The Natural Running Network

If you were to look into the future of OCR you are certain to find these fine young athletes in the thick of Elite Competition at the Spartan World Championships.  The Cast of athletes we fondly refer to as “The Young Guns” are made up of Cali Schweikhart, Veejay Jones, James Nair and John Penland.… Read more → The post Spartan World Championships Podfest Interview Series-Interview #2 w/“The Young Guns” appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

The Natural Running Network and Host Richard Diaz was invited to conduct interviews pre-race at the Spartan World Championships.  This is interview #1 with Elite Pro Faye Stenning in a series of 4 Podfest interviews.  In the interview, Faye shares her preparation leading to this event, her thoughts on the competition, her terrible running shoe selection practices… Read more → The post Spartan World Championships Podfest Interview Series-Interview #1 w/Faye Stenning appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

Once again, the Spartan World Championships is upon us.  The Series was highly competitive with the usual suspects taking the podium along with a few surprises along the way.  If you’ve been following Spartan Races you may already have your favorites but in this episode I beg the question… Who is going to win?  Will it… Read more → The post Spartan World Championships – Predictions appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

BE WARNED THIS CONTENT MAY BE DISTURBING. On this day, 17 years ago, my wife and I woke up in a hotel room just outside Los Angeles International Airport.  We spent the night there because that morning we were contracted to provide preseason assessments on the LA Kings Hockey Team.  We were preparing for a… Read more → The post 9/11. appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

What seemed like completely out of nowhere, Rebecca Hammond came on to the Spartan OCR Elite field and made people take notice.  Its almost unheard of for anyone to walk into the Spartan North American Championship course with only 2 prior events under her belt and cause a stir.  Yet, cause a stir she did. … Read more → The post The Spartan World Championship – Dark Horse…Rebecca Hammond appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

There never seems to be an end to the questions that hard working OCR athletes have regarding their training and racing, with the help of one of our friends Jennifer Herring, Coach Richard Diaz tries to offer his opinion and advice on these topics: Heart rate seems to need a longer pre-race warm up, why?… Read more → The post OCR Running Questions and Answers appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

By now, everyone is aware that OCR is here to stay. Some thought it to be a fad, if that’s true, I know of over 13,000 dedicated athletes in one single group who might argue the point. What I believe to be true is that the everyday athletes and fitness enthusiasts who have been drinking… Read more → The post Spartan 4-0, The Biggest OCR Team in the World appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

Coach Diaz, who also happens to be the host of this podcast has asked VeeJay Jones  Elite Spartan Pro to return to share some insights on training. Learn a few valuable tips on cutting precious time from your racing Get a sneak peak into the infamous Tuesday Morning Training Sessions  Learn how to get a… Read more → The post OCR Racing Tips and Breaking News! appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

My good friend Matt Fitzgerald is back with a new book The 80/20 Triathlon.  This training principal is a winning formula for most any endurance sport and I highly recommend that all of my listeners pay attention to this episode.  It works for OCR too!  Once you understand how important it is to partition your… Read more → The post The 80/20 Triathlon Formula appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

Some months ago I did a podcast with what I referred to as the “Young Gun”, VeeJay Jones, the youngest athlete to win an Elite Spartan Race.  As a coach, I saw him as the future of the sport, worth nurturing and certainly a prospect for greatness in the sport.  However, he is not alone… Read more → The post Young Guns Part II – Interview with Elite OCR Pro Cali Schweikhart appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

You couldn’t make this up if you wanted to!  Aside from Hunter McIntyre being the reigning TMX Champ and crowd favorite for the upcoming TMX Championship on June 8th 2018. Hunter and his newly appointed wing man Beni Gifford are a couple of cartoon characters. Listen in to here Hunter explain why no one in… Read more → The post TMX Championship Preview with Hunter McIntyre and Beni Gifford appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

Its been awhile since last I posted an episode and whenever we are short on content, we put it out to the followers to provide some stimulating questions regarding OCR training and racing. In this episode, I asked one of my East Coast friends and colleagues Kristen Swan Kurtz to give me a hand with… Read more → The post Another OCR Question and Answer Episode appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

Not everyone has a chance to visit Coach Diaz at his “Infamous Secret Lab” those who do generally end up performing beyond expectation.  I thought it might be fun to have one of my clients share his experience and allow you to not only hear his thoughts on the visit but see what went down… Read more → The post A Visit to The Secret Lab appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

It’s a pretty well known fact in most running circles that heel striking and over striding leads to injury. Many runners have made the shift to forefoot running and in doing so have migrated to zero drop shoes.  Unfortunately for many, this transition has not come easy and has lead to a variety of new… Read more → The post Making the Transition from Heel Striking to Forefoot Running appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

We decided to take more questions on training was we often do, our favorite this time relates to our children in sports.  Are we doing the right things to encourage their enjoyment, desire to compete? Are we trying to live through our kids and causing more harm than good?  Coach Diaz has had years of… Read more → The post What are you doing with your Athletic kids? appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

The Bone Frog Challenge Race series aere obstacle course races designed and directed by Navy Seals.  These obstacle course races are gaining widespread popularity on the eastern seaboard due to their quality and unique challenges many drawn from Navy Seal Training.  Richard Diaz has invited Brian Carney, former Navy Seal and founder of the Bone… Read more → The post Interview with Brian Carney founder of The Bone Frog Challenge appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

Stride frequency seems to be the most controversial and perplexing component of running mechanics. There are those that resist the theory of 180 spm being an ideal cadence and its the cause of many arguments.  I however feel that most people that struggle with this approach have pieces of the puzzle missing.  In this podcast… Read more → The post Why 180 Strides per Minute? appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

Back to back OCR events 100 miles apart and I hit them both to show support for a few of my athletes in Veejay Jones and Hunter McIntyre. I invited a few talented athletes in Mike Ferguson and Race course expert Steve Hammond on the show to share their views on the weekends competition. The… Read more → The post Spartan San Jose and Tough Mudder TMX Weekend Recap appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

Veejay Jones is the youngest athlete to win a Spartan Race overall and is currently a member of The Spartan Pro Team. He is also an athlete coached by Richard Diaz.  In this episode, we discuss the prospects winning against the competition at the NBC Spartan Series season opener at San Jose California on March… Read more → The post Veejay Jones – Young Gun on the OCR Spartan Pro Circuit appeared first on The Natural Running Network.

We asked the owner and founder of MudGear to come on and share is story on how MudGear was born, his enthusiasm for the sport of Obstacle Course Racing and the love that goes into each of his products. Diaz human Performance has named MudGear as the official provider of all they’re training and racing… Read more → The post MudGear Official provided for DHP-OCR appeared first on The Natural Running Network.