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_25264305_en-GB%3A6&recruited_by_id=087372e0-0e6d-11eb-a70d-f169b73f9aaf&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=psf_combo_share_initial
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
Big’s Backyard Ultra is a global event with a unique format which took place across 21 different countries simultaneously. It started this weekend and finished just a few days ago. Athletes complete a 6.7km course on the hour, every hour. If a runner can’t make it back before the end of an hour, they’re given a DNF. If they do make it back in time, they can use however many minutes remain in the hour to rest, eat or do anything else they need to do. This continues until only one athlete remains!
6.7km seems like quite a strange distance but if you were to complete 24 loops over 24 hours, you would have completed 100 miles and this is considered a the benchmark goal for anyone taking part.
One person who did hit this mark was Singapore-based athlete Natalie Dau. Natalie is no stranger to competition and seems to excel in every and any challenge she sets her mind to whether it is sprinting, cross-fit, Elite Spartan or in this instance, ultra endurance.
In this episode we speak to Natalie about:
- How she got involved in the Singapore Backyard Ultra
- Her training to prepare for the event (even though she only knew she was taking part four weeks before)
- Her crew, kit and nutrition for the race
- Her race plan and recount of the event
- What she would change if she did the race again
- How mindset and having a ‘Why’ is crucial to push the boundaries
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
fatburdevents.com create niche events for the outdoor community in Singapore and were the organisers for this year's Backyard Ultra in Singapore.
For the fourth part of our 5km mini-series, we welcome Coach Mark Williams to UAP. Mark originates from the UK, but has been living in Asia since 1998 and is currently based in Malaysia since 2008. He has been running competitively for close to 20 years and has won over 170 races in his career in distances ranging from 5 to 50k. He has ran 47 marathons to date, with 30 of them under 2:40.
Mark is a qualified athletics coach, fitness instructor, and secondary school teacher of Physical Education. He has coached running for over 10 years and has held the esteemed position of Head Coach of the Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon since 2010 years. He has provided running plans for amateur and elite runners for over a decade.
In this episode we cover:
- What makes a great coach
- Introducing the principles of structured training to Malaysia’s aspiring runners
- How his coaching has evolved over the years
- What ‘Coach Mark’ would have told a younger ‘Athlete Mark’
- The influence of coaches like Chris Wardlaw on his own coaching style
- Key tips to CRUSH your 5km personal best
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
We welcome two-time Olympian and Parkrun World Record Holder, Andy Baddeley to UAP.
Andy, who is a middle distance specialist has had some impressive victories in the mile, clocking 3:49 in Oslo in 2008 to win the prestigious Dream Mile and then a year later, beating a stacked field to win the prestigious Fifth Avenue Mile. Andy’s Parkrun World Record, where he ran 13:48 for 5km at Bushy Park, is something that has gained attention across the globe but what makes it remarkable is that he only decided to go for this challenge after he was knocked out of the London 2012 Olympic Games just a few days earlier.
Andy is the founder and CEO of therunningchannel.com whose mission is to bring great content to those who love to run, no matter their ability or experience.
In this episode we talk about:
- His victories in the Dream Mile and Fifth Avenue Mile
- How pacing is key to fulfilling potential
- His training group and the role of team dynamics in a very individual sport
- Failing to qualify for the London 2012 Olympic Final
- Setting the Parkrun World Record
- The rise of ‘The Running Channel’
The episode also contains a special guest appearance from Michael Skinner who was part of Andy’s training group and is the agent for many world class athletes including Mo Farah, Usain Bolt and Dina Asher-Smith.
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
British International, Tim Bayley, started life a sprinter, running some pretty impressive times over 200m and 400m, routinely clocking 46 second relay splits in the latter before moving up to the middle distance and winning the British 800m title, where he has a personal best of 1:46.6 and 1500m where he represented Great Britain at the Doha 2010 World Indoor Championships.
But Tim continued to show further range, smashing the 4-minute mile and then clocking a sub 14-minute 5km in his one and only showing over this distance on the track.
It was the power of positive self talk and psychological techniques that helped Tim unlock his athletic potential and inspired him to study for his doctorate in Sports Psychology.
In this Episode we cover:
- How Tim discovered his talent for running in a school endurance test
- Finding form in the 400m
- Stepping up the 800m after accepting a challenge by GB legend Steve Cram
- A recount of his 5km race where he dipped under 14 minutes
- The use of positive affirmations to curve pre-race nerves and help him break the 4-minute barrier in the mile
- The pitfalls of being outcome orientated
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
We flag off our 5km Performance Series with current England and Great Britain international, Nick Goolab, who specialises in distances from 3km, where he has run a PB of 7:42.22 up to 10km where he has clocked 28 minutes 22 seconds. He has won national titles on the road and has represented GB in both cross country and on the track. Arguably his greatest moment to date came earlier this year in Monaco, where he broke Mo Farah and Rob Demark’s shared British road record in the 5km, clocking an incredible 13:27. However this mark was recently beaten by Marc Scott… could this be a motivator to see him produce his best performance yet?
In this episode we cover:
- A recount on breaking the British Record in Monaco, where he ran a road personal best of 13:27
- The training and key moments leading up to the race
- The aftermath of breaking the record
- How things progressed after the race and during the pandemic
- Recently losing his record to Marc Scott
- His goals moving forward
- Thoughts on the carbon shoe revolution
- The perfect formula to try to unlock your potential in the 5km
Unlocking Athletic Potential proudly partners with Red Dot Running Company, who specialise in sports nutrition and running kit and are based in Singapore. You can find them at rdrc.sg
Ian and Johnny are joined by OCR and Fitness Coach, Raj Ahmed, who is from the UK but now based in Malaysia, to look back on Episodes 11-19 to discuss their best takeaways on how they can improve their own performances and unlock their athletic potential.
Raj coaches at The Obstacle Lab, in Kuala Lumpur, one of South East Asia's premier OCR training facilities.
As mentioned in our introduction, George Crewe has recently launched the InnerFight OCR Academy which can be found at:
https://ifocracademy.thinkific.com
Use code UAPOCR10 for a 10% Discount
We welcome back to the podcast Spartan Pro Team members Lou Guenier and Chris Davis to talk training.
Chris was a guest on Episode 2: What Makes a Great Coach and we delve deeper into his reflections from that episode and how he has now enlisted the expertise of UAP co-host Johnny Tieu to help hone his training.
Lou Guenier was a guest on Episode 6: Battle of the Fitness Trackers and we discuss his recent move from Bali back to his hometown of Paris in France and the adjustments he has had to make to get his training routine back in order.
We also cover our current training and goals for the 2020 season and best takes from the podcast so far. Chris also advises co-host Ian, how to embrace a new addition to your family as Ian has recently welcomed a puppy to the Deeth household.
Jack Bauer is an Elite Spartan Racer and member of the Spartan Pro Team from the United States who has developed a specialism for the Stadion series, where he finished 4th place in 2019.
He has also had great performances in the hybrid endurance arena of Hyrox where he has had podiums in his age group and had top 10 finishes in the elite category.
Whilst a he is a high performing athlete in his own right, Jack is more widely known in OCR circles as the statistic guru and even though the spotlight of the sport often shines on the North-American scene, he has complied statistics from ALL spartan races worldwide.
This Episode is a MUST for Spartan Racers who have competed in Asia.
We discuss:
- Jack’s athletic background and how he found OCR
- How hooking up with Yancy Culp from Yancycamp.com helped him unlock his athletic potential
- How the US scene compares to Asia
- Statistics about the best male and female athletes in the Asia region
Jack’s unique Spartan rankings system as well as his training programmes with Yancy Culp can be found at Yancycamp.com
In 2019, Malaysian Colleen Augustin created history by winning gold medal at the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) Asian Championships. Five months later, she stepped up to the IMMAF World Championships in Bahrain where she claimed bronze.
But choosing MMA was a far from straight forward choice for Colleen who was also excelling in OCR where she was regularly hitting podiums.
In Spartan Race she took 3rd in the 2017 APAC Series and then won the 2018 South East Asia Series the following year. She also competed for Team Malaysia at the 2017 and 2018 Spartan World Championships.
In this episode we discuss:
- how a long term perspective helped her choose MMA over OCR
- her coaching set up and influence of both her mentors and family
- competing as a vegan athlete
- spending time away from home to train with the best in OCR (Matt Murphy) and MMA
...and so much more including her advice to help you unlock your true athletic potential!
After an impressive middle distance track career which saw her win three 1500m national titles, one 800m national title and then make the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth games final, Australian Suzy Walsham went on to dominate the road running scene in Singapore before going on to dominate the world of tower running. Her incredible achievements include:
- Becoming the 2018 Tower Running World Champion,
- 8 times World Vertical Circuit Champion,
- 9 times Tower Running World Cup Champion,
- Winning the iconic Empire State Building Vertical race a recording breaking 10 times
We hear how Suzy has shown amazing longevity at such an incredible high level from winning a state XC junior title at only 7 years of age, to now dominating tower running in her mid 40s.
She talks about narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 1990 commonwealth games the day after her 16th birthday but taking revenge a month later, beating everyone who had been selected in a PB of 4:11.04 to be ranked the No 1 under 20 in the world.
Suzy has also recently ventured into the world of Red Bull 400s and we hear how she continues to set new goals and push the limits to unlock her athletic potential.
Episode Cover Photo Credit: Don Emmett/Getty Images
Australian Matt Murphy was one of the early stars in the elite world of Obstacle Course Racing and finished second at the 2013 Spartan World Champions in Vermont.
Matt has the best elite podium record in Spartan history. When he was competing regularly between 2012 - 2018, he never finished lower than second position in an elite Spartan Race.
We hear about his early success in sport as a teenager, his transition from triathlon to OCR, how he maintained such high consistency against some of the world's best athletes, his 2019 comeback as well as new challenges and goals he has set for the future!
We welcome Gabe Heck to UAP who is a former cross country athlete from Wisconsin, USA with some very impressive running stats who has now made the transition over to the world of Elite OCR.
In High School, Gabe was State Champion for the 2-mile (9:03.86) and has a 5km PB of 14:45. He went on to represent Cornell University in Division 1 Cross Country and Track.
Since moving to Asia, Gabe has made an immediate impact into the elite sport of OCR in Asia, winning three nationwide races in Thailand and hitting Spartan Race podiums in Malaysia, Taiwan and Korea.
Ian and Johnny discuss their transitions from sprinting and marathon running to OCR and how Gabe's background in cross country provides the perfect foundation for OCR.
Gabe now currently resides in Bangkok, Thailand where he is a health and fitness coach.
Greg Kirk became Britain's first ever World Junior Skeleton Bobsleigh Champion in 2004.
Skeleton is a winter sliding sport in which a person rides a small sled, down a frozen track while lying face down and head-first. During elite racing the rider experiences accelerations up to 5Gs and reach speeds of over 130 km/h (81 mph).
We find out about how he transitioned from a British universities winning sprinter to this high-risk sport and the challenges he faced on this journey.
Greg then moved into yet another sport, Beach Lifesaving, where he also gained international honours in Beach Sprints and Beach Flags before moving back into Skeleton Bobsleigh as a coach.
We also hear about his experience as a contestant on the hit TV show Gladiators as well as how he found out he had the ability to hold his breath for nearly six minutes which led into him experimenting with free diving.
Ian and Johnny speak to Sport Therapist Simon O'Brien who has supported a number of elite high performing athletes nationally and globally, most notably:
London 2012 800m Olympic Silver Medallist, Nijel Amos;
Daegu 2011 400m World Champion, Amantle Montsho;
Gold Coast 2018 400m Commonwealth Gold and Silver Medallists Isaac Makwala
He has frequently been involved with working at high profile sporting events, such as 2012 London Olympics and IAAF World Athletics Championships in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Simon has a particular interest in athlete preparation and recovery for elite/high performance including soft tissue therapy, cold water immersion and prehab.
He is currently the director at The Athletes Room specialising in treating athletes with acute and chronic sporting injuries, ensuring effective return to sport.
A recent father and keen triathlete who has completed the IRONMAN UK and qualified for British Triathlon age group European Championships but a partially severed Achilles tendon has put the brakes on this temporarily until 2021.
When you find your passion, how far are you prepared to take it…
Ian and Johnny's guest today is George Crewe, an elite Obstacle Course Racer and Coach originally from the UK but now based in Dubai. He found his love for OCR from a chance meeting with a client in his corporate job. He then decided to embark on a worldwide tour of Spartan / OCR races and in the process cut his PB for 5km in half from 36 minutes to 18 minutes. He then quit his high flying job to become a full-time coach to help others unlock their athletic potential, George's interview has a bit of something all of us can relate to and if you like what you hear, hit us up on Instagram, share with your friends and leave us a review - Apple Podcasts is the best place to do this.
Enjoy.
Before you move forward, sometimes it's best to look back and reflect on your journey so far.
Ian and Johnny discuss their best takes from Episodes 1-9 and the best advice listeners can use to help them unlock their athletic potential.
Every athlete will experience injury at some point in their sporting journey and this week we talk to Osteopath Dr. Kenny Wong about how injury prevention is better than cure and other top tips to help you lining up healthy before your next competition .
Kenny has both a Doctorate of Osteopathy and a Masters degree in Exercise Science. His work has taken him around the globe and he has conducted workshops and training courses in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and more recently, in Singapore. His seminars focus on manual therapy and building effective training programs for performance and rehabilitation.
Kenny has a multi disciplinary approach to treatment and likes to combine different techniques such as AIS, Strength training, dry needling and soft tissue therapy to ensure the best outcome for each patient depending upon his assessments and their treatment history.
He is the Chief therapist in the Singapore branch where he specializes in treating clients with acute, chronic and sporting injuries.
This week's guest, Singaporean Jeri Chua, began her endurance sport career over 20 years ago when she entered an Ironman triathlon and did well enough to become the first Singaporean to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.
Around 10 years ago Jeri shifted her focus to ultramarathon running and has been a pioneer of the sport in Asia, recording a number of ‘firsts’. She has run the gruelling 330-kilometre Tor Des Geants, the 400-kilometre Ultra Trail Gobi Race, the 168-kilometre Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, and dozens of shorter (but tough!) events, mostly off-road.
In 2016, Jeri founded Red Dot Running Company, in part with the goal of creating a focal point for the trail running, ultra-running and triathlon communities in Singapore and around Southeast Asia.
We hear about her journey from Triathlete to Ultra Queen and the lessons learnt along the way to unlocking her potential in her chosen craft.
Ian and Johnny are joined by athlete Mike Skinner, who after several internationals on the track, including captaining England, found his calling in cross country where he has represented Great Britain at 5 European and 6 World Cross Country Championships.
After his success as an athlete, he is now a sports agent for PACE Sports Management, who look after some of the world’s top athletic stars including Usain Bolt, Mo Farah, Galen Rupp, Vivian Cheruiyot and Dina Asher-Smith to name just a few.
Hosts Ian Deeth and Johnny Tieu discuss wearable sports technology, which has been a game changer in providing athletes with data to help improve their performance in recent years. Whilst GPS watches and HR monitors are the most popular, today we look at two of the latest and most complete all-round fitness devices on the market - The Whoop Strap (The World’s Most Powerful Fitness Membership) and The Oura Ring V.2 (The World’s Smartest Wearable). These devices track everything from Sleep, Body Temperature to Heart Rate but arguably and most importantly, Heart Rate Variability (HRV).
Joining us on this episode is fellow Spartan Pro Team athlete from France, Lou Guenier. Lou has been using the Whoop Strap for the past 6 months whilst Ian, uses the Oura Ring 2. Johnny uses neither device but... will he change his mind during this episode's conversation?
Please note, Ian, Johnny and Lou have no affiliations to either Oura or Whoop.
In this episode we catch up with British Triathlete and Ironman, Ant Gritton, who despite major injury setbacks over the last two seasons, has continued to make great progress in the British Triathlon ranks and is looking to step up to the world of Ironman. We hear about his training, balance between the disciplines of running, cycling and swimming and also his mindset of cutting out the unnecessary distractions in life that slow us down so we can spend more time perfecting our craft. Regardless of your sporting passion, every athlete should listen to Ant's positive and practical advise to help them unlock their true athletic potential.
Ian and Johnny discuss their original plans for the 2020 Spartan Season and the adjustments they have had to make because of the COVID-19 situation.
In this episode we chat with one of OCRs most successful and inspirational power couples, Jade and Brendan Hunt.
They have been competing in the sport since 2013 and have amassed a total of 66 elite Spartan podiums between them - we’ll find out during the episode who has the most of these out of the two!
They live in Sydney Australia but outside of their home country have competed in Asia, Europe and the U.S. On this worldwide journey are are the only couple to have podiumed in two different countries on the same weekend - they very much see the sport as an integral part of their lives.
We hear about their OCR journey, how they found each other, what motivates them, who inspires them and how they have maintained focus during the setbacks of injuries and now with the current COVID-19 situation.
Hosts Ian and Johnny are joined by Spartan Pro Obstacle Course Racer Chris Davis to discuss what makes a great coach. During this episode Ian, Johnny and Chris talk through their athletic journeys and the coaches that have had a positive impact on their performances. They also discuss the pros and cons of online coaching compared to more traditional face to face coaching and what their ideal coaching set up would be.
Hosts Ian and Johnny talk through their current training routines from the COVID-19 lockdown, the positives of training in the same environment day in day out and what they will move forward with after routines go back top normal.
Ian Deeth and Johnny Tieu compete in Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) and are both members of the Spartan Pro Team.