Off The Couch – Details, episodes & analysis

Does running have the power to transform the prison system? According to the data, it might, and it definitely has the power to ignite personal transformation, as you will see in the remarkable new documentary, 26.2 TO LIFE.

Our guest today is Christine Yoo, the director and producer of 26.2 TO LIFE, which tells the story of incarcerated men at San Quentin State Prison who are members of the 1000 Mile Club, the prison’s long distance running club. They train all year for the San Quentin Marathon — a 105 lap, 26.2 mile race that takes place in the San Quentin yard.

The film was shot over the course of three years with unprecedented access to the prison, and for the reasons we discuss in this conversation, I urge everyone to see this film.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Background: Russian Spies & Korean Rom Coms (2:38)

The Cinematic Nature of Running (11:30)

Filming at San Quentin Prison (14:02)

Prison Life (23:38)

Prisons as Businesses (29:06)

Running & Prison Reform (32:34)

Other Prison Running Clubs (45:40)

Where To Watch (53:10)

Music of The Film (55:39)

RELATED LINKS:

sanquentinmarathon.com

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The Rocky Mountain Grand Slam: it involves summiting 122 peaks and 318,000 feet of elevation gain (the equivalent of summiting Everest 11 times from sea level). And Vuori & Athletic Brewing athlete, Jason Hardrath, recently set a new FKT by completing it in under 40 days. So I caught up with Jason to break down his most recent accomplishment, and to discuss the blurring of the lines between running, scrambling, and soloing.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Rocky Mountain Grand Slam (2:02)

Planning (7:03)

Calculating Risks (10:57)

Blending Disciplines (23:19)

Crux's of The RMGS (27:58)

RELATED LINKS:

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Off The Couch #110: What Makes Jason Hardrath Tick

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Happy Hour

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For the most part, competitive trail running in the US is perceived to bias heavily toward the West Coast, with many of its marquee races and popular training hubs lying left of the Mississippi. This imbalance has stoked a gentle sense of rivalry in trail runners who call the East Coast home, an underdog mentality that many — including this week’s guest, New York native and athlete for The North Face, Sarah Keyes — have turned into fuel. 

Sarah recently punched her ticket to Innsbruck, Austria to represent the US as part of their Long Distance team at this year’s World Mountain Championships, a spot she earned with a podium finish at the Lake Sonoma 50 in Northern California. We talk about what it’s like living and training in the Adirondacks year-round; East Coast vs. West Coast trail running scenes; the upcoming World Mountain Running Championships in Innsbruck, Austria; the latest hits (and misses) in her kitchen; and much more. 

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Sarah’s Background & the Adirondacks (1:53)
• East Coast vs. West Coast Trail Scenes (14:14)
• Race Directing and Weed Whacking (19:48)
• ITRA (27:05)
• Making the US Long Distance Team (35:07) 
• Joining The North Face (38:25)
• Pastry Making (41:50)
• International Racing (44:11)

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• Become a Blister Member
• BLISTER+

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• CRAFTED
• Blister Podcast
• GEAR:30
• Bikes & Big Ideas

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Today we’ve got some race recaps for you; our initial impressions of Saucony’s Switchback2 (which features the BOA system); and we discuss the arrival of the first carbon-plated trail shoe, The North Face's Flight Vectiv.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Race Recap: Moab Red Hot (2:05)
• Race Recap: Black Canyon Ultras (8:52)
• Review: Saucony Switchback2 (15:03)
• Carbon-plated trail shoes have arrived (24:26)

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My Off The Couch co-host Brendan Leonard has a new book coming out, so I talked to Brendan about zen koans, piñatas, other running books, kids, alternate titles for the book, and why Jonathan thinks that you should read this book whether you hate running, or love it.

TOPICS & TIMES

• Best Table of Contents Ever? (2:00)
• Who is the book for? (4:23)
• Alternate titles  (11:09)
• Running books & Born to Run (17:18)
• From Zero to Try (29:38)
• How do books work? (36:52)
• The importance of piñatas (41:43)
• Running & Love & Your Kids (44:45)
• When / Where to get the book (48:03)

RELATED LINKS:

• SEMI-RAD.COM
• BOOKSHOP.ORG

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Brendan Leonard & Jonathan Ellsworth talk to Mike Foote, who on 12.31.20, headed out with fellow The North Face athlete, Rob Krar, to attempt an FKT of the Rim to Rim to Rim “alt” route of the Grand Canyon. So Brendan and I caught up with Mike to get his version of events, and we discuss a number of interesting and important topics that show just how terrific and thoughtful of a person Mike is (in case you didn’t know that already).

TOPICS & TIMES

• Mike’s attempt to photograph Rob Krar’s butt (2:30)
• Racing, training, & race directing in 2020 (12:19)
• Races planned for 2021 (17:27)
• Getting in to race directing + Mike’s previous jobs (25:45)
• Books & reading habits (39:29)
• Ted Lasso! (52:16)
• Mental Health, exercise, & sports psychology (53:57)

RELATED LINKS

• THE VIDEO: R2R2R ALT ROUTE

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Brendan Leonard & Jonathan Ellsworth talk to Ed Roberson, the creator of The Procrastinator’s Punishment 50k; the host of the excellent Mountain & Prairie podcast; and the author of a fantastic Books Recommendation series. So we talked to Ed about all of the above, and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Ed’s podcast, Mountain & Prairie (1:52)
• The Procrastinator’s Punishment 50k (9:09)
• Ed’s Scary DNF (30:22)
• ED’s Gross DNF (36:41)
• Triathalon community vs the Ultra community (39:31)
• Ed’s bi-monthly book recommendations (44:40)

RELATED LINKS:

• Ed’s Mountain & Prairie Podcast
• Signup for Ed’s Book Recommendation Emails

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Zoë Rom is a runner / scrambler / climber; reader; writer; and host of the DNF Podcast. And we talk about all of this plus her interest in continuing to deepen and enrich running culture; the very specific way to win her heart; getting cut from the cross country team in high school; winning her first ultra with the help of Oreos & Fireball; her FKT on Capitol Peak; what she’s reading, watching, and listening to; and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Fruit, books, & growing up in Arkansas (2:29)
• Getting cut from the XC team (6:40)
• Oreos, Fireball, & Winning her 1st Ultra (12:55)
• Moving to Boulder, CO (22:38)
• Climbers or Runners: who are more cerebral? (26:55)
• Writing about Running (30:13)
• Mountain Running (34:11)
• How to win Zoe’s heart (35:51)
• Zoe’s FKT on Capitol Peak (37:47)
• DNF Podcast (44:32)
• What Zoe’s reading, watching, & listening to (49:47)

RELATED LINKS

• Survivor Endurance phone case 
• Our experience with the Survivor Endurance

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Brendan Leonard and I talk with Peter Bromka, a runner that grew up in Portland, ran at Tufts University in Boston, started trail running around San Francisco, and now, is back in Portland where he runs for the Bowerman Track Club Elite Program. But in addition to training hard and running fast, Peter is focused on writing about running itself. And in this conversation, you’ll hear more about how he is currently pursuing both.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Confession of being an OTC impostor (4:26)
• How Brendan and Peter met (10:05)
• Running / Not Running / Running (13:32)
• Falling short (25:35)
• Peter’s “The Bubble of a Dream” (32:34)
• Getting better at running without getting faster? (38:45)
• Thoughts on the book, Win At All Costs (42:31)
• Compensation & professional running (49:18)
• Going forward: writing & running (55:24)
• See Peter’s work: peterbromka.com (1:00:30)

RELATED LINKS

• Survivor Endurance phone case 
• Our experience with the Survivor Endurance

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Most of you are familiar with the BOA fit system, but do you know what BOA is up to today? Or maybe you’ve thought, What’s wrong with regular shoe laces? We went to the BOA Performance Fit Lab to learn more; hear why they see a big opportunity in trail running shoes; and see how they are working with companies to optimize products.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• BOA’s background & the Performance Fit Lab (2:29)
• Dan Feeney & Kate Harrison’s backgrounds (6:20)
• BOA vs traditional shoe laces (8:20)
• 3rd-Party Testing (14:28)
• BOA’s biggest categories & emerging categories (16:15)
• Trail running benefits of BOA (21:50)
• Lateral Stability & BOA (23:50)
• Working with companies for optimization (25:55)
• Different foot shapes & BOA (28:37)
• Data collecting with athletes (30:10)
• Current BOA products to try on (32:55)

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