Life to the Max Podcast
Welcome to 'Life to the Max Podcast,' where resilience meets inspiration!
Join us on a transformative journey through the life stories of remarkable individuals, including Quadriplegic Army Veteran Maximilian Gross. In this empowering podcast, we dive into tales of triumph, courage, and the human spirit's unwavering ability to overcome obstacles.
Our show is a celebration of diverse narratives, from awe-inspiring achievements to the darkest of traumas. 'Life to the Max' is a testament to the power of living authentically, no matter the circumstances. We believe that everyone has a unique story worth sharing, and we invite individuals from all walks of life to join us.
Discover the profound meaning of living 'Life to the Max'—a concept that resonates differently with each storyteller. It's a journey of perspective, resilience, and finding joy amidst life's challenges. Tune in to be inspired, motivated, and reminded that there's strength in every story.
Ready to redefine what it means to live life to the fullest? Share your story with us and become a part of this uplifting community. Because, at 'Life to the Max,' every story matters.
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Life to the Max Podcast
The Joy of the Race: Pure Marathon Passion with Filip Latocha
Ever wondered if juggling multiple passions is a blessing or a curse? We sit down with Phillip Latocha to unravel the intertwined paths of running and personal growth. From childhood soccer fields to college tracks, Phillip discovered his enduring love for running, challenging both the mental and physical demands of endurance sports. We reflect on the delicate dance between athletic pursuits and life's existential questions, sharing stories of how fitness and computer science eventually took precedence over music in our lives.
Prepare to be inspired by the electrifying atmosphere of marathon running, where Phillip and I recount the thrill of races like the Chicago Marathon and the therapeutic release they provide. Whether navigating the complex world of running shoe technology or discussing the critical role of nutrition, we offer practical advice for every runner, from novices to veterans. The conversation takes a poignant turn with the remarkable story of Filip Latocha, who, despite living with paralysis, exemplifies the art of resilience and determination, urging listeners to chase their dreams without excuses.
Our discussion also delves into the transformative power of running during challenging times, such as the pandemic. We touch on the evolution of fitness technology, emphasizing the importance of heart rate monitoring in tracking progress. With a blend of personal anecdotes and expert insights, this episode is a celebration of running as a metaphor for life’s journey—embracing the struggles, savoring the triumphs, and finding joy along the way.
I, my dogs, we just trying to get by. Just a couple of puns all trying to get by. Just a couple of teens all trying to survive. Live to the max, cause you don't live it twice.
Speaker 2:Couple green thumbs all welcome back to another episode of life, to the Max. I'm your host, the Quadfather, aka Max Millie Grose. Today we're going to dive into the running world, the people who are running around and take it very seriously marathon runners, whether you're a sprinter, that's what we're going to do and I got Phillip Latosha with me today. Phillip, it's nice having you here today yeah, it's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me come out well, it's uh, my brother started talking to you. How did that happen?
Speaker 3:yeah, we were at. Uh, we're at the gym, we're just talking, um, I mean, we see each other like all the time. Uh, there's like a collection of people who show up kind of at the same time at the gym. So so eventually you start talking to people and you know, we find out that. You know, you've got this thing, the podcast. He was kind of like exploring some running, some weightlifting. So we kind of find our common grounds there you know, rex doesn't run, though.
Speaker 3:I've seen him run like once or twice before, or at least try to, so I figured there was something there, you know.
Speaker 2:And I came up in the conversation.
Speaker 3:I guess that was uh, yeah, what happened? He was like hey, you know, uh, my brother, uh was like a big runner and he wants to like bring you on and talk to you.
Speaker 2:So we're here, yeah here, we are right, so bad. So how long have you been running?
Speaker 3:um, do you want the short answer? The long answer? Long answer um, so I think I knew I was okay at running, probably as like a kid, maybe like since kindergarten, first grade, but like I never really made anything of it until about college time. So, um, I didn't run in school, I played soccer for like a long time, um, but then in high yeah.
Speaker 3:I played like in grade school so I was like always the kid who if you pass me the ball, I would kick the ball like really far and I'd just run with it. You know, Um, and then in high school I kind of took a break from sports. I started doing more music. I played in a band, so running and like anything of a fitness level.
Speaker 2:What instrument did you play?
Speaker 3:What's that?
Speaker 2:What instrument?
Speaker 3:did you play? Oh, I was a guitar player.
Speaker 2:Me too, yeah. So for me, running. I didn't like it. I've always wanted to be a runner when I was a kid, but I was like, fuck, I can't do this Like in wrestling I would run, sprint, do all these things, but I was never good at it. But when I got what were you.
Speaker 3:I was gonna like ask like were you active as a kid at all?
Speaker 2:um, yeah, I uh. So we all go through that pudgy phase. I guess you know when you're growing up, but when I, uh was a freshman, I joined the soccer team and I was those, uh, a lot of like, you know, running. Obviously I didn't think how bad it was gonna be, but it's like, literally you're all you're doing is running and then I enjoyed it. So I was like fucking I'm enjoying wrestling so I joined wrestling and that's a lot of running. Dude, I didn't think it was. It's a lot of sprinting actually.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because you need endurance for wrestling.
Speaker 3:And yeah, it seems like it's easy on paper and then you realize it is. It's the same thing with MMA. Same thing Just three round bouts of anything, even UFC 2, that'll drain you, especially upper body cardio man. It looks easy, but it's not. That'll drain you, especially upper body cardio man. Like it looks easy but it's not yeah, so what about?
Speaker 2:well, like uh, it's got you, uh like, more focused on running rather than like you know what bands and all that stuff yeah.
Speaker 3:So I guess after high school college kind of happens um halfway into college. I guess you go through like if I talked about like the self-actualization phase in your life, would you know what I'm kind of talking about no okay.
Speaker 3:So that's like the moment where it like kind of hits you like there's no like definitive moment, I think, just reality snaps and you're just like, okay, what am I doing with my life? Um, what's my future? Looking like I'm doing this thing in college, is this going to be like a viable future? Like like it's just reality kind of hitting you and you're like, oh, okay, I'm like zero, like I'm not invincible at anything. So how do we become this thing that I envisioned I was going to be 10 years ago, 10 years into the future?
Speaker 2:so. So when you were in college you had this epiphany kind of, and were you doing any sports at the time?
Speaker 3:No. So in college I was doing so I started my undergrad in computer science and just like I guess it's death by a thousand cuts, right, like some relationships in life go bad, you start realizing that this thing you're studying might not have a viable future. You know, ai coming in, people will work for half price in the field and, like you know, as I predicted, like computer science is just basically, unless you're like the top tier, best of the best, or in software engineering, it's really hard to find like a computer science. Ask a job. Ok, somebody might correct me on that.
Speaker 3:But I, I'm pretty sure that's what's happening now and, um, what I was deciding now is like, okay, cool, um, this major I'm studying might not have a viable future. Um, I feel like physically inept cause, you know, I'm not weightlifting. I'm like 115, 120 pounds and I'm like 22 years old, so like'm scrawny, I'm short, you know. Um, so at what point do we start like breaking out of these things? And, uh, I had a friend who was uh with me in college and he said, hey, let's just go start weightlifting at the gym at the college, right? Uh, I went to a depaul university so we were just working out at depaul, yeah, so I spent a lot of time there. We were doing like the workout that Thor from the Avengers was doing. I guess he had like his, or Chris Helmsworth had his own like workout. So we followed that workout plan and then, after a while, like, my friend went on vacation and he didn't come back to the gym and I was on my own.
Speaker 2:So like, that's your moment of, like you did, chris Helmsworth's workout plan.
Speaker 3:I did for a while, yeah, and I like distinctly remember he had a lot of like forearm workouts, like on arm day and uh, yeah, those are just fun. They were like, uh, I guess like wrist curls and things and then just everything else was like kind of standard, like squats, you know, bench, uh, deadlift, so what was that like?
Speaker 2:was it intense?
Speaker 3:uh, I guess in the beginning it was intense, just um. You know your body's like just adapting to everything you're throwing at it right, especially starting at 115, 120 pounds, um doing deadlifts and then just like being consistent with um any sort of workout will kind of beat you up.
Speaker 3:So at some point I remember I remember one of these days um, there was, uh, we did like a leg day with one of my other friends and then we proceeded to do like a three or four mile run with like intervals, and I distinctly remember I literally could not walk for a week, like my, my, uh quads were so ripped up that I was like leaning against everything wherever I was because I was like, oh god, I can't walk. And it was just so funny and, like I remember, my dad looked at me. He he's like dude, whatever you did, like, don't ever do that again.
Speaker 2:It's all like Jell-O yeah it was like Jell-O.
Speaker 3:He's like whatever you did, like, don't ever do that again. And since that day I've been doing that ever since and I'm able to still walk, so the adaptations have been good, I would say.
Speaker 2:That's pretty impressive. Did your friend keep going?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, now one of them is like he's a power lifter. He tries to like compete in like any local competitions around the state. My other friend works as a personal trainer, so we all kind of like start in this little cluster and we've they're blossoming. I don't know if I have, but, like you know, we're trying to make it, that's what it is.
Speaker 2:Well, let's get back to you and see if you did blossom, because you said as a kid you were a soccer player and you were always running around. What position did you play?
Speaker 3:I was playing forward and left midfield Because I'm a lefty, so they want me on the left side.
Speaker 2:So how did you play?
Speaker 3:during high school school. I played for one year in high school and I think, um you've probably maybe noticed this, I've seen this before like playing in grade school and playing in high school are two completely different animals. Absolutely I can't vouch for what happens in college sports. I also imagine that's different. But like I played with really weird people who were, um, just not good team players in high school and it was just. It was one of those things where, like I wanted to quit like three weeks into the sport and like my parents told me like hey, listen, just you stick with it. You like you signed up, just finish the year off or finish the season and from there you can do whatever you want. You know in school. But it was kind of one of those important lessons of like hey, even if it's bad, just finish it, just go through with the experiment, you know.
Speaker 2:Would you say that's what drove you away from playing soccer.
Speaker 3:I would say so yeah, and that would also be the thing with other things. But yeah, soccer especially, that was a big one.
Speaker 2:When you play with a bad team or you just have that bad personal experience, it'll uh well, there's a lot of politics and, like high school sports, do like who starts, who doesn't start, like what parent, like donates, like money towards the team, like who's close to the team. So I totally understand where you're coming from yeah, and that's interesting because that's you.
Speaker 3:You bring this up and I've only heard about this the first time from, like, someone else at the gym who, um, his son plays baseball. It must be something like out here in the suburbs, where that's kind of that thing where the politics play in, because, like when I was living in chicago, like you signed up on the team, uh, if you played for a private school, there was like maybe like maximum 15, 20 people and like you got to play. It's not like your parents like put in some sort of influence to make sure you were a forward or some sort of recruiter came in like it's.
Speaker 3:It's weird how I see that difference and I understand that out here would be crazy like if you weren't born in this particular um, like I don't know if you weren't born in crystal lake, like I don't want to see you on my team, kind of thing, you know that's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's that's how it is, though it's insane. I don't understand it either. But now we're now you're grown you kind of understand it, you know. So did you like continue running like during high school, like just for fun?
Speaker 3:um, not really. I was like full-blown into like playing in a band, playing in music. Like we would, you know, show up to like people's basements and play like heavy metal music. It was so fun yeah.
Speaker 3:So that was like that was kind of our shtick for like years. And then, uh, with that kind of going on, and then I eventually got to a point where I got hired as a music teacher. So I was like teaching guitar, voice, piano, that was like my thing for a little while. It was my gig in college. So music was like a big deal for me for a long time. And then there was just that shift, when I was self-actualizing life, of like hey, am I going to do music for the rest of my life? Am I doing computer science? What's grad school going to look like? All these things kind of came together and what came out of it was that, hey, this running thing is cool, I want to start, you know, getting fit again. Music started taking kind of like this back burner for me, because I was just burnt out for like doing music for 10 years, teaching it, you know.
Speaker 2:I mean it seems like you had a lot going on. Yeah, there's, you have to. Computer science got the band that you want. You want to like. Uh, I feel like you're a type person where you want to jump in the deep end and get every like take go 100, is that correct?
Speaker 3:sure, I guess. But yeah, like you mentioned it, it's impossible to get that 100%. Do you want to be an 80% expert at one thing, or 60% to 40% at 10 different things? That's, I guess, what you're kind of talking about yeah. So at that point it was like 40% being generous. It was 40% good at like five or six different things or things I was interested in 40 good at like five or six different things or things I was interested in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so for me, like it's me, and you are completely different when I uh, when I was, like in high school and growing up I wasn't a runner, I wasn't good. Then when I got to the military I learned that you have to run you know I learned I was actually a pretty good runner.
Speaker 2:You know I uh my uh mile, my best mile was four minutes 19 seconds. I weighed 185 and, uh, my best five miles, because we did five miles in the military instead of like five k's or 10 k's, we did five miles. My best five mile was around like 31 minutes and I was uh you one minute and I was uh 175, 185 pounds. So, um, do you like? Do you? Do you like?
Speaker 3:uh, try to keep keep track of your prs, your personal record, your personal records yeah, so I mean, I guess first off you know, thank you for your service um, yeah and then, on the note of like a 419 mile, like fun fact, you would probably be able to get onto depaul's track and field team with a 419, so you should have done it.
Speaker 3:It would have been great, but no, um, uh, in terms of records, yeah, I keep track of like the big ones and it's funny because, like we keep track of the opposite ones right, like I've never actually tried to do like a full-blown mile to see how fast I can go. I kind of know like where my 5k was at at its best. But like the big times for me are like the half marathon and the marathon and I understand that that's kind of. Maybe this is kind of where it's contentious as a runner, like that could be working backwards in terms of trying to get faster for a marathon, because you want to get the basics down first before you start pushing into like 26.2 mile range. So what?
Speaker 2:what drew you to your first marathon?
Speaker 3:what was that?
Speaker 2:what drew you to your first marathon? Like how, what, like it'd be? Yeah, your mind says that I'm gonna run a marathon because that's like a tough assignment, you know.
Speaker 3:I mean, it doesn't seem tough, your first one ever, but I mean, after that it kind of you think about it more. But what got me to the first marathon? I guess there's a couple of things. One I know my dad like always volunteered for the Chicago Marathon for like as long as I remember, since 2009,. Right, so he was always at mile 25. Since 2009. Right so he was always at mile 25. Um, so the idea of the marathon was like always, I guess, ingrained in my family, but they never like ran it. I was like the only serious runner in my family. So what happened there was that's always ingrained. And then, um, in 2015, 2016,.
Speaker 3:You know, you talk to your friends, you kind of continue running and you're like, hey, this running thing's kind of cool. I can do a 5k, I can do a half marathon. What happens if we do the marathon? And, like I was young, I was like naive, so I'm like I can totally just wake up one day and just do one. And that's kind of what happened. And I got to remember the name of the trail, but it's in Niles, illinois. You go up to the botanic gardens. It's like 13 miles up, 13 miles down. So I said okay, I've biked on this many times. What if I just run the entire thing and just we call it a marathon?
Speaker 3:And I remember just one day after work, you know, I had Jimmy John's like for lunch and then I put on my running shoes and I went ahead and attempted it and it was like a really rainy, grueling, like foggy day and uh, my like my parents were freaking out about it too. They like came out halfway and they're like okay, like we'll come out and like support you while we're on bikes and stuff and you can just like finish this thing, because this is crazy, what you're attempting. I'm like no, it's not. Like this is fun, this is great. So there was like a mindset difference there of like one half of the house is like freaking out and I'm just kind of like yeah, I'm just kind of having a good time and like I remember it took me like five hours to finish the marathon, but that didn't really matter to me. What mattered was just getting it done. And from there, that kind of like planted the seeds of like hey, let's like do actual marathons and like actually train for this and see what can happen.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, yeah, man, uh, I just miss running. So, like when you're talking about it, I'm just thinking about it, yeah, because like when I was pissed off, I would just sprint as fast as I can, I would go outside, and that sounds like, that sounds like a childish thing to do, but like you need to do something when you're like pissed, like. So I would either go to the gym or I would sprint as fast as I can for like a fucking mile, you know yeah like so I, I don't know, I mean my thoughts right now, which I shouldn't be, but yeah, that's.
Speaker 2:That's cool, man. So when did you run your first marathon?
Speaker 3:it was probably sometime after the chicago marathon in 2015 or 14. I think it was 15. And it was just like I volunteered to just hand out water during the marathon and I was like, okay, cool, I can totally do this, because you get inspired. You see people run. I think they call it the running bug, where if you see somebody run, you're just like I'm going to start doing that now. Or you're the opposite and you're like, oh my god, that person's crazy, like it's one or the other. Um, but I saw people run the chicago marathon. I'm like I can do that and I just did it, like, probably, exactly what is it now? Uh, 24, maybe, like exactly eight, nine years ago now. So around this time was when I did it.
Speaker 2:That's why I actually occurred. So that's kind of crazy. I just get it. What's considered a good time for?
Speaker 3:a marathon. I know the average, I think, is about either four and a half or five and a half hours, so I think anything above one of those two times is considered good.
Speaker 3:I've always held it to myself that running under three hours is like that's the, that's the bar, you know, because if you can run under three hours, currently, you would qualify to run the Boston Marathon, which is, I think, held under high prestige, as like the marathon to run yeah, it's the hardest one, right? Um, it's the hardest one. It's just also like you have to qualify for that. You can't just I mean, you can sign up as a charity runner but you can't just like sign up for it and just expect them to be like you're in, you know. Like chicago, you can do that. I think with new york you might be able to, um, lond, london, tokyo, like the marathon majors this is the ones I'm talking about Like those, I think you could just sign up and do, but, like Boston, they want you to like, they want you to know that you're like, they want to know that you're the best of the best before they like let you kind of race.
Speaker 2:So when I so when I used to run, I used to, like you know, like get in in the zone, you know, and like when I ran, like after like four miles, like it literally felt like I was walking. You know like it feels normal to walk when you're running, it feels like normal. Did you ever get like tired, or were you ever just like you know, this is easy, or could you go for like like what's the longest you've ever gone? Have you gone past a marathon?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I have on accident. I think I did about 27, maybe 28 miles at some point. But yeah, what you're talking about I guess it's like the idea of the runner's high. To an extent, you've gone past. You know 20, 25 minutes of running and now it's just like I don't know. You're in your head now and you're just like in the zone and then, like the cannabinoids of your uh within your body are now like kind of in full force, so you just feel like you're floating and you're going.
Speaker 3:Um, I've hit that point many times. Uh, I think the craziest times when you hit that is like when you're in the middle of marathon training. So when you do 20, like you think about that 20 mile run and you think, oh, my God, this is going to be grueling Right. Um, I can think of three different occasions when I would do that 20 mile run in the marathon training block where I would hit like mile 15, mile 16. And I would just start laughing uncontrollably in the middle of the run and I was like, okay, I hit the runner's's high. Like my brain is like in the zone and like you can't control the emotions. You're like laughing one moment and then you're like you're ready to start crying the next and you're like what is?
Speaker 2:going on. You're not like slowing down either, like you're staying at the same pace. It's insane, it's like it's. It's so hard to explain to people who don't do it, but when you get there and you see, you understand what we're talking about. Like people out there like they'll, they'll be like oh wow, this.
Speaker 3:This is amazing the feeling yeah, and that's one of the draws, I think, to like long distance running and probably even like 5k, 10k running is like that feeling of you know your body, just um, you're, you're out of your head but you're kind of also in it and you're just like zoned in tunnel vision on some kind of goal that you might be trying to get Right.
Speaker 2:So when you're running, I mean, obviously there's a grueling phase, you know like there's for some people, like I hit it around like five miles. But when I pass the five mile range and I start getting that runner's high, like you said like, but sometimes pass the five mile range and I start getting that runner's high, like you said like, but sometimes around the five mile run, I'm like, okay, I need to slow down a little bit, but when do you think you uh hit the grueling phase?
Speaker 3:um, like probably in the daily run or your average run, I think about the same right. So like you hit five miles and you're like, oh, okay, cool, I hit five miles and then you get to like the 10k point of like 6.2 miles, seven, eight. It starts getting like a little more grueling, depending on you know your fitness at the time. But yeah, like if you, if my average run is about six to seven miles a day or you know, 40, 50 miles a week, that's probably where I expect to kind of hit that wall at like typical baseline fitness, not like if I'm in a marathon training block, but just like day-to-day right.
Speaker 2:Right, how many marathons have you ran?
Speaker 3:I think I've done eight official marathons, or it's eight total. I'll have to double check that, but they were all Chicago marathons, minus 2020 and 2023, since 2016 what, uh, do you plan on going throughout the country?
Speaker 2:because I had a teacher. Uh, miss petrie, shout out, miss petrie. I can't believe I remembered her name, dude. She was a keyboard teacher because they were teaching us how to type and she had all of her things in the class and she did every marathon in the country.
Speaker 3:Isn't that crazy that you remember the teachers that ran big races and stuff? I have a teacher like that, earl Dannen. We're going to shout you out.
Speaker 3:Let's go, yeah, in his accounting class when I was in high school he had all of his bibs on the walls of the classroom. You're like, man, this guy runs a lot and stuff. It's only then you realize how cool running is. When you see your teachers in high school kind of do it All of a sudden you're like wait a minute, I'm that guy, that's me now. It's kind of fun. In terms of running across the country. I've done like a few runs across the country. I've been trying to get into, you know, across the globe as well. Um, I'm trying to do all the marathon majors right now and they just introduced a new one. So, uh, the marathon majors are Chicago, Tokyo, London, Boston and New York and Berlin, and now they've added Sydney, Australia, to the list. So I've got six more marathons to go to get the World Marathon majors full completion. So I've got a big itinerary to go. And, yeah, most people try in their lifetime to run all six. You don't have to run them well, or all seven in this case.
Speaker 3:But you don't have to run them well, you just want to get them done, you know.
Speaker 2:When are you going to run them? Well, you just want to get them done. You know when are you gonna run the next one?
Speaker 3:good question um, I am officially confirmed for next chicago, just because I have like a legacy feature for that. I did sign up for berlin. Um, in 2019. I was accepted for tokyo and just because you know, the world kind of changed in 2020. I kept pushing that registration back and I kind of lost it. So I have to start registering for them sooner than later.
Speaker 2:I wonder what the difference is like the scenery. You run Berlin, so much history in Berlin. In Tokyo you run the Tokyo Marathon. I wonder why they're called the major like cities for the marathon.
Speaker 3:You know um, I think that's just the organization, that's what abbott, I guess they run this thing. Um, they just consider it like the big six of like. I don't know, maybe it is because they're just big cities and that's just what they want to do but it's abit, abit uh world marathon majors looking right now it's this fine authentic world marathon majors pure apparel.
Speaker 2:That I'm fucking wow, just shout it out.
Speaker 3:Abit marathon majors is default abit um, I mean I think I have them on instagram. But yeah, if abit you're listening, can you guys get me registered for all of them next year? I'll run all seven next year.
Speaker 2:I mean, what are your times?
Speaker 3:Well, right now my fitness is not great. I just ran Chicago in 3.32. My fastest marathon ever is about three hours ten minutes and some seconds, so we got to get that to below three hours.
Speaker 2:What was the fastest? Remember that. To below, uh, three hours. Boy is the fastest. Remember that guy.
Speaker 3:He broke the record with the shoes, his Nike shoes there was yeah, there's two, I guess, prominent records in marathon running. There is, uh, elliot Kipchoge, when he ran um the sub two hour in like it was like an unsanctioned race, but they, they just closed off all the roads and they did that record in, I think, 2021 or 2019. One of those two years.
Speaker 2:Last year it was broken. It says Calvin Kipton from the Chicago Marathon broke the record for the fastest marathon.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's the fastest official one. Yeah, so rest in peace. Calvin Kipton, he died. Yeah, yeah, he was in a car accident. Uh, this year jesus yeah him and his coach. It was crazy like he just ran the marathon and then, like three, four months later, he passed away in kenya. But no, yeah, he has the official fastest marathon. I think it was two hours and 35 seconds. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah right. Two hours and 35 seconds.
Speaker 3:You know your shit yeah, it's crazy, like it's crazy in chicago too fast dude, holy shit.
Speaker 2:And he was wearing the dude shoes, I'm pretty sure he was wearing. Let's talk about that so. So in 2015, like I was wearing like regular asics, I went to the store.
Speaker 1:I got some asics you know, I mean yeah, that's uh, and other shoes.
Speaker 2:I know there are some shoes, but in the military they're like, hey, go get some running shoes. Okay, got the running shoes. I, I'm a shoe, I'm a sneaker head, okay, and I watch, like you know, like seth fowler and um kais and all these other people, and they review shoes, right, and they're telling me, like, how soft it is, like the ultra boost when there was ultra boost phase, and then the, the easy phase, and now new balance is huge with the softness and I like how it's walking on like cushions and stuff. What would you say like the evolution of like the shoe, like for running, like do you think it helps runners or do you think it's, uh, just facade?
Speaker 3:um, it's definitely got its pros and cons. So, like most of the technology now, like kind of what you described, it's like there's cushions and like hoko was big on this with like making a shoe that made you feel like you were running on clouds, right. Like asics has this thing with like the Nova Blast, like where it's running on like marshmallows and things like that. So having the higher stack on the foam helps with road running because it just reduces the impact on your knees. You know, hips on your back, so that's the theory behind it.
Speaker 3:So we'll see in the next 10 years how that kind of goes. Uh, but what changed racing overall was when they started putting carbon plates in between, like foam stacks and shoes. So you'll have a much stiffer shoe, but it feels like a spring when you bounce off the ground.
Speaker 3:So yeah, that's what I heard, yeah, so that's kind of where some of the technology is. I know adidas um they were experimenting more with like a claw kind of shape, with like carbon rods going through a shoe. So the big thing now is like putting this stiff carbon plate or nylon, whatever material it is between foam stacks so you run faster. In terms of pros and cons, I get pros are like if you have the right biomechanics I think you'll benefit from those shoes, but if you don't, you might risk more injury because they're just so stiff. So like if we want to get real technical about like sneaker stuff, like um, everybody has like a way where they like stand and they walk where a certain offset in the shoe so their stack height um is paramount to their running form. I don't know if that makes sense.
Speaker 2:So it's like everybody has different feet, yeah, so like you might over pronate, you might over supinate.
Speaker 3:So the difference is like pronations, like, um, your arches sink in. Supination is when they sink or when they um, when you're like leaning more on your like pinky toes. So if you pronate too much, you need, like a higher stack height to overcome that. So if, if you have a shoe like the Nike Alpha Fly 1, okay, they have like a stack height that's more neutral.
Speaker 3:But if you over pronate it might not like feel good for you in the shoe. So you might need something more like the Vaporfly, which is like 8 millimeters, 10 millimeters kind of going up to overcome that arch difference. So it's like these are like minuscule details.
Speaker 3:A lot of people kind of just up to overcome that arch difference. So it's like these are like minuscule details. A lot of people kind of just overlook those. But, um, as somebody who like reviews running shoes fairly regularly, like these are things I think about when it comes to what we talked about earlier like the basics, like what kind of shoe is good for me on a day-to-day basis that would prevent injury and like be good for my running form?
Speaker 2:right, uh, to all the like uh, young runners other than not the young, the beginners, you know, people who are like trying to get into running. What uh do you recommend they do like when it comes to like getting the perfect shoe or getting the shoe that's most ideal for them?
Speaker 3:yeah, well, I guess for like absolute beginners, um, as somebody who reviews shoes don't listen to me I would go to like a running store. You know, get fitted by like professionals, let them look at your running form. I would hope, fingers crossed, that, like the place you go to, they know what they're talking about. They could put you in a shoe that's like good for your form. And, um, as somebody who was like injured with like shin splints, you, you probably remember the days of shin splints. Right.
Speaker 3:So I was like running in shoes that made no sense to me. And then I went to this um running store, I think in Arlington Heights, just like you know, a few miles East of here, and, um, basically they put me in I think it was the Brooks adrenaline 16. And and since then I've never had shin splints, and it was a shoe that I put over 600 miles in and I was like, wow, this is crazy. I never thought there would be a shoe that would not make me feel injured all the time, and since then I paid attention to those things. What did the Brooks Adrenaline do that shoes now that I'm wearing can do?
Speaker 2:I'm just thinking how lucky we are compared like people in the 1980s and the 1990s, like wearing different shoes, you know. Compared to like what we're, like you're talking about the arch and this and that, and like nike's coming up with this technology just so you can run good yoga shin splits, like you know. Shout out to all those people that ran marathons back then. Like that, that, that, that's. That's that's some respect. Honestly, put some respect on that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and they would like run barefoot, basically, I was just about to ask you would you ever run a barefoot?
Speaker 3:Um, on the roads? Probably not, unless it was like for some kind of cause, for some kind of cause which I've seen people do, but like, um, when I was uh spending some considerable time in florida, you would just run barefoot on the beach, like that was. It was good for you and I think I guess you can correct me, maybe, um, you can keep me uh honest about this. But I know like some people in the military, especially in the army, they would like run in the sand but like barefoot yeah, it depends, like if you're stationed in like hawaii or something you know yeah yeah, it's more intense and I think it's better for your feet because you're building those like micro arch muscles um in your feet, working on, like those micro tendons in your ankles.
Speaker 3:So running on sand, um, it has its pros and cons.
Speaker 2:I would say and like when you run on the street, you build callus. You know which is good, like a lot of people like, though, if they don, you run on the street, you build callus. You know which is good, like a lot of people don't like, though, if they don't run on the street with shoes, you know, you build callus, and that's what you need, rather than running on a treadmill or a treadmill yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, that's true too. Yeah, I mean treadmill workout. It has its place, but like for the most part, like if you can spend time outside, um, just enjoying yourself I think that's like I don't know. Somebody's gonna yell at me like it's better than running on a treadmill. But again, they all have their place in a training program. You just gotta you do everything in moderation. You shouldn't just like entirely train on a treadmill for a marathon and you shouldn't like entirely expect to be injury free running outside.
Speaker 2:That's my thoughts, okay so we let's go back to like you know, like marathon talking, like not you in particular, because I guess you're for scum did, but what like can you like walk me through? Like what people have to do to train for a marathon sure, yeah.
Speaker 3:so I think the science revolving around the marathon is a little bit more I guess it's more defined now than it was, like, you know, 20, 30 years ago. Like people understand that there's like, okay, you build three weeks, you take a week easy, three weeks and you like keep stacking it and eventually you get to a point like two or three weeks before your marathon you run like 20 or 20, 20 or 22 miles and then you do like what's called the taper right when you like, um, ease off the miles, you take it easy, you start eating more, you rest more and then the day of the race, bam, you should be theoretically ready. So I think, in terms of marathon training, like plans exist and I think they're fairly accurate in terms of getting you to the goals you might be looking for and keeping you, for the most part, injury free. Uh, during a marathon, um where did you learn?
Speaker 3:that. So I mean that's like research from you. Know anything online? I know, um, the hansen's, the hansen running program. They like wrote books about this, um, and they've kind of like laid this out Not as fine as like kind of the way I explained it. That's like the summary of it, but they like knew these certain things that would just exist in a training block where, like some days you're just pushing really hard, you're doing speed work, and then I guess the other thing to mention here is that, like on a week to week basis basis, uh, 80 of your running was like super easy and then 20 of it was like that speed work that was a little bit harder. You know your sprints and all that. So they ran on the theory that if you just spent a lot of time running, just time on feet, uh, that would get you to the marathon better than like you just going full blast every single day like like a maniac, you know well, yeah, that there's that saying.
Speaker 2:I can't think of it right now. You can't. Uh, it's fuck. I can't think of the saying where it takes uh, you can't. It's like a like it's a run, like you have to like run before you sprint or something like that. Or like you're training for a marathon, something I I fucking boasted I'm thinking of like maybe a variation of that.
Speaker 3:It's like you're not going to like win a marathon, like in the first mile, kind of thing. Like this is a long-term kind of process yeah, it almost becomes your side job kind of what about the night before?
Speaker 2:what do you have to do? Do you have to eat differently?
Speaker 3:um sure, I mean, if the night before a marathon, I guess it's like you could eat differently. But the rule this is one of like those weird things I've heard is like, oh yeah, the night before you carve up, right, that's the one where, like, you eat 20 pounds of spaghetti or something like that. But what I've learned over time is like you don't do that the night before, you do that like the entire week before because you got to like teach your body to like hold more calories down. Because when you're running the marathon, you're just you're cooking calories you know, dude, I would think the opposite.
Speaker 2:That's crazy. So you have to like carve up, eat a bunch of carbs yeah I.
Speaker 3:I mean, you definitely have to get some carbs. You need some like quick fuels in you. Um, if you've been like training like that, like I would definitely not do something, that's different. Uh, the night before your marathon that you didn't do your during your training program, like you don't buy brand new pairs of shoes like the night before the marathon and you're like I'm racing in those, like that's crazy.
Speaker 3:Don't do that. Like you got to break in the shoes, you got to like break in the socks, like everything matters at that point what about the morning do?
Speaker 2:Do you eat anything?
Speaker 3:No, I like to go empty stomach. I'll have like maybe a little bit of coffee, maybe a little bit of pre if I need to, but yeah, nothing, nothing crazy. You know you don't want like anything to upset your stomach. What do you eat for training?
Speaker 3:It depends.
Speaker 3:I guess, like the rule I've followed with training is like whatever I eat 48 hours before is like kind of what will fuel me for the run.
Speaker 3:That's kind of coming ahead, and I'm sure that's like contentious and some people will disagree, but like if I know Monday night that on Wednesday I have to do a speed workout, I'll eat like more carbs. I like spaghetti, maybe like chicken, parmesan or something like that. You know something yummy, I would say. And then by the time Wednesday rolls around, hopefully whatever I was a carb loading on would be used as my fuel source then. And then, if I'm running something slower or like I know it's going to be an easy day, you'd eat something a little bit more dense, maybe not as carb intensive, maybe like a steak, some eggs, something along those lines. But at the end of the day, I don't think it truly matters what you eat. I think as long as you're fueling, I think that's like priority number one, because you know that like if you don't eat or you don't rest, well, you're just going to have a terrible time running overall. How many?
Speaker 2:calories. Do you have to eat like while you're training to not lose weight doing all this?
Speaker 3:cardio. Yeah, I guess that also depends too on, like, your mileage per week. The rule I think people have followed is that it's a contentious number two but it's like 100 calories per mile. But that varies for everyone, right? Like, is that the rule for somebody like me who weighs 140 pounds? Is that like the same rule for somebody who weighs 300 pounds, right? So, um, if you use like a hundred as a baseline and you know like, okay, fine, um, I've got maintenance calories during the day you know, I'm thinking real hard in front of the computer. I got to walk around, I got to like, do all these things, um, and you're doing this for like an eight mile run, then you would probably assume maybe at some point during the day you're going to eat like an 800 calorie meal plus minus, um, just to kind of give you maybe some like reserve calories for repair and things like that.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of mechanics to it. I wonder what uh, the, the, the marathon runner? Uh, we were just talking about Kelvin.
Speaker 3:Kelvin Kipton, yeah I wonder what he does. I really do yeah, I know kenyan diet. Um, if they're training in kenya, I gotta remember the name of the food. Oh my gosh, you guys could look this up too. I think it's called ugali or ungali. It's like a carb, dense like dough and like. They eat this thing and it's's their main fuel source.
Speaker 2:You're right, kenyan Oogali, it's right there. Yeah, that thing right there.
Speaker 3:That is their power fuel right there, and to us it looks like dough, it looks like a ball of rice and that's what they eat to fuel for a marathon or any sort of workout and it's crazy. That's kind of the primary one and obviously they got veggies and like fruits and things like that, but that's like the main one I've heard.
Speaker 2:Have you ever tried it?
Speaker 3:I have not. I want to, though I know there's like some really cool Kenyan restaurants like in Chicago, so if I go down there I might like.
Speaker 2:You can see, like the nutrition facts or the calories 178. It's 38 carbs for 170 calories.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a carb bomb, that's a good one, and then calorie count is not too high. Good sodium too, just to keep everything there. Good protein, good sugars.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so fuck, chicken parm, it's there, golly, that's what you need.
Speaker 3:Why not both?
Speaker 2:Why not both? Yeah, no, I like that man. You're a really positive dude, philip. You really are on the show where the we, we tell people to share their stories and yeah, obviously there's your story's not done. You're a young kid, just like me, and I hope you do all those major cities for sure. You know, know, I really, like you said, the one you want to do most is Tokyo.
Speaker 3:Yeah, tokyo's the big one. Everyone wants me to do Tokyo because they want to go with me to Tokyo. So I'm like, okay, fine, I get it. That's like the. That's the bit, right?
Speaker 2:So it's fine. So my question is have you ever like rock bottom in your life? Oh, totally, all the time.
Speaker 3:Like happens on a daily basis. It's just like you try not to like dwell in those moments.
Speaker 3:You know, it's just like I don't want to be like defined by my negative moments in life and like it's weird that some people like embrace that They'll be like oh yeah, I don't even want to like think of the examples or like put anyone on blast. I just don't like the idea that some people just enjoy dwelling in misery, I guess and maybe this is just a runner's thing, or just the fact that we go to the gym and we take care of our bodies. That's not something we think about of like oh man, work is so hard. Oh man, I was a former alcoholic or I had some kind of big issue in my life. I don't know, it's hard to explain because I can't.
Speaker 2:Is there negativity, negative people, big issue in my life? I don't, I don't know. It's hard to explain because I can't like is there like negativity, like negative people like around you in your life?
Speaker 3:I'm sure there are. Just like I don't dwell on that. I guess like have people like told me weird stuff or like, um, you know they they tell me like they're depressing stories in their life. I'm sure, yeah, and it's like I can't really relate with a lot of those negative stories. I guess, like I think about those things like I won't put anyone again on blast, but like people will tell me like, uh, you know their parents passing away or they're on some kind of like antidepressants, because that's just like what's going on in their life, and like I don't know, I just can't relate to like those, I guess, moments in life yet, but I don't know it's all those endorphins probably.
Speaker 3:I don't know. It's just again like the whole positivity thing. Like I don't like try to like pretend like I'm the most positive person in the world, like your. Your perception of me is that like I'm positive and like yeah, I hope that's the case. Like I don't dwell on the negative stuff too much and if I do, I use that as like fuel to get better. You know, like if something's not going well at work, you know that's like I'll think about it, I'll take that problem with me on a run and we'll, like we'll work it out, you know do you do you think I'm positive?
Speaker 3:I mean from the time that we've sat here and we've talked, I'd like you. You strike me as positive. I know you've definitely had like a positive kind of I don't know if upbringing is probably the way I would say it but like your experience, probably in the military, with running, like I would imagine it was like mostly good, or you've had like a good learning experience somewhere I really wish I was able to get into like the mechanics, like you did.
Speaker 2:But the military is just running. They don't care what you eat, they tell you to put salt on your food. That's it, because I guess sodium helps you not pass out electrolytes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it prevents the cramping, it prevents the cramping.
Speaker 2:Yes, they tell you to put salt on your food, but I don't know the scientific mechanics of running and I wish I was able to do that. But yeah, no, I'm, for the most part, pretty positive. That's why I started the show Basically, share your story and what are some of the little things you think in life that you have that, um, could be taken away from you, like, like at any point? Like what are some of the little things that you kind of forget about that you know, you appreciate oh, like the, the little things.
Speaker 3:Well, I mean obviously like just being able to like wake up and just like do this, whatever this is just like on a daily basis, is always fun. You know, just being able to have the idea of like, hey look, I've got this job that like I enjoy. I've got this thing like I can talk to cool people, I've got running, you know what's your?
Speaker 3:job. So I work as a cyber security analyst for a major airline. I don't know if they want me to like shout them out or not, but you know it's a, it's it's the airline. So it's.
Speaker 2:What is that Like? Is that like for, like terrorist attacks or anything?
Speaker 3:No, no, no, it's like just a, you know, domestic commercial airline here in the States, one of the big four, so four. So if I was to say delta american airlines, united and southwest, it's one of those four, we'll put it that way, don't box yourself. Yeah, that's right, yeah they're probably already like looking at my last name. They they know everything about me already. But yeah, so from a cyber security perspective, um, the airlines are really cool, so just um do you have to like go into work or do you work from?
Speaker 3:home. So, yeah, we're officially 100 remote as of like a few months ago, but I was, um, technically considered, hybrid but it's like it's impossible because, like everyone is just all over the globe on my team now. Right, like we started. When I started, it was like very early 2020 and then, like the first six weeks of my job, um, I got to go into the office and then, um, once the pandemic started, we were like remote indefinitely.
Speaker 2:We're still supposed to bring that up. What were airlines like when the pandemic was going on? Because I know the freaking tickets were cheap as fuck.
Speaker 3:So it was definitely pandemonium because, like, they basically shut down flying internationally but domestic wasn't so bad. So if you were like a primarily domestic airline, you might've been okay, but like people still, you know, stayed home, they didn't fly or anything like that. So, um for us. I think I got lucky under a lot of circumstances. So when I started on the cybersecurity team, I was just a contractor. They had the option to like let me go in 2020. And 2020 and um, I don't know if somebody was just watching out for me at the company, but they, like they kept me on. Um, a lot of people left, a lot of people got let go. Um because, but because the team I worked on was like operation critical, they kept me. So I've been on a team ever since, but I was brought on as a full-time employee in, uh, christmas of, I think 2021, and I've been a full-time employee in Christmas of I think 2021.
Speaker 2:And I've been a full-time employee since. Was it pretty hard during the pandemic?
Speaker 3:for you. I would say so, especially if you've never worked in the field. You're just kind of learning everything remotely you can't physically sit down with somebody and they show you how to use a tool or how to do like some sort of analysis, right, like you're learning a lot of this stuff either from what you learned in school, what you learned from the first six weeks that you were there, so you kind of learn a lot of it on your own. And then it obviously becomes tricky from a morale standpoint because you could get siloed out from, like you know you're sitting in front of your computer all day long, by yourself in some cases. So that definitely could take a mental toll on some people. And that's where when I hear companies talk about having that hybrid model and people like lose their minds over it, like I don't hate the idea but like I would only do it if you want to be that kind of hybrid employee.
Speaker 3:So it depends, like if you have a family yeah, yeah, and it's like for me it's cool because, like, yeah, I a family at home Sounds like you're flexible, yeah, yeah, and it's like for me it's cool because like, yeah, I guess sure I don't have like kids or like a wife or anything like that, so I can go to a different country if I wanted to and work, just it's.
Speaker 3:That's nice, yeah that's. I think a lot of people do like embrace that idea and I think if you have good managers who are like, hey, listen, you can work from wherever you want, you can work whenever you want, just get the work done, I think that's like positive for a 100 remote work kind of deal. So speaking of the pandemic, how did your training? Change, like your.
Speaker 3:Your marathon training changed during the pandemic um, so obviously, when you don't have like a race goal within like the immediate future, that kind of puts certain things uh on hold. Uh, for me personally, I thought so this was happening like in 2019. Towards the end of um the year, I was like dead set that I was going to run tokyo marathon. So I was running like 90 miles a week. I was like burnt out. I was like ready just to like stop all the running all together. And then I guess, um, they announced first, I guess like the virus was spreading in like China and then like, uh, parts of Japan got hit and I'm like, okay, I'm definitely not, it's not gonna happen for sure right and then they announced that like just the elites would run, and a long story short, like knowing that all the races were put on hold.
Speaker 3:Um, I just wanted to keep like a good baseline so I like I I kept running every single day, but it was like anywhere from like five to seven miles a day, maybe less. But I also had like a stationary bike trainer at home, so I just figured like yeah, okay, like just keep everything consistent, because eventually this is all going to be like put to side and like racing is going to resume. So, like, when that light hits, like are you going to be ready, you know when, when the gun goes off for that thing? So, um, fast forward, like you know that whole year later it's 2021.
Speaker 3:Um, I spent like a month in Florida and, like Florida has been completely open. They're like racing just regularly. They have like five Ks, 10 Ks. I don't know if they have like marathons or anything, but I remember I signed up for like a four mile race out there and I ended up winning the race because, like I don't know, my fitness was in a good spot. It is kind of Florida. So you are racing, maybe some older people, but despite all of that. Like old people are very fast at running, like I will never. I will never look at some old guy and go like, oh yeah, this guy, it's going gonna be just a piece of cake. Like no, no, they are.
Speaker 3:So fast but, um, it was just a unique scenario where, like, yeah, some kid from chicago goes to florida and is able to like run. So, um, the difference there is like you just don't have like a race goal, you just have to have that goal on your own. I think like you have to have that mental fortitude of like, okay, three months from now, I want to run a certain time and can you get that goal done? Right, because a lot of people are driven by race goals and if they don't have like a goal, they won't run, you know I mean, what happens when you achieve that goal?
Speaker 2:are you like, like just happy as hell, or like what is like? What is that feeling? That's a weird one too, um, I guess like because I mean it is just running, but running is like a huge thing, you know I mean like if I achieve the goal, it's like it doesn't stop right, like for me it's like what's the next?
Speaker 3:like bar we're gonna break right like it's almost as if, like when you get to the marathon and you know you're gonna do well, it's like less about the destination and more about the journey. I know that sounds generic, but like I think a lot of people like doing marathon training more than they do like the actual race, I think, and that's a hot take. I know I'm one of those people that, like if I trained for eight months and then, like the day before the marathon, somebody said, hey, listen, you don't have to run this thing, I'd be like, yeah, you're right, but I want to because, like, I put in the work so we're gonna. I'm not going to be like, oh my God, the marathon. No, it's hard to explain, like some people just like the process more than the main event.
Speaker 2:Do you think it's your mind like being competitive with you, so like you're gonna do this, like you need to run this marathon, and then when you run it, then you're like okay, next, what's next?
Speaker 3:yeah, that's, that's definitely it. And then, like, the voice is always fighting in your head of like, hey, if you don't do this thing, like you're really bad or I don't know, uh, wherever your mind can go into dark places. But yeah, I mean like, if I know I'm gonna achieve the goal, I'll be like all cool. We'll give a fun example. So like, if I can run the 5K in like 18 minutes, which was like fairly fast for me at the time, I was like OK, cool, can we get that down to 1630 now, like, what do I do to start pushing those smaller and smaller margins? Because there will be eventually like a cap.
Speaker 3:But I want to find it, you know, because I think a lot of people, um, I think they take for granted what, like the human body or their own body is totally capable of, so, like I would. It's one of those things that drives you every day too, like, yeah, you like get out of bed and you're like all right if I don't. Like you have so many finite days that you can do things and you have so many like finite heartbeats in your body. Like why would you like waste any of that time not trying to get somewhere in your life, for like whatever goal you may have it's cliche, I know.
Speaker 2:No, no, that's inspiring as hell, dude, because your heart is beating. It's like put that stuff to work, you know. Put like, give your heart a reason of why it's beating and that's why people run, that's why you run.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's a group of people but you could say it's a cult, you know like you know it's like, um, you probably like join facebook groups or something and like, uh, social media probably helped a lot with, like you know, running. Because she said, even on tiktok someone could say, hey, I'm gonna run in new york, who wants to run with me? And then 2 000 people show up. That's just. This is yeah those.
Speaker 3:That's like the weird recent trend that like influencers do. I I'm sure there's a video out there. It's like influencers like turn running clubs into like dating events, which is like weird, I guess. It's um, if it works, it works. But like I I was watching a video somewhere where, like this influencer was like hey, I'm gonna go run on the lakefront path in chicago. Who's coming out? And like 2 000 people came out like what you said, right and um, it's like crazy to think that that's like happening. But I don't like what that would do to like the overall like run club scene, where there's people like who genuinely want to run and then there's also people who like are the influencers who just want to run to like meet people for dates. You know, it's like kind of weird I suppose, but if it brings people out to run, cool. But is that model sustainable versus like the run club of people who are like, hey, we're here every Thursday, we run this distance, bam.
Speaker 2:Like the run club of people who are like, hey, we're here every thursday, we run this distance, bam, you know, there's probably like some sort of attraction, though, towards people when they are running. I I would assume. I mean, I don't know, I I've never been in one of these groups. I mean I wish I was as able to. But I follow this guy, uh, brett cont. Do you know who he is? He's from New York and he always goes to these running groups and he puts it on YouTube. Shout out, brett, he's a really cool dude.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of them, for sure, it's hard to keep up with a lot of them. But yeah, no, I just don't know, in terms of like for running clubs in particular, if there's like a poll for some people or it's just like a good social event. I think it'd be probably the latter.
Speaker 2:So you brought up like heartbeats and stuff and I see what you're wearing on your arm is that watch? You know that Apple Watch, everybody has an Apple Watch nowadays. I didn't get to use an apple watch so I don't know, like, what it brings, like what, like, uh, the stats, the statistics for an apple watch. Can you explain, like, like you know, the evolution of apple watch for running compared to back then?
Speaker 3:sure, yeah, I mean I'm obviously not cool enough for a Garmin yet, but I mean that's like the big fight in the running world is like do you have an Apple Watch or do you have a Garmin?
Speaker 3:And like apparently you're more cool than you know everyone else if you have one or the other. But okay, besides that point, the metrics, I guess with the Apple Watches it's just helpful in the long term. So if you're just tracking your heart rate or you're tracking your VO2 max, like allegedly the statistics that like the Apple Watch holds kind of gives you those metrics in real time. So I don't know if I necessarily trust all like the VO2 max stuff, but that's like the number, that kind of like. It's kind of like you're in layman's terms, it's like your bar of fitness, um, for cardio or endurance kind of sport, and um, I've always aimed for like a number above 62, like VO two max, and sometimes it like varies because, like on the Apple watch, it'll tell you like what is VO two oh man, I can't even explain it like scientifically right now, but it's basically um, I'm sure we can look this up and I'm going to botch the wording for it.
Speaker 3:Let's look it up. I'm going to see if I can summarize it before we find it. It's like your blood and oxygen, or it's your oxygen per blood liter. Maybe I hope we can find it there.
Speaker 2:It measures how much oxygen your body can use during exercise.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there we go, so it's like aerobic it's yeah, yeah, that's a good way to put it, I would say so. It's like the idea of, like you can take a deep breath, how far is that deep breath gonna take you? I guess it's a good way to put it because a lot of people when they run, they're like panting right so like maybe the vo2 max is a little bit lower or they're sick or something like that. But like some people will run and they can take like three steps inhale, three steps exhale, so like oh yeah, I guess that's like the principle, yeah so it's the um, how much oxygen do you need to do the thing?
Speaker 3:so there's like a whole equation to it and I guess somewhere down the line scientists or like running physiologists have decided that any number above like 60 or 62, is like intensely good, and I'm like, okay, cool, let's try to get above 62.
Speaker 2:Vo2 max kind of like a resting heart rate a little bit, because my resting heart rate even right now is like 62 I guess like resting heart rate will play into it.
Speaker 3:I think that's more of like um. It's probably a good indicator if you didn't have like a vo2 max number. So like um I think you've probably heard this before that like people who train or like do cardio frequently, they'll have a resting heart rate between like 40 and 60. So if you like know what it is when you sleep or like you're sitting in a chair, that's a good metric to work off of. And then if it's like anywhere from like 60 to 80, like hey, there's a couple of things there. Maybe you're not active, maybe there's like a health condition to consider, you know. So that's like the metric I also use and I like to uh play the game of like how low I can get my heart rate to go when I go to sleep and then, like in the middle of the night, like my watch will freak out. It'll be like hey, you got your heart rate to 38 for like how do you?
Speaker 3:change that? Like, how do you affect that? Um? So I think, um, obviously it's like the level and the amount of cardio you do will impact that, but it's also, um, how much recovery is also involved in the process. So, for example, like if you had a really intense workout the day before and like your cortisol levels are high, like you're not going to have a necessarily a low heart rate, um, that night you might have like I don't know if your regular resting heart rate's like 40, you might be sleeping and it's now like 45 or 47. So it's like the body just needs more beats per minute to kind of heal the body, push nutrients uh, push oxygen, like.
Speaker 3:I have like really dumb ways of like kind of summarizing this, but that's one of those things, um, I know, if you do like easy cardio but you do it for a long time, um, and you're not like really causing a massive cortisol spike in your body, I think that can help lower the heart rate. So, uh, in my personal examples, like, yeah, I can have like a regular run, keep it consistent, but if I do like a bike workout, something that's like less impact, something that's a little bit easier on the heart, that's lower. I'll go to bed that night and I can get a heart rate of like 39, 38. And it's like just really funny. Phillip, are you an addict?
Speaker 3:No, I just like read a lot of stuff on running and it's just really interesting.
Speaker 2:It is Like I'm literally in a world that, like, I'm like dumbfounded, like I'm like it's like what you're talking about is super interesting let's be clear, I'm not like a scientist or a doctor.
Speaker 3:Don't take my advice. Entertainment purposes only yes, that's right. This is just like things I read and things I've speculated and uh conclusions I've come down but it's worked for you, right well, yeah, I mean, it's like again.
Speaker 3:Like you ask the questions, like you run, you break a bone and you're like, okay, what do I do to not do that again? And then you go down the rabbit hole if you're interested in, like, not breaking your foot again, right. Um. Same thing with like muscles. Like I'm sure, like you know, your brother can tell uh, everyone here, like you're dead lifting and then you like are sore for the next week. Okay, what do we do not to be sore for the next week? Like, do I just keep doing this thing? Do I like train a different muscle group? Like, if you're passionate about it, like you'll, you'll read about it or you'll you'll try to find a way do you think technology has like changed the culture of running, or at least helped?
Speaker 3:yeah, I think overall it's um, it's definitely changed it. I know like youtube is a big one, so, like you'll see, like running influencers, like running vlogs and things like that, I'm sure that's inspiring for people.
Speaker 2:Um, in terms of even like the watch, you know like how it, like you have like a streak with friends and stuff. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's.
Speaker 3:Uh, that's a thing too, like where apple will, um, have like a streak with friends and stuff. Oh yeah, yeah, that's a thing too Like where Apple will have like the little circles that you have to close and they're like, wow, you closed the move ring like for the last seven days. Good job, that's a thing too. It'll kind of help pump you and kind of keep you focused for sure. Because you become obsessed with closing the rings.
Speaker 3:I've been there before and then, like every week, apple will be like okay, you closed 900 calories per week, let's push it up to 1100 now and you're like okay.
Speaker 3:so it's like apple's kind of pushing you to like get faster positive reinforcement yeah, pretty much, yeah, but it also has its kind of setbacks and I've been thinking about this more. I can't prove any of it right now, just something to think about, maybe for yourself, maybe your viewers. You wear the Apple Watch on one wrist for a long period of time and you start running with it. This thing is like I don't know how much it weighs maybe barely an ounce Over a long period of time of your arms swinging. How is that affecting your balance? And like the size of your shoulders, like left versus right, because of this micro thing you're doing a thousand to like multiple tens of thousand times a day. You know that's just something I'm thinking about.
Speaker 3:It's like what is this little thing doing to my overall physique? Like, is this impacting my spine in any sort of way? Like weird, like things I think about.
Speaker 2:Do you have a heart attack? Jesus Christ, oh, impacting my spine in any sort of way, like weird, like things I think about you are an addict jesus christ. Oh my god, do you wear it when you uh go on a marathon?
Speaker 3:oh yeah, of course it always dies before the marathon's over, which upsets me.
Speaker 2:It just means you got to run faster, just so it doesn't die all right, man, before we uh get out of here, I want to ask you a pretty deep question what's the biggest goal you've ever achieved? Like, literally, in your mind, you're like I can't believe I did this, whether it's running, whether it's school. What is something that you are so proud of?
Speaker 3:it's a deep question. I got to think about this one. I don't know if it's like a running goal necessarily, maybe more in a work space Cause, like we got to think of the right way to frame this. It would be like you know, in the running world, or I would know that the certain goals I set I will like achieve and they'll be achieved over time. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when, but I think the goals where you're not sure if the if is a guarantee, I think is the ones that hit you the most.
Speaker 3:So I the one that I can immediately think of was acquiring a certification in cybersecurity from a particular organization, and this certification I got was just a display to myself that as a cybersecurity analyst, I didn't have imposter syndrome in the field. So getting the certification to me was like okay, I've done cybersecurity for this many years. Am I actually decent at this? Do I? Am I actually like decent at this? Do I know what I'm doing? Like in this place? Am I just like somebody who's just here and like just a drone?
Speaker 3:But it turns out like, ok, I know what I'm doing in cybersecurity. This certification kind of proves it and it's the next logical steps after that is like to get those next pieces. So like I guess, to elaborate on that more. Like the physical goals, like those I think are a matter of if rather than when, or those are when rather than if, but like goals that require me, like sitting in front of a computer or a book to study for a test, like things that I'm not good at, like taking tests right, like achieving those in like a work environment, I think end up feeling more impactful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, wow, yeah it's. You know it's crazy because you're a runner and, like I, I feel like everyone who's listening right now would be like if they finished a marathon, that would be like one of their greatest achievements. But yours is still with your studies in school and uh becoming a person in cyber security and, like you know, kudos to you, man. Like I'm happy that uh changed your life and I would say you're living life to the max. Yeah, yeah, I mean shout out to my parents for, you know, believing that education, is priority number one in your life.
Speaker 3:And uh, yeah, I mean shout out to my parents, for you know, believing that education is priority number one in your life and uh, yeah, I've kind of believed that ever since dude, it was very nice having you on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Man uh, it was I. I learned a lot. To be honest, with you I did not even did you learn a lot.
Speaker 3:I didn't expect like I said, I don't run unless I'm being chased so I definitely learned a lot today about running. She's going to start running now.
Speaker 2:It's very fascinating with the food and the calories and just how your body works. It seems like you got the knowledge now, but you're still going to keep learning and learning and learning. I hope you get those major cities, man. It was cool. If you have anything to say to the people, go ahead. What camera is he?
Speaker 1:He has camera two, camera two. Go ahead, camera two, camera two.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can shout your Instagram.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I do have a YouTube channel. It's just called Philip LaToccia Running. On that channel we have some run vlog stuff. We talk about running shoes, just kind of some stuff like that. You can follow me on Instagram, Strava, all sorts of other social medias. I'm pretty not hard to find, you just need to spell my name, right.
Speaker 2:That's F-I-L-I-P. Philip, and then last name L-A-T-O-C-H-A. We will put that in the link in the description below, for sure, and it was great talking to you, uh, yeah, like you came on yo, if everybody uh enjoyed the podcast. We are on youtube now. Okay, I know for everybody listening, we're on youtube life to the max podcast. Go ahead and subscribe, post a notification bell so you know when the next episode goes on. And I'm paralyzed from a neck down breathing through a machine, but that doesn't stop me from following my dreams and doing what I love to do. I don't got any excuse, and neither should you. We'll see you guys next time.