Dr. Justin Ross is a Denver health psychologist who focuses on sports and performance psychology among other specialties like stress reduction and pain management. He’s also a triathlete, Boston-qualifying marathoner, and a founder of Mind Body Health, a Denver-area integrative health psychology and counseling center.

And we talk about a lot: everything from managing anxiety before a race to practical strategies for both increasing and decreasing arousal around key performances. But we also get into behavioral change - in other words, how do you change specific behaviors (like waking up earlier) that make running a lot easier?

Finally, I share a lot of my own running stories and we play a good game of role-reversal where he interviews me about my inner self-talk and why in the world we chanted “Grimace” before high school cross country races. The reason is not entirely legal but you’ll have to hear that story yourself...