Overcome and Run

Ultra marathon athlete and former World's Toughest Mudder champion Trevor Cichosz joins me this week to tell me all about his experience at Everest 135, an intense 135-mile ultra marathon where he took third place.

We begin with Trevor telling me all about how he heard of this race, all the race prep required and the training (and lack thereof) that led up to it.

He tells me about the race prep in the days leading up to the race, and walks me through his entire race experience, from the issues to the checkpoints, to the altitude and all that climbing. Trevor shares some wild stories, from hallucinating a village to holding onto donkeys so he wouldn't get kicked off the treacherous mountain trails.

We talk about how it compared to his race across Scotland last year, and Trevor talks about the lessons he learned and what he'll do to prepare next time.

We end by talking more about ultra marathons, what's next on his schedule, and his next crazy adventure.

Want more? Read about Trevor's experience in his own words, on his blog here: http://www.groundpounder.org/2019/05/13/everest-135/

Live from Snohomish, Washington, I grabbed a ton of interviews with some of the top athletes who ran the Seattle Spartan Championship Super. We spoke about the challenges of the course, the weather, the competition, and more!

I spoke with:

-Faye Morgan

-Aaron Newell

-Nicole Mericle

-Ryan Atkins

-Rea Kolbl

-Ryan Kent

-Veejay Jones

This week is full of live interviews and my own review from Tough Mudder's opening weekend in California! I was there Sunday to run the course, and I got interviews from some key members of the TM community, including:

-Tough Mudder CEO Kyle McLaughlin

-Two of the three founders of Assist 100 Mudders, Joey Ta and Ed Groleau

-Tough Mudder emcee and community favorite Sean Corvelle

Jack Bauer, the mind behind the massive Spartan ranking system, joins me on the podcast to talk all about the top women in the elite field.

We begin with talking about the "Fab 5" elite women and who it has consisted of, and how it might be changing. We have a long discussion full of stats about most all of the top women currently in the field, and where we think they'll end up by championship season. This leads me to ask for Jack's opinion on whether the wide variety of course types in the Spartan USNS will affect the top placing.

Jack then gives me plenty of head-to-head stats from the women's field, and I ask him if he thinks that some of the slower starts this year are due to the fact that the series started so early.

We get briefly sidetracked by some of the men's competition, and we then discuss the women that dominated the field years ago, and how they would stack up against the top women's field today. Jack goes one to tell me which women had the most podiums each year.

We then get into the topic of dark horses, and Jack gives me some names to look out for this year.

Lastly, we end with a discussion about the recently announced OCRWC ranking system, and how we both feel about it.

Elite OCR athlete and Spartan Pro Team member Veejay Jones joins me on the podcast to talk about his win at the Spartan U.S. National Series race, how he trains and what he focuses on in his training, and about the upcoming show he's on, Million Dollar Mile.

We start with Veejay telling me about his win in Alabama, and I ask him about his proficiency with obstacles. He then explains to me why the Spartan U.S. National Series isn't on his radar, and I ask him when he'll start to focus on winning Beasts. I also ask him whether or not he feels as though he's underestimated by the elite field.

Veejay also tells me about his training with Richard Diaz, and how that's affected his performance at races.

We then talk about the upcoming show Million Dollar Mile, and Veejay explains the premise of the show and the layout of the course. He tells me about what is like to work the other pros on the show, and I ask him how it compares to some of the other OCR-related shows we've seen.

Lastly, Veejay tells me about what he will be focusing on, and the his goal races for the year.

Kressa Peterson joined me for a bonus episode this week to talk all about her product Shower Toga, appearing on Shark Tank, and how the values of OCR got her to where she is today.

We begin with Kressa introducing herself and telling me about when and how the idea for the Shower Toga was born. She then tells me about the process of getting on Shark Tank, and we compare it to an endurance OCR. That leads us to a discussion about the lessons and confidence OCR has given us, and how it affects every aspect of our lives.

Kressa tells me more about future plans for the Shower Toga, including working with disaster relief and finding ways to make it more biodegradable.

She then talks about what it was like being on the show and being her authentic self on the show, which leads us to another discussion about discovering who we are and the strength we have. We also talk about the teamwork and camaraderie of OCR, and how it instills empathy.

Lastly, we circle back to Shark Tank and talk more about the her investors.

You can order Shower Toga here: https://showertoga.com/

You can watch the Shark Tank episode here: https://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank/episode-guide/season-10/14-episode-14

We've got more live interviews for you this week from the Spartan San Jose Sprint! I spoke with athletes all about the course, the competition, how it compares to previous years, and what's ahead for them.

I start by giving my own recap of the Sprint race, and then speak with:

-Kyle Elliot

-Josh Fry

-Seth Buchwalter

-Ian Deyerle

-Erin Wachter

-Emilee Smith

This week's episode is full of live interviews from the Spartan Sprint and Super weekend outside Las Vegas (technically in Arizona), and my own recap from the race.

I spoke with Veejay Jones all about his race, racing against Cody Moat and Hobie Call, and a little bit about the upcoming show Million Dollar Mile.

I also spoke with Hobie Call about his return to racing this year, and Cody Moat about racing neck-and-neck with Veejay, and I ask them both about their Sprint race and what races they'll be at this year.

I wasn't able to grab an interview with Cera Edgley at the venue, so I gave her a quick call on the road and Cera told me about her podium finish at the Sprint on Saturday, and more about the disqualification she and Timmie Brann received on Sunday.

Elite OCR athlete Ryan Kempson joins me this week to talk all about his win at the Spartan US National Series Super in Jacksonville last weekend, the series as a whole, the sport of OCR, and how he trains for such a long season.

We start with Ryan giving me his background and how he got into OCR. We then dive into Jacksonville and Ryan break down how his race went and the competition.

We discuss the new obstacles, and then dive into the topic of officiating at races, and how Ryan feels Spartan is doing in that respect. We talk about penalties, and the degree to which they should or perhaps shouldn't be penalized, especially when compared to other sports.

Ryan then tells me about how he trains for such a long OCR season without burning out, and we talk about the diversity of the courses in Spartan's US National Series and how it may affect the competition.

I ask Ryan about his race preferences, and he tells me more about other OCRs he has run and how they differ from Spartan.

We end with Ryan sharing his goals and the races he's focusing on this year, and how consistency is key in the sport of OCR.

This week's episode is full of live interviews from the Spartan Sprint/Super weekend in Arizona! I spoke with some of the elite athletes there all about the terrain, the cold, and the competition.

I spoke with:

-Emilee Smith

-Nick O'Sullivan

-Beni Gifford

-Amanda Nadeau

-Daniel Sorenson

-Heather Gollnick

-Timmie Brann

-Nikolaj Dam

-Leon Kofoed