WITH JT LEHMAN

                                                                 photo by Kevin Brooks

A conversation on community with JT Lehman, founder of Alpenflo. 

We take a closer look at the greater importance of community during and after Covid-19. JT has been growing community in his life and with his new outdoor startup called Alpenflo. He offers great tips to implement if you are starting a group run or are looking to increase your sense of community.

 JT created some cool tips on creating a group run or virtual run here.

Book recommendations

Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger

Lost Connections by Johann Hari

And an article recommendation to our own site. The Three Critical Benefits of Trail Running by Stephanie Imig

With Danielle Snyder

Danielle Snyder is back on the podcast to talk all about managing stress and it couldn't be a more fitting time. Danielle is a social worker, trail and ultra runner and owns her own coaching business called Inner Drive Athlete that helps train endurance athletes while paying special attention to our minds.

Check out Danielle's coaching business, Inner Drive Athlete.

with Ian Ramsey

Mindfulness is a tool to help you feel better, perform better and live better. It will make you happier, stronger and fitter. Ultrarunner, Ian Ramsey has been utilizing meditation, breathing exercises and other mindfulness practices to take his mind and body to the next level. Ian lays out why Navy Seals, professional athletes and CEO's of the largest companies are all meditating and how to get your started implementing mindful practices into your own life.

Here are some methods and tips to help you control your own state and have more agency in your life.

1. Box Breathing: Taking a moment to breathe in an intentional way can down regulate the nervous system and help with calm and focus. One breath practice that is easy is box breathing, where you breathe in for a beat, hold for a beat, breathe out for a beat, pause for a beat, and repeat. As you get more comfortable with the practice, you can lengthen the breaths and the holds.  You can do this while driving, while sitting in a meeting or waiting in line at a store. The App “Breathe to Perform” is a great way to support this practice.
2. Mindfulness practice: Here’s a basic, useful mindfulness practice that I’ve been doing for years: Try closing your eyes and silently counting your breaths up to ten. On the first in-breath, count "one" and on the out-breath count "two" and then on the next in-breath, "three,"  and so on until you get to ten and then start over. If you lose count or focus (and you probably will), don't worry about it and just gently and persistently keep returning to the counting. The point is not to be perfect, but to make the effort.
3. When you’re practicing mindfulness or box breathing, take deep belly breaths that use your full diaphragm.  Sit with a good comfortable posture that helps you to fully breathe.
4. Don't worry if you're doing it right.  Don't let perfect be the enemy of good: doing anything is better than nothing. Don't worry if your legs are crossed, or if you're sitting in a chair. Don't worry if your mind if wandering too much or if you need to scratch your ear. By making the effort, you've already succeeded.
5. Try to start and end the day with just a few minutes of mindfulness. Starting the day with this helps set patterns of focus for the day, and doing it before bed allows the nervous system to relax and lets the unconscious mind start to integrate with the conscious mind. All of these things help with sleep.

Resources:

Apps:

Breathe to Perform (Breathwork)

Headspace (Mindfulness)

Insight Timer (Mindfulness)

Physiology First-Anti-Anxiety Nonprofit that Ian is involved in. Physiology First provides cutting edge anxiety mitigation tools to students around the world. www.Physiologyfirst.org

Ian’s Website: ianramsey.net

Ian’s Email: ianramsey@nya.org (Reach out if you have questions)

An article by Physiology First founder David Bidler about using breath work to enhance running performance: https://trailrunnermag.com/training/breathe-to-perform.html

Books:

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind-Shunryu Suzuki

Power Speed Endurance-Brian Mackenzie

The Oxygen Advantage-Patrick McKeown

Episode 4- The Unconditional Positivity of David Roche

Running coach David Roche is gaining a lot of attention recently and the athletes that he is training are spreading the word about the results they are seeing with him.  We discuss David's holistic approach to coaching that takes the human mind's faults into great consideration and we find out why elites and everyday runners are seeking him out as their running guru.

The Happy Runner- by David & Megan Roche- Check out their book to get a lot more details of their coaching approach.  

Episode 3- The Powers of Positive & Negative Thinking with Danielle Snyder

A conversation about the power of the mind with social worker, Danielle Snyder. Danielle who helps athletes utilize their minds to improve performance with her coaching company called Inner Drive Athlete- (www.innerdriveathlete.com) recently set the women's supported fastest known time on the Oregon section of the Pacific Crest Trail- a 460 mile journey she completed in 9 days. 

Danielle discusses how negative self talk can be a self destructive to our running performance and how to replace it with mindfulness and positive talk. She also tells us about her experience setting the women's Oregon PCT fastest known time and how she is encouraging other women to chase records of their own.

Danielle's Website :www.innerdriveathlete.com

instagram.com/diellesmells