The Natural Running Network Live

Miles Keller is your better than average OCR athlete and he plans on making adjustments to this statement by improving his approach to training. Miles attended one of our OCR Run Clinics (Dallas 11/20/16) and we invited him on to discuss his take on what he learned and his feelings about the event. If you are one of those who have been thinking about attending one of these clinics but can’t seem to pull the trigger, this is a good episode for you to listen to. In this episode you will: Learn why it’s important to train with heart rateLearn why running for is so importantWho should attend these clinics?Why Miles is eating his Thanksgiving dinner alone! Miles is cohost to the Link Endurance Podcast: https://goo.gl/EOtbVl

Long before there was OCR or Spartan Race, there was Adventure Racing. It’s not surprising that with the popularity of obstacle course racing that Adventure Racing has made resurgence. Adventure Racing is a serious test of endurance, a team competition strewn over the toughest terrain the world has to offer. Up to six days and hundreds of miles, unsupported, no GPS allowed, only map, compass and the wit of the teams trusted navigator.  In this episode, Richard Diaz interviews Erik Nachtrieb one of the executive producers of the AR World Series. Erik explains what it takes to meet the challenges of arguably one of the toughest physical challenges in sport. If you love to race OCR, grab a cup of coffee, you’re going to love this! www.naturalrunningnetwork.com

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to participate in one of our OCR Running Clinics, this is a great episode for you. Rather than banging the drum ourselves, we decided to pass the microphone around to all the athletes who attended our recent clinic in Killington Vermont. This way you get an unscripted first-hand account “live” from the folks who just completed a weekend training with us. Those who listen to this and wonder how to get involved the best way to learn more is by visiting our coaching site. Here you will find upcoming dates and information on virtual coaching services and if you have questions regarding the mechanics of getting us to come to your home town, just drop us a message. Here is the link: www.naturalrunningcoach.net

Everyone knows that to be successful in the sport of Obstacle Racing you must develop your running skill. Never mind that of all recreational sports, running leads in the number of injuries that athletes endure. What’s interesting is that the leading cause of these injuries is improper running skill and could easily have been avoided with proper training. Our host Richard Diaz is a highly sought after running form specialist and performance diagnostician. In this episode of “Listen and Learn” He hopes to point out the principal flaws runners make and what they should do to correct these flaws and get back to running injury free and optimal performance. If you are setting out to run your first marathon or are an avid Spartan Race aficionado, this is an episode you don’t want to miss! ”Running more often or at greater intensity with bad form is a hell bound train!”

Grab a cup of coffee and tune into a fascinating account of the shocking trail of hypocrisy that belies the tidy myth of clean athletes fighting corrupt deviants.  Cleaning up drug-soaked sports has been a mission at odds with the spectacle hungry interests of advertisers, Olympic organizers, governments, and fans. None of whom want to spit in the sports nourishing broth of money, national pride and power. Author Mark Johnson shares his “Spitting in the Soup” an eye opening account of social and economic clamor that arises from our ongoing efforts to create a sporting island of chemical purity in the midst of a drug dependent world.

What is it that makes us want to push ourselves past our comfort zones, to race on broken bodies and to push on beyond reason?  Who better to discuss this topic than someone who has mastered the art of Ultra-EnduranceSuffering, Charlie Engle?  Charlie is famous for his HBO Special “Running the Sahara” in which he and his band of running comrades ran over 4,600 miles across the Sahara Desert, the most unforgiving piece of terrain on the planet. Charlie is a recovering alcoholic/drug addict who is now 20 years sober. His insights on suffering will make you pause.  He also speaks on his recently released book “The Running Man” a memoir on the life and times of a recovering addict turned ultra-runner. If you have ever pushed yourself to the edge and wondered why you do it, this episode is for you! www.naturalrunningnetwork.com #diazhumanperformance

Ryan Kent is a member of the Spartan Pro Team and a consistent top 10 finisher in OCR Elite competitions. His visit to our show was long overdue. We decided to get him on, have him provide some insights into The Spartan World Championships coming up in a few weeks and to give him a chance to try and edge out his big sister (not really) Spartan Pro Teammate Rose Wetzel in a promotion offered up by their mutual sponsor Marriott.  Listen to find out how you can easily win a free entry into your next Spartan Race! www.naturalrunningnetwork.com

Ever since Born to Run was released there has been a revolution from heel striking to “Natural” mid foot running. This revelation has spurred huge shifts in running shoe manufacturing and many runners who have made an attempt to this transition without proper guidance have suffered an entirely new set of injuries. Join me (Richard Diaz) and my guest Dr. Emily Splichal, Podiatrist and Human Movement Specialist, and Founder of the Evidence Based Fitness Academy as we discuss how the body reacts to ground force impact, the challenge and reward of making this transition and how our running shoes influence our running.  We discuss the importance of minimal shoe wear during Obstacle Course Racing and much more.  If you are plagued with running injuries, are confused by marketing hype from the running shoe industry or simply want to learn more about these concerns, this is an episode you don’t want to miss. #barefootstrong #diazhumanperformance #EBFA 

If you race OCR you know how addicting it can be. Out of sheer curiosity we asked a few pointed questions… How old are you, how much do you think you spend each year on OCR events, will you exercise off season restraint and how often have you been injured if at all? The average responses may surprise you. There was no agenda, we cast no judgement we just thought it might be interesting to hear what people had to say about the amount of money they spend what the average age is of those we queried. The sampling was taken from around 60 respondents. If you are afraid you spend too much on obstacle course racing, this revelation may be therapeutic or shocking.  Give it a listen!

We get a lot of questions asked regarding various training approaches for OCR and Running. We feel this makes for great content on The Natural Running Network. Our Facebook friends were good enough to provide us with quite a few questions; unfortunately time does not permit us to answer them all in one episode. However, the questions we did attempt to answer were good ones and my featured guests, Yancy Culp and Miguel Medina and I (Richard Diaz) put together a handful of gifts to award to the people who contributed what we felt were the best questions.  If you enjoy our training tips and would like to hear more of this, please drop us a message, your feedback is important to us. Be sure to like The Natural Running Network on Facebook too! #wreckbag #Beetelite #NaturalRunningCoach #diazhumanperformance #YancyCamp

Anyone who has participated in a BattleFrog event has had the opportunity to get a dose of Coach Pain’s inspirational saber rattling words. Some will not soon forget how he moved them. It was by mere coincidence that our interview was scheduled on the day that BattleFrog announced that they are suspending all future events effective immediately; clearly, a shock to those who loved to compete in these events, more of a shock to those who were employed by the organization. All the same, Coach Pain and I held true to our words; we answered questions that people posed and were offered a seemingly final bit of inspiration from the man who touched so many in the sport of Obstacle Racing. Be sure to provide a positive review on Itunes!

OCR Athletes Have Questions, We have Answers… Our show fans love it when we take questions and try to provide answers.  Some questions are tough, most in respect to training tips, running form, heart rate etc.  Miguel Medina, elite OCR Pro and Elite Coach Richard Diaz put it out to the community and the questions asked will be fielded during this podcast episode. Here are just a few: Do shoes matter, and if so how? What are your thoughts on the MAF (180 - your age) method? Have you found a way to balance strength and running in your training? Any tips on how to maintain form over long grueling distances? I saved some of the best ones; you’ll have to tune in to hear our answers!

Nearly all Obstacle Course Events include a heavy carry component and even those that don’t require hill climbing ability. These training challenges are best approached outdoors and typically best conducted by mimicking the actual challenge.  Where am I going with this you might ask? In this episode I have the pleasure of sharing some of my training tips with Crystal Seaver, Master Trainer for Wreck Bag, a product produced by Lindonfitness.com. If you participate in Spartan Races, Battlefrog events or even World’s Toughest Mudder, you will benefit greatly by employing the workouts I share in this episode. If you don’t own a Wreck Bag and having been trying to build a make-shift carry tool, you’re being penny thrift and a pound foolish. If you’ve been thinking about a purchase, listen to this episode and take notes! I’ll tell you how to develop explosive hill climbing/bag carry power. www.naturalrunningcoach.net 

Peter Kostelnick is on a mission. Having already won The Bad Water Ultra Marathon in 2015 and setting a record in 2016. He has now set his sights on setting a Guinness World Book of Record for the fastest Transcontinental run. We’re talking 3100 miles of running in hopefully 44 days. For those of you who are like me and mathematically challenged, that’s an average of 72 miles of running each day for 44 consecutive days! Along with Peter, we’ll be talking to Charlie Engle of “Running the Sahara” fame. Also a veteran of this continental crossing and hopeful to attempt breaking Peters record if he succeeds. This episode is all about running long.  Please join me Richard Diaz and Peter Kostelnick and Charlie Engle as we share this event as it is in its planning stages.

Ryan Atkins is the winningest athlete in the sport of Obstacle Racing today. It seems as if no course or competitor thus far has been able to undue his success. Ryan and Richard Diaz fields some questions from friends on social media and wrap up by discussing what it might take for someone like Hunter McIntyre to beat him at the Spartan World Championship and his team plans for Worlds Toughest Mudder. If you are a fan of Ryan Atkins, you don’t want to miss this episode. Want more? Visit www.naturalrunningnetwork.com

Anyone who knows me (Richard Diaz), knows I am hard-nosed when it comes to supplementation and gimmicks. I have always believed that a good feeding strategy and plenty of rest will be all you need to perform optimally. I get plenty of opportunities to test all sorts of products in the world of Sports Performance and have been known to slam the door on a lot of snake oil salesman. I am also fortunate in that I have great connections among elite professionals in sports science and in the athletic community and keep my ear to the ground to learn as much as I can, whenever I can. Enter Beet Juice, an all-natural food recognized in small circles since Roman days as potion of life giving qualities. Listen as I interview Dr. John Ivy as he reveals the science behind this natural performance enhancing potion. This particular product has become a staple of most all of the elite athletes in the Obstacle Racing community, from the entire Spartan Pro team and across the board to cyclists and runners who hope to shave p

An interview with Jim Vance elite triathlon coach and a true pioneer in the uncharted waters of training with a Power meter for runners. Jim has recently released his revolutionary book “Running with Power”The Complete Guide to Running to Power Meters for Running. Last October, we had Jim on before he had released his book to discuss the various aspects and benefits of power running. Now, fresh off his research Jim shares what one could expect from training with power. Jim had suggested long ago that once the benefits of training with power were better understood and made available, all records would quickly fall, from the mile to the marathon. They say; Power meters for running are the future and the future is now.  Listen in to learn how this technology may help you to become a better athlete.

Dr Noah Kaufman is the leader of the famed “Wolf Pack”, stars of American Ninja Warrior. Noah was gracious enough to come on our podcast to share some amazing tips on how to train like a Ninja, how to improve grip strength and how to improve your ability to successfully navigate obstacles in OCR events.  He also shares some powerful tips on how best to deal with blisters and avoiding the down time. Noah is a wealth of great information in regards to obstacle training and Parkour. Clearly this is a show you don’t want to miss! www.naturalrunningnetwork.com

I guess Richards name has been tossed around the OCR circuit quite a bit these days, so much so that other podcasters have sought him out for interviews. I guess the shoe is on the other foot so to speak. This episode is a copy of an interview done this week with Elijah and Phil host of The Obstacle Order Podcast. They wanted to hear firsthand what the buzz was about regarding the clinics Richard puts on and what people might expect for having attended. If this is something you are interested in, you might want to give this show a listen. (This recording was copied with the express permission of Elijah Markstrom.)

As they say; “The Devil is in the details”. Coach Richard Diaz and guest, Elite OCR athlete Beni Gifford discuss the details that can set you apart from the pack as a much faster runner. Beating yourself up, packing on the miles, hard track workouts won’t make you faster unless you learn to master the details as prescribed by the coach in this podcast. Unlock your strength and potential as a runner in Spartan Racing, Trail Running or your next Marathon by following the advice offered in this podcast.