He was one of the top-ranked triathletes in the world and holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest hole of golf ever played over 500 years. So what drives Brad Kearns to always push himself to be better? In episode 100 of the Final Surge Podcast, we talk to author, podcaster, coach and world record holder Brad Kearns about everything from his early Ironman days competing against Mark Allen and Dave Scott as well as why we may not be improving as much as we should be since then.  He spends a lot of time talking about stress and recovery. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast at FinalSurge.com/podcast and follow us on our new Instagram account at final.surge. 

Early Days:

• Ran in high school and college
• Injured so much in college got discouraged
• Awakening to a better way
• Turned to triathlon 
• Was a new sport without coaches
• Figured it out by feel
• End of the first season was able to compete with world best
• Started winning and getting sponsors and forced him to change training 
• Struggled, overtrained and forced things to happen 

What happens when someone is going for that BQ qualifier they have been training for months and before the race, things are not going well because they may be overtrained, should they still race and give it a shot?

• What is your purpose? 
• Know why you are doing it, should you go to a starting line with 101-degree temp?
• If not fully prepared go there and hand out water instead of competing when you shouldn't be

What about getting to the start line healthy?

• Rest and recovery
• Work and training are both stresses 
• Cut workout short if not feeling it

You have athletes that are super busy, what do you teach them about getting ready when busy?

• Aerobic training or MAF 180-age beats per minute
• Teaches you to burn fat not glucose 

Many say, but if MAF was the best style professionals would be doing it

• Look at training logs and they are

What else can you do to become a better fat burner 

• Noakes has changed course on recommendations 
• FASTER Study 
• Elite athletes can get away with more
• Some carry excess body fat

Why haven't we improved much since Mark Allen?

• They were amazing athletes and it is hard to improve on that
• MEAN finishing time can improve if we improve training with more aerobic
• If carrying excess body fat as an athlete need to work on that
• Slow down on runs and cut out refined grains and sugars 

Speed Golf

• Fringe sport strokes + minutes 78 plus 47 minutes = 128 score
• World record the fastest hole over 500 yards (video)
• Played the whole hole with 3-wood

Final Surge 5 questions in under a minute

Favorite endurance/running book? - 4-minute mile Roger Bannister Current trainers you are wearing? - Vibram 5-fingers Favorite race? - World Cup Triathlon stop in Mexico Favorite recovery meal or recovery drink? - Salad Your favorite workout - Track 4x100 all out

Resources  BradKearns.com Get Over Yourself Podcast Courses including 21-day reset Golf Speed Record Brad Kearns Twitter Brad Kearns Instagram