[audio:https://runrunlive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi101.mp3|titles=Episode 101 – Frank Row]

Show intro by:

Intro:

Hello and welcome to the 101^st episode of the RunRunLive Podcast. Hope everyone is doing fine today. As I compose this it is Christmas eve. So – Merry Christmas to you.

Got a great show for you today – well maybe not great, but hey, certainly worth the money!

I’m interviewing my friend Frank Row who was my first interview and my 50^th interview so I told him I had to get him in for the 100^th (give or take one episode). When you hear Frank and I talk it is the talk of running friends. This is the type of chatter you would hear for a couple hours if you were to hang with us in a long run. If any of you ever race or run with me you’ll realize that I talk non-stop. It’s a happy repartee among friends sharing something they love. That is until the time comes to get to work. And most of the time that means Frank and Brian will drop the hammer and leave me sucking oxygen like a landed guppy. Wasn’t always that way. I used to hang with these guys, but they got serious and now I only get to hang with them until they decide to go.

I also have some audio in here. A snippet form the car this week that I hadn’t intended to keep – I was just taking audio notes, but it sounds, je ne sais pas, ‘real’… so I’m sharing. I have a quick snippet on my new pair of Brooks Ghost 2’s, I answer a newbie question from Susan and I’ve got some music. … But the piece de resistance is a reading of one of my books by Steve Chopper!

I had a tough few weeks. It’s the end of my fiscal quarter so I’ve been stressing and working long hours. Had a nice trip to Minneapolis this week which caused me to miss my Monday run. Then Tuesday I went to do a set of speed 1600’s on the treadmill and something tweaked in my knee – so I did the smart thing and stopped.

And this is where coaching is valuable – even for a veteran like me. I had a choice…I could shift all my workouts by a day, or I could do back to back hard workouts or I could write off the Tuesday workout and just start again on Thursday. Speedy Sasquatch, who has been coaching me said skip the workout and do it on Thursday. Having a coach to give me permission to miss a workout was great. I would normally just double down. What I’m discovering, from the I already knew it but I’m an idiot file, is that I don’t rest enough or make my easy days easy enough. I afraid to cheat on my ‘duty’ so I always error on the side of doing more and more is better. Josh is helping me see how counterproductive this is. Even though I know what to do having a coach tell me it’s ok somehow lets me stay in the game emotionally. I don’t know if that makes sense. Anyone can download a training plan, it’s the color around that plan that makes a difference.

You’ll be hearing more about Josh in future shows. But if you want to ask him a question he’s at SpeedySasquatch on Twitter and http://speedysasquatch.blogspot.com/.

So anyhow – this old dog is learning some new tricks as he works hard to race a sub 1:30 at the Hyannis Half Marathon in February to qualify for NYC. You may think this is easy for my but it’s not, it’s a stretch goal and I’m psyched. On with the Show!

Audio clips in this episode:

Here is a Christmas song from Bob Malone. He is a friend of one of the guys in my advanced Toastmasters club. Visit his site at http://www.bobmalone.com/

Skits, commercials and parodies in this episode:

Story time:

None

Equipment Check:

New Balance Ghost 2

Featured Interview:

Frank Row – My old running buddy.

Quick Tip:

Question from Susan.

Susan – I know I sent you an answer a couple weeks ago, but I’m going to answer this for other folks here as well. Hope your running is going well. It’s hard to measure any individual race performance and then extrapolate from that whether you’re getting better or worse. You’ll have bad days and good days. You’ll have bad races, sometimes several in a row. Sometimes it’s just part of your natural bio-rhythms.

I know how you feel. You look for causal factors but it’s almost impossible to predict. I’ll have days when I have to drag myself out of the house and I’ll have a super work out. I’ll have days I look forward to my work outs and get my ass kicked.

That being said one of the classic reasons for feeling off is from over training. If you’re stuck in a rut, try something different. Get a coach. Try cross training for a couple months or try a new discipline. It could be nutritional as well, especially iron deficiency in women. Go to your doctor and get checked out.

When we train for marathons we do it in 2 or 3 week cycles and one of the reasons we do this is to create a rhythm that lets us peak on race day.

Hope this helps and keep moving forward.

Story:

The Theme Music of our lives – Ipod, You Pod we all Pod for IPods – Read by Steve Chopper from the ‘A mile with me” podcast www.amilewith.me.uk

Outro:

OK, that’s it, episode 101 in the can. Doesn’t Steve have a great reading voice? Find Steve’s Podcast called “A Mile with me” – it’s awesome – on iTunes. And I have given e-copies of my books to anyone who volunteers to read a story into audio for me. I like the different voices and interpretations. And I seem to recall sending a few out so I should be (hint, hint) Getting some more in soon.

Next week we’ve got an interview with the guy who wrote the “Younger next year book” And then I will be interviewing Hal Higdon about his new novel “Marathon” so that should be cool. I’ll be racing the Hangover Classic 10k on New Year’s Day and going for swim in the Atlantic.

I read an interesting article this week in one of the newsletters I get. It was about Mencius a disciple of Confucius who taught that the heart and empathy for others is the core of what makes us human. In the same way that Descartes reasoned “I think therefore I am”, Mencius said basically “we love therefore we are”. I found that a compelling thought, because I think sometimes that I lack empathy.

So take the time in this busy time of year to smile at someone because you and they may share a pulse in the universal heart.

And when you do this smile at me too, because I’ll see you out there.

I couldn’t resist the music tonight. It is from Buddy and I to all our vegan friends. Just listen you’ll love it.