The Shakeout Podcast

Alex Hutchinson's new book Endure traces the intellectual history of the concept of endurance. He weaves together stories of epic moments that test the limits of human endurance, including Henry Worsley's fatal journey across the Antarctic, the Tor des Geants, an endurance trail race that covers 24,000m of elevation, the epic ride of the Tour de France, and a non-stop 692km race in the Yukon Arctic Ultra. 

Underlying these moments of extreme human endurance and details of sport physiology is a simpler story --the narrative of a personal discovery of the author himself. On this week's episode of The Shakeout, we speak with Hutchinson about the intimate stories of his own running successes and failures he shares in Endure and how he discovers that the concept of endurance is at the heart of what it means to be human.

Audio footage taken from the National Geographic documentary film Breaking2.

George Aitkin has been photographing runners for over 50 years. As both a runner himself and a fan of the sport, Aitkin has nearly 60,000 photographs in his home, documenting runners and races from his local Cambridge, Ont. community to the international field of the World Cross Country Championships. Aitkin is not a professional photographer, yet he has travelled to hundreds of races and has amassed a giant collection of running photographs --all for the sake of a hobby. 

On this week's episode of The Shakeout, we take you to his home in Cambridge, Ont. and take a closer look at this massive collection of photographs, which traces the history of runners and races throughout the decades, but we also look at the man behind the lens and what he is chasing.

This is the not so typical story of an opera singer that becomes a record-breaking masters runner.

Marilyn Arsenault came to running later in her life, following a career as a classically-trained singer. After trading in scales for strides, she has achieved a lot in a relatively short career on the road, on the track, and in cross-country racing. 

What she credits much of her running success to may surprise you: her singing.

On this week's episode of The Shakeout, we chat with Arsenault about her career as an opera singer, her late introduction to running,  and what advice she has for other runners who are starting out later in life. 

The year was 1962. At the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, in the sweltering heat of an Australian summer, 18 runners lined up on the track at the start of the men’s six-mile race. It was an impressive field that included Olympic medallists and past Commonwealth champions. Among these men was a young Canadian, a teenager named Bruce Kidd.

On this week’s episode of The Shakeout, we take you back in time, 56 years ago, to when a 19-year-old Kidd ran the race to secure his place as one of the greatest long-distance runners, not only in Canada, but also on the world stage.

Audio excerpts are taken from the documentary film, Runner, directed by Don Owen and narrated by W.H. Auden.

The Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra calls itself “the world’s coldest and toughest ultra.”

Every February, hundreds of competitors line-up at the start in the harsh, cold conditions of northern Canada. The race cites the freezing temperatures, the challenging terrain, and the sheer long distances of the race as contributing factors for the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra to be considered the world’s toughest.

On this week’s episode of The Shakeout, we take you to the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra. This year’s race begins on February 1. We speak with the race director Robert Pollhammer, the lead medic Diane Patrick, and several competitors to uncover the allure of such an extreme challenge.

The beginning of a calendar year represents new beginnings and re-evaluation, and for runners in particular, January is the time to set new goals. Whether it's to complete new race distance, to run a faster time, to lose weight, or to eat healthier, the end goal is for self-improvement.

If you are one of the many who have eagerly set a goal and are finding it difficult to stay committed, don't give up! On this week's episode of The Shakeout we chat with sports nutritionist Jen Sygo and sports psychologist Kim Dawson who provide expert advice on setting realistic nutrition and fitness goals and, more importantly, on what to do if you get off-track. 

The inside look of what it's like for a clean athlete to run in one of the dirtiest races in Olympic history. Canadian Hilary Stellingwerff tells her story of the 2012 London Olympic 1,500m, where six of the 13 finalists were dopers.

READ MORE: runningmagazine.ca/womens-1500m-fi…olympic-doping/

Bruny Surin will remember 1999 as the year when everything lined up perfectly. Leading up to the 100m final at the World Championships in Seville, Spain, Surin was fit enough to break a record --and he did.

On this week's episode of The Shakeout, we look at one of the most overlooked national records in Canadian running history.

On September 11, 1976, 15-year-old Silvia Ruegger sat in her bedroom writing a note. It read: I will represent Canada at the Olympic Games. She then took the note and tucked it underneath the floorboards where no one else could see it. Eight years later at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Ruegger became one of fifty women to race at the very first women’s marathon of the Olympic Games and a pioneer of women’s running. On this week’s episode of The Shakeout, we look at how one of the greatest moments in Canadian running history started with a handwritten note hidden underneath the floor of an old farmhouse.