Run to the Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide to Running

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Introducing the New Host of Run To The Top: Stephanie Kay Atwood Feb 14, 2018

Show notes

This week we introduce, certified nutritionist, award winning speaker, best selling author, running coach, certified rafting guide, AND the new host of the Run To The Top podcast, Stephanie Atwood.

Stephanie is the founder of Go Wow Living and host of the "Active After 35 Thrive To 105" podcast. In this episode, we learn about her background and listen as she shares secrets she's learned from helping other runners throughout her career. She has a great perspective on redefining success and failure and believes in creating different successes. It's easy to forget that the very act of stretching out of comfort zone, even if we fall short of our ideal goals, is still a worthy accomplishment.

Butch Cassidy counseled the Sundance Kid in the movie's opening, "Every day you live, you get older." and the same is true for runners. However, there comes a day, a session or a race where we have to accept that our fastest days may be behind us. This doesn't mean we need to stop running or competing, but a healthy mental paradigm shift is sometimes needed to refocus our motivation to stay active as we age.

In our busy and hectic lives, it's easy to overemphasize training to the point where it becomes unhealthily all-consuming. Stephanie talks about the concept of "Periodization", which allows people to build up for a couple goals, but also structure down time to enjoy other important areas of our lives.

Please join us in welcoming Stephanie as we are sure her insight and experience will help you become, not just a better runner, but a better, happier and healthier you.

How Should I Train Between Marathons? Coaching Call w/ Pam Rountree Feb 07, 2018

Show notes

Pam recently completed two marathons with seven weeks of training in between, but no significant improvement in her time.

She would like to reach her goal in her next race, but feels the 24-week program she used last time is too long. She wants to to know how she can maintain fitness and then ramp up for race.

Coach Jeff provides context for post-race recovery and maintenance training prior to jumping into a marathon build-up and how long that build up should, and maybe shouldn't, be.

He also explains how to leverage the time between races to arrive at the start of a marathon training cycle even stronger without much additional effort.

We hope you enjoy listening to this conversation and find some takeaways that help you in your training.

When Is It Too Soon To Run Another Marathon? Coaching Call With Wayne Jimenez Jan 31, 2018

Show notes

We're doing something a little different today on Run To The Top and we hope you find it helpful. One of our athletes, Wayne Jimenez, recently DNF'd a marathon at mile 16 and was not sure why. He has completed marathons and half-Iron Mans, but just over halfway through this race he could not keep going and he's eager to get back in a marathon ASAP since he still feels pretty strong from all his training. But, he's concerned about racing too soon.

Coach Jeff engages Wayne in a discussion to unpack what happened during, and more importantly prior to, the race to help identify the root cause of the issue and to determine when Wayne should make his way into his next corral.

We hope you enjoy listening to this conversation and find some takeaways that help you in your training. We would also love to know what you think of this podcast format as well as any suggestions you have for Run To The Top in general.

Are Physical Limits in Our Heads? - with Alex Hutchinson Jan 24, 2018

Show notes

We've long known the biggest barriers in running are those we create in our own heads, but according to Alex Hutchinson and the latest research, there are ways we can bypass these barriers to push farther and faster.

A National Magazine Award-winning journalist, Alex's work revolves mostly around the science of endurance, and there's a pretty good chance you've read some of his stuff. He contributes to Runner's World, the New York Times, the New Yorker, and he also has his own column in Outside Magazine called Sweat Science.

In this episode, Alex will share with us a little about his upcoming book, ENDURE: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance.

In the book, Alex explores the controversial new science of endurance that suggests our brains are just as responsible as our bodies for the physical obstacles we encounter in running.

In other words, most of the limits we experience are illusionary, and, with some groundbreaking techniques Alex will share with us today, we can actually push through these imaginary limits to unearth our true physical capabilities.

How to Maximize Training for Busy Lives - with Duncan Larkin Jan 17, 2018

Show notes

If an airplane wing is too rigid, the plane will crash, and according to author and marathoner Duncan Larkin, the same is true for us runners.

When we adhere too closely to our training plans or even, as Duncan says, the tenets of his own books, we don't leave room for two crucial details: one, that each of our bodies is different and possesses its own unique ebb and flow and two, we're just plain busy.

For most of us, running isn't our number one priority and our schedules don't always perfectly complement our training - and that's okay.

However, to optimize our performance and steer clear of injury, it's important to be flexible and emphasize quality over quantity in training, and that's the basis of Duncan's new book, The 30-Minute Runner: Smart Training for Busy Beginners.

Duncan writes for Outside Magazine, Runner's World, and ESPN to name a few, and he was on the show in 2017 to talk about his second newest book Run Simple: A Minimalist Approach to Fitness and Wellbeing.

In this episode, Duncan shares with us a little about his new book and his tips for maximizing training when you lead a busy life (which probably applies to you if I had to guess).

The Fitness Tribe Making Exercise Fun (and Free) - with Bojan Mandaric and Brogan Graham Jan 10, 2018

Show notes

The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club.

The second rule of Fight Club? You know how it goes.

Lucky for us, the opposite is true for the founders of November Project, a fitness movement popularly known as the "Fight Club" of running clubs for its intense workouts, free membership, and tribe mentality.

Following their days rowing crew for Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, Bojan Mandaric and Brogan Graham found themselves struggling to stay in shape in the cold New England months and the absence of a structured exercise regiment.

Then one night in 2011 over a couple of beers, they decided to make a pact: every morning for that month of November, they would meet at 6:30am and workout together.

Running hill repeats, bounding up the stairs of Harvard Stadium, dropping to the ground for the occasional pushups - the city was their gym, and the results were significant.

After a few months, Bojan and Brogan decided to throw out a few invites on Twitter, and the rest is history.

November Project now has tribes in 45 cities all over the world with its biggest meetups bringing together upwards of 1500 people for a single morning workout.

Here Bojan and Brogan share a little about their story, how November Project works, and what you can gain from joining a tribe near you.

****This episode includes some inappropriate language - just a heads up.****

Why You Should Train Movement, Not Muscle - with Jay Dicharry Jan 03, 2018

Show notes

While most of us know we need to do strength work to truly see results, according to Jay Dicharry, this is a waste of time without also practicing movement and mobility.

One of America's leading physical therapists and author of Anatomy for Runners, Jay established his reputation as an expert in biomechanical analysis as Director of the University of Virginia's SPEED Clinic.

Today, athletes from all over travel to his REP Lab in Bend Oregon where Jay blends clinical practice and engineering to better understand overuse injuries.

But what sets Jay apart from traditional therapy? He works to correct imbalances before they become a problem, and to do that he helps runners rewire their body-brain movement patterns.

In this episode, Jay will share a little about his new book, Running Rewired, explain how we can rediscover our body-brain movement patterns, and dispel the myths that pervade both the shoe and physical therapy industries.

Run to the Top Special - Greatest Hits of 2017 Dec 27, 2017

Show notes

As we enter the bell lap for 2017, I wanted to do something a little special for this week's episode.

Just as it's good to reflect back on a season and extract all the learning moments, I wanted to reflect back on the best lessons from Run to the Top this year, and to do that I asked for your help.

Today's show will include Run to the Top's greatest hits of 2017 as chosen by our very own listeners: runners who made incredible strides mentally and physically thanks to the wisdom, inspiration, and perspective shared in this year's interviews.

In this podcast, those runners will share their favorite episodes and what they gained from them followed by a little segment from each show.

Whether these episodes are new to you or you've heard them before, I hope the lessons within both help you reflect back on 2017 and serve as a springboard into your best year yet.

Psychological Weapons to Conquer Your Inner "Chimp" - with Dr. Simon Marshall Dec 20, 2017

Show notes

If you ever have thoughts and feelings you wish you didn't, there's a good chance you're human.

But there are ways to put a stop to those thoughts and feelings, and that's where Dr. Simon Marshall comes in.

A competitive triathlete and world-renowned sport psychology expert, Dr. Marshall helps endurance athletes train their brains to become happier and more mentally resilient.

Dr. Marshall is a former professor of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, former Director of the Graduate Program in Sport & Exercise Psychology at San Diego State University, and has published over 100 scientific articles on the psychology of exercise and has been cited in scientific literature over 10,000 times.

He's currently the performance psychologist for the BMC Racing team, an elite WorldTour professional cycling team, and he's also married to three-time world champion triathlete and his business partner Lesley Paterson.

Together, Dr. Marshall and Lesley make up Brave Heart Coaching where they help athletes strengthen both their bodies and minds.

The two also recently published a book called The Brave Athlete in which they share actionable solutions to the most common mental barriers we runners face.

In this podcast, Dr. Marshall will share his tips for conquering the negative thoughts between us and our goals using "[butt]-kicking psychological weapons". :)

*** This episode includes some bad language. If there are small ears around, you might want to listen with headphones! ***

From Paleo to Vegan: How Your Diet Affects Your Metabolic Efficiency - with Bob Seebohar Dec 13, 2017

Show notes

He's back! World renowned dietitian and exercise physiologist Bob Seebohar joins us again to delve deeper into the growing research surrounding his two concepts of metabolic efficiency training (MET) and nutrition periodization.

If you listened to Bob's last interview with us, you know that together these concepts increase the body's ability to use fat as fuel during exercise and thus optimize both body composition and performance - a hard balance to strike for most distance runners.

If you missed that episode and like what you hear today, be sure to go back and give it a listen here for some better context.

Bob is a registered dietitian, exercise physiologist, NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, USA Triathlon Level III Elite Coach. He also traveled to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games as a sport dietitian for the US Olympic Team and the personal sport dietitian/exercise physiologist for the Olympic Triathlon Team.

This time Bob's back to answer YOUR questions and, in so doing, discuss everything from MET's relationship with paleo and plant-based diets all the way to how you can go about determining your own metabolic efficiency.

Questions Bob is asked:

4:08 What do you do?

6:10 Can you remind us again about your concepts of Nutrition Periodization and Metabolic Efficiency Training?

10:21 Can you describe intuitive eating and how you help athletes attain that in combination with Metabolic Efficiency Training?

14:00 Can you describe what the Crossover Concept is?

23:41 How does the Metabolic Efficiency Test work?

28:20 Listener question from Yusef: Will I keep burning 60% fat at HR 150 bpm, at hour 28 of a 100miler?

39:55 Listener question from Diana: As someone who eats a ton of almond and peanut butter. Is this a carb, a fat or a protein?

48:14 Listener question from Chelsea: How does being vegan affect my metabolic efficiency and are there any tips for how can I improve this without giving up my lifestyle?

54:04 How do the Paleo Diet and High Fat / Low Carb diets fit in with Metabolic Efficiency Training?

57:13 Is it correct to assume you should increase carbs when in the thick of marathon training?

58:45 Listener question from Darlene: Is the Metabolic Efficiency lifestyle suitable for people with type 1 diabetes who use insulin pumps?

1:02:05 You offer personal consultations - what all do these entail and how can people work with you?

1:04:45 Where can listeners get a Metabolic Efficiency Test done?

Quotes by Bob:

"Nutrition periodization is basically aligning your daily nutrition to support your physical training needs."

"Metabolic efficiency is basically how efficient your body is at using its stores of carbohydrate and fat. Those are the two main stores of energy we have in our body, and you can actually train that."

"The point where the body crosses from higher to lower fat burning and lower to higher carbohydrate burning - where those two macronutrients cross - is the 'crossover point', and in research, they found that to be between 63-65% of max intensity."

"Metabolic efficiency is a great lifestyle nutrition program no matter what distance you're training for."

"It will be more difficult - not impossible, certainly - but it will be more difficult to balance blood sugar following a pure vegan diet than it will when you enter animal proteins, and it's just because you're having more carbohydrate than protein."

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Mentioned in this podcast:

Book: Nutrition Periodization for Athletes: Taking Traditional Sports Nutrition to the Next Level

Bob's Author page on Amazon.com

BobSeebohar.com

eNRG performance homepage

Bob's eNRG performance Coaching Page

Email Sinead