The Natural Running Network Live

Meet Zoe Szczepanek, the new co-host to the Natural Running Network Podcast. Anyone who has attended a Spartan Race or Tough Mudder has most likely seen her.  What you may not know is that she has an on going battle with a debilitating hip injury associated with her lust for competition.  Zoe comes clean and shares her story, how she was injured, The mistakes she’s made and how she has taken an aggressive approach n her road to rehabilitation so that she can get back to running and the sport she loves, intelligently and for years to come. www.naturalrunningnetwork.co

One of most favorite things to do and most popular for our audience is to answer questions!  At the end of the day, most obstacle course racing athletes who tune into our show do so to pck up training tips and pearls of wisdom.  What could be better than to come ont our show and pose your questions live?  If you're too shy, simply write your questions down on our social media feeds @zoeszcz or @diazhp and we'll try to address them during the show. The best questions qqualify to win a free Virtual Video Gait Analysis by Coach (Me) Diaz, a $175.00 value.  if you love Spartan race or Tough Mudder, even if you just love Running.  You don't want to miss this show!

Faye Stenning is arguably the fiercest competitor on the Spartan Race circuit. Aside from her racing career, she runs a successful OCR coaching business.  To her credit, her openness to step outside her experience to learn from her colleagues provided some powerful insight for her leading into the 2018 OCR Race Season. Faye recently attended Richard Diaz's OCR Run Clinic in Southern California in this episode Faye shares her opinion as it relates to this experience and visit to "The Secret Lab".  This also marks the introduction to our new Co-Host Zoe(whats her name)Szczepanek who we are pleased to have onboard.

Its been weeks since our last podcast, forgive me.  I had a big birthday and left the country to celebrate followed by a few weeks on the road putting on running clinics but... We're Back!  In this episode (to be continued in the next episode) we discuss: What it feels like to hit the wall in a Marathon and how to avoid it.First steps in prepping for the new OCR season, what to do and why.Its a relatively short episode but we're coming back to nail the New Season topic in just a few days, don't miss it!

The Natural Running Network has consistently delivered cutting edge information for endurance athletes for a bit over 5 years with over 300 episodes doled out weekly.  As a show of gratittude we decided to host a Black Friday "Best of Episodes" contest. The winners will recieve gifts ranging from free entry into diaz human performance's OCR Run Clinics (valued up to $500) and gift certificates to Human Octane, the finest OCR Training and Racing apparel.  Three episodes were elected, during this show we will announce the winners and play snippets from these three episodes.  If you are a fan of our podcast, you'll enjoy hearing three of the best by popular demand. #naturalrunningcoach  #diazhumanperformance  #humanoctane

What do you get when you mix an American flag with a Canadian? You get an US “Ay” instead of a USA!  Team US-Ay members Miguel Medina and Austin Azar join us to share thoughts on their 2nd place finish at Worlds Toughest Mudder and the conversation goes way of point. For example, whats the dating scene look like for the studdly Canadian?  Will he move to the States? Listen to shared comments about the state of Worlds Toughest Mudder given the shift in prize purses and a whole lot more.  Honestly, this was a fun conversation.  I dare you to listen and keep a straight face!

It may seem like a heavy statement to say “The Fittest Runner I’ve Ever met” but in all the years of assessing the fitness of athletes (over two decades) this runner, Blue Benadum has consistently tested off the charts in a VO2max test, I’m talking over 85 mls/kg/min!  To put this in perspective,  a score that high would rank in the top 1% of the fittest athletes in the world. This does not necessarily mean the top performer in a category but, Blue is no slouch. He won the Lake Tahoe Triple Marathon (3 consecutive marathons over 3 days) with an average finish of under 2:55 each. At the conclusion of the final marathon (which was the fastest) he executed 100 air squats and 100 pushups on there finish line!  This weekend he’ll participate in an IronManTriathlon with less than 9 weeks of preparation on a borrowed bike.  You got to hear the entire story~

I’ve often spoke of the importance of dedicating time to MSD sessions in each training week. They will not only keep you sharp, fine tune your running skills but if you’re not already doing them, it may be the reason you can’t seem to break through your performance plateau’s. If you are currently dong what you’ve been told are speed workouts at the track and you are not doing or don’t understand the nature of the motor skill development drills explained in this podcast, all of your hard work will ultimately yield little progress. The process I’ll explain in this episode, taken to heart has the potential to bring your performance to the next level and well beyond expectation.  If you’re a runner, if you compete in Spartan Races or Tough Mudder, you do not want to miss this episode.  

The beginning of this episode starts out with some high opinionated commentary about the state of OCR, bad decisions made by Tough Mudder, followed with curiosities regarding the direction taken by Spartan Race.  Once thats done, Shan Kahn and I discuss the importance of getting the numbers right with training; how much volume to take on, the intensity, how heart rate plays into all of this when planning for a race, diet and a lot more!  If you stick through the opening chatter, you’ll get some good advise to help you train smarter, not harder!

It may seem like a play on words but Allison Tai is one Tough Mudder in every sense of the phrase.  Just recently coming off of the win at The Spartan Ultra Beast World Championships this year (2017), she is setting her sites on the win at The Toughest Mudder World Championship in a matter of weeks.  Her story is one of fables, having been taken out by a car while riding her bike, suffering a broken back, hip and arm to return to ultra endurance racing is simply amazing.  We talk with Allison about her goals, her desire to break 100 miles at WTM and the competition. 

Did you barely survive or thrive when crossing the finish line this weekend at Spartan Race World Championships Tahoe? Richard Diaz and Shan Khan dive into what was seen from those finishing the race, how ankle stability and foot strength is crucial to these distances, when and how you should start training for an endeavor like this, how grip intensive it was along with talk about what the live feed and the weekends event does for the future of OCR, and much more. Does single malt Scotch really help out the pre-race prep? You won't want to miss this.

The Obstacle Course Racing Season has a few big events over the next few weeks with Spartan World Championships this weekend, followed by OCR World Championships and Toughest Mudder but once these events wind down, what then? Are you planning an Off Season?  What will that look like, will you take a few weeks, months off to recover and prepare?  What will you do instead of racing or is it your plan to continue racing where ever you can find a venue?  Shan Khan and I visit this topic and discuss the options.  If you have put in a solid year of racing this episode is for you,

Before Natural Running was Vogue, before Born to Run, there was Pose Running. Almost cult like, Dr. Nicholas Romanov had spent a lifetime studying the way we should be running. Much of what he created is difficult to refute. It was fun to have a chance to discuss his theories and compare them to my own.  This interview was conducted over 2 years ago but I thought it was worth bringing back out for those who have not heard it. Enjoy!

Aside from hosting this podcast, Richard Diaz is one of the most saught after running mechanics in the world of Obstacle Racing.  Many of the elite professional athltetes from the sport count on him for advice and training support, too many to mention.  Durning this episode, he and his co host Shan Khan plan to accept live callers and field questions. Topics include: Running gait issues... how to transition from heel striking to forefoot runningStride length vs cadenceDealing with nagging injuries and preventionheart rate specific trainingHydration and feeding strategiesand much much more... ?The Spartan World Championships and Worlds Toughest Mudder Championships are right around the corner, If you are competing in these or other similar events, ere's your chance to gain some expert advice!  www.natruralrunningnetwork.com

He seems to come out of nowhere, when people start to wonder where he’s been, then like a wrecking ball, he destroys the competition.  Tough Mudder recently released its CBS debut of the new format in OCR competition, Tough Mudder X coined as the toughest mile on earth and offered $25,000 in a winner take all event.  Hunter made short work of the preliminary and then bettered his time by nearly a minute in the finals to take home the cash.  Then on to The US OCR Championships and once again Hunter succeeded over a highly competitive field to win both the short and long course events.