The Focused Mind Podcast

Ross Braden is an elite British marathon runner who finished in 12th place in 2022's London Marathon (in a time of 2:14:32). A client of mine, Ross has broken client confidentiality to talk and reflect on the psych skill training we worked on together in preparation for that event, and in preparation for his upcoming 2023 Amsterdam debut appearance, he is an exceptional talent and we discuss how he works on his mental fitness in order to help him fulfill his potential on race day.

This episode is part of the Autumn 2023 marathon preparation series by Focused Mind Coaching in order to help athletes at all levels mentally train their fitness, resilience, and flexibility specifically at this time of the calendar season. With the GOAT (Eliud Kipchoge) racing Berlin Marathon on the 24th of September, attempting the World Record for the marathon distance, we aim to show how you can take a little from his thinking and my work and research and apply it in your discipline, training, and racing.

Simon Freeman is the Editor and writer for Like the Wind magazine. It is a long-form magazine, printed every quarter 'for runners, by runners' including notable figures from the sport including Dick Beardsley, to interviews with Lance Armstrong, and Courtney Dauwalter, amongst many others covering 'why we run' rather than how to run. Digging into people's motivations, experiences, and how running plays a part in their overall life. Since starting 10 years ago, it now is self-sufficient, with a staff of 5, sponsors, and Worldwide distribution. If you like running, *you'll probably like it!*

Co-founded with his wife Julie initially in London, they now live in Switzerland and run in the mountains there, really enjoying the trails that their surroundings offer. A very focused runner in his early 30s, going from an unhealthy, overweight smoker, Simon pushed his marathon time down to a highly respectable 2:37 and has taken that drive, energy, and determination into his business. As friends of over 13 years, we took the opportunity to take stock, reflect on his own personal journey, and try and map how his thinking has evolved to help others take the lessons from endurance sports into other domains of their life, such as work, play, and business.

Probably my most personal of episodes, I hope you enjoy our conversation and learn more about the psychology of endurance to weave into your life and help develop your focus.

Simon can be found @likethewindmag on social media channels. Excitingly, he is also contributing quarterly to @theamshakeout podcast with Mario Fraioli where he has been a guest on 2 episodes that I recommend you check out if you like this one.

Something different for episode 18. Former guest, athlete, and coach, Steve Hobbs (The Milestone Pursuit) from episode 6 returns to reflect on his 10th London marathon, and his views on the elite finishers in the men's and women's race as well as the problems the marathon faces as a spectator sport. We delve into what it takes to finish well in a marathon, from a psychological perspective and contrast his experience with a first-time runner, Claire Heron, who also competed in the same race. While experienced runners have had the time to develop and refine their psychological skills and abilities, we dig into what might be useful advice and guidance for people considering taking part in their first marathon distance. What to expect, how to prepare, and tips to help them cope and manage in order to enjoy the day and get the most out of the experience. Thanks to both Steve and Claire.

David Tilbury-Davis has helped triathletes achieve more than 3 World titles, 12 National titles, 4 Ironman Regional Championship titles, numerous wins, Ironman & 70.3 Worlds qualifications, Course Records & many many Personal Bests. David has worked with Olympic, Commonwealth Games, Professional, and Age Group athletes alike. He has also coached professionals in Triathlon, Mountain Biking, and Cycling. We cover subjects as diverse as Arsene Wenger, MMA, Eddie Jones, Core values, Coach-athlete fit, and Mel Mitchell (Adam Peaty's coach!).

Episode Show Notes:

1) The benefits of ‘cross-pollination between sports coaches to learn from each other and continual learning/CPD through the lifetime of coaching.
2) Things that have impacted David's thinking as a coach.
3) Working with an athlete and getting improved performance by understanding their core values.
4) The role and importance of communication.
5) What elite-level thinking looks like and being flexible and open to new methods for success.
6) Using sport psych skills as a coach and getting athletes' buy in to his coaching methods.

Grace Lynch is a high-level distance runner from Ireland. She competed in her debut Marathon in Berlin 2021, posting a time of 2:40:06, and has since raced the Berlin half marathon in April 2022 in 73.50.

Originally from South Kerry, Grace has progressed her running career from her initial years in her local running club and now trains with a high-level group based in Dublin. As a Sport and Exercise scientist, her background has helped her in adopting good practices across her training.

Her positive mindset and approach to running with the aim of enjoying the journey have led to her progression. Grace is set to compete again in the Berlin Marathon (where she holds PBs in both the full and the half), this September and shares insights into her life, training, racing, and mindset.

Ben Rosario is the Hoka NAZ Elite Head Coach & Exec Director Ben Rosario has led the NAZ since he formed it in 2017. A Hoka-sponsored team of elite men and women who live and train at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona. Since the team’s formation, over 10 of their athletes have had top 10 finishes in World major marathons (as well as a plethora of top-end results in cross country and other major race distance events); In Aliphine Tuliamuk, they had the 2020 Olympic Trials Champion and at Boston, this Patriot’s day, Stephanie Bruce in her last major marathon appearance, placed 12th lady (and 2nd American woman). NAZ alumni include Scott Fauble, who was the top US men’s finisher in the same race (9th place), and the group’s reputation has grown since Ben co-wrote the story of Scott’s journey to another top 10 finish (in the New York marathon) previously ‘Inside a marathon’. Most recently, Ben co-wrote with top Sports writer Matt Fitzgerald, the tips and training techniques Matt gained from spending 16 weeks as an amateur training with the squad, following their training methods to pass on to all runners in their latest book: “Train like a pro, even if you’re slow.” As a result of this, Matt PB’d in his following (2017) Chicago marathon at the age of 46. So they’re doing something right up in the thin air of Northern Arizona! The team’s motto is Train HARD. Race FEARLESSLY. Share EVERY part of the journey. I was fortunate enough to visit Ben and interview him face to face the week after the book came out to talk about coaching, Sport Psychology, mindset, motivation, and how training your mental fitness can benefit your running and sport.

Chris Ward is a high-end Amateur Ultramarathon runner, originally from Nottingham, now resident in Manchester. In 2019 he was a client of mine and we spent most of the year preparing him for his target A race of the Spartathlon in Greece. A 253Km road and trail event that starts in Athens and finishes in the town of Sparta. Through a combination of very deliberate run training and extensive Sport Psychology mental conditioning, he finished in the top 150 in less than 35 hours - an incredible achievement, let alone on his debut. In this episode, having waived his confidentiality to share his experience with other runners and listeners, we reflect on the process as he went through it and I add my thoughts from the Practitioner's side. A unique perspective. We hope you learn a lot from this episode.

Dr Noel Brick is a lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Ulster University. Along with Runner's World writer Scott Douglas, he is the author of the brilliant 'Genius of Athletes,' a book published this year that takes the psychological strategies and skills used by elite endurance athletes passed to you to learn and implement for success in any big endeavour. Originally from Kerry, his dulcet tones and advice are a welcome balm at the end of another bizarre year. Whether you're an elite athlete, weekend warrior or someone trying to improve their thinking for life, endeavours or fitness, this conversation aims to offer simple to use, jargon-free advice to succeed.

Contents:

1. Overcoming the fear of failure and worries over what others think

2. The role of confidence and control, and how you can use your training diary, and use imagery and self-talk in training, racing and life.

3. Improving your attention and focus through meta-thinking (Chunking, tuning in and out, and deciding when to use distraction or focus inwards).

Sheryl Garrett is a writer. Over the past 30 years, she has been editor of The Face, the Observer magazine, and written for newspapers and magazines worldwide. Having started at the NME before moving to listings magazine City Limits, Sheryl wrote two books. Bliss to be alive, a collection of works by the late Gavin Hills, and one of the definitive books on the acid house scene, Adventures in Wonderland, in which she interviewed the movers and shakers of the movement about their experiences when club culture exploded in the late 80s.

More recently, Sheryl has trained as a life coach and works with a client group of creatives, to build success and the life they want, making work they love. I wanted to understand what makes Sheryl tick, how she developed focus throughout her career, and understand her mindset. We cover everything from the world of coaching, nightclubs, and the interior of Madonna’s Miami home as well as her own personal life philosophy.

Geoff Thomas is a former footballer, who won nine caps for England and captained Crystal Palace in the 1990 FA Cup Final against Manchester United.

In June 2003, a year after retirement, Geoff was diagnosed with leukaemia, from which he recovered and only 2 years later raised over £150,000 for Leukaemia Research by cycling each of the 21 stages of the 2005 Tour de France a few days ahead of the race itself with a group of friends and riders. This is a feat he’s repeated a further 3 times, and this summer will ride a final time in order to raise over £1 million for Cure Leukaemia.

In this inspirational conversation, we look back at the foundational experiences in Geoff’s life that have driven him in his career, surviving cancer and undertaking large scale endurance fundraising efforts. We discuss how he found his focus, how he manages and copes with the discomfort and pain of 21 successive days of cycling over 2000 miles leading and supporting over 20 fellow riders.

Geoff also explains how you can get involved and virtually ride one of the stages in order to help the project hit its financial target and you can push your own physical and psychological limits.

Jon Egan is from South Carolina, and the Founder and Host of the “Studying Failure” Podcast, a show that focuses on normalizing the conversation about failure.

His goal is to help people change the way they see their failures, setbacks, and adversity so that instead of seeing failure as something to be avoided, to see failure as a key to unlock their next success.

In our chat we talk about his early life, work and pivotal moments that shaped him today where he juggles his time working, creating and hosting his podcast and family.

Through this story we examine Jon’s relationship to failure and how he used that to improve and enhance his focus, identity and mindset.

Steve Hobbs IS the Milestone Pursuit. That is the name of his business, podcast, and coaching method. Steve is a former MD of a media company, and skilled at working one to one with individuals and diverse groups of people to achieve personal and challenging milestones. Steve is adept at delving deep to help people set their goals (i.e. their milestones) and deliver step-by-step plans to achieve them (i.e. the pursuit). He has had success from beginner to elite levels in both sport and business. Since COVID19, Steve has grown his coaching business, in tandem with the popular Milestone Pursuit podcast (as featured in the Guardian). In this conversation, we go back to find out about Steve's personal and sporting history to understand the start and pursuit of his sporting success; how having an athlete mindset converts to work and life, and his use of Sport Psychology methods in his coaching.

Colin Richards is a London-based Sex & Relationship therapist with over 15 years of professional practice. He helps people transform their relationships and sex lives covering anything from relationship conflict, sexual frustration, complacency, or helping people with a high or low libido and more. He has helped over 6000 people and takes a humanistic approach covering the biological, psychological, social, and anthropological influences behind human desire, curiosity, and fear through individual sessions and group workshops.

Colin is my go-to referral point for clients who bring sex or relationship matters to my practice that I need to forward on. He can be fully trusted for confidentiality and helping with potentially awkward or shy feelings about the most personal problems or issues people face. Our conversation focuses on human behaviour and drives; how he helps and educates clients; the changing nature of sex and sexuality in society and how his work crosses over with mine.

Sara Symington is a former GB Olympic cyclist (2000 and 2004 games). After the Athens games she retired and worked as a policewoman and as a performance advisor for UK Sport. We met after the 2012 Olympic games when I worked as her psych for the GB Olympic Archery team where she had taken her first Performance Director role. In 2015 she left to work in the same position for England Netball. As PD she oversaw bronze medal success in the 2015 World Cup and in 2018, the team won Gold against the favourites, Australia, in a thrilling last second victory. In 2020, Sara became the Performance Director for UK Athletics.

In the build-up to the 2019 Netball World cup, I wanted to find out about the mindset, thinking and skills Sara has used in her career in order to successfully run both the business and sporting performance parts of her role and what makes her tick. We cover her background, sporting history, and upbringing in this fascinating insight into one of the country's leading Performance Directors. 

Peter Bromka is an Oregon based marathoner (with a PB 2:19:40) with the Bowerman Track elite group; an independent consultant, Dad and exponent of long-form writing (https://www.peterbromka.com/ and for Runners World). In the build-up to his second attempt at a US Olympic qualifying time at the 2019 Boston Marathon, I was keen to understand Peter's mindset and psychological strategies and what makes him tick.

This episode covers his time from inside the labs & in races for Nike, his background, history, and upbringing with running in his family. We discuss in detail his attitude, discipline, and focus for training and races and how he views his journey both in and out of racing, training, and writing. 

The Focused Mind Podcast is presented by Sport Psychologist Stu Holliday. This interview explores the psychology of human performance to understand the mindset and strategies that make up the psychological aspect of people's mastery of their skill, discipline, or domain. Ed Caesar is the author of the books Two Hours and 'The Moth and The Mountain.' In this episode he discusses his writing, training with Eliud Kipchoge and the other athletes and coaches on the Breaking2 project, as well as the life story of forgotten War hero and explorer Maurice Wilson.