Happy Feet Make Light Feet.
1) Finding Mastery: Astronaut Steve Smith on Lessons From Outer Space and a Near Death Experience 1hr 40min
2) JRE #1691 w/ Yeonmi Park 3hr 13min
3) The Bare Performance Podcast #81 w/ Ryan Hall: The Journey to the American 1/2 Marathon Record 1hr 7min
4) Rx’d Radio #229 w/ Adeel Khan: PRP and Regenerative Medicine 1hr 4min
5) Lex Fridman Podcast #205 w/ Zach Bitter: Ultramarathon Running 3hr 7min
1) This was a great listen with American astronaut Steve Smith and his unique 33 year journey to fulfilling his childhood dream including a near death experience along the way. Michael continues to show his mastery at guiding conversations along while drawing out very profound insights and life advice. Steve speaks to his experience of seeing earth from space for the first time and how that changes ones perspective on time and humanity, as a whole. He discusses living on the space station and performing multiple space walks, which he says he still dreams about today. He speaks to the more challenging aspects of space travel and how he would write premortem letters to all his family members pre-launch in case of an accident and how it’s so important to share compliments and find joy in your life. He also touches on dealing with isolation and battling imposter syndrome while he continues his new career as a public speaker.
“Find joy in the pursuit.”
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2) This pod was almost unbelievable in a shockingly horrific way. Yeonmi was born in North Korea and escaped her home country with her mother in her early teens. The 3hr conversation details her earliest memories of life and her experiences growing up oppressed under a regime that couldn’t care less about the common person. Her stories are hard to even comprehend as being plausible today but shine a gruesome light on what is really happening behind closed doors. Her escape was followed by more years of hardship in China as she continued to fight for her life in whatever means necessary, eventually making her way to the United States. She quickly learned English and went to Columbia University after which she began her career as an activist trying to bring awareness to the current state of North Korea and its citizens. This was not an easy listen by any means but I found it eye-opening and informative on a topic and country I knew very little about.
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3) Ryan starts off by talking about his most recent attempt at completing a 500lb deadlift and running a mile both under 5 minutes with the clock starting when you touch the bar. He missed it this time with a 5:28 but it was a great segue into the discussion of Ryan transitioning from his “typical” runner body to his current version of muscle madness. Ryan has the American records for the 1/2 marathon and marathon. Incredibly he was not a distance runner through college and didn’t become a distance runner until he went pro after college. His first 1/2 marathon race happened to be his record setting run and he discusses the challenges around not being able to best himself after that. He talks more on his personal experiences of making his way on to Stanford’s running team, managing pressure and mental health, and trying to have fun. His battles with chronic fatigue and low testosterone due to over training and his thoughts on health vs professional performance. Nick asks Ryan if you can find a healthy balance of training and be a world class endurance athlete… Ryan thinks no.
He speaks to his coaching philosophy which involves a heavy emphasis on speed over short distances for marathoners and how he is finding a new passion in combining strength and endurance training.
“Happy feet make light feet.”
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4) I have listened to and written about Dr. Adeel Khan before and he has become a must listen of mine for updates and innovations in the world of regenerative medicine. He is a proponent of PRP but not in the generic application used by many. His team and lab are constantly working to improve the specificity of their PRP for the individual and their specific condition. Adeel discusses the specifics of what he’s up to and how he believes his PRP and the usage offers significantly superior outcomes than what is commonly being used. The data is not available publicly on everything that they are doing but it has the makings of something awesome in the field, so time will tell. Adeel shares his thoughts on what to look for when seeking regenerative therapy and does his best to clear up the term “stem-cell” and what you are actually getting when you receive that therapy. It’s an informative listen for anyone curious about the field and bonus points for him being Canadian.
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5) This was a new podcast for me. I have listened to Lex as a guest on various podcasts and have always found him to be incredibly intellectual, introspective, and a sharer of honest perspectives from his unique career background and upbringing. All of this is to say I have enjoyed his style of sharing info in the past and when a friend recommended I check out his podcast with Zach Bitter, I was all for it. I was waiting for the right opportunity to dive into a slower pace 3 hr conversation and a few weeks ago that opportunity arose during a 29km birthday run I inflicted upon myself. The pod did not disappoint. Zach is another guest I’ve listened to numerous times as he is a wild dude and hosts his own podcast, Human Performance Outliers. To outline all that was discussed would take a while but be rest assured you will get your times worth of stories and info on everything from training, coaching, nutrition, and Zach’s upcoming challenge of running across the U.S. If you haven’t listened to Lex before he’s worth giving a listen to as a host and if you’re into running this combo sets up great.
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Thanks for reading!
