Your body is designed to heal itself. There is a natural force within us to fix and repair injuries and fight illness. What isn't discussed very often is that your soul/mind also influences what happens in your body. You have probably experienced the principle that whatever you focus your attention on grows bigger. This same principle applies to those aches and pains or injuries you might have. Your body will eventually heal even when you're focusing worry and anxiety on what is wrong. But your negative attention does tend to make the pain greater and take longer to heal.  You can speed y ..read more

Ben Reale went into the Marine Corps as a licensed attorney and an officer. He found that the life of a JAG officer was not as glamorous as the hit TV series made it appear. And after his service, he decided to take a very different career path. He became certified as a personal trainer and then went on to become certified as a nutrition coach. He demonstrates the “ultramarathon mindset” approach to his coaching, encouraging long-term sustainability over the “microwave popcorn” quick-and-fluffy approach ..read more

The best weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. ~William James The Creator gave us the complete, unchallengeable right of prerogative over the one thing, and only thing we own, our mind. ~Napoleon Hill Your ability to choose what thoughts you think is a superpower. When you run an ultramarathon, managing your thoughts is as important as the condition of your body ..read more

What do you do when you’re in a dark place and nothing is working and you’re at the end of your rope? If you’re like Alex Wisch, you shake off the cobwebs and do what it takes to get somewhere you can get the help you need. Alex went from severe depression to a leading mindset coach, helping athletes and professionals become their best. Alex teaches a technique that allows his clients to get into a state of flow and maintain that place of flow for long periods of time ..read more

Best-of Episode:  Cliff Moitt’s Spartan journey started with a TV show in the 80s called ”The Battle of the Network Stars,” and the stars were going through these obstacles. When he saw that he realized that the body is meant to do something different, something epic. At the time he was running 5 and 10K races. When the movie “300” came out, he was impressed by the Spartan culture and toughness. He continues to test himself in the Spartan races.   ..read more

Erica Terblanche is an adventurer, ultra runner, author, speaker, and coach. We connected for a conversation that is the essence of what trail runners experience when we run together. Yes, we talked about Erica's adventures and the races she's done and the challenges she's still going after. But we talked about mindset, managing pain, what to do when you encounter a lion, jackals in the dark, and God as well.    ..read more

Ila Allen was one of my first guests on this podcast. Many people know her from her posts in the ultramarathon running groups on Facebook. She trains outside in the weather extremes of Chicago, running along the lake. Wind (lots of wind), rain, snow, sleet, heat, or humidity, she says she can't run inside nor on a treadmill. But she won't run if there is lightning. A wise precaution. She ran the 100-mile option in the race, Across the Years. And she came so close, logging a little over 98 miles. Any DNF is disappointing. But she plans to go back again this year ..read more

We ultramarathon runners love to push and test our limits.  The challenge is what draws us. And it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of doing more and longer races.  But there’s a downside too. Sometimes we forget that rest and recovery are just as important as training and racing. We’re in an extreme sport, and we can take our drive to do more to the extreme and find ourselves in BURNOUT.  My guest this week is Heather Hart. She’s an exercise physiologist, ultra runner, blogger, and coach. She’s had some personal experience with burnout, and in this episode she sha ..read more

Mandy Miller has developed a strong ultramarathon mindset in her races and adventures from all around the world. She had run everything from multi-day stage races in the Sahara desert to 100 mile self-supported ultramarathons in the Yukon in January to Iron Man competitions in Hawaii ..read more

Sandi Nypaver is an ultramarathon runner, running coach, and adventurer. She did sports in school. But it wasn't until she went on a youth expedition with  Impossible to Possible that she got a taste of the mindset to test her limits. (Ep. 129 is where Ray Zahab talks about starting the organization of Impossible to Possible.) Sandi decided to do an ultramarathon. So she signed up for a 100 mile race and ended up winning ..read more