Progress with Patience: Marathon Training and the Spiritual Lessons of Running with Iain Hunter

In this episode of Y Health, host Dr. Cougar Hall sits down with renowned BYU exercise science professor and elite distance runner Dr. Ian Hunter to explore the lifelong impact of movement, motivation, and meaningful connection through running.

From his unexpected journey from middle-distance track athlete to world-ranked marathoner, Dr. Hunter shares how a single 15-mile run changed the trajectory of his life. Together, they break down practical, science-backed strategies for runners at every level—from beginners just getting started to experienced athletes aiming to improve performance.

But this conversation goes far beyond mileage and pace. Dr. Hunter offers powerful insights into injury prevention, strength training, and finding the right running shoes, while also highlighting the deeper benefits of physical activity—improved mental health, lasting social connections, and even spiritual clarity.

Whether you're training for your first 5K, chasing a marathon PR, or simply searching for a sustainable way to stay active, this episode will inspire you to find your “why” and discover the kind of movement that enriches your body, mind, and spirit.

Recorded, Edited & Produced by Averee Bates, Christy Gonzalez, Harper Xinyu Zhang, Madison McArthur, Kailey Hopkins, and Tanya Gale

Transcript

[00:00:00] Welcome to Y Health, a podcast brought to you by the BYU Public Health Department. I'm Dr. Cougar Hall, a professor here at Brigham Young University where you are a student. Parent or BYU fan. This podcast will help you navigate the world of public health. Our podcast strives to help individuals receive accurate information regarding public health, so whether it's global or local, we will discuss how it pertains to you.

Just kick back and relax as we talk about why health. Dr. Ian Hunter, welcome to the Y Health Podcast. Thank you. It's so nice to have you here. And we've been chatting just for a few minutes as, uh, we do sound checks and I have so much I want to ask, but I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind taking a few minutes and introducing yourself for our listeners.

Okay. Yeah. Ian Hunter, I've been [00:01:00] here as a professor at BYU for nearly 25 years now. Uh, it all started back in high school with desires to. Run and then eventually become a coach. Plans shifted a little bit along the way, but here I am. But you, you came here to run cross country, is that correct? That was my recollection, yeah.

Well, more so track. Track. I was more of a shorter, well, middle distance runner that enjoyed cross country, but what I got recruited for was for the track team. Very cool. What does middle distance mean For the uninformed? Yeah. Is this a one mile a two? Those are included. Those are technically, it's anything from 800 meters and less than 5,000 meters.

Ah, okay. 800 is what I mostly did, college and high school. Okay. And then they pulled you over to the cross country side of things? Well, I just tried to be a part of it. Yeah. But I was never quite there. I, there's always an alternate once in a while getting to travel, but. Uh, the shorter races were more my thing [00:02:00] back then.

Yeah. And I'm getting ahead of myself, but when did you, when did you transition to more endurance marathon distances? That really wasn't until I turned 35 and I was still running with the team, just enjoying that. And there was a runner named Josh McAdams that won the National Championships in the Steeplechase.

Okay. 3000 meter race over barriers and. He was training in the summer as a professional now and didn't have anyone to do workouts with. So I thought, oh, I'll just join him in the summer. And a Saturday came up and he said, are you coming to do the long run? I said, no, I, I can't run that far, Josh. And he says, yeah, you could make it.

So I thought, well, I don't know, maybe he's right. I guess I could try. It was 15 miles and I, I really thought that was too far for me to go, but showed up and. Started going to the guys. It was nice and slow at the start. And then I ended up finding myself with [00:03:00] Josh Rodinsky, who ended up being a national champion also, and John Kotter, who at this point has won the DT News Marathon.

I hink eight times or something. Wow. On St. George. Another time. And. I was up front with them realizing, oh, it's just the three of us up here. I'm getting a little nervous now you're hanging with the crow. 'cause we still had five miles to go and I got completely exhausted and wiped out for the day, but finished it and thought that actually went pretty well.

Yeah, and I didn't die and. I started thinking from that, maybe I should try a marathon. We've got Ed Ice stone here that coaches, and I'm sure he'd get a program going for me. Yeah. So it was all within, about that year, I went from mostly training for the 800 to training for marathon instead. I love it. I have to tell you something kind of funny.

Um, before I came to BYUI, I actually was the health and PE teacher at, at a local alternative high school. [00:04:00] And, uh, for our PE program for a full school year, like 32 weeks, I found a training program that, uh, in that exact amount of time you could train a group of people to run a marathon. And so that's what I pitched.

I had, I had 32 students and I said, Hey, 32 students, 32 weeks, the numbers are just lining up here. We're gonna do this. And, um, it wound up that 16 of them. Ran, um, either a half or a full marathon, which, which by the way, the program said there would be a 50% attrition. Okay. I mean, these are nonathletes. They were all non-runners on day one.

Uh, but it was really cool. But it, it was at that time, if I remember correctly, we were, as a class, we were reading about marathoning and nutrition, and there was a quote from you, and I didn't know you at that time, but someone had asked you, I think you had just won the St. George Marathon, and maybe set a record.

Someone had asked you what your [00:05:00] pre-race meal was, and you'll remember this. I remember it. It was something along the lines of, well, it was whatever they served at the hotel. I think it was a bagel and some cheese and some lunch meat. I'm, I am misremembering this. Yeah. What did you say? So if it was that St.

George Marathon mm-hmm. It was. A large closs of water, a gingerbread, Pop-Tart, and a banana. That's what it even worse than a bagel. Yeah, but it sits so easily, doesn't cause any stress. Gets a few calories in. Tastes good. And that's all you need on race Morning. I loved it. And my students just cracked up and they're like, you know, Cougar, you've been talking about the importance of, you know, these macronutrients and those macronutrients and here this guy won and he just randomly ate what they were serving.

And I was like, well, I think he might be special. And indeed you are special. Uh, brag just for a minute about yourself. Ian. Uh, are you currently ranked number one in your age classification in the world? Do you know? Um. Not [00:06:00] this year. Okay. Um, two years ago I had a good St. George race and that had me ranked number one for, um, over 50 year olds.

Yeah. I was 52 at the time or three. Really? Cool. So been good in age groups. The, the nice thing is the older you get, the smaller the. Population is that you're competing against, so that helps. But it, it has been a good few years. There's some truth with that, but the others all fall off. And so the people that are competing happen to be quite gifted, don't they?

Right. Well, I appreciate you. You're incredibly humble. I appreciate you saying that. A lot of our listeners will know exactly who you are and your accolades, but for the common listener, I think it actually helps for them to understand that. You really do know what you're talking about, and you study this, uh, in the Department of Exercise Science and in your research, and you've produced a whole bunch of fantastic graduate students and PhD candidates.

Um, but you also, you, you don't walk the talk. You run the talk. And, uh, so a [00:07:00] really cool combination. Yeah, I'm getting ahead of myself again. One more thing before we continue. Some people are picking up on your accent maybe, and I know a little bit about your background and especially how you arrived at BYU.

You, I think you mentioned you were just recruited, uh, for track and field. But also your introduction to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. Would you give us the three minute version of that in? Yeah, well, yeah. I'll try to do it in three minutes. Well, you can take 30 if you want. Uh, yeah, so we moved from England when I was nine.

All my, all my ancestry is British and Scottish. And uh, when I got to America, I started in the fourth grade and I had a friend Dave over for playing after school and. He, the conversation is one of those that, for whatever reason stuck in my head, I remember it exactly today. He said, Hey, what? What time is it?

He said, oh, it's about four o'clock. He went, oh, I need to get to scouts. And I said, oh, I did that in England. Do you think they'd let me come? [00:08:00] And Dave said, I guess. And so followed Dave over to. Garth Woodland's House where scouts was and met a few friends there. About half of 'em were members of the church.

And so I got to have a lot of friends that were good church members and grew up with others too. But that was kind of my main friend group as I, especially once I got into high school. Mm-hmm. And, um, there was a time when. I started going to seminary and church activities and I was already going to the Wednesday ones just 'cause of scouts, but started adding in church dances and once in a while I'd even go to church.

And then my friend Scott invited me over and, uh, he, he said, come over for family home evening. I, what's that? He said, it's fun. Just come over. When I got there, he had me go into this room and his [00:09:00] family was all in another room. There were two missionaries in the room I went into and I sat there confused, wondering why is this cold family home evening when they're another room and we're not?

And I think he was just apprehensive to say, Hey, come meet the missionaries. But that's how what happened. Sure. And it was quite a few months, about six months later, we'd been meeting every Monday for a missionary discussion. And I'd get asked about baptism and I'd let 'em know I didn't feel ready, but then they'd asked me to read something in the Book of Mormon before we'd meet the next time.

And I remember sitting in the corner of my room by myself and just thinking, oh, they're gonna ask me about this. I better read it. So I read it, didn't understand what I was reading. Language was unusual. Didn't have the background. Yeah, they probably gave it to me, but I didn't pay attention well enough and, but I read it and without comprehending really what the words were saying, I [00:10:00] just had this very powerful.

Knowledge coming to me of this is true, not just the book, not that passage, but everything they'd been teaching. So I showed up the next day and they asked if I read and I said, yeah, I did. And um, how'd it go? Well, I didn't really understand it. I'm ready to get baptized now. And they were so shocked and I couldn't understand why, because they'd been telling me for months.

You read this, you pray about it, God will tell you it's true, and then you're ready to get baptized. And when it happened, it was, they were surprised. Mm-hmm. So I, I didn't understand that either. But after going on a mission, I understood a bit more. It was more excitement. And so, yeah. Uh, so then I got baptized and I had started running about that time in high school.

And uh, when I was done, I'd run well enough in the 800 meters that. My other friend's mom said, what are you doing for [00:11:00] school? Told her my plan. She said, well, have you thought about BYU? And I said, no. That's just where my smart friends go. And I wasn't a very good student in high school and knew the smart ones go to BYU, but she told me, you should write to the coach and see.

So I wrote to Coach Hershey that was here at the time, and he wrote back and said, yeah, we can get a spot for you. Get you in. So I. Signed up for BYU instead of the normal process that people go through. Yeah. But ended up here, and that first week was just amazing because I didn't really catch on that.

BYU was a church school and so on Sunday, I was glad that Dan, my roommate from Pennsylvania, he was a member of the church and knew where to go and when to be there. So we start getting ready and then I walk in the hallway. I realized everybody's getting ready for church. What is going on here? I love it.

And so I ended up, uh. [00:12:00] Through the day, gradually figuring things out without having to ask anybody and feel embarrassed about it. Now I can just laugh about it and it's just naive, me being clueless. But, uh, everything from that moment of moving to America just kind of put me on the path. That's just been wonderful for me.

So cool. Uh, that was just a gem of a story and a, and a background and experience that you shared with us. I love it. And, uh, to grow up and not have all of that kind of background cultural knowledge that I think we so often as instructors here, maybe still take for granted and, and the opportunity we have.

For every student to meet them where they're at and answer their, there are no dumb questions as we know. Right, right. Oh, it cracks me up that you don't think you were one of the smart ones. 'cause here we are. Here we are. And you're exceptionally bright. I, I could qualify that as I had the brain for it.

Yeah. I didn't have the motivation in high school to be a good student, so I, I had to learn how to do that once I got here. [00:13:00] I think lots of us can connect with that for sure. Right. Yeah. The Lord's patient with us, right? As are our parents and our teachers in high school. Oh my heavens. Well, let's jump into your research and your expertise a little bit, and I, I think maybe we'll start with a really practical, which might be some, some running tips, and maybe there's just some basic strength training and flexibility thrown in there too, maybe for a beginner.

Or someone who has tried to, um, use, use jogging or running as, as a, an approach to reach their level of fitness, whatever, whatever level that is that they desire. But maybe they're not a regular, you know, lifelong runner. Uh, like you might be Ian, right? But, but they're interested in this. But man, it's hard.

Mm-hmm. Uh, and, and there's some soreness and. I've, I've got friends who just start running and, and they'll say, oh, I feel like I have shin splints already. Uh, I've told so many of my [00:14:00] friends, you know, the funny thing is, for me, the first like, one to two to three miles are the hardest. No matter how, like, if you run 25 miles or 50 miles, for me, kinda getting your body warmed up and, and uh, and getting your lungs warmed up are the most challenging and yet so many people.

That's as far as they run, and so, mm-hmm. I, I don't know if there's any truth to that, but those are the perceptions that I have from time to time. So maybe start with the beginners. Okay. First thing we need to know is why do they want to do this? Okay. For some it'll be. My doctor said my heart's getting bad and I need to be healthier.

Mm-hmm. Some, well, I want to do a marathon 'cause it's on my bucket list or, and others it might be, well I ran in the past, haven't done it for a while. Want to get back into it and want to do some racing. Mm-hmm. So there's a lot of different motivations of why people want to run, but all of those situations, if it hasn't, if they haven't been runners before, it's been a few years, then I'm gonna start them [00:15:00] with.

10 minutes of walking and jogging, and it's probably just two, maybe three days in the week. Okay. That first time through. And we see how that goes after two weeks of doing that. And then they'll gradually shift a little more running with a little less walking. Until they're doing, say, three days a week of maybe two miles each time.

Okay. And it, there's a lot of variation in this, depending on their, their full background and their current health status and so on. Mm-hmm. But we'll just every two weeks make some little increases, either in the intensity, which is more running, less walking, or maybe the pace, or adding a little bit to the volume.

So a general rule that seems to work well where I usually don't have people saying, oh, I've got this injury now, is, let's say we start with three days a week of two miles each time. Then after two weeks of that, we're [00:16:00] gonna add the volume of one mile per run. So we can now do three, three mile runs, or we could do.

A two mile another two mile a three or, um, what's gonna be left? Uh, if we did started with six miles total over three runs, we can add three miles total somewhere. Okay. We could add another run. We could add a little mileage to each run or some combination. After two weeks of that, now we've got more miles that we're doing and we can do another add one mile per run to the total mileage in the week.

And. Once they're comfortable and enjoying it and want more, if it's more towards wanting to race versus just running and staying healthy, then we'll start adding in some intensity and keeping the volume about the same. Okay. Are there some common mistakes that people make as they start out? You know, like, maybe doing too much too soon?

Yeah. Or is it too [00:17:00] quick? Or any, any thoughts that you've got there? Well, the, this may not be completely true, but there could be some exceptions, but I usually claim that. The cause of every running related injury, at least the overuse kind is a sudden change in training. And that might be the intensity went up too quickly.

It might be they were doing all this on the track and then decided to go into the mountains and now they're pounding down a hill. Beating up their bones in ways they're not used to. Mm-hmm. It could be the volume, it could be changing shoes. There's a lot of different things we'd call a sudden change in training.

Those changes need to happen very gradually, and that's why we do two weeks at a time, making little increases each time along the way. Yeah. Oh, and, and even with my limited. My limited experience that I just mentioned with those high school students, the biggest challenge in the first month was to hold them back.

They, they were like, I'm so bored. I just want to go longer. I just want to go further. Yeah. You know, just men had some anxiety. Yeah. [00:18:00] Hey, you know, Mr. Hall, if I, if we're really gonna run, you know, 26 miles, we can't be doing, you know, one minute walking, two minute jogging here, right. In week two. I'm like, no, we can't.

We must so. Well, that's a big reason why you end up with so many. Runners telling. I learned so many life lessons from the training I do. You're forced into patience. Mm-hmm. You're forced into injury and recovering from injury and how do you handle that? And then you have the great days and the terrible days on racing and there's so much that people learn from it.

Which hang is a big trick of, or key to why so many people get so, uh, addicted to, yeah. To doing it. Let me ask, are there, are there mistakes or. Challenges for someone who's just starting out related to their form, uh, you know, I'm sure you research things like shoes and foot strike and all these, but for a beginner, are you concerned?

Are you into those weeds early on? You can be [00:19:00] now the body's gonna be the best coach in all of this. The body feels things that a coach cannot see and the runner often isn't even aware of. So I would say the bigger. Mistake is when people think there's a really fast runner, they foot strike in a certain way, or they, uh, have a stride rate that's very high or very low or whatever, and they try to mimic that runner.

Mm-hmm. They have different anatomy and it's different strengths within the muscles. The, the wiring of the body where the tendons are inserting and originating. Varies and that makes it so we don't have the same optimal technique for performance or injury. So the, I'd say just let it be and have them focus on getting out the door consistently, and their body will make little adjustments if there is something that.

A [00:20:00] coach or biomechanics professor. Mm-hmm. Or someone can see in the movement that should be changed. If they can figure out what's causing it, then we usually fix those kind of things by strengthening the body in a certain way in. Strength training room rather than telling the person move different way the body doesn't want to yet.

So you gotta change the body so that the form follows with it. Mm-hmm. And that's where the coach and others, uh, can have some real value if they know what they're talking about. Okay. Any, any shoe advice while we're on this topic of foot strike? Any shoe advice for the beginner? And to be honest, having just taken my son to get new running shoes and a price tag north of $150, um, just, is there, is there advice that you've given people in the past, again, who are not, not racing, not competitive, right?

Just, just starting with their running journey? Yeah, yeah, for sure. I had a neighbor that asked me about. [00:21:00] Why do my feet always hurt when I run? And he was doing a treadmill run every day at work at lunchtime and said, well, I don't know. Do you move funny? And he said, I don't know. And we, we went with a few questions back and forth, and I found out he was running in what I would call tennis shoes.

Mm-hmm. You. Tennis shoes, sometimes a generic term, but actual, these are shoes for tennis, not for running. Right? And so I grabbed some from school that I had left over from a study and said, try these instead. And he came back a week later, like, this is amazing. Everything feels so good. Uh, now there's a researcher that's retired now from Calgary.

Benig. Benno is his first name. And. He studied footwear related to performance and injury for decades. Mm-hmm. His one of his final articles, he looked at what he called the preferred movement pattern. Every person's body and foot has a movement pattern that will feel most natural to them or. [00:22:00] It'll allow them to move without a lot of strain and stress causing them pain on their feet.

That is not gonna be barefoot, even though we think that's more natural. Mm-hmm. We're having a preferred movement pattern requires some protection of the foot to allow your foot to move in the way that feels best. Mm. Okay. And. Every shoe company makes good quality shoes. It's not like I can say, oh, you have to get Saucony or Nike or New Balance, or Asics or whatever.

Mm-hmm. They're all good quality shoes. That's what they've been doing for centuries, or no, not centuries, decades. At least. Most of these companies. Yeah. Yeah, a long time. Um, and what Benno found is you try on a bunch of shoes, probably different companies, and find which one is the most comfy. That was his scientific explanation.

I love it. Choosing shoes, the one that feels the most comfy, that's the one that's allowing your foot to move in a way [00:23:00] without any high pressure pushing on the arch or wherever it might be. So getting the one that's most comfortable is what you need in terms of getting started and running and not being injured.

When it comes to performance, there's a little bit of variation, would include there to consider. Love it. Oh, so many things I want to talk about, but I know we have, we have some time constraints. Um, maybe we can transition to more of the, the person who has been putting in, I don't know if it's 15 to 20 miles a week, but, but does have a years long history of, of either using jogging or running as their, as, you know, their preferred.

Approach to fitness, uh, or to, you know, maintaining a good energy balance, all these different things. But, but, but that's kind of their thing. Some people, they do aerobics classes and some people are doing yoga and, and, uh, but, but the person who's been running consistently for some time, [00:24:00] are there some things that you, some tips for them as well?

And maybe this is where you would maybe bring in some of those other forms of fitness, whether it's flexibility or strength training as well. I'm making some assumptions. Maybe you don't bring that in. Right. Um, yeah, so when we have someone that's had a history of running for a few years and they're wanting to change it, like maybe getting into some racing.

Yeah. Then we, if it was safe, 15 to 25 miles and now they're wanting to maybe do a half marathon, then. I would want to get their mileage up, but would also need to be careful and be very gradual in that. So it would probably take a few weeks of transitioning from 15 to 20 up to maybe 35 or something.

Could, is. Um, somewhat close to double. Okay. So we do that over quite a few weeks, and I would also start adding in once or twice a week doing what I classify as workouts. And some people going on a run is a [00:25:00] workout. Mm-hmm. We have different types of those though. So we have our recovery runs, which is most of what this person's probably been doing.

Those are still included, but then maybe on a Wednesday I would have them doing what we call a tempo run where they go. Relatively hard for three, four miles. If it's others here that I'm more accustomed to training with, those are getting quite a bit longer. Mm-hmm. We might be doing. Three times a mile on the track with a bit of rest in between, but workouts like that would start being included that get them going faster than race pace.

So their body makes some good adaptations. So race pace becomes a lot more comfortable. Mm-hmm. Okay. Um, along with that. Would be strength training. Uh, our marathoner, well everyone here, cross country team, track team, but also our pro marathoners that we have here. They're in the weight room twice a week.

It's usually for around 30 to 40 minutes. They're, we start usually with some. Form of a squat. [00:26:00] It might be somewhat traditional back squat or something. Sometimes it's, uh, goblet squats where you're holding a fairly heavy dumbbell and one leg and uh, or two leg. A lot of different, or two squats would be the other.

Mm-hmm. So we do some form of squat paired, usually with something in a form of, uh, cough race. Then we're doing a lot of either. Banded or cable pull machines to work all the stabilizing muscles around the hips. We often have some isometrics mixed in, which will be helpful for tendon health on the patella tendon, the achilles tendon, and so on.

Mm-hmm. So, um, some heavy lifting mixed with some lighter things. Also tendon health, muscle strength. And plyometrics get included there where there's some bounding and so on, which does have some good research out there showing running economy. The energy cost of doing the running decreases when you include plyometrics and adding some strength to the muscles.

Cool. So [00:27:00] those are the kind of things we'd add a bit more mileage, bit more intensity, and some strength training. Yeah. Oh, this is perfect. Thank you. As, as you transition maybe from that casual running, you know, like I've been mentioning, you know, kind of the beginner who's just getting started and then you do start to transition and you include some strength training, some trics, um, what.

What becomes the optimal say, warm up and cool down to the running event. Right. Um, and where does, where does flexibility come into play? Do we really, do we still increase flexibility post run when the muscles are warm? When the belly's warm? Right. Uh, it's been a minute since I've taken these classes.

Yeah. Yeah. There's been a few changes from what I learned when I was in school. Mm-hmm. Going through the exercise science degrees, the, the warmup will typically be. Around 10 minutes of running for most of our workouts that we're gonna be prescribing to people. And that would include [00:28:00] some running that's gonna be faster than race pace.

And then there's usually now some dynamic stretching if we do the, the slow long stretching, sustained stretching. That decreases muscle performance a little bit for, for a time. And so the dynamic stretching of swinging the legs back and forth, different directions and so on. Sometimes we use some bands to help pull a foot towards us and stretch the hamstrings and things like that.

Mm-hmm. But dynamic movements for stretching is what we focus on. The steeple chasers do a lot of static stretching separately from that, once they're warmed up, but not right after a workout, when they're a bit stiff and tight. 'cause they need positions that require extreme ranges of motion. Uhhuh. The runners generally don't need the extreme range of motion flexibility.

So it's more just the dynamic stretching included there. Okay. Um, when we get up to the current training group of our true elite runners, it's typically a three mile warmup that we do and then some [00:29:00] other stretching and running. Uh, before we start the workout. So you'll put in three miles, do some, some dynamic stretching and some other things.

Mm-hmm. And then the workout begins. Yeah. Okay. We better get into this. Let's get into this cohort then right away. So we've already covered beginners and then we've talked about those that have a history of running and how they're gonna elevate that with some speed training. And I'm. And I'm assuming some longer runs maybe once a week, right?

Yeah, usually on a Saturday or if you're out of Utah, somewhere on the weekends. Sure. They'll, they'll fit in the long run, which will be, uh, uh, depending on the purposes. Uh. Longer than any of the other runs that were done through the week though. Yeah. And then you, and then you, you start stacking those week by week.

Add a little bit to the long run maybe. Yeah, that's right. Well, wonderful. Now let's, let's talk about the competitive marathoner. And I'm, as I'm asking you these questions, Dr. Hunter, I'm thinking of, I, I have a brother-in-law who I would consider to be a very good runner, has run the Boston Marathon many [00:30:00] times.

Um, and I'm, I'm thinking of that group. Of people or, or, or maybe some marathoners, maybe they've done the St. George Marathon a handful of times and now they're wanting to improve their time and whether, whether it's to qualify for something like Boston or maybe they're just thinking, Hey, you know. This is my time and I wanna knock 10 minutes off.

Mm-hmm. Or I want to get down and be more competitive. Let's talk about that group. Is that okay? Yeah. Yeah. So first thing is we need to know what they've been doing. Mm-hmm. To know how far can we build from here? Uh, shall I share what the program is for our true elites? And then others could scale it down to where they think they can safely get to.

Maybe that sounds great. Would be the way to go. Yeah, that sounds great. So. Monday and Wednesday will be the same thing. It's gonna be usually about 12 miles in the morning and then seven or eight in the afternoon, and it's just the recovery pace. We're just out there chatting, talking, having fun the whole time.[00:31:00] 

Then Tuesday, Thursday, we'll have about our three mile warmup. Then we'll do a workout. If it's the marathoners, then we're looking at something like. Uh, three or four times, two miles, and that's about 10 or 15 seconds per mile faster than the race pace. Or it might be an eight mile coach calls it a PMP predicted marathon pace.

So we go eight miles at marathon pace. Sometimes we do, uh, what we call a tempo run of eight miles, which is fairly quick. Finish at the track and do three times a mile. We call 'em fatigue miles. We get fatigued, like we'd be in a race and then force ourselves to go fast. And when you say three times a mile, I apologize for interrupting.

What's the rest time in between those intervals on those? We do it one to one. So. If it's Connor Manz, he's doing those at four 15 per mile and then takes a four minute break and does another, [00:32:00] uh, wow. Uh, normal people, it's whatever pace. So they might be going say six minutes for that, or even seven, and then we usually max out those kind of breaks at five minutes.

Okay. Uh, rather than one to one, but yeah. Okay. The mile repeats, it's usually if it takes this long, that's how long the recovery is. Uh, and then we'll have a, uh, oh, the rest of that day is straight from there to get some nutrition in us, and then the weight room to do our strength training that I mentioned briefly.

Mm-hmm. And then from there we'll head to the sauna for usually about a 30 minute session in there. Uh, another good time just to laugh and visit and have fun. Mm-hmm. And, uh, by that time I'm already at my real job. Instead, I skipped some of the things for time's sake. Sure. But, um. Then there'll be some recovery with nutrition and resting, and then they'll head out and usually do another [00:33:00] five or six miles easy in the afternoon.

Same thing on Thursday, Friday's, the easy day where it might even just be one 12 mile run easy. That's the easy day. Yeah. And then Saturday is once we're fully into the cycle of training, it's anywhere from 20 to 25 miles every Saturday. And those are usually done at about 40 seconds. Slower than marathon pace per mile.

But then we'll add in anywhere from about three to seven miles of a pickup that's close to marathon pace near the end of it. And then we're very glad for that day off on Sunday. 'cause it means we really have about 48 hours until our next run. And that's enough time to recover and start it all over again.

That's what they mean by a day of rest, huh? That's right. Oh my heaven. Yeah. Coach Eye stone sticks to that. I love it. Holy smokes. Okay. I think that there's gonna be some scaling down, as you mentioned. [00:34:00] Yeah. For most of our listeners there. And that's a hundred to 120 miles a week for this group. And so I'd say if you or someone that had been doing 50 miles a week with a 18 mile long run, then.

The next ti cycle of training that that person goes through, I'd probably add, say 10 or 15% to the mileage that they'd been doing before. Okay? And if that goes well, the next cycle, do another 10%. So when Coach Ice Stone started me on marathoning. I'd been running about 60 miles a week. Mm-hmm. And he got me up to 75 for that first marathon cycle.

The next year we did 80, then 85, then 90, and eventually we got into about a hundred for the, the peak that I get to. Okay. So he took his time building you up? Yeah. And is that, was that important for you as far as preventing injury? Or was it important as far as uh, just the physiology, just, just ramping up, whether it's mitochondria or lung capacity, or VO [00:35:00] two max, whatever.

All the above, I'm assuming. Right? Yeah. Oli gonna be included. I was most worried about injury. Okay. I always found if I went to, above about 55 miles a week, I found myself getting injured. Mm-hmm. Somehow he got me to a hundred. Now the difference was I was training for the 800, and the intensity is so high that if you try to put more miles in the injury risk is there.

Marathon training. It's very, very difficult doing it in the style that I just mentioned. Mm-hmm. And fatiguing. But the intensity of each mile is much lower than when we're doing 200 meter repeats and so on. Mm-hmm. Training for the 800, so. We increased the mileage, but we dropped my intensity and he did it in a way that overall I had some little problems with injury along the years, but for the most part, that progression of about five miles added each time I did the training cycle seemed to work [00:36:00] well because the intensity was lower.

Love it. Okay. That's pretty impressive. I'm a little overwhelmed, to be totally honest. Some of our listeners will be a little overwhelmed when you mention a short, you know, 12 mile run at a casual pace. I'm thinking all that happens. Yeah. Uh, I love it though. And actually as you're talking, whether it's, whether it's that, it's that kind of zone two 12 mile run where you're chatting each other up.

Mm-hmm. And, and you know what? What was the best, you know, best and worst from your weekend? Like it's really social. Yeah. To sitting in Asuna for half an hour and as said, you know, chatting each other up. Yeah. I'm just thinking of the massive benefits to our social and mental health. Oh, yeah. But would you, maybe, maybe just as we wrap our discussion up today, Ian, I so appreciate your time.

Could you sell us on running? What are, what are, what are the, the fundamental, the primary, the foundational. Health benefits and I, my guess is there's. Extreme physical benefits [00:37:00] to what you've just described, but there has to be social benefits and mental and emotional. I mean, to some extent is this not therapy for people who run, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think I can sell you on, we need to be active and consistent in doing something. Okay. I dunno if I can sell you on running, but I can tell you why I love it. And some of that might attach. Yeah. I, I can't be a cyclist. It's too hard to converse on the runs or on the rides. 'cause you know, the wind's going, the cars are going by.

You're in a line, you can't really converse. Sure. So an aspect of the running is that social part for me, if you ask why I run the number one answer for me is I don't know how I could handle life without the connections I have with the people. Yeah. Through these years. So. Most of the time when we're out there running, we're not talking about running.

We don't need to, we already know it relative to each other. We'll talk about [00:38:00] what are the race plans for whatever's coming up, but most of the conversation is. Well around here might be a little unique. There's a lot of gospel communication and yeah. What did you think about the devotional that we just heard?

Things like that? Uh, with Jared and I, Jared's I've probably run, well, I know I've run more miles with him than anyone in my life. He's been doing it for years also. Yeah. And, uh, very successful. Uh, we've had so many conversations about social issues, family, how do we. Uh, raise our children when they're being mean to my wife.

And, you know, if they call me a jerk, I just think this is funny. Yeah. You're the worst dad ever. And, and I, I'd have to try not to laugh when they tell me that, but if they say something about. My wife. Then it's like, how do I keep calm? Yeah. And make this a learning. We all those kind of talks and it's [00:39:00] just so good being around these people that I'm the old one that's supposed to be their mentor, but it definitely goes two directions with that and I learned so much from 'em.

I have so many good experiences. I don't know if I need therapy. Well, I'm sure I do, but I find that it works for me. Just going on runs with these guys. Yeah. What does my needs of, of therapy? Uh, the physical parts of it are amazing though too. You definitely feel healthy and good when you go with your family or family reunion, and we're gonna go hike the Y.

Mm-hmm. It's not hard, right? We just go up and do it and, and it's great. You feel capable of doing things. You're not wiped out the rest of the day. So there's social benefits. There's the physical benefits, and then. Mentally and in terms of self-improvement, having a goal for something. You know, for me, I've got my goals for when I go do a marathon.

Someone else might [00:40:00] be two miles ahead of me at the finish and they have different goals. Someone else is, takes twice as long to finish it than I do and they can still be just as excited when they cross that line 'cause they broke four hours in the marathon for the first time and. We can set our own goals of what gets us excited for whatever we might want to accomplish.

And you see people that cross the line at St. George Marathon that seem to be much more happy than the person that won it. Mm-hmm. And in reality, they accomplish something just as impressive. Pretty cool, huh? Yeah, I do. I do. I've always loved that about running. The whole PR or your personal best? It's so individualized.

Yeah, and what I, what I have found, I have done, you probably run more in a week than I run in a year, but I've done a couple of ultra marathons. And, uh, and I, and for me to run 50 or 60 miles literally takes all [00:41:00] day. You'd, you'd be back and ready for lunch? No, I wouldn't have started that race, but it's an all day experience.

And I can vouch for what you just shared. The physical, the mental, the social. There's a spiritual aspect that I found too, and I'd love to hear this from you, Ian, but I've never done an all day ultra race. It's always in a beautiful setting in the mountains where I haven't had a moment, usually between mile 30 and 50 at some point, I, I actually will shed some tears and I, I feel like everything is stripped away, all of the facade, all of the things that we think matter in life, which really don't, they just kind of are stripped away.

And what I'm left with. Is really raw and personal, and it's usually my love for God, for my savior. It's always my love for my wife, my family. Like it's, there's this, this clarity that comes from being. Whether it's physically exhausted [00:42:00] or right in, in the midst of what really is a challenge that feels like a life or death challenge when you've maxed out your body systems.

Right? So that has many times been the motivation for me is I want, I wanna experience that again. I wanna experience that, that just complete honesty. Right. Is there, is there a spiritual aspect for you? Yeah. Yeah. So if you think about any of the activities we do in, in a week, let's. One that works nicely.

For this example with the potential audience here. Let's say we're at church on Sunday and it's time to receive the sacrament, the bread's coming around, and I'm assuming a lot of the lists understand what I'm talking about when I say that. Uh, you hear the words of the prayer. You see the young men walking around with the trays.

You reach for the bread, you touch it. You smell some things of the bread and whatever else is with the room. In [00:43:00] that setting, you're pondering over some things. You're using all of your senses. For something as simple, I think I can say, as simple as partaking of the sacrament on a Sunday Now. You take that and apply that to being out, say, on a trail running around, the smells are very noticeable.

Mm-hmm. Whenever I go back to California, which is where we moved, and I had to run to San Antonio County Park and run there, the first thing I notice is the smell. Mm-hmm. Like, oh, I know where I am now. So the smells, the sights, the sounds, the feels of what's going on in the body. Have you so in tune with.

All of the senses that Heavenly Father has given us to, to enjoy in this life. Mm-hmm. So you're, you're feeling that when you're running and when you're consistent at it and it's become part of your routine, that it's not [00:44:00] just. Painful to get through the run and you can just be out there enjoying it.

There's something so unique like you, you put it into good words there, where it's not just a physical or emotional or social thing. There's spiritual aspects to it also, and you can enjoy that when you're with someone. You might be more in tune for it when you're just out on your, on your own in the mountains.

Mm-hmm. Looking around and feeling nature. That every aspect of body, mind, spirit, uh, is included in the run. I love it. You've captured that so well. And as you're talking about certain smells, whether it's, uh, you know, a pine forest or sage here in Utah, and you just, it just, it, it brings back a flood of memories.

Right. And you're right. You know where you're at. Yeah. So, cool. True. Well, this has been an absolute. Treat for me and I think it'll be a treat for our listeners as well. I have to thank you for your time and I guess I should [00:45:00] just ask you before we say goodbye, Ian, is there anything else you'd like to share with our listeners?

I'm about the worst in the world at asking the right questions, especially when I have such an expert in front of me. Is there something else that in, in your heart or your mind that you'd like to share? That's a wrap up. Well, I hadn't thought ahead of time as like kind of a conclusion thing. Yeah. But um, yeah, I think the important thing here is.

For me, running has been what I found. I was a tennis player throughout my life up until halfway through high school, and I still enjoy that. But I found the connections with Body, mind, spirit for me, come from running. That's where it works and I, I don't think everyone needs to become a runner. Everyone definitely does not need to become a marathoner.

That's not good for your body. The actual race, the training for, it's good, but racing in a marathon all out. Takes so long to recover. Yeah, I don't think it's really all that good. So don't feel like you have to do [00:46:00] a marathon to get these feelings I'm talking about. But for others it'll be cycling. Others, it'll be swimming, but getting out and being active, maybe it's just hiking even.

But the health benefits, the longevity, the feelings of strength later in life are gonna come only if there's some consistent, good, strong physical activity happening. So the listeners need to just find what that is for them. If it's running, come join me at 7:00 AM at the field house and we'll head out on a run together too.

You may have a crowd of people, but uh, I just so, amen. I so agree with that. Find your thing and start slow if you need to start slow, right. And, but you'll in time. You'll develop the knowledge base and you'll want to read things. You'll be drawn to different videos and educational tools and that, I mean, we, we are so blessed right now to be able to access good knowledge in so many different places, right?

But if that's, if that's what [00:47:00] brings you joy and it's what takes care of your mind, body, spirit health. Go for it. It doesn't have to be the same as your neighbor. It doesn't have to be what you're seeing on social media. Find your thing that you enjoy and will be consistent at. Yeah, and that knowledge, that experience, and those social connections will come.

There are so many different communities out there from yoga to marathoning, right, where you'll find your people and it's so incredibly motivating to connect. And to use our bodies and to fill all those senses that, as you mentioned, heavenly father blessed us with. Right. Oh, you've blessed my life, my friend.

This is awesome. We're gonna have you back again, so you have to tell us what your hourly rate is. Okay. Sounds good. But thank you, Dr. Hunter. What, what a pleasure to have you on the Y Health Podcast. I've enjoyed it. Thanks for having me. All the best. Thank you for joining us today. Catch us on our next episode, and don't forget to subscribe to Future Y Health episode.[00:48:00]