Full transcript: IRONMIND, Episode 4
0:00 This week on Ironmind. And you’re gonna miss the next day, and you’re gonna miss metrics on the bike, and you’re gonna be destroyed in the water. I was in New York and I’ve just been challenged to run an Ironman in 90 days on 100% plant-based diet. No, impossible. My name is Brain Rose, and I host a show called LondonReal.
0:28 A few months ago John Joseph, the front man of the hardcore punk band The Cro Mags, walked into my studio. He’s the complete opposite of me, but something happened. He challenged me to race the Ironman Triathlon in Chattanooga, Tennessee on May 20th, on 100% plant-based diet. Last week, Ironman trainer Samantha Murphy pushed me to the limit, and I got to see some old demons. John Joseph showed me the spirit world, and I spoke openly about my heroin addiction for the first time.
1:06 I’m 47 years old and I’ve never run an endurance race in my life. But they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. This is my journey to the Ironman.
1:31 Saying goodbye to New York City this time is hard. I used to hate this place, but now I quite like it.
1:45 16 years ago, when I made this trip to London, I left still addicted and almost dead. But today I feel a new sense of life. London, England. My home. It was this city that welcomed me with open arms when I had nothing left.
2:06 It was this city that gave me LondonReal. It was the first time that I did something that was not just about me. And in return the universe gave me the most incredible seven years of my life.
2:34 This is LondonReal, I am Brian Rose, I am Brian Rose, my guest today is Ross Edgley. I’m amazed at what you’re doing, not only taking on the Ironman but also flipping your nutrition on its head as well. Because I think looking at nurtigenomics, and we covered that in the book, but looking at how your nutrition interacts with your genetics, you have to just train your digestive system. And it’s too often overlooked. Everybody else looks at Lactic Fresh or VO2, everything, Power Output.
2:58 It’s like you know what? How’s your stomach gonna handle it? It’s hard sometimes, and I had a couple days here where I couldn’t find food and I got really grumpy, and you know what it’s like to train for endurance sports. Yeah, everything is meticulously planned, and it’s like make sure that your heart rate is at a certain level, but in a race all of that goes out the window. Physiologically you’re body’s gonna go, “What?” and as a result your brain’s gonna not quite know what to do with it.
3:21 And I think that’s why so often you’ll see sometimes someone who’s not as fit but mentally more robust, and they’re able to actually have that conversation with their body, “Are you really struggling “or can we do another k? Be honest.” You know, I’m sort of chatting to my body, be honest. Your body likes homeostasis, it likes this habitual level where everything is okay. And all of the sudden approaching your 47th birthday you’re gonna say “Let’s do an Ironman!”
3:48 And your body’s gonna go, “Hey, Brian, we were “comfortable at our new office, what are you doing?” ‘Cause I honestly think, you know there might be fitter guys on the start line, but I don’t know if there will be any as mentally prepared as you. How are ya? I’m good! Good. Ironman training is no joke.
4:27 It’s all about putting maximum effort in every day, right? We should talk about what maximum effort means because I think sometimes people think maximum effort means going all out or balls to the wall every single day. We’re talking about day in and day out consistency. Alright, it is 0 degrees out in London. We want to battle some mental demons for a long time, and not just get fired up and slam it for a few minutes.
4:59 If you’re pushing yourself as hard as you can every single day, especially if you’re a masters athlete, you’re gonna be wrecked. It felt like absolute f*cking dog shit actually. I’m obviously pissed off, I gotta go film an episode, I gotta go prepare for a guest, and honestly I just don’t want to deal with this bullshit right now.
5:19 You’re gonna miss the next day, and you’re gonna miss metrics on the bike, and you’re gonna be destroyed in the water. Swimming for two kilometres straight, and I hear nightmares about like, it’s like a mosh pit in there and there’s hands flying, and also people have drowned before, right? So not drowning, what’s happening is they’re having a heart attack. And their having a heart attack because they’re going from like zero to 100 and there’s just so much anxiety.
5:51 You know just to kind of throw John into this, he’s good at this sport because he’s good at suffering for a long amount of time, and kind of taking bunches and just going with them. Last question is, how much do I have to pay you to beat John Joseph at this race? You know truthfully the answer to that is I don’t want you to worry about that, it will just screw with your head. But, do this. When you wake up and want to miss a workout, remind yourself he’s not missing a workout.
6:18 Okay? Hey. Hello, how are you? Brian. I think I need a bike.
6:35 Triathlon bikes have come a long way, and it has to do with your position on the bike. Like a swan your upper body has to be nice and stable while the legs are working hard. The idea is that we find a position that suits your body proportions and your range of motion. This could be my bike. This could be your bike.
6:54 This is the single most important piece of technology I need for this race, so I’m in your hands. Bear in mind that it’s gonna be a long day, so you need to make sure that you get the most out of it by not going in the red too soon. If we don’t have anything perfect here, I’m gonna compensate and things are gonna hurt and… Exactly, exactly. You have to keep a positive mental attitude, and enjoy it.
7:24 So now it’s from banker to broadcast to biker. Okay, how’s that feel? Are you kidding me? It looks good. It feels awesome, I’m gonna start wearing this to the park.
7:35 Okay. Pretty good man, I like it and this is nice and comfy.
7:41 This is some serious space shuttle technology. So you’re building a 3D version of the bike in the computer. Exactly. Then you’re gonna put me on top of it. Exactly.
7:51 Similar to an actor in a 3D movie with the dots. Now with this one here. Okay. There you go, now it’s gonna pick up your arm. Do you see that?
8:01 Yeah. That’s your position.
8:11 Now you got me leaned over in this really uncomfortable position and my quads hitting my ribs and it’s, yeah, it’s uncomfortable. One legged squat, okay, here we go. Okay, oh don’t hurt yourself. When I reach the limit here, your knee starts to go out. You can see that your right foot wants to go a bit further in than the left, and I can see that both knees are pointing lateral.
8:40 It makes it very real to see this bike. I mean it’s one thing to swim in a pool or run outside, I do that normally, but I don’t do this normally. This kinda makes it hit home.
8:57 I’m gonna send JJ a picture of this sweet ass ride and see what he says. He’s gonna be jealous. This is the bike that’s gonna beat you across the finish line. Rock and roll baby, we got a bike. Awesome, thanks.
9:15 Thank you. Take care.
9:41 This is LondonReal, I am Brian Rose, my guest today is Charles Poliquin, the world-renowned strength coach who has trained over 800 Olympic athletes across 23 different events. You’ve been teaching for over 40 years and many consider you to be the most successful strength coach ever. Charles, welcome to LondonReal. Thank you very much for inviting me Brian. So I was in New York last week and I’ve just been challenged to run an Ironman in 90 days on 100% plant-based diet.
10:06 Have you trained vegan athletes that you think can perform on that diet if they eat correctly or not? Come on Charles, give it to me straight.
10:19 No, impossible. You don’t see a power athlete ever that’s been vegan. I’ve never coached one of my Olympics that was a vegan. I’ve seen people go vegan and get kicked out of the national team because of a lack of performance. You look at your British boxer who turned vegan, he tore his calf while giving a punch.
10:38 Hey but that could be a one-off… No but you know what happens is that– You can actually get enough grammes of protein via plant sources. Yeah but it’s shit quality protein in my opinion. Okay. I mean if you’re a stockbroker maybe you can be a vegan, okay, you’re a– What about an endurance athlete like Rich Roll who does ultra marathons and stuff who’s on a complete plant-based diet?
11:01 He’s a oddity, right? So there’s different genotypes that could do better on it, but humans are not, a fairly large percentage of humans are not made to be vegans. Okay, then they’ll of course come back and say that our intestines are 12 times as long as our body and we don’t have claws and we don’t have fangs so we’re not supposed to be meat eaters. We only have one stomach, like all carnivores. Obviously I’ve been hanging out with a lot of vegans lately.
11:28 Yeah, yeah. But there’s two German studies that have shown that people who choose veganism have lower IQs, yes, it’s true, and the other thing is the people who go vegan lower their IQs. Next week on Ironmind You’re gonna listen to this dude who’s telling you to f*ck it and you can’t do it on a plant-based diet? Motherfucker what nutrients are you missing out on? Impossible is a word in a fool’s dictionary.
11:56 Hairy, nah?
