Episode 99: Endurance Nation

Endurance Nation coaches over 600 athletes. Today we talk to founder Patrick McCrann about his online community which has helped 16 people qualify for Kona World Championships this year. We talk about the community, his use of Stryd Power Meters and more. 

How did you get started?

 

• Rower at BU in early to mid 90's
• Left school to join Peace Corps and took up running while in Asia
• Brother did Ironman and lead me to try it and first Ironman in 2001

What type of early success did you have when you started Ironmans

• 10:43 in first Ironman Florida
• Became harder after the first one because started overthinking

Did you qualify early for Kona?

• 5 years and 8 Ironman races before qualified
• Took a while to figure out the execution 
• Doing Kona again this year
• 9th Kona

What did you do with your training that made the difference to qualify?

• Building a schedule where could be consistent with training
• Learning from the training log

How do you balance the time between training time and family?

• Wife supportive and also trains
• Build a training space in the garage 
• Flexibility with a training plan to adjust

2001 you did your first Ironman, 2006 was your first Kona, when did you start coaching?

• 2004 friends asked me for help
• Early on started having success and created own company
• 2007 turned it into Endurance Nation

What is Endurance Nation?

• Team of self-coached athletes
• We give you keys to all the training plans and resources
• A community that shares ideas, successes, and failures 
• 500-650 athletes at any given time

Athletes spread out throughout the world, yet you talk about community a lot, how does that work?

• Forums - 10 years old with huge amounts of info 
• Social wall like a Facebook group

Is your community for someone more experienced or new athlete?

• For anyone looking to get better
• Save time to reach goals

How much are you using Power Meters?

• Been using Stryd's for a whlie
• Good number to watch that gives instant feedback

What do you mean by run durability?

• Running most injury prone
• Run less per day but run more days per week to get the volume you desire

Many athletes are getting into their final weeks before their big fall race, what do you work on to get them ready for their race and tapering?

• Race preparation workouts
• Tapering is more personal per each runner 
• Rest a little on the early side a few weeks out

Endurancenation.us/start

Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute

Favorite endurance/running book? - Eat and Run
Current trainers you are wearing? - Hoka One One Clifton 4
Favorite race? - Boston and trail races
Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Ascent Protein
Your favorite workout - Long Run

Resources
Endurance Nation Facebook https://www.facebook.com/endurancenation
Endurance Nation Instagram https://www.instagram.com/teamendurancenation/
Endurance Nation Website https://www.endurancenation.us/start/
Stryd Power Meter