Brodie dives into the science of sprained ankles, including assessment, treatment & prevention. Sprained ankles may not be a common running-related injury, but can be very common outside of recreational running and leaves athletes confused when they can start being active. We first discuss the Ottawa ankle rules for ruling out a fracture. Then once ruled out the evidence behind rest, ice, compression & elevation vs an accelerated functional strengthening protocol. Brodie share's his on c...
Feb 22, 2021•38 min•Ep. 113
On today's success story we have Mark Mulray who was battling Plantar Fasciitis for several months before finding what worked and what didn't work. Mark tried changing shoes, cross-training and had every variation of massage ball and ice bottle under his desk at work. Mark Mulray shares his treatment process that allowed him to not only kick his plantar fasciitis, but go on to finish an ironman and 100 mile races. During these success story segments, Brodie interviews a runner who has managed to...
Feb 18, 2021•49 min•Ep. 112
Today we have wellness entrepreneur, biohacker & host of the Optimal Performance podcast Sean McCormick. We all know that sleep is the #1 tool to help you recover, perform at high levels and rebuild from a hard workout. But, a lot of runners find it hard to sleep, unwind & detach from the stressors of the day. This is why I have brought on Sean who is going to introduce ways you can enhance your rest and recovery through methods like float tank sessions, mindfulness strategies & slee...
Feb 14, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 111
Stress fractures are a runners worst nightmare. They are often mis-diagnosed in the early days and when correctly identified, result in several weeks of inactivity which will drive a runner insane! Today Brodie interviews Ainslie who has faced several stress fractures throughout her running career. At the age of 14, Ainslie experienced her first major injury having fractured her hip bone and tearing her hip labrum towards the end of a race. Following that was a foot stress fracture in 2011, 4 mo...
Feb 11, 2021•40 min•Ep. 110
Andrew & Michael are the hosts of the Endurance Innovation podcast. With thermal engineer backgrounds and a passion in endurance performance, the boys deliver a unique insight into thermo-regulation, heat transfer & optimal performance in all conditions. We start with running in sub-freezing temperatures and how smart decisions towards clothing, sweat and layering can help you thrive. Secondly, I wanted to ask Andrew & Michael how we can reach optimal performance in fair weather cond...
Feb 07, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 109
During these success story segments, Brodie interviews a runner who has managed to overcome a running related injury after much hardship and frustration. When injured, it is easy to find social media posts & stories from other injured runners which are discouraging and worrying. Tales of chronic pain, debilitating symptoms and failed treatment techniques often manifest anxiety and thoughts of the worst outcome. However, this is only a small fraction of runners and a skewed bias around the in...
Feb 04, 2021•43 min•Ep. 108
On this episode of the Run Smarter Podcast, Brodie ropes in Pat from That's Running podcast and together they unpack the challenging topic of forefoot pain. The forefoot is the section between your toes and the arch of your foot. In fact, Brodie & Pat are both currently managing their own foot pain and share their experiences. Firstly, Pat talks about the research behind forefoot pain for runners and potential structures that could lead to pain. He describes the common locations of pain and ...
Feb 01, 2021•59 min•Ep. 107
During these success story segments, Brodie interviews a runner who has managed to overcome a running related injury after much hardship and frustration. When injured, it is easy to find social media posts & stories from other injured runners which are discouraging and worrying. Tales of chronic pain, debilitating symptoms and failed treatment techniques often manifest anxiety and thoughts of the worst outcome. However, this is only a small fraction of runners and a skewed bias around the in...
Jan 28, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 106
On this episode, Brodie summarizes a paper by Hamill & Gruber titled: Is changing footstrike pattern beneficial to runners? This is a hot topic for a lot of runners, coaches and health professionals alike, and while this paper may not come to a conclusive statement, it does help bring us up-to-date with the current literature. The verdict might surprise you. Changing from a heel striker to a forefoot striker has been proposed for decades. The arguments for such a change follows several theor...
Jan 25, 2021•41 min•Ep. 105
We are back for our second installment of question provided by my sister Zoe. Here are the list of questions answered on today's episode: I have injured my hamstring and took time off to recover from, now my leg feels weak and I am in a cycle of exercise followed by injury recovery. What can I do? How do I tell the difference between muscle soreness after a run and injury? Every run I am running to the point of exhaustion because I want to get my best times. Is this okay? What do you recommend t...
Jan 21, 2021•29 min•Ep. 104
We haven't done a Q&A episode for a while and today we are doing something a bit different. My sister Zoe is taking over Q&A time! We cover a wide range of questions today, here is the list. How do I know what a reasonable starting distance is if I haven’t ran before, or haven’t ran for a long time? How do hills impact my run, how can I best run on hills if they are unavoidable? My running doesn't seem to be improving. What can I do? When I am running I feel like my heart is beating at i...
Jan 18, 2021•32 min•Ep. 103
This interview Brodie chats with advanced practice physio, sonographer & shockwave specialist Benoy Mathew. Shockwave therapy is a treatment method administered by therapists and Benoy answers all our questions on this treatment option. Firstly, Benoy helps answer the question of what Shockwave is and what the clinic experience looks like for a patient. Secondly, we help decipher the confusion of who will benefit most from shockwave therapy. Benoy explains which running conditions will respo...
Jan 14, 2021•41 min•Ep. 102
This interview Brodie chats with advanced practice physio, sonographer & shockwave specialist Benoy Mathew. Shockwave therapy is a treatment method administered by therapists and Benoy answers all our questions on this treatment option. Firstly, Benoy helps answer the question of what Shockwave is and what the clinic experience looks like for a patient. Secondly, we help decipher the confusion of who will benefit most from shockwave therapy. Benoy explains which running conditions will respo...
Jan 11, 2021•40 min•Ep. 101
After 12 months and 90k downloads the Run Smarter Podcast is celebrating 100 episodes!! Brodie reflects on the past year and the milestones surpassed as he shares clips of his favourite moments, including what he has learnt the most and what he looks forward to moving into the future. Listen in to hear clips from Brodie's first interview, interviews that have pushed him outside his comfort zone, episodes that have changed his thoughts on running and your own voice clips as we all celebrate 100 e...
Jan 07, 2021•50 min•Ep. 100
Starting off the year with something different and light hearted before our 100th episode. I pulled one of my most popular episodes from the Everyday Running Legends podcast. This episode I had the pleasure of interviewing John Kelly, the 15th person to ever complete the infamous Barley marathon before its 60-hour cut-up time. The Barkley Marathons is an ultramarathon trail race held in Frozen Head State Park near Wartburg, Tennessee. The full course is 100 miles (160 km). The race is limited to...
Jan 05, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 99
We are closing this month, this theme, this year with a bang! This month we interviewed Dr. Izzy Smith, Simon Wegerif, Chris Schneider, Shona Halson, Christie Aschwanden, Dr. Carl Foster and Dave Proctor covering all topics on recovery. Brodie talks about what he has learnt, and his highlights throughout the entire month of recovery. Become a Patron! Choose your Tier Here Run Smarter YouTube Channel Receive Run Smarter Emails Book a FREE Injury chat with Brodie Run Smarter App IOS or Android Pod...
Dec 27, 2020•26 min•Ep. 98
Today we switch gears and interview the ultra athlete Dave Proctor. Dave has held the world record for the longest distance covered on a treadmill in 24 hours (257km) and held the Canadian 24hr, 48hr and 72hr record. Dave is also preparing for his second attempt to run across Canada, a total of 7,200km and break the speed record by covering 105km per day for 67 days straight. He does this to push his limits while raising awareness for his foundation 'Outrun Rare'. I was blessed for this intervie...
Dec 24, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 97
Dr. Carl Foster is an Exercise Physiologist in the Department of Exercise & Sports Science. He has published close to 500 clinical papers on clinical physiology including 'Prevention, Diagnosis & Treatment of Over-training syndrome: Joint Consensus Statement'. Following a quote from Shona Halson 'There's a belief out there that you can't over-train, you can only under-recover', Carl dives into this training trap that slowly morphs into overtraining syndrome. Dr. Foster also helps highlig...
Dec 21, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 96
Christie Aschwanden is an american journalist, science writer and author of Good to Go: How to eat, sleep & rest like a champion. Christie's work has had a huge influence on the momentum of this recovery month theme and today, we focus on Nutrition for optimal recovery. After chatting about the book we then draw our attention towards hydration to the recreational runner. How important is hydration and how do we know if we are having too little or too much fluid? We then dive into common nutr...
Dec 17, 2020•44 min•Ep. 95
Shona Halson is an Associate Professor in the School of Behavioural & Health Sciences at ACU. She is world renowned in the field of recovery and has worked with countless elite athletes. Today, we talk about Shona's 'recovery pyramid', and highlight where you should be focusing your recovery strategy before moving onto other less effective methods. We start off with Shona explaining the benefits of sleep & 'downtime', before moving onto the center focus of the interview which revolves ar...
Dec 13, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 94
We continue our recovery month with interviewing Chris Schneider. A PhD student in Athlete monitoring & heart rate measures. Chris has contributed to several scientific papers relating to this topic including his leading author contributions in the paper 'Heart rate monitoring in team sports - A conceptual framework for contextualizing heart rate measures for training and recovery prescription'. I chat with Chris about the relevance of heart rate for the recreational runner and where the cur...
Dec 10, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 93
We continue our recovery month theme with interviewing Simon Wegerif. Simon is the founder of ithlete and has website myithlete.com selling heart rate variability (HRV) apps and sensors. Firstly, Simon explains the measurement of heart rate variability and how the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system are involved. He does an excellent job of explaining this concept to the general public and is extremely knowledgeable with the available research on the topic. Simon then explains what wi...
Dec 07, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 92
May I introduce the first guest to our recovery month! Dr. Izzy Smith is a specialist in hormone health and today we focus on all things hormones, stress & recovery. Firstly, Izzy talks about the concept of 'over-training vs under-recovering' and why a recreational runner needs to be mindful of this. We then move onto the role of certain hormones that hinder and enhance our ability to recover. Particularly nor-adrenaline & cortisol, these are typically classed as 'stress hormones' and th...
Dec 03, 2020•58 min•Ep. 91
Today is episode #1 of our Recovery Month theme! We kick off the month by recapping on relatable past episodes. Rather than send you back to refresh your knowledge, Brodie thought it would be a better idea to do the hard work for you. So, we summarize the key points from these episode: Episode #7: Stress less: The hidden dangers that reduced your capacity to adapt. Episode #18: Sleep & cortisol in running injuries Episode #28: Sleep science for runners with Dr Amy Bender Episode #59 Q&A:...
Nov 30, 2020•30 min•Ep. 90
Following our last interview with Jaclyn, we continue to learn from personal rehab stories. This episode, Brodie interviews Michelle who has suffered from proximal hamstring tendinopathy for over over 12 months. An avid distance runner for the past 10 years, Michelle received a lot of physical and mental benefits from running until her marathon progress was brought to a holt! Michelle has an open conversation about her hamstring pain and the detrimental effects it had on both physical and emotio...
Nov 26, 2020•43 min•Ep. 89
On today's episode Jaclyn opens up about her experience with chronic knee pain. After her initial knee pain during marathon training 5 years earlier, Jaclyn found her symptoms gradually spin out of control. Jaclyn describes her experiences as her symptoms intensify, to the point of constant fear and anxiety whenever she had to move or even see other people walking! We dive into the impact thoughts and beliefs have towards chronic pain and how Jaclyn worked her way out of this spiral. She gave he...
Nov 22, 2020•50 min•Ep. 88
Dr. Kieran O'Sullivan is a Physiotherapist, Clinician, Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Limerick. His research interests are pain & injury with low back pain specifically. This episode helps debunk a lot of unhelpful myths that plague back pain sufferers. Most of the template from today's discussion comes from the research paper Back to Basics: 10 facts every person should know about back pain . Firstly, we dive into the myth that low back pain is caused by 'weak core muscles'. B...
Nov 19, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 87
Throughout this new weekly series, Brodie talks about his personal experiences with particular injuries and shares the lessons he has learnt along the way, so you will gain insight into injury management & prevention. Today, Brodie talks about his experience with Plantar Fasciitis. This is an extremely common condition in runners and non-runners alike. The podcast has covered plantar fasciiitis in past episodes but Brodie provides a personal account to help you further understand or overcome...
Nov 15, 2020•30 min•Ep. 86
Trang Nguyen is a Physiotherapist, Strength & Conditioning coach and host of the Athlete's Garage podcast. Trang has a particular interest working with endurance athletes at the end-stage of rehab. So today, we dive into ways you can implement or tweak your S&C sessions for optimization. Firstly, we discuss what a typical gym week would look like for a recreational runner, including frequency, intensity and exercise examples. Second, Trang focuses in on exercise dosages. Including sets, ...
Nov 12, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 85
Throughout this new weekly series, Brodie talks about his personal experiences with particular injuries and shares the lessons he has learnt along the way, so you will gain insight into injury management & prevention. This episode Brodie talks about his battle with patellofemoral pain. Firstly, we explore that runners simply cannot hide behind double leg strength work such as squats, deadlifts and double leg jumping. Double leg exercises will consciously or unconsciously compensate for any w...
Nov 08, 2020•33 min•Ep. 84
