Find Your Ultra

Welcome to episode 26. 

At the beginning of this year, I promised my friend and podcast mentor Keshav that I will just focus on releasing 52 episodes in this year, do as good a job as I’m capable of doing with those, and until we’ve done the amount of work, I will keep out that negative voice in my head telling me that I’m doing a shitty job, or that I’m wasting people’s time, or this isn’t up to the mark etc etc, that voice can get pretty ugly pretty soon.

I had promised to let that voice have no say until we’ve released 52 episodes and then evaluate and see where we want to go from there.

The release of Episode 26 means, we’re half way there. And I can’t help but think what an amazing journey this has already been. It’s allowed me the opportunity to sit with some remarkable humans who were generous enough to give me their time, and a peak into their minds. It has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done.

Speaking of remarkable humans, I’m delighted to present to you a conversation with Mohit Oberoi, who’s a climber, a runner, a triathlete, an open water swimmer, an author, a teacher, and an entrepreneur. 

He likes to live mostly off the grid so you many not have heard of him, but I can tell you he’s from our own tribe, and started paying these sports way before we had even heard of them. Consider this, he ran his first half marathon on 1985. I was born in 84. So, he’s super senior but he’s all of 54 and kicking ass as he’s out trekking even right now as I release this episode.

Just give you an idea of what he’s been up to, Mohit was among the first lot of climbers from India. He pretty much was among the very first people who started building a climbing culture in northern India, and he even wrote a book - A guide to rock climbing in and around Delhi. He’s climbed multiple well known and challenging peaks, and I’ve seen some Indian climbers refer to him as nothing short of a legend, when it comes to Indian climbing scene.

He then fell in love with long distance running - he ran a few ultra marathons, a few trail walks, and as recently as last month, he did a 600-650km long self-supported trail walk lasting 38 days, charting out a massive combination of 13 trails that can be done by anyone as one, or 13 individual trails with their own entry and exit points. This, along with a few FKTs are all work in progress.

In between he also fell in love with triathlons, and went on to become among the first few Ironmen From India. 

Mo’s also an open water ultra distance swimmers, he has done numerous sea swims, and among those features the most sought after - the English Channel swim as a part of a relay team. 

If this intro feels long, wait until you hear the richness, the variety and the depth of his experiences. I was honestly captivated, and blown away by some of these stories around each of these experiences and the honesty and humility with which he narrates them. They will give you a peak into what it feels like when you do things for the purpose love of them, and for nothing else.

And at 2 hours in, we dive into some of his personal life, family, raising kids, business etc.

It’s a wholesome conversation that I truly believe you should listen to right till the very end.

And so without further ado, I bring to you another life story that I promise will leave you inspired to follow your heart, head outdoors, and be one with the nature! This is me and Mo Oberoi in the find your ultra podcast episode 26, Indulge away!

Follow Mohit on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/rock_bluesky/

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#Climbing #ultrarunning #Ultraswimming #Seaswimming #ChannelSwimming #Trailrunning #FKT #entrepreneurship #Adventure #Outdoors

Episode 24 ladies and gentlemen. 

You’re about to listen to a Spanish guy in his 50s living in India for over two decades. Isn’t that interesting already? I can’t wait!

He has not only embraced the Indian culture and food but also the potholes of Delhi roads, the ridiculous AQIs and sweltering heat of Delhi, - all for the love of running.

We’re talking about Alfredo Miranda, popularly knowns as Alfie, in the running circuit. 

Alfredo is an engineer by profession, he loves to solve problems, he loves to get technical about stuff, and believes in finding solutions rather than complaining about stuff.

Alfie is also a running coach and a mentor to many runners across India. He keeps sharing training plans, and writes articles that answer some of the questions new and experienced runners have about training, improving, raising your game.

If you’re familiar with the Indian ultra running circuit, you would have definilty heard if Meenal Kotak, Apoorva Chikara, and Kanan Jain. All of these torchbearers of Indian long distance running scene have raised their game from being average to extraordinary and represented India at the highest Level. 

We’ve heard the story of Kanan’s and Apoorvas journey on the show, we will now get the coach’s perspective on that, and that’ll sort 0f close the loop of how ordinary folks with unwavering faith and resolve can pursue and achieve greatness.

In this conversation we talked about his early years, his transition to India, the cultural adjustments, his early days of running, his race experiences, his running Mantras, and a peak into how he makes a strategy for executing a good 24 hour race. This can be a very specific takeaway of principals that you can use to plan a race of any ultra distance.

This wide-ranging conversation has everything from stories, to Strategies, to humor, to life lessons.

I loved it, and I have no doubt you will too, and if you do, please follow the podcast on Spotify or wherever you’re listening to this, and share it with whoever you can share it with, it helps much more, much much more, than you think it does. Will you do it now? Also, rate the podcast.

And so without further ado, I bring you another conversation rich in human connection, this time across continents. Here’s Alfredo Miranda and Me and the find your ultra podcast episode 24, Indulge away!

#RunningCoach #Expat #Spanish #Ultrarunning #Lifejourneys #InspiringJourney #Raceplanning #racestrategy #racenutrition #training

Hello and welcome to Episode 23

I think the biggest catastrophe of our times was that our parents, I mean Indian parents in particular advised us to save. Save Save Save. 

Saving doesn’t appeal to many people because sounds so defensive, One day you might need it.

Investing on the other hand has a hold different ring to it. It’s a game. It has a purpose, it’s a skill, there’s something to learn, get better at, and master. This gamification makes it exciting and there’s something to be won.

Saving doesn’t have any of this - the only thing saving evokes is - don’t spend it today, because you might need it one day. Which translates into Sacrifice your today, in fear of some imaginary doomsday.

The difference I believe lies in the emotion, I believe.

But our parents did the best they could given the limited knowledge they had access to. It’s not even been two decades that Mutual funds have become more mainstream, and we now have access to a world of knowledge about personal finance that was simply not publicly available. We now have access to experts who can guide us on what’s the most optimal way to manage our finances and build wealth with minimal risk.

Speaking of experts, we have with us today Divya Mathur Dayal who’s an ex banker turned entrepreneur and an investor. 

Dipali had been a banker for over a decade managing portfolios of ultra high net worth individuals, which is where she developed a deep undertsnading of luxury - That along with her flair for fashion and grooming led to the conceptualization of a chain of Luxury Boutique salons - called - Magnifique.

She also started a  toxin-free, cruelty free grooming brand aimed at Gen Z, called Super Smelly, Which also won Voted as the product of the year in 2020, and also won the organic beauty award, Australia in 2020 as well.

Dipali herself has won the prestigious Business world 40 under 40 award and is now on to her third venture called ‘Investqueen by Dipali’ where she intends to share investment knowledge for all, but especially she wants to normalize women talking about finance, making investments and becoming truly financially independent - I’ll share the links to all these in the show notes.

Finance is a mighty important subject that we’re all taught very little about, and therefore on the Find your ultra podcast, we will continue to bring on experts to help us fix our financial health. This is the first of many episodes to come in this subject.

Without further ado, let’s dive right in, this is me and Dipali Mathur Dayal in the find your ultra podcast episode 23. Indulge away!

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/investqueen_by_dipali/

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/supersmellyofficial/

Web: https://supersmelly.co/

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Web: https://magnifiqueluxurysalon.com/

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#NewEpisode #FindYourUltra #FinancialHealth #Finance #Money #Investing #PersonalFinance #Entrepreneur #MutualFunds #FinancialFreedom

We all have stories we tell ourselves. We have reasons for why we do, and don’t do things, we try to make sense of the good and bad that happens to us, and we also have narratives for why we can and can’t do things.

We work with stories, our brains like stories and narratives because they help us make sense of the world.

But narratives can go wrong - for one, they’re not always grounded in truth, they tend to ignore the nuances, and complexities that form our world, which is what makes potentially Dangerous. 

What about our internal narratives? Do you think they’re all based on objective truth and reality? They’re invariably not.

Some of these internal narratives serve us well. They help us move forward with confidence, but some stories we tell ourselves and beliefs that we strongly hold can be very limiting. They can make us feel small and unworthy, they can restrict our growth and reduce the quality of our lives. And what’s worse, they’re not even true.

They may just be beliefs we formed in our early life and despite having a defining effect on the quality of our life, they’ve just gone unquestioned and unexamined.

David goggins says the conversation that matters the most is the one you have with yourself. So it maters what sorry we’re telling ourselves, and whether that’s helping us or holding us back.

Welcome to Episode 21. Today’s guest is Dr Divya Parashar who’s a clinical and a rehabilitation psychologist with over 20 years of experience helping individuals regain their ability to function at their best. Divya holds a PHD in Rehab psychology from the university of Wisconsin-Madison USA, and masters in applied Clinical psychology from the university of Delhi.

Divya now has her own practice, but until a few years ago she used to head the department of psychology at the Indian Spinal Injuries centre, Vasant Kunj.

I truly believe the key to a better life lies not in better understanding our world, but in better understanding our brains - the softwares and the algorithms that run in our brains, the lenses through which we interpret the world and make sense of what’s going on. - Psychology surely has some of these answers, and which is why we’ve got Dr Divya Parashar, with all her decades of experience with therapy, traveling, and long distance running to explain some of why we do what we do.

It’s a wide ranging conversation covering internal narratives, Anxiety, Addiction, Therapy, Coping mechanisms, and how extremely painful experiences can actually transform, and even heal us.

Let’s go straight to the conversation, this is me and Dr Divya Parashar in the find your ultra podcast episode 21, Indulge away!

Workbook Divya talked about

Kristian Neff - Self compassion workbook

https://self-compassion.org/mindful-self-compassion-workbook/

Dr Divya’s website. Get in touch:

https://www.divyaparashar.com/

Follow the guest on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/dnparashar/

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https://www.instagram.com/ultravipin/

#innernarratives #SelfImage #MentalHealth #Addiction #Copingmechanisms #SelfCare #Anxiety #Running #Healing

Episode 20 is about the journey of your host who recently ended his streak of running 531 days in a row. Listen to this short episode to hear a couple of lessons learnt along the way.

#Newepisodealert #Findyourultra #Podcast #RunningStreak #500daysofrunning #runningeveryday #consistency #Lifelessons

Super excited to share with you the launch of a new mini-series on the find your ultra podcast with my pal Biplab Mukherjee. I’ve mentioned before that we’re just two regular individuals striving to learn and get better everyday and our life journeys are on a similar trajectory which is why we have so much to share with each other. And now, we intend to widen our close circle and include YOU in the conversation as well. 

In these episodes, we intend to dive into our everyday struggles, reflections, new excitements and learnings, all while exploring the fascinating world of running, ultra running, fitness and nutrition. But mostly, our own personal, authentic, unfiltered lives.

So, here’s how you join in the conversation:

Without further ado, this is Me and Biplab Mukherjee in the Find your ultra podcast Episode 19, Indulge away!

Link to the water filter reference - Lifestraw

https://lifestraw.com/products/lifestraw-community

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#NewEpisodeAlert #FindYourUltraPodcast #LifeJourneys #Healthpodcasts #Unedited #Unfiltered #RawAndAuthentic #Catchup #Whatsup #Running #Ultrarunning #health #Fitness #Nutrition #MovingHouse #Holiday #Lifelessons

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the find your ultra podcast. 

This is Episode 18 and we’re about to hear from one of India’s top athletes - Dr Hemant singh Beniwal.

In the Indian endurance circuit, He’s known for his speed but there’s so much more to him. He’s a trained psychologist, a running coach, a family man, and an entrepreneur- Him and his cofounder Vikas Malik (who’s also a fantastic athlete) launched Leap energy Gels and Leap storm - both these products have been received well by runners across the country, and they have a bunch of products lined up.

Apart from mentoring many new and seasoned athletes, Hemant has also Cofounded one of India’s top ultra running groups - The Sunchasers, along with yours truly.

Hemant is widely respected for his dogged work ethic and unwavering discipline. He believes in structured training and runs most aspects of his life by the book.

He’s been a close friend for many years now and yet in this conversation, I got to learn a ton of new things about him. I’m sure you will too. And if you do, I have one request- please follow the podcast on Spotify or wherever you’re listening to this, and share it - it helps much more than you think it does. If you do this, you would help the podcast grow and that would enable us to keep bringing on amazing people, which means more amazing conversations. 

So, Without further ado, this is me and Hemant singh Beniwal in the find your ultra podcast episode 18, Indulge away! 

Follow Hemant on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/breathe_n_run/

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https://www.instagram.com/theleapindia/

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https://www.instagram.com/ultravipin/

#NewEpisodeAlert #FindYourUltra #Podcastersofinstagram #Ultrarunning #endurancesports #Leapgels #adidasrunners #TheSunchasers #Psychologist #runningcoach #entrepreneur