Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Roots Running

This episode of Roots is brought to you by hard work and determination. 

Sean and Al are joined by Butch Slabach, a Virginia native coming hot onto the scene and throwing down some impressive times on classic Virginia ultra races, as well as out west with some of the best athletes in the sport. The fellas talk about Butch’s unorthodox intro into trail and ultra running, his time at the Virginia Tech Ultra Club, moving out to Oregon with his wife Emily, and then subsequent return to Virginia. Tune in to hear about Butch's breakthrough year in 2024, and a preview of what is to come for Butch in 2025. 

If you enjoyed the show give us a follow, shoot us any feedback, or share with a friend. 

Thanks for listening

❤️

-Al & Sean

Joining the Roots Running pod, none other than THE Dr. David Horton. Not a single person that we know of has influenced more people to become true runners and ultra-runners as Horton. Not only that, Dr. Horton started this decades before youtube, social media, and podcasts.

This episode features a sweeping view of the sport of ultra running from JFK 50 miler in 1979, winning the first two Hardrock 100's, to the mind blowing course records we've seen broken today at the sport's most competitve and historic ultras. In addition to being the second Barkley finisher ever, Horton was the pioneer of FKT's, setting the record on the Appalachian Trail before when no one had ever dreamt of 'running' the 2000 miles from Georgia to Maine.

Horton shares about the challenges of training in Virginia while competing out west at altitude, his thoughts on Tara Dower's recent success both of the AT and at Black Canyon's 100k, and his experience founding Mountain Masochist 50.

If you enjoyed this episode share it with a friend, follow and give us a review!

Thanks for listening❤️

-Sean & Alvah

On today's episode the boys get real about how they approach Holiday season and cold winter days in terms of training and eating.

Most people experience weight gain and a significant decrease in physical activity due to shorter days, cold weather, and abundance of holiday parties where the food might be delicious, but not necessarily nutritious. Adam and Sean give their mindset and practical tips on how to stay active and reduce overeating. If you want your January resolution to stick, your best bet is to start forming good habits today. 

Thanks for joining us for another week of WTGG🤜🤛

Winter can be tough. We know y’all are tougher. 

Love, 

-A&S

Todays episode features Fort Wayne local legend, Founder and Manager of Apex Cycling, and new friend of Sean’s Dylan Curtis. 

Dylan is extremely passionate about riding bikes, which he’s been doing since he could walk (without training wheels). The boys talk about why Sean is dead wrong about his impression of cycling culture, about various teams Dylan has raced with competitively, and how he saw a gap in the development of post-grad cyclist and took the opportunity to found his own team, Apex Cycling. Apex competes with both mens and women’s teams at a National level and Dylan is continuing to develop the team both as athletes and as community members giving back to their sport and their neighbors. 

Big shoutout to Dylan for joining us for the pod this week!

Follow Apex Cycling here. 

As always, we hope you enjoyed this weeks edition of WTGGT. When it gets hard, keep going folks. 

Love, 

-A&S

Adam and Sean chat about the various challenges of job searching and transition phases in life. If you want to see the exercise Sean was attempting to describe check it out here.

Other topics include:

-The current arc of hybrid athlete training and where we go from here.

-Maximalism versus Minimalism in fitness.

-Why we never really want to be full time influencers.

-Hobbyfluencers and day in the life style content

-Why are we still doing this podcast? 

As always, if you liked the podcast give us a follow and share with your tough friends and family. Together, we might all be able to get going farther than we imagined. 

Love,

-A&S

Whats cooking Tough Fam. Today your beloved hosts cover a myriad of topics from:

-Effective strength training can happen in 20-45min 4 days a week

-Intensity is the key to efficient training

-Why people overtrain

-Building confidence doing hard things

-Looking for challenges that stretch your comfort zone without overtraining

-Adam’s more laid back approach to training

-The difficulty of balancing intense exercise with healthy lifestyle choices

Also noted in this episode, Adam challenged Sean to commit to a weight training block in the new year. If Sean lifts 4 days a week for 4 months, Adam will run Chicago Marathon. If you're interested in the weight training plan Adam is writing for Sean, reach out to us via email at wtggtough@gmail.com

When the going gets tough, y’all get going.

Your beloved Hosts Adam and Sean catch up on todays episode and Sean shares reflections of how he's redefined his running/training/racing goals in a way that is more aligned with his real values. These realizations opened up conversations about honest self reflection, the things that influence our beliefs about ourselves, and what fuels our desires.

Listen to the Run Singletrack podcast which inspired Sean's recent thought's here.

As always thanks for listening to this weeks episode of When The Going Gets Tough. Thanks for being a part of the tough family, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.

-A&S

Welcome to another week and yet another collab with Ben Wright's 'Between The Guidelines' podcast. This time around, Ben and Adam catch up covering Ben's new interest in martial arts, philosophical discussions on how our physical activities can help us reframe the limits our minds put on our abilities to overcome.

Thankful for Ben Wright and his time this week! Check out Between The Guidelines on Spotify and be sure to follow Ben's work.

Have a strong week you beautiful mothertoughers.

A&S

This week Sean sits down with a new friend, Langston Ginder to talk about his journey playing independent league baseball with hopes of one day getting called up to the MLB. In addition to baseball, Langston is also pursuing a Masters degree in Mental Health Counseling and shares insights from his experience and training in therapy as they relate to athletics and life as a whole.

As always, thanks for listening you mothertoughers.

-A&S

Sean and Adam catch up on this episode. Together, the boys philosophize about what life would be like if they had stayed on some of the paths they were on early in college. Other conversation includes how to change your perspective, the importance of voicing your internal narrative out loud with those you trust, and other insightful reflections.

Staying tough sometimes means reaching out in vulnerability. Talk to the people you love, people.

❤️A&S

Welcome to the podcast Brinton Johns! Brinton is an investor and bee keeper living in Golden, Colorado. Brinton enjoys ultra running, spending time with his kids, and backpacking. Adam and Sean attempt to download some of his wisdom and somehow synthesize the commonalities between investing, ultra distance running, and bee keeping.




This is your reminder to take a breath. We're playing the long game.




Thanks for listening as always ❤️




A&S

HAPPY TUESDAY! The fellas run through various recovery techniques and discuss whether they are actually helpful for increased MUSCLE growth or not.

Dr. Mike's video inspiring todays episode here

Sorry not sorry for the clickbait title.

Prayers out to our Asheville and Greenville fam. Stay tough Fam❤️

We are stoked to bring you the very first episode of the Roots Running podcast, hosted by Sean Cate and Alvah Ferguson. This episode features a dive into the purpose of the podcast, what trail/ultra events Alvah and Sean are excited about in 2025 and a preview of what is to come.

-We can only go up from here😎

Cheers to old friends and new beginnings!

-Al & Sean

Sean and Adam dive into the new scientific research regarding heat training and adaptations for increased endurance performance. Sean outlines how, and why heat training can be helpful and is relatively accessible for everyone.

Disclaimer: heat training comes with inherent risks! Do your own research and use common sense when implementing these types of exercises.

As always, when the going gets tough, y'all mothertoughers get going.

-A&S

The fellas discuss Sean's recent trip out to Steamboat Springs Colorado to crew friend and legend Will Stough in his first 100 miler.

Adam and Sean have a good old fashioned catch-up and discuss some life transitions they're both adapting and adjusting to. The boys also discuss how their athletic pursuits are currently evolving in response to those changes, and what challenges they are looking forward to.

Welcome to the tough family Jessi and Jacy Kuhlman! These sisters are two of the toughest women we've had the great opportunity of hosting. Jessi and Jacy share about their experience playing on hockey teams with high school boys, playing high level collegiate hockey, and how that lead them to coaching and competing at some of the highest levels of Crossfit in the country. 




Jessi and Jacy both live and coach at Black Sheep CrossFit in West Palm Beach Florida, and just so happen to be starting a podcast of their own! We’ll be sure to link Coffee with the Khulman’s as soon as it’s live where you listen to your podcast. 




Follow them on instagram: 




@jacy_kuhlman

@jessikuhlman_ 







As always, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. 




Stay Tough, 




A&S 

Sean and Adam discuss the recently trending fitness trackers and the pros/cons of using them. Much like social media, these tools can be extremely useful. As powerful as these watches and trackers have become, they can be inaccurate and highly addictive. All this and more on this weeks episode of WTGGT.

Stay tough out there!

A&S

Welcome to a very special episode of WTGGT with hosts Sean Cate and Adam Girard, and a very special guest, PhD student and friend Trace Cruz. Todays episode settles some confusing and inaccurate thoughts about how we gain or lose weight specifically in the form of body fat. Trace helps settle the score for Adam and Sean's differing perspectives on how best to lose fat, and what times of diets produce different results on a biological level. Give it a listen if you are interested in learning more and dispelling some myths about how adiposity (body fat) is gained and losses from a scientific point of view, as well as practical ways to deal with excess body fat.

As always, stay tough out there. You #mothertoughers.

- A&S

What's up tough family! We (Adam and Sean) are super excited to let you all in on news regarding an upcoming episode that has the potential to shape the future of the podcast. We will be hosting an epic showdown between Trace Cruz, and Sean Cate discussing the ins and outs of Calories In Calories Out (CICO) versus Carbohydrate Insulin Model of weightless. Sean is hopelessly undereducated compared to Trace, so keep him in your prayers as he prepares for this next episode. The conversation will go LIVE right here Friday AM so stay tuned and let us know what y'all think!

Best,

A&S

#healthfitness #calories #weightloss #ozempic

Just a classic Adam+Sean ramble on various topics. Slight sparring from the boys on different perspectives on fatloss, all to unfold in a future podcast! Thanks for hanging with us #mothertoughers

Love,

Sean and Adam

Adams first week of NO TRAINING in over a year! Sean and Adam discuss the importance of periodically and intentionally taking time to to train at lower intensities and take actual time off from training. Sean shares how his motivation has been shifting from singularly race focused training to lifestyle training.

#hybridtraining #deloading #sciencebasedlifiting #ultrarunning #marathontraining #mothertoughers #wtggt

Sean and Adam sit down for the 50th episode of When the Going Gets Tough. To start Adam rants about science based lifting, which is followed by a bit of reflection on the first couple episodes.

Tough fam! We apologize dearly for the whiplash, as our last episode led both all of us to believe we were continuing on with the WTGGT podcast with renewed vigor. The truth is, today's episode will be the final edition of When The Going Gets Tough.

After reflecting on our passions and desires. Adam and I decided the best thing for us both would be to say no to a good thing (continuing WTGGT) in order to say yes to better things (each of our new podcasts). Adam has been working on launching a Formula 1 podcast geared towards an American audience, while I am launching a fully Trail/Ultra-running podcast that will leave here on this page. We stand on the shoulder's of these episodes, which we had so much fun making. Ultimately, we believe WTGGT had not only run it's full course, but it was time to make room for new things.

We are so thankful for your support, and we hope you these conversations stirred you to live a different life, against the grain of comfort, and do tough things.

While the name of this channel will change, the original episodes will live here unchanged.

Never stop being tough,

❤️

-Adam Giard and Sean cate

Adam and Sean sit down with Chris Jean (@asosipapi @docdontmiss). Chris is a student currently getting a PHD in biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech, while simultaneously getting an MBA. His athletic background is in basketball, but now focuses on a body building inspired lifting routine.

Sean and Adam discuss how the current landscape on social media and COVID19 catalyzed the explosion of Run Clubs first in Europe and now in major cities all across the US. Fellas also cover how and maybe why hybridized training is trending particularly hard right now and cover a few of the key 'influencers' on that front.

Want to be a part of this community? Follow the podcast for weekly episodes and share with your friends and family.

We love you guys, and thanks for listening! #mothertoughters #toughfam #hybridathlete #runclub #ultrarunning

Sean and Adam sit down with Tanner Petty. Tanner is a father of 3, but also a personal training in the Lynchburg area. He showcases how everyone can make time to train, even if that time is 15 min.

A very special episode recorded on Adam's birthday. Topics include but are not limited to healthy eating habits, raw milk controversy, and the never ending puzzle of dialing in fitness in the midst of work/life balance.

Love you guys, stay #tough

Sean breaks down the current shift in ultra running to 200+ mile races and what role Cocodona 250 played in this. Adam discusses his vacation and how subconsciously his lifestyle decisions are becoming focused on his wellness.

In a collaboration of two podcasts WTGGT x Between The Guidelines with Ben Wright bring you an epic episode. Ben happens to be not only Sean's friend but also his brother in-law and fellow podcaster. Stream now to hear two friends cover topics such as the parallels between ultra-running and rock climbing, outdoor recreation and professional guiding, as well as mental health issues in the outdoor recreation community.

Follow Ben on Between The Guidelines here!

Thanks for listening #mothertoughers

Adam and Sean chat about who they look up to in the fitness influencer realm, but also who inspires them for life in general.

Thanks for listening #mothertoughers

Adam hosts cousin and friend Garret Lanham of Maxed Out Fitness on WTGGT this week. Garret has been a personal trainer for 3+ years now, helping people achieve their fitness goals happens to be his passion and calling. Follow Garret on Instagram Follow Maxed Out Fitness Follow Adam on Instagram

Sean and Adam sit down for a good ole yap. This podcast feels almost like a behind the scenes. Hope you guys appreciate the informal and genuine feel to this pod.

The Boys are back! Sean talks about his new experience at Promise Land. Adam and Sean collectively talk about controlling the things you can control in situations of discomfort.

This episode of When The Going Get’s Tough is brought to you by Lee Jarvis Coaching™️

Lee joined the boys this week to discuss his winter training block in anticipation of the Black Canyon’s 100k coming up February 8th, 2025. Lee shares insights into how his training differed on this block, and what his head space is going into the race. 

Lee also shares advice for those interested in their first marathon *cough* Adam *cough*. What is a good time goal for your first marathon? It depends😁. 

We will have the link to Lee’s live tracking and the YouTube broadcast when they go live below 

Here for Lee’s live tracking, his bib is #99!

YouTube livestream of the 2025 BLack Canyons 100k race here

If you have any questions feel free to reach out via email to wtggtough@gmail.com

If you are interest in coaching feel free to connect with Lee at leejarviscoaching.com

Thanks for listening and stay tough out there. 

-A&S

Trace Cruz joins for yet another episode of WTGGT, this time talking all about chronic overtraining, the effects of training in certain heart rate zones, and how to minimize the negative sides of ultra/endurance training.

Follow Trace and Alterra Training here

Peace and Love #TOUGHFAMILY #TOUGHGETGOING

Welcome back to the pod Trace Cruz, our friend and favorite exercise physiologist. Trace and Adam got to talk shop about strength training, the future of Trace's training business Alterra, and his academic career along with much more on this episode of WTGGT.

Get online or in person training from Alterra

Follow Trace on instagram

Find the podcast on Spotify and Apple music @alterratraining

Stay Tough #TOUGHFAM #MOTHERTOUGHERS

Hey Fam,

This week Adam and Sean are taking a siesta from the pod due to travels and family plans. That said, here is a quick update from Sean about the tough fam, weekly pods, and a hearty thanks for all the support this year so far!

Get after it this week!

- A & S

Sean and Adam sit down for a good ole one on one episode. Adam discusses his engagement and Sean talks about where running fits into his life right now

Welcome to the show Brock Kelly! A college middle distance runner who recently spent a few months injured, Brock is an accomplished runner, an entrepreneur, content creator and more.

Support Brock's content and check out his stuff here

Thanks for listening!

-Sean & Adam

Sean hosts Rachel Lemcke on this episode, just a few weeks after Rachel's most recent trail race, the Black Canyons 100k. An accomplished ultra runner, Rachel started her endurance career as a collegiate swimmer, and got sucked into trail and ultra racing by the legendary David Horton in central Virginia. Currently living in Colorado Springs, Rachel is continually learning how to piece together the puzzle of racing, and is loving the process.

Support Rachel on instagram and follow her races @rclemcke

find her articles on training with Coros Global here

Follow Sean's training and life on instagram

Follow Adam's training on youtube

Follow When The Going Gets tough on instagram

We love you guys, stay #TOUGH this week!

Adam sits down with TJ Demeroto. TJ recently went through a very serious treatment lyme carditis. He dives into the extreme treatment, recovery, and the mindset he had to have to overcome such a large roadblock.

Sean and Adam debrief Sean's most recent race, the Holiday Lake 25k, along with conversation about how there is a distance for everyone when it comes to running, and there is no such thing as a "non-runner". Exercise is for everyone!

Use the interact feature below to let us know 1) What is the farthest you've ever run? 2) What is the farthest you think you could run and why?

Much love,

Sean and Adam

Adam and Sean go back and forth discussing their new matured opinions on intermittent fasting, and touch on their opinions of artificial sweeteners.

Just classic Adam and Sean conversation about Sean's recent efforts in the gym, consistently lifting weights for the first time in years. Adam also shares passionately about the stigma around body building, and debunks some myths out there about the body building style of weight training.

This episode of When The Going Get’s Tough is brought to you by blood, sweat and determination. Sean recaps his first week of the training program under Adam’s supervision and shares what went well and what will be tweaked. Short and sweet today. 

Attached here is the document outlining Adam’s program for Sean if anyone is looking for a simple training plan that can easily fit into a busy schedule, while hitting all the important foundation.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out via email to wtggtough@gmail.com

Thanks for listening and stay tough out there. 

-A&S

The boys are joined by Alvah Ferguson. He speaks on mental toughness, grit, setting goals, and the deeper meaning of struggle.

This a good ole pod with Adam and Sean. The guys catch up talking about their careers, what they listen to while training, their goal progression, and new things in their lives.

Heather Cate Wright, Sean's sister, joins the podcast to talk about how she fell in love with Crossfit, how she thinks about fitness and lifestyle goals, her thoughts on the typical perspective of the female cycle in the fitness world, and much more on todays episode. You can find Heather's other content primarily on substack

https://heathercate.substack.com?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web

Thanks for listening,

Stay Tough. #mothertoughers

In this episode Sean opens up about his Dads passing and how it shaped who he is today.