Episode 48 – Darin of Kona Endurance
Hello my friends, my masters of the midpack. And if you’re following the Western European based traditions – Happy holidays – This is Chris your host and welcome to Episode 48 of the RunRunLive Podcast. I’m a midpack marathoner, triathlete, ultra marathoner and just all around compulsive runner guy. This podcast every week we bring you an interesting interview and talk about other cool tips and such – and this week is no different!
This week have an interview with Darin from Kona Endurance. He’s an entrepreneur who has started a company selling nutritional supplements for endurance athletes and, according to him he is having quite a run of success. It’s an interesting interview – Darrin has a lot of energy and sometimes it feels like you’re in a late night infomercial – but I love the passion of folks who start a business and live it. Man they are alive!
Enjoy the interview and remember to do your own research on anything you’re putting into your body – I’m no doctor.
Today is New Year’s Eve and I’m out with Buddy in a snow storm. I’ve got a new pair of Saucony trail shoes I’m testing out. Bought them online – went for a lower end model – I’ll let you know how they hold up but my old ones are falling apart – the outer carbon rubber of the soles is peeling off. I bought them for my Ultra in September – so they probably had a couple hundred miles on them, but I’ve never had a pair of shoes do that before.
Tomorrow is my annual New Year’s race – the Hangover Classic 10k in Salisbury Ma with the obligatory ocean plunge. And tomorrow is going to be good weather for it – fresh snow – high teens Fahrenheit with a water temperature around 36 degrees …YEAH! That’ll get your blood flowing and kick off the spring training in style!
I put my spring training plan up on Buckeye outdoors. Basically I’m going to do a medium difficulty marathon training plan. One day of tempo/speed, a long run on Sunday and 3 days of base mileage plus 2 days of bike cross training. That should put me in good enough shape the run the races I want to run respectfully without taking over my life.
I also started a RunRunLive Facebook page – look for RunRunLive.
The big news is that I finished my second book of running stories called “the midpacker’s guide to the Galaxy” And put it up as an e-book on my site. I also put my first print book “The Midpacker’s Lament” up as an e-book.
Here’s the deal – you can go purchase them on my site using Paypal – try it and let me know if it works because I’m not the most competent web jockey. I’ve also set it up so that you can be an affiliate and make 50% commission if you want to sell my eBooks on your site!
Don’t get me wrong here folks. This is not a money-making scheme per se, it’s just to fund the podcast and the website. I’m not quitting my job and retiring here. I figure this is a good bargain that you and I can make. I’ll pretend I’m selling something of value instead of begging for donations and you can pretend you’re getting something of value and we all win!
So anyhow – enough about the corrupting evils of commerce – on with the Show!
Equipment Check
Ok – so I’ve started training for a 100 mile bike ultra some time next summer/fall. I know what you’re thinking: “Wait a second Chris, you just told us you’re training for a marathon…” Well yeah, I am. I can do both. See I’ll just phase in the bike riding over the next 3 months building up base while I’m training for Boston. It will give me some cross training and make me stronger. Then once I get past Boston I’ll switch the balance to biking and put on the real miles – but I’ll be ready for harder training. because I’ll already have the muscle memory and base.
This is also part of my plan to beat the marathon post-partum. Overlap your goals. I have the luxury of doing it this way because I’m not training for a marathon PR – just a comfortable finish, maybe a marginal qualifier. So I don’t have to be as dedicated and specific. I did the same thing last spring when I trained for Mount Washington while I was training for Boston. It worked great because there was no slump after Boston and I felt great on the hills in Newton.
Since we currently have weather like McMurdo ice station here I’ve got to train on the exercise bike in the gym. They have a decent Life Fitness bike in there (remember I talked to the Life Fitness guys a few episodes back about treadmills?)
The stationary bike is tough for a runner because you just don’t get a good workout until you get into ‘bike shape’. So you have to start slow. I’ve found that the best starting point for me is 40 minutes. I choose the Hill program and I set it to a difficulty of 15 out of 20. In a few weeks I’ll work it up to an hour at level 20 and that will be a great workout – but you have to start somewhere.
So that’s my recommendation for cross training on the statinoary bike – 40 minutes, Hill program, level somewhere between 10 and 15 and work up from there as you get used to it. If you folks who are smarter than me about these things have any other suggestions – send me a note – I’d love to learn.
I’ll have more bike tips through the spring…
FAQ
Jason and Shawn’s Question…
My Answer
Good question – I’m assuming that other slower person knows that they are slower and won’t mind you playing around during the run…
You can do plyometrics to increase your strength and clean your stride mechanics. Typically these require a slower pace to do – you can work 3-5 sets of 50-100 feet of each while still hanging with your turtleish friend.
1. Do Bounding – spring from one foot to the other in exagerated bounding – try for height.
2. Run backwards.
3. Run Sideways.
4. Skip.
5. Stride – exagerate the length of your stride.
Also you can do pick ups – esp if there is a short hill. Charge to the top of the hill and jog back down to meet your friend – it will exhaust you in a short distance and you can do your recovery jog with the friend.
Race them on a 1/4 mile track – see of you can get 2 laps in before they do 1, or 3 laps before they do 2…etc – good fun and makes everyone try harder – you can bet money or if it really is your wife, something better…
C-,
Outro –
Happy new year to everyone. I’m having a great year so far. I ran the Hangover Classic this morning in brutally cold and windy conditions and I did great. I finished in the top 50 and won a commemorative glass, then I went for the ocean plunge in the cold Atlantic and got another glass. Shout outs to my running buddy’s Brian and Rick who ran with me – Rick is hoping to experience his first Boston this year and he’s made the wonderfully great mistake to run all the ridiculous New England races that I run in the spring. Next up The Derry 16 Miler! I made a short video and put it up on RunCast.TV and YouTube – Check it out. It’s going to be an Awesome 2009.
I’ll spare you a long inspirational speech and leave you with this thought. The new year is a chance for you to take off your old baggage and leave in the old year. To put on a new attitude and start with a fresh positive attitude. That’s why I like the ocean plunge – it’s my ceremonial baptism and cleansing to bring in the new year. It’s going to be a Awesome new year.
Oh yeah – special shout out to my facebook friend Glen who just ran – I think it was the Honolulu marathon. He missed his qualifier but had a really good attitude.
I had a banner week lining up interviewees for the next shows. I had a chat with my facebook friend Trevor who is planning on running the Eugene Oregon Marathon this spring – and I think we have enough audio to wrap a show around it. I’m talking to Martha who is the inventor of Action Wipes and I’ve been using them this week – another entrepreneur with a cool niche product.
I also – called up the guys from YakTrax – those coily things you wrap around your shoes to run in the snow and ice – I’m going to test them out because I spend so much time in the woods and talk to one of their execs.
I have the folks from Zappos shoes lined up. I have had some interaction with ultramarathon man Dean Kazmares. And I’m talking with the PR folks at the Georgia Ing Marathon to see if I might jog that one as a warm up to Boston in March! Sheesh – when it rains it pours. I’m having a blast and I hope you are too.
I can’t wait to spend time with You-all in the new year. Happy new year. To all my running and podcasting friends – much love and many smiles.
I’m going to leave you with another winter themed song. It’s a blues number with a female lead. Boggie Winter Blues
Bio:
NYC based singer songwriter Boggie writes, produces and publishes her original works out of her her home based studio. She is a classically trained singer and pianist, who holds a Master’s Degree in Voice Performance from the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
I will see you out there!