The Nick Bare Podcast - Archive - Building A Sub-2:50 Marathon Brick By Brick | Nick & Coach Jeff

Episode Date: June 16, 2022

In this episode, marathon coach Jeff Cunningham sits down with Nick to discuss and recap Nick’s performance at the Buffalo, New York Marathon that he ran on May 29th, 2022. Nick and Coach Jeff discuss the importance of consistency in training, and how that compounded to allow Nick to reach his goal of running Sub-2:50, with a final time of 2:48:11. They also discuss how approaching this entire prep day by day, brick by brick, was crucial for building up to this goal. The documentary on the Buffalo Marathon will be available to view on YouTube on Sunday, June 19th, 2022 at 10am CST. More Resources: BPN website: www.bpnsupps.com Nick’s website: www.nickbare.com Nick’s Instagram: www.instagram.com/nickbarefitness Nick’s Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/barelifenutrition Follow Us On Social Media! Instagram: @thebareperformancepodcast Facebook: The Bare Performance Podcast Twitter: @BarePerformPod

In this episode of the Bear Performance Podcast, Hard is like a deck of cards that has separate components that go into what makes something hard. I would encourage everybody to simply just reshuffle the deck of hard. Reshuffle the deck such that what was once impossible, what was once insurmountable, what was once a mountain that couldn't be climbed, down just like a small hill that is only sort of mildly difficult. instead of impossible, and you do that by just starting.

Start. If your goal is to lose 100 pounds and you feel completely lost and at a dead end on how to do it, start. If your goal is to finish a marathon and the farthest you've ever run is three miles, and you can't imagine what it's like to run 26 miles, start. Reshuffle the deck of hard. And what hard previously meant to you will be redefined. through your own actions. Nobody else is going to be able to make something that was once impossible

for you possible. You will be able to do it, but you have to get started. You will be able to redefine what heart is. Welcome back to another powerful episode of the podcast. I'm your host, Nick Baer, founder and CEO of Bear Performance Nutrition. Every week we bring you insightful stories, knowledge and inspiration to help you reach your full potential in life, fitness, and business. If you enjoy the message we're promoting in this podcast, we would greatly appreciate it if you leave a rating and review on the platform you're listening to. Make sure she subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes that embody the Go One More Mindset. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we have the legend Jeff Cunningham back on the show,

The man with the sub three hour marathon formula, what's going on? Man, it's been a really, really busy time, but really, really rewarding and a lot of fun. Jeff rolled up to BPNHQ about 25 minutes ago. We threw down a pound of chicken fajita meat down his throat and now we're here recording. Hey, I worked out and then I climbed in the truck and realized I didn't allow myself time to eat. So I showed up and asked you for a field bar. And that didn't seem to satisfy you. So you made me eat a pound of fajita.

I said you need more in that stomach. He was good. He was good. That's good. It's locally made fajita meat, steak and chicken from this company called Kamal Bahita House. And it's cooked over an oak wood fire. Absolutely amazing. The best pre-packaged fajita meat I've,

I've ever had. And I grew up in Texas. I've lived here since 1977. And I can tell you that that's hands down the best I've ever had. So shout out to Comel. Those guys, they're nailing it. They're killing it.

Yeah, for sure. Well, Jeff, we did it. We did the sub 250 marathon. Two hours, 48 minutes, 11 seconds. What are your overall, what were your thoughts when I cross the finish line in Buffalo, New York, May 29th, 2022. About a week and a half ago.

Joyful and really, really emotional. I pour my heart and soul into coaching every single runner. And when you have a goal and it is a very challenging goal, and you lay everything out so meticulously, right? and it was it was very public your goal you you threw the gauntlet down you said this is what I'm going to do um called your shot so to speak right and in sports you know that's one of those things where there's feast or famine that go with that and as a coach I was along with that and I felt that and really really emotional really really really happy and really really proud that

I got to be part of that journey and that massive athletic accomplishment with you. Very proud of that. You know, last year, it was January 2021. You coached me for the sub three-hour marathon where we got a two-hour, 56-minute, 27-second marathon. And that was a big accomplishment. I felt really good after that one. And then we said, I mean, it's a go on more mindset. that applied to everything we do, let's do better.

Let's do more. Let's go for sub 250. My question for you is, because I've been announcing my goals. I've been putting them out into existence for years now. So I'm used to the response. I'm kind of used to holding that weight of my shoulders. You as a coach in the last two years where I've done this to you twice now, I've put that goal that I'm chasing out into the universe where people now can watch and wait for it.

How does that feel from a coach's perspective to also have that weight on your shoulders? Listen, it's pressure, but it's pressure I relish because I'm a competitive person. And I don't mind having that pressure. You have to meet the demands of the goal, meet the demands of the pressure. meet the demands of the pressure that's there every day with equal amounts of confidence, with equal amounts of planning and fortitude to ensure that you accomplish the goal. Listen, when you are in sports and you have goals, there are going to be the naysayers. But when the goals are realistic and you have a work ethic like you have,

And you have an incredible amount of talent, which you have. As long as the goal is in the realm of realistic, it's okay to talk about it. Now, what's really interesting is we live in a very, very binary world. And when I say binary in this context, it's the success failure dichotomy, right? And for you, it was 149-59-1 versus 1501. That's two seconds, right? And it's interesting because I think a lot of people viewed it in that sort of binary fashion, that dichotomy, that success failure sort of line of thought that did make it really a pressure-packed situation.

And I think people are going to chuckle as sort of my own neurotic anxiety that took place in the car with Jeremy, right? And it was funny because we're sitting there. And as the day goes on, that that success failure dichotomy is sort of so omnipresent for me as the coach. It's like, we're either going to do this or we're not. And when you cross the finish line, we did it. was really, really on my mind, but let's be honest, you did it.

I X and I owed it out. You did it. This was your accomplishment. And thank you for letting me be part of that. I've always said that I've never really seen a coach get so invested into each one of their athletes that I've seen them with you.

Every one of your athletes. You're like, you're fully invested. And that meant something to me, May 29th. But last week, that meaning of how invested Jeff Cunningham gets into an athlete completely changed. When I watched the video footage back of you in the truck with Jordan, Pierce, Jeremy, how much you were losing your mind. I was.

Dude, I was like, I felt like by watching that footage back, I was like, it felt like you were watching, if I didn't cross that finish line at, at under 250 that the world was going to end. And I appreciated that so much because you are so invested in each athlete. You want to see your athletes achieve and win so much. It's not about you. It's about the athlete achieving that goal.

And watch that footage back of you just losing your mind. And I was like, that just goes to show how much Jeff cares. Listen, it's funny that you say the world's going to end. But for that's two hours and 48 minutes plus, that was my world, right? That was my focus. And remember way back, the very first podcast I ever did with you, and you asked me what data do you need to see?

And I said, it's not really data, it's passion. I coach in the same space I want people to run. And a long time ago at a coaching convention, here in Texas with all the Texas high school coaches who were there, I told them, how can you expect your athletes to make it about them if you don't make it about you? Let's get out of the world of cliche

and let's admit as coaches that were competitive people and you can hardly expect your athletes to make it about them, to dot their eyes, cross their T's, be invested in process. If they don't see you completely, passionate, invested in making it about you because your athlete's successes are also your successes, right? And that's where we get into this binary success failure thing again, right? Listen, I always said a long time ago, you're either coaching it or you're letting it happen,

right? So if somebody is consistently succeeding, then that might mean that you're on to something as a coach and it's okay to feel good about that. It's okay. I mean passion passion is everything and passion belief confidence when you show up for race day and if there's one big key takeaway one moment from

the Buffalo New York Marathon that I will always remember it was probably four miles in and as we know I went out pretty hot on that course a little bit and we were four miles in and I was feeling pretty good at that point

and there was a guy next to me who was running, it was three of us. It was me, and I didn't know any of these guys. It was me and these two other guys. And these two other guys were talking at about mile four. I wasn't talking to anyone. I was like, I'm conserving everything. I got in this tank.

Right. And these guys next to me were talking about how, no, I'm not going to PR today. I'm not feeling the best. I'm not feeling good. I could tell last night it wasn't to be a good day. In my head, I'm thinking, it could be a good day if you told yourself,

you're telling yourself a mile four when you've got 22.2 miles left that you're not going to have a good day. What the hell is wrong with you? Well, negativity is a disease. Negativity then creates a situation where you've got a self-fulfilling prophecy. I am predicting my failure, therefore I will fail. And then somehow we conned ourselves into thinking that we're not going to feel as bad about our failure or feel as bad about us coming up short because we tell ourselves, well, I, predicted that this would be that that kind of psychology is so destructive to any uh quality

athletic performance and frankly any performance in our lives even outside of the athletic context right i'm going to suck at this speech or i'm not going to be on my a game during this podcast today i'm just going to be just sort of flat well you want to know it you probably will bring your b or your c game and you probably will come across flat right wow i imagine you want to to get the hell away from those guys. Oh my gosh. It's like a disease. It's like a damn communicable disease, negativity in sports.

It's bad. I wanted to pick up pace. I wanted to go to a sub six minute per mile on pace. But I'm like, Jeff will kill me if I do to get away from these guys. I just want to get the F away from these guys. I was about to add some strides in there. Yeah. Hey, I would be really interested to find out how those two guys ran.

I have no clue. I have no clue. I think you beat them. But I will tell you one thing. Showing up to race day. You have to show. show up with confidence. Any event you're doing, anything you're doing in life, you have to show up with confidence,

believing in yourself. I always say that doubt is only dangerous when you start doubting yourself. But what builds confidence is the preparation. And I think what we did really well leading up to the Buffalo New York Marathon is we prepared and we were prepared well. I'm curious from your perspective, what changes did you make to my plan or think we had to make the plan to go from a 256 marathon the year prior to a 248 marathon a week and a half ago. Changes took place during your Rocky Raccoon prep where I noticed that your easy run paces were

about 15 seconds a mile faster than they were a year prior. And I remember text messaging you and noting that your heart rate was the same, but your easy run paces were significantly faster. You did high mileage, but also you did midweek workouts, even in preparation for a hundred miler, and so you spun the wheels. I just got off the phone and had a conversation with a runner where I explained to them that you've got to touch on your energy systems year-round

and not just slog, jog, whatever we want to call. it you're around. So you got out of the mode of slogging even in the last several weeks in the lead into Rocky Raccoon. You did high mileage. You were aerobically robust, but you still had some wheels, so to speak. But then when we got into the specific marathon prep, what we did was more mileage on a daily basis than you did for 256. Your easy runs were 10, 11 miles every single day for the better part of 12 weeks, I believe, other than an occasional nine mile run or a slightly shorter run on a Friday before you would have a big long run. So your easy runs were seven or eight before you ran 256. There were 10 or 11 before this, right? The other thing,

we scaled the paces such that we trained your body to be able to neurologically feel what 625 pace 620 pace is in fact we trained a whole lot at sub 610 pace and that's the reason why the bulk of the buffalo marathon was run down at about 610 pace right 615 um your interval work bulkier more volume and then you were just running a shit ton faster all right i mean your 1k repeats back when you ran 256 you were running them in 345 to 350 you know um you were running all your 1k repeats between what, 336 and 339 for the most part? Yeah. You rarely ever even ran a 340 and a 1K and a 1,000 meter repeat.

So you were running 545 to 550 pace on everything, right, on your repeat work. And so we just pushed that red line out. And I've talked about the red line and pushing it out before. We pushed your red line out. And that was what we talked about in the podcast was I have to push a red line out. we pushed your red line out to where in a marathon, your red line was 610 to 615 pace instead of 640 to 645 pace by just scaling everything and training at appropriate paces, right?

I think a marathon prep is what I've learned. It is this orchestra and it's very well orchestrated if done properly. It's like a symphony. And if I look back at the beginning of this prep, I mean, we came off of Rocky Raccoon prep, and we had a pretty condensed timeline. But it worked out pretty well in our favor because Rocky Raccoon, the 100-miler,

was the beginning of February. It took a week off of training. Even though the weeks leading up to, I think the last seven or eight weeks leading up to Rocky Raccoon, we started incorporating tempo workouts back in on Wednesdays, which was essential. I'm glad we did that because turning those legs back on was tough. Yeah, and if I'm honest, sorry to interrupt you there, if we hadn't done that,

I'm not sure how well the first half of the marathon prep would have gone. I agree. The first half of the marathon prep would have been more of a reclamation project than it was, then it would be a progression project. Does that make sense what I'm saying? It does. Because those legs, they take some time to turn back on. Like, they don't turn over. When you're log in so many slow, easy miles. I mean, during the back half of the Rocky Raccoon prep, my average Saturday was a 30 mile run at an 8.30 or 9 minute of mile pace. It was slow. Trying to go from an 8.30 or 9 minute per mile pace to a 620 pace, that didn't feel that comfortable. Well, it's a different race. You know, I was telling somebody the other day, you know,

357 in the marathon is nine minute pace. 259 in the marathon is 650 pace. So that 58 minute difference is the difference between 9 minute pace and 650 pace, right? It's kind of like comparing a tiger and a house cat. They're both cats. That's not the same race. Same thing between going from 830 and on to 620. It's not the same race.

When I started this prep coming off of Rocky Raccoon, I had all the confidence in the world that we were going to run a sub 250 in Buffalo, New York, a few months later. But I will say, when I started doing some of those workouts at 620 pace, it wasn't comfortable. And I knew in February, and even March, I could not hold 620 for 26.2 miles at that point.

There was no way it was going to happen. But what happens when you stack bricks, you show up and you do these workouts. It's crazy how you see this fitness kind of evolve and grow and adapt where, you know, first we're doing three mile segments at a 620 pace, uncomfortable, and then 5, then 6, then 8, then 10.

And you get to a point we're doing these 18, 20, 22 mile workouts with these big segments of 615, 620 minute per mile of pace that are comfortable and doable. But if I look at this marathon, prep and last marathon prep, even though different paces, right, different times, the way that fitness was built throughout both preps was very, very similar. We're in the beginning what was uncomfortable and not sustainable by the end of it was comfortable and sustainable.

It's crazy to see how these just work. Yes. I don't want to necessarily go so far as to say it's formulaic. But to some degree it is. You know, we have this saying, apologies to all the cat lovers out there. We have a saying, right, there's a bunch of different ways to skin a cat, right? And I always tell people, well, not really, right? You got to use a sharp knife, right?

All jokes aside, there really aren't that many different ways to go about doing this. Now, you can have some slightly different philosophies, right? And I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm the only one because, I mean, look at the thousands of marathons in this country who are running really well, who have other coaches. But if you look at the basic tenets of the things that we do, it's pretty similar. And so it shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody that the basic structure and the way we built the fitness was very similar between your 256 build and your 248 build, right? it's just you have to do the work at the volume. You have to do it at the paces. You have to understand the nuance and maybe how to tweak some things,

which is what I've gotten a lot better at, right, over the years. But yes, the process is largely similar. But you want to know what, as a society, we don't really enjoy that kind of thing as much as we should. And when I say should, what I mean is, is it's in the context of achieving our goals. You must then be willing to do what you have to do to achieve those goals or you're not actually serious about achieving your goal.

It's lip service. We have to be married to the redundancies that get us where we want to go and realize that you're not always going to have rainbows and moonbeams shooting out of your ass. Sometimes we've just got to invest in the repetitiveness and the sustainable sort of, a cyclic process that goes into these builds and realize we can't guss it up.

We're not going to sprinkle pixie dust on your head and come out with magic wands and pom-poms and tutus and go, yay, Nick, you know, do some jumping jacks and toe touches this time around and it'll be fine. No, we're going to work hard. And we're going to do it very similarly. It's the redundancies that get us there. Let's get really, really good at what we were doing,

get better at it the next time, and then let's roll into the next race and just be faster and invest in our goals rather than investing in having rainbows and in moonbeams shooting out of every waterfist because we're told in this age that we just need to proceed with sort of this this this sort of ADD mentality to life and it just creates a flea market of baloney as a coach what have you found and observed that holds most of your athletes back from achieving their PR at the race they want to train for? Listening to the advice but then not adhering to it,

wanting everything to be a really, really hot burning fire when it's a slow burn, invest in being consistently good and not occasionally great and understand not only that that is a saying, but it's a metaphor for life and really investing in the understanding of what consistently good entails. Study, do your research, ask your question, find out what consistently good actually is in the space that you're operating in to ensure that you're not just saying be consistently good, but actually investing in what it is that is the consistency that's going to get you there.

Does that make some sense? That makes sense. I had Steve Weatherford on the podcast earlier this week. That was fantastic. And one of the things he said was that a lot of people will list out their priorities in life. Sometimes they even put those priorities in their Instagram bio. And when you look at their calendar, their calendar, the things they do on a daily basis, those don't reflect or match what they say their priorities are.

So if someone says, okay, my priority right now is marathon training and PR in this next race. but Friday, Saturday night, they're going to dinner and have a bunch of drinks. They're not recovering properly. They're not spending time to meal prep and take care of their bodies. They're not scheduling time in the evening to prepare for the next mornings, work out and lay everything out and have their fuel prepped. Right. They're not carving up for these workouts.

If your calendar doesn't reflect what your priorities or you say your priorities are, you're just kind of wishing. You're hoping for this pixie dust. Right. And a look at your calendar from February to May 29 was a exact replica of anything that I would construct for somebody who's doing it almost perfectly. A look at your calendar could be almost intimidating

to the degree that it is so perfect in its structure and its execution that it's hard to believe that anybody could be this good all the time. That's the reason why you did something that is on some level almost sort of a lifetime athletic achievement. Fair? And I was struck by the fact that you had one, mediocre workout, not even a bad one. You had one mediocre workout the entire build. And it's funny because you may even know which one it was. And when I say it, you're going to go, yeah, that was

the only one that was kind of like, it was okay. And that was the six by a mile and a half workout in mid-march. I remember that workout. It was okay, but not great, right? I was traveling the night before, came in late, and I was going to do it in the tree. track, but I didn't have time, so I did it in my neighborhood. And I remember feeling trash during that workout. And I remember that one. I do. That was the only one. That was the only one where I was kind of like, it was just okay. Listen, that is pretty incredible that there's only one day in 13 weeks or 14 or 12.

I had to go back and look to see exactly when we came out of Rocky Raccoon. but that is one of the things that leads to success. But, you know, in my Instagram post the day after the race in Buffalo, I made the point that it was the preparation. It wasn't like you just showed up and just kind of wanted it to happen in the hours and the days before these big workouts. You did the things that give yourself a chance to succeed, right? There are so many people out there who can accomplish unbelievable things.

And that's what I want everybody to know is that everybody has it in them. it's just wrestling control, finding somebody who can help you sort of get rid of the flea market of ideas. And I think people are swimming a lot in marathon training. And I'm finding it out more and more where, you know, Google's a dangerous thing sometimes, right? And the same way WebMD is. I think we've all been there too, right?

And so everybody has the potential to do it. But the way you executed it, your calendar, right? Your priorities were listed out. and your priorities were adhered to in a way that was evident if you look at the way you lived your day-to-day life for the three or four months prior to Buffalo. I'm an obsessive person. When I set a goal, I obsess on that goal.

I do everything I possibly can to control the controllables to hit that goal. From recovery to nutrition, if people just took care of the nutrition and hydration, that instantly will solve so many people's problems in achieving either running, a fitness, a training goal, losing weight, gaining weight, whatever it is. Nutrition, hydration. But when I set a goal, I obsess on it.

And when I obsess on something, I know going into it, I set expectations, realistic expectations, that something will have to give. You have to sacrifice something. A lot of times, that is your time. Like, what are you willing to eliminate out of your life that is holding you back from achieving however you define greatness or success and eliminate that. Eliminate those things. It is willing to sacrifice certain things in the now to achieve something that you have forever

and you will have forever. That's the way I look at it. I just obsess on things. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's bad. But if I set a goal, I'm going to do what I got to do to get there. It's really funny. I'll never forget years ago.

My wife and I were coaching. We were at practice. And one of the young men was, I wouldn't say whining, but was kind of like, I don't like this workout. I don't like doing this. It's not fun. And I'll never forget because my wife stopped in front of the whole team, 40, 50 kids there. And it got real quiet. She said, fun.

She says, fun. You know what's fun? Winning. Winning is fun. And it resonated with me because I kind of stood there and I chuckled because I thought to myself, we can all define what winning is, right? Winning might be breaking four hours for the marathon, right? Winning might be getting to the finish line. Define what winning is for you and then make sure that your day-to-day routine matches

what that win could be, right? It's not a crime to engage in goal revision either. I think that that's one of these things too where people think, well, I'm revising my goal. Hey, sometimes we have to be deferential to the realities of our lives. I just had triplets, right? I just got switched to the night shift.

It's a good move from my family because I got a pay raise, but my sleep patterns were going to be really disrupted. So maybe I need to revise my goal and redefine what winning is for that marathon. that's coming up in six months or five months. But then once you redefine that, then stick to it and then make sure

that your day-to-day schedule, then matches what it is will be your eventual win. I think that is really key. What I love about the marathon, and marathons are hard. And I think that's something to even expand on further. I say it all the time.

Marathons are hard. They are hard. You can have thousands of, people show up for a race. Everyone is running a different race. Some people are there to win. Some people are there to place in that race. They are racing and competing against other people.

But you can have another person who toes the exact same line with you, who doesn't care where they place in relation to the other people that are there. They are competing against themselves. They are pushing themselves. And that is the magic in a marathon. It's a race. but not everyone is running the same race. Precisely.

That's exactly right. Right? And that's the reason why you're going to get 5, 6, 7, 10, sometimes 20,000 people on a starting line. And everybody's win for the day could be very different. There's only a handful of people where it's either I'm going to cross the finish line first overall or not. And that defines whether or not I had a good day. I mean, you're only going to have about six or eight of those guys and gals per race.

Everybody else has a different goal. I mean, your goal was to break 250. Our goal was not to win the overall title at Buffalo Marathon. I would like to point out, I think we're, what, only about 15 minutes out of first place, which is, you know, pretty remarkable considering some of the credentials and then some of the people who were running in that race, right? But your win was breaking 250, and we did that. I felt, well, I mean, we got to lunch that afternoon. We were on top of the world.

I felt like we'd won the race. Because you did, you did. You won the race. Yeah. Well, we talked about, you know, earlier, confidence is built through preparation. And I think some of the best preparation we personally did throughout this, this build, what was those big workouts, the 18, 20, 22 mile workouts. And the biggest thing I've taken away in these last two years from America,

marathon prep is to treat these big marathon-paced workouts, the 18, 20, 22-mileers, treat them like race day, where that week leading up to, I'm nervous. It feels like race week. I'm thinking about that morning run. I'm thinking about my morning routine. I'm thinking about everything I'm putting in my body. How is it affecting my next day? How is it affecting that workout day?

I start carving up three days out. I start adding in more. hydration, more electrolytes, more water. And I wake up that morning nervous and a little scared for that workout. And I do my race day meal, which is English muffin or bagel, peanut butter, honey, banana, two scoops of GOMSport, three scoops of electrolytes. I tested it. I know it works. I know my routine.

And I start sipping on some water and some electrolytes as we drive to the loop where we do our workouts at. and when I take off for that run, it feels like race day. But that preparation and knocking out those workouts solidifies confidence. I know it. It is not a brand new feeling when I show up to toe the line race day. Right. And I have you to thank for talking about feeling a little nervous before those big workouts. It's so I stole that.

And I start texting some of my runners the night before and the two days before these big 20, 21, 22 mile workouts. And I tell them, prep lock it's your race. Show up nervous. Right. And it's working because I think that it is shaking people awake and shaking people into that reality that I've got to practice it if I'm going to do it. Right. and there's been some fantastic workouts that have gone down in the last several months all the way across the board with people I coach because I stole that from you admittedly

and I tell them be nervous, show up nervous, treat it like race day. And it just really, really works because you have physical preparation when you show up. But there has to be a certain heightened sense of emotional. emotional and sort of psychological focus. And that then nets amazing results. Being emotionally flat and being physically ill-prepared is to death knell for athletic performance. Flat out. I know for a fact, if I would have shown up for this 22-mile, that last 22-mile workout,

and I wasn't mentally prepared. I wasn't carved up. I wasn't preparing that week prior. There's no way I would have hit those splits. Listen, it would have been a shit show. Okay? It was 73 degrees at the start. It was 76 or 7 or something like that at the finish.

Okay? I was in the truck and I was sweating from simply getting out of the truck and getting back into the truck, right? And had you not done that, we would have gone in to the Buffalo Marathon with our last memory of the last really hard thing you did on the failure side of that binary analysis that goes into this sport.

It would have been bad. And we would have gone in with hope being a larger slice of the plan, than what I as a coach am ever comfortable with. If hope is part of your plan, you don't have a good one. Think about it. And you created success in that workout when it was going to be difficult to hit the splits. And I walked away that day and I thought he's going to do this because of what

happened today, even though everything up to then had been amazing, I thought there's no way that there's going to be heat this severe. There's no way there's going to be humidity this severe. And if he can do this for 22 miles today, I'm confident that 26 miles and 10 or 15 degrees cooler is going to happen. And it did. Because I said before, and I'll say it again, two plus two always equals four in my coaching world and I ain't ever going to tell you it equals five because then I would be a bullshit artist and that doesn't help anybody I coach. Why are marathons hard compared to any other distance? Because there are unknowns and there are so many things that are out of our control.

we love control we love predictability and you got a hamstring cramp at 22 miles and you didn't know that that hamstring cramp was going to hit you right then right and you have some inkling that these kinds of things can happen but there's so much out of your control here's the other thing about why marathons are so hard they're just tantalizingly short enough and now that's probably sounds strange to people who run only 5Ks or whatever, but they are. They're tantalizingly short enough to where we have this idea we can race them and not just run

them. And so when you start racing 26 miles, then you inject the possibility that failure is going to befall your effort because you're pushing right up to that edge. emotionally and physically you're pushing yourself to an edge. 26 miles is a long way to run, let alone race. And you had to race for 26 miles straight. Got a little warm. We started having some physical issues that you persevered through the last four or five miles.

They're just hard. Here's the other thing. You can't run a lot of them. right when i was in high school i'd run the mile every weekend because it's four and a half minutes running right you invest so much in marathons that everything goes into that one day you can't circle back a week later or two weeks later in one run one i mean you're you're probably looking at three or four months before you come back and do another one so they're hard because of the emotional investment what is on the line what's at stake then you're trying to race 26 miles

with full on knowing that even through the most particular preparation, there is this big chance of failure, but that's why the jubilation. That's why the high is so big when you accomplish what you did because of everything that went into it and conquering those unknowns, those variables that simply were completely out of your hands. That's why I love the distance. I love the distance because if I look at some of these 100-mile races I've done

that is more so like you're mentally dragging yourself across that finish line. You can put out an effort, but you can't sustain a threshold effort for 100 miles. It is more of just, I got to mentally drive through this shit. When I look at a 26.2 mile race, first off, a lot can go wrong. Anything can go wrong. And we see it every time.

I can't wait to watch the video because apparently I was probably an anxious mess. most of the way, maybe more than I realize. We can make a whole video just with the stuff you were doing and saying throughout. There probably will be a second cut. Oh, geez. Private or public. But you're trying to empty this tank. By the time you cross the finish line, you're hoping your tank is empty.

Now, there's two things that can either go wrong. One, you can cross that finish line and your tank is still pretty full. You didn't run hard enough or fast enough. You just wasted entire four or five months on a prep to not run a proper race. Or you go out too hard, you balk and you burn out and you're dragging ass for those last six, eight, ten miles. You have to strategically try to empty your tank over the course of 26.2 miles. That's what makes it so hard because you are trying to run at threshold. We had a needle and we were trying to stick a thread through that tiny head on that needle.

And that is the reason why some of those 610 early miles were so anxiety-inducing for me because it seems like such a small thing. The difference between running 6-10 and 6-20 for a 4 or 5-mile segment from miles 6 to 10 or 11 in a marathon could end up being the difference between running 10-minute. miles the last three and running six minute miles because you're right on that edge. You're right on that edge and you're trying to thread that needle so meticulously, right? We didn't have a lot of room for error, but that's what's so intoxicating about it is getting it just right.

And that's what every interval, every lactate threshold session, every marathon-paced segment dialed in weeks seven, five, and three weeks out from your marathon was designed to do, right? And it turns out we got the design right. We got the blueprints. We put it together when we built this great race. But even those slightly faster early miles, I was like, oh boy. And I got the weebie-jeebies because I thought, what is going to happen in the last 30 minutes of the race?

That's when the unknowns and those variables crept in. and it worked out. But man, what a race. If you put it in this perspective, I ended up holding a 622 minute per mile pace across that marathon. If, for example, those last four miles, I would have been hurting so bad that my pace would have been, say, a seven, even at 655 minute per mile pace,

for those last four miles, I would have crossed the finish line after. two hours, 50 minutes. We only had one minute and 50 seconds to play with over the course of two hours, 48 minutes, 11 seconds. That is a tight window. And if the smallest thing goes wrong, if your stomach hits you, you have to use the porta potty or you start cramping up and you have to walk.

Anything, you have to stop and get fuel. One minute and 49 seconds to play with is a small. small window. Yeah. If you would run seven minute pace the last four miles, you would have run between 250, 45 and 251 flat. I had to go and do the exact math, but that's where you would have been.

And we were close to being there. Like this is sort of some of the insight and sort of the stories that people don't know is, you know, when Yuley called Jeremy and Pierce and me, right after you got to the 20 mile mark and we decided to head northwest instead of northeast because on a hunch

I yelled at those guys I said I keep saying Jeremy and it was Jordan I'm so sorry about that it was Jordan utter and so he called Jordan and he said listen Nick needs salt tablets now

and had we not made the decision to go west right, on the street that runs just north of the course. And if we had gone east, we would not have been able to get to you. And we were able to get to you within about three or four minutes. And I sprinted down the course and was able to get you to salt tabs. And it's just the little things, right? Sometimes it's better be lucky than good, I guess, in some instances. But it's just little things like that, little backstories, little anecdotes that are sort of etched in my memory as we've.

you know, even marched days and weeks away from the race. Well, let's take it to race day and start from the beginning. You know, our team flew into Buffalo, New York. We get the Buffalo on Friday. Right. The Friday before the race. And the race was Sunday morning. Right.

So Friday, I didn't run at all. First thing we did, we landed, went to Wegmans, stocked up on food. My room was stocked with food. And I ate all that food. Side note, I ate all that food cold in my room, like the chicken, the rice, the potatoes, everything. I didn't find out I had a microwave in my room until after the race. I was so pissed off about that. I know.

And I said, Nick, you didn't realize it was a microwave? Because it was in that chest, a cabinet, right? They had a door on it. And behind the door was a microwave. I guess you didn't open the door. Oh, it was above the fridge and it was tucked in. I remember the night before the race eating like raw potatoes

and cold rice from like an Uncle Ben's packet. I was like man there's got to be a microwave somewhere here. But we went to Wegman's we stocked up on food. Saturday had a two mile shakeout run.

Ended up being about two and a half miles. Checked in. Stayed off my feet the rest of the day for the most part and kept carbon up. Now like I said, I carved up three days prior to the race.

Right. one thing I do want to point out in terms of carving up, this is why it's so good to test for those big workouts leading up too is because you have realistic expectations of what that feels like and what it does for your performance. When you carve up, it makes the biggest difference. A carb up on top of a taper, you feel like a different person. However, when you start incorporating more carbs in those days leading up to a race,

like what I do is I increase carbohydrate intake, I decrease protein and I decrease fat intake. I'm just trying to store those carbohydrates as glycogen in my muscles in my liver so that I can use them come race day. When you start eating more carbs, you're in this taper, your volume and your intensity has been decreased, you're going to start feeling a little heavier. Like that is the realistic expectations. You feel a little heavier and I might mess with you mentally a little bit. But when you test that on these big workouts and you know what that feels like and you know what that does your performance come race day, when you're carving it up prior to the race, it's just another day.

You know this is what it's supposed to feel like. So I carved up and I got really good sleep the night prior. Sunday morning, woke up. I think the race kicked off at 6.30? 6.30, which was really nice because we avoided as much of the direct sunlight as we would have otherwise had to deal with. And I think I woke up at, I want to say I woke up at 4.15. Correct. By 4.45, I had my meal, which again was a bagel, peanut butter, honey, banana, two scoops of G1M sport, three scoops of electrolytes.

The goal with that, again, get carbs in my system. And then I wanted to get about between 2,500 and 3,000 milligrams of sodium prior to. The goal with that is to boost blood volume, which has been shown to have amazing benefits for performance. And I gave that about an hour and a half, hour and 45 to digest. And I was feeling really good walking down to that race. And when I tow the line for a race, I mean, I'm pretty serious. I'm dialed in. Yeah, people were coming up to us and talking and stuff. And we'll shake hands and talk to people.

But once I walk from like the corral to that line, it's a different feeling that comes across me. I don't hear things. I don't see things. I don't care who's around me. I'm dialed in. I'm thinking about mile one, two, three, four, five, six all the way to 26.2. And when that gun goes off, it's game time. Like, I am, I turn into a different person where it's, I'm fucking dialed in. And going out of the gate, I felt really, really good. What did you see or what did you feel in those first, you know, five, six, seven miles of the race. I saw how dialed in you were. It was interesting to me watching other people and they're looking at people on the side,

waving, chatting a lot. And there were a few people who were razor sharp, razor focused, staring straight down the street. You were one of them. you were dispense with any ancillary talk or movement. Everything was straight down the street. What was necessary for you would me to communicate during the race, we did. But beyond that, you were like, I'm good.

I feel fine. And that was it, right? One of the other things I noticed, hit the five mile mark because the course went three miles up. Then we did a turnaround. and then the five mile mark was coming back toward us was you were covered in sweat at the five mile mark and there was two things one was oh man it is a fairly warm humid morning it had crept up to about 60 degrees at that point and for in marathon terms that's fairly warm at the start but then i thought thank goodness i coach nick and not so

somebody else who would be less prepared. I thought to myself, thank goodness I coached the guy who goes through all of the meticulous caloric intake, sodium intake, the hydration that you just ran through with everybody. I thought to myself, thank goodness, you know, out of everybody in the top 10 in this race right now or top 15, I don't know exactly where you were at the time. I thought, thank goodness I coached that guy. Because this is the guy who's going to be able to be covered and sweat at five miles

and be the one who has his electrolyte levels topped off, his hydration dialed in, his nutrition dialed in to weather the inevitable storm that is to come the last 45 minutes of this race. Because listen, you're going to feel good. Even when you're sweating a lot, you're so fit. You're going to feel good at the five months. mile mark. You're going to feel good at the 10 mile mark. And in fact, I jumped out on the street and I told you, hey, Nick, you can slow down 10 to 15 seconds a mile and still be on sub 250 pace at the 21

mile mark as I'm like running next to you, right? But I knew that the hydration stuff and I knew that the caloric intake and I knew that your your in-race hydration and fuel schedules were going to be adhered to. And it was meticulous. And so I thought, thank goodness I coach him because we're going to be able to make it through this. That's actually sort of where I was at the five-mile mark. He's dialed in and thank God I coach this guy because I think that even though it's a slightly warm day, he's going to be fine. I'm the type of person where it's, I can control the controllables.

Yes. Anything that is outside of my control, I really don't care about. Like when I show up race day and when you're like, Nick, it's hot, it's hot, we got I pull back pace. I think you know by now I'm like in my head, I can't control the weather. I'm going to come out here and crush anyways. Right.

I can't control that. But what I can control is I'm going to make sure I have my gel at mile 4, 8, 12, 16, 20. I'm going to make sure that if I feel any pulsing in my legs, I'm going to grab salts where I can. And the best way to describe Buffalo, I mean, you have highs and lows, right? Like mile three, you might be on top of the world. Mile six, something creeps in your head saying, I don't feel too hot right now.

But mile 12, you're like, I've never felt this good. You're cruising. Mile 16, it's, I went too fast. You know, like in your head, you're constantly battling this. I feel good. I feel bad. I'm on pace. I'm not on pace.

I got to hold this. What's going to happen next? And by mile like 18, I could feel this pulsing in my hamstring. and you know that feeling where you know there's a cramp coming you know it's coming it's just not there yet I could feel this cramp kind of building

This is the first I'm hearing of this by the way I could feel it Yeah I could feel it And I started looking for some salts So I stopped this one of aid station I was yelling salt salt salt Salt salt and no one

Everyone looked at me like I was like What's this guy asking? Is he asking for cocaine? Salt I need salt Might have helped Yeah. So this lady hands me this bag and it sees beads and I said, is this salt? She said, yeah, it's salt.

I said, is it chewable? She said, yes. So I took it. I started running and it was these four beads through my mouth and I bit into it. And you know, typically some of these salt tabs, they're partly salt, but it's not pure salt. So it doesn't wreck you. These were pure salt beads. and I bit into them

and they went down and hit my stomach and you know like when salt, just salt hits your stomach you start feeling sick. So like, oh no. So the next checkpoint, I grab water and I try to flush it out, grab some Gatorade, try to flush it out. And I'm holding pace for a while

and it kind of just dissolved. It went away and the cramping got better. Then when I saw you like mile 21, 22, I could feel the pulsing coming back a little bit. I knew at this point, it was going to be the rest of the race. It's like, I just got to get across that finish line. And I grabbed salt again,

but what ended up happening, and we have this on film. And it was Jeremy was, Jeremy or Yoli was filming, and I'm running, and I could feel it starting to pulse a little bit and slowly grab. You know where it goes from the pulse to the grab?

I've been there many times. And I was like, here comes the cramp. Here it comes. And we're on this street. It's all resonant. presidential houses in our left and right and it was all these trees so it was shaded and it grabbed and i stopped running and see i we weren't there for that because jordan and pierce and i were violating every traffic law in uh in in in in in in in in buffalo new york USA right trying to get to

you and we kept hitting these dead ends and so i find out later that you actually had a cramp and had to grab it, you know, and Jordan was laughing at me. He goes, coach. He goes, I'm so glad you weren't there to see that. He's like, that would have sent you over the edge. I'm like, Jordan, I believe you are correct, sir. So I stopped running and I grabbed my hamstring, you know, and I'm walking her off a little bit. And I'm saying some words out loud screaming that I don't want to repeat.

I hope there are no little kids around there because I'm just letting it loose. Because you're so engrossed emotionally in the moment that it's just sort of, it just, it just pours out. Yeah. Yeah. You go back. It's like your mind rewinds over the last four or five months of leading up to this. You're like of all the days to get a cramp. Right.

And instantly my mind switched and I said, I'm going to run through this cramp. I don't care if it rips my hamstring off. I'm just going to run through it. There you go. I can run through this shit. So I just, I started running again. and it almost felt like I had this shortened muscle. Because you did.

I mean, that is what it, physiologically, what was happening. And it wouldn't stretch. And I thought, okay, I'm going to run through this. And it's going to rip, but I'm going to keep running. And over the course of like a half mile, it slowly just started opening up and went away. And I was like, all right, this is probably going to come back. But I have like three miles now just to get across that finish line. And about a three-minute buffer.

I knew time was getting close. Yeah, but you still had three minutes where you could give away just a little bit so that you wouldn't press too hard. I mean, it was still amazing. I mean, you were still running 630s. You just weren't running 615s, right? Had you not gotten that cramp, you would have run 246? I was on pace for it.

Faster at the half marathon. That's why I had the wee-be-jeebies. And the day before we did a course recon. Yes. And I completely forgot, I think my mind was so distracted at mile 23, 24, that that last mile was a slight downhill. I completely forgot when I rounded that corner to run downtown Buffalo, I saw it was a slight downhill. I was like, that was like the greatest thing I've ever seen. I forgot all about this.

It's a downhill. I was like, home stretch, baby. We did it. And, man, that last mile was just great. Just rolling in. At that point, I knew I was hitting it. But crossing that finish line, like seeing that 248 on the timer, I felt really, really good.

So here, it's interesting because you're dealing with the cramp. You're dealing with, you know, trying to figure out how to run with a hamstring that was in really bad shape and still run 630 miles for four miles on a hamstring that was shot, right? So, Jordan and I

were trying to navigate and honestly, I felt horrible for Pierce because I think he might need therapy from riding in a run-on-a-car with us. I mean, there was a couple of times Pierce was like, hey, stop!

sign, never mind, right? So we finally find a place to park. Real quick, the best part about that is Pierce graduated high school two days prior to that. He graduated high school on Friday. Right. He flew into Buffalo on Saturday. And by Sunday he was driving in a truck with you. And it was subjected to me, which I don't wish on anybody.

So we're trying to find a place to park. And we couldn't find anything. Rows were blocked off. And I'm looking at my watch and it says 242. right? So I'm doing some math and I think, okay, he's probably here. So we finally find a place to park and I said, all right, here's what we're going to do, guys. You guys go straight that way, straight to the finish line. I'm going to run down here and see if I could catch a knit.

So as I'm going down, I see that traffic circle, that big circle that had that big monument, that obelisk, right? It was about 400, 500 yards in the finish line. line and I knew that you had that nasty little hairpin add on off the side of that traffic circle, right? And I was worried about you because I thought, man, he has to plant his foot in the ground and go around that, do that hairpin 180 turn about 600 yards, 700 yards in the finish. And that's never fun when you're cramping, right? But what I did was I went to the traffic circle and I saw you coming around and I knew

that where you were running was past that hairpin turn and I looked at my watch and it said 24650. And so I started looking at you and then I looked and I saw the building and I knew that the finish line was behind this building that was to my left. And I thought to myself, he's going to run 248 something here. And so I thought to myself, okay, at this point, don't get a cramp. Don't go face down on a manhole in the middle of the street. Just literally waddle. Anything. You're fine. And so I remember I ran, I started through an alley behind the building and I came out right as you crossed the finish line. And so I was able to see that you had done it and run a low 248.

And then I may or may not have cut through the little barrier gate thing and gone into the finish. You know what? Yeah, you were the finish line. That's right. Oh, I was at the finish line, right? The Buffalo Marathon organizers and race director, everybody working for that race was just absolutely fantastic. and I would like to put that out there, just incredibly welcoming and flexible,

and it was just really, really a remarkable day for us all. That was one of the best races I've been a part of, the best people. They were so supportive. They wanted to help the BPN team get around. Yeah. They gave us a course, recon, tour the day before.

They were great. Well, you know, everything was set up really, really nicely for everybody's success that day, not just yours. It was just a really well-organized race. And there were just a ton of successes all the way across the board that day. Lots of people running really, really fast and running big PRs that day. But, you know, from an emotional standpoint as a coach, we come out of those things mentally exhausted, not physically. I mean, I didn't run the race with you.

But, man, it was pretty easy to fall asleep that night. I was tired because it's stressful. And I want success so badly for the people who I coach, right? And it gnaws at me if the people I coach don't achieve everything they want to achieve. And I spend a lot of time in self-reflection. And I go back and I look at workouts and I look at data trying to feel. figure out clues as to how to make the next time go well. Luckily, I don't have to do that very often.

Most of the time we get it pretty right enough to where people have a nice, solid day. But I'm introspective. I'm reflective. It's so it was just an incredibly emotionally satisfying thing for me to see you so happy after that race. I could say that from the bottom of my heart. Well, I think, and this is what we try to do with the Leadville 100 doc, more than the miles.

A lot of people will watch this content online and they see me, Nick Bear, running 26.2 miles and they think, like, surface value, that's what it is. It's just me going out and running these races. I think I have the easiest job. All I have to do is run from point A to point B in a certain amount of time.

But between you as the coach, you know, my family was out there, the BPN team traveled to and is out there. everyone's running around everyone's sweating everyone's trying to get from point A to point B everyone has a specific task purpose responsibility and duty over the course of that just under three hours and it's not just those three hours it's the days and weeks leading up to and after I mean it's almost two weeks after and Jeremy is still editing the video that we produced when we were there so it is truly a team effort I can say this in all honestly

I have the easiest job out there. I just run from point A to point B. Those guys and you, you're trying to get all over the course through roads that are closed down, meet me at certain checkpoints. It's truly a team effort. And I challenge the listeners here,

if you've never been a part of a team effort that goes out and accomplishes something together, you need to find people around you that are willing to do something like that because when you're a part of something that's bigger than just you, it is forever rewarding. Forges emotional bonds that last a lifetime, right? I've got friends at BPN now.

And, well, I don't know if Pearson Jordan liked me anymore after being stuck in a car with me. We might have a bond born out of maybe like Stockholm syndrome or something like that, right? It changed their lives, that's for sure. It was life changing. I mean, listen, man, would you? You blow through stop signs of stoplots in Buffalo, New York, and you're 18 years old

trying to think, you know, maybe I should have drawn up a will before I came out here. And I'll toughen you up a little bit. But all jokes aside, you form emotional bonds with people. When as a family or a community or a team, you accomplish something that's so satisfying that weeks and months and years, you go by and you're at a dinner and easy. Remember that one time, blah, blah, blah. remember that one day, blah, blah, blah. You know, remember when you said X, Y, Z,

and it brings back this whole flood of emotions and memories. I have them from my collegiate running experiences. I have them from coaching you through two marathons. You laugh a ton. Sometimes you might cry a little bit. But these are people who forge emotional bonds and people who form relationships through the commonality

of achieving something that's so meaningful to you as a community. Yeah, after the race, we went, we got some beers together, we ate some chicken wings. Those wings were good. That's for good wings. It was just like wrapping up a,

you know, you all work so hard to accomplish this one thing and then you finally sit back and realize, hey guys, we did it. Yeah. Congrats. Let's, let's cheers our beers together. Like, now, what's next?

Right. And it's kind of a strange emotional void, too, isn't it? When you're done, it's like, what next? I don't have a tempo run to do this week. What's the next goal? And I think it's really, really important for people to spend a lot of time congratulating themselves. I don't think that we love ourselves enough sometimes. Take some time to congratulate yourself.

But then make sure you get something back on the docket, right? Find something else to do, even if it's the same thing but faster, 256 to 248, right? Or get bigger and stronger again. You and I both have been in the wake room. I don't think I'm ever going to catch you, but I started lifting more too since Buffalo. It feels good. Yeah, man. But congratulate yourself.

Give yourself grace. but then let's get something else in the docket and let's always be in pursuit because you know I think that we go downhill fast physically and mentally if we don't maintain rigor right read study

engage in the meaningful relationships in your lives make sure that you have some sort of a goal that you're working toward don't just exist because that's hollow and not particularly good for our mental and physical health. Don't just exist.

Go and wrestle life, man, because life is really cool. You know what was really interesting about wrapping up this marathon? The two races prior to that I did, it was Ledville 100 and then Rock. You're out to raccoon, both 100-mile races. You finish a 100-mile race. Your body hates you.

you. You're wrecked. You can't, I mean, you have trouble getting from the finish line to your bed. Your stomach hurts. Your body's wrecked. Your hands are swollen. Your arms are swollen. It takes weeks to recover. You might be peeing blood too. I peed blood after this past marathon. Yeah. And that comes from being in a state of extreme dehydration. Your kidneys and your liver and everything else are stressed big time. Well, I finished this marathon and I go back up to the run. room and Tyler and Jeremy came up with me because Steph made them because after Rocky Raccoon, I passed out. Oh, that's right.

And I passed out, but naked on the floor in front of everyone coming out of the shower. Have I told you this story? I knew about that, but I had forgotten about the naked on the floor part. Yeah, when I was in the shower after Rocky Raccoon, you know, it was so cold when we finished the race. And I got a really long hot shower. and while I was in the shower, I could feel, I was like, I'm about to pass out. So in my head, I said, I need to get from the shower to the bed as fast as possible.

And it was probably 25 feet away. As soon as I opened up the door to the shower to make my way to the bed, everything went black. And next thing I know, I wake up and the whole BPN team is around me putting honey in my mouth and pouring water on my head. and I'm butt naked and Steph said all she saw coming out of the shower was this naked man wobbling back and forth

and going head face down. So with all that to say Steph was nervous that that was going to happen to me after Buffalo. Rightfully so. And so they came back to the room with me and I sat in the chair

and I was taking off my shoes I was like, huh, this is weird after a race I can take off my own shoes and socks. Huh, I'm actually pretty hungry right now. I can hold a conversation. Wow, I feel fresh compared to those last two races.

Yeah. And that's just all perspective. Like what you do in life, like hard is relative and it's perspective. Like what is hard for you might not be hard for me. It was hard for me. It might not be hard for you. And your hard relativity or scale is based off of efforts and experiences you've done in the past. My first marathon, I was crushed afterwards.

now after doing some more races and building fitness and, you know, going through some more things, now I'm not wrecked anymore. But that was one of the biggest eye-openeres of sitting down in my hotel room after that marathon was, I actually can operate my body right now. Art is very relative. And I would really encourage anybody who is watching or listening to this podcast to really think about that. and understand that we have the capability of redefining what hard is for us. A lot of that is by simply diving into a task that is going to lead us to something that we believe could be too hard or an impossibility.

And then hard is like a deck of cards that has separate components that go into what makes something hard. I would encourage everybody to simply just reshuffle the deck of hard. Reshuffle the deck such that what was once impossible, what was once insurmountable, what was once a mountain that couldn't be climbed, down just looks like a small hill, that is only sort of mildly difficult instead of impossible, and you do that by just starting.

Start. If your goal is to lose 100 pounds and you feel completely lost and into dead end on how to do it. Start. If your goal is to finish a marathon and the farthest you've ever run is three miles and you can't imagine what it's like to run 26 miles, start. Reshuffle the deck of hard. And what hard previously meant to you will be redefined through your own actions.

Nobody else is going to be able to make something that was once impossible for you, You will be able to do it, but you have to get started. You will be able to redefine what hard is. It's so funny. 26 miles doesn't seem that hard to you now. Even for me, that's mind-blowing because I've run many marathons. I've never run an ultra-marathon. I can't imagine running 100 miles.

I can't imagine it. You just redefined what hard was for Nick Baer. I mean, that's what a marathon prep does in itself. Like I said... Yeah, it does. It's what, like what I said in the beginning. you start your marathon prep. Say it's a 16 week prep.

You start day one and you try running a pace that you plan to run come race day. That's a hard pace. You start telling yourself, I don't know if I can do this. I only have 16 weeks to get there. This is going to be impossible. But then what happens is that level of hard gets a little bit more comfortable. The more you train. The more stimulus you apply.

the more resistance you allow into your training program and life. And before you know it, come race day, it's not as hard as you thought it was going to be. Absolutely not. And I will be everybody's biggest cheerleader along the way. But I also will be telling you every step of the way adhere to the process. And what was once impossible would become possible. What was once a dream becomes reality. Matthew McConaughey was on this podcast.

many podcasts ago and he talked to you about how he doesn't like the word unbelievable. And so what I tell people is now, and that resonated with me, is let's take something that goes from the realm of not believable, meaning it cannot believe because it cannot be breathed into reality. Go do it. And then it's believable. You saw it with your two eyes, right? And so what I tell people is this. Just get started. And you're not. going to be able to run marathon pace for extended periods of time at the beginning, but at the end you will. And I've seen it enough to know it.

I know it when I see it. And so some people go, well, if you say so, you know what I tell them? I do damn say so because you're going to do this. This is how you're going to do it. Let's just go kick ass every day. I think sometimes people hear the word hard And they think that in terms of running is Running faster and harder

And what I found with a lot of people myself included This is what held me back so So long from running faster Is I was doing my easy runs too hard Yeah Sometimes it is harder for people to slow down So like for telling someone You need to slow down

Like you have to slow down easy runs. And for some people, that is difficult. That is hard to slow down. It is hard to accept that you have to run a 9, 10 minute mile pace to improve and build that aerobic foundation and capability. That is what hard is for some people. So like you said, it's all relative. Right. You can't get 1% faster every day, but it's possible to get 1% better every day by being better at being more restrained, by being better at eating. a more balanced diet by getting better at psychologically handling stress in a way that's more productive.

We can get 1% better every day, but we actually can't get 1% faster every day. We're going to be faster at the end of our marathon build, but it's going to be a byproduct of restraint, meticulous attention to detail. You know, we can't control everything. And earlier, you indicated that you just... You just don't spend a lot of time worrying about what you can't control. I think that sometimes we confuse care and worry. Worry is destructive.

Worry a lot of times is not productive at all, if not almost all the time, right? Worry is exhausting. Worry actually can physically manifest itself with illness, right? Care is different. care means that you're paying attention to detail. Care means that you are looking at data. You have your periscope up, so to speak. So let's make sure that we don't spend a lot of time worrying,

but it's okay to care. It's vital to care. Well, let's spend less time worry. Well, Jeff, we did it. We did the sub-250. Man, what a ride. And I just, I feel privileged, absolutely, privileged to have been a part of that as I feel privileged every time anybody accomplishes

something really, really remarkable. It feeds my soul. Like I've said, I've worked with a lot of coaches. I've worked with some good coaches. I've worked with some coaches who aren't that good. You are one of the best coaches I've ever been around in terms of the way you program workouts, your protocols, your philosophies, your check-ins. But I think most importantly, it's your personal investment and care for all the athletes and how much you you care to see them succeed and win. And you for that moment of time during that race, every other distraction in your life, and you could be going through some deep shit.

You know, you could be going through some horrible things. All those distractions, all those things in your life, they're kind of just pulled on the side for two, three, four hours. And you're investing all your time, energy, resources into that athlete. and that's amazing to see and I think that is what coaching should be and needs to be. So I appreciate you for for leading that space

and showing us what an example of leadership and coaching needs to, should and could look like. And I think it's a great example and rule model for a lot of other people out there that see what you're doing and leading the charge. So thank you. Well, thank you.

And those words probably mean more to me than anything. People could say, well, you coach fast people. Well, that's satisfying. But how did those people get fast? Why do they feel like that they were emotionally supported? Why did they feel like that this coach cared? And at the end of the day, we should care what other people think about us in certain contexts. And I care.

I care what people think. I want people to say, hey, he cared enough about me to help me accomplish something that's so meaningful for me. It's big time to me. Well, I know you're now coaching majority of the BPN team in some sort of race coming up here soon. So I'm sure we'll have another episode here soon talking about another race. But we'll see what's next for me in the future of working with you. But I appreciate you coming on. Appreciate your time.

And I just thank you. Well, thank you very much. And it's my pleasure. And all I can tell everybody is go one more. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Bear Performance Podcast. Please leave a rating and review on the platform you are listening to if you enjoyed it. It helps us to grow and reach more people with the intent of changing lives through the Go One More mindset. If you are ready to take your health and performance to the next level, head over to BPNSups.com to take the first step.

Thank you.