Seasoned Athlete

t’s a New Year and we’re back with new episodes of the Seasoned Athlete Podcast!

For many of us, a new year signifies an opportunity to look within, reevaluate and reset our goals. But often times, we don’t stick with those goals, or get stalled out even before we get started. The mind is a powerful tool – it can work for you and help you do amazing things, or it can tell you lies about yourself and act like a saboteur. In the spirit of the New Year, new aspirations and new energy, we’re doing something a little different with today’s episode. For the first time, we are featuring someone who is UNDER age 40. Again, in the spirit of the New Year, today’s guest can serve as an amazing resource for those who have struggled with starting or maintaining a fitness routine, or have convinced themselves that they aren’t capable or worthy or bold athletic and fitness goals.

Today’s guest is Dr. Lara Pence. She’s a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and has spent the last fifteen years working with individuals as they peel back the layers of their outer shell, cast aside unhealthy patterns and begin to build a new, more resilient sense of self. Dr. Pence has worked with Olympic athletes, successful business owners and entrepreneurs to help them move away from comparison and self-loathing and toward connection and self-investment. She is the Chief Mind Doc for Spartan and hosts the Spartan Mind YouTube video series. And on January 1st of this year, Dr. Pence launched a brand new YouTube videos series that takes viewers through a journey of self-discovery, exploration and analysis, with new videos released every Tuesday and Thursday and important at-home exercises to help deepen self-understanding and awareness. Learn more and subscribe at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa-Gym_uPFvDO3QIR1E3y8A

Website: DrLaraPence.com

Instagram: @drlarapence

Spartan Mind YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVMYdrGzjj9dnFaPhmfSSegTPLFZv7ueV

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As has become tradition here at the Seasoned Athlete Podcast, on host Robin Legat’s birthday every year, she turns the tables and answers listener questions. On this episode, recorded the day Robin turned 44, Robin talks about her year in racing, including successes and shortcomings, shares her experience as a budding competitive obstacle racer, and gives advice to listeners who are working on accomplishing their own health, fitness and race goals.

CONTACT:

Instagram: @robinlegatsgx
Facebook: Facebook.com/robinmlegat
RobinLegat.com

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This week, we talk to 67-year old Helen Leeds of Bullhead City, Arizona. Helen is a mother of three, grandmother of seven and she has one great grandson. She’s a retired Senior Accountant, a golfer, a bowler and a competitive soccer player. Helen medaled twice in the Bullhead City/Laughlin Senior Olympics in 2017 and recently competed with the San Diego Soccer Women Global Goals team in Norway, playing alongside women ranging from 41-77 years old - and her daughter. Helen’s passions also include Zumba, motorcycle riding, camping and birdwatching.

In this episode, we learn how Helen was able to return to the soccer field in her sixties after a long absence, what other sports she enjoys or would like to pursue, and learn the advice she has for others who would like to be as active as she is in their sixties.

HELEN LEEDS SEASONED ATHLETE STATS

Age: 67

Sport: Soccer, bowling, track and field

Quote: “The medal is the road getting to that first step on the field.”

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Jimmy Choi, 43, is a husband, father, runner, cyclist, obstacle racer and American Ninja Warrior. After being diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s Disease at age 27, and spending years in denial, a life changing incident was the catalyst that led him to make a change to lead a more active life. Since his first 5K in 2012, Jimmy has literally hit the ground running and has run countless road races, numerous 50+ mile bike races and two seasons of American Ninja Warrior - all the while representing Team Fox and raising $250,000 for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Jimmy has become an inspiration to the Parkinson’s community and beyond, and lives his life with a positive mindset, passion and dedication to helping find a cure for Parkinson’s.

Contact/Follow:

https://facebook.com/jcfoxninja

https://instagram.com/jcfoxninja

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On Friday, September 28, 2018, John Witzing, Josh Chessman and Brian “Tosh” Chontosh entered individual shipping containers and spent 24 hours running on Trueform Runner human powered treadmills. They did this in the dark, isolated from the outside world. No communication, no music, nothing but their own thoughts and iron will pushing them through. The goal? Run as many miles as possible in 24 hours. Known as the Locked and Loaded 24 Hours of Isolation Challenge, they were doing this in support of mental health, veterans and first responders. Although their individual goals were to run more miles than their competitors, to them, true victory was to help those suffering in silence.

We had the opportunity to speak with John, Josh and Tosh at the 2018 Spartan Podfest, just hours before they stepped into the shipping containers to embark upon this extraordinary challenge. In this episode, they talk about the origins of this challenge, how they each trained, the benefits of youth vs experience (and vice versa) and how this turned from a crazy idea that came up on a long road trip to a massive charity fundraising event taking place on the world stage.

We give a recap - including an amazing, late-breaking twist - at the end of the episode.

LEARN MORE:

TheWhiteboardProject.com/24-hours-of-isoldation

Donate to Wounded Warriors Canada or The Revelry Project: TheWhiteboardProject.com/ll24h-donate

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It’s Spartan World Championships Week. And this week we talk to two Spartan World Championships competitors with completely different stories!

We start by debuting our new Seasoned Firsts segment. This segment features people who are stepping outside their comfort zones to try new challenges for the very first time. Whether it’s a race, event, competition or new sport, we want to know what drives these people to challenge themselves in this new way. Today we introduce 48-year old Julie Jensen, who is competing in her very first Spartan Race at the notoriously difficult Spartan Race World Championships in Lake Tahoe.

In our main interview, we talk to 43-year old Rachel Cosgrove of Santa Clarita, California. Rachel owns and operate Results Fitness, named one of the top ten gyms in the US by Men’s Health Magazine. She’s the best-selling author of The Female Body Breakthrough and Drop Two Sizes. In 2012, Rachel earned the title of IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year. She has competed as a triathlete, a powerlifter, and in the last year, she made a name for herself as a competitive obstacle course racer. Some of Rachel’s recent OCR stats include earning a 3rd place Masters finish at EPIC Series in 2017, a 3rd place age group finish at the 2017 Big Bear Spartan Beast, 2nd in the 40-49 age group at the 2018 SoCal Spartan, and 3rd place in the 40-49 age group at the 2018 Big Bear Spartan Beast, which also punched her ticket to the 2018 Spartan World Championships as an age group competitor.

SEASONED ATHLETE STATS - RACHEL COSGROVE

Age: 43

Sport: Obstacle Course Racing

Quote: “Race day is your reward, but don’t forget to enjoy the process.”

Contact:

Instagram - @rachcosgrove

Facebook: http://facebook.com/RachelCosgroveFanPage

Website: RachelCosgrove.com

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This week, we meet 61-year old Helen Fritsch - a flight attendant, published fitness model, IFBB Bodybuilding Pro and Certified Wine Specialist who believes that age is irrelevant to pursue goals, dreams and desires. To that end, she started competing in bodybuilding shows when she turned 55 and consistently placed in the top 5. When Helen turned 60 last year, she won a national championship and earned her pro card. Four years ago, Helen was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, but that didn’t stop her from pursuing her athletic goals. Helen has been featured in Oxygen Magazine, D’Fyne Magazine, Center Stage Magazine and she writes a column in Max Sports and Fitness Magazine called Forever Young.

In this episode, we discuss Helen’s journey to becoming a competitive bodybuilder in her sixties, how she was able to stay disciplined with her nutrition while traveling for a living, and what she credits with keeping her cancer from advancing.

SEASONED ATHLETE STATS - HELEN FRITSCH

Age: 61

Sport: competitive bodybuilding

Quote: “Age is irrelevant.”

Contact: https://www.facebook.com/helenfritschnpccompetitor/

 

 

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This week, we talk to 55-year old Charlie Engle of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Charlie is a husband, a father, a writer, a runner and a recovering addict. He’s run across deserts, summited ice-covered volcanoes, swam with crocodiles and even served a stint in federal prison. But Charlie’s greatest challenge is the daily challenge of sobriety. Instead of trying to kill his addictive nature, Charlie instead channels it into positive, purpose-filled pursuits, and those pursuits have literally had him running all over the globe. He’s been clean and sober since 1992, his running pursuits have been the subject of multiple documentaries, and in 2016, Charlie released his first book aptly titled Running Man. Charlie is, as he describes yourself, an addict who runs and a runner who writes.

In this episode, Charlie candidly talks about his struggles with addiction and how that opened up a new path for him as an ultra-endurance runner. He also shares some remarkable stories, including the hilarious way he stumbled into ultra-distance running and how he ended up running an ultramarathon within the confines of a prison yard.

SEASONED ATHLETE STATS - CHARLIE ENGLE

Age: 55

Sport: Running, ultra-running, Spartan Race, anything adventurous

Quote: “People assume that they’re not qualified to be out there doing big adventures. We need to be out there leading by example that we’re never too old to be doing an adventure. “

Contact: CharlieEngle.com

 

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his week we talk to 66-year old Masters Runner Tom Bernhard of Castro Valley, CA. He currently holds four men’s 65-69 American age group records - 1 Mile, 5000m, and 10,000m on the track along with the 5K record on the road.  Tom is a four-time Road Runner of the year in your age group: once in 55-59, once in 60-64, and twice in 65-69. And he's won the Masters LDR Grand Prix two times: once in 2015 in the 60-64 age group and once in 2017 in the 65-69 age group.

In this episode, we discuss how Tom has managed to work through various injuries and how he continues to be able to race at a high level. 

SEASONED ATHLETE STATS - TOM BERNHARD

Age: 66 

Sport: Masters Running

Quote: "Find your passion and pursue it with enthusiasm."

Learn more about masters running: http://therunningprof.com

EVERYDAY SEASONED ATHLETE - STEPH ELDORE

Each week, we start our show with our featured EVERYDAY SEASONED ATHLETE. In this segment, we shine the spotlight on athletes over age 40 from a variety of backgrounds and skill levels.. Our Everyday Seasoned Athletes will be sharing why they do what they do and what they’ve learned along the way – all in their own words. This week, we feature trail runner Steph Eldore.

EVERYDAY SEASONED ATHLETE STATS - STEPH ELDORE

Age: 43

Sport: Trail Running

Quote: "When I finished that marathon it changed my life."

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This week we talk to Alene Nitzky of Fort Collins, Colorado. She’s an oncology nurse turned health coach that specializes in helping cancer survivors and their families. She’s a writer, blogger and author and she recently published your first book Navigating the C: A Nurse Charts the Course for Cancer Survivorship Care. On the Seasoned Athlete side, She’s an ultra runner, and one of her great accomplishments came when you turned 50 and ran 112+ miles in 24 hours with an overall win at the Cornbelt 24 Hour run in Iowa. She recently took some time off running to concentrate on her business and writing, and now she’s getting ready to return to racing with a goal of running the Across the Years 48 hour race in December.

In the episode, we discuss her early experience with road running, the advantages of training and competing in such grueling races as an older athlete, and what advice she would give to people who feel like they could never become an ultra runner as well as her advocacy work.

SEASONED ATHLETE STATS - ALENE NITZKY

Age:  54

Sport: Ultra Running

Quote: People don't realize what they can do because they don't try. They intimidate themselves.

 

Websites:

Running blog: http://alenegonebad.blogspot.com/Journey to Badwater

Advocacy organization: https://cancerharbors.com/

Buy her book: https://www.amazon.com/Navigating-Charts-Course-Cancer-Survivorship/dp/1943889082/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524766336&sr=1-1&keywords=Navigating+the+C%3A+A+Nurse+Charts+the+Course+for+Cancer+Survivorship+Care

Twitter & Instagram: @Alenegonebad

VERYDAY SEASONED ATHLETE - ROBERT MANON

Each week, we start our show with our featured EVERYDAY SEASONED ATHLETE. In this segment, we shine the spotlight on athletes over age 40 from a variety of backgrounds and skill levels.. Our Everyday Seasoned Athletes will be sharing why they do what they do and what they’ve learned along the way – all in their own words. This week, we feature runner Robert Manon.

EVERYDAY SEASONED ATHLETE STATS - ROBERT MANON

Age: 48

Sport: Ultra Running

Quote: The hardest step in anything is that first step.

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