Trail Runner Nation

As a young runner, Steve Magness was a very fast runner, holding one of the fastest high school mile times at 4:01.  He was a model for toughness, pushing through the pain until he puked.  But this strategy failed as he continued trying to break the 4:00 barrier at the University of Houston. Steve Magness is a runner, coach and world-renowned expert on peak performance. He uncovers the science and helps us learn how to be better athletes and tougher people. In his new book Do Hard Things - Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of REAL TOUGHNESS Steve looks at the science and helps us learn how to be more resilient and learn how to do hard things. We did a chapter by chapter review of this book leading up to this episode. If you want to learn more listen to these episodes: Part 1 - Chapters 2,5,6 Part 2 - Chapters 3,7,11 Part 3 - Chapters 1,4,8,9,10 Steve is the co-founder of The Growth Equation, an online platform dedicated to the understanding and practice of performance and well-being.

This is the part 3 and final chapter by chapter review of Steve Magness' new book Do Hard Things - Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of REAL TOUGHNESS. We encourage you to buy the book and read along as we will have follow up episodes discussing the key points in each chapter. In this episode we discuss Chapters 1, 4, 8, 9, and 10 Steve Magness is a runner, coach and world-renowned expert on peak performance. He uncovers the science and helps us learn how to be better athletes and tougher people. Every runner and parent should read this book. It's that good. Our guest hosts are Andy Jones-Wilkins and Krissy Moehl. Hire Andy as a coach! or check out his weekly Tap Room at iRunFar Learn more about Krissy, preorder her book and consider her coaching services HERE 

Ryan Hall is a retired American long-distance runner.  He holds the American marathon record of 2:04:58 (Boston 2011) AND the half-marathon record of 59:43 (the first American to break the one-hour mark!)  He is a two-time Olympian and author of the recent book, Run the Mile You’re In.   Ryan joins us to talk about his transition from professional running to coaching, powerlifting, author, husband, and dad.   You can follow Ryan and learn more about his coaching at Run Free Training his web site Ryan and Sara Hall watch his video from the challenge “Chop Wood, Carry Water” follow Ryan on Instagram: @RyanHall3 listen to his podcast Run Free

This is the part 2 of our chapter by chapter review of Steve Magness' new book Do Hard Things - Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of REAL TOUGHNESS. We encourage you to buy the book and read along as we will have follow up episodes discussing the key points in each chapter. In this episode we discuss Chapters 3, 7, and 11. Steve Magness is a runner, coach and world-renowned expert on peak performance. He uncovers the science and helps us learn how to be better athletes and tougher people. Every runner and parent should read this book. It's that good. Hire Andy as a coach! or check out his weekly Tap Room at iRunFar

Tapering is typically thought of as a physical reduction in ones physical stresses from training.  In today's episode, we talk about the mental part of a taper - getting ready for that big day. Todd Larsen and Bob Crowley join us to talk about Todd's recent A-Race that didn't go as planned and his analysis of why.

This is the first part of our chapter by chapter review of Steve Magness' new book Do Hard Things - Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of REAL TOUGHNESS. We encourage you to buy the book and read along as we will have follow up episodes discussing the key points in each chapter. In this episode we discuss Chapters 2, 5 and 6 Steve Magness is a runner, coach and world-renowned expert on peak performance. He uncovers the science and helps us learn how to be better athletes and tougher people. Every runner and parent should read this book. It's that good. Hire Andy as a coach! or check out his weekly Tap Room at iRunFar

Brad Kearns has been striving for peak performance, healthy living and fitness.  Recently his thinking of nutrition was challenged on his B.rad podcast by a guest, Jay Feldman.  We thought this was interesting enough to invite Brad back to discuss his new thoughts.  Brad might get you to rethink your nutrition and start a discussion with your running friends. Brad Kearns is a New York Times bestselling author, Guinness World Record setting professional Speed golfer, #1 ranked USA age 55-59 high jumper, and former US national champion and #3 world-ranked professional triathlete. Brad has written over twenty books on diet, health, peak performance, and ancestral living, and is a popular speaker, retreat host, and host of numerous online multimedia educational courses at BradKearns.com. In 2017, The Keto Reset Diet (co-authored with Mark Sisson) became New York Times bestseller, and #1 ranked overall bestselling book on amazon.com for two days.  He promotes the importance of performing a daily morning exercise r

Most runners don’t like strength training, including many of our experts in this episode.  Our experts discuss why it is important, how we can implement it into our training program and the benefits. Michael Wardian is a great example of how strength training can help him become one of the best consistent ultra athletes with over 300 marathons and ultras.  He has many accomplishments including setting the record world record time in 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days and just completed a transcontinental run, “Running Home” in 61 days.  Check him out on Instagram or learn more on his web site.  Check out this video showing Mike’s three core strength exercises that you can do anywhere (dead bugs, bridge, bird dog)! Jason Fitzgerald had to be on this strength running episode because he has a podcast and website dedicated to the subject, Strength Running.  Jason is a USA Track & Field certified coach, and frequent contributor on PodiumRunner, Runner’s World, Active, MapMyRun, The Art of Manliness, Lifeha

Professional Headmaster and 2nd place finisher of the 2005 Western States 100, Andy Jones-Wilkins, join us to write the latest edition of Audio Magazine. The Authors dug deep to come up with topics that will keep you up to date and informed about trail running. Since there was so much trash talking leading up to this recording, we kindly ask our listeners to rank the magazine articles best to worst. Click this link to participate in the poll. There might be some high stakes and bragging rights based on the results, which, of course, we will share with The Nation. Hire Andy as a coach! or check out his weekly Tap Room at iRunFar

Runner, Coach, and Author Matt Fitzgerald has a new book out, On Pace, Discover How to Run Every Race at Your Real Limit. If you go to the link you can get the first chapter for FREE!!!! Matt helps us undersand why pacing matters, why it is difficult to do, and how to become better at it. Find out more about Matt: - Matt's primary web page - Matt's training page with coaching plans

Aid Stations are so important at a race.  They have evolved with trail running over time combining medical help, shelter, therapy, and all-you-can eat buffets. Sarah Lavender-Smith joins us to discuss how they have evolved and how to use them efficiently. Here is her article that spurred the discussion. Check out all her newsleter, Colrado Mouintain Running & Living Check out on of Sarah's fall races, Hanging Flume 50K We encourage you to check out all of our partners and their excellent products and services.  A new one we want to make you aware of is Wonderful Pistachios.  It might be your newest and favorite trail snack.  

Sports Nutrition expert, Ashley Reaver, rejoins The Nation to discuss 5 additional biomarkers that endurance athletes should be aware of.  These biomarkers can help (or hinder) functions within the body like buiding red blood cells, help in recovery, energy and other body functions. Biomarkers help us understand what is going on inside our bodies.  Ashley helped us understand the top 5 biomarkers in a previous episode.    In this episode identifies five additional biomarkers, why they are important, what is the normal range and what can we do to correct them if they are outside the normal range. Ashley Reaver is a registered sports dietician with a masters in Nutrition Science and Policy.  She offers nutrition counseling in her private practice and a full-time teacher of nutrition and dietetics courses at the University of California, Berkeley.  She is also the lead nutritional scientist at Inside Tracker. We encourage you to check out all of our partners and their excellent products and services.  A new one

We all are part of The Nation. What does that mean. How does The Nation look? What gear do we use? There have been a few surveys conducted in 2022 that help us understand. Check out the ITRA Survey ATRA also conducted a Survey We encourage you to check out all of our partners and their excellent products and services.  A new one we want to make you aware of is Wonderful Pistachios.  It might be your newest and favorite trail snack.

Endurance runners love to eat!  However nutrition for endurance running can be a moving target.  Experimentation is key and once you think you have it figured out, you don't.  We found four nutritional experts to help us understand more about nutrition.   Meredith Terranova, experienced ultra runner, swimmer and athlete with a degree in Human Nutrition and Consumer Science.  Check out her website with coaching options. Matt Fitzgerald, Athlete, Coach, Author and Speaker is a certified sports nutritionist including many on nutrition.  Check out his new running camp concept, Endeavorun Stephanie Howe is a PhD in Nutrition and Exercise Science and elite athlete.  Check out her coaching and web site with many great recipes Bob Seebohar is a board certified specialist in Sports Dietetics and former director of sports nutrtition for the University of Florida and served as a sports dietitian for the US Olympic Committee.  Hire him as a coach  

Elite runner, Tim Tollefson, had a great spring training and racing leading up to his A-race, the Western States 100 Endurance Run.  His expectations were high and many thought he would be able to best his 2021 fifth place finish.  Tim joins us to shares what he experienced and the lessons he learned.  Be to check out and register for Tim's Mammoth Trail Fest on Sept 22-25, 2022. We encourage you to check out all of our partners and their excellent products and services.  A new one we want to make you aware of is Wonderful Pistachios.  It might be your newest and favorite trail snack.

Do you have a hot adventure or race you are preparing for?  Corrine Malcolm helps The Nation understand what we can do to improve our chances for success. Corrine breaks down these science-based strategies for getting cool before your adventure and staying cool when you are running. We reference her article from iRunFar she wrote. Find out how Corrine can become your Coach Follow Corrine on Instagram and Twitter

Do you have an adventure or race at high altitude this summer?  You will want to listen to Coach Ian Sharman teach us about the ins and outs of how to adapt most effectively. Ian has experience at altitude.  He is a four-time winner of the high-altitude Leadville 100 (lowest point is over 9000' and climbing up to 12,532'). We talk about when do you need to consider acclimatization where to train how to train how soon should you be at the event what if you don't have time to spend at altitude Check out his article "High Altitude Training" in Ultra Running Magazine Find out more about Sharman Ultra Coaching

What are the biggest misconceptions that endurance athletes have about nutrition?  Dr. Patrick Davitt, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology and Program Director for Exercise Physiology at the Saint Joseph's University, joins us The Nation to help us understand some important information about nutrition as it relates to endurane sports.  Patrick has practical experience as an avid and accomplished member of our community of trail runners!  Should we taper our nutrition prior to a race?  Can we train our gut similar to our cardiovascular system? Find out more about Dr. Davitt at CTW Endurance

One of our favorite topics at TRN is sleep. Sleep is the time our bodies adapt to the training stimulus.  Alexey Guzey, a researcher, writer and co-founder and executive director of New Science joins us to shed more light on this important part of our training.  We cover many topics like: What are the myths of sleep? Why do we sleep? Is it OK to feel sleepy? Should we get as much sleep as our body wants? Can we over sleep? Can we bank sleep? Can we catch up on sleep? Depression and sleep Check out this past episode about Matthew Walker's book, "Why We Sleep" Take a look at a couple of Alexey's articles on sleep: Thesis on Sleep Alexey's take on Matthew Walker's book, "Why We Sleep" You can learn more about Alexey at Guzey.com, follow him on twitter or learn more about New Science  

Western States 100 is this weekend.  International runners represent nearly 1/3 of the entrants.  We recorded this episode live with these international runners at a local running store in Auburn California, The Aid Station.  Course experts, Tim Twietmeyer and Ian Sharman join us to help these runners understand the course and how to develop a strategy for success.  Many of these strategies can translate into your trail adventures and races. HERE is a link to a course map and elevation profile. Link to Joe Uhan's iRunFar articles: - The Western States Killing Machine - Part 1 - The Western States Killing Machine - Part 2 Sharman Ultra Coaching