Run to the Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide to Running

What happens between Jan.1st and Feb. 1st? Why do the best intentions fail to become effective habits? Performance psychologist, Dr. Michelle Cleere, is here today to discuss new year’s resolutions - How to Make Them, How to Keep them, How to Be Realistic and Still Reach High

2019 has almost ended and 2020 is all but upon us. This is a great time to appreciate the gift of fitness that has made such a difference in the lives of most of us listening to this podcast. Let’s take a moment to say “thank you” for fitness, especially running, and review the year behind us while also looking ahead with hope and some goals, too. On today’s episode we will be sharing 2019 success stories from three of our own team members at RunnersConnect and what they had to overcome to create that success. Listen to RunnersConnect Members Tom Van Ongeval, Francesca Fuller, and Krishna Akkaram tell their stories of 2019 success in running.

The holidays can bring joy and happiness, but depression, anger, and isolation can intensify at this time of year, as well. Beth Shaw helps open the door for people to acknowledge major trauma and find help to live with it. If you, or someone you know, suffers more at this time of year, Beth can help. Her recent book, Healing Trauma With Yoga, is perfectly timed for a segment of our year when long, dark days can be even darker for some and when the joy of the season can be erased, instead of embraced without learning some of the tools that can truly help raise our spirits.

Felix Grewe and Mike Diehl have put together a book that includes many ways to build a circuit training plan and adapt it as your training changes or you become more fit. Fit Strong Lean: Build Your Best Circuit Training Plan includes helpful photos and a variety of exercises for those of us who want to do our circuits at home or in front of a mirror at the gym, but not with a paid trainer.  This book provides top notch, professional assistance at a fraction of the cost. In this episode, we learn a bit more about what each of them has to offer us to “build your best circuit training plan”. Mike Diehl is a certified fitness coach for sports performance as well as health, fitness and sports rehabilitation. He has worked for the German Women’s National Tennis Cup Team for more than 10 years as their fitness coach and has worked with Wimbledon Champions as well as top soccer and ice hockey teams in Germany. Mike likes to start his day early with an intensive workout. His philosophy is: “Everybody is able to become fitter, stronger and leaner! Pain doesn’t stand a chance against passion. It’s all about finding a goal for which you are willing to accept pain and hard work.” Felix Grewe is a professional journalist, author, and fitness and tennis aficionado. He worked for many years as a full-time reporter for a German tennis magazine and went on to head up the media department of the German Tennis Federation. He now works as a freelance journalist, author and social media manager.  Felix and Mike met for the first time about 7 years ago when Felix tried an experiment with Mike for a tennis magazine article. This was the spark for bringing together a workout book of Mike’s exercises and philosophy. Felix, as the writer/journalist and both as tennis and fitness experts put Mike’s methods into words. And, of course, Felix trains regularly using Mike’s workouts.   

Recovering from Injuries: Body, Mind, and Spirit Are you currently injured? If not, lucky you! Injuries affect every athlete, from the elite Olympian to the weekend racer. When it happens, it can feel like the most devastating event possible. While some athletes are destroyed by the experience, others emerge from their recovery better, stronger, and more confident than ever. How? Rebound, a new book co-authored by Carrie Jackson Cheadle and Cindy Kuzma, offers a roadmap to work toward a swifter, stronger comeback from injury using mental skills and psychological tools that allow you to take control of your recovery and ultimately, use the experience to your advantage. In this episode, we talk to Carrie and Cindy, both runners, who collaborated on this book. Sharing their own personal experiences and stories from close to 50 other injured athletes who came back strong. They will inspire and educate you about the psychological and mental aspects of coping and recovering from being injured.

Strength Training From Body Weight Exercises to Major Lifting with Endurance Specialist Doctor Alex Harrison If you are only running every day, you may be hindering your training. Cross training is extremely important to be at your best and today’s guest will speak to us about how to use cross training, specifically strength training, for ultimate results in your annual running plan. From body weight strength training to weightlifting, Dr. Alex Harrison will talk to us about how to use strength conditioning and proper nutrition for better running results. Dr. Alex Harrison has years of competition, coaching experience, and the education to know how to deal with endurance athletes – from beginners to elite level.

When done properly, periodization allows for creating calculated major goals, and measured improvement in short, mid, and long-term objectives. Today Dr. James Hoffmann will break down some of the details of an integrated, annual training plan that can help you peak when you need to by coordinating the three big parts: body, mind, and spirit; that unique individual who comprises YOU!

How much credit do you give to your feet for making you a better runner?  If you are like most of us, those feet get put into shoes and then you just hope they’ll do their job.  It’s time to rethink the strategic value of those two extremities that connect you to the ground and push you forward with every single step. Our guest today is Jay Dicharry and Jay is one of the foremost authorities on running bio-mechanics. Jay built his international reputation as an expert in bio-mechanical analysis as Director of the SPEED Clinic at the University of Virginia, and now as Director of the REP Biomechanics Lab in Bend, OR.   In this episode, Jay teaches us the difference between Balance and Proprioception and why Proprioception matters so much for running effectively. He also shares with us tools and exercises to retrain our feet to work with us. He is the founder and CEO of MOBO, a novel product that improves intrinsic foot control and today, Today’s interview will be going over running mechanics and how integral the foot is in the whole process of making running happen.

Stephanie Bruce is one of the most popular American distance runners competing on the circuit. She has used her platform to build up women, inspire others and uplift U.S. distance running as a whole. And it doesn’t hurt that she’s having one of the best years of her professional career. 

Spooky zombies and running the Lost Coast It’s almost Halloween and that means… Zombies… And what do you do when you come across a horde of zombies? Run! Ultra runner and author Camille Picott has written another suspense filled novel about long distance, endurance running and the dangers that lurk in the apocalyptic, new world of blood-thirsty zombies and renegade survivors. Her newest book features the perilous, fascinating, and REAL Lost Coast on the rugged and isolated northern California shoreline. Today we’ll be talking about zombies, bears, and other scary stuff in Camille’s Undead Ultra Series. In addition to discussing the newest book, we’ll go into detail on how you can run the Lost Coast (or backpack if that’s more to your liking), and we’ll pick her brain about the Javelina 100, Camille’s longest race yet. The Javelina 100 always happens right before Halloween and is a self-described “ultra-runner’s costume party”. Camille’s first 3 books were featured in our May 1, 2019 podcast honoring Zombie Awareness month. Take a listen if you haven’t yet heard it. It’s a great interview.  And now she is about to release another installment of the Undead Ultra Series called The Lost Coast.