For Real, Though

This internationally renowned athlete known for pushing the limits of his endurance shares real running moments he never has before. Dean, at age 14 ran a marathon to raise money for charity. He started running home when he was in kindergarten and has always had a love for moving. He is known for his amazing endurance achievements, continuing to push what his body is capable of achieving.

Dean most recently ran 50 marathons, in all 50 US states, in 50 consecutive days, finishing with the NYC Marathon, which he ran in three hours flat. Dean has also run for 24 hours straight on a treadmill in Times Square. He has run in many many incredible places around the world, on all the continents, across the Gobi desert. He is truly an amazing athlete, and is here to talk about his latest adventure; running the spartathlon, and completing the final 75 miles without any food or fuel other than water.

For those who are still running in your later years, Dean is especially inspiring as he is now 55 years old and still going strong. If you want to hear questions and a discussion with Dean unlike any other podcast, this is the episode for you.

Today’s Guest

Dean Karnazes is an internationally renowned athlete known for pushing the limits of his endurance. Dean has run 350 continuous miles, foregoing sleep for three nights. He's run across Death Valley in 120 degree temperatures, across the Gobi desert, and a marathon to the South Pole in negative 40 degrees. On ten different occasions, he's run a 200-mile relay race solo, racing alongside teams of twelve.

What you will learn about:

• What makes Dean’s calves the way many recognize him.
• How Dean had what most would consider an ideal life but was not happy with his non-running life, because things were just too easy and routine.
• How Dean keeps all the fan letters he gets in special folders in his trophy room.
• Dean discusses his recently released book The Road to Sparta and how he tried to recreate to the best he possibly could, the run Pheidippides did that inspired the marathon as a race distance. He discusses how as runners we get so caught up in the moment and our stubborn pride can prevent us from doing what we know we should do.
• Dean discusses how difficult it is to deal with all the crowds of people that come out to see him during his endurance events and being torn between needing to rest and wanting to acknowledge the effort they made to come out to see him. How he ended up choosing to forgo his own self care.
• When we are struggling during a half or full marathon it is a unique sensation to us as runners. Most people don’t have any way to relate to our experience other than perhaps a woman giving birth. We don’t have those intense moments on a day to day basis. There are moments of extreme doubt and suffering that you don’t normally experience in day to day life.
• How when you run overnight, you are overriding all your normal processes but your body takes over and your body finds a way to compensate and you are sleep running.
• Dean describes the anguish and struggle that every runner goes through during an endurance race. Shared experiences bring us together and builds bonds and how it doesn’t matter if you are an elite marathoner or first time 5k runner, you share the same experience. Dean runs every race that he attends because he feels it is important to share the experience with others.
• Dean talks about his participation with Marathon Wines, which is targeted to runners. Greece is the home for fine wines and there are stories of the early Greek runners drinking wine along their runs. The vines in Santorini make unique wines, high in electrolytes and by participating he is helping Greece.

Inspirational Quotes:

I wanted the pain and the struggle of doing something physical again.

I am humbled and awed when I go into my trophy room that one man could accomplish all these things.

Taking a few minutes in what might be a 30 hr race to correct something is far better than continuing on, but we get caught up in the passion of what we are doing at the moment.

It is the fear of pain that holds people back, so shifting the paradigm to embracing the pain and responding, then your relationship to pain will change.

Resources:

Last week's episode with Emelia Gorecka

Tina4Real Podcast 

Running for Real Superstars Community

Support Tina through her Patreon Page

Buy a Running for Real T-shirt, Tank, or Hat

Dean on Instagram

Dean on Twitter

Dean on Facebook

Dean's website

Road to Sparta book

Marathon Wine website

Thank you to Bombas and Bodyhealth for sponsoring this episode of Running for Real.

I absolutely LOVE these Bombas Socks, and I think it is SO COOL that they donate a pair to a homeless shelter for every pair you purchase (socks are the number one requested item from homeless shelters, but they cannot accept used pairs). Use code running4real at Bombas.com/running4real and you can get 20% off your first order!

Now I am back to training, guess what was the first thing I did to start making sure I recover quicker (as coming back to fitness really beats your body up!), yep, you guessed it, BodyHealth Perfect Amino! Get 10% off at Bodyhealth.com using coupon code TINA10

 

Thanks for Listening! I hope you enjoyed today's episode.

To share your thoughts:

Leave a note in the comment section below.

Join the Running for Real Facebook Group and share your thoughts on the episode (or future guests you would like to hear from)

Share this show on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.

To help out the show:

Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews will really help me climb up the iTunes rankings and I promise, I read every single one.

Subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcast player.

Not sure how to leave a review or subscribe, you can find out here.

Thank you to Dean, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the show.

Emelia Gorecka is an international distance runner best known for her running with scoliosis, a genetic spinal deformity that causes curvature of the spine and host of gait related problems. When she’s not training she spends time helping to promote issues affecting female athletes. One movement she’s an ambassador for is FitrWoman. FitrWoman aims to help women make more informed decisions in sport using a specially developed app focusing on how previously ‘taboo’ subjects such as periods can affect performance.

Emelia is incredibly focused on listening to her body and what it is telling her and I am sure she will teach you a lot about listening to your own body and finding ways to build a support structure around your running to help you to build resilience.

Today’s Guest

Emelia Gorecka is a 24 yr old British middle and long-distance runner. She specializes in middle and long-distance running, racing in 1500 meters, 3000 meters, 5000 meters and 10,000 meters, as well as cross country running. She has congenital scoliosis, and wore a brace in her younger years to help reduce the curvature and prevent it from worsening.

What you will learn about:

• How she because a strong contender/runner as young as 11 yrs old and how she has continued to achieve and not burn out. She didn’t suffer her first injury until she was 21 yrs old.
• How having brothers taught her to make sure she got her share of the food and sweets.
• How she has learned when she feels ill or has an injury she asks herself why is this happening and what she can do to adjust and learn when to pull back and how to change what she is doing is influencing what she is feeling. How important it is to step back vs try harder.
• How she was diagnosed at age 13 with scoliosis, when she fell during a training session. Her back is shaped like a question mark as her spine has rotated. After a year she was placed in a body brace to help slow and correct the progression. She wore the brace 23 hrs a day for 3-4 yrs and could only train during that one hour a day.
• She believes the brace helped here build her own confidence in what she could accomplish, despite being very private in the beginning and hiding the fact that she had to wear a brace at all. But she learned to run well with it and learned to dare to be different.
• How the brace did cause restrictions in her upper body and its ability to move hr arms and back, as well as how she breathes.
• How stress fractures in her foot at age 21 caused her to learn to focus on how her body was moving and what was causing her to become injured. She changed coaches, changed how she viewed looking at what shoes she should run in, and how her foot strike needed to change. She spent the next year to year and a half working on her mechanics.
• Why she got involved with FitrWoman and what she thinks it can do to help other woman understand their bodies.

Inspirational Quotes:

I learned to dare to be different and still achieve.

You do it for you, you don’t do it for anyone else. If it doesn’t work out, I will know I have tried.

The people who inspire me are the ones I see day to day giving it their best and working hard.

Resources:

Last week's episode with Matt Davis 

Tina4Real Podcast 

Running for Real Superstars Community

Support Tina through her Patreon Page

Buy a Running for Real T-shirt, Tank, or Hat

Emelia on Instagram

Emelia on Twitter

Fitr Woman

Thank you to Bombas and Bodyhealth for sponsoring this episode of Running for Real.

Bombas socks are my favorite socks, they are so comfortable! How amazing that they donate a pair of their socks to a homeless shelter for every pair you purchase.

Now I am back to training, guess what was the first thing I did to start making sure I recover quicker (as coming back to fitness really beats your body up!), yep, you guessed it, BodyHealth Perfect Amino! Get 10% off at Bodyhealth.comusing coupon code TINA10

Matt B. Davis is widely known in the Obstacle Course racing world and is the founder and face of Obstacle Racing Media and is also the podcast host.  Matt is also race director for numerous Obstacle Course races.

Matt has an incredible sense of humor and there is a lot of laughter in this episode.  But this episode is about a serious topic that is not talked about often enough, depression, especially bipolar disease.  Matt shows incredible bravery in telling his story and this is an important discussion for all of us to participate in so we can learn and be available to help others in our lives when they are ready for taking the step to get help.

Today’s Guest

Matt B. Davis, former stand-up-comic, Journalist, and Obstacle Course racer is the co-founder, face and voice of Obstacle Racing Media.  He is also the podcast host of the Atlanta Podcast and of Tough Mudder Facebook Live.  He and His wife and 3 kids live in Atlanta.

What you will learn about:

• Why Matt thinks you should try an obstacle race and how you never regret trying something new
• How Matt discovered in December 2016 that he suffered from bipolar disease when he went into a severe depression after a manic episode.  He made comments on his podcasts and Facebook about how he was suffering and was amazed at the overwhelming support he got from his listeners.
• Depression gives you the sense that you have been let into a secret, and the secret is life is meaningless.
• Running would allow him to shut off his brain a little bit, but most of the time he was still feeling that it was useless.
• He got help by attending an outpatient program, reluctantly, at the time attending group therapy sessions.
• All you can do is meet the person where they are at, and offer to give them whatever help they are ready to accept.  Let them know you are available for them in whatever they need.
• Things to recognize if a friend is headed down the path of depression:  lacking in communication/avoiding communication; if they stop taking medications is a big one.
• Yoga and meditation, gratitude lists are all helpful in dealing with depression.  Get your friends to participate in a Gratitude List circle as it can give you even more insight.  Send your gratitude lists to your friends. 

Inspirational Quotes:

All you can do to help someone is to meet them where they are; if they are not ready for help there is little you can do to push them toward change.

Running absolutely helped me and I don’t know that I would be here without it.

We all need that one person in our life we can confide in and share with, and it is probably best if it is not your spouse.

Resources:

Last week's episode with Eric Schranz 

Tina4Real Podcast 

Running for Real Superstars Community

Support Tina through her Patreon Page

Buy a Running for Real T-shirt, Tank, or Hat

The book SuperBetter

Insight Timer App

Article on How Short Life is

Matt on Instagram

Matt on Twitter

Matt on Facebook

Obstacle Racing Media Website

Thank you to Aaptiv and Bodyhealth for sponsoring this episode of Running for Real.

Thanks to Aaptiv for supporting the podcast. New members get 30% off annual membership at http://www.aaptiv.com/running4real

Now I am back to training, guess what was the first thing I did to start making sure I recover quicker (as coming back to fitness really beats your body up!), yep, you guessed it, BodyHealth Perfect Amino! Get 10% off at Bodyhealth.com using coupon code TINA10

Host and founder of the UltraRunnerPodcast, Eric Schranz has run everything from a beer mile to 200 mile races and says he loves every distance and race. He is a stay at home dad and lives with his wife and 2 kids in Northern CA. Beer is a common thread on his shows, which include craft beer reviews.

Our conversation focuses on how to develop a love of the outdoors and building a passion in our children without pushing them too hard. And never using running or sport as a punishment. We also cover the balance between running with our kids and building our relationship with them, with wanting and needing to get in our own training for both our fitness and our time to decompress. If you have kids or spend time thinking about balance in your life, you will enjoy this discussion.

Today’s Guest

Eric Schranz, Ultra Runner and Podcast host has run the 2013 Bryce 100 mile race but had to pass at an opportunity to run Western States and instead ran 100 laps of a local park while he awaited the birth of his first daughter. Schranz started the Ultrarunningpodcast as a hobby with three friends, never expecting it to take off and make him one of the best known voices of Ultrarunning.

What you will learn about:

* What to do with leftover spinach in your fridge before it gets slimy.

* How he felt nervous interviewing Ann Trason (greatest female ultrarunner) when she returned to the Ultrarunning scene but mostly he feels he is just having a conversation with all the people you are standing next to in the porta-potty line. Interviewing and knowing some of those at “the top” are just normal people and they have the same issues we all have. They are just people who happen to be really good at a sport.

* How he has had to learn to check his own competitiveness and stubbornness in order to not influence his kids so as to let them develop their own interests and drives. I am trying to impart a love of running and being outdoors to them but then to let them develop their own interests.

* How he wrote an article about his daughter Sunny and her competitive drive and how she likes to do things that are hard. She ran the Broken Arrow Sky Race 10k recently at 8 yrs old, with Ladia Albertson-Junkans as her coach on the run. Sky races have unusual distances and elevation requirements. Ladia ran the 52k the day before but agreed as a favor to run along with Sunny to coach her along and be sure she was safe.

* How he has learned from Sunny about how to run naturally and with near perfect form as only kids just naturally can do.

* The nice thing about the Ultrarunning community is that volunteerism is a strong value and an important one to teach our kids (and ourselves), seeing others out there struggling and persevering/carrying on.

* How we don’t encourage kids to take up running as a sport and something they can do for a lifetime.

Listen to the Running for Real Podcast here:

Inspirational Quotes:

Don’t get hurt or your mom will kill you (and then me).

We only have so many days and months left in our lives and you gotta make that time count. And doing it with my kids is so much more worthwhile than doing it on my own.

Resources:

Last week’s episode with Candice Huffine 

Tina4Real Podcast 

Running for Real Superstars Community

Support Tina through her Patreon Page

Buy a Running for Real T-shirt, Tank, or Hat

Article on How Short Life is

Host and founder of the UltraRunnerPodcast, Eric Schranz has run everything from a beer mile to 200 mile races and says he loves every distance and race. He is a stay at home dad and lives with his wife and 2 kids in Northern CA. Beer is a common thread on his shows, which include craft beer reviews.

Our conversation focuses on how to develop a love of the outdoors and building a passion in our children without pushing them too hard. And never using running or sport as a punishment. We also cover the balance between running with our kids and building our relationship with them, with wanting and needing to get in our own training for both our fitness and our time to decompress. If you have kids or spend time thinking about balance in your life, you will enjoy this discussion.

Today’s Guest

Eric Schranz, Ultra Runner and Podcast host has run the 2013 Bryce 100 mile race but had to pass at an opportunity to run Western States and instead ran 100 laps of a local park while he awaited the birth of his first daughter. Schranz started the Ultrarunningpodcast as a hobby with three friends, never expecting it to take off and make him one of the best known voices of Ultrarunning.

What you will learn about:

• What to do with leftover spinach in your fridge before it gets slimy.
• How he felt nervous interviewing Ann Trason (greatest female ultrarunner) when she returned to the Ultrarunning scene but mostly he feels he is just having a conversation with all the people you are standing next to in the porta-potty line. Interviewing and knowing some of those at “the top” are just normal people and they have the same issues we all have. They are just people who happen to be really good at a sport.
• How he has had to learn to check his own competitiveness and stubbornness in order to not influence his kids so as to let them develop their own interests and drives. I am trying to impart a love of running and being outdoors to them but then to let them develop their own interests.
• How he wrote an article about his daughter Sunny and her competitive drive and how she likes to do things that are hard. She ran the Broken Arrow Sky Race 10k recently at 8 yrs old, with Ladia Albertson-Junkans as her coach on the run. Sky races have unusual distances and elevation requirements. Ladia ran the 52k the day before but agreed as a favor to run along with Sunny to coach her along and be sure she was safe.
• How he has learned from Sunny about how to run naturally and with near perfect form as only kids just naturally can do.
• The nice thing about the Ultrarunning community is that volunteerism is a strong value and an important one to teach our kids (and ourselves), seeing others out there struggling and persevering/carrying on.
• How we don’t encourage kids to take up running as a sport and something they can do for a lifetime.

 

Inspirational Quotes:

Don’t get hurt or your mom will kill you (and then me).

We only have so many days and months left in our lives and you gotta make that time count. And doing it with my kids is so much more worthwhile than doing it on my own.

Resources:

Last week's episode with Candice Huffine 

Tina4Real Podcast 

Running for Real Superstars Community

Support Tina through her Patreon Page

Buy a Running for Real T-shirt, Tank, or Hat

Article on How Short Life is

Eric on Instagram

Eric on Twitter

Eric on Facebook

Ultra Runner Podcast Website

Thank you to HOKA ONE ONE and Bodyhealth for sponsoring this episode of Running for Real.

HOKA ONE ONE® is a running shoe unlike any other. The Bondi 6 was one of the first shoes HOKA ONE ONE® ever created and it’s become a fan-favorite for good reason. Just try it on today and experience the sweetest cushion. Become part of the family. It’s Time To Fly™.. Get two day free shipping using code running4real

Now I am back to training, guess what was the first thing I did to start making sure I recover quicker (as coming back to fitness really beats your body up!), yep, you guessed it, BodyHealth Perfect Amino! Get 10% off at Bodyhealth.com using coupon code TINA10

This internationally renowned fashion model has teamed up with Women’s Running Magazine to found Project Start, a collaborative effort to encourage and inspire women to begin their own running journey. She has also launched a size inclusive clothing line for women, Day-Won. While she is termed a “plus -size” model, Huffine is at the helm of models pushing to expand boundaries for curvy models and to eliminate the label “plus” from the fashion vernacular. Candice is a runner and ran the 2017 NYC Marathon.

Today’s Guest

Candice Huffine is an internationally renowned fashion model. She became the first plus-size woman to be featured in the Pirelli Calendar, a UK Glamour trade calendar. Her A-list work includes being featured in publications such as CR Fashion Book, Italian Vogue (cover), Vogue, W, V Magazine, i-D and Glamour. She has also recently launched a clothing line for the full size range of active women called Day/Won.

What you will learn about:

* How she is living the dream she had as a little girl, despite the fact that she doesn’t have the typical model body type/size.

* How being slotted into a role as a plus-model, at age 15, allowed her to grow into being a woman with all the curves of a normal woman, and being positive with her body as it is. It was the impetus to grow into a role as a spokesperson for body acceptance.

* How the body positivity acceptance move is allowing people to feel they are represented. And how it is becoming more acceptable to let our bodies settle where they are meant to be rather than endlessly trying to lose weight to fit into some pre-conceived mold.

* How she started running in 2015 when her husband dared her to do a half marathon as a part of their annual discussion of their goals for the next year. She first viewed it as just an impossible and unfair dare, but he was so passionate about it she stopped and listened to his reasons. She was inspired by the positive changes in his life when he first took up running, so something in the dare caught her interest.

* Her first half marathon (NYC half in 2016) was such a learning experience, as she had never trained more than 8 miles and didn’t know what at all to expect. So she psyched herself completely out. But she then used it as a learning experience to move forward. She learned that not only is she susceptible to a dare, but how competitive she could be with herself. It also taught her how important it was to take time for herself to do things that balance you out, and running has been an outlet for that. It has given her time to be meditative and thoughtful.

* How she found that the running clothing that was available was so uncomfortable and she spent more time adjusting clothing that just didn’t fit her body properly so she spent a bunch of time tugging at things. She decided to found her own brand, Day/Won, launched in the fall of 2017, that made athletic clothing that really fits a woman’s curves and was inclusive across the entire range of sizes.

* How she used her own brand to stand for causes she felt were important. Inclusivity, sustainability, etc. From giving back to charities, supporting the LGBT community, using recycled materials, making things in the US, digital printing to avoid water waste, and making things to order to save on waste.

Listen to the Running for Real Podcast here:

Inspirational Quotes:

There is always someone listening, being self-deprecating can influence someone and you won’t even realize it.

We have to break the cycle of the negative things we say to ourselves.

If you commit yourself to a goal, other things you want in your life will fall into place.

You have to know it is going to be a slow process but suddenly you start to see the progress you have made and how you have achieved the short term goals that make you proud of what you can accomplish. Run because of how it makes you feel,

This internationally renowned fashion model has teamed up with Women’s Running Magazine to found Project Start, a collaborative effort to encourage and inspire women to begin their own running journey. She has also launched a size inclusive clothing line for women, Day-Won. While she is termed a “plus -size” model, Huffine is at the helm of models pushing to expand boundaries for curvy models and to eliminate the label “plus” from the fashion vernacular. Candice is a runner and ran the 2017 NYC Marathon.

Today’s Guest

Candice Huffine is an internationally renowned fashion model. She became the first plus-size woman to be featured in the Pirelli Calendar, a UK Glamour trade calendar. Her A-list work includes being featured in publications such as CR Fashion Book, Italian Vogue (cover), Vogue, W, V Magazine, i-D and Glamour. She has also recently launched a clothing line for the full size range of active women called Day/Won.

What you will learn about:

• How she is living the dream she had as a little girl, despite the fact that she doesn’t have the typical model body type/size.
• How being slotted into a role as a plus-model, at age 15, allowed her to grow into being a woman with all the curves of a normal woman, and being positive with her body as it is. It was the impetus to grow into a role as a spokesperson for body acceptance.
• How the body positivity acceptance move is allowing people to feel they are represented. And how it is becoming more acceptable to let our bodies settle where they are meant to be rather than endlessly trying to lose weight to fit into some pre-conceived mold.
• How she started running in 2015 when her husband dared her to do a half marathon as a part of their annual discussion of their goals for the next year. She first viewed it as just an impossible and unfair dare, but he was so passionate about it she stopped and listened to his reasons. She was inspired by the positive changes in his life when he first took up running, so something in the dare caught her interest.
• Her first half marathon (NYC half in 2016) was such a learning experience, as she had never trained more than 8 miles and didn’t know what at all to expect. So she psyched herself completely out. But she then used it as a learning experience to move forward. She learned that not only is she susceptible to a dare, but how competitive she could be with herself. It also taught her how important it was to take time for herself to do things that balance you out, and running has been an outlet for that. It has given her time to be meditative and thoughtful.
• How she found that the running clothing that was available was so uncomfortable and she spent more time adjusting clothing that just didn’t fit her body properly so she spent a bunch of time tugging at things. She decided to found her own brand, Day/Won, launched in the fall of 2017, that made athletic clothing that really fits a woman’s curves and was inclusive across the entire range of sizes.
• How she used her own brand to stand for causes she felt were important. Inclusivity, sustainability, etc. From giving back to charities, supporting the LGBT community, using recycled materials, making things in the US, digital printing to avoid water waste, and making things to order to save on waste.

 

Inspirational Quotes:

There is always someone listening, being self-deprecating can influence someone and you won’t even realize it.

We have to break the cycle of the negative things we say to ourselves.

If you commit yourself to a goal, other things you want in your life will fall into place.

You have to know it is going to be a slow process but suddenly you start to see the progress you have made and how you have achieved the short term goals that make you proud of what you can accomplish. Run because of how it makes you feel, not how it makes you look.

So many women of all sizes are out there doing incredible things, it was time we started dressing them. You stand at the sidelines of a race and see people of all ages, shapes, etc. and it is so inspiring.

No one should feel on the outside, you should not have to change to fit in. Explaining and apologizing for our bodies is exhausting and frankly has nothing to do with the bigger picture.

Resources:

Last week's episode with Dr Rich Willy 

Tina4Real Podcast 

Running for Real Superstars Community

Support Tina through her Patreon Page

Buy a Running for Real T-shirt, Tank, or Hat

Candice on Instagram

Day-Won on Instagram

Ps You Got This on Instagram

Candice on Facebook

Candice on Twitter

Day-Won Clothing

Thank you to HOKA ONE ONE and Bodyhealth for sponsoring this episode of Running for Real.

HOKA ONE ONE® is a running shoe unlike any other. The Bondi 6 was one of the first shoes HOKA ONE ONE® ever created and it’s become a fan-favorite for good reason. Just try it on today and experience the sweetest cushion. Become part of the family. It’s Time To Fly™.. Get two day free shipping using code running4real

Now I am back to training, guess what was the first thing I did to start making sure I recover quicker (as coming back to fitness really beats your body up!), yep, you guessed it, BodyHealth Perfect Amino! Get 10% off at Bodyhealth.com using coupon code TINA10

Today we chat to the first professional female distance runner, Anne Audain. Anne is from New Zealand and was born with deformities in the bones of her feet. She went on to break down the barriers for women runners and in sport in general. A truly inspiring story of overcoming physical and societal roadblocks to achieve what is possible in your life. She was banned (temporarily) in 1981 for accepting prize money at a track and field event.

Anne qualified for the Olympic games 6 times in her career (from 1972 to 1992) and has been inducted into the Running USA Hall of Fame, the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, and the RRCA Distance Hall of Fame.

Today’s Guest

Anne Audain was born in New Zealand, adopted as an infant and suffered through her younger years with bone deformities in both her feet. After successful reconstructive bone surgery at age 13, she joined a local athletic club and a remarkable running star was born. Through her career Anne set records and pioneered professional running for women. She has since been inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, the USA Running Hall of Fame, and honored with a Member of the British Empire Medal from Queen Elizabeth II of England for her contributions to her sport worldwide. 

What you will learn about:

• Anne moved to the US thanks to rumors that the US was going to open the longer running distances to women where previously 800/1500 meters were the longest distances women were allowed to run.

• The difference in running between New Zealand and the US is that NZ is based on the club system vs the school based systems in the US. How she believes the US system burns young runners out.

• Anne was given up for adoption as an infant as her mother was a teenaged mom. Her adoptive parents noticed that she did not walk properly and she was identified as having a bone deformity similar to large bunions, but the doctors felt she should not be operated on until she was a young teen and her feet were not actively growing as rapidly. The doctors created a leather boot that allowed her to begin to develop the proper walking motion right away.

• It seemed natural to her when the casts came off to be like the other kids and run with the sports club. She didn’t want to do the field sports because she didn’t want to jump or drop things on her feet so she started running and then kept going finding she was actually good at it.

• How the bullying she endured as a child and being adopted and viewed as different made her very independent, self-motivated and comfortable with her own company and training alone. She felt she wanted to run as hard as she could herself, and if she got beaten, so be it. So she didn’t run tactically, she just ran as hard as she felt she could each time and had done her very best. If that meant she was competitive, then she was competitive with herself and the clock.

•  How Anne found her birth parents in her 30s and found they had married a year after giving her up as an infant and she had 6 siblings. Her birth family had watched her as a runner and didn’t realize she was their daughter/sister. Her adoptive parents were supportive and her dad had raised her as an observer of sport so she was prepared to participate when her body was ready.

• How she ran the fastest debut marathon before the first Olympic marathon that allowed women to run but New Zealand still required her to prove herself before allowing her on the team. As a result she had to run only a few months before the Olympics to qualify and then failed to finish at the Olympics as she ended up in the medical tent with dehydration.

• How she had watched her male counterparts get paid under the table for doing European races but that women got nothing. She heard about a Portland race that Nike was offering prize money to the first ten male and female finishers and went ahead and said she would accept prize money if she qualified. At the time track sport was still an amateur only event, and she was temporarily banned by the NZ Sport Federation when she won and accepted the prize money. She also was in the US on a tourist visa so was not allowed to accept prize money and was eventually deported. She put her trust in the race directors and those who wanted the sport to change and allow prize money.

• How she won over 75 road races and believes in consistency of training and going back to the same races where she was familiar with the course. It kept her healthy and consistent and made her a lot of money because she could know how to plan her training and how to focus

 

Inspirational Quotes:

The key to success is consistency in training and a determination to give it your very best effort every time.

Resources:

Last week's episode with Dr Rich Willy 

Tina4Real Podcast 

Running for Real Superstars Community

Support Tina through her Patreon Page

Buy a Running for Real T-shirt, Tank, or Hat

Anne on Facebook

Anne's website

Documentary on Anne

Anne's book: Uncommon Heart

Thank you to HOKA ONE ONE and Bodyhealth for sponsoring this episode of Running for Real.

HOKA ONE ONE® is a running shoe unlike any other. The Bondi 6 was one of the first shoes HOKA ONE ONE® ever created and it’s become a fan-favorite for good reason. Just try it on today and experience the sweetest cushion. Become part of the family. It’s Time To Fly™.. Get two day free shipping using code running4real

Now I am back to training, guess what was the first thing I did to start making sure I recover quicker (as coming back to fitness really beats your body up!), yep, you guessed it, BodyHealth Perfect Amino! Get 10% off at Bodyhealth.com using coupon code TINA10

This expert in Biomechanics and a member of the staff at the University of Montana is known as one of the best for a reason.  He studies runners and runner injuries with patellofemoral pain, Achilles tendonitis, and tibial stress fractures and is known for helping assist clinicians with diagnosing and preventing common running injuries.  Rich is a runner himself and ran cross country and track starting in high school.

If you are interested in subjects such as the risk of injury, gait retraining (and can we even change gait longer term?), the helpfulness of wearables , strength training and the importance of recovery, this episode will be of special interest to you.  We are back to the science you all love in this episode.

Today’s Guest

Dr. Richard Willy is an Assistant Professor in the School of Physical Therapy, University of Montana.  He received his PhD in Biomechanics and Movement Science from the University of Delaware and his master of physical therapy from Ohio University. In addition to his research, Dr. Willy has been a clinician for 18 years specializing in treatment of the injured runner.

What you will learn about:

• How runners who suffer tendon or stress fractures are significantly more at risk for additional tendon or stress fractures.  Part comes from not changing training loads and making the same mistakes over again.
• How general overall life stress in our lives increases the risk of injury because it impacts sleep and recovery overall.  Sleep quality really impacts the risk of stress fractures.
• How a Clinician can work with runners to change their biomechanics (stride, cadence, etc) and how much practice it takes in order to make those changes the norm for the runner.  How the runner needs to become bodily aware of what the change should feel like.  But, should you even bother to change your gait or is there something else you can do to make your body more durable and lower your injury risk that is more effective?
• The importance of cadence and whether there really is any magic to the oft touted 180 steps per minute.  Can you trust the cadence reported by your running watch?
• How stress fractures may need a team of specialists to lower their risk, including Physical Therapists, Strength Coaches and Registered Dietitians.
• How runners lie to themselves about where they are physically in terms of their training volume.  How we push too hard after a race to improve or try to return to “where we were” too quickly after injury.  The largest risk is in the 3rd work after comeback because that is where the body really starts to break down from accumulated stresses.
• Strength training is instrumental in tendon health and durability.  And it needs to be heavier weights, not low weight/high rep modes.  Endurance training mitigates the tendency to increase muscle mass but instead helps focus the change on tendon health and strength vs bulking up muscles.
• Plyometrics can also help with tendon strength and stiffness but at the end of the day strength training gives a bigger bang for the buck.
• Hip strength is important but won’t change how you are moving.  The process of getting stronger is what is more important and hip strengthening and quadriceps strength seems to best help protect the knees.  Calf raises are also important as a large percentage of our overall propulsion comes from the calf.
• Wearables are a double edged sword that provide us with some useful info but we also get caught up in the social media aspects and trying to do too much based on our fitness levels because we are competing with our friends vs focusing on our readiness.  Where a wearable can help is providing the data needed to review their running history and where something might have changed that caused an injury in terms of volume or terrain.
• Heart rate can help with keeping runs easier but as we get dehydrated our bodies have to increase the heart rate in order to push the blood volume so it can be a bit misleading.  Chest straps are more reliable right now than wrist based still.
• Distance, cadence, vertical oscillation, all seem to be pretty accurate and others not so much.  But clinically many of those measures don’t mean anything in terms of our running health.  It is important to track things over time but as predictive measures we still really don’t know enough to make that data of much use. 

Inspirational Quotes:

Mix things up.  Don’t run the same pace or the same route or the same terrain all of the time.  Do some speed sessions, trail runs, run with different groups to make your body adapt.  Especially as we age, it it important to keep the breadth of running modes in your plans.

Your perceived exertion is more important than any other measure.  We don’t get faster running every run as a tempo run.

Resources:

Last week's episode with Chrissie Wellington 

Tina4Real Podcast 

Running for Real Superstars Community

Support Tina through her Patreon Page

Effort scale for training by feel

Experts Rich mentioned to follow:

Chris Napier

Izzy Moore

Alison Gruber

Max Paquette

Tom Goom

Podcast episode with Max Paquette

Podcast episode with Tom Goom 

Rich on Twitter

Email rich: [email protected]

Buy a Running for Real T-shirt, Tank, or Hat

Thank you to HOKA ONE ONE and Bodyhealth for sponsoring this episode of Running for Real.

HOKA ONE ONE® is a running shoe unlike any other. The Bondi 6 was one of the first shoes HOKA ONE ONE® ever created and it’s become a fan-favorite for good reason. Just try it on today and experience the sweetest cushion. Become part of the family. It’s Time To Fly™.. Get two day free shipping using code running4real

Now I am back to training, guess what was the first thing I did to start making sure I recover quicker (as coming back to fitness really beats your body up!), yep, you guessed it, BodyHealth Perfect Amino! Get 10% off at Bodyhealth.comusing coupon code TINA10

English professional Triathlete and four time Ironman Triathlon World Champion in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011 is here on the podcast today. Chrissie Wellington won her age group at the 2017 London Marathon with a finishing time of 2:49:01 (her fastest marathon though was part of an ironman Triathlon where she ran 2:44:35!).  Chrissie has written two books, “A Life Without Limits” (her autobiography) and “To the Finish Line” (a training guide book).

Chrissie and I discuss the importance of listening to your body when you are training as well as remembering to smell the roses and see the scenery along the way.  You need to remember to embrace the environment you are training in an enjoy it along the way.  We talk about the pressure of performance and reaping the reward of months of investment of time and energy in trying to reach our goals.

She is a role model for others and an ambassador for the sport of Triathlon. She has always had so many different passions and she has used them all to assist others around the world.   She is open and outspoken about her struggles with eating disorders.  

Today’s Guest

Chrissie Wellington was born in England and grew up in a small town near London.  She swam competitively as a teenager and in her years at University.  She has an undergraduate degree in Geography and an MA in International Developmental Policy.  She has worked in Public Policy Development and worked in Nepal on Rural Reconstruction.  During her time in Nepal she trained mountain biking in the Himalayas.  She now lives in England with her husband and daughter.

What you will learn about:

* How Chrissie has had a passion for creating positive change, so made her career focused on driving change, but wanted to do it at a more ground roots level.

* Chrissie’s two week holiday cycling across the Himalayas from Llasa to Kathmandu on rural dirt roads at altitude. The trip taught her she had the capacity to endure things she didn’t realize she could endure. It also taught her the importance of rawness in your training. While you have to become focused in training and take care of the details you have to remember the rawness of just being active and just paying attention to perceived effort.

* We discuss managing the nerves before an event by focusing on what you have done during your training vs what you might not have done as well or what other people might have or have done. Take yourself to a place where you can visualize success or sit and talk with someone who supports you unconditionally. In the days before the race, you can visualize what might go wrong and how you will handle it to give yourself peace of mind to know you can handle it. Because no race ever gone perfectly but you overcome.

* How she started training with a goal to qualify for the Olympics as a swimmer. Her coach quickly directed her to Ironman competitions instead, and she won her first attempt in Korea. She then went on to win the World Championships right after.

* How she has used her success in sport to be able to drive her passions to be a force for good in other efforts to drive change.

* How she knew she had the “perfect race” where she had to dig the deepest and had to fight to succeed. It was not perfect from the perspective of everything going right but rather answering for her how hard she could fight and how much she could endure. And having had that race, she knew she could retire knowing she had given her all.

* Chrissie discusses her struggles with eating disorders and the desire to control by restricting eating. After she started running and researching nutrition, she found she was able to learn to fuel more as it improved her performance. But then how she found that once she retired, she felt the restrictions coming back because she was not “earning” her food intake. Her desire to have a family and now raise her daughter with a healthy relationship to food helped he...