Monthly Archives

June 2018

Episode 160: Interview with Dylan Miraglia

By | Podcast

In this episode we chat with the best handle bar mustached muscle pants elite OCR athlete on the scene Mr. Dylan Miraglia (the “G” is silent people).

Dylan talks with us about:

  • His life as a youngster and how he discovered OCR
  • How his brother is his greatest motivation on many levels
  • What made him choose the short course, stadium sprint & TMX, format
  • His program design for short course OCR
  • The importance of a strong aerobic run base
  • His mustaches’s favorite beer
  • and the always important question, could he beat a bear in a fight??

***This podcast is brought to you by the word Specificity….. not Specisifity (insert hand to face emoji) :-)****

Outro song: “juice” by Yo Gotti

CLICK HERE to listen or download from iTunes or Stitcher!

The Health Episodes #11: How to take Ownership of Your Performance, Nutrition, & Life

By | Podcast

Take Ownership of your training, nutrition, & life.  In this episode Alix and Mo help you understand how you can stop letting outside forces/people/situations dictate your day/life.

  • Do you go through workouts with your trainer, buddy, or alone blind?
  • Do you just eat food without paying attention or putting in effort to fuel properly?
  • Is everything someone else’s fault, do you let other people, situations dictate your attitude daily?

Ownership of your training:

  • learn a new movement or learn understand the movements that you are doing
    • whats the “why” behind the session/particular exercise
    • ask your coach trainer to help you learn
    • start with ONE movement
  • Taking ownership in this realm can give you confidence to take on other tasks you may have been intimidated by

 Ownership of your nutrition:

  • you don’t need to become a food scientist
  • learn the health benefits of one food each day or each week, then incorporate into your nutrition
  • Learn how the foods/supplements you eat affect your body, performance, recovery, etc
  • Learn how to prepare a meal for yourself
  • Learn how to order healthy at a restaurant and/or stick to healthier options when eating for business
  • ENJOY yourself when eating out and own it!

Ownership of your life:

  • Do you wake up and watch the news or check social media and realize how that dictates your attitude, response/reaction to others for the day?
  • Do you allow situations at work or home “put you in a mood” for the day?
  • Wake up each morning and start by owning the first 10-15 minutes 
    • box breathe, meditate, smile
    • repeat this mantra “today I take ownership of my thoughts and emotions. Today I take ownership of my body and food”
  • If you make a mistake OWN IT, don’t dwell on it, learn from it and make it a positive 
    • “I realize I could have done xxx better”  or  “In looking back I see where I could have done/said xxx for a better outcome/response/etc”
  • At the end of each day write in a journal what you took ownership of that day.  Whether its one thing or 10 things, write it down.  Review it the next morning after breathing, meditation, and while saying your mantra to start your day/mind off on the right track  Review your wins.. 
  • At the end of each week/month/year you can go back and look at all of your ownership WINS and see how you have progressed

CLICK HERE to listen or download from iTunes or Stitcher

Mindset & Meditation: What Will I do Today, What Did I do Today

By | Mindset

What Will I do Today/What Did I do Today…

“Daily disciplines build on one another. You can’t complete change in one day, but when you work towards implementing a daily routine, that routine can create real noticeable prolific change”

All to often we wake up in a rush, turn on the news, or hop on social media, see something negative, and in our over-tired state of mind let that negativity create our attitude going into the day.  In our recent Health Episode Podcast Alix and I discussed taking ownership of your day, which is exactly what you have the ability to do when you flip you daily script from allowing outside forces dictate your attitude, reactions, & emotions. Instead wake up and say to yourself “Today I WILL XYZ” and take ownership of your day.

 

So here is what we recommend you do:

 

  1. At the beginning of each morning spend 1-5 minutes box breathing with a slight smile on your face. As you are breathing and smiling begin to create your day.  “Today I will ________”, not I “want to” or I “hope to”, be definitive in your thoughts and declaration.
  2. At the end of each day, take a minute or five and write down in a journal “What I did today” that was positive, that improved your quality of life, your health/fitness, your relationships personally and professionally, your mindset, etc.
    1. The next morning you can even review your “wins” from the previous day as a reflection and motivation to accomplish goals for the day ahead

 

Start with small goals each day. As you write them down you are building a catalog of accomplishments, wins, etc.  Go back at the end of each month and review all of your wins and take a moment to appreciate your progress.  Small goals/wins amount to huge victories and success in the long run.

Episode 159: Interview with Ryan Kent

By | Podcast

In this episode Mo, Miles, & Vic talk with Spartan Pro Ryan Kent and recap the recent Spartan AT&T Stadium Sprint. Along with Ryan’s race recap we discuss:

  • What it is going to take for him to win the series
  • How incorporating heavy strength training has helped his performance
  • How he will alter/change training in prep for Spartan Championship series
  • How/when he draws mental strength from his time on The Selection
  • What will it take to win TMX
  • and more!

CLICK HERE to listen or download from iTunes or Stitcher

***Outro song “Posse on Broadway” by Sir Mix-A-Lot…. Because it’s fun :-)***

Episode 158: Interview with Spartan Elite Kevin Gillotti

By | Podcast

In this episode Miles and I sit down with one of the Spartan OG’s and a true master of endurance sports Kevin Gillotti.  Kevin has been heavily involved in triathlon and duathlon for over 28 years before diving deep into Spartan racing. Not does Kevin has decades of experience, he is fast as hell and at 48 shows no signs of slowing down ANY time soon.

This is a wild episode and Kevin give us lots of great insight, wisdom and tips including:

  • How he overcame a devastating injuring early in his career, told he would never run again, and came back even stronger
  • How he continues to be a dominant force in endurance sports regardless of age
  • How he helped Spartan Race run on the back, programming, end in the early days
  • Why he doesn’t really care about lifting form
  • Why Hunter McCintyre needs to shut the hell up 🙂
  • Why mindset is so important
  • Why he doesn’t overtrain
  • Why you don’t have to run on trails to be a bad ass
  • And SO MUCH MORE!!

SERIOUSLY this episode is loaded with great information and inspiration!

 

CLICK HERE to listen or download from iTunes or Stitcher!

Check out Kevin’s website at www.kevingillotti.com

 

Mindset & Meditation: Your Mental Race Plan

By | Mindset

Mental Race Plan…

 

You have spent months preparing your body for race day.  You train when you feel good, you train when you’re tired and feel bad. You eat well and supplement to ensure you’re recovering between workouts and now race day is here and your body is ready to perform.  But what about your mind? Regardless of your physical readiness and your stellar nutrition plan, if you have not created a solid mental race plan, you could be selling your performance and ability short, or worse, setting yourself up for an all systems failure.

 

The latter actually happened to a good friend of mine at our last race.  He had trained for months, every day, getting stronger and faster and on paper should have dominated this race. He rarely, if ever, missed a training day and his nutrition couldn’t have been cleaner. Yet as we were toeing the line to start the race the one critical piece of his training puzzle that was missing bit him in right the ass like that dog that finally got loose on the mailman. His race was literally over before it even started. He forgot about his mental race plan.

 

To create your own mental race plan follow these steps, and feel free to edit any step or add another step if it helps you but do not skip any of the steps below.

 

  1. Day before the race nutrition
    1. Have this planned ahead of time so you know on race morning your tank is full with exactly what you need to perform your best
    2. Although this isn’t necessarily mental, practicing with this fueling strategy in training will give you the piece of mind that it works
  2. A few weeks prior to your race, or as far ahead as you can, begin to visualize race day
    1. What time will you wake up
      1. What will you do if you oversleep
    2. What will you eat
      1. Mentally rehearse chewing slowly and intently to properly digest your pre-race fuel
    3. Driving to the race
      1. See yourself sitting up straight in your vehicle, holding the wheel at 10 & 2 and practicing focused/confident box breathing
    4. Warm-up
      1. Visualize exactly how you will execute your warm-up
    5. See the start line and your competition (this is a big one)
      1. Visualize walking to the start, box breathing, and create a mantra that gives you confidence and power
      2. Mantra example: “I’ve trained for this, I am ready, I am strong, I am confident”
    6. If you are racing an OCR and have the ability to view the obstacles ahead of time, or know what they are from a previous race, mentally rehearse exactly how you will complete each one
    7. If competing in a triathlon or other event, visualize exactly how you will begin your race- if a multi-sport race, visualize the start of each discipline along with transitions between
    8. Mentally plan for roadblocks during the race i.e. failing an obstacle, a flat tire, a cramp, extreme fatigue, legs that feel like lead, etc. Create a mental plan to overcome each/any of these that could apply to you on race day
    9. Create a mental anchor and mantra that when the going gets REALLY tough during the race, you visualize this anchor and repeat this mantra to give you confidence and strength
    10. Meditate while box breathing going over each of the steps above at least 3 times per week.If you can do it daily, or even pieces of it daily that is even better

 

Again, feel free to add any step that could help you perform better on your big day. Put as much practice into your mind as you do your physical training and you will set yourself up for an incredible day!  If you need help creating your personal mental race plan email mo@linkendurance.comfor a consult.

The Health Episodes #10: Review of “The Magic Pill” Documentary

By | Podcast

In this episode Alix and Mo review the popular Netflix documentary “The Magic Pill”. Among some of the moments they highlight and discuss are:

  • Is a high fat low carb, or ketogenic diet right for you
  • Is the Heart Health Hypothesis wrong
  • How eliminating processed foods and sugars has the power to reverse disease states
  • How your children WILL eat what you feed them, although it may not be easy at first
  • and more

CLICK HERE to listen or download from iTunes or Stitcher

Check out Nina Teicholz’s New York Times Best Seller “The Big Fat Surprise” 

For more information about the aboriginal diet and health camp “Hope for Health” visit www.hopeforhealth.com.au

Episode 157: Interview with super mom & elite OCR athlete Julie Hartjes

By | Podcast

First of all this episode was a BLAST to record!! We had a lot of fun with our guest Julie Hartjes, and answered some series and funny questions from her teammates.

Before we jumped into the fun questions we got to know Julie and learned how this mother of 3, that home schools 2 of her children finds time to train and be a podium contender at every race. We discuss:

  • How she uses the entire day to train in spurts when she’s busy with kids/life
  • The importance for parents, especially mothers, to take time away from the family for themselves “Don’t forget about yourself”

And then…. 🙂

  • Want to improve your grip?? Milk a bunch of cows
  • How she became so awesome at taking selfies
  • How her and her teammate tried to smother Jay Flores in a hug
  • How Woodchucks are extremely efficient.. at chucking wood..
  • And a lot more fun and some serious questions smattered in

***Bonus… Can you spot Jay Flores in the photo***

CLICK HERE to listen or download from iTunes or Stitcher

Mindset & Meditation: See Your Movement

By | Mindset

See Your Movement…

 

“Action begins with a thought; and it is in this thought that we open our mind, create a plan, and achieve the impossible.” – Coach Mo

 

In my studies of Sports Psychology I have found that many great athletes, Olympians, world champions, etc., have one thing in common that they relate to their success.  They each visualize their performance hundreds of times, over and over, so that on the day of competition their brain has rehearsed every movement so many times that their bodies know exactly how to react, respond, perform when it matter the most.  It is as if their body is running on autopilot, there is no thought to movement, their body just responds as it is supposed to. But what if you are not a world champion or an Olympian? Does the same visualization apply to your and your needs/goals? Absolutely it does!

 

Whether you are training for a race, training for fitness, or preparing for a big meeting, presentation, etc., seeing your movement can play a critical role in the outcome of your need/goal.  If training for a race you must visualize every step of the race in your mind, create a plan for any obstacles along the way, and repeat this daily until your body naturally responds to any situation thrown at you on race day. This works the same in life/business. If you are preparing for an important meeting or presentation mentally rehearse and see your movement.  How will you sit/stand, how will you respond to difficult questions/objections, what if you lose your train of thought, etc. Create a plan and see your movement.

 

I have a client that is a very talented musician. He can play two keyboards simultaneously, control two separate foot pedals, and sing all at the same time. However, when I give him a new physical movement in a workout he tells me “I’m just not that coordinated”.  That was until I taught him how to see his movement. Just as he learned to play the keyboards, it first took hours and hours of mental and physical practice until now he does it automatically. We broke down the “challenging” new physical movements and had him watch me demonstrate, see it in his mind, then execute. The first several times his movements were not smooth, fluid, or coordinated, but the more he visualized the easier it became.  What he once said was impossible to achieve because “he’s just not that coordinated” is now a part of his workout, and it all started with seeing himself move. This takes practice and patients, but again, it is the key to your success in sport, in business, and in life.  See your movement, believe in your ability to learn, and achieve the impossible.