The Natural Running Network

If you were to look into the future of OCR you are certain to find these fine young athletes in the thick of Elite Competition at the Spartan World Championships.  The Cast of athletes we fondly refer to as “The Young Guns” are made up of Cali Schweikhart, Veejay Jones, James Nair and John Penland.…

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The Natural Running Network and Host Richard Diaz was invited to conduct interviews pre-race at the Spartan World Championships.  This is interview #1 with Elite Pro Faye Stenning in a series of 4 Podfest interviews.  In the interview, Faye shares her preparation leading to this event, her thoughts on the competition, her terrible running shoe selection practices…

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Once again, the Spartan World Championships is upon us.  The Series was highly competitive with the usual suspects taking the podium along with a few surprises along the way.  If you’ve been following Spartan Races you may already have your favorites but in this episode I beg the question… Who is going to win?  Will it…

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BE WARNED THIS CONTENT MAY BE DISTURBING. On this day, 17 years ago, my wife and I woke up in a hotel room just outside Los Angeles International Airport.  We spent the night there because that morning we were contracted to provide preseason assessments on the LA Kings Hockey Team.  We were preparing for a…

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What seemed like completely out of nowhere, Rebecca Hammond came on to the Spartan OCR Elite field and made people take notice.  Its almost unheard of for anyone to walk into the Spartan North American Championship course with only 2 prior events under her belt and cause a stir.  Yet, cause a stir she did. …

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There never seems to be an end to the questions that hard working OCR athletes have regarding their training and racing, with the help of one of our friends Jennifer Herring, Coach Richard Diaz tries to offer his opinion and advice on these topics: Heart rate seems to need a longer pre-race warm up, why?…

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By now, everyone is aware that OCR is here to stay. Some thought it to be a fad, if that’s true, I know of over 13,000 dedicated athletes in one single group who might argue the point. What I believe to be true is that the everyday athletes and fitness enthusiasts who have been drinking…

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Coach Diaz, who also happens to be the host of this podcast has asked VeeJay Jones  Elite Spartan Pro to return to share some insights on training. Learn a few valuable tips on cutting precious time from your racing Get a sneak peak into the infamous Tuesday Morning Training Sessions  Learn how to get a…

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My good friend Matt Fitzgerald is back with a new book The 80/20 Triathlon.  This training principal is a winning formula for most any endurance sport and I highly recommend that all of my listeners pay attention to this episode.  It works for OCR too!  Once you understand how important it is to partition your…

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Some months ago I did a podcast with what I referred to as the “Young Gun”, VeeJay Jones, the youngest athlete to win an Elite Spartan Race.  As a coach, I saw him as the future of the sport, worth nurturing and certainly a prospect for greatness in the sport.  However, he is not alone…

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