richroll

Please excuse my old man rant, but... We're losing our "real world" endurance training culture. It's being progressively diluted by polished lifelong "influencers" who keep spewing out popular but inaccurate information that has no basis in real-world experience. And every day it gets worse. It gets A.I. optimized for your audience to tell people what they want to hear. What they want to click on. And, so, every day we see more of this. More bullshit. And now, it's getting to the point that no one knows who the experts are anymore. No one knows what's real. Nowadays, the "experts" are those with the most articles, the most clicks. The fact that they've never trained an athlete in their lives? Doesn't matter. We've gone through 4 phases in my coaching life... 1/Real-world feet-on-deck, tyres on road, knowledge. 2/ Experts in the above coming together to share things in unpolished, but productive, ways on the interwebs - Glorious time. Absolute heyday! 3/ Polished "influencers" spawning at obnoxious rates and progressively replacing the real experts on the internet in the "content" they produce. 4/ That rate of 💩 increasing at rates never seen before thanks to A.I. ! Most of the real experts have retreated to caves somewhere by now. If you want to truly understand something about the things you're passionate about, go seek 'em out. Might be time for my morning nap.

Tomorrow I’ve got neuroscientist Dr. Tommy Wood on the pod to discuss dementia prevention, neuroplasticity, and the habits that protect your brain. This one is your brain longevity code, so don’t miss it.

On May 8, 2025 I underwent spinal fusion surgery, a 6 hour procedure in which I was filleted from front to back. First, my abdomen was opened up so that the surgeon could scrape out the disc between L5 and S1, replacing it with a perforated cage containing bone grafting material that was screwed into my vertebra. Then I was flipped over and opened up on my back so that my surgeon could screw vertical rods into L5 and S1 to secure my spine position to ensure the fusion sets properly. The procedure was successful, correcting 15 years of lower back debilitation due to severe Spondylolisthesis. However, the recovery process demanded I endure far more than I bargained for, debilitating me in ways I thought might handicap me permanently. For the first 3 months I could barely move. For the first six months my activity was limited to walking only. Pain was constant. At nine months I was still in so much discomfort, still so limited in my range of motion, still too unstable to do anything to elevate my heart rate. My weight ballooned. My muscles atrophied. My mood plummeted. And I was becoming resigned to the idea that my athletic identity (let alone performing extreme feats of ultra-endurance) was a thing of the past, a memory well behind me. But very slowly after that I began to turn a corner. At ten months, I finally felt stable enough to resume a very modest non-spine compressing return to fitness exercise regimen. Zone 1 indoor cycling, gentle core work, extremely low weight / high rep resistance training. Proceeding on a ‘less is more’ mandate in late November (which demands discipline for someone like myself prone to taking everything to the extreme, I just showed up every single morning to do what I could, and stop well before doing more than I should. Today I am down 35 pounds from November (207 to 171) including a body fat reduction from 20% to 11%. More importantly, I am beginning to feel like myself again. Grateful and hopeful. I still have a long way to go—it takes 12-18 months for the fusion to fully set. My surgeon was not optimistic that I will be able to run again. Time will tell of course, but I’m confident that provided I continue to proceed patiently that I have a future in which running can become part of my new reality. Towards that end I have a goal—which is to celebrate my 60th birthday this Fall by participating in the NYC Marathon. But here’s the thing. I’m not trying to return to who I once was. I’ve leaned into the stillness this experience has demanded of me to become someone new and better. I am posting this story not for external validation but rather to say that change is always possible. And the way to do it is the same way I have navigated every one of my many life transformations, from alcoholism to sobriety, from sedentary to middle aged ultra endurance athlete, and from a corporate lawyer career to becoming an author and podcaster: getting sober and staying sober: by taking contrary action consistently and religiously—one day at a time. As Chris Paul said on my podcast, “keep stacking days.” And remember, every obstacle life presents you is simply an opportunity custom-designed for your growth and evolution.