Natasha Kufa On The 10% Rule: Small Changes, Big Results

What is the secret to running impossibly fast? Or distances longer than previously imagined? Beginning in the 1960's, an unknown farm boy turned coach named Bob Larsen launched a decades-long quest to find the ‘secret sauce' of speed and endurance that would eventually revolutionize the sport and catapult American running onto the national stage. This is the story of how Larsen took turned a rag-tag group of also-ran junior college athletes called the Jamul Toads into cult-favorite national champions. Later, he would apply his secret training regimen to athletes like Meb Keflezighi and Deena Kastor to create victories at the New York and Boston Marathons as well as the Olympics. To unpack this incredible yarn, today I sit down with New York Times Deputy Sports Editor Matthew Futterman. A graduate of Union College and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, Matthew has previously worked for The Wall Street Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Star-Ledger of New Jersey, where he was a part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News in 2005. An avid marathoner, Matthew became obsessed with the history of American distance running and the training innovations that create champions. The result of this quest is his new book, Running to the Edge: A Band of Misfits and the Guru Who Unlocked the Secrets of Speed. Part Bob Larsen biography and part autobiography, it's a fascinating account of how one maverick coach discovered and developed the unorthodox paradigm that would launch American runners to unprecedented breakthroughs and ultimately inform the protocols of some of today’s most fleet of foot. From Bob Bowerman and Steve Prefontaine to the quest to break the 2-hour marathon, today's exploration focuses on the science behind running performance. The ongoing quest to find the secret sauce of speed and endurance. And the evolving crusade to run faster and farther than ever before. It’s about what can be learned from Bob Larsen's example, and the methods he pioneered that led to his stature as one of the greatest running coaches of all time. And it’s about our shared love for the sport of running. Even if running isn't your thing, I think you will find this conversation compelling. The stories are legend. And the life lessons applicable across disciplines. The visually inclined can watch our entire conversation on YouTube here: bit.ly/matthewfutterman455 (please subscribe!) I sincerely hope you enjoy the exchange! Peace + Plants, Rich

22 Juli 20192h 12min

To be totally honest, I don't follow the pugilistic arts all that closely. But professional boxer barely describes this week's guest — a man who has faced stacked odds and overcome career-ending setbacks to meet the biggest moment of his life. Ask him how he did it, and Mike Lee answers with conviction: it's all about mindset. A professional light heavyweight boxer currently 21 – 0 with 11 knockouts, this Saturday, July 20th Mike will be fighting for his first world title against Caleb Plant — the current Undefeated IBF Super Middleweight World Champion. It’s Mike’s first fight in 13 months. On the other hand, Plant (18-0 with 10 knockouts) is fresh off his biggest victory. Suffice it to say, it’s shaping up to be quite the bout. And it's all going down live on Fox PBC, live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Hardly your average fighter, what compels me about Mike is the unique path he's blazed to arrive at this place. This is a guy who studied business at Notre Dame, where he relaxed by reading The Wall Street Journal and watching CNBC. When he graduated in 2009 with a 3.8 GPA in finance, he was welcomed with lucrative opportunities on Wall Street. But then he takes the road less traveled, turning every job offer down to pursue a lifelong dream: winning Chicago’s Golden Gloves. He did just that. The following year, he went pro, winning his first two professional fights. The national spotlight shone bright. Endorsement contracts followed. The boxing world, it appeared, was his oyster. You might say the rest is history. But that belies the severity of his next bout — a fight for his life that blindsided him outside the ring. At the peak of his career, after knocking out Tyler Seever in 2012, Mike fell prey to a mysterious health condition that would bench him for over two years. Experiencing great pain in his joints, severe headaches and debilitating chronic fatigue, doctors struggled to determine the cause. Some believed it was psychological. Others prescribed a multitude of drugs, none of which resolved his underlying predicament. But all of them told him he would never fight again. The hospital bed had become home. His identity challenged, he suddenly felt worthless, succumbing to a deep depression. Nonetheless, Mike never gave up hope. He committed to seeking alternative and non-traditional solutions, which culminated in a diagnosis: an auto-immune disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis. A version of arthritis, AS can be devastating both physically and mentally for anyone, let alone a professional athlete who pushes his body to the limit every day. The path forward hasn't been easy. Mike wakes up in pain every day. But he's gone all in on this comeback. And that's something worth all of us getting behind. Layered with life lessons and formative takeaways, this is a conversation about the value of perseverance. It's about deploying a potent mindset to keep your dream live, no matter the circumstances. It's about visualizing success. And it's about the importance of always giving back. The visually inclined can watch our entire conversation on YouTube here: bit.ly/mikelee454 (please subscribe!) An exemplary ambassador of sport, I really enjoyed Mike. I think you will too. Enjoy! Rich

15 Juli 20191h 52min

Why is great food important? How and why did restaurants become culturally significant? And what life lessons can be gleaned from the world's greatest chef? There is no more enthusiastic ringmaster for this exploration than the merry man of food himself, Jeff Gordinier. A writer, journalist and author who sits at the converging junction of food and culture, Jeff is a frequent contributor to the New York Times and currently serves as the Food and Drinks editor at Esquire Magazine. A graduate of Princeton University where he studied writing and poetry, Jeff is a former writer and editor for Entertainment Weekly, editor at large for Details magazine and over the years has written about music and culture for a multitude of national publications, including Travel + Leisure, GQ, Elle, Creative Nonfiction, Spin, Poetry Foundation, Fortune, and many others. The occasion for today’s conversation is Jeff’s new book, Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World*. Equal parts mid-life crisis autobiography, adventure travelogue and biography, it chronicles the four years Jeff spent traveling with René Redzepi, the renowned chef of Copenhagen's Noma — recently fêted as the #2 best restaurant in the world — in search of the most tantalizing flavors the world has to offer. And yet, the book really isn't about food. A meditation on risk, re-invention, creative breakthroughs, and human connection, it sits atop my recommended summer reads. I first met Jeff in 2015 when he visited our home for a New York Times feature he was penning on the rise of veganism. Dubbed Vegans Go Glam, the piece caught fire, including a day spent as the #1 most e-mailed story on the entire New York Times website. Suffice it say, this was an insanely big moment for us, and the plant-based movement at large. In the aftermath of that experience, Jeff and I struck up a friendship He sent me an early copy of Hungry, which I devoured. It left me wanting to know more about Jeff. About food culture. About the mysterious René Redzepi. And what can be learned about life from this charismatic, cult-like genius redefining cutting-edge cuisine. So here we are. This is a conversation about total commitment to mastery. It's about creative expression. It's about the cruciality of constant, fearless re-invention. It's about investing in experience. And it's about the importance of deep human connection — to others, oneself, and the environment we share. As an anecdotal aside, it is this conversation that inspired my recent and uncharacteristically spontaneous decision to join Jeff and fellow food writer Adam Platt in Copenhagen a few weeks back. A once-in-a-lifetime, seat of our pants adventure I won't soon forget, we toured the city with René and his head fermentation wizard David Zilber (a seriously fascinating dude in his own right). We experienced the Noma phenomenon behind the scenes. And we enjoyed the premier of the restaurant's new forage-forward Plant Kingdom menu — a truly psychedelic experience incomparable to anything I have previously encountered. Peace + Plants, Rich

11 Juli 20192h 36min

The tectonic plates of the workplace landscape are rapidly shifting. Gone are the days of multi-decade corporate allegiance, replaced with project-based careers. The rapid rise of the freelance economy. And a labor core increasingly distributed across the globe. What are the economic and social implications of this trend? How can the traditional office be re-imagined to fit this escalating movement? And what role can architecture and design play to deepen community and foster personal happiness? There is no better steward to explore these important questions than this week's guest, Miguel McKelvey. A talented, multi-disciplinary designer and entrepreneur, Miguel is the Co-Founder of WeWork — the ubiquitous, communal co-working space company — where he currently serves as the Chief Culture Officer, directing construction, architecture and web design for the business. Raised on a commune in Oregon, Miguel earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon, where he played on the Oregon Ducks basketball team for two years. Prior to WeWork, Miguel created the design framework and led the national retail roll-out for 170 American Apparel stores. Subsequently, he was involved in the early-stage development of several companies, including Green Desk, Barre3, Versation, and English, Baby! Because Miguel shares responsibility for creating and leading one of the world's most successful companies, one might predictably suspect this is a conversation about business. It is not. To be sure, we track his entrepreneurial journey. But this man's success has less to do with commerce and more to do with purpose. A deep commitment to community. And an intentional life devoted to fostering meaningful human connection. Over the course of two and a half hours, we explore how Miguel's unusual upbringing in a five-mother commune and his experience playing NCAA Division I basketball created the ‘Communitarian' philosophy that would later inform the cultural foundation for WeWork. We discuss Miguel's love of architecture and the important role design plays in modeling our professional and personal lives. How growing up in the town that produced Nike inspired an entrepreneurial drive to create an aspirational brand. And what his career at American Apparel taught him about engaging consumer culture at scale. But more than anything, this is a conversation with a remarkably humble man driven by gratitude and purpose to create new and original habitats that fuel a more connected world — and ultimately more fulfilling lives. The visually inclined can watch our entire conversation on YouTube here: bit.ly/miguelmckelvey452 (please subscribe!)  Enjoy! Rich

8 Juli 20192h 40min

For reasons both obvious and perhaps less so, this week's episode holds a very special place in my heart. There is something unique about sitting before a microphone that permits a species of conversation difficult to otherwise have. Done right, the inherent formality of putting it all on the record can countenance an experience of rare intimacy that scarcely transpires in the course of conventional human interaction. From the very beginning of this podcast journey, I've longed to host my father on the show. To provide a ceremonial opportunity to probe his life, uninterrupted. To learn things about him I've always wanted to know — but for whatever reason just never found the right occasion to ask. For years, I harbored the fear that if I didn't make such an experience a priority, it might never happen. And that would be something I would deeply regret for the rest of my days. My drive was never to share such an experience with an audience. I wasn't convinced the conversation I yearned for would be appropriate for public consumption. It's always been about creating a moment just for us. A document I could privately keep for posterity. And for my children. However, a compelling reason recently arose to transform this rumination into reality. A gentleman and a scholar, Dave Roll has spent the better part of his life studying history. The apex of this passion is an incredible new book entitled, George Marshall: Defender of the Republic*. An enthralling and deeply thoughtful chronicle of America's most distinguished soldier since George Washington, it's also a deeply prescient and timely meditation on selflessness, leadership, and the momentous importance of moral character in political and social structures. The embodiment of these ideals, Marshall influenced the course of two world wars, and helped define the American century. By way of background, my dad has enjoyed a very successful 35 year career as an accomplished attorney in the field of antitrust. Over the years, he successfully defended clients in investigations and enforcement actions brought by the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. After government service at the FTC he matriculated to partner and ultimately managing partner of the prestigious Washington, D.C.- based international law firm Steptoe & Johnson. Later in his career, he founded the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, a non-profit, public interest organization that provides pro bono legal services to social entrepreneurs around the world. Now in his third act, Dave is enjoying a successful career as an author. Also historical biographies, his previous titles include The Hopkins Touch: Harry Hopkins and the Forging of the Alliance to Defeat Hitler* and Louis Johnson and the Arming of America*, a biography of Harry Truman's defense secretary. Enjoy! Rich

1 Juli 20192h 17min

This week I sit down with Rebecca Rusch – one of the world’s greatest adventure athletes. Rebecca is a 7-time World Champion, best-selling author, activist, and Emmy winner. In addition to superhuman success on a mountain bike, she has performed at the elite level across a multitude of disciplines including rock climbing, white water rafting, and multi-day adventure events like Eco Challenge. Still crushing it at 50, Rebecca is redefining human capability in real time. Beyond athletics, Rebecca is a TEDx speaker, author of Rusch To Glory* and the founder of the Be Good Foundation. In addition, she is the event producer of Rebecca’s Private Idaho, a bike race in her hometown of Ketchum, and the protagonist in Blood Road, an extraordinary documentary that chronicles her 1,800 km mountain bike adventure along the Ho Chi Minh Trail to reach the site where her U.S. Air Force pilot father was shot down in Laos more than 40 years earlier during Vietnam. Dubbed ‘The Queen of Pain' by Adventure Sports magazine, Rebecca was named #6 on Active.com’s list of the World's Top 100 Athletes, Singletrack.com’s Mountain Biker of the Year, Sports Illustrated Adventure Racing Team of the Year, and Outside magazine’s Top 20 Female Athletes of the Year. Rebecca's accomplishments are beyond impressive. But today's conversation lives beyond elite performance to explore things like curiosity. The richness of adventure. Feeding the soul. Continuous personal growth. Redefining age. Contributing to the greater good. And giving back. But most of all, this is about what can be gleaned by leaning into the unknown. And living outside the comfort zone. Because there is so much more to this incredible woman than athletic prowess. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with Rebecca. My hope is that it leaves you re-evaluating your personal limits. And inspired to live more adventurously. The visually inclined can watch our entire conversation on YouTube here: bit.ly/rebeccarusch450 (please subscribe!) Peace + Plants, Rich

24 Juni 20191h 58min

Recorded live during our recent Plantpower Italia retreat in Tuscany, I'm delighted to share a fun and highly informative conversation and audience Q&A with the delightful, whip-smart “Plant Power Doctor” herself. Gemma Newman, MD has worked in medicine for 15 years, the last decade serving as Senior Partner at a family medical practice in the U.K.. She studied at the University of Wales College of Medicine and has worked in many specialities as a doctor including elderly care, endocrinology, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, general surgery, urology, vascular surgery, rehabilitation medicine and General Practice. In recent years she has developed a specialist interest in plant-based nutrition and lifestyle medicine, serving as a Jikiden Reiki practitioner and advisory board member of Plant Based Health Professionals UK. On the daily, she provides evidence based nutrition, mental and physical health modalities, energetic healing and lifestyle advice to her patients, who have gained tremendous results using the power of their plate. As a broadcaster and writer she has been featured on numerous national press outlets including ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky News Sunrise. She is a regular contributor Glamour, Zest and Health magazines and has appeared in the feature film Vegan 2018. Gemma's journey to plant-based advocacy isn't rooted in ideology or moral compunction, but rather on hard science matched with self-experimentation. As a young doctor in a high-pressure environment, like many newly minted physicians she began neglecting her own health. Struggling with her weight, and having bought into the background hum of ‘cut the carbs', she adopted a low carb diet. Calorie counting ensued, combined with a modest daily exercise routine. It worked. Sort of. Dropping from a size 18 to a size 8, she was feeling pretty good about herself. Then she checked her blood profile to discover an elevated lipid profile, markers suggesting a tendency to heart disease. She shrugged off to genetics. Both her father and grandfather died relatively young of atherosclerosis. It's just something I was born with. Something I just have to live with. Nonetheless, she couldn't shake the feeling that perhaps there was something she could do to alter this seemingly immutable fate. Meanwhile, Gemma's husband Richard picked up a little book called Finding Ultra while training for the London Marathon. He decided to give this plant-based diet thing a whirl. Being the skeptical doctor she is, Gemma was less than enthusiastic. Where would he get his protein? Won’t there be nutritional deficiencies? We will never be invited to friend’s houses for dinner ever again! How would I feed my family?  Undeterred, Richard completed that marathon, slicing an incredible one hour and ten minutes off his personal best. This got Gemma's attention. She had already been passionate about researching lifestyle medicine. How changes in stress, sleep, exercise and diet could improve health for a long time. But nothing was to prepare her for the powerful transformations that were possible when people embraced a whole-food plant-based diet. Hence ensued a deep dive into medical literature, scientific research, and self-experimentation. Today we explore the result of Gemma's journey. How it transformed her life and medical practice wholesale. Peace + Plants, Rich

20 Juni 20192h 5min

Every podcaster has their dream list — guests they fantasize interviewing. From day one, today's guest has occupied my top slot. Officially, Russell Brand is one of the most recognizable and best-loved comedy performers in the world. He is also is also a phenomenally successful author, broadcaster, actor, columnist, political commentator and mental health & drug rehabilitation activist. His global bestselling books include Revolution*,Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions*, and his latest release, Mentors: How to Help and Be Helped*. Now a devoted dad and husband, when he isn't touring or performing he can be found hosting Under The Skin on Luminary, one of my very favorite podcasts. Unofficially, Russell is iconic for his very public awakening. A recovering heroin addict, his struggles with drugs, sex, fame, money and power were custom tailored for tabloid fodder. And his satirical but always probing takes on politics, celebrity culture and religion often find him in the crosshairs of controversy. I think of Russell as a hyper-intelligent master of modern discourse and disputation. Perpetually armed with a most delicious turn-of-phrase, he is a philosopher of the extreme. A man who has voyaged to the brink of overindulgence, he has returned to share the unique personal wisdom gleaned from such surfeit with razor-sharp musings on the broader humanity we collectively share — and have a laugh along the path. With a sui generis brew of eccentric wit, subversive candor and extreme charm, Russell grapples fearlessly and out loud with that which lays beneath the surface. With the ideas that define our time. Of the history we are told. And the ulterior truth behind our constructed reality. What is truly real? How can we craft a more fair and just society for all? How can we live a more intentional life of meaning? What does it mean be a spiritual being in a human existence? Today we voyage beyond the walls of our constructed material world. We dive into The Matrix. And to coin Russell's phrase, lick the walls of the hologram. I’m absolutely delighted by this magical, modern-day mystic. Once a dream, this conversation is now a tangible reality. Or is it? Either way, I sincerely hope you relish the conversation as much as I adored having it. The visually inclined can watch our entire conversation on YouTube here: bit.ly/russellbrand448 (please subscribe!)  Peace + Plants, Rich

17 Juni 20191h 56min