The Break Down

Meghan and Sean have a catch up conversation. It’s been a little bit since Sean and Meg were able to converse. They dive right into old school phone sex and sex worker discussion. Seems pretty normal. Will Meghan run a marathon, will she be able to qualify for Boston? We talk a little about her recovery from her surgery and progressing towards goals going forward. We discuss the importance of building and the consistency required to progress towards healthy goals. About respecting the process of recovery and understanding where she is “right now” vice where she was prior to this recovery. Continuing the catch up we discuss meeting “running celebrities” and how Meghan ran into Joan Benoit Samuelson while on vacation in Maine. Eventually we come around to Dean Karnazes suspicious coyote attack story. Sean talks about his training and what happened on his Fastpack of the New England Trail Mass Section. He discusses how sometimes pulling the plug is the right decision in the context of training and with guidance from his coach. Silly talk about seal and dolphins, t-shirts vs sleeveless, handhelds, practicing with poles. Sean talks about changing jobs to a full time dayshift job and leaving shift work. An finally kids don’t forget reading is fundamental!

Meghan and Sean get together and chat with Sara Simmons a long time ZenduranceNow athlete. Sara is coached by Sean and explains how that came about. She also delves into how her perceptions of her abilities has changed while being coached by ZenduranceNow coaches. She explains her past experiences and injury history and how our initial focus was getting her to be able to perform healthy. Sara explains the benefits of coaching as she has experienced them. As a bonus Sara and Meghan reminisce about how their friendship blossomed under the stresses of crewing for Sean during the VT100.

Meghan and Sean sit down and check in with friend and runner Joshua White. Josh is a ultra runner living in Vermont where he resides as a Chief Medical Officer in a local hospital. Josh discusses with us his practices for homesteading and how he utilizes his land, animals, and provides for his family through hunting, farming, and foraging. Josh explains how and why he chose this lifestyle and how it impacts his family and their daily lives. Discussions as usual breakdown into the bizarre and nonsensical. As the chief medical officer in a hospital we discuss with Josh the Covid pandemic and look for his thoughts and insights from the rural medical point of view. How Covid changed the demographics of hospitals staffing and the complications that have arisen from that. We further discuss vaccinations and boosters as we move into the endemic phase and where he see’s life going from this point.family and their daily lives. Discussions as usual breakdown into the bizarre and nonsensical. As the chief medical officer in a hospital we discuss with Josh the Covid pandemic and look for his thoughts and insights from the rural medical point of view. How Covid changed the demographics of hospitals staffing and the complications that have arisen from that. We further discuss vaccinations and boosters as we move into the endemic phase and where he see’s life going from this point.

Sean and Meghan talk mental health and fitness. This includes: the connection between mind and body and the stigma that exists around mental health and how this is changing as education becomes more prevalent. The importance of empathy and compassion while dealing with mental health is stressed. Meghan and Sean discuss some of their personal experiences dealing with those with mental health problems. They also discuss the impact of COVID on mental health and how exercise can help alleviate many of the issues that arise from mental health problems and ways to incorporate exercise into our daily lives to improve emotional well being. While exercise can generally be healthy there is certainly issues that exist with disordered exercise. Learning to be comfortable in one’s own skin and not to be defined by a single aspect of one’s activity. Fellowship and community are helpful with combating issues associated with depression and other mental health disorders. Feeling not alone. Get outside and talk to someone if you are struggling, it may be what saves your life.

The whole gang is together for the first time on the podcast! Welcome to Sam Farnsworth the third ZenduranceNow coach. Sam joins us to talk about how he came into the endurance world and how we all came together as a team at ZenduranceNow. Sam explains his metamorphosis through several careers to where he is now. He explains what makes his massage therapy practice different form other therapist. The discussions then digress towards the importance of recovery, proper mobility and strength practice, experiences with raw emotions and gratitude in endurance events, willingness to continue and sharing space and miles as a coping mechanism in ultras, and touch on wether we are predisposed and different to be the way we are or it’s something that is learned through experience. Sam brings us round to his current training for Vermont 100 and the charity work he does raising money for Vermont Adaptive and what Vermont Adaptive provides for those in need. Sam chose this weeks out song Jerry by John Melancamp. 

If you’d like to make an appointment with Sam for massage therapy he can be found here: https://samfarnsworthlmt.com

If you’d like to learn more about Vermont Adaptive and possibly donate towards Sam’s goal that can be done here: https://www.pledgereg.com/4085/samfarnsworth

And here is a link to Sam’s YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCsq0ieyMM3MjI3j3LyMhplw

Talking about life and shootin’ the sh*t. Meghan catches us up on the status of her recovery from her most recent surgery, how she’s doing, and her feelings about PT and recovery. The discussions dissolve into conversations about recent concerts and Covid. They talk about Meghan’s injury, Sean’s allergies, bomb threats, shooter drills, and the helplessness of it all. They also chat about whale sounds, Chewbacca, and Civil War re-enactments. Conversations wrap up with discussions about biking, bikes, and the irony of Meghan being forced to bike because of the very thing that caused her injury in the first place.

Outtake song: Disruption from Get Dead.

Music is LIFE!

Meghan and Sean talk about their top 6 current songs. Use this link for ZenduranceNow Apple Music Playlist:

Sean’s corrections:

• Linkin Park singer is Chester Bennington 

Meghan has no corrections because Sean does the editing and Meghan doesn’t remember that far back. If she said anything in error, let us know and we’ll fix it.

Apple: 

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/zendurancenow-mix-vol-1/pl.u-38oWWZWTo7M83

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5rRJastdmFuAyCndrEDmNS?si=7vQClUOHSNKMLvNq28BJBw

www.ZenduranceNow.com