The Natural Running Network Live

Dotsie, aside from winning a Silver medal in the 2012 Olympics in Women’s Cycling Team Pursuit (the first medal won by an American team in this event in over 20 years) has also won 2 gold medals in the Pan Am games and 7 time National champion in cycling.  We discuss her training practices in preparation for the Olympics, the benefits of training with a power meter and the future of monitoring power as it relates to running.  Many experts believe that once power measurement reaches the running community, all records will fall.

Are you are a fan of Obstacle Racing?  Maybe you follow the heroes of the sport and want a chance to ask the reigning World’s Toughest Mudder Champion Ryan Atkins a few questions… well here is your chance! This Friday 9/4/15 8:30 am PST.  Richard Diaz has asked Ryan to come onto “The Natural Running Network Live” to discuss his training, his awesome race season, and his prep for The Spartan World Championship and his decision to go team vs. solo and defend his title as World’s Toughest Mudder Champion.  This is an episode you don’t want to miss!

With all the new data collecting devices on the market today, many athletes are still reluctant to employ heart rate as a principal guide in their training, this is really unfortunate. Of all the feedback one could obtain heart rate training, remains the most important ally regarding how or if the body is adapting to training.  Our host Richard Diaz and his guest Maggie Legan, Elite OCR athlete, discuss VO2max testing, how to put a good training prescription to work that will improve endurance; help you resist fatigue when the going gets tough and how running skill fits into the picture.

In case you have not heard, World OCR Championship Season is upon us. Sure, maybe you don’t follow Spartan Racing or give a hoot about the fastest growing sport in the world. However if you do… there is a lot of excitement afoot. Reigning Spartan World and OCR World Champion Jonathan Albon is looking to double up and defend both of his titles.  Who has the nuts to beat him?  Ryan Atkins, maybe a dark horse in Hunter McIntyre?  I made the call to check up on Jonathan to see how his preparations are coming, asked what his game plan is and why he poses such a threat. Here is a guy with little state side exposure, holds two of the three titles and his been training and racing abroad. Aside from his humble disposition he has the tools and the grit to take it all find out why.

Cyclists have long understood the value of being able to monitor power as a precise training modality. Many experts believe that if runners were able to effectively employ power measurement while training and racing, all of the current world records would fall. Join us as our host Richard Diaz and his featured guest Hunter Allen discuss the potential of power measurement for runners, the benefits and the approach.  Hunter Allen is founder of Peaks Coaching Group and coauthor of Cutting Edge Cycling and Training and Racing with a Power Meter, two of the most respected books on training with power meters.  Learn why training with power differs from training with traditionalheart rate and how tracking these two powerful complementary metrics can help you achieve peak performance.

I am not a Barefoot Running advocate where unnatural surfaces are concerned; however, training unshod holds a wealth of benefits that translate into your running with shoes on.  We’ve brought back Dr. Emily Splichal, podiatrist and world renowned human movement specialist to share her insights on running related injuries, shoe selection and her pre-run barefoot movement prep training which all runners should add to their training racing practices.  If you find yourself chronically suffering from running related injuries such as plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis, shin, knee or back problems you really need to hear this episode. You can thank me later-

They fondly refer to her as “The Queen of Pain” Amelia Boone, 2 time World’s Toughest Mudder Champion, 2013 Spartan World Champion and current OCR elite point leader for 2015.  Amelia is respected as the fiercest female competitor in OCR today and we have her on to discuss the championship season.  An attorney by trade, holding a professional career on top of a heavy racing schedule, Amelia competed in 14 events in 2014 having won 8 and placed 2nd for the balance, she is a freak of nature and a very interesting ambassador to the sport. Listen as Amelia share some training tips, trail running and her favorites leading into the Spartan, OCR and Worlds Toughest Mudder Championships this fall.

How to train to run your best race from a 10K, half marathon to eventually a Marathon, from beginner to advanced, free from knee pain and an exclusive interview with Coach Richard Diaz, Author of The All New My Best Race, a training guide for runners. The number one cause of running injury is improper training and taking on too much running to soon.  Over 70% of runners in America have been injured and bulk of these injuries, mostly knee pain could have been avoided by simply taking the time to learn to run properly and following a well thought out training program.  In this episode, Richard Diaz and Jimmy Reed share tips on how to avoid injury and creation of a successful training program.

It is difficult to attend a Cross Fit competition, Spartan Race, Triathlon, Marathon or really pretty much any sporting even without seeing an athlete with some colorful tape affixed to their body.  You may have heard that it’s helpful with abating injuries but you may not know as much as you should about how, when and why to apply it.  Richard Diaz our host, Brings longtime friend and expert on Fascial Movement Taping, Dr. Steve Capobianco, Medical Director for Rock Tape and author of the Fascial Movement Taping Manual  on to demystify the application and provide an excellent overview of the benefits of taping for performance and injury treatments.

Pip Taylor is an accredited sports dietitian and professional triathlete who has written an interesting “How to” book titled, The Athlete Fix.  Nutrition is the cornerstone of good health and critical for sports performance.  Diets are typically confusing fraught with opinion and erroneous gimmickry  Pip explains how avoid foods that cause inflammation and how to identify food intolerance's by adopting a base functional diet, a process of refining your feeding strategies so that your nutrition is optimal for YOU. She also shares time and money saving tips. There are few people in the world who have not been on some fashion of diet or, have been influenced by some type of fad that promises to help shed fat or increase performance.  Richard Diaz our host invited Pip Taylor on to share her logical process of identifying foods that are simply making it difficult to maintain our health and fitness.  You can’t continue to eliminate foods without compromising your health, there is a better way.

Anyone who has heard of the infamous Death Race knows that it takes a very special type of person to even consider attempting the event let alone actually finishing.  The brainchild of Joe DeSena, founder of The Spartan Race obstacle racing series, it makes you wonder what darkness lurks in his mind that would cause him to create such an event. Listen as Richard Diaz chats with Dylan Davis, who not only survived the Summer Death Race, he also successfully completed the Winter Death Race this past January.  Dylan provides a rare first person account of the Summer Death race from start to finish.  If you think you’re pretty tough, maybe you need to hear what tough is really all about.

Hunter McIntyre was the Elite Spartan point leader of 2014. Arguably a force to recon with in any OCR event he attends, yet lately, Hunter seems to have been off the race scene radar.  Richard Diaz, asked Hunter to come clean and let his fan base know what he’s been up to and to explain why he’s not been as active on the race scene.  We also took this opportunity to gain some insights from Cassidy Watton the better half of the power house duo who has been racing well and is setting her sights on the East Coast Combine and World Championships. She too has joined the ranks of Reebok Spartan Elite team.  We’ll share training tips and pick our favorites for this year’s Spartan World Championships.  You don’t want to miss this episode!

Dr. Phil is a pioneer in both heart rate and the revelation of our need to return to Natural Running. He preached about and he himself trained in minimal running shoes long before Born to Run became fashionable.  His MAF heart rate training formula (180-age), to this day is still the most effective approach to determining an aerobic heart rate in the absence of having access to clinical trial.  After 15 years passed since their first encounter, our host Richard Diaz takes this opportunity to talk shop with Dr. Phil.  Anyone planning to run a marathon, participate in Spartan Racing or has wondered about proper running shoe selection should listen to this show.

Running a marathon,half marathon or participating in Obstacle racing requires more them determination, you need to develop a training strategy designed specific to your current abilities that will allow you to effectively and carefully prepare for success.  Our host Richard Diaz invited nationally acclaimed running coachLuke Humphrey, author of The Hanson’s Method, a training program for marathon runners on the show to discuss training philosophies. If you are preparing for an event or a series of events as is the case for Spartan racing, this is a great show to listen to.

You’ve see athletes in the Olympic Beach Volleyball, during Cross Fit Games, Spartan Racing and in all fashion of Endurance Sports with colorful tape on their knees, shoulders, calves, etc., now learn how it works, when and how to apply it when you are on the verge of a running injury or simply hope to perform at your best.  There are few practitioners in the world that know more about this application than Dr. Steven Capobianco of Rock Tape and we felt it was important to bring him back to share his knowledge with you.

Yancy Culp has a long history as a trainer, athlete and now, Coach to some of the top athletes in the sport of Obstacle Racing.  Serving as coach to the likes of Rose Wetzel, April Dee, Matt Novakovich, Isaiah Vidal, Miguel Medina and other podium occupying elite professional OCR athlete’s, we discuss the sport, the direction it is taking and the process of making good athletes great.  We also discuss our picks for the Spartan World Championships along with our dark horse favorites.

We’ve invited Dr. Allen Lim and Jason Donald to share insights on how, what and when to hydrate, the importance of electrolyte and energy replacement and feeding strategies while training and racing.  Jason was an elite professional cyclist who spent a few years as a member of the Garmin professional cycling team and Dr Lim also served as team physiologist for Garmin before founding SKRATCH LABS an innovative company that produces whole food performance electrolyte replacement and energy products for endurance athletes.  Feeding, hydrating and electrolyte replacement is a critical aspect of performance and these two guys made their bones in international cycling competition where to survive, you have to get it right. No matter what level of competition, be it professional, recreational marathon running, obstacle racing, triathlon or cycling.  This is a great episode to pay close attention to.

Beets are fast in becoming the new power food for athletes and as it turns out, for good reason. Listen as Richard Diaz and his featured guest Dr John Ivy, world renowned expert on the role of nutrition in exercise performance discuss all the reasons why every endurance athlete should be supplementing their diets with Beets. After listening to this episode, you would be hard pressed not to seek out one the most powerful, natural ergogenic supplements on earth! We will also discuss nutrient timing: How, why and when best, to take in food for optimal performance. Seriously, this is an episode that every recreational or elite athlete will benefit from. Be sure to visit our new Podcast Site for even more great content: www.naturalrunningnetwork.com

As a runner, there is nothing worse than a nagging running related injury that just does not want to heal. Plantar Fasciitis is one of these injuries that left unchecked can easily ruin an entire race season. Listen as Dr. Brian Abelson, author of “Release Your Body- Resolving Plantar Fasciitis” and Richard Diaz discuss this injury, how to self-diagnose and self-treat this problem. You will also learn what the reasons the problem arises are and what type of exercises are best suited to defend against re-occurrence. If you have ever felt that nagging pulling sensation at the base of your heel as you are training for your next Marathon, Triathlon or OCR you owe to yourself to tune into this episode! Rember! Future episodes and pemium content will be found by visiting www.naturalrunningnetwork.com

I ‘ve brought back Dr Emily Splichal, Podiatrist and Human Movement Specialist, she is the Founder of the Evidence Based Fitness Academy and Creator of the Barefoot Training Specialist®, BarefootRx® and BARE® Workout Certifications. Dr Splichal has dedicated her medical career towards studying postural alignment and human movement as it relates to foot function and barefoot training and running. Dr Splichal serves as a Consultant for some of the top fitness, athletic footwear and orthotic companies around the world including NIKE Innovations, Trigger Point Performance Therapy, Aetrex Worldwide, Crunch Fitness and Sols.