Latest / The People Run Podcast / #19: Tragedy to Purpose in 19+ Ultras: Ant DiAndrea’s Story of Resilience

Transcript

#19: Tragedy to Purpose in 19+ Ultras: Ant DiAndrea’s Story of Resilience · The People Run Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Am I happy that I went through what I did when I was a kid?
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_03: No, I wouldn't say I'm happy about it, but it happened.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: And so I get the opportunity to choose how do I respond to it.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_03: And so if I can turn around and help people in my own neighborhood help turn it around for them as well, help them cut the learning curve.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_03: I was drinking, fighting, stealing up until I was 18, 19 years old.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_03: And then I started to work on myself.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: And so if I can help somebody teach them how to be competitive, teach them how to do sports and all those different types of things to get them out of their environment and get them in a new environment, give them a mentor to help with life and all those different types of things.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like that's how we create genuine change.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um and so I say to people, be the domino.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: If I can impact one person through this podcast or one person through a social media post, that person can turn a two, can turn a four, can turn to eight.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_03: All you need is just that one.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: That one person, that one push over.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_03: That's what I try to visualize while I'm doing these things.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_03: If I can just help one inner city kid, maybe he can turn around and help hundreds of more.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: If you've been listening, if you're new, welcome aboard.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, where we talk about, you know, the everyday runner, the people out there getting it and grinding, whether work, you know, school, whatnot, out there on the grind and also getting the mileage in.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um today's guest though has run uh 19 Ultras.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Six of them being 100 mileage and still counting, by the way.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Four to eight hours on a treadmill, which we'll get into is just insane.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: The caveat though, uh he's only 26, which is why I wanted to have him on.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, this guy's record at 26 is uh what we dream of in a lifetime, man.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: He's a coach, husband, man of faith, someone who's also raised over 10k for kids, man.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's an amazing story, man.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm happy to have Ant.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: We've been vibing here.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Probably recorded this a little too late.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: But uh Ant, thanks for coming on the People Run podcast.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: What's up, buddy?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for uh for reaching out, for having me on.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate the uh kind words.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_03: I hope I can uh live up to it.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: But I'm excited for the conversation today, man.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: It's great to be here.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, of course, man.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: No, I live up to it.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: You you've already done this, man.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I want to get right into it.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like treadmill 48 hours.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: I saw the video, and for those listening, I'll link it out here on the description.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: But how does 48 hours on a treadmill one come about?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: The logistics, who keeps the gym open?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: How does that even come about and work?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: Man, um, I had signed up for a bunch of ultras in PA.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_03: It was called the Blacklist, where I would sign, you would do four mountain ultras in the calendar year.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh Heiner 50K, World's End 100K, um Eastern States 100, and the Black Forest 100K.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_03: And so I was doing those four races, I was doing Iron Stone, so I had my schedule like planned out.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I had a friend, his name's Kellen.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, he was doing a marathon month uh to raise money for uh recovering addicts.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: And so I sat there and reflected and I looked at my schedule and I was like, dude, like when I look through it, I have the almost entire calendar full of an ultra.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, why don't I do something more with this?
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: So then I signed up for one in March, signed up for one in May, and started piecing them together.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: And the only opportunity I had in December that would make sense for me and my schedule uh was to do the dreadmill.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: The dreadmill.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I did a race called Haynesport in uh the year prior, and there was a guy there who I connected with who ended up doing dreadmill in 2023, and that's where I heard of it, where it was like, hey, you got 48 hours to go on a treadmill and go as fast as you want, as far as you want.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like uh my man, I forget his name off the top of my head who had done it first, but he hit the 100 miles, and uh, and I was like, all right, well, I can pick the date for that, so I just gotta put the logistics together.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I work full-time at a at a gym called Lifetime in Fort Washington, PA.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: And so literally with like a month notice, I went to my boss and the GM there, and I was like, hey, like I'm trying to raise money.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: I have like I want to do this treadmill thing for 48 hours.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: Originally, I was gonna go out and sleep in my car for the four hours that the gym was closed, but the GM was like, yo, you work here, we trust you, you're a great worker, like it's yours.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_03: And so he let me stay there the entire time.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: We ended up hitting 115, 112 miles.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it was miserable.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: For those that don't know, I love to run in the parks.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: I go outside, I'm in nature, I like the mountains.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_03: So my previous PR on a treadmill was seven miles that I did at Penn State at a football game where I was like, I need to get my workout in.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: So I hopped on a treadmill for an hour.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: So that was my previous PR before I got up on the tread, and really, just like you had mentioned, the goal was to raise money.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we ended up hitting over$10,000 so we could donate it to orphans and inner city kids.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_03: So that was the reason I did it.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: And it makes it a little bit easier when you're going through these events when you're like, all right, I'm here, this sucks.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_03: But at least I'm not on the streets in Philly right now.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_03: Or, you know, at least I'm not, you know, well, I was in the position that they were in, but at least I'm out of it and I can turn around and give them a helping hand.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a little bit more, I guess, easier to handle when you have a bigger reason to do it.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_03: You know, he who has their why can bear anyhow.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's a Nietzsche quote that uh that I like to refer back to.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: But that was like how the dreadmill came to be.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know if I'll ever do it again.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: That was that was tough.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Man, that's insane.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: So you did seven miles before that, but you've run ultras before that, the like outside, not on the treadmill.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: All of them outside, whether it's a mountain, whether it's even a mile loop, but they're all outside.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_03: I like being outside more often.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so the treadmill is not my shindig.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I guess that's why I was attracted to it.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I'm not used to it, it's outside my comfort zone.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_03: At that point in time, I've never done a multi-day race.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_03: Like my longest hundred mile was 29 hours, which was my first one.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: So I've never ran and like seen how far I could go.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um, once I hit the hundred miles on the treadmill, the sleep deprivation, the noise, the lighting, all that started to get to me, and I was like, I just want to walk on the treadmill for as long as I can until that clock hits that 48-hour mark.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I was definitely proud of that effort for sure.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Man, I have people tell me all the time, like friends or or or just running acquaintances, man, like I don't know how you do a long run on a treadmill, you know, 15, 20 miles.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna just start sending the clip going forward.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like, here you go.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Here you go.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_03: That's my man Benji Rawson.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: He he had came out literally and called him on Wednesday, and I was like, yo, I'm doing this treadmill on Friday.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like, would you be able to come out with your camera, put something together?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_03: And he went over the top above and beyond.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_03: He was there, I think, over like 10 hours across the entire weekend getting footage and uh putting it together.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_03: So shout out to him because that video is awesome.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing, man.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: What what's the the food like?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I know you sleep deprivation, pretty common on Ultra.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I asked the food, not because obviously you got to eat for an Ultra, but you in the gym.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_03: No, dude.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: So luckily at lifetime, there's a cafe.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: So throughout the days, the general manager, my boss, they would literally bring me up like, you know, chicken and avocado or something along those lines, like uh a beef rice bowl, something like that.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: Throughout the nighttime, what I realized I had food prepped with me.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: I literally showed up, I had my treadmill, I had my cooler in my bag right next to the treadmill, so I could reach in, grab whatever I needed throughout the day.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but a lot of what I needed, I needed a microwave.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I didn't know where the microwave was in the building.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_03: So at nighttime, it was kind of like cold food, which is whatever.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's a part of the game when you're doing an ultra.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I was just trying my hardest to hit my calorie, hit my carb goal throughout the uh throughout the endurance of it.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_03: But you start getting gut issues, I need to lay down a little bit, I start not wanting food.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: So it was tough, you know, overall, obviously, but um a lot of rice, a lot of honey.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um I try to keep it as natural as possible.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_03: My buddy showed up with a bag of sourdough bread that he made.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: So I've squeezed honey in it and stuff, you know, housing it down.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: So anything I really could at that point.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_03: But um, yeah, I feel like the nutrition part.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: Now that I, you know, I always say I'm never gonna do it again, but if I ever did, I know where the microwave is this time so that I can uh I can make sure I heat my food up and all that jazz.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: What would you say was the the biggest challenge with with doing it on a treadmill for eight hours, uh other than hey, I've never run this long on here.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: What I will say is um during the event, there's construction going on inside of the gym.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: So they were redoing the entire gym, but I literally started the run and within an hour they put up a black tarp right in front of me.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_03: So you can I'm sure you can see it in the video that's on YouTube as well, but like the black tarp within and of itself, whatever.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_03: Like I'm I'm staring at something anyway, so if it's a black tarp, fine.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but the struggle for me was just the noise.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_03: Like, usually I love ultras because I'll be out in the woods, and oftentimes you might link up with a person or two, other times you're completely by yourself, and I like that.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's like a little meditation for me.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: The noise of the music at the gym, the construction going on, the banging, everything along those lines, and then not having the ability to have peace.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what I should have done better was have better boundaries because people would just come up and talk to me, which was the goal of it in the first place.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I'm trying to bring attention to where raise awareness for orphans and inner city kids.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: I'm trying to raise money.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: So I wanted the conversation, but I just started to get a bit irritable when it's you know, I'm on day two, 35 hours into this run on the treadmill, and people are coming up and talking to me.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, all right, I'm yeah, no, I'm trying to manage my emergence here.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: But um, I think that was the hardest part because that's not something that I strategized for.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: Like the run, the food, the hydration, the breaks, all of that.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I have a game plan, but that was something that took me off guard.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_03: So that was a bit of a curveball for sure.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, that makes sense.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't think about that, and it's something obviously you you wouldn't have known until you did it.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: You're out there, you're on the trails, you're in nature, you're in beauty, you got views, you got a black tart for views.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: Disney Pixar green screen, you know, uh dim edition, and uh a bunch of people walking up to you, which is kind of wild, you know, where you usually only get them at the eight station.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you can like prepare for it.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you hear the bell starting to go, you hear people cheering, you're like, I'm gonna come back to the eight station, like people gonna be asking me how I'm feeling, and I got you know, this is what I need, everything like that.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_03: So you can prepare for that a little bit better when you're out there too.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's wild, man.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: If if so, you did it to raise uh money for kids and orphans.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you don't mind sharing, how'd that come about and and what compelled you to do that?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, man, I appreciate the question.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: So when I was 10 years old, my parents passed away.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I have been born and raised in Philly, so I've always been an inner city kid.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, when I was 10 years old, it was um homicide-suicide.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: My dad ended up killing my mom and committing suicide, and then I came home.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_03: The doors were locked, luckily.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I was uh I alerted the police and everything along those lines.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_03: So my world kind of flipped a little bit there, a lot of it for sure.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I was only 10 years old.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_03: So running for me ended up becoming like therapy.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um once COVID came around.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: I know we were talking prior to that uh COVID kind of was like a big a big uh ups.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh a lot of people started doing the runs, the bikes to triathlons, high rocks, all that type of stuff.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I picked up running.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_03: And so then I started going out in the woods and everything along those lines.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: And then, like I said, as I was putting everything together, um, I work closely with a company called First Form, not as much anymore as that I used to, but they put together a nonprofit where uh it's called 30 for the kids.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_03: Their whole mission is they do 30 days of fitness, they do it twice a year.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: So the idea behind it is to uh you pay 30 bucks, and then if you miss a day of fitness, you pay a five-dollar penalty, and all the money goes to orphans and inner city kids.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so I just throughout the year had a GoFundMe, raised all the money in the GoFundMe, and then in January donated it all to that nonprofit.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: They prioritized the US children and in Haiti as well, so they were doing both.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it, you know, everything ended up being worthwhile at the end.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: Because I kind of got started getting burnt out, as you can imagine.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, 11 ultras in 10 months, it was kind of like run the race, recover.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_03: Now it's a taper, run a race, recover, taper.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_03: Or you know, that whole cycle of if you're recovering.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's the best of your ability.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_03: So that's one thing I'm proud of is that throughout that time, actually on the first race, I pulled out at 100k.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_03: So I hit about 63 miles, but my lower body was destroyed.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_03: My I was pushing pace really fast.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't pace myself well enough.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_03: I went into the race with a game plan, and then it turned out it was in the outer banks.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_03: So a record-breaking storm came through and flooded the island.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: They ended up having to flip the course.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_03: So usually it's 100 miles straight down, but they did 50 out, 50 back.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, you're running through water, you're running on the pavement, you're getting a headwind, and I did not change my game plan at all, which I should have done.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I went out, I went, I hit 50 miles in like nine hours, and I was feeling great.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_03: And my lower body just kind of fell apart from there.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's when I took a step back.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I need to figure out this injury prevention thing.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_03: Because like I got the 62 miles in, I feel good, but I want to make sure I hit the hundred if I sign up for a hundred.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: Like, if I or if I do it 50 miles, I want to hit the 50.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and from that point on, I had no injuries.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_03: I had knock on wood, have yet to have an injury um due to running since then.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_03: In July, I hit my head on a tree during a mountain race and got a concussion from it.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: So that's a bit I take take that as a different story.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_03: That was just me not paying attention and I headbutted a tree.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but due to running specifically, I've been doing a lot of resistance training to help build myself up so I don't get injured.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that was one of the things I was most proud of that I was able to um go through the 10 months and hit 11 ultras.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: Even um the one in September that I did, it's crazy that as I continue to do these ultras, I started to compete a little bit.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_03: Like I came in second place in my age group in 100k, and then the next month in October, I came in second at 100 miler, and then it just kept on rolling.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: So um a lot of things started to click, but a lot of learning lessons throughout that time.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: But at the end of the day, um being able to donate over 10 grand, like I did not think we would touch that.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um originally I was like, I'm gonna make the goal five grand.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: Then I said I'm gonna make the goal ten grand.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_03: And then when I announced it, I made the goal 20 grand because of the whole idea of if you shoot for the stars, you land on the moon.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, well, if my goal is 10, I'm not gonna put it at 10.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna put it at 20 and let's see what happens.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I was hoping we would get up to 20, but ten thousand five hundred dollars to donate to the orphans and inner city kids, it felt uh felt amazing, man.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_03: It was a good cause.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man, that's that's uh an amazing story, man.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: I I knew heart of it.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: But uh one uh you know, before we get into further thanks for sharing that, you know, about growing up in the family.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: That that's gotta be uh tough.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: I could I I don't even want to say I can imagine, man.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: So like thank you for one sharing that, man.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it's amazing to see how you move forward with that and how you're giving back.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I just want to acknowledge that, man.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's amazing people can turn the other way.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, here's a guy who's running and helping out and in the community, deep involved.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, before we get into the races, that makes me want to ask you as well.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: So Philly, right?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Born and raised, and and I hear you say it a lot.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: We joked about earlier birds and Philly and Eagles and whatnot.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: What does that mean to you, man?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because it feels like it means something to be from Philly, born and raised, and still being in there.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: You're in the community as well, man.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like you have a big love for Philly, man.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, man, absolutely.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's a whole I mean, even when you see you know, you got the Rocky, uh, you know, Rocky's big here, uh, Eagles football.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: Even I mean, I feel like I'll do a quick, quick tangent.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: I know you're not an Eagles fan, but there's two players that I think of, TO and then our guy Nolan Smith, that we have currently.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: They're both gritty ass dudes, man.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like, T.O.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: broke his leg and fought to get back onto the field.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_03: Nolan Smith, a video just came out of him last night of uh the doctor telling him in the Super Bowl he tore his tricep and he's not gonna be playing no more.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_03: And Nolan Smith was like, I don't know who the fuck you think you are, but I'm going back out on that field.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: Give me a brace and I'm gonna go fight.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_03: And that's really what the whole nature, I mean, it doesn't matter the uh poster that I got behind me, it doesn't matter how hard you get hit.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: What matters is that you can get up and keep moving forward.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's the most important thing.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_03: And so having that mentality, I really feel like, you know, being from Philly, it's been ingrained.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, we're a tough crowd.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like everybody in Philly has love for one another, may not always show it, or may have a specific way of showing it, I should say.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I just want to try to give back as best as I can because I know that there's people in similar or worse situations than I've been in.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: You know, so it's it's um am I happy that I went through what I did when I was a kid?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_03: No, I wouldn't say I'm happy about it, but it happened.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_03: And so I get the opportunity to choose how do I respond to it.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: And so if I can turn around and help people in my own neighborhood, help turn it around for them as well, help them cut the learning curve, you know.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: I was drinking, fighting, stealing up until I was 18, 19 years old, and then I started to work on myself and read books and listen to podcasts and work hard and all those different types of things.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: So if I can help somebody not go through nine years of fighting, stealing, drinking, all that type of stuff, and help them cut that learning curve, that's what it's about at the end of the day.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so the money went to there's a couple, uh like Live for Life Gym is uh a gym in the inner cities that they shuttle uh inner city kids to their gym to teach them how to lift, teach them how to be competitive, teach them how to do sports and all those different types of things to get them out of their environment and get them in a new environment, give them a mentor to help with life and all those different types of things.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: So things like that is what I'm really into because I feel like that's how we create genuine change.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_03: I grew up a Puerto Rican, so I grew up with my great-grandfather who would play dominoes all the time.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um and so I say to people, be the domino.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: If I can impact one person through this podcast or one person through a social media post, that person can turn a two, can turn a four, can turn to eight, and continue to roll.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_03: And so all you need is just that one, that one person, that one would push over.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_03: And that's what I try to uh that's what I try to visualize while I'm doing these things.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: If I can just help one inner city kid, maybe he can turn around and help hundreds of more.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that's where that's where it's coming from.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, man.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's like a you know, circumstance happened, but you flipped it and turned it into some greatness, man, and trying to not just do it for yourself, but also push forward.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: And and I love the old school East Coast Philly grit.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: You don't see that as often as you anymore.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: What motivated you to turn that around?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it sounds like you read some books, you know.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'd be interested to s to hear some books because we probably have a few in common.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, dude, it's funny how all things how all things work out.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_03: So um I was I was in college, I was in nursing school at the time.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I was a freshman, and my older brother, his name's Joey, he's three years older than me.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, he was reaching out to me.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_03: He was like, yo, dude, like I started reading these books, like, read this book, read this book, read this book, read this book.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like playing Fortnite and shooting shit.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_03: No, I'm like, no, I'm not gonna do that.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what are you talking about?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_03: Get out of here.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, Drake plays uh plays Xbox, I can play too.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_03: Like stupid comments.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but one day he was just like, yo, read this book.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_03: It was called Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiwasaki.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: I knew it.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I'm 18 at the time, I'm like, oh, 50 bucks, dude?
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_03: That's like two cases of beer.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like, yeah, sure.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'll read the book, whatever you want to do.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I read the book, wrote the book report, gave him the book report, and then didn't take the money because I got it.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_03: I understood.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_03: I understood what he was trying to do.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_03: And from that point on, I was like, what next book you got for me?
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_03: And that was like the compound effect by Darren Hardy, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, uh, Mastery.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_03: I just started clipping away these books.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_03: I was a valet driver and in nursing school.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_03: So when I was doing valet up in Ambler, Pennsylvania, I would just be sitting there by myself reading books.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: People would come by instead of they would give me their ticket and then be like, wait, hold on, what book are you reading?
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_03: Because, you know, I was out in the suburbs and people are pulling up in BW and Porsches and things like that.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_04: And I love this book.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_03: What are you?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_03: And we're going back and forth.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, dude, I'm at the time, I'm like, I'm 18 talking to this dude about this book I'm reading, which was really cool.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but that's what really changed it for me.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_03: And then uh Andy Prisella came out with the 75 Hard program.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_03: He sent me over that podcast, and it's that same type of theme of no drinking, two workouts, like get out of here.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_03: And for those that aren't familiar with it, you do an outdoor workout for 45 minutes, indoor one for 45 minutes, stick to a diet, no alcohol, progress photo, 10 pages of a book, uh, all about personal development.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_03: And so in July of 2019, I ended up doing it, and it took me three tries, but I did it all the way through.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: I was doing it for like 150 days, and that's where everything kind of kind of changed for me, is when I was like, all right, he has this program, who is this guy?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: What's he about?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: Dove into his podcast.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_03: Then that opened the door to other people, and I just really started expanding my mind, my knowledge, and I just kind of engrossed myself into that type of uh mentality, always be learning the whole nine, and that's what really really did it for me.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I love that.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, small world, right?
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna seem similar to yours.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I was maybe 21, 22.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: I got like my first I didn't know it at the time, but like my first quote unquote real decent job, you know, benefits and and 401k and all that.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: And at work, there was this girl at the time, and she she was always like you read it and and like, yo, you need to read this book, read this book, and I'm working a party.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: So um for ages, she's like, Yeah, read this, read this book and one day hands me wrist that poor dad.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Take it home.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: I spent weeks don't read it.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: Eventually I pick it up and read it after just being told read it, read it.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: And that was the first book that kind of helped me change as well.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Well, similar to you and uh similar to your story, man.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: I read Rich that port that at one of the fundamentals on top of the finance was like, you know, um I'm gonna miss speak here, Miss Code.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: But something about like keep reading the knowledge, you know, these kind of books, like one book gonna lead you to another.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it's the same thing.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like you start reading these books, Tony Robbins stuff, you know, um compound effect.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's a favorite as well.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I was that guy who you would see just uh in the desk reading, and it's just like oh, okay, why is he on his break reading a book?
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, not going outside or anything.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: And people, to your point, I eventually started working in a place where like it was a very affluent area in Brooklyn, New York, and people would just walk up to you, they're like, What's this 20-year-old kid reading about millionaire next door?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like they can tell I'm not rich, you know.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just like, huh, and then like people come up to you, and it's just like I think they see the potential, and that's what it is, because you're so young versus like you're reading a kind of book.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't say complex book, but it's a book about progress and whatnot.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: So it's funny you mention that is why I bring that up, man.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's like you know, we're vibing and talking, but now I'm like, man, these stories are somewhat similar.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, right.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh I love those, man, because it's like it helps.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: I I love the the progress in turnaround and similar you, man.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Part of this is to like pass it on.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly, exactly, because that's what it was.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: It took, you know, when I to go back to my uh when I say be the domino, um, it's literally like I always think back, I'm like, yo, like Andy Frasella released a podcast, and then my brother took that podcast and sent it to me, and then I listened to it and then did it myself and changed my life.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_03: And then I've had friends who've done 75 R.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_03: My best friend and I, we started a business together.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: His friends are doing it, his family's doing, and it just literally is like the perfect representation.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_03: So just like you said, you're you're impacted by your your friend from work who's telling you to read this book, and now you're inclined.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_03: You're like, yo, she gave me this book, it impacted me deeply, and now I want to go and spread that word and and give it to other people.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_03: And that's really how things grow, man.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_03: That's uh I think it's the best way for things to grow, is because when you get that recommendation, you're like, all right, well, you know, I don't want to do it for myself, but she's telling me clearly there's something here if she's telling me or my brother's telling me or what have you.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm I'm sure you can relate that that's a life-changing moment because you could have gone down the other path, and that book made me go down a different direction because now you got money coming in, you know, you're like, wait a minute, I need to be a little bit more smart with this.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then the domino effect, you know, snowball effect of things like, okay, you know, what about my health?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_01: What about fitness?
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: It was right around the time, funny enough, where I had a transformation of weight.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess I was in the mind frame of progress and growth already.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm curious to ask you because you brought it up, and also I saw it on a post.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: You were talking about the valet dream car.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Did you get the dream car?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: What's the dream car?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just curious because I'm also a car guy.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_03: Not yet, not yet.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: So the dream car was a uh Porsche GT3RS.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um you're going all the way up there, big boy.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's what I'm saying, man.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_03: I gotta, I gotta have it up there.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_03: So I've driven it.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I actually, it was so cool.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: A guy, I was up in uh Bluebell, Pennsylvania, and a guy had just bought his from Cali and drove it to uh to the area.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_03: So he came to the area, and then you know, like two days later he came by, and it's so funny that the people that drive these cars, I would always think they're like, you know, they think they're they're above you or they don't want you to touch their car.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: These dudes would get out and just toss me the keys.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_03: And at the time I'm 17, 18, so I'm like, holy shit.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, this is sh this car is worth more than I've seen in my lifetime.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_03: What?
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but even I'm a big visualization guy.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_03: So even during that time, I'm really working on myself.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_03: I'm reading those books, I'm working on visualization.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_03: So I'd get in the car and I'd focus on how the steering wheel feels.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: How does it feel when I'm opening the door?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_03: How does it feel when I shift the gear?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_03: And with one thing about cars, where's the gear shift?
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_03: It could be on the left side, it could be on the right side, it could be down top, it could be above the screen.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you don't know where all these damn uh uh modern cars are, but yeah um, it really helped me get nitty-gritty with the visualization side of things so it I can have one down the down the line.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, as I've gotten older and become more family-oriented, I'm like, I do want the car and I will have the car eventually, but I'm more focused on let's have a house, let's have kids, that type of that type of vibe with my wife.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we've been together since we were 14 years old.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um because we just got had had just gotten married in May.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and you know, I've invested in real estate.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: I have a couple rental properties, so now it's time to focus.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_03: Like, all right, we got the investments, we got those things, we've had the wedding, now we just want to focus on the house.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: So the uh the car will come, the car will get there, but focused on a couple other things first leading up to it.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: But like you said, mid-30s, I'm I'm shooting for it.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_03: That's what I'm grinding for.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta build uh, you know, just like it running, you gotta build a foundation first, which you're doing now, right?
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: It makes no sense having a port G3 GT3S and you an apartment or you don't own your place, you know, which some people will not knocking on it.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I wanna I I I'm been really keen on having kids recently.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, my wife wants to have kids.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I do I do as well.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm more like when I have when I do get the car that I want, it's more so gonna be like when I'm in a position where it's like, what do I want to buy myself?
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_03: Like right now, it's really just like I'll get myself like a tattoo or new running shoes.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_03: Like that's really what I what I need for myself.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: Whereas I'm just like, let me put money away, let me save up, let me get a house, you know, when we have kids coming, all that jazz.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: But it'll come.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: The time will come for sure.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's dope, man.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: I and I love that.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'll share mine real quick.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: Mine, funny enough, it could be a Porsche, but I'm a JDM guy.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: So give me a GTR, let me tune it, and similar to you, let me have my bass and foundation, you know, nice house, family, all that.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of motivation and drive, right?
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: How'd you get into the running and what's the motivation to get into running?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: I know I know we spoke earlier about this, it's been a few years now, but what got you into like now that think about it?
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: My man went straight to Ultras.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I yeah, it wasn't it was that's so funny.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so end of 2019, I just finished 75 Hard.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Jesse Itzler, are you familiar with him?
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh no, okay.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesse It's L he's um co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks, he's been around.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: He's actually from, I'm pretty sure he's from New York.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_03: He wrote the New York Knicks song, go New York, go New York.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and ended up selling a private jet company to uh to Warren Buffett.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, the whole nine.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_03: But he came up with this thing.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_03: He's an ultra runner, he does a lot of, he has like running man down in Georgia, and he came he uh shared this concept of a Masogee, uh, which is like a Japanese concept, but it's do something hard in the year that makes the year worth it.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_03: And so I came across this in December of 2019, so I was like, alright, I can't run.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna do a marathon.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_03: And I literally, January 1st of 2020, fifth, I swear, I ran outside in Philly.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_03: I couldn't even hit a mile.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_03: I hit 0.8 miles, and I was like, who the fuck would want to run?
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like complaining to my then girlfriend now wife.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, this is silly.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but the next day I got back out there and then got back out there and kept it rolling.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_03: And so I had signed up for the Philly marathon in November.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_03: I started running in June or January.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_03: By June I got to nine miles, and at that point we're in the heart of COVID, and my brother's like, hey, like, you're training for Philly, I get it.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: You're at 26 miles.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_03: There's a 50 miler in the park right next door to our house called the Dirty German.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_03: Why don't we just do it together?
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_03: And so I did it.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_03: I got convinced, and at the beginning of June, I hit nine miles.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_03: August 1st, I hit 26 miles, and then September 12th, which turned out to be the anniversary of my parents' death, uh, is when I hit the 50 miles because everything was virtual.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_03: So I did the marathon up and down Vare Road in Northeast Philly.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: I did the 50 miler, literally up and down.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_03: I had three different five mile loops that I would do in Northeast Philly around them, and my house would be the aid station, and ended up hitting 50 miles on that day, which was pretty uh pretty it was exciting for me to get it done.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: It was very emotional if I finished it up.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um after that I took a year off because I weighed 125 pounds, being 5'9, and I was way too late.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_03: So right now I sit around 160.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_03: So I spent a year putting weight on and then got back to the ultra world, got back, you know.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_03: My my older brother went for 100, I went with him, he got it, I didn't, and I was like, absolutely not.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna go back to the same race and get it, and then it just kept spiraling from there and kept compounding.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_03: So um, I was a sophomore in high school and I was a hundred meter sprinter, so I joke around that I went a hundred meters to a hundred miles, and uh, I don't know why, but totally different feel for it for sure.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_03: But that's what got me into it.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_03: It ended up being my common theme, my older brother, who was pushing me to go for that uh that 50 mile in 2020.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_03: That really got me into it.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: So as Ultra is his gym, your brother?
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, so I say that I have a uh I have a health and fitness career with a you know, like a real estate hobby.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_03: I say he more so has a real estate career with a health and fitness hobby.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um he's more uh so he does we invest in real estate.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_03: He's a full-time electrician, but then will do the work himself and invest in in real estate on his own.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then does the ultras on the side as well.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: So um he's more of like he doesn't go on social media, he just works, trains, runs races, and that's his jam, and it's really cool.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but he's really uh hard headed, so it's cool to run ultras with him as well because he's just relentless forward progress type of guy.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_03: He's done two 200 mile races.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um so yeah, total ultras.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_03: I have a little bit more than them now because of the event that the the fundraiser I had done last year, but he's gone to 220, he's done a 200 mile, so yeah, he's a little bit nuts as well.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: Got okay.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think they they say I forget who quotes this, but I think they say it for all running.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: But I think there's a different level when it comes to ultra.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta be a little something wrong, crazy in the head to be wanting to do you know, marathons, 100 milers.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I didn't even throw 5K's in there because 5K's I find them tougher.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_03: I'm telling you what, I started doing so that this year I've really got into it.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_03: So I I was I had my own business in general health coaching, and I've and I trained people in person, and I was just kind of like anybody and everybody.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but in January, February of this year, I really pivoted to endurance athletes.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: And um, so I started reading up, studying up, researching.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, all right, I don't do any speed work.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_03: I need to start doing speed work, I need to start taking care of my shoes, my feet, all that stuff, and really getting into the nitty-gritty.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I started doing speed work, and I'm like, this shit sucks.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like running fast as well, and I'm not even fast.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like like doing like the intentional day of like let me push pace.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's just a different type of hurt than an ultra.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like an ultra is more of like a dull aching pain where I feel like uh if you're pushing pace and like really hitting it.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_03: The hard to breath, you're like sometimes like I'll do a 5k, I did a 5k time trial in like April, and literally afterwards I was supposed to do a mild cooldown.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_03: I just laid on a bench and I was like, I'm seeing God or something.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_03: I think this is insane.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I enjoy it now.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_03: I enjoy the speed work side, I enjoy all the different sides of it.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_03: But it's a different type of hurt.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_03: Even doing a 5k, you can floor it and be like, holy shit, like what the hell is that?
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I yeah, I admire, you know, one thing I say to my clients all the time, they'll say, Oh, you know, what's an average time for a half marathon or a marathon or this, that, and the third.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like, that's a joke because average people don't run those types of things.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_03: So just doing it, the fact that you're doing it is is impressive within and of itself.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_03: Once you hit that distance, then you can be like, all right, I want to be a little faster, and we can work on that for sure.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_03: But just doing it in the first place puts people in in a in a pretty special category for sure.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: No, for sure, man.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's um I don't like using that cliche code, but I'm gonna slide in here anyways.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: The 1% of the world, whatever runs, you know, marathons, half marathons, I think is two or something, or 1.5 for half.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not common.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: And this is the world, they're not talking about USA only.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right, right, right, right.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's all you know, I'm sure you know this, and we'll get into it in a minute, but like progressive overload is the name of the game.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: Who cares what the what the time is, right?
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: The the answer is progress.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh if that's what you want.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right, right.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_03: That's exactly it.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like people, at least from my experience, like because I, you know, I'm a trainer at a gym and I teach classes and stuff, and people though, I'm the endurance guy.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_03: So they always come up to me and they're like, Oh, 100-mile race you're training for.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I haven't ran that much in my lifetime, let alone in one training block or one day or what have you.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_03: And um you don't walk into the gym and start benching 300 or squatting 300 or something.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like you start with the bar, yeah.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_03: And then you work your then you add a 10 on each side, and then you start inching your way up.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: You get comfortable with that, add a little bit more.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like I went out, I just told you, I went out and I couldn't even hit a mile, but then the next day I hit a mile, and the next day I did it again, and then I upped it to a mile and a half, and then now I can someone's like, yo, you want to go hit a marathon?
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, well, not really, but I can.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'll go do it with you.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: So it's got the endurance, yeah.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: I've been working on I've been running consistently for consistently for four years, running in total for five.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like, as I stay consistent and continue to push in one area, which was distance, yeah.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna have a huge engine to run distance because I've been working on it consistently for that long.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um I want to touch on the the training and fitness, right?
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: So well, before we get to that, you're 120, 160, you put some weight on.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: 5'9, 120, sheesh.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um I was thin.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_03: I I was shocked when I stepped on the scale and I saw that, and I was like, oh, that's not right.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_03: That's not right, right?
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it sounds like it, but did it feel good?
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I like I felt solid.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_03: I would always say I'm skinny but strong.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_03: Like I felt pretty good.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um it was just more so I feel because that was September of 2020.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_03: So like I stopped going to the gym.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_03: I would just kind of do pull-ups, push-ups, and squats, and then run on the day.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_03: So I feel like it was a lot of bodyweight stuff.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I at that time I was plant-based, which is something that I did for about a year, a year and a half.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it was not for me.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_03: My older brother has been fit plant-based for eight, nine years, and he loves it.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_03: It's great for him.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_03: He eats enough, his weight is perfect.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I could not, that was not my thing.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_03: I said now my breakfast nowadays are steak, eggs, and blackberries, and his are like oatmeals.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm like, we are way different.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but uh yeah, I feel like all of those things, you know, the increase in running, not matching it with the food, not eating meat and stuff, um, really helped bring that scale down pretty far.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and to get it back on, like I said, I I finished the 100 miler in September.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_03: And then I took probably about nine months off just specific to let me eat a lot, let me lift, and I'll do some like cross-training, like bike game or something like that.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so so you basically ate and strafe trained to get the weight back up.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_03: You're right, to get it back up.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_03: And my peak was around 170, and then I fell in love with the running, and I was just like, I'm gonna like my fighting weight's around 155, 160, so that's usually what I float around right now.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_03: I like to be a little heavier during training and a little lighter on race day that just to help with the you know, yeah, right, exactly.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so yeah, yeah, that's for sure.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: Nah, that's awesome, man.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: And uh funny enough, the the plant-based, don't come at me, people listening if you're plant-based.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_01: But I tried it for a month, right?
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, man, this is not for me.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: And don't get me wrong, the second half I enjoyed it of the month because I finally started learning, oh, okay, there are some good foods.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like I found a tofu spot that was amazing, uh the yogurt spot, whoa, amazing.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, again, don't come at me for those listening who are plant-based, but I'm Dominican and we kind of grow up with like salami beef uh cows in the neighborhood, you know.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you can probably relate, you said Puerto Rican, we kind of grow up with like red meat.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, not saying it's the only way, right?
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen um as someone who's been into fitness for a long time, I've pretty much tried it all on myself.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've been like a guinea pig to plant-based keto and all that stuff, but like it just didn't work out for me, man.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but what I did like was the amount of carbs, and maybe that was a segue into maybe in the future, hey, you're gonna do endurance where we need all carbs, and they get a lot of carbs.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: I do like that part.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: Plenty of them, plenty of them.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: Since you coach now, like what's your strength training like and food nutrition like now?
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a great question, man.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_03: So I try to switch up my strength training to keep it interesting.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I've been working with a guy throughout the year.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh his name's Chase Price, because I'm trying to hone in on my ability to uh to coach, to understand movements, to figure out you know, what works, what doesn't.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I primarily do m uh break it up to a push-pull split, which is what I've been doing, which is what I did, what I fell in love with when I put on the weight.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I did six days a week, push-pull legs, push-pull legs.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but now it's more of um, you know, because I you gotta structure it around runs as well.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_03: So like I have my 100 miler November 21st out in Scottsdale.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_03: And so I'm gonna start amping up training for it.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_03: Right now I'll do like uh a full body push on a Monday, full body pull on a Wednesday, and then hit speed work Thursday, long runs on the weekends.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_03: I'll run Tuesday, I'll run every day.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_03: I have a run streak growing, uh going.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but some days, like if I'm doing a heavy lift, I'm gonna hit a mile or two just to keep the streak alive, whereas the next day I might hit 10 miles and not lift.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um I've been really enjoying breaking it up that way, and I always try to structure it as well to run on tired legs because I feel like that's something that people miss as well, is that I will hit my pool day, so I'm hitting my hamstrings on Wednesday and then I'm doing speed on Thursday.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_03: My hamstrings don't feel great when I'm going through a speed workout.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_03: But what my thoughts process is is if I can learn to push my pace when my legs are tired, how much is that gonna translate over when I'm in an ultra and my legs are tired?
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_03: If I'm climbing up a hill, if I'm climbing up a mountain and my hamstrings hurt, well, guess what?
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_03: I gotta get up the fucking mountain anyway.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_03: So, how can I learn to push my body in those types of ways?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_03: So that's why I try to structure it the way that I do.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then I'll do like core on Friday, because I one thing that I've learned is form while you're running can start to give, and the first thing that goes is your core, you start to like kind of like hobble around and stuff.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I really try to take into consideration like, all right, when I'm doing core, what else can I work?
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_03: All right, well, I can do hanging leg raises, that's hitting my hip flexors and hitting my core.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_03: So now I'm getting stronger hips for running and a stronger core to maintain proper form.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_03: So I really try to break it down with things like and along those lines.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and every it's so interesting to me that like I just learn something new all the time.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm like, all right, you know, I know sprints and I know Nordicls are great to get that full activation of your hamstring, right?
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_03: But then I know a trainer at the gym, his name is Zach Del Seo, he's uh a fight guy, and he was like, yo, well, I do this because I'm all about explosive movements, I'll do these ring hamstring curls because it's a glute bridge and a hamstring curl together, and it's a great way to mimic like a sprint or a Nordic curl.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, dude, well, now I just added another thing to the arsenal for me to incorporate.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_03: So I love to learn in that type of sense, but I all of my resistance training, I would say, besides like my upper body, like push and pull, like I'll work on face pulls to keep myself upright, right?
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_03: But outside of that, like my lower body specifically, my core, my mobility, it's all designed to like what can I do to make me a better runner.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because I try to prime myself, I optimize performance through a health-first approach, but all in the idea of trying to be a better runner is the most important.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_01: That that makes total sense.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: And and it's kind of a similar approach I found.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was curious on your take as someone who does ultra.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, to your point, everything I've seen or read or ultras that ultra people I've had on or heard, yeah, the name of the game is tired legs, man, because you're gonna be tired the majority of that race.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yep, yep, yep.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's you know, putting up 50, 60, 70 mile weeks while lifting, like it's a grind.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: I feel really good physically when I'm in those types of training blocks, which is why I feel like I do them so frequently.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but then race day comes around and it's so great because then I I taper.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_03: So then I'm taking it easy, leading up to it.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_03: So it's like I'm towing the line race day, keeping in the back of my mind, like you know, three, four weeks ago, I was able to do this many miles and this many lifts and mobility this side and this that and the third.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but it all leads up to that day, which is why I mean I say to the clients the race day is the reward.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like the real grind is getting through the training block and doing it as best as you can.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_03: There's things gonna pop up, you know, family issues or work stress or something along those lines, but it's about how you manage and how you respond to those things.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_03: And so once you get through that training block and you show up race day, like that's the fun part.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_03: You get to leave it out there.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_03: You get to be out, or at least in the ultra world, be out in the woods, you know, be out to meet cool people, like the coolest people, just like we were talking about prior, too.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_03: Everyday people.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'll I would I did a race in Jersey called the Loopy Looper in August, and I'm running around loops with you know a mother of three.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_03: And like uh I ran around the loop with a 75-year-old who's been doing ultras for 40 years.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, this is so cool.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like to meet these people and to have these conversations.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_03: So I know I'm going on a tangent, but yeah, it's really fucking cool.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_01: Nah, you good, and I can relate, man.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's the bigger reward after the fact.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna grind through this to then show up race day and feel good and be able to do my thing.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I say something similar about the expos, man, for like a more road based for now.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like expo is the party, man, where you meet all the people that went to the same school and uh of training, you know?
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna celebrate and go out and have a fun party at the race.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a fun moment where you get together with like-minded people in different walks of life, like older, younger, family, and and they just have the same start line you are.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's really cool how it all comes to be in that way.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like everything happens for a reason.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm meant to connect with these people.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_03: I'm meant to interact with people and see the people that I'm meant to uh meant to connect with.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that's uh I feel like especially nowadays, that's really what got me hooked and running is the community.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, I did my I shared, I did my first 100 miler and I got hurt.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_03: My brother finished it, I did not.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_03: I got to 50.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_03: And people I just met there that have been doing ultras for 15 years, they're like, yo, Ann, you good?
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, how do you know my name?
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like when I showed up here, people are like, he's a legend, and then he's like pat on the back, do you need food?
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_03: Do you need electrolytes?
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_03: How can I help you?
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, bro, you are 65 miles deep.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_03: What are you asking me for?
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know what I'm saying?
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_03: So it's just those types of people are all throughout the running community, and that's what that's really what made me fall in love with it.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have any favorites you like to eat, say on an ultra on a race?
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's a great question.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I'm a big sourdough and honey guy.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_03: I'll always have those ready to go.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so First Worm has these, they're called Power Pro bars.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and they are a whole food bar.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_03: So it's like peanut butter, honey, dates, peanuts that are all mixed into this bar.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_03: I grew up, I'm a big peanut butter guy, and I used to house nutter butters.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_03: Like I would my, you know, pack them to go to school.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_03: They're like little crackers on the outside with peanut butter on the inside, and these things are healthy, calorie dense, perfect amount of carbs, and uh taste just like a nutter butter.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_03: So I would say the the sourdough and honey when I'm at the aid station, because it's hard to bring honey with you anywhere on a race on a race day.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'll do the honey packets so I can like serve them down while we're going.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but the power bars for easy, easy transportation.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_03: I've really been uh getting jiggy with dried fruits though, too.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like dried mango, dried apricots, just tossing them in in my pocket.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, yo, I eat five of these, and that's 35 grams of carbs.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_03: Like that's awesome.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_03: So I've been I I would I know I just shot a lot out at you, but I would say the number one is the dried fruit right now because of the carb content and easy transportation.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I got it.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, honey, sourdough, uh dried fruit, and those first four empowered bars.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's not a lot of things.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta eat a lot on the Ultra.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_03: That's yeah, absolutely.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_03: That's the interesting thing, too.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_03: Like um, my brother does a lot of liquid calories throughout these races, but I will sit there.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_03: Like, we did a we did uh me, my buddy, uh Russo, uh my brother, and then uh Russo's cousin's friend.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_03: We all ran from the Philly Art Museum to Ocean City, Jersey, and went down to Wildwood.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_03: And uh we get to mile 60, and I'm sitting there eating a beef and rice bowl, and then my brother's sitting there drinking like a uh electrolyte drink and serum.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_03: And we're just he's like, You're crazy.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, you're crazy.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I don't know how you're doing this on liquid calories.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like, it's just funny the dynamic and how different people are.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, I'll try to get the bulk of my calories in uh at the aid stations, and then when I do an ultra, I'll have baggies already prepped because my wife Grace is the I call her the HOC, head of the crew, all the time.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_03: She's been in every single ultra.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_03: And so I'll literally have these baggies prepped, and she'll just give me the bag labeled with the aid station because I know if I eat everything here by the next aid station, I'm gonna average 60 carbs an hour at least to get me to that next aid station.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_03: So I've tried to uh try to break it down that way.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_03: I eat a lot of the same foods, but a lot of volume of those foods to your point.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean it makes sense.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_01: You find what works and then you just double triple up.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_03: Stick with it.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_03: I do a lot of uh I'll do G1M from BPN.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_03: They're like the uh it's like an electrolyte carb mix um because it's hard for me to get in like that many.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_03: I just started increasing my carb number.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's not something I really paid attention to.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna ask, you said 60 just now, okay.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_03: So I just like I'm reading a book endure by Alex Hutchinson, and he's talking about how 60, sometimes near 100 carbs an hour, and I'm like, I don't even know how the fuck you do that.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I just uh during my last two races, Iron Stone and Loopy Looper.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_03: Ironstone, I ran it last year, that's where I hit my head and got the concussion and pulled myself out.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_03: But uh mile 38, it was 100k.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_03: I was three hours ahead of my pace last year uh before I pulled out, and then during loopy looper, I PR'd for 100 miles while I started paying attention to the cars.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm like, there's gotta be something here if I'm increasing my carbon take and performing better.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um so 60 is just that bottom number, but I'm gonna try to like my next one in November, I'm gonna try to hit 70.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_03: And uh that one's a little bit more controlled, and I'm just gonna keep keep trying to rack it up, yeah.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_03: Because in training, that I mean, training is all good for that trial and error.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_03: What am I what runs am I doing?
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_03: How am I fueling for those runs?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh like I have a call later today with a client who's like, yeah, my long runs are going great, but I feel exhausted after it.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_03: I towards the end, I'm not feeling great.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_03: Like my fueling's off, and we need to like all right, we're gonna hop on and we're gonna talk it through because this is the time to do so.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_03: The last thing we want is race day to pop up and for something like that to occur.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_03: So um now's the time to try all those different things and see what works for you so that race day can go as smoothly as possible.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that that makes sense, man.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's something I've learned myself the hard way.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: I've I was kind of similar to your client recently, and I've just upped the food recently, and like some of my I'm I'm training for a race in November as well.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_01: And some of my best workouts right now, I'm just down in food, and this makes sense that I feel good now because I'm eating more, you know, especially the carbs.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, right.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, giving your body the fuel the fuel you'll need to perform because that's what it is at the end of the day.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like obviously consuming a bunch of carbs in one sitting if you're not gonna move your body isn't the best thing to do.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_03: But doing it right before a run, you're gonna feel great on that run because you have all this readily available energy to help push you through.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, for sure.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to me about the coaching.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you got uh, I believe the stride syndicate, right?
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: And there's uh mono wellness.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yep.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_03: So um I started Stride right around that February time.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_03: I had a brand called Grit and Gratitude that we pivoted because Grit and Gratitude was more general health um and overall wellness, and stride, it's yeah, uh strength training, uh recovery, intensity, durability, and endurance is what the uh acronym stands for.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um and we pivoted around February.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_03: And so my buddy Russo, um, he started a brand called uh Mono Wellness.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_03: And what he ended up doing originally he was just coaching clients because he was my second client, again, circling back to the be the domino.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_03: He was the second client in Great Ingratitude, and then went on and started his own business.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and he was coaching clients as well.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_03: And he started falling out of love of it a little bit.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_03: So then he came to me in around March, which ended up being perfect timing because I changed around my structure of how I was coaching.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_03: And he was like, yo, like I'm launching a coaching software, and I want you to like look at it, let me know what you think, the pros, the cons.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_03: And so we went through it, worked on it together, gave them some feedback, then I moved my clients over, started coaching there.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and now I'm the head of the coaching department at Mono.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_03: So I help about there's 12 including me, so 11 coaches around the country run their business.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, they use the mono wellness platform to coach their clients, to program their workouts, nutrition, set up calls, all that jazz.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so I'm now doing a little bit of both on both sides.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm training myself, I'm training all endurance athletes uh through the mono wellness app, and then I'm coaching the mono wellness clients as well, or the the mono wellness coaches as well, so that they can be better at their own.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_03: They can coach themselves better.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right, right.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_03: So when I'm not in person, that's what I say.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_03: It's literally wild that my life is let me teach people how to run and be healthy.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's literally such a blessing.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but if I'm not in person uh at lifetime or training on my own, then I'm working on my laptop trying to create a coaching resource or connecting with another coach or hanging out with my wife.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but it's a pretty it's a pretty fun thing.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_03: So we got two things going on with the stride syndicate and mono wellness.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_01: How's uh I I know we probably said some of it on here.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_01: What so far would you say some of your coaching principles and philosophy?
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_03: I I am big on like training is important.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not saying it's not so don't I don't want anybody to take that take away what I'm about to say.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_03: But sleep, man, is one of the most it's it's up there with fitness and nutrition.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_03: And so when I'm talking to people, well, one, I really I focus on their form first and foremost to make sure they're running correctly.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um and running the most optimal way for them because the last thing we want to do is get hurt.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_03: If I have a client that comes in for a marathon and they get hurt halfway through, well, I didn't help them even not only achieve their goal, but they weren't even able to tow the line for the marathon.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_03: So health first and foremost.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um so at first I hammer down form, but then I aim to build their body around the form.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm like, we're gonna work on building your calves, we're gonna work on building your hips, your hamstrings, make sure you do mobility, make sure you do stretch out and foam roll and things like that, because overuse injuries are definitely a thing.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_03: Working with um as those obviously those are the main points of it, but then I really focus in on recovery uh because that's gonna be the bread and butter to help them get to race day.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um so whether it's a sauna and coal plunge or the Norma Tech leg sleeves, um, sleep is number one, more so sleep quality than quantity.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_03: So we'll go through things that they do.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_03: You can make the room darker, you can make the room cooler, you can limit your screen exposure, take magnesium, you can meditate, you can, you know, all these different things that help improve sleep quality so that you can continue to keep up that intensity training.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_03: I would say those are the main, I would say the three main things is like the the actual like physical nature of it.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_03: How do you run and what muscles are we gonna work to increase your ability to run?
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_03: The sleep side of things, and then really the intensity.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um it is one thing I did not expect is we always talk about intensity, intensity, intensity.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_03: People run their hard runs at intensity all the time.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_03: The struggle for me and the struggle that I have with my clients, run your easy run easy.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want you to push pace.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, yo, they're like, hey, you know, I'm running this easy run, and you know, I bonk out at this mileage, and then I'll look at their heart rate.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, you are at 180 beats a minute.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_03: You are not running that easy, slow down.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_03: Don't worry about pace, don't worry about just manage heart rate and keep it easy.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_03: Because I found that the easy, like, run my easy runs easy, run my hard runs hard.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I only do my speed workout once a week, and then the rest of it is easy to moderate runs.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm not trying to push my heart rate or anything during those types of trainings.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_03: There's a specific time and place for that.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but so I would say that intensity aspect and not intensity of you have to push hard all the time.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, hey, when you got a recovery run, recover.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_03: Like, take it really easy.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_03: If you have an easy run, manage your heart rate.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_03: Don't let it go north of 145 beats a minute.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, we have these watches and things like that.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think they're all that accurate.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I've been wearing mine since March of last year, and so I have a bunch of data that I can base it off of.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_03: So it gives me something.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_03: I understand it may not be perfect, but it gives me something to base it off of, if that makes sense.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_01: No, yeah, it's definitely a good marker, and um, yeah, I think that's a common thing.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_01: People running their easy runs uh a little too hard.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um it it's one.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_03: I was doing the same thing.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: I was doing the same thing.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_03: I used to just go out and be like, let me dog this thing.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_03: I got five miles easy, let me just finish it fast as I can.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_03: But it was counterintuitive to the goal.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it kind of happens pretty often.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's one of those things where like that one's a lesson you learn with time.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm starting to come to the conclusion too.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta go through a few times and like get bit, if you will.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then go, oh, okay.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes that's how I am, man.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_03: I say I say to my friends and family, like, I'm gonna learn uh learn through experience type of guy.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_03: Where I'll do something and I'm like, oh, that's what they were saying.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I like to learn from other people as well to help me cut the learning curve.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_03: That's why I started working with the coach and things like that to make me better because I'm like, hey, there's people that have been in the coaching world.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh even Jason Jason Coop has a podcast.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if he's still posting on it, but he has a whole uh backlog of all these episodes on a podcast of him talking about ultra marathons and running races from the 90s to now.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_03: And he's an accomplished ultra runner.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_03: He he's sharing uh doctors and stories and client successes.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, all right, this dude started running before I was born and has been teaching client or training clients for 20 years, which is almost my lifetime.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I can definitely learn something from this guy.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_03: So just keeping my my my mind open that way as well.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's a good way to approach that's something I like to do often too, is like, you know, we we got the current stuff, but like what did they do in the past?
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's at least proven, you know.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_01: Find a happy medium and blend.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I've been finding a lot of success in the old school stuff uh recently, um, which not a stopper now.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's funny.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like we can go on a tank about that, but like some of the old school stuff, man.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, it's proven people have been doing it for years, you know.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like I find nowadays the more new stuff you do, the more it falls back to the old school stuff, like nutrition, diet, running, training style.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right, exactly.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, we can learn a lot from uh I mean that the people have blazed a path with uh uh the blazed a path for us before.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_03: So it's more so instead of just trying to create a new path, which isn't always a wrong thing, um, but being like, all right, they took that path, why?
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_03: What did they do?
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_03: Why why do they go about it that way?
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_03: And you can start to learn a lot of insight from what worked, what didn't, and also everyone's different.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_03: People are gonna respond to different things and receive different things in a in a unique way, and so that's one fun thing about being a coach is like, hey, this program for one person worked, but for this one didn't.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, for sure.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, would you say is uh like some of the biggest lenses you've learned through all this, through running ultras, uh coaching, uh helping the community, donating.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_01: If you have to say pick three, four, I'm sure there's hundreds.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, absolutely.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um I would say for me, two things come to mind right away.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and one is I say it to my clients, I'll say it in my classes, and I'll say it to myself mostly when I'm running and stuff.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_03: Like it comes to an end.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like we choose to do this, right?
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_03: So like next weekend at the Rocky Steps in Philly, I'll be doing a 24-hour stair climb uh September 13th, so we can raise money for cancer patients in Philly.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_03: There's Legacy of Hope is a nonprofit.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it was one I had done last year, and I'm excited to be back this year and do it.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, it's gonna get hard when it's 10 p.m., you know, you're 13 hours into this event, and you gotta go through the night, and it's like, oh, I really I really don't feel yo, time's passing anyway.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_03: Time's gonna pass.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_03: I said it in the in the uh in the video on dreadmill.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_03: Am I gonna be tired and proud or am I gonna be tired and disappointed?
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_03: Because those are my two options at this point.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_03: So when it's a struggle with um, maybe I come home from work.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_03: My wife is a kindergarten teacher, and I do I'm I'm in the fitness industry industry full time, so all of my days are different.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_03: Wednesdays, her and I are home all night together.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_03: That's really the only night we're home all night together.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I have the opportunity.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_03: I worked all day.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_03: I was up at you know 5 a.m.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_03: I worked through, she gets home around 4:30 p.m.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_03: Who am I gonna show up as?
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_03: Am I just gonna be tired?
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I worked all day, I did my training, I'm hurting, oh well, you know, this, that, and the third.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_03: Or am I gonna show up for her too?
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_03: So I can take those learning lessons through ultras and implement them across the board as well.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_03: Or is it, hey, I have a couple tasks to get done for clients or my business.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_03: Am I just gonna push it off?
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, well, no.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_03: I force myself to do hard things during ultras.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_03: I can force my things myself to do hard things now.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so keeping in mind that it's all gonna end.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_03: Like, hey, I'm not gonna die.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_03: Like, that's really what it is about at the end of the day.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm gonna be able to live to see another day.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so that's that's my one.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but the one second decision is something that uh that I've been big on recently.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_03: And we talked about it beforehand.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_03: My one second decision to pick up the book and read it, and then to you know, write the book report and not take the money.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_03: Like that I could have went one way, I could have gone the other, but I took that one second decision and moved it to the direction that I want to be.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, people think when you run an ultra, it's gonna be built up over time and then you're gonna bail, and it's hey, well it was one single second that you were like, I'm done, and I'm gonna go put throw in the tail.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_03: It was one moment, it was one decision where you were like, I'm quitting.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_03: Where I could take that same decision and be like, I'm just gonna take another step.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so I feel like that one second decision, am I gonna lay around and and sit on my ass, or am I gonna start cooking food for my wife and I for when she gets home from work?
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_03: You know, those little decisions, they go a long way.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um another one had popped up in my head, don't get too high, don't get too low.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's important when uh people, you know, you're 12 hours into a to a hundred-mile race, people are like, How you feeling?
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, great, great, great.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah, the night's coming, and you know you're gonna be struggling throughout the night.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_03: So it's important, yeah, I'm doing great, and these are the things that I'm doing to keep myself from feeling good.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_03: But then what if you know things come crashing down and you're in the dumps and you're in the pain cave, what I like to say, you just gotta keep on moving because you know it's gonna pass, you know it's an ebb and flow.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_03: If I get too high, I get you know, I start pushing it too much, and then I might burn out.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_03: And if I get too low, it could cause that one second decision to quit.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's not allowing myself to get too up and not allowing myself to get too down so I can stay consistent and get done what I went set out to get done.
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_03: But then it's the same thing in my day-to-day too.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm I what I need to work on is uh appreciating a goal a little bit more.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_03: I'll hit 100 miles and I'm just like, you know, I uh you know, I got the loopy looper medal right here, and I run loopy looper, and then the next day I'm like, all right, training for PHL 24 in September.
• 1:02:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, yo, you just like five hours ago you crossed the finish line.
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_03: Give yourself a second.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's what I need to start working on a little bit.
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um you know what?
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do this real quick.
• 1:03:01
  SPEAKER_01: For everyone listening, we're gonna take a second or two to appreciate everything Ant has done here.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_01: And take in that race and those wins real quick.
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's a perfect moment to do that.
• 1:03:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's important to it's important to cherish those uh those small wins.
• 1:03:16
  SPEAKER_03: And I gotta be a little bit better at practicing what I preach.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um but you know, I where attention goes where uh attention goes, energy flows.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_03: So if I'm gonna be focusing on the wins, I'm gonna be focused with a more positive and grateful attitude moving forward.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because if I skip over those wins, I can start getting my head, oh well, I'm not that great.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, well, this happens, and start to listen to that.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_03: I call it the bitch voice, uh, bitch voice and the ball boys.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_03: I start listening to the bitch voice a little too much, and I can get myself in a rut.
• 1:03:43
  SPEAKER_03: So it's important to take some time and focus on those positive, um those positive things, those wins, the things you've done.
• 1:03:51
  SPEAKER_03: I like to reflect back.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm especially with business, one thing that I've learned in business is I never compare month to month.
• 1:03:59
  SPEAKER_03: Like I'm not like, oh, well, we did this much in September or August, um, but in you know, February we did this much.
• 1:04:06
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, well, yeah, you're you're comparing apples to oranges.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like compare August to the August beforehand.
• 1:04:12
  SPEAKER_03: And that's something that I try to do often is like, all right, well, where have I come from?
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_03: You know, five years ago, I guess, damn, it's starting to get old now.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_03: Five and a half years ago, almost six years ago, I couldn't even run a mile.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I couldn't even run a mile, and now you know I'm hitting 100 mile races and this, that, and the third.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_03: So it's important to take that step back.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, the there's a saying, sometimes it's hard to see the forest through the trees.
• 1:04:40
  SPEAKER_03: If you're so in the midst of it, you can't take that step back and see the entire forest.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's sometimes what I need to be better at is uh taking that step back, appreciating those things about where I've come from.
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but the ultra world has helped me a lot in those different things.
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, the one second decision, not getting too high, not getting too low.
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then I would say one of my the thing I just take home is like you can do hard things.
• 1:05:07
  SPEAKER_03: Like I'll say to my clients, like, yeah, this workout is tough, but you're consistently proving to yourself that you can do hard things.
• 1:05:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I know it's different, but I can go run a hundred miles and then something in my life may happen.
• 1:05:21
  SPEAKER_03: I lose my grandfather, you know, my wife loses a family member, you know, some hardship occurs.
• 1:05:27
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I can handle that better because I've been through really hard situations where I've had to learn to manage myself and continue to push forward.
• 1:05:36
  SPEAKER_03: So I know like there's a the second one from the top that you see, these are all my hundred mile buckles that I got.
• 1:05:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's called the New Jersey Double 100.
• 1:05:44
  SPEAKER_03: Fitz, I was never so broken in my life, man.
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_03: I it was a torrential downpour.
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_03: I had shin splints, gut issues, hallucinating.
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like my buddy Russo, who we do business with now, um, he's the one I ran to Wildwood with.
• 1:05:58
  SPEAKER_03: He paced me for 49 miles.
• 1:05:59
  SPEAKER_03: We got I lost a couple times.
• 1:06:01
  SPEAKER_03: Like I ball my eyes out, mile 80.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I have no idea how I'm gonna continue.
• 1:06:07
  SPEAKER_03: Like both of my shins are falling apart, torrential downpour.
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_03: It broke my mind, spirit, soul, body, everything.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_03: But I got through it.
• 1:06:14
  SPEAKER_03: And that's a reminder every day that I got through it.
• 1:06:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so when I go through a struggle with business, or when I go through a long day, it's like remember the New Jersey devil?
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_03: You remember that?
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_03: When you did that shit, too.
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, come on.
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_03: Come on.
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it it gives uh I call it like those little confidence cookie jars.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_03: You take you can take a cookie out, eat it when you want, just to give yourself that confidence boost, like, oh yeah, I did do that.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_03: I did do that, and I can do this too.
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, well, it's to go back to a book you mentioned, you know, compound effect.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_01: At the end of the day, it's a compound effect, man.
• 1:06:41
  SPEAKER_01: You keep stacking up, or like people like to say running stack those bricks, you know, when the real event comes, it's not as hard, right?
• 1:06:47
  SPEAKER_01: There's there's that other quote.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you're alive today, right?
• 1:06:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna paraphrase it and add my own twist to if you're alive today, you've already surpassed your worst moments.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I changed it entirely.
• 1:06:58
  SPEAKER_01: But basically, there's that point of like, hey, all the hardest things you thought were hard are now in the past and you've actually survived them.
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_01: Something like that goes a quote.
• 1:07:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think I might go back to this and uh keep that quote for myself, but um, you know, point being, right?
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like you you've gone through it and on the other side on the on the better side, man.
• 1:07:16
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about crazy races and training and and uh well now hallucination, and you mentioned her a couple of times and him.
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_01: Your brother and wife, man, like they've come up a couple of times, you know, like what one they mean to you, and what does wife think about this?
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_01: She's gotta be at home, like yo, my husband is crazy.
• 1:07:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how does she, you know, I guess she supports you, and it sounds it sounds like you support a lot, but what does she think of all this?
• 1:07:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, oh boy, here we go again.
• 1:07:42
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like she uh I I don't want to speak for her, but I feel like um it's cool for her to be a part of it.
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, because I have a blessing.
• 1:07:52
  SPEAKER_03: I I've met a lot of people in Ultras that kind of do it on their own.
• 1:07:56
  SPEAKER_03: They meet people out there, they have drop bags, and you know, the people at the aid stations, but every aid station I have the opportunity, not every, because sometimes they're un uncrewable aid stations.
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but a lot of aid stations, I have the opportunity to be like, my wife's over there.
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like I I just gotta get there and I can see her and we can chit-chat and shoot the shit for a couple uh you know a little bit.
• 1:08:17
  SPEAKER_03: But the like man, like that New Jersey Devil race, she didn't she didn't she had no Wi-Fi.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_03: She's in the middle of the Pine Barrens in Jersey, in the middle of a rainstorm, with a fucking map quest map, trying to figure out where I am, and they got like the experiences.
• 1:08:32
  SPEAKER_03: I say I got the easy part, I just gotta run.
• 1:08:34
  SPEAKER_03: She's gotta find me when I run, and that's the hard part.
• 1:08:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but she's incredible, man.
• 1:08:39
  SPEAKER_03: She's incredible.
• 1:08:40
  SPEAKER_03: I will come to her with an idea, and she's like, you know, I don't know where you thought of this or what why you want to do it, but we'll do it.
• 1:08:48
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I did 11 ultras in 10 months, she was at every single one.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_03: She's 19 for 19.
• 1:08:52
  SPEAKER_03: She's been every single race that I've done.
• 1:08:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it's incredible.
• 1:08:56
  SPEAKER_03: That type of support means the world to me.
• 1:08:58
  SPEAKER_03: Of course.
• 1:08:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I feel like um it was kind of like a non-negotiable.
• 1:09:03
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 1:09:04
  SPEAKER_03: We've been best friends.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_03: We I mean we we've been dating since 14, we've been best friends for a long while.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_03: So to be able to experience something like that with her has been a a really a really fun and rewarding thing.
• 1:09:15
  SPEAKER_03: And I feel like, you know, one thing that we say is we grow a lifetime within a race with the wisdom and the learning lessons and the sleep deprivation and the what what we're pushing through.
• 1:09:26
  SPEAKER_03: Like she she's bouncing around from aid station to aid station at 2 a.m.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we have our our pity odin now that she'll have with her, which is a little bit better.
• 1:09:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but like sometimes like that's hard.
• 1:09:37
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's hard to do, and the fact that she's always willing to do so um has blown me away.
• 1:09:42
  SPEAKER_03: And now she's at the point where just the crew is like clockwork, she knows exactly what what to do.
• 1:09:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we've been talking about doing some last man standing races soon, which is something I've never dabbled in before.
• 1:09:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but one thing she did say is that if we do last man standing, she's gotta have more of a crew with her because it's always just her.
• 1:10:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, maybe my buddy Russo comes for a little bit here and there.
• 1:10:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but so we're we're we're look we're looking into those different types of things.
• 1:10:09
  SPEAKER_03: But now I feel like it's a team effort where I'm like, yo, I want to sit down and talk about my race schedule.
• 1:10:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um so I can make sure that it fits in her schedule and that she can come and write everything like that because we would love even uh with the uh the Colorado race, that it's it starts on a Friday, it's next year.
• 1:10:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but she's a teacher, so it's in September, and she's like, it's not the best time.
• 1:10:29
  SPEAKER_03: She's like, but I'm gonna still figure out a way to fly out there to at least see you at some point.
• 1:10:33
  SPEAKER_03: Like she's always just wants to be a part of it.
• 1:10:35
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I think it even opened the door for her because she has done two ultras herself to be on the other side of it in regard to hey, I'm a crew, now I want to see what a runner feels like.
• 1:10:46
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm the same way.
• 1:10:47
  SPEAKER_03: When she's like, I want to do an ultra, I'm like, yes, I get to crew somebody.
• 1:10:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I've never crewed somebody before.
• 1:10:51
  SPEAKER_03: Like, this is awesome.
• 1:10:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, um, so it's cool to like flip the script and uh and do things like that.
• 1:10:56
  SPEAKER_03: But she yeah, uh yeah, Grace is awesome.
• 1:10:58
  SPEAKER_03: She's um uh always showing up, always pushing me.
• 1:11:01
  SPEAKER_03: So the best is when like uh people are like, damn, like how hard it must be.
• 1:11:06
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, yeah, but like I'll come into the aid station and be like, I don't know if I'm going.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_03: She's like, the fuck you are.
• 1:11:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, go.
• 1:11:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like, get up.
• 1:11:18
  SPEAKER_03: So get your ass up and we're going.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_03: Like timer went off.
• 1:11:20
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go.
• 1:11:20
  SPEAKER_03: So, like holding me accountable to the goal, allowing me time if I need it, helping massage, helping fuel, all that type of stuff.
• 1:11:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's incredible to have somebody like that.
• 1:11:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, to be able to have in my corner as I push through, you know.
• 1:11:35
  SPEAKER_03: Again, I have the easy part, I just gotta run from point A to point B.
• 1:11:38
  SPEAKER_03: She's gotta show up, she's gotta help me, she's like all that different type of uh intricate work that we do.
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_03: But it's been awesome to have her for sure.
• 1:11:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, that's dope, man.
• 1:11:48
  SPEAKER_04: Go ahead.
• 1:11:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I know you had mentioned uh my my older brother as well, and he got me into the the whole thing.
• 1:11:54
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 1:11:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so it's fun because we we haven't raced too much.
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we just did the one in August together, which was the first time we ran a race together in a long while.
• 1:12:03
  SPEAKER_03: So it's cool.
• 1:12:04
  SPEAKER_03: We both own a duplex together, so he's up top, I'm down low, so we'll get run in runs in together.
• 1:12:09
  SPEAKER_03: We'll all we'll see each other out front, we'll shoot shit about yo, what race are you thinking about?
• 1:12:13
  SPEAKER_03: What you know, what what fuel and what did you just learn?
• 1:12:16
  SPEAKER_03: Things like that, which is always cool to have somebody to bounce off that as well.
• 1:12:20
  SPEAKER_03: Who's in the in the arena with you?
• 1:12:22
  SPEAKER_03: They're in the game, they know uh the things that I'm talking about and different things like that.
• 1:12:26
  SPEAKER_03: So it's cool to have somebody like that as well to talk to.
• 1:12:29
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's awesome, man.
• 1:12:30
  SPEAKER_01: That that sounds like a dream right there.
• 1:12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, to just, hey, we're going for a run.
• 1:12:35
  SPEAKER_01: You leaving?
• 1:12:35
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's go.
• 1:12:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right, right.
• 1:12:38
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes I'm walking out and I just look up and see him.
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, oh bet I got a running buddy today.
• 1:12:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, man.
• 1:12:43
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds like you got an incredible support system, man.
• 1:12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, shout out to the wife, man.
• 1:12:47
  SPEAKER_01: That that's amazing, you know, like to be able to be at all 19 races and crew and all that, man.
• 1:12:52
  SPEAKER_01: She's also sleep deprived, I'm sure, too.
• 1:12:54
  SPEAKER_01: So y'all both in it in different ways.
• 1:12:58
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, dude, absolutely, absolutely.
• 1:13:00
  SPEAKER_03: And we show up, we'll we we still try our best to show up for family and friends, even on weekends that we're that we have these races and shit like that.
• 1:13:07
  SPEAKER_03: So we'll show up places, we'll be exhausted, we're tired, but we still do our best.
• 1:13:11
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, uh shit.
• 1:13:12
  SPEAKER_03: Again, she's staying up all this time.
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_03: Like sometimes I'll pull up to the aid station and she's sleeping.
• 1:13:16
  SPEAKER_03: She's like, Oh, I'm sorry.
• 1:13:17
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, sorry for what?
• 1:13:18
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't expect you for my running through right now.
• 1:13:23
  SPEAKER_03: Like you, you got fine, you sleep.
• 1:13:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but it's cool.
• 1:13:26
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, because then we get to travel.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_03: I know we something we talked about was like the uprise and running, and then the uh the rise of traveling as well because of all these runs.
• 1:13:35
  SPEAKER_03: Like, yo, we went to the outer banks, we went to South Carolina, we've been, you know, middle of PA that we didn't even know existed.
• 1:13:42
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we're from Florida, South East Park.
• 1:13:44
  SPEAKER_03: So we get to the middle, we're like, yo, there's these mountains here.
• 1:13:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, what?
• 1:13:48
  SPEAKER_03: Like, this is crazy.
• 1:13:50
  SPEAKER_03: So it's cool to get to experience that perspective of it as well.
• 1:13:52
  SPEAKER_03: Road tripping, uh, running the races, all that type of experience together.
• 1:13:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's really cool.
• 1:13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, man.
• 1:13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Agreed, man.
• 1:14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you do last man standing, let me know.
• 1:14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Funny enough, I had a guest here on the podcast who looks like we might be doing a race depending on how he's recovered.
• 1:14:07
  SPEAKER_01: He just did last man standing this uh past was it, the weekend.
• 1:14:10
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, wait, um, Marcese, right?
• 1:14:13
  SPEAKER_01: You got it, yes.
• 1:14:14
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 1:14:15
  SPEAKER_03: I just saw him do that last man standing.
• 1:14:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, 150 miles.
• 1:14:19
  SPEAKER_03: That's incredible.
• 1:14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he did 153, crushed it.
• 1:14:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he wanted to win.
• 1:14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong, he was training for the win.
• 1:14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he's wanting to win, but uh he still hate a PR for what he's normally done at that race.
• 1:14:31
  SPEAKER_01: He'll give you all the tips on last man standing.
• 1:14:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm hoping he recovers well.
• 1:14:34
  SPEAKER_01: Funny enough, you mentioned your brother.
• 1:14:35
  SPEAKER_01: So for the first time, um I've been wanting to run a marathon with some friends, and two signed up with me.
• 1:14:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're running different paces, but it's fun to just like, hey, let's go enjoy marathon, run, and I'll see you at the finish line, you know, Airbnb, you know, recover, go to the expo, that kind of stuff, man.
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_01: So so I get it, but like to have it every day, that's the dream right there with your brother.
• 1:14:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I love that.
• 1:14:58
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, hey, I I iron sharpens iron, um, as one does to another, you know, rising tide raises all ships.
• 1:15:05
  SPEAKER_03: So I love when I see groups of people come together.
• 1:15:07
  SPEAKER_03: So that's incredible that your friends are coming the line with you.
• 1:15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's gonna be dope, man.
• 1:15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm looking forward to it.
• 1:15:13
  SPEAKER_01: Training's going good, injuries mostly solved by now.
• 1:15:15
  SPEAKER_01: So uh kind of like you mentioned, you know, we put foot to the pavement here, or in your case, trails.
• 1:15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm not sure on the trail scene yet, but I do live in the middle of all the trails here in Colorado.
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, you know, talking about that, you got a few races coming up.
• 1:15:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, obviously, we spoke about this.
• 1:15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Let me know when the Colorado one comes in, man.
• 1:15:35
  SPEAKER_01: If I can make it out, I definitely will.
• 1:15:36
  SPEAKER_01: Hell, I'm even down the crew, so count me.
• 1:15:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, not saying I'm running it with you, you know.
• 1:15:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'll maybe do some pacing if you need it, but uh, I'm still in my road phase, is what I'm getting at.
• 1:15:46
  SPEAKER_01: But what you got next coming up for you?
• 1:15:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, life general, uh run races.
• 1:15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what's coming up for you here?
• 1:15:54
  SPEAKER_01: I know you mentioned one in November as well.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yep.
• 1:15:57
  SPEAKER_03: So I'll be going out.
• 1:15:58
  SPEAKER_03: It's just gonna be such a blast, man.
• 1:15:59
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm going out to Scottsdale, Arizona.
• 1:16:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um my buddy Russo, he's running, he's doing an Iron Man, not running an Iron Man, he's doing the Iron Man, um on a on a Sunday, and then that Friday I'm doing a 100 miler in Scottsdale, and then my uncle is doing a Spartan race the next day in Scottsdale.
• 1:16:21
  SPEAKER_03: So there's my uh my buddy Russo, my uncle, and then my wife were gonna come out to Colorado, and now we're all going out to Scottsdale to crew each other.
• 1:16:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um because I was originally gonna do the Colorado race uh this year, um, but when when I hit my head on the trail, I kind of got sick of the whole trail thing for a time being.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_03: So I was like, I'm gonna push it to next year and strategize a bit more for it.
• 1:16:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um but so we once they told me they're like, yeah, I'm in Scottsdale, yeah, I'm in Scottsdale.
• 1:16:46
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, well, let me see if there's a race in Scottsdale.
• 1:16:48
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I found one called the Fat Ox 100.
• 1:16:50
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, so I'll be doing that out there in November.
• 1:16:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then as of right now, my schedule next year is pretty open.
• 1:16:56
  SPEAKER_03: I wanted to um I wanted to dabble in a little bit of high rocks and marathons to work on speed and build you know strength and power.
• 1:17:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because I'm hoping there's a guy, Andrew Linder, who I got to connect you to as well.
• 1:17:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um he's a guy I've been chatting with, he's from my area.
• 1:17:13
  SPEAKER_03: He ran across America, he did Pier to Park, so California to Central Park with a 15-pound vest on, man, over 3,000 miles.
• 1:17:22
  SPEAKER_03: And then he does a lot of the marathons, high rock speed work, and then he showed up to the loopy looper in August and shattered the record for the 100 miler.
• 1:17:31
  SPEAKER_03: It did in like 17 hours.
• 1:17:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's wild.
• 1:17:33
  SPEAKER_03: And so I'm sitting there, I did my I hit my PR at 24 and I'm like, damn, like these guys are flying.
• 1:17:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what like what where again?
• 1:17:41
  SPEAKER_03: I'm always like, where's my gap?
• 1:17:43
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what can I do better?
• 1:17:44
  SPEAKER_03: And so I really feel like if I work on my strength, my speed, my output now that I have the endurance to side down so much that I'll be able to increase my 100-mile time.
• 1:17:53
  SPEAKER_03: So I've been looking into the high rockses, the marathons.
• 1:17:56
  SPEAKER_03: I will say I say that and then I defer, you know, uh run rabbit run 100 to next September.
• 1:18:02
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm like, all right, well, I'm gonna have that on the schedule.
• 1:18:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I had a friend who ran a last man standing in June, and I uh I had done a podcast with my buddy Joe Rinaldi and showed the guy the podcast.
• 1:18:15
  SPEAKER_03: So the RD of the Last Man Standing in New York, actually, near Lake Placid, uh, reached out to me and he was like, yo, we're gonna do it in July of next year.
• 1:18:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's usually mild temps.
• 1:18:25
  SPEAKER_03: Like, he here, like, here's some research.
• 1:18:27
  SPEAKER_03: Like, talk to me if you want to do it, we would love to have you.
• 1:18:29
  SPEAKER_03: And so having a last man standing, I'm you know, that's why I mentioned it here.
• 1:18:33
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I don't know, that'd be full.
• 1:18:35
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm you know, BPN has done a great job bringing the last man standing up on like everyone's radar with the one that they just did in May.
• 1:18:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so that's really where I started getting a knack for it.
• 1:18:45
  SPEAKER_03: I, you know, uh um, so that's something that I would like to do as well.
• 1:18:49
  SPEAKER_03: But I gotta take some more time.
• 1:18:50
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, my wife and I, we are big into our faith, so I'm gonna pray on it, I'm gonna focus on it.
• 1:18:55
  SPEAKER_03: And uh as I get closer to Fat Ox, I want to get squared away on what my schedule looks like next year.
• 1:19:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um because a lot of our friends are getting married and having kids, and we have bachelor parties and weddings and all that jazz.
• 1:19:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm trying to balance everything in the middle.
• 1:19:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but it looks like after February throughout the rest of the year next year is pretty open.
• 1:19:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what I'm uh I'm hoping to set up some races and got me excited with some of the high rocks marathon stuff because I'm kind of leaning that way myself, so maybe some things line up.
• 1:19:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not ready yet for the ultra.
• 1:19:26
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
• 1:19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone says I'm not ready, and then you sign up for one thing leads to another.
• 1:19:30
  SPEAKER_01: But um, well, I know it's in the cards in the future.
• 1:19:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:19:35
  SPEAKER_03: I'm always up to trying something new.
• 1:19:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I know I mentioned to you, my boss before, her name's Jess Kelly.
• 1:19:41
  SPEAKER_03: She's awesome at Ironman's, and so she's always throwing goggles or swimming caps at me, and like I'm not a swimmer at all.
• 1:19:48
  SPEAKER_03: So it'd be like resort resorting a zero in regard to uh my my skill set.
• 1:19:53
  SPEAKER_03: So that's gonna be something I would like to dabble into probably a couple years down the line.
• 1:19:57
  SPEAKER_04: Amen.
• 1:19:57
  SPEAKER_03: But I would say Ultra is my bread and butter.
• 1:20:00
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 1:20:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I might go a little bit more marathon and high rocks.
• 1:20:04
  SPEAKER_03: Let me see the speed, the power side of me, what I got there.
• 1:20:07
  SPEAKER_03: Test myself a little bit.
• 1:20:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's dope, man.
• 1:20:09
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, yeah, you got the speed, man.
• 1:20:10
  SPEAKER_01: You it sounds like you have the awareness already.
• 1:20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Ant, this has been uh amazing, incredible episode, man.
• 1:20:16
  SPEAKER_01: I love this conversation, man.
• 1:20:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um glad you hopped on.
• 1:20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, thanks anytime, man.
• 1:20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um guys, check out Ant's stuff.
• 1:20:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'll put some of his uh well, the video, the 48-hour treadmill.
• 1:20:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'll put his links to his Instagram, man.
• 1:20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Amazing story.
• 1:20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, looking forward to what you got coming next, obviously.
• 1:20:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then obviously we'll chat because now we we gotta figure some things out.
• 1:20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Some runs out, some races and stuff.
• 1:20:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, absolutely.
• 1:20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do it, brother.
• 1:20:41
  SPEAKER_03: Let's do it.
• 1:20:42
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you listen, got some takeaways, man.
• 1:20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Keep on pushing, you know, one one foot to pavement or trail in Ant's case.
• 1:20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this has been the People Run Podcast.
• 1:20:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, wherever you listen to your podcast, tune in, we're there, or follow us on Instagram.
• 1:20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Until next, guys, and again, thank you, Ant.
• 1:20:56
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate you.
• 1:20:57
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for having me, brother.