In this episode I want to take time to talk about how we can take care of our mental and physical health during these times. 

This episode covers:

Loneliness: Importance of reaching out and connecting with the loved ones and friends

Burden of expectations: Why it is important to reevaluate goals and expectations and lessen the stress

Doing tasks with tangible outcomes to feel good. 

Maintaining a good relationship with food and mindful eating.

How meditation and gratitude practices can help.

Some Links Below:

Working Athlete Community on FB.

Link to Anchor Voice messages

Today's topic is something that is very relevant to the current situation. With the pandemic second wave hitting hard for all of us, most of us are staying indoors either forced by the lockdowns or voluntarily.

This episode covers:

How Indoor riding can be beneficial

Ventilation while riding indoors

Sweat while riding indoors

Importance of having a structure while riding indoors

Indoor training apps and how they help

Intensity while riding indoors, variance between outdoor and indoor power.

If you have any questions regarding indoor training or otherwise that you would like me to cover in one of the future episodes, please use the Anchor Voice message link below to drop me a note. I will cover your questions/topics in future episodes. Stay indoors and stay safe. 

Some Links Below:

Working Athlete Community on FB.

Link to Anchor Voice messages

Today's guest, Akshay Jaitley runs a law firm and a sub3 hour marathon as well. Although he rides a bike and can drop quite a few of us, I think he identifies himself more as a runner than a cyclist.

In this episode he shares his journey in endurance running and cycling and what keeps him going despite a busy schedule.

This episode covers:

What does he love more? Cycling or Running?

Initial years of the running journey

Training for the first marathon

Changes from first marathon to the 11th marathon

Effect of Nutrition and Strength on running - Kenzai

His training over the years - Volume and polarized training

Cycling- TFN Memories

Kaladungi and riding in the North vs that in South

Riding outside the country, Alps, Dolomites etc

Tips for working athletes

Some Links Below:

Working Athlete Community on FB.

Link to Anchor Voice messages

Nutrition and strength program Akshay mentioned in the episode Kenzai.

Book recommendation: Endure by Alex Hutchinson

About the Podcast

The working athlete podcast is a podcast with and for working athletes from all walks of life and various sports. The goal is to provide inspiration, training tips, mental hacks, time management and life-style advice through conversations with some of the best in sport, from athletes to coaches. If you think you can benefit from this, please consider subscribing so that you don't miss the weekly episodes in future.

Who is a working athlete? Someone working full-time/part-time, entrepreneur or anyone who has to work to make ends meet and doesn't let being busy to stop him/her from pursuing an active lifestyle is a working athlete. I consider stay at home moms/dads who pursue a sport, as working athletes because homemaking is a full-time job.

If you like this, share with friends who could be interested.

For the visually inclined, a video version of the podcast can be found here: YouTube

Other Places you'll find the podcast on:

Anchor | RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google podcasts | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | Breaker

A bit about myself:

I'm Venkat/Venkateswara Rao in my work avatar, working as a Chief Data Analyst in the IT industry in Bangalore. I'm Venky/Bikeyvenky for my friends in the cycling community.

In this episode, we talk with Vinolee Ramalingam!!

Vinolee Ramalingam is an inspiration to many women from all around India. She was an athletic kid who won medals at national level until higher studies put them at the back burner. An M.Tech graduate and an assistant professor, she picked up sport to lose weight after the birth of her son. Little did she know that it will rekindle her childhood passion for sport and completely change the course of her life. She completed 3 Ironman events and multiple half Ironman events. She gave up her job as a lecturer and became an Ironman certified triathlon coach helping others push their limits in swimming, running and cycling with TriLeeCoaching.

This episode covers:

0:00:00  Intro

0:03:40  Trilee coaching

0:04:45  Initial days in sport as a kid

0:14:48  Focus on education - sport taking the backseat

0:19:10  Start of sport again - CTC Triathlon

0:33:40  Full Ironman event in Barcelona 2017

0:43:30  Cairns Ironman 2019

0:55:30  Nice 70.3 World Championships

1:07:40  Decision to quit the day job

1:11:40  Coaching work, training and family

Some Links Below:

Working Athlete Community on FB.

Link to Anchor Voice messages

About the Podcast

The working athlete podcast is a podcast with and for working athletes from all walks of life and various sports. The goal is to provide inspiration, training tips, mental hacks, time management and life-style advice through conversations with some of the best in sport, from athletes to coaches. If you think you can benefit from this, please consider subscribing so that you don't miss the weekly episodes in future.

Who is a working athlete? Someone working full-time/part-time, entrepreneur or anyone who has to work to make ends meet and doesn't let being busy to stop him/her from pursuing an active lifestyle is a working athlete. I consider stay at home moms/dads who pursue a sport, as working athletes because homemaking is a full-time job.

If you like this, share with friends who could be interested.

For the visually inclined, a video version of the podcast can be found here: YouTube

Other Places you'll find the podcast on:

Anchor | RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google podcasts | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | Breaker

A bit about myself:

I'm Venkat/Venkateswara Rao in my work avatar, working as a Chief Data Analyst in the IT industry in Bangalore. I'm Venky/Bikeyvenky for my friends in the cycling community.

In this episode a topic that came out of a question sent in by one of the fans of the podcast, Dr. Dhanashri Bapat from Pune, on how we can improve our recovery!

This episode covers:

1. Ensuring proper recovery and rest is built into the training plan - Building in rest and recovery into a periodized training plan!

2. Keeping easy rides easy - Why recovery rides are important and how to ensure we keep them easy?

3. Recovery nutrition - Why proper nutrition is important for recovery and what would be a good carb to protein ratio for a recovery drink etc

4. Sleep - Why is it important for recovery, how much do we need to sleep and what we can do to get better sleep?

In this episode, we talk with Nihal Ahamad Baig!!

Nihal is a top-class Working Athlete. He is not just a marathoner. He is a B.Tech and M.Tech graduate from IIT Mumbai working as a Risk Analyst at MSCI Inc.

He recently won New Delhi Marathon(NDM) with a super impressive time of 2:31:33. He was the top amateur runner at the race. This was nearly 16mins better than his previous best time at Marathon distance at Tata Mumbai Marathon(TMM) in 2019.

He is a top notch triathlete that stood on podiums in 70.3 or Half Iron distance triathlons. He is also a coach with Athloft Multisport coaching runners and triathletes around the country.

This episode covers:

Intro

Start of the running journey at IIT-B

Transition from short distance running to Half Marathons and Marathons.

Start of cycling with commutes

Seeds of triathlon were planted

Initial days of building cycling base

Building the swimming base

Balancing the days with three sports

First Triathlon experience

Structured training for 70.3

First sub-5hr Half Iron distance triathlon

Behrain 70.3 experience

Training for Colombo 70.3 and qualifying for World Championships

Managing injury and Ironman 70.3 World Championships experience

Ironman Goa 70.3

Training through the pandemic and the New Delhi Marathon win

Tips for working athletes

Some Links Below:

Working Athlete Community on FB.

Link to Anchor Voice messages

About the Podcast

The working athlete podcast is a podcast with and for working athletes from all walks of life and various sports. The goal is to provide inspiration, training tips, mental hacks, time management and life-style advice through conversations with some of the best in sport, from athletes to coaches. If you think you can benefit from this, please consider subscribing so that you don't miss the weekly episodes in future.

Who is a working athlete? Someone working full-time/part-time, entrepreneur or anyone who has to work to make ends meet and doesn't let being busy to stop him/her from pursuing an active lifestyle is a working athlete. I consider stay at home moms/dads who pursue a sport, as working athletes because homemaking is a full-time job.

If you like this, share with friends who could be interested.

For the visually inclined, a video version of the podcast can be found here: YouTube

Other Places you'll find the podcast on:

Anchor | RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google podcasts | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | Breaker

A bit about myself:

I'm Venkat/Venkateswara Rao in my work avatar, working as a Chief Data Analyst in the IT industry in Bangalore. I'm Venky/Bikeyvenky for my friends in the cycling community.

In this episode, we talk with Naveen John.

Naveen John is a multiple time national champion and he recently defended his Individual time trial gold medal at the nationals 2020.

For the first time ever he took part in Track nationals where he competed in 4km individual pursuit, arguably one of the toughest of disciplines in track cycling. This is an excellent testament to his constant hunger for learning and his growth mindset.

In this episode we talk with Naveen John about the recently Indian National cycling championships on track and road for 2020.

This episode covers:

0:00:00  Intro

0:02:40  From being a formidable contender to being a newbie. Why?

0:09:25  How the seeds were planted! 

0:18:10  Watering the seeds and putting in the work!

0:26:14  Why the Individual Pursuit?

0:30:10  How hard can it be to Pursuit?

0:34:55  Apples to Chicken Tikka! Training comparisons!

0:43:05  Weight training to aid on the bike performance

0:45:20  Moving to Hyderabad and putting in the work 

0:50:05  A hundred ways to win a TT 

0:57:15  Coming back from Nats and focus on Track Nationals

1:01:45  The first track Individual Pursuit experience

1:19:15  What now for track?

1:24:10  The Road Nationals experience and future athletes!

Some Links Below:

Working Athlete Community on FB.

Link to Anchor Voice messages

About the Podcast

The working athlete podcast is a podcast with and for working athletes from all walks of life and various sports. The goal is to provide inspiration, training tips, mental hacks, time management and life-style advice through conversations with some of the best in sport, from athletes to coaches. If you think you can benefit from this, please consider subscribing so that you don't miss the weekly episodes in future.

Who is a working athlete? Someone working full-time/part-time, entrepreneur or anyone who has to work to make ends meet and doesn't let being busy to stop him/her from pursuing an active lifestyle is a working athlete. I consider stay at home moms/dads who pursue a sport, as working athletes because homemaking is a full-time job.

If you like this, share with friends who could be interested.

For the visually inclined, a video version of the podcast can be found here: YouTube

Other Places you'll find the podcast on:

Anchor | RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google podcasts | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | Breaker

A bit about myself:

I'm Venkat/Venkateswara Rao in my work avatar, working as a Chief Data Analyst in the IT industry in Bangalore. I'm Venky/Bikeyvenky for my friends in the cycling community.

In this episode, we talk with Ketaki Agtey Sathe from Mumbai/Bangalore!

Ketaki is a long time runner, a mom of two, a communication specialist making the corporate world a better place, and more recently a triathlete who qualified to take part in the Ironman 70.3 World championships based on her performance in her first 70.3 Ironman Triathlon!

In this episode she shares her journey in fitness, how running and now triathlon help her navigate life and enjoy it to the fullest.

This episode covers:

0:00:00  Intro

0:03:20  A Mumbai girl or a Bengaluru Hudugi?

0:04:30  Hungry runner? Hungry for?

0:05:30  Start of running on threadmill

0:07:35  Moving to Mumbai and dealing with change with running

0:10:10  Striders - Finding her own tribe

0:15:50  First major HM- Amsterdam

0:20:15  Adjustments/Sacrifices needed for keeping everything going

0:27:40  Injuries and how they helped become more mindful

0:34:50  Picking up a cycle while dealing with a running injury

0:37:35  Getting started in Triathlon - Swimming with the buffalos and getting used to open water swim!

0:44:00  Goa 70.3 Experience

0:56:25  70.3 World Championship-2021 or 2022?

1:00:13  Tour of Nilgiris 2018 experience

1:04:02  Sahayadri Classic 2021 Experience

1:08:05  The secret to logivity in endurance journey

1:11:40  Tips for working athletes

Some Links Below:

Working Athlete Community on FB.

Link to Anchor Voice messages

About the Podcast

The working athlete podcast is a podcast with and for working athletes from all walks of life and various sports. The goal is to provide inspiration, training tips, mental hacks, time management and life-style advice through conversations with some of the best in sport, from athletes to coaches. If you think you can benefit from this, please consider subscribing so that you don't miss the weekly episodes in future.

Who is a working athlete? Someone working full-time/part-time, entrepreneur or anyone who has to work to make ends meet and doesn't let being busy to stop him/her from pursuing an active lifestyle is a working athlete. I consider stay at home moms/dads who pursue a sport, as working athletes because homemaking is a full-time job.

If you like this, share with friends who could be interested.

For the visually inclined, a video version of the podcast can be found here: YouTube

Other Places you'll find the podcast on:

Anchor | RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google podcasts | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | Breaker

A bit about myself:

I'm Venkat/Venkateswara Rao in my work avatar, working as a Chief Data Analyst in the IT industry in Bangalore. I'm Venky/Bikeyvenky for my friends in the cycling community.

In this episode, we talk with Abhirami Manoharan from Chennai!

Abhirami has an inspirational journey! She was told, "This isn't the age to follow a passion". She was told, "You can't dream when you are a mother". She was told, "You should have started earlier".

But she dreamt.. she dreamt in spite of being a single mother of two kids. She dreamt in spite of many odds against her. She worked hard to make those dreams come true. She picked herself up every time fate knocked her off and kept going after her dreams. And earlier this month, she stepped on the National podium by bagging a bronze medal in Women's Individual Time Trial at the Indian National Cycling Championships. She missed gold by a fraction of a second.

In this episode she shares her journey in fitness, how she picked up a bike to lose weight at 32 after having two kids and how she progressed over the years to make it to the National cycling championships podium this year.

This episode covers:

Starting cycling on a rented bike

Getting own bike and gunning for consistency

From just riding to training with power with indoor trainer

2Go Master's Championships in Bangalore

First Nationals by happenstance  - 2017

Getting to Nats after a major accident(?) - 2018

2019 Nationals experience

Preparation for 2020 National Championships - Club races- A Boon!

2020 National Championships experience

Working towards a dream - "Even the World Champion is a 40 year old mother"

Team behind Ride Across India

Some Links Below:

Working Athlete Community on FB.

Link to Anchor Voice messages

About the Podcast

The working athlete podcast is a podcast with and for working athletes from all walks of life and various sports. The goal is to provide inspiration, training tips, mental hacks, time management and life-style advice through conversations with some of the best in sport, from athletes to coaches. If you think you can benefit from this, please consider subscribing so that you don't miss the weekly episodes in future.

Who is a working athlete? Someone working full-time/part-time, entrepreneur or anyone who has to work to make ends meet and doesn't let being busy to stop him/her from pursuing an active lifestyle is a working athlete. I consider stay at home moms/dads who pursue a sport, as working athletes because homemaking is a full-time job.

If you like this, share with friends who could be interested.

For the visually inclined, a video version of the podcast can be found here: YouTube

Other Places you'll find the podcast on:

Anchor | RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google podcasts | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | Breaker

A bit about myself:

I'm Venkat/Venkateswara Rao in my work avatar, working as a Chief Data Analyst in the IT industry in Bangalore. I'm Venky/Bikeyvenky for my friends in the cycling community.

In this episode, we talk with Dr Amit Samarth from Nagpur!

Dr. Amit has a favorite saying and that is, "Be Your Own Hero". But, through his actions and accomplishments, he has become a hero and an inspiration for many Indians around the world.

He is the founder of ProHealthFoundation. He is the founder and coach at Miles and Milers Endurance Academy helping hundreds of working athletes get fitter everyday.

He is an Ironman finisher. He has successfully completed the Race Across America on his first attempt in 2017. He has successfully completed Redbull TransSiberian Extreme Race a 9100km race. More recently he successfully became the fastest rider to complete the Golden Quadrilateral challenge which is a 6000km by finishing it in less than 14days. He used this extraordinary ride to raise funds for Lok Biradari Prakalp (Sports equipment and infrastructure for children of tribal community).

In this episode he shares his journey in fitness, how he made the transition from working in public health into training people in staying healthy, his experiences in competing in some of the toughest ultra events in the world like RAAM.

This episode covers:

Miles and Milers Academy

Transitioning from Public health to Fitness industry

From Thaikwando to running to Ironman

Spreading out your goals - 70.3 to Full Ironman distance

Race Across America - Idea to execution

Some memories from RAAM

Trans Siberian Extreme Experience

Golden Quadrilateral Challenge

Training for Golden Quadrilateral

Comparing RAAM and Ride Across India

Team behind Ride Across India

Training for Ride Across India

Tips for working athletes

Some Links Below:

Working Athlete Community on FB.

Link to Anchor Voice messages

About the Podcast

The working athlete podcast is a podcast with and for working athletes from all walks of life and various sports. The goal is to provide inspiration, training tips, mental hacks, time management and life-style advice through conversations with some of the best in sport, from athletes to coaches. If you think you can benefit from this, please consider subscribing so that you don't miss the weekly episodes in future.

Who is a working athlete? Someone working full-time/part-time, entrepreneur or anyone who has to work to make ends meet and doesn't let being busy to stop him/her from pursuing an active lifestyle is a working athlete. I consider stay at home moms/dads who pursue a sport, as working athletes because homemaking is a full-time job.

If you like this, share with friends who could be interested.

For the visually inclined, a video version of the podcast can be found here: YouTube

Other Places you'll find the podcast on:

Anchor | RSS | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google podcasts | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | Breaker