Off The Couch

Today we’ve got some race recaps for you; our initial impressions of Saucony’s Switchback2 (which features the BOA system); and we discuss the arrival of the first carbon-plated trail shoe, The North Face's Flight Vectiv.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Race Recap: Moab Red Hot (2:05)
• Race Recap: Black Canyon Ultras (8:52)
• Review: Saucony Switchback2 (15:03)
• Carbon-plated trail shoes have arrived (24:26)

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My Off The Couch co-host Brendan Leonard has a new book coming out, so I talked to Brendan about zen koans, piñatas, other running books, kids, alternate titles for the book, and why Jonathan thinks that you should read this book whether you hate running, or love it.

TOPICS & TIMES

• Best Table of Contents Ever? (2:00)
• Who is the book for? (4:23)
• Alternate titles  (11:09)
• Running books & Born to Run (17:18)
• From Zero to Try (29:38)
• How do books work? (36:52)
• The importance of piñatas (41:43)
• Running & Love & Your Kids (44:45)
• When / Where to get the book (48:03)

RELATED LINKS:

• SEMI-RAD.COM
• BOOKSHOP.ORG

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Brendan Leonard & Jonathan Ellsworth talk to Mike Foote, who on 12.31.20, headed out with fellow The North Face athlete, Rob Krar, to attempt an FKT of the Rim to Rim to Rim “alt” route of the Grand Canyon. So Brendan and I caught up with Mike to get his version of events, and we discuss a number of interesting and important topics that show just how terrific and thoughtful of a person Mike is (in case you didn’t know that already).

TOPICS & TIMES

• Mike’s attempt to photograph Rob Krar’s butt (2:30)
• Racing, training, & race directing in 2020 (12:19)
• Races planned for 2021 (17:27)
• Getting in to race directing + Mike’s previous jobs (25:45)
• Books & reading habits (39:29)
• Ted Lasso! (52:16)
• Mental Health, exercise, & sports psychology (53:57)

RELATED LINKS

• THE VIDEO: R2R2R ALT ROUTE

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Brendan Leonard & Jonathan Ellsworth talk to Ed Roberson, the creator of The Procrastinator’s Punishment 50k; the host of the excellent Mountain & Prairie podcast; and the author of a fantastic Books Recommendation series. So we talked to Ed about all of the above, and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Ed’s podcast, Mountain & Prairie (1:52)
• The Procrastinator’s Punishment 50k (9:09)
• Ed’s Scary DNF (30:22)
• ED’s Gross DNF (36:41)
• Triathalon community vs the Ultra community (39:31)
• Ed’s bi-monthly book recommendations (44:40)

RELATED LINKS:

• Ed’s Mountain & Prairie Podcast
• Signup for Ed’s Book Recommendation Emails

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Zoë Rom is a runner / scrambler / climber; reader; writer; and host of the DNF Podcast. And we talk about all of this plus her interest in continuing to deepen and enrich running culture; the very specific way to win her heart; getting cut from the cross country team in high school; winning her first ultra with the help of Oreos & Fireball; her FKT on Capitol Peak; what she’s reading, watching, and listening to; and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Fruit, books, & growing up in Arkansas (2:29)
• Getting cut from the XC team (6:40)
• Oreos, Fireball, & Winning her 1st Ultra (12:55)
• Moving to Boulder, CO (22:38)
• Climbers or Runners: who are more cerebral? (26:55)
• Writing about Running (30:13)
• Mountain Running (34:11)
• How to win Zoe’s heart (35:51)
• Zoe’s FKT on Capitol Peak (37:47)
• DNF Podcast (44:32)
• What Zoe’s reading, watching, & listening to (49:47)

RELATED LINKS

• Survivor Endurance phone case 
• Our experience with the Survivor Endurance

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Brendan Leonard and I talk with Peter Bromka, a runner that grew up in Portland, ran at Tufts University in Boston, started trail running around San Francisco, and now, is back in Portland where he runs for the Bowerman Track Club Elite Program. But in addition to training hard and running fast, Peter is focused on writing about running itself. And in this conversation, you’ll hear more about how he is currently pursuing both.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Confession of being an OTC impostor (4:26)
• How Brendan and Peter met (10:05)
• Running / Not Running / Running (13:32)
• Falling short (25:35)
• Peter’s “The Bubble of a Dream” (32:34)
• Getting better at running without getting faster? (38:45)
• Thoughts on the book, Win At All Costs (42:31)
• Compensation & professional running (49:18)
• Going forward: writing & running (55:24)
• See Peter’s work: peterbromka.com (1:00:30)

RELATED LINKS

• Survivor Endurance phone case 
• Our experience with the Survivor Endurance

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Most of you are familiar with the BOA fit system, but do you know what BOA is up to today? Or maybe you’ve thought, What’s wrong with regular shoe laces? We went to the BOA Performance Fit Lab to learn more; hear why they see a big opportunity in trail running shoes; and see how they are working with companies to optimize products.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• BOA’s background & the Performance Fit Lab (2:29)
• Dan Feeney & Kate Harrison’s backgrounds (6:20)
• BOA vs traditional shoe laces (8:20)
• 3rd-Party Testing (14:28)
• BOA’s biggest categories & emerging categories (16:15)
• Trail running benefits of BOA (21:50)
• Lateral Stability & BOA (23:50)
• Working with companies for optimization (25:55)
• Different foot shapes & BOA (28:37)
• Data collecting with athletes (30:10)
• Current BOA products to try on (32:55)

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Our guest today is Matt Hart, author of the book, Win at All Costs: Inside Nike Running and its Culture of Deception, which is an important book that everyone interested in competitive athletics should read.

We talk to Matt about how he got interested in and involved with this story; whether we should just make all performance-enhancing drugs legal in all sports; who is most to blame for PED use in sports; what Nike’s response to the book has been; Alberto Salazar’s upcoming trial; and more. This is a great conversation that raises a lot of important topics, and after you listen to this conversation, you should read Win at All Costs.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Matt’s background (3:45)
• The Nike Oregon Project (18:42)
• Legal vs. illegal drugs (23:16)
• Drugs in sports: who is most to blame? (31:54)
• Fact-checking the book (1:06)
• Nike’s response to the book? (1:15:45)
• Alberto Salazar’s upcoming trial (1:18:51)

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If you are interested in product design and the process of innovation, then you need to listen to this conversation. Jean-Luc Diard started as an intern at Salomon, developed the first shaped ski, became the CEO at Salomon, played a major role in the development of Salomon’s running shoes, moved on to found Hoka One One, and is currently the VP of Innovation for the Deckers Group, where he currently heads up the Deckers X Lab.

This conversation explores the process of bringing about real innovation, how to make it happen, what to do, and what to avoid. It is not to be missed.

TOPICS & TIMES

• What is the Deckers X Lab? (3:18)
• What is the Deckers Group? (4:25)
• Jean-Luc’s background (5:50)
• Why outdoor brands used to be narrowly focused (10:08)
• From intern to CEO of Salomon (14:40)
• Designing Salomon’s first ski (17:45)
• Getting Salomon into running shoes (24:23)
• Tangent: what happened to inline skating? (31:56)
• Starting Something New: Hoka One One (34:58)
• Adoption - and Resistance - to Innovation (48:39)
• From Hoka to the Deckers X Lab (52:29)
• ‘Not-My-Invention Syndrome’ & the Process of Innovation (58:45)
• Putting huge balloon heels on shoes (1:14:28)
• What is Deckers X Lab up to today? (1:23:05)

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Billy Yang is (among other things) a runner, filmmaker (Billy Yang Films), podcast host (Billy Yang Podcast), and someone who has been chronicling the sport of running in a fashion that is often beautiful, and always inspiring.

In this conversation, Brendan Leonard and Jonathan Ellsworth talk to Billy about everything from cigarette brands to the need for more compassionate critical thinking in our world.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Smoking / not smoking (1:52)
• Filmmaking & influences (8:23)
• Different mediums (16:54)
• Immigration (22:08)
• Finishing projects (34:10)
• LA & moving? (43:25)
• NFL and the NBA (51:02)
• Podcasting & media (57:07)
• Hopes for the coming year (59:09)

RELATED LINKS:

• YouTube: Billy Yang Films
• Billy Yang Podcast

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