Latest / Forget The Noise / 25. Longevity Through Running | Featuring Lauren Roberts

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25. Longevity Through Running | Featuring Lauren Roberts · Forget The Noise

• speaker-0: They say motivation something you want. Discipline is something you need. Obsession is something you have to have. I'm gonna show you what I wanted, how I got it, and how I was obsessed to get there. Alright, another week on Forget the Noise podcast. Today we have Lauren Roberts. We're gonna change up the way we do intro. I'm just gonna list off what she gave me, and then she's gonna do her own intro 100%. Because I try to get through it, try to organize it, and like I couldn't even put together the timelines, let alone what she's accomplished. So she has a master's in physio, founded the running the running physio, then it was acquired. She co-ho co-owns a Pilates studio, Boston Marathon, Iron Man. I've assessed and treated over three hundred plus runners, published mul multiple literatures, two kids, and she still runs today and I didn't put everything on that list. So we're gonna hand it right over to Lauren right out the gate and let her do that right from start to finish. Go ahead. Like speaker-1: yeah, thanks. It's nice to be here. This is cool. so yeah, I'm Lauren. I I've been a physio since 2011. I graduated at U of T. I have a bachelor degree in kinesiology as well. So speaker-0: Not the thing on not on the list. speaker-1: bother with that one. It feels like it was a long time ago at this point. yeah, so I I worked as a physio for about five or six years when I first got going. At that same time, like that timeline is when I was just doing like a lot of endurance running, I was running with run groups, dabbled in some triathlon for a while. And I'm just a bit of like a naturally restless person and tend to see big patterns in things. So as I was working in the private physio industry, I was sort of seeing all of these runners coming in. This was in Toronto, and they were all being given the same bad advice, with the same problems. classically they would see physicians, sports med doctors, and the the solution to their running issues was stop just stop running. And they're like, Well, that seems Silly in that seems I think that does seem silly. and so I just sort of like really went a little bit full on into this like world of of like running rehab because it really was just sort of lumped into physio as a whole. And so in 20 16 I opened the first clinic in Toronto that was sort of specifically geared towards working with runners and endurance athletes. speaker-0: So those first five years you were only doing physio? speaker-1: Yeah, I worked at a hospital for a little bit. Yeah, but yeah, but doing physio at hospital. So I was sort of in a a bunch of different domains. Honestly, I was like very poor. I had no money. So I just like worked everywhere. I worked weekends, I worked evenings, but particularly found myself drawn to that like private, like orthopedic physio world. Yeah. And that's where I was just like seeing a lot of my friends that that were runners because I was just running at the same time as a you know mental health It was fun and I enjoyed it. I've been running my whole life, so it was just something I was continuing to do. speaker-0: Yeah. Okay, so now we're in two thousand sixteen. speaker-1: We're in two thousand and sixteen, yes. So I left my my full time sort of sports medicine clinic that I was at and I had a really great relationship with the owners of that clinic and I said, Listen, I think I've got This business idea. Like I think there's enough demand that I can open a business that really kind of brands itself, markets it towards working with running, because I think it's a specialty. Like I don't know that it's being recognized as such in Canada and in Ontario across our our various professions and even in sports medicine, but it is. Like these people are not being they're not being treated the way that they should. And the research is there to say they need this, like this subset of treatment and like XYZ considerations and no one's doing it. And the clinic was like, Yeah, let's okay, go ahead, go ahead and do it. So I rented this really small quirky house like this downstairs of a house in Toronto. It was like had this like rainbow chandelier, and I negotiated that I would only pay the rent for when I was treating. So I would just take a s basically a split of every patient that I treated for my rent with the guy that owned the house. And within two weeks I had a four week wait list of patients that wanted to come and see me. And so I was like, okay, I think this is good. Like I think this is positive. We're we're getting somewhere. And I hired a physio, bless her, who took a bit of a risk on me because I was like, listen, I've got this like exploding business idea. and so her and I just kinda like banged it out. I spent five hundred bucks on a website, and after about a year I thought, you know, maybe this is something we can put a bit more money in, but I had no money and I was twenty six in a house, still paying off my student debt. And so, I went to a couple of the banks and they said, You have no collateral, we're not giving you a loan and I said, Well I have this business idea, it's making money, it's good. No, nope, nope, nope. I was turned down, turned down, turned down. And so I reached out to an old colleague of mine and I said, listen, I've I've got this, like, this business is going, like it's working really well. There's so much demand for it, but I have no money, no capital. And he was like, sure, I'll help you out. So he came in with me and we rented a an actual like build out space. We did a bunch of construction, built it out. This was 2018, so two years after we'd started in the small house. And running physio was was born in October. October of twenty eighteen, which was twenty two hundred square feet at a nice spot downtown Toronto. speaker-0: sweet. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And then where does the Boston Marathon, Iron Man, speaker-1: yeah, so I opened the clinic and then also ran the Boston Marathon that year. I think I got married that year too. Yeah, speaker-0: Well that was. speaker-1: I think that was all the same year if I recall. Yes, yes. yeah, Boston Marathon was two thousand and eighteen as well. And yeah, so that was I mean I was just doing I'm just running the whole time, right? Like it's just what I do, you know. speaker-0: Yeah. how was coming home to your spouse at that time? 'Cause you got married that year. speaker-1: Married that to that year, yes. Yeah. 2018? No, we were 2016. speaker-0: talk saying hey now rent a small house and then now I'm gonna rent twenty two hundred square feet speaker-1: Last time, he's just like, Okay, like I'm here for it, you know. I've like I said, I've always been a bit of a restless person, so I think like taking the thing with opening these businesses or really trying anything new is like you don't you don't know all the answers and you have to just have faith that you'll land on your feet. Like I I didn't know anything about opening owning a business. Literally speaker-0: Owning a business is realizing how stupid you were six months ago every six months. Yeah. That's literally running a business. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah. And I've since done it again. Right. So yes, it's like y you d you just have to know that you don't know it all, but you have to have faith in your problem solving skills. Yeah. That you'll and your networking skills and your community and the people who you meet, right? And it's like just like day after day of being like, Yeah, there's gonna be problems. Like it's you're never gonna not have problems. It's just I really like the problems associated with business ownership. So to me that's a good day, right? speaker-0: I get that. Yeah. okay, so where does the running physio get acquired? Where does that fall in? speaker-1: Okay, so then We bang out running physio, it does so well. We get through COVID. Which we can talk about that another day I'm sure. But briefly I'll just say like, you know, this is this is the real business the business owner here is like I remember my front desk and I and we were really close, her and I, and when we got the like government news we had to close for COVID. I remember we got Thai food and we sat in the staff room and we called every single patient and cancelled their appointment for two weeks. And it was just like money, money, money, like everything he worked so hard for. So we got through COVID, we survived, we had money in the bank for COVID. And like truthfully, it was like it was good. It was we we didn't go under in COVID, which to me was a success. So then we made it an amazing, here's the funny thing about that, is post-COVID was the running boom. Yeah. Because everything was closed in COVID, so everyone started running. So then post-COVID, we had all these people that were like, I love running. This is so great. This is amazing. And now I'm injured. And we're like, well, here we are. We're the place for the place for you. So we had this like amazing comeback post-COVID. it was great. And then a a few years passed and I had some kids and I moved to Orangeville. and I still loved running for you. It was great, but it was just getting quite difficult to be able to run it from afar. And I wasn't actively looking to sell it, but I met a friend who said, Listen, I I have somebody who I think is interested in the clinic with athlete scare. And so we had coffee and him and I just hit it off like right away. Like he very much like shared in the same vision as me and like the brand speaker-0: Business it goes past numbers. It goes to the passion behind it, the speaker-1: Yeah. And we've had people approach me before and it just was like, nah, not the right time, not the right fit, whatever. Not even the the money wasn't even part of those discussions. It was just like, nah, I'm my this is fine. You know, I'm not just gonna pass it over for the buck. and yeah, so we just like right away we just really hit it off quite well. So then the next skill was like, how do you sell a business? Yeah. Which was like a year process and lawyer fees and financials and again like I didn't go to school for any of this, but you figure it out. You just figure it out. and so I'm still a part owner of Running Physio, but we are partnered now with Athletes Care Sports Medicine. and I have a director role there, so I just do teaching, mentorship teaching across all of their twenty eight locations. They have locations in Ottawa and primarily Toronto and the GTA. So It's great because I get to do what I like the most, which is teaching and mentoring and the things like hiring, firing, like that's the kind of stuff that I I don't love so much. Admin, blah, right? Like it's just so time consuming. So now there are people who can do that and I have time and wherewithal to do the thing that's like really in my wheelhouse. speaker-0: Okay, so let's jump into Aploty studio now. Right. speaker-1: Yeah. Which also also happened. We're speaker-0: Not gonna get out of the intro. speaker-1: still in the intro. This is okay. Yeah, it's okay. We just speaker-0: Well I'm just I I'm literally trying to figure out this timeline in my head, right? So speaker-1: Yeah. like I said, I'm restless. so Ploty Studio, actually the admin of the first physio clinic that I worked at, her and I became really great friends. And had always wanted to open a business together. We were like missed connections. Like she had some babies, I had some babies, I had running physio, I was told running physio. You a couple times you were like, do we do a yoga studio? Do we do physio? No, it just didn't work. Like literally missed connections. And then the same year that running physio I'm like, no, I can't. I'm too busy. I'm finally getting out of small business. I go and see it. I'm like, my God, Fran, it's perfect. This is amazing. So next thing I know, speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: I'm like, well I have some money now from the clinic and just tell the clinic, here's my money. So yeah, take my money, I'm in. So there's there's three other partners and myself. I do like the business development, not so much the running education with that, but mm the skill set that I've learned from basically owning and acquiring and selling the clinic turns out to be quite useful in other industries. So I'm primarily yeah, like our like director of business development for Industry Studio, which is Dufferin and Dundas in Toronto. speaker-0: So it's not like a day to day operations kind of role. speaker-1: No, I mean it's like my side hustle, I suppose. speaker-0: You can dabble it. Yeah, you're dabbling it like you're there, but it's not like you had to sh check in at nine A. and check speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, and there's three other partners and our staff is amazing. So yeah, it just like it scratches that entrepreneurial itch for me. My new director role apparently isn't enough to keep me satisfied. So it's like I kinda have my my day job where my my role is quite clear and then I have my entrepreneurial side that I get to flex when I'm with the Pilates studio. speaker-0: Now it's gonna be one of my questions is like when you sold your business but you got brought into it as a director, I'm like how's it go from making the decisions to following the decisions? But speaker-1: Well yeah. speaker-0: your role is a little more loosely and it you're doing what you'd love to do. So I'm sure the transition isn't as bad as you assume it is. speaker-1: Yeah, it could be. I mean with the wrong buyer, you could end up I I actually have I chat it to a lot of people, you know, selling clinics is a bit of a big thing right now, as it is selling everything in the world is. But a lot of times you have to be mindful of the buyer because a person who's open to clinic has done so for freedom. Yeah. Loosely speaking, freedom. You know. Still work a lot, but at least you it's on your own time. and so I think when I made the decision to move on with athletes' care, a big part of that was like I still do have freedom to run my role the way that I want to. And I mean I made the program so it's also a little bit entrepreneurial even in that sense. It's just I don't have the the weight of the whole clinic on my shoulder. speaker-0: Entrepreneur rather than entrepreneur. You're in it, you're kinda directing it, you're running it, but you don't have to worry about the top end part. speaker-1: This is it. This is it. Great. speaker-0: so is it always your intent to sell running physio? Mm-hmm. speaker-1: No. No. No. I didn't really know what where we were. speaker-0: And it was just speaker-1: This is it. It was truly an opportunity knocked and I was kind of ready for it, I think, truly. Again, like I put it out to the universe that like maybe in you know two, three, five years I'd like to offload it. Like I can grind a little longer doing it, but then when this came up and it it was so so perfect, I'd be silly to say no. speaker-0: So now with your new role, I'm always curious when someone sells a business and they're still in the business. Like what's a typical bad Tuesday? Yeah, speaker-1: A bad Tuesday. speaker-0: like a typical like speaker-1: Yeah, a bad Tuesday that's that's a good question. A bad Tuesday is like fires. I mean there's always fires. There's typically fires every week, but a bad Tuesday would be somebody who can't attend Okay, so if we divide this up, we've got like our industry bad Tuesdays, like one of my instructors is late for their class because there's a T T C delay. Okay, so like what are we gonna do about that? I'm not downtown. Which one of the partners can go in and help with that? by the way, payroll is is also due. We gotta calculate bonuses for a payroll. Oops, it's the end of the month for that. Rent's coming out, right? And I also have two mentorship sessions booked in the afternoon on Tuesday, so I don't have time to get to the payroll stuff today. So like Like what are we what are we speaker-0: Delication delication. speaker-1: Yeah. This is it. Yeah. So that would be a bad Tuesday. I try and stay organized but like you just it's it's out of your hand sometimes. speaker-0: I find with entrepreneurs running is such a huge thing. speaker-1: yeah, we're talking about running. speaker-0: No, but like I'm saying like running as a whole. Like it's like I'm in a mastermind, it's called Real Business Owners, RBO. Cool. And we actually joke that's called running business owners. Like everyone in the group runs. The guy that actually started the group, he's going to break the world record right now for most consecutive half marathons. No way. He's on day 550 day consistently. speaker-1: My gosh. speaker-0: And I think the record's like six six. He's a six. And he I I like we asked him and it's like when are you gonna stop? He goes, I'd like to put a comma in the record. I'm like, a thousand days? Like that's insane. Like Wow. And in the group we have guys that do those hundred milers or those two fifties in the desert and stuff, and I'm like, that is just insane. Like I got into running because of what was it, three years ago, I got into like that self-development kind of phase I was telling about. I started 75 heart. Mm-hmm. And it was like one indoor, one outdoor. Outdoor, what are you gonna do? Right? You know, you get into business, you gain some weight, you health you start falling off the edge, and it's kinda like just go for a walk for 45 minutes, right? But in the typical ADHD business owner mind, it's like walking for 45 minutes, it's like I'll run a little bit. And then running turned into I'll run the whole thing. It's like, well, how far can I run? Next thing know, you're like down like an hour and a half, and you only have to run in that like forty-five minutes, right? It's kind of like that snowball effect. So I find a lot of people I know got into the running aspect of And I find I find people once they break that threshold, do you find with running there's a threshold where once you break it it's kinda one of those like speaker-1: It's a Kool Aid. speaker-0: you just do it. Yeah. You know? And speaker-1: Yeah. Usually usually takes four months. speaker-0: But the thing is like people don't realize like you have their runners high, but like People are like, well, you run every day, so like you feel like you have to run. I'm like, but you don't want to. You still don't want to. You know how much it's gonna suck, how much it's gonna hurt. There's days where I'll go put 10K down, yeah. Just to clear my head. Yeah. And the next day I'm struggling on three. Yeah. Like it's not the same every single day. It's one of those things where it's like just really kind of humbles you. speaker-1: And people will say to me, like, you just work with runners all day, isn't that boring? I'm like, no. Because the you've got your 250 miler, then you've got your like coach to five Ker. Yeah. Which is two totally different people with completely different goals, right? And two different reasons of their why for why they're doing it. Which I think is what's so fascinating with it, is it's like everybody who comes to the table, they've got they've got a reason for it because it's not all that enjoyable. It sucks. To your point. It sucks. You know? speaker-0: It's never good. Okay, I think this one's gonna be fun. Somehow everyone is an expert on running. The most oversimplified sport that's considered a given, yet it has one of the highest injury rates. Now, mind you, I didn't even have to find any quotes in my book. Because I have like a book where I always write quotes. And when I have a guest, I kinda go through my book and kinda pick quotes that are relevant to them. And I always go into your onboarding form, like she has them all, like done, right? Okay, speaker-1: Right on. speaker-0: so I'm gonna run you through a list about Things I compiled through like the running culture, kind of cliches, stuff like that. I wonder right. Honest hard opinion. speaker-1: The hills all dy speaker-0: Yeah. Okay. Running influencers in the Strava culture. Like people I I've had people like email me running plans where it's kind of like you just have a hundred thousand followers and you have no credibility behind it. Like like your honest opinion. Please, just I I really want to hear this one. speaker-1: Well i i so like okay the first thing I hear with that is like I have no sense of like w the actual plan or loading behind this. I'm just doing it for somebody to tell me how good I am. So then we're running with ego. Yeah. Which is entirely the wrong reason to run because you're gonna burn out and you're gonna get injured. Okay. Well, if that if ego is your primary MO, you're gonna have a real short career. You start. You're gonna burn out. And and it's because you are you're lacking like a a greater sense of of purpose of what you're trying to be doing here, right? And your greater sense of purpose is just like what, followers, right? Not to mention speaker-0: Against my mentality of shut up and work harder. speaker-1: No, not entirely. Like yes and no, I would say. I am because that is like a short term solution, right? Yeah. And if you're going to be successful, particularly at this sport, like no one should be running a marathon in their first year. Just shouldn't. And so if you're gonna apply that lens to it, it's like, well yeah, if you want to run a marathon, then run a marathon, right? And I'm like, no, just just wait. Just like start small, see how it feels, take a break for a little bit a w a while. Figure out what kind of tr cross training you need. If you're gonna get injured, it's probably gonna be in the first year, or the f the next timeline is in your first three years, and you're going to get injured. So let's like Deal with that and then figure out based on that how to well round yourself as a runner. And then that's the person that's going to be successful and satisfied and happy over time. Versus the person who's like gone all in and then they have a failure. Then they're just like, screw that. Yeah. I'm done with this. speaker-0: Right. Yeah, I find the injuries get a lot of people in the speaker-1: Yeah, the injuries are are absolutely gonna are gonna get ya. speaker-0: But find people just stop after they get an injured. Yeah. Like of course they do. I have sore legs, so someone like I'll go walk the next day. I won't run. But it's keeping up like getting out the house and doing something. wearables and recovery score. Cause I I got into this wormhole. I had my Samsung watch and it was great. Then I got under the whoop. And I'm like obsessed with like my recovery score, my sleep, my strain, and then now I'm in like HRH, HRV, like skin temp, like I'm getting into like a deep wormhole. speaker-1: Crazy. speaker-0: Like And it all started because I looked into like breath work. Yeah. And then breath work was like your HRH and then you gotta check your HR V and keep that consistent. I'm like, well, how do I track that? And I looked at the whoop and I'm like, I'm going down this wormhole. Yeah. Right? And like the recovery score, it's like it crazy, right? It gets to you. Yeah. It like mentally awares on you. It's like, I had bad recovery. What can I do to you? speaker-1: So there's a really interesting piece of research that actually shows that people that track their sleep have worse sleep. Because they're so like, I'm gonna get a good sleep tonight. And then they wake up and they're like, no, my god, I better get back to sleep. My my things are telling me I have a bad sleep, and then they're anxious because their their sleep tracker is gonna track that they had a bad sleep. So my my thing with this is like I love these wearables. I think the tech is amazing, like I'm here for it. But I also think we have to be mindful of like how do I feel today? How do I feel today? Right? Like what's my body telling me? Not what my screen is telling me I should feel, right? And so there's actually quite a lot of accounts of people who have run their best races when they've like forgotten their garment at home because they're forced to like look internally. And notice how they're feeling as the miles click by, right? However, my caveat to that is you have to like calibrate yourself first. And so we can use a lot of that data from those wearables to be like, my recovery's not great. You know what? I don't actually feel great today, right? And so it's like the wearables can like scaffold the forest for us, and then we can take the watch off and like run through the forest once we have. this this calibration done, but I do think that info is good for like particularly new runners to help them teach and notice something about how they're feeling. But I think I'm a huge proponent of like Every couple of weeks you just like go for a run with nothing, go for a naked run. Yeah. Right? Like take the tech off and just like breathe the air, look around, feel, notice how your legs are feeling. Is is am I feeling good after five minutes? Am I feeling good after ten minutes? interesting. I'm actually feeling better than I thought I would right now, versus being like, my watch, it's telling me my heart rate's too high, better slow down. Right. speaker-0: That's I think that's where I burn out because I'm a slow runner. I I just can't break that six thirty per kilometer rate. I don't know how people do get into the fives. I I just don't get it. And I push myself to get into the fives, but then I burn out after three K or four K. Yeah. And I find watch like looking at my watch with that timeline, I'm like, Yeah, okay, I gotta pick it up to pace. And then I'm so early in my run and I'm like, I could just bank all my energy and got to my last like two, three Korea. Change my average by speaker-1: Exactly. Or just take your watch off and like if you see a large oak tree, you just like run faster to the oak tree and you hit sub six thirty for a bit and then you fall off that for a little. And you can just like like it's like bringing an element of like play into it as opposed to like I do think the wearables are making us so rigid and like prescribing how we're supposed to feel about something when it's like also this is meant to be fun. speaker-0: Strava's creating a cult. speaker-1: Yeah, I think Christopher already has a call. speaker-0: It's like the Peloton. Do you remember No, but I'm saying Peloton? It's like Peloton. speaker-1: I think it's even bigger than Peloton. speaker-0: Yeah, I was like, okay, what is this Peloton thing? Like everyone's like, you're not on Peloton? And I'm like, no, I don't even know what the it like speaker-1: Well and there's even like have you seen the people that will like they'll pay somebody to like run for them and then they'll record that runoff of Strava? Joking. speaker-0: No. Yeah. speaker-1: I'm not joking, yeah. So it's like you'll like pay somebody faster than you to like record a run on Strava so that you can upload it on your Strava and be like PB. speaker-0: No way. speaker-1: That's a thing. Yeah. So that's a cult. speaker-0: I didn't know that. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: That is insane. I I always like seeing people post it because I like the cool 3D map and maps of what they did. I get what they did, but but then I see some people on there and it's like you get into some of the like forums and people are calling each other out and you've never scored that before and I'm like, well maybe they just ran faster, but here we are. That is crazy. speaker-1: Or like bib runners. Yeah. Wild. Yeah. speaker-0: This one I I fell into the craze it's a difference. I don't care what anyone says. Now that I've used them, no one else can tell me I can use regular running shoes. I call super shoes, but like running shoes. Like proper running shoes. Like actual speaker-1: Are you talking about super shoes or just like a proper run? speaker-0: Like a super shoe, proper running shoe. Any one of those. Like before it'd be like I'll throw on my Nike Air Forces or Air Max and go for a run. And then I got into like real like the Nike Zoom X3s, like those are my shoes. Like with the wide sole and like you feel like you're on a cloud. Yeah. Like it's actual difference. But like for someone that runs every single day, like a consistent runner, like are shoes a thing? speaker-1: Yes. Shoes are certainly a thing. so my first thing when people say this is like so classically what happens in a physio appointment is like, okay, we fix your knee, give you your exercises, hands on, do some acupuncture, whatever, and then their their hand is like on the doorknob to leave and they're like, By the way, Lauren, what shoes should I wear? And I'm like, my god, we we're already two minutes over time and like it's just a whole can of worms to open. speaker-0: Well now you have more than two minutes. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll I'll keep it as condensed as possible. So yes, the shoes do matter, but my first question is like, first of all, what do you care about? Right? So it's like is speed the name of your game? Are you trying to qualify for something? Is sustainability important to you? Is price point important to you? So it's like first of all you gotta ask yourself like what am I what are my values in terms of running shoes? Because sure, yeah, like the Nike Zoom X, anything that came from that ZoomX line is going to be Zumax is currently the fastest shoe. It is indeed. If you were to hold a whole, but if you were to run and not a Zumax, you would be probably two percent more economical wearing the Zoom X than you would be wearing a non-super shoe. Right? wow. So your energy return would be like probably two percent greater and that's been proven and no one can beat those Nike Zoom X line shoes. Adidas can come close, but in terms of energy return, but Nike still holds the the like fastest shoe, right? However, they're gonna be like four hundred and twenty five dollars and the the longevity of them because of the way that the foam is formed is going to be shorter. Yeah. Okay, so if we're okay with that and you're like, yeah, I wanna wear this, then for sure. Now the the complicated factor here is the ideal number of running shoes for anyone to be wearing, whether they're a beginner or elite, is three. Okay? And so we wanna have three pairs of shoes in our rotation, and the reason for that is because essentially what we're doing is like a repetitive skill. Yeah. Right? Like it's a coordination skill that's repeated ten thousand times in a run. So if you're gonna have like a different pair of shoes, say I get three is sort of the go-to, then each shoe is going to strain your foot and lower extremity just a little bit differently. Okay? It's going to use slightly different foot muscles. It's going to put load in a slightly different path between the impact of the ground and further up in your body. So anything we can do that creates like a micro variability with something that's repetitive is going to decrease your injury rates. Okay. So wear speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: your shoes, but also wear a slightly different spec pair of shoes. Something that's like maybe a slightly different drop, a slightly different rigidity, just a little bit. Doesn't have to be totally different, right? But just like rotate depending on what kind of run you're doing or or what have you, those shoes, and that's gonna give you the biggest edge over injury. But again it depends on like what you're aiming for in the certain pair of shoes that you're spending money on. speaker-0: I could see that. I never got into like the micro analogy of it, but like I have a pair of ASICs where I love them if I'm going for a run where it's like I had to push myself. Because they're yeah They have a little bit more I mean, I don't know the scientific term, but they have a little more like roll to them. Right. So when I'm running, it's like rocker. Yeah, it's like a little bit easier on me because I'm like, I don't want to run anyway. So any assistance I can get, right? Sure. But it's something about the zooms where it's like my feet tend to like tilt out while I'm running. And they give me that extra like where my shin splits don't line up. So like I get the micro but I never thought of it like that. It was just kinda like Yeah. speaker-1: Lastly the last thing I'll say on this piece is there's a concept that I created in the course that I also run by the way. So I teach clinicians also I forgot to mention that on our intro. I teach clinicians how to assess and treat runners. and we talk about a concept called shoe compatibility. So it's like is the way that AJ is running in his in his foot dynamics and his lower extremity range of motion, mobility, stability, is it compatible with the shoes that he's choosing? And so for somebody who is like very supinated, like you're saying, you are potentially gonna want something that's going to help you, like aid with that pronation, that controlled pronation. So if that's helpful, if your shoes are doing that, then that's perfect. Right. As opposed to something that's really rigid in the center and it's gonna keep you in that supinated position, we're not gonna want that. So this idea of like compatibility of the person with the shoe is really kind of like the foundation of those decisions that we're gonna help them make. speaker-0: Actually, now that since we're on shoes, can I get off topic? Mm-hmm. Someone just taught me lace lock. speaker-1: yeah, so good. speaker-0: It changed my life. Yeah. I didn't know that was thing. speaker-1: Yeah, which version? speaker-0: I don't know. There's like one where it's like the lace comes from like underneath and over and ties into the other hoop and then do the other hoop. Explain what it is. Just because I I can't even explain what it is. It just someone did it for me. I was like, what is my god. speaker-1: I mean, essentially there's a few different like lace lock techniques you can use, but the one you're talking about is sort of like the most common one where you just do kind of like a little bunny ear through and then the other side and it just gives you a little bit more security in the top part of the like the upper of the shoe essentially. So if it's like a fit issue for you, or some some people find that like the midfoot of the shoe will fit, but the heel is like a little bit too spacious. That's often where the lace lock can be helpful, is it just like snugs you up a little bit and gives you Truly what it's doing is it's not changing the specks of the shoe at all, but it's giving your body greater proprioception and like a snugger fit essentially from where your foot is in space. speaker-0: And that's what I loved about it. It's like it yeah, it tightened around my ankle more because I never tie my shoes. Any of my shoes I do not tie. I'll go do a crossfit workout and like the coach is like, Why don't you tie your shoes? I I swear my shoes are never tied. Yeah. And when I did the la lace lock thing, it like tightened around my ankle but left my shoes so loose where I was like, I can do this now. Nice. It just completely changed my life. Like I know it's such a simple thing. twenty six point two miles would change your life. speaker-1: Yeah. Am I agreeing s or disagreeing still? speaker-0: It's totally up to you if you speaker-1: I do agree that twenty six point two miles changes your life. speaker-0: I'm just saying like it's they're pushing like people saying, speaker-1: You have to run it. speaker-0: you know speaker-1: yeah, I'm I'm a yes for that. But smart Yeah, speaker-0: That's what I'm looking for, yeah. speaker-1: yeah. So one of the roles that we have, Athletes Care, we have a partnership with Canada Running Series and I have a medical tent at the finish line paired with like the There's like sports med dogs, doctors, nurses, and it's a huge crew. Like the medical team for the marathon is n like I can't even describe to you how next level it is. I'm actually preparing for it next month is the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in October. and I had this girl come through the finish line and she's like not in good shape. Like she's I'm I'm even suspecting she's got like a little bit of like a stress fracture going on from the single race that she just did. I'm taking her information, bib number, and she's got a half marathon. Bib on, but she's like coming in with the full marathonners, and I'm like, you've got a you've got a half bib on. And she's like, I know. I was just having so much fun that I just wanted to do the whole. And so, like, yeah, see what I mean? Of like, yes, I mean 26.2 changed her life, but you probably spent the next eight to twelve plus weeks rehubbing. Yeah. Something pretty awful, right? And so and I just had my face was like, girl, like just no, just patience, you know, you could have done this so much better and you wouldn't have ended up in the medical tent and you would have like I don't know how she ended up. I'm sure she would have been fine in time, but it just like it's just so much you gotta go about it the right way and you gotta respect that distance. It is no joke. speaker-0: So I made that mistake when I first started running. My goal was to hit a half marathon distance. Yeah. And I was like three weeks in, and I would do two K, 5K, or something. And I went for a run in Island Lake. Yeah. And I was having one of those days where like I slipped and fell in mud. And I dropped my phone. And then I tripped over something. And I was like, I fucking hate running. I'm gonna do the half marathon today and I'm never running again. And speaker-1: again. speaker-0: I went and just pushed through and just Just did it. Yeah. I've never paid for something so bad in my life. Like my speaker-1: This is my point about ego. speaker-0: knees, my hips, my lower back, between my shoulder blades hurt. Like everything hurt after that. And I think it's because I've never run that distance before. Like I had that piss and vinegar kind of mentality where I'm like, and I'm running it. I'm not even walking. I'm gonna keep running. Even if I'm just strutting at a slow pace, I'm gonna speaker-1: I'm doing it. speaker-0: What a mistake that was. Now I'm good. But like speaker-1: It sucks though and it's just like it's not fun. You don't enjoy it and it's just like you can do it you can do it so much better if you're smart and patient. Patient and like wise, you know. And again, so you were running from ego that day. speaker-0: Yeah, yeah, full full ego, like and frustration. I just never wanted to run again. But I'm one of those people where like I have a goal in mind and I'm like I'm gonna hit that goal. I'm like I'm gonna speaker-1: And I same with this girl. She was like, I'm gonna do this full marathon today. Sign up for the half. And it's like the way the course is, it's like the half finishes or like both courses loop around and then the full does a whole other loop. And yeah, she would have she she wouldn't have felt good the next day. That's for sure. Yeah. speaker-0: okay, so I've done physio. I used to be skeptical on it. speaker-1: That's fair. speaker-0: I think it's when I was younger and my body healed better. Yeah. I was a little skeptical on Because I do physio. And I'm like, I don't feel like I'm doing much because I'm like the next day it'd be better and I'm like, it's probably I'm just young, right? As I got older though, I started understanding like, okay, it's an actual thing. Right? But what are some things physios sell that they can't back up? speaker-1: yeah. often machines. So like okay, l I gotta get it to you so straight. Like there's no physio in the world that can just be like magic wand, you know, and your elbow is speaker-0: Remember the red light beeping thing? speaker-1: It it's like, yeah, all of it, right? Like there's like tens, machines, laser, a little bit, ultrasound, like it it's all these things. But the way that our body fundamentally works, and this is like like I can't underscore this enough for like the lay person, is you can you can tune your body to do anything you want it to do. Lift weights, run a marathon, do high rocks. It all you need is to apply that stimulus slowly and progressively over time and your body will adapt to that. Always. Yeah. That's fundamentally the way it works. So if if that's the case then we can't just expect there to ever be like a machine. If and and if this existed, we would have found it by now, right? There's nothing that can just be like and you're fixed. So The at the core of like 94% of injuries is at some point in time you did too much for whatever that structure was able to sustain. You you exceeded the capacity of a tendon, muscle, or bone. Always. So any physio that's just like, yeah, a couple come a couple times, we'll just like settle it down and you'll be good to go. It's it's just it's not true. It isn't true. Every single time it's the same thing. You settle it down and you gotta build it back up. And the build it back up is the time that's gonna be different depending on where you are, like your A point and where you wanna be, which is your B point. And if you just need to get better enough to like climb your stairs at your apartment, sure, not gonna be so bad. But if your B point is a marathon, we have to be applying stimulus slowly over time to be able to run a marathon. speaker-0: Yeah, not three weeks later. Right. Yeah. Yeah. are you getting a lot of high rocks athletes? I feel I don't know. I just I feel like it's another CrossFit phase. I I thought about getting into it. I'm like, I'm just gonna get caught up 'cause I'm very competitive. Mm-hmm. Like I'm that guy where it's like even during when I go to like strength and cond they it strength and condition where I go. But During warm-ups, I don't do a warm-up. I'm that guy where like I I know my body. Like I I'll warm up, but I'm like I know my body. If it's gonna be a lot of like bending and hinging, I have horrible hips. So I'm like everyone else is doing like, you know, jumping jacks and skipping and stuff, and I'm like, I gotta stretch my hips. Yeah. speaker-1: There you go. speaker-0: And I'm that type guy in class where I'll like moan and groan about the work I'm like, my god, it's so stupid that but when the buzzer goes off, it's like the competition kicks in, it's like, okay you gotta go. Like go Yeah, go kind of thing, right? So I thought about the Hyrocks thing, but like this wasn't in the plan to talk about it, but like is it yeah or nay, do you think? speaker-1: I I mean, I'm not yay or nay on it. It's the same old thing. It's like it it honestly just comes down to like whatever you want to do. Yeah. Whatever you wanna do. Your body's amazing. It can do that. We just have to have that I I'm gonna say it again, that A to B plan, right? Don't decide you wanna do a high rock so that you can get the picture and show your friends and then like do three workouts to prepare and expect to have a good time. Yeah. You know, and it's like it's process and I think one of my issues with like how running's gotten so sexy and so hot these days is the the focus is on the outcome, right? Like the influencers are gonna do their racing, right? But it's like it's I I have actually told my athletes that I coach before, I really care how this outcome goes, if you've had the best 16 week training plan leading up to it and you nailed 80% of your workouts and you're doing your cross-training and you're sleeping well and you're eating well and you're having fun, you're gonna have a good race. Yeah. Right. You're gonna right. And it you're you're gonna enjoy it and when mentally you're enjoying it, like that should be your why, not just the Hyrocks picture. speaker-0: So I find the feedback, my experience, is if I was running consistently, more people would be like, Holy fuck, do you run every single day? Versus the one time I post like a personal best, no one would comment on it. No one would reach out and say, Hey, congrats on that. Like, but when you do it consistently for six months, people are like, Are you seriously running every single day? Like I find there's more feedback on that aspect of it. Yeah. With the outcome of it. Yeah. Okay. I'm oblivious on this whole thing, but we're gonna talk about like boutique Pilates. Okay. Okay. My thing is like I've seen some Pilates workouts and I'm like, I can't do that. Just like yoga. Yes, you could. No, I'm saying I I've tried it, like I got stuck in yoga. Like my wife had to move my leg. Like I actually got stuck. It was embarrassing. But then I see some of these Pilates ones where I'm like, you know, you see them online and even the advertising, or I have friends who do Pilates and they walk in there like speaker-1: Mm-hmm. speaker-0: full face of makeup. Walk out, taking selfies after, not even a drip of sweat on them and I'm like my thing is like when you work out, go work out. Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah. Well, I mean ply is done hard, like you should be sweating. Done properly. Plys is very hard. speaker-0: That's what I mean. But like these boutique ones, like I see some of them and then I'm like, are speaker-1: It's not our jam. It's not my jam. Yeah, and I'm with you on that. Like I think one thing that we find really special about our studio, and our our staff all knows this, is like it has to be hard. Yeah. Right? It has to be hard. It has to be worth your time. Because I mean and again, my my physio input on this is it's like if you aren't doing something that challenges you ten to fifteen percent above where you're at today, then Why are we what are we doing? Yeah. You know? I mean argument could be, well, we're moving our body. Okay. Sure, if that's your goal. Yeah. Great. same thing with these influencers. If that's your goal that you just wanna, you know, roll around on a reformer for fifty minutes and pay forty dollars for it, then like have at it and I can tell you not to. But if you're looking for like something that's gonna move the needle, then like you gotta you gotta work a little. speaker-0: A little hard to look. Yeah. Okay. So I'm not crazy though. Some there are boutiques out there that are very speaker-1: I'd say so. Yeah. Not ours. Not ours. Mm-hmm. speaker-0: another quote by you. I've always been good at recognizing big patterns and spotting where shortcomings or holds are. why don't other runners see what you see? speaker-1: Mm-hmm. I think I have like a unique perspective in that I the first five K I ever did, I was six. I did it with my dad in St. Catharines, which was really fun. I remember it vividly. And then I remember like my lungs burning and my legs burning. and like I think I might have walked a little bit here and there, whatever. and then at the end I was like, I fucking did that. I probably didn't jump an F was six but nonetheless I was like I did that and so I joined a cross country team and I'm like you I'm just competitive at my core my parents my dad is quite competitive I get it from him like my dad is sixty eight sixty nine and he still like he lives over in Rockwood and he'll ride his bike from Rockwood to Orangeville like as hard as he can like not just to complete it but to like be like how hard can I do this in my jeans speaker-0: Yeah, no, I get that. speaker-1: Yeah. but I think there's so there's this like underlying like competitiveness that I just have made friends with over time. but then if you pair in this like this this interest with a hobby paired with like the physio knowledge, and I always thought it was a bit of like an anomaly getting into physio school because I I I am like smart-ish on paper. Like I can but I think the reason why I'm smart-ish on paper is because I figured the system out. Right. You know what I mean? Like it's like I I'm not great at math, to be honest. Like I scraped through high school calculus, but the cutoff for physio is so high that I figured out like what kinds of classes I needed to take to get my marks high enough to get an interview. But I'm like people smart, right? Like I'm a little street smart. So once I got to that point, it was I got in, I got into physio school. So I think it was like the physio knowledge plus like doing this thing for so long afforded me like a very wide lens. on this hobby. okay. You know what I mean? So it's like i I've just been in this world with like this unique base of education for a long time that it's given me like a unique perspective on it. speaker-0: now when you create program, because you still create programs and stuff for running, like what's the thought process on that? speaker-1: Are you talking like a coaching program or a teaching program or like speaker-0: Coaching program. So someone is watching this and they're like, I want to get into running. How is my coach gonna create my program? So it's me coming to you and I'm like hey Lauren, I want to do 10K. I want to do it in six months. Okay. Like what is your thought process on creating a program or someone how someone should look at create I know you can go on the Nike app or Strava or they have the programs but like from a professionalist perspective, not like an algorithm creating it. speaker-1: Not asking check machine. speaker-0: People look at this program or if they get another running coach. They get this program it's kinda like how do they know it's credible? Like what's the thought process besi behind creating an actual program? speaker-1: Sure, yeah. So the hardest thing with creating a program is establishing baseline, okay? Because every time I meet somebody for the first time, i I put it this way, on my end I'm like, okay, I gotta give AJ a workout tomorrow. Yeah. Am I gonna give him ten K? Am I gonna give him five K? Am I gonna give him intervals? Am I gonna give him tempo? Like where where's our starting point? Because if we overshoot that Then we're gonna wind up in trouble in four weeks. Okay. But if I undershoot it, then you're gonna be like, you know, what am I doing? This is this coach is a waste of my time, right? So we have to establish like some kind of starting point first and foremost. So usually I find almost the first two weeks that I'm working with an athlete is just getting to know them a little bit, right? And we have an intake form, you know, all our standard health history questions, but really we we want to know like what are you what's this what's the As accurate as possible snapshot of what your life looks like now, including the recovery. Recovery is gonna actually be the limiting factor in how hard it can push you, right? So I've heard you say a few times, like, you I'm gonna go running every day. No, I don't want you running every day, right? Because that's actually just gonna add more load, that's gonna detract from our overall recovery to get you to point B. Okay. So the things we're looking at is where are you starting? Is the timeline of your goal attainable, right? So if you're somebody who's never run before And you're like, well, I'm gonna run my first marathon and it's in twelve weeks, I'm gonna be like, mm-mm, right? So if Chat GPT or any coach is like, yeah, sure, we'll make that happen, red flag. Yeah. Red flag. Or I mean the counter argument to is like, yeah, sure, maybe, but to our previous point, you're gonna hate it. Yeah. You're gonna hate it, right? And so we need to know where where you're at, where you're going. And then the third question overlaying that is do we have adequate time to apply a training load or stimulus that will Land you where you want to be within your expectation. So then the conversation needs to be managing this expectation of saying, okay, we can get you to 10K, but I honestly think it's going to be better in 16 weeks and not 10. Are you okay with that? speaker-0: Okay, yeah, yeah. speaker-1: So it's then working with you to atta establish like speaker-0: And resetting the parameters. speaker-1: Honestly, expectation management is probably the hardest thing for coaches because we want to see you achieve too, right? speaker-0: So if you get if someone out there gets a coach and it's a they give you the yes man mentality, be weary. Be careful. Be careful. speaker-1: Absolutely. Yeah. speaker-0: give me the worst piece of running advice that gets repeated like gol gos like gospel scripture. speaker-1: That everybody should be midfoot running. Foot speaker-0: Everyone should be right? speaker-1: running. Okay, not a heel striker. You heard the okay, let me rephrase that heel striking is bad. Have you heard this? speaker-0: I've read it, but I'm a heel stri like I got it I gotta roll. Like I I I feel weird if I'm you know what I feel like? If I do like like the midfoot strike, I feel like Rocky speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Yeah, you don't have the stability. speaker-0: During his montage where he's just kinda like stepping along the way and like trying to get like I I feel like I'm just kinda doing that. Like my foot is just I'm falling and just landing on my foot. Feels just weird to run like that. speaker-1: Hm. There is a a a lot of research that shows that midfoot striking is biologically, if we were to just look at like a human in a vacuum in the way that we biomechanically run, that midfoot striking is the most economical. Now that is taken way out of context because people will often try to use that as a shortcut to get people better or faster through an injury and they'll just say, well I think you're injured because you're here you're here you're heel striking. anywhere about eighty probably eighty percent plus people are heel strikers including plenty of elites who have won international marathons. Yeah. Right. So what the actual fact of that is is it comes down to self optimization of how you have chosen to dissipate load through running over time. So that's why no one runs exactly the same, right? There's a handful of common principles that the best runners will share, and that's what you can teach my therapists, my clinicians of trying to encourage people to move more like, but there's no singular one best running form. speaker-0: When you think about high knees, I've tried to run with high knees and I feel it's just weird. I I exert so much more energy than I need to. speaker-1: Yeah, I don't know. I'm not sure. It depends on where you're at now, right? Like yes, typically a higher knee is is often better when you have more hip flexion, more hip extension, a greater hip angle between the front of your squad and the back. Yes. Yeah it is. It is. But it's it's a new coordination skill for you. Yeah. Right? So anything that's a new coordination skill is gonna feel weird at the beginning and it may be better over time for you if it matches the way that your body type is. And it's com it's compatible with the way that your hip shape is, it's gonna be better for you. But there's nothing to say for a fact you should have higher knees. speaker-0: That was just some free advice for myself, just that's all it was. Here for you. There's satisfaction. There's no satisfaction in a man who sees what he can achieve. I found that a lot with everything every time I hit a goal. Like starting a business, running, weightlifting. Like it it just everything. It's just like once I realize what I can do, like I just can't go back. It's almost like your expectations like too high and you're almost disappointed because now your most recent achievement is your baseline. Does that sense? Mm-hmm. So speaker-1: I'm with you. Yeah. speaker-0: you as a person, like you've opened your clinic, sold your clinic, partnered on another one, you know, have like your director role, like explain your baseline. How do you set standards now? speaker-1: You know, yeah it does make sense. speaker-0: You can't like accept anything less than that now. Yeah. And it there those are big moves, big steps. So it's kinda like anything less than that, like where do you go next? Like speaker-1: think I've learned with time to make those decisions a little bit more based off of how I feel. As opposed to I think when I was younger, a lot of it the physio world's funny for example, because it's like you graduate and you make pretty good money out the gate, but that's like that's your ceiling. Yeah. So oftentimes the mentality is like, Well, I should open a clinic, right? And I felt that. I felt that of like, well, what am I gonna do next? Like I'm I'm like twenty-six. I'm you know, what's my next step? I'm not doing this for the next twenty years. I don't wanna treat for twenty years. What's my next step gonna be? And guess I'm gonna open my own business. And there was other things that played into it, but that that absolutely was a motivating factor. But I think now more quite a bit older, and my life's busier and I gotta have small kids, is more like, well, this thing that I'm doing day to day isn't feeling good. Like it's not making me feel good. It's not giving me energy, right? Like it's it's taking so much away from me, but I'm not I'm not like energized by this thing. So based on that, how can I what's my next move gonna be away from that? As opposed to just like, well I guess I should speaker-0: So, how short will your thought process be now that you have accolades on the wall of all these achievements? Say something feels good, and it's one of those like, will the thought process and decision time be shorter now that you've already accomplished everything? I find that's the way I am. Now that I've deposited some receipts and I've kind of like accomplished something, I turn around and say. Well no, that feels right. I'm just gonna do it. Before it'd be like, Okay, let me figure this out, let me stand back, let me look at this from bird's eye view, is this making sense, is it doing that? You now do you feel like that decision time would be a little bit less? speaker-1: Necessarily, because I think the decision that I'd still be making is a little bit more of like a like an internal weighing of how it would affect my life emotionally as opposed to externally, which still is a slow decision, right? And I have small kids that rely on me and I wanna be there for them. So there's a lot more like there's other people. I have my partner, like I I need to consider how it's how a big bigger move like that would affect more than just me. Versus when I was twenty six I was like, I just work all the time, go with this business, whatever. Yeah, right. Full send, full send. But now I don't know I don't think the decision is so much based off of like like what I should be doing next or like yeah let's like let's achieve, right? It's it's more like balanced in like, okay, that's an idea. Let me like maybe think on that for a bit or like talk about it with my husband and like maybe see how things go for the next few months and then I'll make a move on it. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: You know? So maybe same time but different processing. speaker-0: because you mentioned it, how is it having a silent partner? speaker-1: With running physio? Yeah. that's a great question. speaker-0: 'Cause people don't realize like a silent partner can be very involved. Like people sit here silent and they're just like silent. It's like they're not all like that. speaker-1: Yeah, I still have a very incredible relationship with that business partner. first of all he believed in me because I said like listen I need help with this but I like I can work, I'm a hard worker. And he was like, Yeah, okay, I'll do that. so I respect him greatly and he honestly the silent partner role doesn't encompass him well. He was a mentor. He was a mentor to me. Because remember I'm coming into this with a physio background. Like I don't know what a P<unk>L is. Yeah. Right? And he's like, yeah, you need to be doing a P<unk>L every month. I'm like, I don't know it. speaker-0: I thought a P and L was P and L. P and L. For the first like six months out of my business. This is a So I took my bookkeeper and they're like, it's P and L And I'm like speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: What? Yeah what is that? speaker-1: loss if people aren't following this is a profit and loss sheet and I literally have no idea what this is but it's like the like like the bread and butter health score of your business right and so things like you know we'd meet at a coffee shop and he would go through it line by line with me and say like okay heads up this is an issue this is an issue this is an issue and so the day to day you know I did all of that I did all the day to day but if I had a question from a strategy perspective or more macro perspective I could call him up and and get his two cents on it. So it it was a really special relationship. Yeah, yeah. We still are very close. speaker-0: Even I think mentorship's huge. Like people really need to if they can find a mentor. Yeah. I was never fortunate enough to have a mentor, but I've seen people that have had them and I'm like, you're streamlining this service by your experience by like Ted X. Yep. Like literally you're streamlining it and like someone's already been there. So like they're they're especially as a partner. That's it. They're not gonna let you make the mistakes that you wouldn't normally make. speaker-1: And there's some hard lessons, right? Like it there's some times where he'd be like, What are doing? And I'm like, I don't know. He's like, This is bad. Okay. Okay, okay. And you learn those you learn those quick, right? So and even now I would say like there's typically there's weeks that go by where I'm like, Okay, what would what would my partner have done in this case? So yeah. speaker-0: you roll your happiest when you're busy and it's hard to turn off. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: Do you want to turn it off? Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. I'm getting better at turning off. yeah, parenting makes you tired. Yeah. So speaker-0: Here's our three and six. speaker-1: three and six, yeah, two girls. I'm getting better at it, I think, but it's a muscle strangely, like it's a little bit paradoxical because it's like a muscle to be able to turn off and like give yourself permission to be like, you're good. Like you can speaker-0: How did the order roll now? Do you find it easier to turn off? speaker-1: Yeah, I would say, yeah. Because I mean also remember that, right? Like for many years, like if the clinic was open, like I'm if something happens, I'm I'm there. I gotta fix it, right? Yeah. That's speaker-0: You're the point person. speaker-1: it. Yeah. One of the partners, my really good friend, she and her partner own a twenty four hour restaurant in Toronto and it's like you gotta have a thick skin to do that. Like twenty four hours a day, this restaurant is open. speaker-0: That's crazy. I don't know if I could do that. I know that I know nothing. That was that's a cliche Socrates quote. when do you realize you could figure this all out? Or have you not figured speaker-1: no, I don't have it figured out. speaker-0: it out? I get some people like I'll figure this out. I have it all figured out. I got it down to a pat I got it down to the system now. Yeah, I know, like you know what I mean? speaker-1: But Yeah. no. I I don't think I'll figure it out. speaker-0: You're now in more of a relaxed structured role than like what you were day one with the partners. Like do you feel like you figured out your daily schedule, like how much time you spent with your kids, like speaker-1: It's always changing. I'm okay with that. it works for me. I think I think I'm just like what I have figured out is where where to put my time and I've gotten better at being like, not now, you know, like a quote I really like is like you can have it all, just not all at once. Yeah. You know. I love that quote. Yeah. right. And it's like I I in my in my ideal world I'm like doing this, I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm doing this and it's like, no, that doesn't actually work, nor is it healthy and the best businesses aren't actually built that way. So like sit back a little, be curious. I think I can come at it from an energy of curiosity more as opposed to like needing to make money. I can't so poor as a student. I had like two dollars my bank account when I graduated, right? So much student debt. I just paid my OSAP off like last year. Like I was like thirty eight. Yeah. Right. And so now it's like I'm at a place of like I can still I can enjoy the process a little bit more from like a curiosity perspective and I mean even the Pilates studio a little bit was like, I don't really know how this is gonna go but I like I'm curious in it and I like these people, so okay. You know. speaker-0: So what do you enjoy more? The beginning hustle and bustle or me personally, like I love I love the beginning hustle and bustle, but I love where I'm at now. But I don't think I'd enjoy today if I didn't experience before. It's like when I started my business, I was a field and project manager at a construction company. I don't think I would have been able to run my business without that experience. I feel like everything has kind of fallen in place to like get me to this stage where I'm like I enjoy this but I appreciate that. I wouldn't enjoy this without that. I would agree. speaker-1: you know, it's been interesting because the first business I opened up, I mean granted I had my silent partner, but it was largely me that like did it all. And that was hard, but in retrospect, like it brings up the question of like to have a partner or not have a partner, you know? Because then the second one now we've done with four partners, that startup phase was very hard. speaker-0: leaning towards a partner phase right now. Like I've done it by myself and I said, Yeah, I will never fucking do this by myself again. And I won't I'm at the point where I'm like, maybe it's better just to buy a business and straighten it out because I just don't want to go through that phase again. Right. I appreciate it. Like I said, I appreciate it. Yeah. I learned what I learned, but I don't need to go through that again. Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah. However, I would say now that the the dust has settled, having four is amazing. Like I love having partners now, right? Because it's like the roles are more established. But there's just the inevitable like at the beginning everything's so nebulous. Yeah. And it's like, well, am I stepping on your toes if I'm gonna make this decision? But I need you to make this decision, but I don't really like it, but I just have to let you make it. So it was like it's a whole different dynamic, I think, that's with partners. So like pros and cons to each. I think I would I would say I like this slightly more settled more and you know why is because when it's settled it frees up my brain for something new. speaker-0: Shiny Object Syndrome. That's exactly what it is. Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: and it's funny because I had shiny object syndrome for months and now I'm doing the okay, let's Put my head back into my construction company. Nice. Let's kind of dial this back in. To the point where like I went through our expenses, I found five grand of savings a month. Amazing. 60 grand a year. That's not nothing. Okay, maybe it's time to put my head back into this right now instead of having that shiny object signal. But yeah. I just really want to do that. speaker-1: Yeah. Curious. You gotta just be curious. Or like I know exactly that feeling where the you know, we're looking at the P and L and it's like what the And then three days later, you know, you've fallen into some wormhole of like, why is this expense what it is? And you fixed it because it was in US dollars and not CAD and you're like, yes. speaker-0: Yes. All right. Yeah. Okay, let's talk about this literature thing, all the publications you've had. There was like Globe Mail. Globe Mail, IRun, New York Times. Yeah. Just keep gloating. Keep going. Yeah, just keep putting it all out there, yeah. speaker-1: those are the big ones. Canadian Running. there's some other podcasts in there. New York Times was really fun. That was really cool because I got to work with a freelance writer that I know quite well and I gave exercise suggestions that was filmed, like the exercises were done in like a green screen set with like a model. Yeah. which was really cool. That was a really fun one. speaker-0: And all the other ones were just literature? speaker-1: Yeah, they're just like, yep, yeah. speaker-0: Were features of you or features of your work or speaker-1: Features of me. Yeah, yeah. Like kinda like this kind of thing. Yeah. speaker-0: Okay. and then let's talk about these three hundred plus clients. speaker-1: you're th yeah, personally it's a little higher than that actually. Did I put three hundred? Three hundred. Yeah, somewhere in that realm, yeah. our clinic as a whole, the running physio, when I finished treating a couple of years ago, was nearly at ten thousand or so our goal was to treat ten thousand clients and runners in ten years. And we were just we were like on track for that goal, which to me is cool because Like it was like my philosophy and training that I taught the clinicians that they got to treat with. So that was cool. but yeah, personally I was like, I don't know, three hundred, five hundred, something like that is a long time. speaker-0: Those are all one on one client. Yeah. Okay. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just one on one. It's a lot of time. It's like it's like your three hundred hours. Right. Like if you think about your Malcolm Gladwell, like there's your three hundred hours. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. speaker-0: okay so end of the episode. We always ask two questions. Okay. First one is what do you want to be asked? speaker-1: What do I want to be asked? speaker-0: It could be a question and you could have the floor to yourself and just answer it yourself or it could be a question that you're like, you know what? That would stop me and that'd be a good question for me. speaker-1: I think I would probably like to be asked like are we talking deep or anything at all? speaker-0: I always still guess my question would be when is it enough? Because I don't know. I'm at that phase in life where I'm like I feel like I have that foot on the gas pedal and it's like as things are coming on I'm just like bulldozing through them. Because like things are just happening, I'm doing good, accomplishing all my goals and everyone's like, When are you gonna just chill? And I'm like I I don't know when it's enough. Like just at that greed stage. speaker-1: Yeah, that's okay though. speaker-0: Well yeah, I just I it's not it's a question I would not have an answer for right now because I I don't know what's coming in six months. I'm fine. speaker-1: Yeah. I would say like probably my big thing to be asked would be Like w actually, this is funny. Somebody said this to me at dinner a few weeks ago and she goes, Well, what are you running from? speaker-0: It's actually pretty good. speaker-1: She's like, all the runners I know are running from something. And I was like, Well, what am I running from? And like I think it's changed over the years. Like I think it used to be younger, it was in my twenties, you're like insecure, you don't know who you are. So you're running from like maybe the the dissonance of like who you think you should be and who you are. Yeah. That was a big one, big part of my identity for a long time. And then I became too much of my identity, right? Like there's a too much into something. And so then I think I was sort of maybe running from like what I think I should have been doing as opposed to the things that made me really happy. And now I mean again, there's places for me to go still, but I do feel like I'm in a more established place of like being able to weigh the decisions that I make in like a very internal and external way. speaker-0: Yeah, before we get to the last question, are you still actively running? speaker-1: Yeah, but like not competitively. I did the zoo run, the Oasis Zoo run a few weeks ago and I was really sick. I shouldn't have probably done it, but I had a team there, so I was there anyways. And it was like disappointing. Like my time wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be and I'd trained for it, put together a little training plan for myself. And about like midway through I had the realization it just was not gonna be my day. And I was sad for like two kilometers, like kilometers like six to eight. I was like, man, this rent sucks, whatever. And then I was like, fuck it, I'm I'm in the zoo and I'm running and I have friends here, and I have a team here that I built, and we're we're like, we're all here together, it's like a beautiful morning, I don't care. Like I'm good, you know, but that would have like really sent me a decade ago of like, I trained for this race, didn't go the way I wanted to, like so upset, you know. So yes I'm still running, but it's in a much more of like a relaxed way. speaker-0: Are you doing any recreational running where it's just like after a bad Tuesday, it's kind of like get home, tell the family, listen, I just gotta go put to put down five. speaker-1: Trail running and we're so fortunate where we live. I Like it's just amazing for where we live for trail running. I got a dog at the end of summer. I'm a huge dog person. My husband and I had dogs before we had kids, and so we we're we've been six years now without one. And he's been going on like hikes for me with me and it's like just been really nice. Yeah. So I do it from a place of like again of like enjoyment now and I still enjoy competing. Like I still like these races, but it's like my my identity and my ego is not like hinging on a result. speaker-0: Do you find there's therapy sessions when you're treating with someone? I I I that's not even all my sh speaker-1: Honestly like more probably therapy than it is physio. Yeah. speaker-0: It it's gotta be what they're going through and it's gotta be like why they're there, like why they're doing what they're doing, right? speaker-1: yeah, like I don't have Kleenex boxes for blood, I have them for tears. speaker-0: Exactly. Yeah. All right, last question. You got it. What would you name this episode? speaker-1: Longevity through running with Lauren Roberts. speaker-0: It's a good one. That's actually really good. That's top two. funny story is we just had Thurun on the podcast and he's watched everyone. We always ask that question. At the end of it, he's like, I'm like, you know I'm gonna ask the question. At least prepare for it, yeah. Come on. Prepare for it. Yeah. speaker-1: 20 episodes? speaker-0: so great episode today. I appreciate you coming on. We always give the guest a minute to talk to the camera, social plugs, what you do, what's next for you. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: The floor's all yours, so whatever you want and then speaker-1: Happy to connect with clinicians. You can email me. I'm Lauren at the running physio.ca. Industry Reformer Studio is our Pilates studio. It's downtown Toronto. Come and check it out. It's beautiful, it's new. We're just over. We celebrated our first year anniversary just in September. It's like athletic-based Pilates, not rehab, it's like hard, challenging classes, beautiful space. Really proud of it. It's a really special spot. and yeah, I'm like don't ever be a stranger to reach out to me. I am like always happy to connect with other clinicians. just don't send me emails asking me what shoes to wear. Please. speaker-0: That's awesome. another great episode of Forget the Noise Podcast. I feel like this one was very informative-based, actual knowledge, not just a little bit of banter. I appreciate your expertise on everything. It's been a great combo. It's been great getting to know you. Congrats on all the accomplishments and many more to come. And you're local, so we'll stay connected. Maybe we'll hit a trail run. you to wait for me a little bit going up the hills, but maybe we can walk it. but until next week, another episode of Forget the Noise Podcasts. AJ signing off.