Rob Jones Stripped Down His Running To Build A Stronger Foundation

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Today’s guest is a gentleman that I’ve gotten to know a little bit over the last year or two.

We will dive a little deeper into his running exploits in today’s chat.

I am looking forward to going a few easy miles with Rob Jones today.

Running Borne From Convenience

While growing up, Rob Jones participated in various sports, but none of them were exclusively running.

He never disliked running, but he didn’t really get into the sport until he was an adult.

Prior to getting serious about running, Rob ran 4 to 5 miles every other day for a few years.

Occasionally on sleepless nights he would get out and run 12 to 13 miles.

Running took a backseat for a few more years after this period until around 2008.

The preschool that Rob’s son attended was near his local gym.

During the 2 hours that his son was at school, Rob chose to work out the entire time rather than make the round trip.

Over time Rob worked up to running the entire time he was at the gym.

Running Is His Foundation

As Rob has gotten older running has become the thing that drives him as well as his foundation for all that he does.

In one year’s time, Rob went from running a 5k to a marathon.

For his first few marathons, he did zero training besides running.

Rob has become more well rounded in terms of his fitness since that first race.

Over time, he began to understand the importance of strength training, cross-training, nutrition, and recovery.

Rob has a big goal to eventually run a Boston Qualifier and in order to do that, he began to pay attention to the “little things” that added up over time.

Less Than Ideal Trajectory

Rob admittedly loves running the marathon distance, but he hasn’t run one since 2013.

When he first began running, he moved quickly up to the marathon.

In the time that he completed 5 marathons, he began to notice some red flags.

The training cycles were getting repetitive and he began to experience overuse injuries.

His times began to fall off and more importantly, he wasn’t enjoying the process anymore.

After his 4th and 5th marathons, Rob realized that he was beating his head against the wall and not making any progress.

Rob made the difficult decision to pull back completely in an effort to begin to rebuild better and stronger.

Time To Strip Down And Rebuild

In choosing to strip down and rebuild, Rob knew there was a way to improve, he just had to find it.

For the last 3 years, Rob has been as consistent as ever with his running.

He attributes a big part of his transformation to listening to various podcasts on health and fitness.

A podcast was the first time he became aware of the terms zone 2 and heart rate training.

The idea was that in order to get faster, he would first have to learn to slow down.

Running slower has allowed Rob to enjoy his runs more and focus on times less.

He is confident that with this new approach his race times will eventually drop to where he aspires to be.

The Running Retirement Account

Rob views his health in a similar manner as he would a retirement account.

The more he puts into it now, the more he will reap the benefits later.

Along with adjusting his training approach, he has also honed in on his nutrition.

Each individual is unique with what works for them, and Rob has found that he thrives with a lower-carb diet.

He has gotten down to a healthy weight while still being able to indulge in some of his favorite treats.

The addition of strength training has reduced his propensity for injuries.

Investing in his health will allow him to continue to do the things that he loves, including running.

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Mentioned In This Episode:

• MAF Method

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Rob Jones was faced with stagnant running and rather than doubling down he chose a new path. He went back to square one and began to rebuild stronger. Click To Tweet

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As Always, I’d Love to Know What Stood Out to You From this Episode! Let Me Know Your Takeaway in the Comments Below!

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