Has your crew or pacer ever stretched the truth to get you to perform better?  Have you ever wondered if you could push yourself just a little bit more?  Matt Laye is an endurance athlete and PhD in medical physiology and an assistant professor of health and human performance at The College of Idaho.  In his recent article in Ultrarunning Magazine, Matt explains that our mental potential might still be underestimated.

Visit Matt's Blog: Laying It Down

Follow Matt on Facebook and on Twitter

Here is the Working Memory and Spacial Attention Training Game

Trail Runner, Model, film maker, adventure seeker, Whitney Powell joins The Nation for a rookie stab at our favorite podcast: Drop Bag. As you will see, she quickly passed us and lead the pack to a strong finish.  Don also brings a new spin to the podcast.

Some of the topics covered:

• Funniest things you've seen on the trail
• Fasted Runs
• Prink, Haphazard, Doer
• Pet Peeves
• A "picture is worth a thousand words"
• Music

You can hear Whitney on her podcast, Women In Sports Podcast (WISP) or after April 1st on Jimmy Dean Freeman's new podcast - stay tuned for more information.

Follow Whitney on Instagram, Facebook

Photo of Whitney competing in the Antarctica Marathon.  for more adventure races go to http://marathon-adventures.com/

We have done many podcasts regarding a low carb, fat-burning diet.  Sage Canaday joins The Nation to offer a counterpoint.  Sage Canaday is a world-class successful athlete that prescribes to a high-carb lifestyle.  Sage has been an ovo lacto vegetarian for most of his life and has transitioned into a traditional vegetarian with whole foods.  Find out how his experiment of one has fueled him to top performances and relatively little over-use injuries.

Check out Sage's Coaching Site

Check out his Youtube Channel: Vo2max Productions

Sage's FaceBook Page

Sage's Twitter Feed

Over the last few years, there have been a surprising increase in the number of films about trail running.  These films help capture the culture of our sport.  Film-maker, Myles Smythe and film festival organizer, Robert Rhodes join The Nation to speak about this phenomenon.  We are also graced by the always entertaining whit and wisdom of ultra running's only Andy Jones-Wilkins.

Join your trail tribe at an upcoming screening at one of the many Trails in Motion events.

Treat yourself to This Is Your Day, by Myles Smyth.  If you enter the coupon code, WeAreNation, you will receive a discount.

Join AJW at the Thomas Jefferson 100K on March 12, 2016

The Sock Doc, Dr. Steven Gangemi, joins The Nation after expunging his socks and going barefoot.  We catch up with the Sockless Doc and talk about:

• Is chocolate good for you?
• Slosh Tubes
• Get More Fit With Two-a-days 
• How to Reduce Stress with sleep and deep breathing
• The Power Siesta
• Consistency: Smart Training
• Adapting to your training.  How to avoid it
• Is Ketosis good?
• Climbing 25-foot trees IS good cross training.  LINK to Video

Link to Dark chocolate macadamia nut bark recipe