PART 3 discussing three more chapters of the great book, Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

• PART 1 HERE.
• PART 2 HERE

The capacity to endure, from 5K to 240 miles to a relationship is an elusive skill that we search for.   Runner and journalist, Alex Hutchinson, exposes us to research that has been done in recent years that will change the paradigm you may have about endurance.  He explores the relationship of the mental and the physical and what we have learned from scientists on how we can maximize our potential.

East Coast Executive Producer, Andy Jones-Wilkins  rejoins The Nation to discuss three additional chapters:

• Chapter 7 Oxygen
• Chapter 10 Fuel
• Chapter 12 Zapping the Brain

Two-time 100km world champion and Western States 100 record holder, Ellie Greenwood joins regular guest Ian Sharman to talk about what has changed in their Ultrarunning since they began:

• Gear
• Nutrition
• Training

Bonus topic: what race would you gift a running friend this Christmas and why?

Sharman Ultra - Endurance Coaching

PART 2.  You can listen to PART 1 HERE.

The capacity to endure, from 5K to 240 miles to a relationship is an elusive skill that we search for.   Runner and journalist, Alex Hutchinson, exposes us to research that has been done in recent years that will change the paradigm you may have about endurance.  He explores the relationship of the mental and the physical and what we have learned from scientists on how we can maximize our potential.

East Coast Executive Producer, Andy Jones-Wilkins  rejoins The Nation to discuss three additional chapters in the book, Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

• Chapter 3: the Central Governor Theory
• Chapter 5: Pain
• Chapter 11: Training the Brain

The evening of the Western States 100 lottery, there are a few lucky few that are preparing their training plan but the majority are left to scan UltraSignUp for a plan B for 2019.  The Nation gathered at the Auburn-based The Aid Station (special virtual guest, AJW) to talk about this iconic race with Race Director, Craig Thornley and two WS-icons and Board VPs, Tim Twietmeyer and Diana Fitzpatrick to discuss

• The lure and increased popularity of the race
• Changes in rules and lottery
• The Future

It is hard for humans to survive on their own.  They need a tribe.  Challenges and pressures are hard on an individual in a group, but much greater for an individual in isolation. We talk about the ancient tribal human behaviors: loyalty, inter-reliance, cooperation - that flare up in communities during times of turmoil and suffering.  What can we learn from our tribe?  What can we do to help our tribe flourish.

Just over a year ago, we did a podcast referring to Sebastian Junger's book, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging.  As it turns out, Sebastian was a runner, and a pretty good one.  Today, Sebastian joins The Nation and help us understand the concept of Tribe better and how it can relate to running.

Pick up this book in audio or in print

Ultra Adventurer and leadership coach, Brian Chontosh, aka Tosh, rejoins The Nation to dive into the mental side of endurance sports.  He recently competed in a unique challenge: 24 hours in an enclosed shipping container trying to run as many miles on a Trueform treadmill.  No light, no watch, no data, virtually sensory deprived.  Listen to his experience in preparation and execution.  There are many things that we all can take away and use in attempting new challenges.

Short video of the challenge

Ideas that came from the podcast:

• "The less stuff I have, the more I rely on myself"
• Advice vs. opinion - different levels of importance
• Practice vs. training
• "pushing the mind's mind away"
• Slice the problem - Big problems  have Big solutions.  Break these Big problems into smaller problems and find the small solutions for them.

Check out these links:

• Crooked Butterfly
• Tosh's Instagram

Returning guest, Chadd Wright joins The Nation with his training partner and teammate Shawn Webber to discuss their "training missions".  They are preparing to run the inaugural running of The Revenant Ultra Adventure Race in New Zealand in January 2019.

You can follow their training missions on Facebook

Listen to Chadd's original podcast, "Readiness Through Training"

There is a unique vocabulary for the Trail Running tribe.  Ashley Walsh and Andy Jones-Wilkins join The Nation to discuss some of these terms.

We do a lot of power hiking on the trails, but we often neglect our form and biomechanics of walking.  Today, Coach Danny Dreyer rejoins The Nation to help us understand these important biomechanics and teaches us how to improve our walking efficiencies.

Danny is the creator of the popular ChiRunning (and ChiWalking).

Link to the ChiRunning School that we spoke about

Get Danny's book, "ChiWalking Book: Fitness Walking for Lifelong Health and Energy"

Get Danny's book, "ChiRunning book: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-free Running"

Like running plans, sometimes when you are producing podcasts, things go awry.  We were planning one podcast for this week, but ended up having a great discussion with Andy.

AJW's Coaching