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The Strength Running Podcast

Coach Jason Fitzgerald shares running advice for new and veteran runners who are passionate about getting stronger, preventing running injuries, and racing faster. Featuring guests like Olympians Nick Symmonds and Shalane Flanagan, best-selling authors Alex Hutchinson and Matt Fitzgerald, and other Physical Therapists, Sports Psychologists, and Coaches. You’ll learn what it takes to run fast, stay healthy, and become a better runner with practical no-nonsense advice.
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Now displaying: October, 2021
Oct 28, 2021

Cat Bradley is an athlete that absolutely loves the sport. She's an ultra-endurance runner coached by Matt Fitzgerald who I had the pleasure of meeting this past August at the Endeavorun retreat in Boulder, CO.

Her resume is shocking, in the best of ways:

  • Winner of the 2017 Western States 100 Miler
  • Winner of the 2017 Canyons Endurance Run 100k
  • Former Fastest Known Time record holder of the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim in 7:52 (first woman to break 8 hours)
  • Winner of the 2016 Rio Del Lago 100 Miler
  • Winner of the 2018 Moab Red Hot 50k
  • Winner of the 2018 Quicksilver 100k
  • Winner of the 2019 Castle Rock Trail Festival 50k
  • Winner of the 2020 TransRockies Run stage race (team division)

I could go on, but I think you understand now that Cat Bradley is one of the best ultra runners in the United States.

Cat didn't start out as a distance runner. In fact, she was an 800m specialist at the University of California - Santa Barbara. At about a half-mile, the 800m distance might as well be a different sport than ultras!

Soon, Cat realized that she didn't love the track. She wanted some adventure and found herself taking time off from her college career to focus on through-hiking the Appalachian Trail.

That's where she fell in love with mountains, woods, and losing yourself in the visceral beauty of nature.

Within a few short years, Cat's passion for ultra distances bloomed and her competitive drive propelled her forward. Soon, she became one of the most dominant ultramarathon runners in the country.

In this conversation, we discuss:

  • How she made the switch from 800m track athlete to Appalachian Trail through-hiker to ultra runner
  • The training demands of a 120 mile, 6-day stage race vs. a 100-mile ultra
  • How she mentally grappled with pivoting her running career almost 180 degrees
  • What made her start to believe she could run professionally
  • How she trains for the Grand Canyon R2R2R FKT

Whether you're about to run your first ultra or you're a seasoned veteran, you'll love this conversation with one of the sport's greats.

Links & Resources from the show:

Thank You InsideTracker!

Our show is supported by our longtime sponsor InsideTracker. Today, more than ever, it's essential that we’re making the right decisions to keep our bodies healthy. To help us be resilient, prevent over-training, and optimize our running to get the most from it.

InsideTracker is the ultra-personalized nutrition platform that analyzes your blood and DNA biomarkers along with your lifestyle habits to help you optimize your body and reach your goals.

InsideTracker’s patented system will transform your body's data into knowledge, insights, and a customized action plan of science-backed recommendations. The data can help you determine whether you’re running too much, not enough, or have some other issues that could be affecting your recovery or performance.

I've had my own blood drawn with InsideTracker several times and have been amazed at the valuable information that they provide. Not only are the results very detailed, but they also share guidance for how to improve any markers that are out of range.

If you’re ready to take control of your health and optimize your training, InsideTracker offers a selection of plans that best suit your needs with a limited time 25% discount.

Thank you Elemental Labs!

A big thanks to Elemental Labs for their support of this episode! They make electrolyte drinks for athletes and low-carb folks with no sugar, artificial ingredients, or colors. And you can get a free sampler pack of 4 flavors and 8 individual packets when you pay $5 in shipping.

Elemental Labs' products have some of the highest sodium concentrations that you can find. Anybody who runs a lot knows that sodium, as well as other electrolytes like magnesium and potassium, are essential to our performance and how we feel throughout the day.

The citrus flavor has quickly become my favorite. I’m drinking one a day now to help me get enough fluids in our dry Colorado air. It’s tasty and delicious and I find that I’m not peeing every 45 minutes throughout the day, which might be an indication I wasn’t eating enough sodium.

There’s now mounting evidence that higher sodium intake levels are not unhealthy – and athletes need substantially more than your typical sedentary person. Of course, ask your doctor if you’re worried. But for those athletes running outside in the heat, an electrolyte replacement makes a lot of sense.

They just released their first new flavor of 2021, their most requested flavor, watermelon salt. So check out Elemental Labs to try their new flavor or get a free sampler pack. 

Oct 21, 2021

Brad Stulberg is a well-being expert, author, and a contributing editor to Outside Magazine. His work has been featured in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Wired, and many others.

Brad also coaches entrepreneurs, executives, pro athletes, and physicians on how to be a top performer, sustainably.

He has written 3 powerful books on performance: Peak Performance, The Passion Paradox, and The Practice of Groundedness.

Brad's focus on sustainability informs how we as runners can go after our big goals in a way that doesn’t burn us out. We all want to train harder, achieve our lofty aspirations, and do so for years to come.

In this conversation we're highlighting several of the principles from Brad's new book, including:

  • Accept Where You Are to Get You Where You Want to Go
  • Be Present so You Can Own Your Attention and Energy
  • Embrace Vulnerability to Develop Genuine Strength and Confidence
  • Build Deep Community

In this conversation, we also talk about the 4 levels of competence, the importance of your training environment, if and when you should skip the gadgets, as well as many other fascinating topics.

Links & Resources from the Show:

Thank You InsideTracker!

Our show is supported by our longtime sponsor InsideTracker. Today, more than ever, it's essential that we’re making the right decisions to keep our bodies healthy. To help us be resilient, prevent over-training, and optimize our running to get the most from it.

InsideTracker is the ultra-personalized nutrition platform that analyzes your blood and DNA biomarkers along with your lifestyle habits to help you optimize your body and reach your goals.

InsideTracker’s patented system will transform your body's data into knowledge, insights, and a customized action plan of science-backed recommendations. The data can help you determine whether you’re running too much, not enough, or have some other issues that could be affecting your recovery or performance.

I've had my own blood drawn with InsideTracker several times and have been amazed at the valuable information that they provide. Not only are the results very detailed, but they also share guidance for how to improve any markers that are out of range.

If you’re ready to take control of your health and optimize your training, InsideTracker offers a selection of plans that best suit your needs with a limited time 25% discount.

Thank You Athletic Greens!

Thank you to our newest sponsor, Athletic Greens! They are a health and wellness company that makes AG1,. This is a category-leading greens mix that has 75 vitamins and minerals, prebiotics, probiotics, antioxidants, and adaptogens.

One scoop per day is what I’ve been doing to help me fill in any nutrition gaps in my diet. It also provide a nice boost of energy and focus throughout the day. With all 3 of my kids in school, I know I need to support my immune system or else I’m getting sick and can’t train.

I also love that AG1 has changed over the last decade. Athletic Greens has made 53 improvements to the formula based on the latest research to make these nutrients more absorbable.

For our listeners, they are offering a year's worth of free Vitamin D and 5 free travel packs of AG1 with your first purchase. You can sign up for single shipment or for a monthly drop - the choice is yours. Check out Athletic Greens to redeem your offer today.

Oct 14, 2021

Years ago I set out to run my first ultramarathon and DNFed. While it wasn't exactly the debut I had hoped for, my fascination with ultras only grew since then.

I have interviewed numerous ultra runners to get their take on the demands of the sport and what drives them. You can listen to episodes with:

On today's podcast, I'm sharing my tips to successfully training for and completing your first ultra. And next time around, I'll make sure to follow these suggestions myself!

This episode is a repost from the My First Ultra show, part of the Becoming Ultra podcast, with Kris and Carly. I met them at the Rocky Mountain Trail Camp where we bonded over running, training, and of course, podcasting.

This conversation is for aspiring ultra marathoners. After my own attempt, I have no delusions about the challenge that you'd be taking on!

Links & Resources from the Show:

Thank You InsideTracker!

Our show is supported by our longtime sponsor InsideTracker. Today, more than ever, it's essential that we’re making the right decisions to keep our bodies healthy. To help us be resilient, prevent over-training, and optimize our running to get the most from it.

InsideTracker is the ultra-personalized nutrition platform that analyzes your blood and DNA biomarkers along with your lifestyle habits to help you optimize your body and reach your goals.

InsideTracker’s patented system will transform your body's data into knowledge, insights, and a customized action plan of science-backed recommendations. The data can help you determine whether you’re running too much, not enough, or have some other issues that could be affecting your recovery or performance.

I've had my own blood drawn with InsideTracker several times and have been amazed at the valuable information that they provide. Not only are the results very detailed, but they also share guidance for how to improve any markers that are out of range.

If you’re ready to take control of your health and optimize your training, InsideTracker offers a selection of plans that best suit your needs with a limited time 25% discount.

Thank you Elemental Labs!

A big thanks to Elemental Labs for their support of this episode! They make electrolyte drinks for athletes and low-carb folks with no sugar, artificial ingredients, or colors. And you can get a free sampler pack of 4 flavors and 8 individual packets when you pay $5 in shipping.

Elemental Labs' products have some of the highest sodium concentrations that you can find. Anybody who runs a lot knows that sodium, as well as other electrolytes like magnesium and potassium, are essential to our performance and how we feel throughout the day.

The citrus flavor has quickly become my favorite. I’m drinking one a day now to help me get enough fluids in our dry Colorado air. It’s tasty and delicious and I find that I’m not peeing every 45 minutes throughout the day, which might be an indication I wasn’t eating enough sodium.

There’s now mounting evidence that higher sodium intake levels are not unhealthy – and athletes need substantially more than your typical sedentary person. Of course, ask your doctor if you’re worried. But for those athletes running outside in the heat, an electrolyte replacement makes a lot of sense.

They just released their first new flavor of 2021, their most requested flavor, watermelon salt. So check out Elemental Labs to try their new flavor or get a free sampler pack. 

Oct 7, 2021

Our guest today is Peter Bromka, who is a 2:19 marathoner, publisher of the Positive Split newsletter, and a recipient of The Best Sports Writing in 2021 award. We spoke earlier this year after he helped pace Desiree Linden to a world record in the 50k. Now he has his eyes set on his 8th Boston Marathon.

This episode is an in-depth conversation about changes made for the 2021 Boston Marathon. We also talk about other specifics to the course and marathon racing in general:

  • COVID precautions for a major marathon
  • How to break the race up into segments
  • Mantras and mindsets to help you overcome the tough parts
  • Energy of the crowds and how to use it to your advantage
  • Running by effort versus running by pace

Peter also has insights on fueling and what a runner should really have in place prior to a race.

Links & Resources from the Show:

Thank You PATH Projects!

PATH Projects continues to be a great supporter of this podcast! I’m grateful for their partnership and want to share more about their products that I’ve been loving because they so durable and comfortable.

PATH Projects is an online-only retailer of high-quality running gear and apparel. That means there is no retail markup, making their products quite affordable.

In particular, I’ve just started wearing their 3” Sykes shorts and they’re a little different from the 5” Sykes shorts (you can see those in action here). The material is thinner and lighter, which is perfect in a performance short, and they’re obviously shorter. I’m not sure if my wife thinks they’re too scandalous or loves them, but I’m wearing them constantly.

PATH uses new technical fabrics, like the Japanese fiber called Toray Primeflex, to create award-winning apparel for endurance athletes. In fact, their Brim shorts and Tahoe base liner won Runner’s World’s 2018 Gear of the Year award. And the Pyrinees hoodie was named one of the best six sweatshirts for running in the cold by Gear Patrol.

You know you’ll be wearing the best when you select PATH Projects!

Thank You InsideTracker!

Our show is supported by our longtime sponsor InsideTracker. Today, more than ever, it's essential that we’re making the right decisions to keep our bodies healthy. To help us be resilient, prevent over-training, and optimize our running to get the most from it.

InsideTracker is the ultra-personalized nutrition platform that analyzes your blood and DNA biomarkers along with your lifestyle habits to help you optimize your body and reach your goals.

InsideTracker’s patented system will transform your body's data into knowledge, insights, and a customized action plan of science-backed recommendations. The data can help you determine whether you’re running too much, not enough, or have some other issues that could be affecting your recovery or performance.

I've had my own blood drawn with InsideTracker several times and have been amazed at the valuable information that they provide. Not only are the results very detailed, but they also share guidance for how to improve any markers that are out of range.

If you’re ready to take control of your health and optimize your training, InsideTracker offers a selection of plans that best suit your needs with a limited time 25% discount.

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