Fitness Freaks

Ben, George and Sam chat about the season, their biggest nuggets they took away, the guests that they had and where they want to take the show in the future. Season 1 is just the start....

This week we were delighted to have Chris Bird on to chat us through his own journey in running and also how he applies Canova training to himself and his athletes. Renato Canova is a hugely successful Italian running coach with a methodology that flies in the face of conventional wisdom. But as we've learnt time and time again, convention doesn't mean correct! With Canova training it's all about specificity. Training at around your chosen race pace and building up your tolerance over time. As Chris says, it's about feeding the baby! (in that you can't feed a baby a huge meal on day one!!). Thankfully Chris has agreed to come back on the show in a few weeks to put some meat on the bones! But for now, let's be happy we may have found a different way... that clearly works!

This week we chatted with all round good human Eloise du Luart. Eloise is a professional triathlete who has suffered injury and illness in the pursuit of doing what she loves. But in a positive turn, it took some of the setbacks for Eloise to truly focus why she does what she does. And as Eloise put it herself "a happy athlete is faster than a perfect one". So now Eloise is not only training hard as a pro triathlete but she's on Instagram and YouTube sharing her journey and making sure it's real. Sharing her highs and lows, ups and downs in the hope that people are able to cut through the BS or "perfect days and lives" that pervade spcial media. She's just a good human, doing what she loves and sharing the reality of that with everyone.

Mary isn't one for mad spontaneity so when she decided to do her first ultramarathon, with 6 weeks notice, whilst in a speed block for a 5k PB, you could say I was surprised. But... we love a challenge and we love being scared by big dreams. SO Mary dived head first and I pledged to support her in her training and try to get her ready. So here we are, 3 weeks out. This week Mary describes what the race is all about, her plans to tackle it (both mentally and physically) and it was her chance to ask questions of George, Sam and myself. It's time for Mary to eat her own biscuits....

Why not have a special guest that is actually one of the hosts of the show?! It's been too long without George and we were pining for him. So we made it happen and had a catch up, to see how he's training out there, what kind of sessions he's doing and why he has to take flares to avoid cheetah's!! We also all talked through a lot of our favourite run sessions that get us where we need to be, in case you were looking for a new session or two!

This week we're excited to be talking to Dr Neil Stanley. Neil is a bona fide sleep expert with 39 years of experience in the field. And not just 39 years experience of sleeping, I have more than that!!! Neil has worked in the neuroscience division of the RAF, was director of sleep research at the university of surrey and is one of the countries leading independent sleep experts having written and peer reviewed numerous scientific papers on the subject. Neil has also written the excellent book "How to sleep; an antidote to the nonsense" which you can find on amazon, audible and numerous stockists. We talked with Neil about the myth of 8 hours and how your sleep need is as genetic and individual as your height. We talked about how to create the best environment for sleep and how night owls and morning larks approach it all so differently. We chatted about how useful smart watches, oura rings, whoop bands and apps are at tracking sleep (spoiler; not very!) and we talked about some of the best ways to get to sleep if you've exercised late and are feeling that sweet endorphin buzz that tends to keep you away like a steaming cup of coffee!! You can find Neil's webiste here - http://www.thesleepconsultancy.com/ He's also on twitter as @drneilstanley Here is a link to his book on amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Sleep-Well-Neil-Stanley/dp/0857087681/ref=sr_1_3?crid=34QCFTY6XYJSD&dchild=1&keywords=how+to+sleep+well+book&qid=1614285323&sprefix=how+to+sleep+w%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-3 And as for us here; Ben YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/ThisMessyHappy Website - www.thismessyhappy.com Instagram - @thismessyhappy Strava - Ben Bridges Sam is on Insta as @beggsam and on Strava as Sam Begg George is on Insta as George_Steele_

This week we spoke to ex-team GB marathoner and all round awesome person; Holly Rush. We found out how Holly got to be an elite runner, how she trains, her favourite races and her goals for this season. We also all chatted about our excitement for London this year and how it's such a special race if you live in this country (and even if you don't). Holly is disarmingly down to earth and fun. She's open, honest and the conversation flows easily. You can find Holly on social media on Instagram under the name @rushbynature and at her website

This week we spoke to Marco Altini, runner and creator of the HRV4Training app. This is a super cool app if you're a stats geek but even if you're not. It tracks your heart rate variability (the difference between beats over a minute) to use physiology and science to tell you when is the optimal time for you to train and when you might need to back off. It's the only app that is scientificaly proven to work using the camera technology on your phone and it doesn't just take in to account training stress, but life stress as well. Here's the thing; wouldn't you like to know when you're about to get ill? or about to cross the line in to overtraining? This app can guide you through all of this!! So for me as a coach but also as an athlete I think it's going to be able to help me stay far more consistent with my training and see the gains flood in. You can find Marco in these places; Website - https://www.marcoaltini.com/ Twitter - @altini_marco Instagram - @altini_marco App Store - HRV4TRAINING

It's really starting to bite now and Graham has faced his battles over the last day or so. But i'm glad to report he's won those battles. Graham talks us through what it feels like to be over the half way mark of this epic challenge. Where they're at as a team and the crazy things you do to have an epic run when you let Mr Ego get the better of you! Madness but the good type... If you want to know more about these guys then here are their teams details www.pyllonultra.com Here is a link to their chosen charity - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/endeavour2021 And, as always, here is my details Website - www.thismessyhappy.com YouTube - This Messy Happy Instagram @thismessyhappy Sam can be found in Insta as @beggsam And George is @George_steele_

With his first run bagged Graham catches us up on how it went personally and where the team are in relation to their goals of 1,000 miles for the week and 100,000 feet of ascent. It all seems to be going well in the early days but, as the team have found out over the past 2 years of the Endeavour challenge, its the later days that make or break the challenge! So let's see how Graham think's it's going so far. If you want to know more about these guys then here are their teams details www.pyllonultra.com Here is a link to their chosen charity - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/endeavour2021 And, as always, here is my details Website - www.thismessyhappy.com YouTube - This Messy Happy Instagram @thismessyhappy Sam can be found in Insta as @beggsam And George is @George_steele_

Have you ever had those conversations with yourself where you say you'll "try" to get this session in during lunch? All the while knowing full well you've already allocated enough time for the session, so why would you "try"? Surely you just "do". That's just one example of a destructive way of talking to ourselves that already puts us in a negative mindset at the start of a workout. "Trying" to fit something in has negative connotations if you know you've already got the time. This week we talked to Triathlon Mindset Coach Adelaide Goodeve about her journey from chronic fatigue syndrome to mindset coach to athletes from pro to amateur. Adelaide works with some of the worlds top triathletes on their mindsets. The habits they form, the narratives they create for themselves and their self talk. We asked Adelaide how you start and end your day like a champion, what are some of the most destructive types of self talk, the type of work she does in her bootcamps and with her professional athletes. It was another great chat and huge thanks to Adelaide for coming on the show. You can find out more about Adelaide here; Website - www. adelaidegoodeve.com and on Instagram @adelaidegoodeve as well as on Facebook and Linkedin. You can find Ben at www.thismessyhappy.com, YouTube is This Messy Happy and Instagram @thismessyhappy George is on Instagram - @George_steele_ Sam is also on Insta - @beggsam

This week we were very lucky to have a chat with Simon Ward. Simon is one of the top coaches in the UK although he would hesitate to call himself a Triathlon coach nowadays. More a life coach with a specialism in Triathlon. We talked to Simon about what it is he think's he's done to be named 220 Triathlon Magazine Coach of the Year a whopping 6 times! As well as his concept of a physical pension, thoughts on the PTO and Ironman, creating the programme that discovered the Brownlees and how we could all do with a different perspective on what being physically active actually is. We were very lucky to have Simon on the show and if you want to know more about him then you can find him at the following; Website www.simonward.co.uk & www.TheTriathlonCoach.com Podcast - https://simonward.podbean.com Facebook Group - The Triathlon Coach Cafe And as always you can find us at; Ben - www.ThisMessyHappy.com & https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnnOksyxFnRBGHK1ZyLRJGA Ben's Insta - @thismessyhappy Sam's Insta - @beggsam George's Insta - @george_steele_

This week we chatted with the head of S&C at Leeds Beckett University; Dane Mitchell. We wanted to know how he approaches strength and conditioning in an endurance specific environment. Dane has worked with elite athletes,  Olympic medal winners (including our very own Ali and Jonny) and everyone in between. Dane's journey is very karmic as well, just like we like! He's thriving now because he gave so much of his time and passion up front with no expectation of receiving back. What a guy!