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Welcome back to the Spoke and Sole podcast, home of the Essential Athlete. I'm Terrance here with Anthony. And today, I just wanted to dive a little deeper into what I mean when I use that term essential athlete. So Ant, I don't know if you remember this, but it was probably about a year or two, my oldest daughter ran her first half marathon. And she's a nurse out there and she's at Lehi now, but I think she was at Beth Israel for a while.

But the fact what really marveled me about her deciding to do a half marathon was her actually finding a time with her busy schedule to actually fit the time in to actually train so she would put herself in a position to be able to actually accomplish that.

And

I started to think about not just nurses, but all these people in all these different professions, trades, whatever you wanna call it, who work these crazy shifts, all these different hours. I mean, you talking for the most part, a lot of guys are out there, a lot of ladies are doing fifty hours a week, but they still find the time to put in, to put themselves in a position to actually perform. And so I think of those people as the individuals who make it possible to keep the world running, our infrastructure, whether you wanna call it, whether it's nurses, it's firefighters, whether it's carpenters, plumbers. Policemen. Policemen.

A lot of people in the trades, lot of people in professions that make sure that the things that we need as a society, they're in the position to provide those services to us, but at the same time, they get they hustle on. That's where that term essential athlete for me comes from. And that's what I started thinking about when I came up with that. So before I move on, any thoughts?

I I think that's you said it perfectly. You know, people who are working, you know, firefighters, you know, sometimes they're working four days on, two days off, you know, and and and again, in between it, it's it's funny because you say that because there's a fire station over there where I live I live where I run and sometimes I'll see like the fireman out there, you know still you know trying to exercise and stay in shape, which is which is admirable because most times we we see like the policeman who got the big stomach and eat the donuts and we think about that piece, but we don't think about the opposite side of it. So I

think that's incredible. Yeah. And if you think I mean, so let me ask you this question. Do you consider yourself an essential athlete?

Yes.

Okay. I'm glad you actually answered that rather quickly because, I mean, as what I've noticed is this. As I've gotten mature I used use mature because, you know, I age like a fine wine. I have find I have found myself in those situations where I have to be able to find time to get whatever training in that I need to get in so I can perform the way that I'd like to actually perform. So it's really about being man, damn, Jax.

Oh. Oh god.

He hit you again.

Yeah. He hit me again. He hit me again. Oh, man. Oh, man.

That stinks. I found myself in situations where I really have to find time to train, whether it be for running or cycling. Although the running piece is gonna be going by the wayside for a little bit. But even strength training and things like that. And so what I'm what what I'm trying to what what what I'm understanding now, and and and this is this is something that I I'm beginning to apply is I have to start to think about things a little different.

Yes. And so when I start speaking about that term essential athlete, there are two mindsets that I have started to adopt, and I think it works well for individuals who are in those professions and those trades to put me in a position where I can do what I need to do and get what I need to get out of it. Yep. And the first one of those things is an always on mindset. When I talk about that always on mindset, I can't put myself in a position where, from a training perspective, I'm training and then I'm not.

From a mentality perspective, I have to look at every opportunity as an opportunity to fit something in.

I agree. And I'm gonna jump in on that and I'm just gonna say, to me that's like the Kobe mentality, you know the Mamba mentality you know exactly what the always on like everything leads to something else you know whether it's even when you're not working out you know if you're planning in your mind about when that next one is gonna come that's your always on mentality and that everything that you're doing is gonna lead to something else and where that particular goal is and honestly I've learned I learned that a lot I had to learn that a long time ago I actually had to adopt that and that's why I love triathlon so much because you had to always be on to try to juggle three different sports what each one of them entailed for you to do. I love that always on mentality where you know because it helps to keep you focused you know to where you're not you know because I think sometimes it's like oh you know I only work out Monday Wednesday and Friday and then Tuesday and Thursday everything you're doing is throwing off what you did on Monday Wednesday and Friday you know so you're not really always on you know you're not always in tune you know and and that's important you know because if not you know and again you're gonna make strides and you're gonna have some some things where you back up but if you have the always on mentality it's like it's about what that goal is and what those little steps are to get you to the end and not just okay I'm gonna do this here it's almost like it's not pretend and it's not temporary it's like okay I gotta get to that goal and how many steps I have to take to get there and if your mind isn't always into it then it's almost like it's like a part time venture.

It's not something that you're fully engaged in.

Yeah. And excuse me. And it's easy to say, okay, well, you gotta have that always on mindset. It's another thing to actually put that into practice. And this is something that we'll get into in the future.

But I've gone ahead and created some playbooks that work with that mindset and then the next one that I'm going to actually mention in a second. But those playbooks are they're available up on the actual website, and I'll leave the link to that below in the description. But it basically is playbooks based on whether you're running or cycling that put you in a position based on how much time you actually have to actually stay ready. That's the thing. And if you think about it, I wanna go back I stuttered.

Do you see that? Want If the you go back to that year where we ran probably 12 half marathons in like a four month period, four, five month period, That was a situation where we weren't thinking about it, but we were always ready. Listen,

we will be on ready. Like, we could get up and just go.

And part of that was because, again, it was a situation where we didn't have to have a real heavy set training regimen

because

after preparing for the first one, it was just staying ready for the rest of them. And that leads to the second mindset that I had to adopt when it when when I started thinking about, okay. Well, how can I take this Essential Athlete piece and and really apply it to myself? And you utilize this, and I'm not I'm not sure if you when I say it, you might not be using this term, but I had to take the approach that I have to use the minimum effective dose Yes. For me to get the performance that I need.

Because it's not always about, okay, well, I gotta do three hours on the actual bike. Right? It's about how much how much effort do I need to put in so I can get the maximum efficiency based on the amount of time proud of I

appreciate that. I'm surprised you listen, I have been, listen, that has been, and when people talk to me about that, I tell them, they're like, oh yeah. I'm like, listen, it's it's a double dose of what you said it's about that always on mentality my my my mind is always on about my hustle is always on I know like like throughout the week you know Sunday well Monday through Sunday I know like there's certain things I have to do and I had to realize I learned that from triathlete that you can't you gotta always be on with your mind but your workouts don't have to always be on to a maximum so for me and that's how III think that's how we all to some degree have been able to have a good longevity of where we are. Yeah and I and I and II credit it to that. For me.

Always tell people like I don't I mean, know you say at 55, I still get good hustles on, but I know that, like you said, I know like for example yesterday, that hustle like being with your plans, everything is always on, but everything is structured and intentional.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? So I always know the next workout. What's the goal for that workout? Yesterday's goal was and by the way, I know I know if we're talking about it in this episode, I signed up for another race. So in my mind I have a goal where I want to be so my training has to be structured to get there and to also be respectful of the fact that I haven't ran a race in eight years no matter wherever I'm at because training and racing are two totally different things no matter how you want to look at it and it's like respect the game so you know for example you know but again my always on mentality yesterday's workout was a forty like a forty five minute workout but I knew okay and again being honest with yourself too and understanding like what your your strengths are and what your weaknesses are and being and being able to say okay you know I'm gonna work on those weaknesses.

And again, yesterday's workout was and again and I shouldn't say it because I know Tee's gonna use it against me

or something. Don't tell me what I'm gonna do.

He knows, I'm gonna say, you know, you're gonna be like okay once I say it. Like, I know for a fact that, you know, I probably underperformed because I like being comfortable with things like, and I'll probably only get uncomfortable when it's like, either somebody pisses me off or somebody's pushing me. Outside of that, I'm chilling. You know what I'm saying? Unless it's like the last, you know, 15.

Yeah. Then I'm like, I gotta get on. So yesterday was, I know I haven't ran in a long time and I know I've been stuck ish with I probably haven't really been pushing myself for for a variety of different reasons, not just because I'm lazy, but I've had other circumstances, but that I that I've been trying to build back. For example, yesterday was it was gonna be a four mile workout. I knew and I hadn't, I haven't done speed work in a long time.

So before all that, and again, you talk about being focused and zoned in, said, okay, I'm gonna do a four mile workout. Two of those are gonna be, one's gonna be a warm up to get to the track. You get to the track and then we, I went old school like we did back in the day for high school. Did quarter mile repeats, you know, at probably 85% so I walk one run one. Yeah.

One run one and then after that I went back home that was the cool down to get back home and I say that because again it wasn't what we used to do we would get out and run for two hours it was what probably forty six minutes you know but you can get a you can get a really nice workout and boom you know thirty forty five minutes and they give you exactly what you need you're not overburdening your body and then you're mentally you know filling up that gas tank so that that would be and I love it. I love it because a lot of times and you know I mean we we all have job we have careers we have families we have other outside things and I tell people I honestly you know and I'll, I'll end on this note. My swims, it takes me longer to get to the gym to drive back and forth than some of my swims. But I also understand it's about that mentality of what you're pouring into it that says that, you know what, I'm committed to this, you know, like I'm committed to this and I'm committed to it and I'm committed to taking the smaller steps, you know, so that I can get to that bigger goal.

Yeah. And the thing with that is it's about being ruthlessly efficient. Yep. Right? And you mentioned this earlier.

That term essential is essential for a couple reasons. Yep. One, you know, I have this whole, you know, concept behind, you know, there are particular people who make sure that the world keeps turning. Our infrastructure keeps running. And those people are essential.

Yep. Right? But at the same time, what they're doing for themselves from a health benefit, the commitment that they're making, that's essential to keep you in shape from a health perspective, from a mental perspective. All that stuff is actually necessary. So it's really about committing to yourself.

It's really about committing to whether you're a nurse, whether you're a doctor, whatever your profession is, to taking on the role of providing those services and then committing to the hustle. I mean, you mentioned this. Life is busy. Busy. You're balancing work, a career, You're balancing family.

Your hobbies.

You're all those other things. And now you choose to and I'm gonna I'm gonna pick on I'm going to go with running and cycling because right now that's where, Mayas, you choose to pull up to one of these endurance sports and continue to put the actual effort in. And so when I started thinking about all that, and I'm a go to the playbooks for for a second, but, again, I'll save that for another episode. But what I wanted to do was I wanted to be able to make sure that there were some things that would allow you to take that ruthlessness and be very efficient while you're on the job. And so there are things that focus on things that you can do from a leg perspective.

It goes anywhere from five minutes to forty five minutes. There's a recovery aspect in some of those things at zero minutes, right? So there's a whole slew, there's four protocols in total, and I'll be adding some more at some point, but it goes through those different areas. So regardless of whether or not you're on a job site, whether or not you're in a hospital, whether or not you stepped outside, there's something for everyone in there. And so that is really it's a focus on a part of the community that is close to all of us from the aspect of when I think I think sometimes when people hear the term essential, they really tie it to just, you know, the medical profession, fire, police, but that's not the reality.

The reality is, you know, anyone, yeah, electricians.

Moments, you know, like if you listen, listen, I'm a even take it to the point where I might even say the Verizon people are essential. You say you need the internet? Cause I need the internet. I need the wifi, but you know, I understand what you're saying about just about the people who, you know, who make the world go around, you know, and I could extend to, you know, a plethora of different occupations, but I think it's just people who make the world go round. And I think what you said is important.

And I think the most important thing and aspect of what they're doing is that you make that they're making a commitment to themselves, you know, I always tell people, you know, my hustle is non negotiable, you know, and it's non negotiable because if I'm not physically right and I'm not mentally right I can't contribute to anything. Yeah and I and I feel that way for the essential athletes too. Mean they you know I I've never been a policeman or a fireman or a nurse, but I can't I can't imagine the mental strain it must be for the things that they have to see every day. Yeah, you know and to have to work sometimes you know twelve thirteen hour shifts you know in a stressful environment, know, mean hell most stressful thing I do all day is if my coffee gets warm, you know, or cold sometimes.

If my coffee gets warm, oh man. Oh, and speaking of essential, shout out to my godson, Evan Young. He just graduated. He's gonna be a cardiac nurse out there in Dartmouth, I think, New Hampshire. And shout out to Lexi.

Congratulations on completing your first half marathon. Now you gotta do another one.

Congratulations to you both.

Yeah, man. And so behind every one of these episodes, I make it a point well, at the start of one of the all these episodes, I make it a point to say Home of the Essential Athlete because that is one of the areas of focus in the community that I have chosen to actually gravitate towards. And again, everyone's part of the actual community. That piece, I just wanted to make sure that I do a little extra to make sure that we understand that the work that you put in, whether it's on the job or off the job, is recognizable, and and we appreciate that. With that being said, that is the definition behind The Essential Athlete.

The Essential Athlete is always a sponsor of this show. If you like to hear more about The Essential Athlete, there'll be some links down in the description. We have a whole website dedicated to the playbooks and things like that. Be sure to like, follow, subscribe, and hit that notification button so you can be kept up to date on all these episodes that we release. And with that, we'll see you on the road.

And tell a friend.

And tell a friend. What's good, everyone? This is Terrance from Spoke and Sole. We're just getting things moving. We got a lot of stuff in store for you guys.

So if you wanna be part of the community, please be sure to subscribe, hit that notification bell so we can keep you up to date on everything we got going in the draft. Thanks, and we'll see you soon.