Bobby Barker is a 41 year old marathon runner from Frisco, Texas. He has transformed in the past 5 years from couch potato to Boston Marathon Qualifier. A few weeks ago he ran a marathon PR of 26 minutes and qualified for the Boston Marathon with a time of 3 hours and 13 minutes!

In this episode of The Extramilest Podcast, we discuss:

• How he improve his marathon time from 3:55 at his first marathon to 3:13 a few marathons later. We look exactly at his training schedule for every day of the week, between regular training, cross training and nutrition.
• How Bobby motivates himself to wake up at 5am to train before work
• Tips and tricks for athletes to improve their running and become a healthier, happier and faster runner!

Bobby and I have experienced a lot of the same challenges and learnings as we strive to be the best versions of ourselves. I had a blast on this show and hope you enjoy our conversation!

Show Notes

• Bobby’s journey to get off the couch and start working out (5:00)
• Rookie mistakes with nutrition during his first marathons (8:30)
• How 2 biking accidents changed Bobby’s direction from triathlon to marathon (10:00)
• His first few marathons were hard and very uncomfortable, completely out of energy (12:00)
• How he discovered Dr. Phil Maffetone and changed his training approach (14:00)
• His first experiences with low heart rate training, training much slower at 12 min / mile (7 min 27 second per km) (16:10)
• Bobby trained at a low heart rate for 1 month and noticed he started to improve (18:00)
• How he measures his monthly progress with a MAF test at a running track (18:15)
• How Bobby changed his nutrition and dropped 13 pounds in 1 month (21:00)
• Dropping a few pounds of extra body weight makes you a much faster runner (27:00)
• Bobby found a coach to guide him towards his Boston Marathon goal (29:00)
• There are people just like you and me who struggle to get to the next level. Patience is key to see small improvements every month (32:00)
• A breakdown of each training day of the week, low heart rate runs, hills, bike rides, long runs and rest (35:00)
• His longest training runs include 15 minutes warm up, 2 1/2 hours low hear run, 15 minute cool down (41:00)
• Be aware not to follow formulas too strict, importance of listening to your body (44:00)
• His pace dropped from 12 minutes per mile to 7 min 27 sec / mile (47:00)
• High temperatures can have a huge negative impact on your running pace at the same heart rate (48:00)
• The race strategy that qualified Bobby for the Boston Marathon with a 3:13 time (49:00)
• It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Month after the month consistency in training is key for long term progress (54:50)
• Bobby ran 35 to 40 miles per week (56 to 64km) in training + 2 bike rides a week (56:00)
• Motivation to get up every day at 5am to train, by praying, meditation, looking for inspiration, and helping inspire others (57:00)
• Recommendations for runners to improve your running and qualify for Boston: consistency in training is key, put training structure in place, train mostly in aerobic zone, nutrition in training and on race day (1:01:00)
• Hiring a coach vs creating your own training schedule (1:03:00)
• Bobby’s involvement in the Texas Big Star Half Marathon and 5K on April 14, 2018 (1:06:00)
• Low HR training and improved nutrition make Bobby and Floris feel like healthier and happier athletes (1:08:00)
• Don’t get discouraged, reach out to the Extramilest Group and Maffetone

Links

• Dr. Phil Maffetone
• MAF Heart Rate White Paper
• The Maffetone Method Facebook Group
• The Extramilest Facebook Group
• Maffetone 2 Week Test
• Nick Carling
• Chicagoland Marathon
• Strava
• Texas Big Star 1/2 marathon and 5k

Full Transcript here on The Extramilest blog 

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