We've all heard that we should build a good "base".  In this episode we devine what base building is and how to make it a fundimental part of our training.  

Our experts for this episode are Ian Sharman, Krissy Moehl, Dr. Phil Maffetone, and Ellie Greenwood.

Links:

• Dr. Phil's Big Books:
  • Big Book of Health and Fitness
  • Big Book of Training and Racing
• Dr. Phil's web site
• Sharman Ultra Coaching
• Krissy Moehl's web site
• Phil Maffetone's music site

What does consistency mean to you? Returning guest, Adam Kimble joins The Nation to discuss the long-term benefits of consistency.  Could consistency be the holy grail of training success?

Learn more about Adam by checking out his web site and his coaching site, Run On Dirt Coaching.
Adam's social channels: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook

Alex Hutchinson is back to discuss some of his most recent articles he published at Outsideonline:

• Why Cyclists Can Handle Heat Better than Runners
• New Data on How Your Arm Swing Affects Running
• Do Endurance Athletes Get More Cavities?

Alex Hutchinson is an avid runner and author.  We did a series of podcasts on his book, Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance. Previous Podcasts where we discuss the specific chapters of Endure:

• Podcast #1:   The Unforgiving Minute, The Conscience Quitter, Heat, Belief
• Podcast #2: The Central Governor Theory, Pain and Training the Brain
• Podcast #3 : Oxygen, Fuel, and Zapping the Brain

Check out Alex’s other books:

• Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?: Fitness Myths, Training Truths, and Other Surprising Discoveries from the Science of Exercise
• Big Ideas: 100 Modern Inventions That Have Transformed Our World
• What Defines our Limits - with Alex Hutchinson

Follow Alex on Twitter
Check out Sweat Science

Our good friend and running doctor, Mark Cucuzzella, joins us again to discuss common medical issues that you might experience on the trail, causes and treatments.

• Dr. Mark's Run for Your Life Podcast
• Dr. Mark's book, "Run for Your Life"

Make sure you watch his 8:25 Video that show the principles of natural running.

Be sure to spend some time learning at The Natural Running Center web site.

Visit Two Rivers Treads running store either in person or call them and ask them some questions!

Head Coach and Executive Director of the Hoka Northern Arizona Elite Team, aka Hoka NAZ Elite, Ben Rosario helps us understand how the pros train.  You might be surprised that there are many things they do that you can too!  Regardless of your ability level, age, or experience, we can learn some key principles that will help us run faster and/or further.  

1. Sleep
2. Nutrition
3. Strength Training (you don’t have to have a gym membership)
4. Stretching
5. Taking it easy on easy days
6. BONUS – Pacing

You can learn more in the book he co-authored with Matt Fitzgerald, In their new book, Run Like a Pro (Even If You’re Slow): Elite Tools and Tips for Runners at Every Level,  they help us understand that we can reach our potential if we include some of these training techniques and strategies.

A few weeks ago we spoke with Addie Bracy about mental training.  We loved it so much we bought her book, Mental Training for Ultrarunning: Your Psychological Skills for Ultra Success, and asked AJW if he would join us to talk about the principles she writes about.

Visit her mental performance page at Strive Mental Performance

We often see photos of people, especially outside the USA, running with poles.  Running with poles can be more efficient - using both legs and arms to help you uphills.  Have you ever considered running with poles or not sure how to use them proplerly?  In this month's Training Principles episode, we get some sound advice from four professional runners, Max King, Courtney Dauwalter, Sabrina Stanley, and Tim Tollefson on how to be successful with poles.

Check out

• Max King's runnning camp
• Sabrina's coaching

Check our Leki, if you want the best poles on the trail.

Runner, coach, certified nutritionist and author Matt Fitzgerald teams up with the coach of the Hoka Northern Arizona Elite team, Ben Rosario, to help us understand how the pros run.  In their new book, they help us understand that we can reach our potential if we include some of these training techniques and strategies.

Matt has been on TRN ten previous times including the episode we referenced, How Bad Do you Want It?

Find out more about Matt and coaching at 8020endurance.com 

We've all heard the saying, "Ultra running is 90% mental and the rest is in your head". Addie Bracy a sports and performance phychologist rejoins The Nation to dive deep into this oft-times neglected part of our training.  We discuss mental toughness and how it correlates to performance, mental distractions, and how to get into the "zone".

Check out her book, book, Mental Training for Ultrarunning: Your Psychological Skills for Ultra Success

Visit her mental performance page at Strive Mental Performance

Trails can be intimidating with varying technical challenges.  Four coaches from Sharman Ultra Coaching help us understand these challenges and give us some tips on how to feel more comfortable.

Ian Sharman, Liza Howard, Hillary Allen and Addie Bracy  are all excellent technical trail runners and share their knowledge with us.

Learn more about mental training at Addie's web site: strivementalperformance.com

or her new book, Mental Training for Ultrarunning: Your Psychological Skills for Ultra Success

FInd out more about Hillary Allen HERE

Find out more about Liza Howard HERE

Check out Liza's great camp for veterans and their families HERE

Hillary Allen was on the top of her sport, Skyrunning, when she fell 150 feet off an exposed ridge, breaking two ribs, fracturing her back, ruptuing a ligament in her foot and breaking both wrists.  She joins The Nation to discuss the mindset of injury recovery, why having a support system matters, and the importance of balance in athletics. LINK to her Tedx CU talk

LINK to Hillary's web site

Get her Book, Out and Back: A Runner's Story of Survival Against All Odds

Sometimes we just have to have a light fun episode.  We invited Andy Jones-Wilkins to join us on a new type of episode, Spin the Bottle, a randomized vocabulary game.  Join us and play along.

We referenced AJW's postmortem episode shortly after his first DNF. HERE is that episode.

Hire Andy as a coach! or check out his weekly Tap Room at iRunFar

Dr. Megan Roche helps us all, men and women, understand the physiological differences that women have and how it might be an advantage.

Dr. Roche is an MD and current PhD candidate at Standford University working on epidemiology, focused on population health and genetics for athletes, spedifically women.  she is also a freaking fast runner:

• 2016 USATF Trail Runner of the Year
• 5-time national champion
• North American Mountain Running Champion
• 6-time member of team USA

She is the co-author of, The Happy Runner: Love the Process, Get Faster, Run Longer and co-host of the popular podcast, "Some Work, All Play"

You can also hire her or their coaches at SWAPRunning.

Check out this past episode with Megan and David about their book.

In our second monthly installment of Training Principles, we attack the subject of consistency.  Joining us on this episode are some amazing coaches and consistent runners.  We chose some running and coaching couples for this episode:

Megan Roche: Consistency in Speed
Happy Running Coaching
Some Work, All Play podcast
Book: The Happy Runner: Love the Process, Get Faster, Run Longer

David Roche: Consistency in aerobic development

Emily (Harrison) Torrence: Consistency will help you run injury free
Sundog Running Coaching, Running camp and Racing

Ian Torrence: Consistency and goal setting-both within a season and within an event

Eric Clifton was inducted into the American UltraRunning Hall of Fame in 2021.  He was the fastest and most dominating 100-mile trail runner in the 1990s. He has amassed more than 60 ultra wins and his win ratio at the 100-mile distance is staggering 17 wins of his 31 finishes and more than 20 course records.  His strategy was very different from the norm back then.  And get this....He has 19 years of his career where he won at least one ultra. We sit down and talk with Eric about his experiences back in the early 90s and how he went against conventional wisdom to race the way he wanted to race.  He talks about how running saved his life.

Be sure to listen to his complete story on UtraRunning History Podcast.

Davy Crockett, the host of the podcast, "Ultrarunning History" joins us to help us understand our community’s history and helps us better understand our tribe's culture. 

Davy has run over 100 100-mile finishes since starting in 2004.  He is a race director of the Pony Express Trail 50 and 100 in Utah and was recently named Director of the American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame.

You can learn more about Davy and his many works at Ultrarunninghistory.com 

Are you new to trail or ultra running? Are you interested in testing the a new distance?  Krissy Moehl wrote the book that can help you. We talk with Krissy about her updated second edition of the book and how it can help you become a better runner. We mentioned a video of Roch Horton talking about the Kroker's Canteen aid station at Hardrock 100

Learn more about Krissy, preorder her book and consider her coaching services HERE 

Are you looking to begin running?  Are you having trouble with consistent running?  Are you wanting to take your running to a new level?  This episode will help.

Adam Kimble recommended the James Clear Book, Atomic Habits, to us a few months ago.  We read it and realized there are many tools in this book that can help us develop habits that will propel us to becoming better runners.  

Here is the episode where Adam introduced us to the book: EP 541: Improving Performance Through the Aggregation of Marginal Gains

In 2022, we will be doing a monthly episode focused on Training Principles.  In this episode, we start with the principle of Quality Training.

We have invited four experts to give their take on quality training:

Sally McRae: strength training = injury prevention
Sally's Web site

Patrick Reagan: disciplined recovery runs
Patrick's coaching site

Adam Kimble: variety
Adam's coaching site

Ian Sharman: have a purpose
Ian's coaching site