Today's conversation is not with a runner or an ultra-endurance athlete.  It's a simpler journey of fitness that an average person struggles with. Most want to look good, feel good, and be healthy. And Sukumar's down-to-earth wit makes his journey personable. He has made it work with persistence.  We get behind the scenes on this fascinating journey, starting with wanting to get fit to find a marriage partner and the ensuing quest for fitness thereafter.

Chapter timelines 

0:00 Intro and background

3:45 The beginnings

8:36 The exercise conundrum

13:03 Stumbling into the WHY

21:45 The top three practices that helped

24:33 The tiny habit method ( freedom from demotivation )

30:52 Changing food habits

35:07 Concept of Tiny Grit and Reducing procrastination

46:14 What’s next is walking around planets

50:38 Fun Q&A round

57:42 The last word

In conversation with Ultra cyclist Shankar Muniyappa, who started as a commuter cyclist and scaled to endurance cycling. He also supported his friends to partake in a fitness lifestyle by creating a community. What's more, he does this along with his lovely wife, proving that the pursuit of endurance hobbies can be an enabler in marriages. His is a fascinating journey of growth and leadership.   Shankar has penned an article on bicycling safety, Prep URL: https://www.rsvp-challenges.org/archives/cycling-safety-tips 

Some of his recent adventures include the following   

Chapter timelines 

0:00 Background Introduction

3:45 Backstory

6:27 Selecting a proper bicycle

11:33 Cycling in the growing up years

13:35 Pivoting into endurance bicycling

17:58 Big changes to lifestyle to get fitter

21:50 Changes to nutrition

24:58 Improving power and cadence

28:06 The big rides with the wife to Bearttooth

34:01 The Mt Whitney adventure

38:28 The death ride adventure

43:25 Nutrition during rides

47:16 Creating a community challenge

58:59 What’s next on the horizon

1:00:57 Fun Q&A round

1:06:12 The last word

In conversation with Mahesh Nambiar. Mahesh is a coach, mentor, and consultant facilitating unprecedented personal and professional outcomes for individuals and teams vis-à-vis leadership, organizational development and change management, and process consultancy. Mahesh has dedicated himself to the pursuit of supporting others in producing the unthinkable and the unimaginable for the last 27 years and has altered the work and lives of over 150,000 people globally.  Mahesh also received the Priyadarshini National Award and Conference Rashtriya Ekta Award Issued by the All India National Unity Conference.

0:00 Intro and background

4:23 What is peak performance

7:17 Should we be effort or outcome focused

9:15 Why being results-driven isn’t satisfying

11:53 What is behavior

13:08 How do define the purpose

15:43 What’s the purpose if our well being

18:44 How to know if one is operating at the peak

21:39 Rat race versus operating at peak

23:24 Making what you say as important

24:42 What pitfalls should we look out

28:54 How to handle multiple priorities

33:29 Handling the lows

40:19 Wrap up

In conversation with Dr. Sripathi Kethu , on his amazing accomplishment of 38 marathons in 12 months to achieve the 50 states club in the US.  Sripathi has been on episode 7 of the RunYogi Diaries podcast where we talked about his running journey.  In the episode, we get behind the scenes on he executed a 38-marathon project in 2022.

0:00 Introduction and background

3:35 The ground zero of the 50 states project

6:07 The decision to do it in 12 months and logistics

13:58 Managing double marathons

15:33 Goal setting for finish times

17:09 Challenge of self-motivation

18:54 Staying healthy in-between marathons

20:17 Nutritional strategy

22:32 The scheduling challenge

23:45 Managing family commitments

25:28 Managing multiple terrains

27:05 The mental hack

29:57 The Sripathi rating of highlighted marathons

30:22 The most challenging one

36:24 The most fun marathon

37:11 The best-organized one

37:37 The worst organized

38:55 The best crowd support marathon

40:48 The smallest-size marathon

41:50 The largest-size marathon

42:21 The most complicated travel

46:17 The best marathon of all

49:10 What’s next in the hopper

51:14 The last word

In conversation with the incredible Vikas Malik, a physicist by training (PhD in physics), Food Analytical Scientist by profession and Ultrarunner by passion. Vikas also is a practitioner and evangelist of the High Fat Low Carb ( HFLC, also known as the ketogenic) diet.   

He is one of the fastest 100-mile finishers from India, with a time of 18 hours and 20 minutes in 2017  at The Hennepin Hundred, IL) where he finished in the top 10. Vikas also was part of the Indian National team for the 100k world championship in 2018.   

Vikas started off as a road runner, where he continued to get faster as well, with a 3.45 hr finish in his first marathon to a 2.47 finish PR in a span of a few years.  

His podium finishes in ultras are impressive as below  

Course Record - Badger Trail Races b... 100K

2022 Badger Trail Races b... 50K - 1st place

2019 Badger Trail Races b... 100K - 1st place

2016 tBunk Endurance Chal... 50 Miler - 2nd place

In conversation with Jeev Singh of London. Jeev is a successful tech executive in the banking Industry in London. His journey to well-being through running which led to highly conscious living is fascinating. As a deep thinker, the insights in the conversation were pure gold.   He can be followed on his Instagram handle @desi.runner

0:00 Intro and Background

5:38 Flashback, to where it all started

10:09 What triggered the change

13:56 Signing up for the Athens marathon

19:22 Life beyond the first marathon

22:45 Pivoting to trail running

30:05 Inception of environmental consciousness

32:18 Going longer into ultras

36:50 The 100 miler

30:04 Mantra for digging deep

42:33 Problem-solving obstacles

46:34 Goal-oriented workouts

48:20 Healing injuries

52:37 What is the Ayurvedic lifestyle

1:00 The Satvic lifestyle conundrum

1:09 What happened to the toxic habits

1:12 The Green Runner initiative

1:30 Fun Q&A round

1:39 The last word

In conversation with Coach Pramod, the chief coach of Jayanagar Jaguars( JJ), one of Bangalore's oldest running groups, that's grown into a premier coaching organization. Pramod, a multi-faceted individual with interests in theater, technology, and fitness, has trained over 7000 people to pursue their fitness and endurance goals.   A sprinter himself during his growing-up years, Pramod has successfully pivoted his passion for running into a mission for the greater community good. 

A believer in a structured approach to improving performance, he has also forayed into collaborating with coaches in Kenya to bring best practices back to India.   

He believes everyone runner, no matter their current levels must and can pursue their best. We get behind the scenes of his amazing journey.

0:00 Intro and Background

3:45 Flashback, to where it all started

9:44 Focusing on career

16:07 A fit family

18:23 How did Jayanagar Jaguar happen

20:43 The new innings of racing

23:08 Coaching journey at JJ

30:01 Finding time for multiple commitments

36:49 Resilience of women athletes

39:30 Managing JJ’s growth

43:42 Motivating trainees and scaling operations

48:57 The Kenya influence

53:59 Why everyone should pursue ones passion

59:05 What’s next on the horizon, the focus on youth

1:02:56 The fun Q&A round

1:08:39 The last word

In conversation with Dipa Patel, who had to fight the cultural and gender baggage growing up in America, to pursue her passion of log distance bicycling and eventually become an Ironman triathlete.   Her story is inspiring to many women of South Asian descent who may find themselves in similar circumstances and are held back either through limiting self-beliefs or lack of representation.  You will enjoy this very light-hearted yer insightful conversation with Dipa Patel.

0:00 Intro and background

3:15 Flashback to how it all started

7:57 The beginning of the bicycling journey

10:56 The cycling tragedy

16:46 The start of long-distance running

19:30 beginning the triathlons

24:58 Cross-fitness between running and bicycling

28:33 Barriers for South Asian women in endurance sports

36:28 Finding time to train

40:32 Injuries

42:09 Nutrition

51:10 What’s next on the horizon

57:11 Fun Q&A round

1:02:50 The last word

Vishal's story underscores the fact that you will never know unless you try. For someone who started running at age 38 with absolutely no prior running history,, to have gotten fast enough to qualify for the Boston marathon is an incredibly inspiring tale. You will love this conversation.

0:00 Intro and background

4:02 Flashback, to where it all started

6:09 Scaling from half marathons to full

8:14 The journey to qualify for the Boston

14:25 The Mountains to Beach marathon

18:20 Injury prevention strategies

19:31 The Boston marathon experience

25:09 Nutritional strategies

29:22 Why pivot to Triathlons

35:58 The open water scene in Bay Area , CA

38:02 The Ironman Experience

41:54 The Arizona Ironman 140.6

43:09 Tweaks for training for an Ironman

45:52 The New York Marathon experience

51:25 Fun Q&A round

In conversation with Satish Gogineni, the Hyderabad-born mountaineer, who climbed not one but two mountains in a single day. Satish summited Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse — the first and fourth highest peaks in the world – within 20 hours of each other, in one single expedition. This makes him the fastest Indian to achieve the double summit, a feat less than 100 climbers in the world have managed.