Run to the Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide to Running

Mario Fraioli: Re-Examine Your Relationship With Running   Mario Fraioli is a running coach, writer, and podcaster who has helped athletes accomplish goals including first finish lines, personal bests, Boston Marathon qualifying times, national championship titles, Olympic Trials appearances, international podiums, world championship teams, national records, and the Olympic Games. He is a former senior editor of Competitor magazine, and currently writes the morning shakeout weekly email newsletter and hosts the morning shakeout podcast, both great sources of information and inspiration for runners.   This is a very difficult time mentally for all of us who have had races canceled and are not sure when things will actually get back to normal. Mario has some great thoughts about adopting a flexible mindset during this time to reap some different benefits from running than you would while training for a big event. Mario shares with us some of the advice he gives to his athletes on how to approach training right now, including his thoughts around the fall marathons, events which may or may not actually happen.   We also find out why the sport of track and field frustrates Mario so much, how he feels about social media for athletes, if he’s participating in virtual races, and how running with his puppy, Tahoe, is going.    Questions Mario is asked:   2:16  With so much uncertainty about races this year, what gets you out the door and what advice do you have for others to keep up their fitness? 4:07 What kinds of changes are you making to your athletes' schedules? 7:42 How do you think various types of stress affects training? 9:23 What can you tell us about your current running streak? 11:39 What advice or guidance do you have for people considering doing a running streak? 12:30 How hard is it to go to open-ended training from a very structured type of training regimen? 14:34 How do you compare the experience of personal running success to coaching your athletes to success? 15:55 Why do you think that in a sport millions of people participate in, that track and field is not more popular in the US? 25:02 We've just learned that Berlin is out for the fall, so now there are 4 major marathons planned in 8 weeks.  Any predictions?  Training advice for September Boston? 29:51 What are your thoughts on virtual races? 31:01 Do you have any tips for running with dogs? 32:15 What advice would you give yourself back when you started running? 33:29 What is the best gift running has given you? 34:34 How can people connect with you? Quotes by Mario:   “The way that I’m thinking about training right now for everyone that I work with is that it needs to be sustainable and there is no point to trying to get really, really fit right now because you can’t hold that for very long.”   “Running gives me a sense of normalcy, a sense of routine, and it serves as the foundation for the rest of my day.”   “I know because I’ve been doing this for long enough that when I run first thing in the morning, even if I feel crappy, I never regret it and the rest of my day is better as a result.”   “I don't, just in my life in general, don’t plan too, too far ahead. I think that’s a dangerous way to do things, so I like having just a little bit of structure, but I’m not super tied to it and if I need to pivot, I can do that pretty easily.”   “I get much more out of helping someone else get closer to their goal and being a part of their journey and seeing them do something that they didn’t think was possible, or helping pick them up when they’ve been down, than I do myself.”   “In general, athletes need to race more so that there’s a narrative to follow there if you’re a fan.” Take a Listen on Your Next Run   Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel Mentioned in this podcast:    Run To The Top Winners Circle Facebook Community RunnersConnect Facebook page Mario Fraioli The Morning Shakeout Follow Mario on:   Instagram Twitter We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top. The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use. The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!

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Kelly Jones: Optimal Nutrition for Performance and Longevity   Is there a perfect diet for runners? What about macros? What are the common mistakes made when switching to a plant-forward diet? Kelly Jones provides her thoughts on these topics as well as body size, glycogen depleted runs, intuitive eating, and more in this episode hosted by Coach Claire Bartholic.    Kelly is a board certified specialist in sports dietetics, focusing on performance nutrition for endurance sports. She has consulted with high level organizations such as USA Swimming, the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Road Runners, and has been featured as an publications such as Runner’s World, US News and World Report, Women’s Running, and Women’s Health.    Her career began as an Associate Professor of Nutrition for nine-years in Pennsylvania and before that she was a Division I athlete in swimming.  Today, as a mom and business owner, Kelly continues to compete in road races and triathlons, and creates recipes and resources that offer practical solutions to optimize physical and mental performance. Although Kelly works with many kinds of athletes, in this episode she focuses her expertise specifically on performance nutrition for runners. She delivers a positive message about fueling properly for running as well as for living your optimal life.    Kelly uses an evidence-based nutrition approach, focusing on what she calls "plant forward performance nutrition." With so many of us quarantined right now, it’s easy for us to neglect our nutrition. Especially with the potential disruptions to the meat industry, it’s more important than ever for us to find ways to add plants to our diets in a way that optimizes performance. Questions Kelly is asked:   2:43 You specialize in performance nutrition for endurance sports.  Can you explain exactly what that means and how you work with athletes? 3:56 What is the best diet? 5:23 What’s the difference between eating for performance vs. eating for longevity? 6:53 How do you feel about eating whole foods during training and races to avoid sugar? 9:04 What’s your philosophy with macros (Carbs, Protein, Fat)? 11:59 Timing wise, when should you eat what? 14:25 What about glycogen depleted runs? 15:44 What is your experience with race-weight, performance, orthorexia, etc…? 19:07 How do you find the balance between eating for fuel and eating just the right amount? 20:50 What do you mean ‘plant forward nutrition approach’? 22:28 What are the challenges with plant-based eating with nutrient deficiency and performance? 25:10 How do you help people to trust their body when it comes to eating? 27:26 Do you find that our bodies adapt easily to new eating habits? 28:52 What advice would you give yourself back when you started running? 29:55 What is the best gift running has given you? 30:29 How can people connect with you? Quotes by Kelly:   “For anyone, I still would recommend inclusion of more plants no matter what you’re trying to follow”   “Could you still train and race with less carbohydrates than what might be recommended? Sure, but are you going to feel as energized physically and mentally as you should? Are you going to perform as well? That’s the question.”   “I’m a big advocate for eating your energy before you need to use it.”   “The glycogen depleted runs, while there’s a lot of people talking about them, there isn’t a lot of research to support them. And what I try to help people understand too is that you might see there’s one study on something, but that doesn’t mean that the practice is what we call evidence based.”   “I try to tell people too, if you have a run where you’re not feeling energized, where it’s mentally hard to get through, it’s physically hard to get through, how is that going to help you get closer to your goal?”   “We don’t really have good evidence that a smaller body size is actually going to benefit racing, but we do have a lot of evidence… that a smaller body size can actually impair your health in the short and long term, and may impair performance more in the long term.”   “When you’re not mentally healthy, it’s really hard to have any other areas of your health work well too.”   “You might be trying to work towards racing optimally, but what about living the rest of your life in an optimal way too?”   “It takes work to eat intuitively, but then it’s never something that you have to do again in the future.” Take a Listen on Your Next Run Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel Mentioned in this podcast:    Run To The Top Winners Circle Facebook Community RunnersConnect Facebook page Kelly Jones Nutrition Follow Kelly on:   Facebook Instagram We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top. The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use. The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!

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In this week's Team RC Update, Coach Michael shares details about some of the wonderful performances achieved by the athletes at last week's RC virtual race. Also, listen to find out what's new on your YouTube live sessions.

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