The Natural Running Network Live

Listen in while our host, Richard Diaz and Matt Fitzgerald explain what it takes to develop your own a great training program from a 10K to marathon. Matt, is a highly acclaimed author of several books on the topic of marathon training, racing and sports nutrition, Richard Diaz has over 2 decades experience in sports performance and has performed clinical diagnostics, and consulted athletes from amateur to world class based on his research. Combined these two experts represent a powerhouse of cutting edge information. You will learn what it takes to to achieve optimal performance!

Our host Richard Diaz and author of “My Best Race” and “The Natural Running Coaches Manual” lays out an easy to follow method of developing a training plan from your first 10k to a Marathon for all levels of runners. With nearly 30 years’ experience in the exercise science field he brings a fresh new sensible approach that has proven successful for thousands of runners. This is the first installment of a three part series on the subject of program design, training variations and finally feeding and hydrations strategies. Parts two and three will air live soon stay tuned! This is a program you don’t want to miss!

We compiled segments from three of some of our best interviews to share with you as we move into the New Year. Any one of of these interviews are fascinating in their own right, now get a piece of all 3 in one broadcast.

Gilbert Tuhabonye had faith; he escaped a genocidal attack in Burundi, was badly beaten, set afire and ultimately forgave. He then went on to set National records as a distance runner. Join us as we interview a true survivor as he shares his amazing story. More than ten years ago, he lay buried under a pile of burning bodies. The centuries-old battle between Hutu and Tutsi tribes had come to Gilbert’s school. Fueled by hatred, the Hutus forced more than a hundred Tutsi children and teachers into a small room and used machetes to beat most of them to death. The unfortunate ones who survived the beating were doused with gasoline and set on fire. After hiding under burning bodies for over eight hours, Gilbert heard a voice inside saying, “You will be all right; you will survive.” He knows it was God speaking to him.

Our hosts Richard Diaz and Erica Gratton are gunning for these better body rip offs claiming to change a person’s fitness in a matter of a few weeks! We’re tired of the infomercial exercise & diet myths and ridiculous training schemes to get in shape and we are going to reveal the myths once and for all!

Join us as we interview Craig Virgin, three-time Olympian in the 10,000 meters, 1976 NCAA Cross-Country Champion, seven-time US record-holder in road and track, and two-time World Cross-Country Champion. Craig is the real deal, an American Running Legend!

Fitness can become very frustrating for many exercisers. Join us as our host Richard Diaz and weight management expert Matt Fitzgerald take questions from the audience. Learn how to maximize your exercise potential by focusing on the type of exercise that works to drop body fat and maintain lean muscle.

You can’t maximize fat loss and fitness gains at the same time. As an endurance athlete, the best time to maximize fat loss is before the start of serious training for a big race. Our host Richard Diaz and long time associate and author Matt Fitgerald discuss the importance of fat loss for peak performance. If you are an endurance athlete, this is a show you do not want to miss!

Join us as our hosts provide an exclusive interview with Nick Curl, Race Director of The LA Marathon. The LA Marathon has seen its ups and downs, with a newly designed course; the race is destined to be one of the greatest Marathon venues in the world. Join us for an inside look at the race, its history and its future with the man who is shaping the races destiny. Los Angeles is a popular venue for novice marathoners and on average 53 percent of the runners who make up the field is attempting a marathon for the first time. The LA Marathon has been through several course layouts since its inception, most of which started and finished in downtown Los Angeles.  On September 25, 2008, LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, through his affiliate, LA MARATHON LLC, acquired the rights to the marathon.  Less than 14 months later, on Nov. 9, 2009, race organizers unveiled a new “Stadium to the Sea” course which shifted the start line to Dodger Stadium and the finish line to the Santa Monica Pier.  Due to the enthusiasm generated by the dynamic new point-to-point course, the 2010 edition of the race drew 26,054 registrants (22,361 finishers), making it the largest field in the history of the event.

Join our hosts Richard Diaz and Erica Gratton for some “Straight Talk” regarding Running during Pregnancy with guest, ALIX Shutello founder of Runners Illustrated and Endurance Racing Magazine. Alix ran the San Diego marathon while 2 months pregnant. She posted this news on her blog and women reached out to her from all over the world. This is a very hot topic in the women’s fitness industry. If you are a woman and love to run, “this is a show you don’t want to miss"!

Running a Marathon for the first time can be a daunting task; listen as our experts talk you through the most effective way to successfully prepare and complete your first marathon with style! As a follow up to our last broadcast, Richard Diaz and Erica Gratton will lay out a plan of attack and teach you how to use heart rate as an effective tool to guide your progress. If you plan to run a marathon for the first time, Here is a sample of what you will learn... Pre-training preparationHow to quantify your progress,When and how to vary your intensityDeveloping a plan that is tailored to your ability, not a "canned" online programYour critical first 20 milerRace strategy, how to employ what you learned from your training This is a show you do not want to miss!

Our Co-Host Erica Gratton, The Trail Diva takes the reins and interviews Richard Diaz on the importance of using heart rate to guide us. Be it to run your first Marathon or to get into the best shape of your life, this is a show you don’t want to miss! Aside from hosting this show, Richard Diaz’s day to day revolves around the development of training programs and diagnostic evaluations in his sports performance lab. Over the past two decades, he has consulted world class champions, pro athletes and recreational fitness enthusiasts of all ages. He believes that success in all athletic endeavors can be summed up as two fundamental needs; improve mechanical efficiency and metabolic economy. How easily we move through space and at what cost. His training manual has taken nearly 9 years to write, find out why and learn how to employ his simplified training principals, burn fat and get in great shape.

Does Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, 43, ever have time to sleep, take it easy, relax?  He’s a highly accomplished marathoner (2:24 PR), race director, family physician, Associate Professor at West Virginia University School of Medicine, Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserves, and owner of Two Rivers Treads, a Center for Natural Running and Walking, in Sheperdstown, West Virginia. Richard Diaz met Dr. Cucuzzella at a running form conference in Boulder Colorado a few years ago. “Mark is one of the true pioneers of Natural Running and with his medical background he is clearly one of the most knowledgeable experts in the field of running injuries, how the occur and how to correct them. This is sure to be a great show featuring ”Straight Talk” on the topic of Natural Running.

A reunion of sorts!  Listen as ours hosts chat with another well-traveled podcaster Joe Taricani of the Marathon Show. Joe introduced us to podcasting by inviting me to be a guest on his show. I thought it would be fun to turn the tables and bring him on to share opinion and views of all things running! Joe likes to work the crowd, shows up at almost all of the major marathons; Richard Diaz writes the programs and coaches runners. It should be interesting to hear these guys talk. When Richard was a guest on The Marathon show, he was asked to return based on the request of Joes listeners, Now you have them together again with the shoe on the on the other foot!

We thought it would be fascinating to interview an American running legend Craig Virgin, in 1980 he set an American Record at 10,000 meters with a time of 27:29:16 which would have earned him a gold medal this year! In 1981 he place 2nd at the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:10:2, a truly amazing athlete with an incredible career in Cross Country, Track & Field and Road Racing. Craig came up in the running game prior to the 30 year era of poorly constructed running shoes. He was a Natural Runner before we identified that there was a difference! This will be a great interview featuring Straight Talk on the state of the running industry and where it all should lead.