#097 - We can't ignore the pivotal role of recovery in endurance training. Ryan Hurley, founder of Lagoon Sleep, gives us a peek into his recovery routine, which includes stretching, strength training, and yes, sleep. Ryan is an elite athlete who switched from swimming to endurance sports like Ironman, marathons, and Ultra Marathons.
The insights from Ryan Hurley in this podcast episode underscore the importance of sleep and recovery in reaching athletic heights. Ready to take your training to the next level? Join us for this illuminating chat as we unravel the finer details of endurance, sleep, and recovery.
Topics Covered:
Hear Ryan’s journey of switching to endurance sports
Understand the pivotal role of recovery in endurance training
Learn the importance of incorporating recovery days into training plans
Hear how wearables can be utilized to monitor progress & performance
Today’s Guest
Ryan Hurley
Ryan is the founder of the sleep and fitness brand Lagoon. The company's mission is to help athletes optimize their sleep to maximize their daily performance.
Ryan's a lifelong endurance athlete, previously swimming at an elite level through high school and at the University of Virginia, where he was an All-American, 2x Olympic Trials finalist, and Silver Medalist at the World University Games.
Since then, Ryan has ventured into other endurance sports. He's an Ironman, 3x marathon finisher and just recently ran the 50 mile ultra marathon in Leadville.
“Inspire to Run Podcast is truly inspiring!” <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — move toward the healthy life that they desire. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
#097 - We can't ignore the pivotal role of recovery in endurance training. Ryan Hurley, founder of Lagoon Sleep, gives us a peek into his recovery routine, which includes stretching, strength training, and yes, sleep. Ryan is an elite athlete who switched from swimming to endurance sports like Ironman, marathons, and Ultra Marathons.
The insights from Ryan Hurley in this podcast episode underscore the importance of sleep and recovery in reaching athletic heights. Ready to take your training to the next level? Join us for this illuminating chat as we unravel the finer details of endurance, sleep, and recovery.
Topics Covered:
Hear Ryan’s journey of switching to endurance sports
Understand the pivotal role of recovery in endurance training
Learn the importance of incorporating recovery days into training plans
Hear how wearables can be utilized to monitor progress & performance
Today’s Guest
Ryan Hurley
Ryan is the founder of the sleep and fitness brand Lagoon. The company's mission is to help athletes optimize their sleep to maximize their daily performance.
Ryan's a lifelong endurance athlete, previously swimming at an elite level through high school and at the University of Virginia, where he was an All-American, 2x Olympic Trials finalist, and Silver Medalist at the World University Games.
Since then, Ryan has ventured into other endurance sports. He's an Ironman, 3x marathon finisher and just recently ran the 50 mile ultra marathon in Leadville.
“Inspire to Run Podcast is truly inspiring!” <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me support more people — just like you — move toward the healthy life that they desire. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
Hi, my friend. Are you highly focused on your training to get better as a runner? Well, what if I told you that recovery is just as important as your training? Well, that might be obvious, but today you'll hear about one thing that will make a difference in your recovery and how you can maximize it. Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast. Here you will find inspiration, whether you are looking to take control of your health and fitness or you are a seasoned runner looking for community and some extra motivation. You will hear inspiring stories from amazing runners, along with helpful tips from fitness experts. Now here's your host, richard Connor.
Speaker 1:
Hi everyone, welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast. Today we're here with Ryan Hurley. Ryan is the founder of the Sleep and Fitness brand Lagoon. The company's mission is to help athletes optimize their sleep to maximize their daily performance. Ryan's a lifelong endurance athlete, previously swimming at an elite level through his high school and at the University of Virginia, where he was an all-American two-time Olympic trials finalist and silver medalist at the World University Games. Since then, ryan has ventured into other endurance sports. He's an Iron man three-time marathon finisher and just recently finished the 50-mile Ultra Marathon in Leadville. Welcome to the show, ryan.
Speaker 3:
Hey, thanks Richard, I appreciate having me.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, for sure. I'm so grateful to be able to bring on entrepreneurs and founders on the show and, in this case, also a runner and Ultra Marathon no less. So really excited to learn more about you and your background and your running career.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, happy to share how I try and keep it all straight.
Speaker 1:
Very cool. So you know, let's just wind back the clock a little bit and just hear a little bit of your origin story in terms of how you got into sports and how that got you into running.
Speaker 3:
For sure. Yeah, well, you know I always still have a little bit of imposter syndrome because growing up as a swimmer and swimming through college, I hated running and you know I was a breaststroker too in swimming, so you know we're the ones with the duck legs. Walk, walk, funny get. Trying to get us to run was difficult chore for my coaches, so really hardly ran at all through college. But I always actually loved cycling too when I was in college, you know, guilty of being a big Lance Armstrong fan back in the day.
Speaker 3:
So I bought my first bike right when I was out of college and before you know it you're swimming, you're an ex swimmer, you're biking and everybody's bugging you. You know you got to run so you can do triathlons too. So I ultimately succumbed to the pressure and ran slow for a few years, injured myself a few times, getting used to the sport. But you know, as as I guess the years have ticked by, have found really a true appreciation for running. I love the running community, I love the simplicity of just being able to lace your shoes up and get out and just get your workout in at any, any week, any day, and so so it really has been really a great sport that. That has been a big part of my life now.
Speaker 1:
That's fantastic and you know so I'm not a swimmer or cyclist, so I probably ask you a few questions about those sports and kind of how it all comes together for you. But that's really great and you know it's funny, I was a runner in high school but did it run through college for a long time and this just kind of picked it up again just a few years ago, running back at my old high school and then just through obstacle course racing, which a good friend of mine calls my midlife crisis. You know, that's just a little bit of my journey. You know, kind of running. It's kind of in those phases but I'm not a swimmer and I don't really cycle.
Speaker 1:
But I've been thinking about that, like, are these areas that I should dive into just kind of as I get older and progress in my running journey? Should I consider these things? So you know, maybe we'll talk a little bit about that during this conversation. But yeah, so tell me a little bit more about, like, how that progressed after college and you mentioned you had some injuries, so did that lead you to start to do different things in kind of your athletic career?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, definitely did. And you know, I would say, as I progressed through sports, kind of one of my guiding principles has always been looking for a new, often bigger challenge. And you know, I think that stem from swimming at kind of an elite level. You do see people do like master swimming, which is kind of the nice way of putting like old people swimming, and you see people doing it and for me, well, geez, I mean I had stared at that black line on the bottom of the pool for so many years that that it's sometimes hard getting back in for sure, and also it was hard for me to wrap my brain around like knowing that I was never going to be as fast as I was when I was 22. Once you get into the working world, you're not going to be able to practice, you know, 25 hours a week.
Speaker 3:
I realized that ship had sailed and for me it was finding other things that I could be the best at X, y or Z, because I had never done it before. So kind of the first thing I, one of the first things on the docket was an Olympic, olympic distance triathlon and so being able to, you know, just piece those things together swimming 1.2 miles, 24 mile bike, a 10k run gave me three different things to really, you know, focus on three different disciplines, but but really just gave me something to say Okay, I can do the best Olympic distance triathlon time that I've ever done, because I've never done it before. And then, you know, as as I continued on, a few years later, just actually doing a marathon, you know, was going to be a goal for me. I had actually had the idea that I wanted to do an Ironman, but I realized, you know, it's probably not a good idea to do an Ironman unless you've done a marathon first, since you know you've got to do an Ironman, or so you got to do a marathon after biking 110 miles, so, just to be sure I could, could actually complete a marathon, got one or two under my belt before trying to do an Ironman.
Speaker 3:
But again, that just kind of goes, goes to show my progression of how my endurance career and training has progressed as as an adult. It was kind of like Olympic distance tri marathon Ironman. And then I'm trying you know, not trying to do ultra distance marathons has always been just like I found that I do much better when I have some and I'm sure everybody's there. A lot of people are the same. You train much better, you're much more consistent when you actually have a line in the sand, you have something on the calendar that you can be training for. So that, I would say, has been my guiding principle of wanting to tackle new big things and then happy to share more to about the trials and tribulations in between of like you know what, what maybe didn't go as well or what did I learn along the way as I was training for?
Speaker 3:
some of those bigger events.
Speaker 1:
Very cool, very cool. So tell me a little bit about you know some of the barriers and challenges that you had. You know whether it was the triathlons or even leading up to the ultra marathon that you just the 50 miler that you just completed. So congrats to that, but yeah. So tell me a little bit about some of the challenges that you that you had to deal with and how to overcome them.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, well, I guess I can. I can answer that question in the answer. Both those things in the same same answer. In that what?
Speaker 3:
What has always been difficult for me is not getting injured, and I think, I think part of it was me being a swimmer growing up we talked about the duck legs, but also just the fact that you know, I, my endurance is always been great, right from those years of conditioning. So I've got like a big engine and I can go and I can suffer and all those things. But what you, you know what you, what's different about swimming than running is in swimming you're not, you know, pounding your feet against the pavement over and over again. So here I am thinking that I can handle all this because my engine is good, whereas my, my knees, my, my ankles, you know just just, are not used to that type of beating against the pavement. So I think I got two stress fractures in the first couple of years that I was running and it wasn't until the like the second time that I really stopped. Pause, learn to really run correctly. Like you know, do it, do it. Everybody tells you run slower than you think you need to, for longer than you think you need to, and started actually doing that, where I felt like I went from being a swimmer who was forcing himself to run to actually being a runner that had somewhat decent you know, somewhat decent technique. And so, as you know, as I've moved along in my running career now and try to, you know, maybe push the boundaries a little bit in terms of how fast I can go or you know what types of races I want to do, I realized that I'm pushing my body harder to, and the harder you're pushing your body that you know, the more likely you are to have those injuries creep back in.
Speaker 3:
So, as I was training for the ultra in Leadville this year, I spent a lot of time really, really focused on my recovery and my rest and my strength training and I think actually it was nailing those things this this year that allowed me to show up healthy at the start line in Leadville, and so many times I've showed up to start lines, kind of just a little bit banged up, but but it actually was so refreshing and like enlightening to show up to the start line and I'd be like wow, I like feel good, I feel like I could have a great day today. You know I'm not nursing any injuries, I'm well rested, and it was almost like a little bit alarming that that I felt like I was so ready. And again, I do really credit that to our strength training twice. Doing strength training twice a week, I was had two recovery days each week because I would do really long runs on Saturday and then a pretty long run on Sunday, so I would take two recoveries each day and then again.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, being a founder of a sleep and fitness brand, I'm taking my sleep really seriously too. So making sure I'm getting seven and a half eight hours of sleep every night was part of, I guess, what my formula was this time around as well.
Speaker 1:
I love it. I love that, and you know we talk a lot about strength training as well as recovery on the show, and we've had those topics before, but sleep is something that we haven't talked about. So I'm really excited to talk to you about that, because we all know that we need sleep. So why don't we do it, why don't we prioritize it, and what happens if we don't do it? So, like, I really want to kind of get into the details because I mean, I I try to prioritize my sleep, but am I sleeping well, am I sleeping enough, and how is it impacting my performance? So, you know, let's let's kind of switch gears and dive into that a little bit and here, like, what is your philosophy around sleep? And maybe starting with, like, what are the not so good things that can happen if you don't, you know, get proper sleep?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, well, I just have to laugh because you said it so perfectly. I think that was even like the headline of a Gallup, like research on study. Americans know how important sleep is but continue to struggle like mightily with getting proper sleep. And so you know, anytime I'm writing copy or you know an ad for the business or anything it's, I start writing like we all know how important sleep is and I like have to delete the sentence because, yes, everybody knows how important sleep is and it's like almost like saying that Is it just goes over people's head because, like, we know how important it is but it's so hard to really convey like why it's so important or like what it means.
Speaker 3:
And the reason that I think that the message is resonating actually best with the running community Is I think that endurance athletes in particular, at least our best program for the idea of delayed gratification right, like so much of people want that thing now, need to get that thing done now, need to see the success now.
Speaker 3:
So, whether it's finishing an episode or finishing a homework assignment or whatever it is like, you need to get that thing done now, whereas I do think that runners get the concept like, ok, if I do the right thing 30 days in a row, 60 days in a row, 90 days in a row, it's gonna pay off at the end of the season and really, with sleep, it is that routine, it is that consistency, it's creating that healthy habit that has the biggest impact on you as an individual.
Speaker 3:
So like, yeah, everybody you know knows that kind of one off feeling of you're exhausted, so I'm gonna sleep 10 hours one day and then, yeah, you'll probably feel better that next day. But that's not like really what healthy sleep, or like optimal sleep, is about. Optimal sleep really is about finding a routine that's manageable, sustainable for you. You know you being defensive about your schedule and find like blocking off the amount of time that you need so that when you wake up each day, you actually like don't feel groggy every morning and you actually feel like when you're participating in conversations with your loved ones or your coworkers, you actually are alert and like all your facilities are there and when you're exercising you don't feel groggy, you don't feel beat down, you actually feel like you're ready to take on whatever you know is on the docket for that day.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah for sure, and yeah, and like I said before, this is such an important topic because you know something that we just we talk about, like probably we think about, probably not talk about as much, but probably think about, but then still don't do it, because we have a lot of commitments, whether it's work or family, and they have to do your workouts and whatever the case is and I like what you said about kind of being defensive or blocking that time to make sure that you are prioritizing that, because if you don't, then it's gonna impact Not only your performance in terms of your workouts but your day to day life, and you know.
Speaker 1:
I've been talking about it over the last couple of years I'm trying to figure out. Why am I not sleeping properly? And I'm trying all sorts of things.
Speaker 1:
I'm you know, wearing blue like glasses because I'm in front of the computer all the time and, you know, try not to drink caffeine after a certain time and I'm trying to make sure I go to sleep and wake up at certain times to build that habit. So Like I've been all over the map trying to get, you know, the right amount of sleep and doing the things to make sure I get good sleep when when I do.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, well happy to dive into some more of the specifics, to like what's worked for me and what I what I like generally recommend is best practices. I'd say you know what what has helped me a lot, and there are conflicting opinions out there about wearables. So you know, I wear the or ring and I love it for tracking my sleep. When I say that there's there's varying opinions out there, I think like if you become so obsessed with your wearable that you're like reading so into the detail or you're like getting so nitpicky, it could actually then have the opposite effect of like, oh my God, I need to optimize this so much, and then you start fixating on things and then you end up staring at the ceiling because you're so worried that you're not gonna get a 96 sleep score that night. Like I actually think that is the extreme and I don't think that's applicable for most people. I think where the wearables have value is really just for establishing that baseline and then moving that baseline generally in the right direction over time. So I can use myself as an example.
Speaker 3:
I, guilty of like trying to squeak in there with the doctor recommends seven to nine hours of sleep per night for most adults. I'm sure most people have heard that by now. So I would like try and squeak in at like seven hours in one minutes of being in bed and call it good enough. But I was waking up like I was waking up tired every day and my wife would ask me what I was dreaming about and I wouldn't have an answer. And it wasn't until I got my wearable that I realized I was way low on my REM sleep.
Speaker 3:
And just for listeners who don't know, a lot of your REM sleep does happen at the end of the night. Typically, you'll get more sleep earlier on in the night during some of those cycles, but as you're kind of rounding out your sleep, you'll be getting more REM sleep towards the end. So I was just cutting my, I was cutting my sleep too short. I actually needed 30 or 45 minutes more sleep and then, hey, lo and behold, I'm actually dreaming more. I actually, you know, I'm waking up without an alarm, and so that's actually my number, not this arbitrary number that I was setting for myself, because I was trying to do the bare minimum of like fitting in the whatever the doctor recommended. So that's one of the reasons. Like that, I like wearables and kind of using myself as an example there.
Speaker 3:
And sorry not to drown out a lot, but one other thing that I just want to mention too, in terms of the most important thing that I like really can recommend to people about just getting their sleep right.
Speaker 3:
It really all starts with your routine and your schedule, and, like, I'm a firm, firm believer about setting your circadian rhythm and there's a lot of smarter people out there that have talked about this much more scientifically focused and in depth than I could, like Andrew Huberman or Matt Walker, you know people like that but just setting your circadian rhythm where you have a consistent routine, where you're actually getting natural exposure to sunlight early in the morning, generally before the sun sets as well too and just doing that consistently, like that, is the A number one, the most important thing you can do before you start doing any of the tinkering. And, yes, like and there are a million things that can help blue light glasses can help, magnesium can help, you know, the not having alcohol three hours all those things can help for sure too. But if you're trying to do all those things and you don't have your circadian rhythm set properly to begin with, it's all just gonna be distorting and maybe like modifying or helping something that's actually more fundamentally broken in the first place.
Speaker 1:
Got it, got it and thank you for sharing that. And that includes just being outside exercising or just ways to just get sunlight, whether you're outdoors or natural sunlight coming inside wherever you are. How does that work?
Speaker 3:
Yeah.
Speaker 3:
So kind of the latest best recommendation is, if it's like direct sunlight, if the sun's up, being outside for 20 minutes and it could be walking the dog yeah, it could be running, whatever it is, but being actually outside is kind of what's recommended.
Speaker 3:
If it's cloudy you might need to do like 30 minutes, something like that, but still recommended. And then you have another dip in your circadian rhythm right before the sun goes down as well too. So trying to get out in sunlight before the sun goes down is generally like the next best thing to do as well, and then building your routine around that. So if you do those two things well and then you're going to bed around the same time and waking up around the same time, then you're gonna start to like really lock in your rhythm. And I think probably the hardest thing for most people is continuing that schedule into the weekends too. But once you do it, then it becomes really hard not to do it. So I feel like I'm pretty locked in to the point where I wake up between 5.45 and 6.30 every day and now like I couldn't not do that on the weekends anymore either.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, and I appreciate you sharing that. And that's even more of a reason for someone to get outdoors and be active. And that's one of the main things we're trying to do through the podcast and the community is to help folks along their health and fitness journey. Can't believe I said that backwards, but this is a great reason to do it. You want better sleep? Here's a good way to do that. So I appreciate you sharing that.
Speaker 1:
And then, kind of going back to what you said about the wearable, so I also have one. Through my fitness watch, I track my sleep and I was actually joking with someone the other day because I was like, oh, I don't really feel like I got, I think I slept OK, but my watch says I didn't. So they're like OK. Well, you know, you should know like if you slept well or not, like how you feel you're watching Dick, take that. So is your watch telling you how you should feel or are you realizing it for yourself? So sometimes I think, kind of like what you said, if you like dive so deep into it, then you might just I don't know, you might just go too far with trying to tweak or get the best sleep without maybe fixing some of the fundamentals.
Speaker 3:
So yeah for sure, right, I've had those moments too, like where you almost get angry at the app. You're like why are you telling me I slept bad last night? I swear I feel good this morning. And those are the ones where you kind of just got to throw them away as outliers. I think the technology is getting better and better, but it's definitely not, definitely not perfect, definitely not when it comes to sleep stages as well either.
Speaker 3:
So you know, if you probably most frequently hear people getting upset around like why is my REM sleep so low, or why is my deep sleep so you know so low One of those two things but generally, my advice is just look at the trend and if you know, if you're generally in the same area or you're moving positively in the right direction, those are great things. If you see that you're consistently moving in the wrong direction, that may be where you know you want to reexamine your routine. And then you know I've talked to some people where there's something clearly off and you know. Then that's where you go and see a medical professional. And sometimes that's where wearables are great as well too, because it's actually helping you diagnose that somebody may have a more serious issue and those people do exist. But I'd say, by and large, right, there are ways that you can change your routine and change, you know, your environment. That takes care of a lot of the issues that people are having with their sleep.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:
So you know, thank you for sharing that. And you know one other thing that you mentioned, that we didn't talk too much in this conversation yet around habits. And it was interesting that you mentioned that, because we talk about habits all the time, whether it's your workout routine or with your family or whatever the case is, but having the right habits to positively impact your sleep is really important. And you know you mentioned something about the weekends. You know having maybe a different schedule on the weekend. So I find myself, monday through Friday, I'm all out, I'm doing, you know, all the things I need to do, and then by the time I get to like Friday night or Saturday morning, I am exhausted and I just want just a little bit more time, you know, to sleep. So is that messing me up if I'm just spending a couple more hours in the bed on Saturday or Sunday, or is that like helping me? What do you think?
Speaker 3:
You know it's not messing you up Like to some extent. You know I'm a firm believer of doing what you can manage to right and like you gotta live your life, and so you know even. Another example is you know people say you shouldn't eat I don't even know what the recommendation two or three hours before bed, but I like have to have a sweet treat before bed, like a little something. So you know I break it every night. I'm on my phone in bed, like some nights as well too, but I'm doing stuff that's like not stimulating and generally trying to be healthy. So, as long as you're trying to do the right thing and you know what the costs are to your actions, like live your life as well too. So, if you feel like you need to catch up a little bit, do what you need to do, like to get your work done during the week, I would say like, generally speaking, the research really shows that like you can't really ever make up a deficit that you have. So like you may be running a little bit less than like full tank of gas on some days during the week, and if you catch up like, then, yeah, you'll feel even better the next day, on the weekend too. But don't yeah, like I would say, if that's what's working for you, don't over stress about it. But like, if you can figure out a way to maybe close the gap a little bit, or if it's an interest or something that you do want to improve, like, take those, like small steps that are manageable. Again, just with anything and habit building right, can you set an alarm that is 30 minutes later than when you would wake up on the weekday, where you still feel like you're getting something better, so you can, like still feel like, ah, it's the weekend, I'm enjoying it, but you're maybe like bringing your clock a little bit back in line too. So those types of tips and tricks about habit building.
Speaker 3:
But I'm with you. I love talking about habits. I love atomic habits one of my favorite books too and I love how you can build habits into your identity. I try and do that all the time as well too. So I'm somebody like I like to say like I didn't sleep well. I'm somebody who sleeps well, I'm somebody who prioritizes my sleep. I'm somebody who sleeps almost eight hours a night, building that into your identity, rather than saying I can do this or it's something I do on occasion. So thanks for bringing up habits. It really is such an important part of sleep too.
Speaker 1:
I love it. I love it and it's one of my favorite books too and I think it talks about habit stacking and lots of techniques to help you, you know, kind of build the right habits. So, you know, I definitely enjoy listening to it and I'm trying to build the right habits myself I still even have a lot to learn but also sharing that with others, I'm really enjoying this conversation and what you shared is super, super helpful. Again, you know, something that we know we need to do but we don't, you know, focus on it enough or work at it. I think enough, or you know, probably a lot of folks, or maybe we're still struggling with it, even if we're trying. So I think a lot of the tips that you're sharing are helpful. So, you know, what else would you recommend? You know, if we're talking about sleep recovery, just training for these types of endurance races, what other tips would you share for someone who's doing it now or looking to get into more of this type of endurance kind of activity?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I would say, like what I've done differently about my training and leaning up to Leadville was that I considered not just the runs that I had to do as part of my training plan but I considered stretching, strength training and my sleep as part of my training plan as well too. So I guess that comes back to habits a little bit right, but just building those into your routine so those become somewhat of your non-negotiables as you're training for a race. It becomes a lot easier when you think about it as part of the plan, right, like so let's say you've got you know a half marathon that's 10 or 12 weeks from now, in addition to you know saying I need to run you know three, five, seven miles, whatever during this week. Say, okay, I'm also committing to getting seven hours of sleep Monday through Friday and eight hours of sleep Saturday and Sunday and just have that be the plan and see if it helps you. I can say, not just from a research perspective but using myself as a sample of one just training for a Leadville, I really did love having two recovery days and I think the reason rationale for me having two recovery days in my plan was Monday was a recovery day.
Speaker 3:
But that was because, like I said, saturday was usually my long run.
Speaker 3:
So I was running anywhere from, you know, by the end of 18, all the way up to 33 miles on Saturday. And then Sunday was still a pretty long run, anywhere from like eight to 12 miles. So after two pretty taxing days made sense to have a recovery day on Monday. Then Tuesday, wednesday, thursday were more of my like workout days, if you will. So you know we do a, we do strength and faster tempo run, we do intervals on Wednesday and then Thursday would be a longer strength training session. So, you know, really taxing my muscles more in those days. So it makes sense to have a recovery day on Friday and then be fresh going into my two long runs on Saturday and Sunday as well. So I guess, just another way of thinking about that too, how you're and I was always stretching, doing, you know, cold baths, cold shower, sometimes on my days off as well too. So just thinking about those things that you can do that aren't necessarily you running, that are clearly part of you building up to perform at the end of the season too.
Speaker 1:
Love it, love it. I feel like we need to have a whole conversation on recovery. There's so much there. But really love how you know, how you set your schedule for the workouts, your long runs, your rest days, your recovery and having that plan ahead of time so you just kind of go into the week and you know what you're gonna do. You know, I'd love to hear you know what's next for you as an athlete. You know what's next for you as an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3:
Yeah for sure, and I am a firm believer that you've got to have something next on the calendar to keep you motivated, to keep you going. I've found also that it helps me professionally as well too. Just to like, like helps me manage my time, helps, makes me more productive as a founder business person. You know whatever you want to call it, I compartmentalize my time and I just feel better and more energized. So I do need something on the calendar.
Speaker 3:
I'm going to be doing a marathon this fall, probably Twin Cities. But I guess the thing that's a little bit hard for me about some of these marathons is we Lagoon, we typically do expo. We're gonna be doing the expo at Twin Cities and then Chicago the following week, and that means me standing on my feet for, you know, two or three days straight. So the idea of running a marathon after standing up for you know, two 12 hour shifts makes me cringe a little bit. So I may not be going for a personal desk, but I do want to have something to keep training for. So that's what I've got athletically, probably for the rest of this year, I will say a more longer term. I was surprised how quickly I bounced back from the 50-miler in Leadville and I think again, I think a lot of that goes to the fact that I felt like I was pretty well prepared heading into the race. So, yeah, I don't know if a hundred milers out of the question, so I don't know if it'll be this year, but I do probably want to find a point in time where I can cross that one off the list. So I'll keep you posted on that one.
Speaker 3:
And then professionally, you know, for Lagoon 2022 has been really the first year where we really found product market fit and, like I think, we found our audience. And you know it's shame on me for taking so long to find out that the reason I started a sleep and fitness company was because people like me care about sleep and fitness, you know, more so than average people. So the fact that we've now kind of tailored the brand more towards endurance athletes and those people who do realize that if you optimize your sleep, that you know you can have these benefits for your athletic performance and everything else you do during the day, our message is resonating. So I'm excited to continue to invest my time and, you know, our company money into making sure that, like Lagoon, is a part of the running community. I love it, too, because it means you know me as a founder. I can be out there telling our company's story, I can continue to work with people that are like-minded and, you know, we can continue to build a brand that, selfishly, is like a lifestyle brand for me, too.
Speaker 3:
Right, the reason I left my job. I worked for NBC Sports before this for 10 years, but I wanted to do something where work felt like a part of my life and it was something that I was just excited and passionate about. So building this brand around a community that I'm really excited and passionate about is why I'm doing it. So more of that this year. It'll mean us showing up at more events. It'll mean us, you know, working with some more athletes in the space. So hopefully we'll have some more you know exciting partnerships to announce here in the future.
Speaker 3:
But you know we've had the pleasure of working with some really great runners already, like Cory McGee, who's an Olympian in the 1500, emma Bates, who was the top finisher at the Boston Marathon. So it's been fun, it's been great getting to meet some of these people and like have them sleep on their pillow and have them sleep on our pillow and have them be actually really excited about and tracking, you know, on their wearables, how much it's helped improve their sleep as well, too. So, you know, a pillow might seem like it's just like you know an item, but I like to think of it as you're like sweet sleep equipment, right? Maybe the equivalent of your shoes or your jersey, you know, whatever it is when you're getting ready to sleep your best. You want to have the right tools for the trade as well, too, so we're filling the gap in one of the areas that I think you know is often overlooked or underserved. So happy to be doing our part with that product and the, you know, filling out the ecosystem for runners.
Speaker 1:
Love it, love it. Brian. Thank you so much for sharing that. Congratulations on all your successes as an athlete, as an entrepreneur with Lagoon. So really excited to follow your journey and see where you know the rest of this year takes you and next year. So how can our listeners find you and follow your journey online?
Speaker 3:
Yeah well, thanks again so much for having me, rich. It was great. I love this conversation. It was super fun. Follow us on Instagram. It's Lagoon at Lagoon Sleep. You'll see me sharing you know more interesting stats statistics about sleep. You'll get to see some more of our athletes. We do some fun stuff on there as well, too. If you are looking for a pillow and no pressure, just you know when the time is right for everybody you can take our two minute quiz. We match you with the pillow that's right for you and our website's lagoonsleepcom.
Speaker 1:
Love it. Okay, so I'm going to put all that information in the show notes, make it easy for listeners to find you, follow you online, take the quiz. So with that, thank you again, ryan. Thank you for sharing everything that you shared today. I learned a lot, and I'm sure our listeners did too. So you know. With that, thanks again and have a great day.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:
That's it for this episode of Inspire to Run Podcast. We hope you are inspired to take control of your health and fitness and take it to the next level. Be sure to click the subscribe button to join our community and also please rate and review. Thanks for listening.