Mat Lock
Nick Muxlow. Hello, and welcome to The Unleashing Potential Podcast. It’s a pleasure to have you here. Fantastic. Thank you for having me on. Absolutely. Now you are an accomplished triathlete. And ultra distance runner in your own right. You’re also the founder of the ultra journey. And if that’s not enough, you’ve also the author of two books, one called the journeys 100. And the other one is called the Kona journey. You’ve been a busy guy in the last few years, I’d say.
Nick Muxlow
Absolutely love it. But yeah, can’t get enough into life without a doubt. So
Mat Lock
now fantastic. It’s great. It’s great to have you here. And I think just for our listeners, if you could just tell us a little bit about yourselves, wait where you are in the world? And a little bit about your background to get the ball rolling?
Nick Muxlow
Yeah, absolutely. So I am basically a running in a triathlon coach. And I work with 50 kilometer and 100 kilometer ultra marathon runners, and Ironman triathletes. And I allow them to finish with a smile, which does seem like a little bit of a contradiction. How on earth could you be finishing with a small, but it certainly does happen. And yeah, I’m basically based in Adelaide. So we’ve got an absolute beautiful playground for this. So I’ve been out running on the trails this morning already, with the Thursday morning run group that I have. And we’ve just got to a normal loop that we do seeing the kangaroos in the koalas out this morning. And now I’m back at the computer, fortunately, listen to you and about to jump into a bit of coaching. So I coach runners, basically locally, Interstate and overseas, and then a few triathletes as well. So that’s what I spent my time doing.
Mat Lock
You certainly say that you’re training for a comp at the moment, or are you just in full on coaching mode and maintenance mode for yourself?
Nick Muxlow
I know I’m very much training for comfort, the moment is interesting. You’ve asked that one I’ve got we’ve got a local race that’s on Saturday, the highest and 105, which takes in part of the hyson Trail, the hyson Trail is a 1200 kilometer trial that starts down the coast in Cape jervis, and goes to a gorgeous part of South Australia, the Flinders Ranges. And this is a little bit just out of sort of capo area. So I’m fronting up for the 60 kilometer race there can’t wait. And I’ve got an absolute team of athletes that are running most doing the 100. A few doing the 60 as well. And I just can’t wait to be out there with them. They saw my name on the list, and then they like oh my goodness, you’re running with us. I’m like, definitely. So they’re primed and ready to go. So it’s been it’s been an interesting way because the training comes down. And yeah, it’s going to be an absolute blast,
Mat Lock
you’re you’re leading by example, could only say only it’s the only way to do it. It’s definitely the only way to do it. We don’t have any other way, an obvious question. And I’m conscious, we’re going to dive into some really good stuff in a moment. But I’m loving this as well after so completely self indulgent at this point. But for your 60k racer, you’re looking to just turn the legs over, have some fun and be a part of it. Are you looking to get onto the podium, which is certainly familiar territory for you.
Nick Muxlow
Ah, yeah, this one, because there’s been only a few races on it is a super strong field. We’ve got quite a few really strong runners in South Australia. So if I’m, unfortunately I have been in the podium before I definitely love to be back up there. But I don’t know it’s gonna be it’s gonna be tough competition, that’s for sure. So there’s probably probably about five to six guys on the men’s side that can definitely you know, are going well can easily be up there. So hope to be amongst the mix. But we just have to wait and see 60k is a lot can happen. And it can happen and go well or it can happen and go poorly which is obviously not what I tend to do. That’s what I try and stop.
Mat Lock
Again, I’m to lead by example. The terminal a lot of people she said it’s been a lot of people would kind of roll their eyes and distance triathlons and 100 kilometer or 100 mile running races. Madness, how can you do it? How can anyone want to do that? And of course you and I both have that shared passion so we get it. And often it’s the case that to help people understand how achievable it is if you apply yourself to it. If you have the right why in place and are able and prepared to commit to it, but as well to make it somehow understandable and relatable, most people who certainly it To enter in our audience are either employed in a business or are business owners. And it’s, there are some very strong parallels that can be drawn from the endurance training and racing and applied in a business environment. Would you agree?
Nick Muxlow
100%. I certainly before my backgrounds, actually in education in teaching, I’m originally so I’m qualified as a PT, health Outdoor Education teacher, which was high school. So I actually studied in human movement, which is a size and Sport Science and Education. And so I’d spent, you know, nearly seven, eight years doing that. And then I started start a business and didn’t know a lot, you kind of know what you’ve picked up. And it wasn’t until I started that I just went, Oh, my goodness, this skill set that I’ve learned through sport, and implemented through my training is just completely parallel to what you have to be able to put in place for business. And so that’s what’s really given me the ability to get to where I am today, without a doubt
Mat Lock
now awesome. We’re very well aligned on this after so. So how would you say running? and coaching is similar to before? And what are some of the examples that you would? Yeah, what would come to your mind?
Nick Muxlow
Oh, for sure. Um, so running is very much about planning. A lot of people, you know, they start and they just don’t have any processes in place. And so it’s not until you actually start putting the planning in place and the processes in place that you can actually start to make achievements. And so everyone often goes, Oh, you know, I want to improve by them, I put a percentage on it, in business in advertising in, you know, in new clients or their conversions. So like, cool, I want to, you know, I want to get a 10% improvement, or 15%, whatever it is. And the thing they don’t realize is, that doesn’t just happen, you actually have to basically break that down into small, achievable chunks. And that’s then what allows you to get to your end goal. So as a coach, I’m forever saying, you know, focus on the 1% is, because to get to 10%, at some stage, you got to improve by 1%, and then 2%, and then 3%, to collectively get there. And so if we basically look at, say, running, if I can improve a runner by 1%, regularly, and that might be saying their nutrition and their hydration, I improved their training, I improved their run form, I improve their fitness, improve their strength, suddenly, I’ve just bagged 6%, okay, and that’s without even thinking about it. But do that 10 times, I’ve got a 10% improvement straight off. It’s like, it’s totally awesome. And so that knowledge is what basically transfers over to business. And so if we’re basically trying to improve in business, we need to actually break it down to what can we do today, that allows us to be better tomorrow. And if we are better today, and we’re better tomorrow, and we’re better the day after, and we get this compounding effect, then suddenly, in 12 months, 18 months, two years, what seemed unachievable is totally, you’re there, you’re already dreaming of your next thing. And you, you know, continuing to work forward. So I really fun that’s, that’s probably like, the most similar part of it really, for myself.
Mat Lock
Yeah, absolutely. And so I think the key message from there as well, it’s about consistency. So having a plan, but then being super consistent. And obviously that that’s absolutely true in any sort of sporting endeavors, particularly hearing your case, with an injury or ultra endurance running or long, long form, I try triathlon, consistency really is the key in in all aspects of getting you to both the start line and the finish line. Another very important bit in between those two lines. But at the same is true in business, right? I mean, we have to be consistent, we have to have a plan. We have to have systems and processes in place, but we have to be consistent. No question about it. I mean, from your perspective, you mentioned nutrition hydration course, not only necessary for life, but they’re not they’re necessary for optimal performance in life. And certainly in sporting endeavors. That’s true, but actually, you could argue that nutrition hydration, actually, they’re just super important if you want to achieve your you know, your absolute potential in life. While you’re not going to achieve that if you’re pouring crap into into your body that is your engine, I suppose. But so other than hydration and nutrition, which of course you and I could talk about for hours. What are the aspects of what you coach do you think? I guess really crucial critical, the one that you overlook them. It ain’t gonna work properly.
Nick Muxlow
In terms of just to clarify, I can turn to the training plan or more. So, in terms of like the similarities between running in
Mat Lock
Oh, I guess that’s a bigger picture hydration nutrition subjects. I mean, consistency is important. I mean, mindset, for example, how the mindset in what we do in a long running or triathlon reef, and how that, again, the parallels we can draw with the business environment? Sure,
Nick Muxlow
yeah, there’s, like, the belief in self is just paramount. And if you don’t believe in, if you don’t think you can do something, then you’re not going to start to take the action. So it obviously has to occur in your mind before it can occur in real life. And that belief in self and for myself, belief in those that I coach is paramount. And so when I first get you know, runners triathletes come to me, there’s, they’ve got, like this glimmer of relief, they’re almost like, I think I can do it. And that’s where they’ll, they’ll come on board. And then I have 100% certainty from the start, okay, I’ve worked with runners that are basically just beginning. And then they want to maybe do a 50k or a marathon. And so we take them from like, even doing like a run, walk through to being able to run and finish the marathon be absolutely stoked with it. And so that belief comes from the knowledge and the skill set that I have in that, you know, that area, I know that they can get to I feel like I can take anyone to the Finnish Army, if they got the right mindset, they’ve had to put in the consistency. But the ability for that to be developed actually comes over time. And so that’s basically where you need to put in steps or basically go through a process to actually allow that to occur. And from there, we might have the belief, but we’ve got to be able to recover from setbacks and setbacks occur. Whenever you might have a bad training set, you might, you know, there was a guy that I spoke to the other day, he slipped and fell on the trail and broke his toe. That’s like, out of his control, largely. But he now has to basically go through that setback and then continue to where he wants to be. And so that parallel is what we have to do in business. Because if I don’t believe in myself, whatever I’m in, then how can those people that I’m working with believe in me, that’s a lot of what they’re coming to me for, okay? They want the certainty they want the confidence that I have, they want the knowledge and the experience that I’ve got to be able to achieve their outcome. And so that’s really, you know, Paramount, and that, you know, that’s something you take with you everywhere in life. So, I guess like a story that comes to my mind from if we’re talking about the long distance running is a guy that I coached. He was doing his first 100 miler. So 100 miler for those in Australia is 160 kilometers. So it’s a bloody long way. For marathons, basically,
yeah, for marathons. And the ultras have a habit of they don’t like it to be flat. They like it to be up the hills down the hill, over the, you know, over the mountain, through the creeks, etc. And so he done a few races, so I had a solid background. And he was running and I was in Adelaide Hills. This was up in Brisbane at the Brisbane trail ultra. And I’m following along on the computer and like they get through the checkpoints. And then I’m like, something’s happened. I’m like, this is weird. There’s just like, consistent, consistent, consistent, nothing. And I’m like, he’s not going to advance pacing out by now. He’s, he’s only 70k in 80k in. And so then he started to go through the checkpoints and was just slower and slower. And, you know, luckily, he’s still finished. And I spoke to Martin, like, you know, what was that what happened? And he was coming down a hill, and he kicked the rock. And it basically ended up meaning that he put a slight tear in his quad. any given day, not that much. But to then try and run 100 kilometers on that. It just gradually intensified, intensified, intensified. And so he’s then had to go through different aid stations, where he could pull out. Okay, so get a DNF withdraw from the race. But that wasn’t why signed up. And so he’s basically gone. Okay, yep, it’s not ideal. I’ve got to recover from this. And I got to keep pushing through. And so I ended up taking him I think about 12 hours longer because he ended up having to walk most of it because he wasn’t able to run anymore. But he still managed to progress work through those setbacks and got to the finish line. And for me, it’s just this golden story of you can get the worst put out, you can throw plan a plan B Plan C out of the works. You got to keep on your feet, you’re tired, you’re sleep deprived, because he’s ended up being out there for over 24 hours. But he’s still finished and he still achieved his goal of finishing his first mile. And to me, that’s pretty special. And that’s really what business is. Okay, it is not a sprint is a friggin ultra marathon of many, many years. And so yeah, I think there’s lots of parallels that we can take out of that and just apply to what we’re doing.
Mat Lock
Yeah, that’s exactly right. I’m guessing the learnings that that that athlete had from that as well would have been massive mental fortitude that he would have been building during that whole process and getting across the finish line would have been spectacular attempt. You’re right. I mean, it’s the perfect metaphor really for for business life and life in general, really, but let’s say business life, you right? Because no aspect of business is just as lovely, perfect asphalt road on the flat in front of you with no headwind. In fact, let’s say you’ve got a slight decline, and it’s just rolling along, whether on wheels or your feet, that’s not realistic. We have ups and downs remain things in the way sometimes we have to overcome those mountains. Sometimes the headwind, sometimes there’s a tailwind. And you have to have everything in balance. It has to you know, everything has to go to plan. But if we believe that it will, we’re foolish having I know that with my racing, my coach, I would never go into a race without a plan B. I rarely needed it. I did call on it a few times. But that even just having the confidence of knowing there was a plan B. That I found that empowering, even though I often didn’t need it, because my plan A it kind of went alright. But the only thing you got on a contingency plan. I mean, it’s the same in business. You need a contingency plan, you’ve got to assume at some stage, not everything’s gonna go perfectly. And unlike your athlete who congratulations to him or her, I think you said him. We learn along the way. Like we’re learning lessons the whole way on. Well, I guess if we’re aware of that, then the depth of those learnings is greater. And certainly mental developing mental fortitude. Yeah, same in business. exactly the same.
Nick Muxlow
Yeah, I’m a big. I’m not sure if you’ve read a book by Carol Dweck, Dr. Carol Dweck, I should say, called mindset. And I’m a real big fan of her work. And basically, it’s looking at a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, making sure that we can consistently put in place the ability to actually transition ourselves into a growth mindset, because it’s when we’re in a growth mindset that we actually have the ability to improve. Whereas if we flip to a fixed mindset, then that’s where we can start to basically doubt ourselves and obviously goes into far more depth than I can explain here. But for me, really, the key takeaway was that were a couple of key takeaways that in any part of our life, we can be in a fixed mindset in one position and a growth mindset in another. So I might, for instance, in my running, be really confident, have a growth mindset, within my business, actually, in particular areas advertising, I might have a fixed mindset, whereas my ability to deliver my product might actually be a growth mindset. And so with that knowledge, we can actually look to transition all parts of our life to having that growth mindset. Because it’s in to, we’re in a growth mindset, we can’t actually achieve what we’re trying to. And so that’s really important. And I guess, for myself as a coach, one of the key things that we do is give feedback. And that’s also what has to happen in business. So you’re getting feedback, which could be from others on the team could be externally from other, you know, people you’re working with, or could be actually from clients. And so the ability to actually take that feedback on and make sure that it focuses on the process, and what you’ve done well within the process to achieve the outcome, as opposed to solely focusing on the outcome. Because if we sought focus solely on the outcomes, then that can actually quite quickly transition us to a fixed mindset of I wasn’t good enough. And all our fear starts to come out. Whereas if we make sure that we frame it so that it’s what do we do well within the process that achieved the outcome, then we can continue to look to improve the process. And that will ultimately end up allowing us to better and better outcomes.
Mat Lock
And there’s no question the the level of the coaching that you offer, I know is invaluable to your athletes. It made me think about a subject that is relatively new for me. Positive Psychology, I’m dabbling in it now. Because I was fortunate enough to, to interview a guy called Ross who is a behavioral science specialist, and is qualified in the field of positive psychology in that conversation sparked an interest in me while I’m now dabbling in cyber. If we talk about the pessimistic and often optimistic viewpoints and thinking here about mindset, it’s not uncommon. The world I’m in where Everyday athletes who I interact with will pop up and go, Ah, you know, I’ve injured whatever body part it is, I can’t train now, as well. That’s one way of looking at it. And one thing I love about triathlon, of course, is having the three disciplines plus, of course, all of the other supportive training around that. But um, so let’s say they they can’t run, for example, the other mindset is, okay, what can you do? Because with some running injuries, you can still ride a bike, no problem. And for sure, you can swim, you can certainly swim in the stuff in the gym that you can do. And so even just that switch of mindset, and I think about your story used with you the the ultra run, you know, when he hit hit that stone, and injured his quad, I guess, yeah, the pessimistic approach would have been, well, I’m done. You know, I’m not going to achieve my targets. And so I’m done, and just pull out to the next aid station, or what he did do instead was to go, Well, I can’t do what I planned. But what can I do, I can’t run, I can walk. Alright, then that’s what I’m going to I’m going to do, I’m going to walk through if I can. And I think that just that at that very basic level of mindset. It’s so powerful, and empowering, and and certainly anything we can do to help everyday athletes kind of understand that and to adopt that mindset, which of course, comes with training, with practice, with mindfulness, for sure, but I guess that’s, that’s why you’re here. That’s why you’re there for your athletes. And certainly, on the rare occasion, on the occasions I get invited to be a part of that story. Yeah, that’s certainly the approach I often adopt.
Nick Muxlow
Absolutely, there’s like for, for everyone who’s training for anything. And that could be just you want to be fit to be able to, you know, succeed better at life or at your job, we can totally take that strengths based approach. And so where you’ve outlined that, I guess, more so in a triathlon perspective there where you can’t run, you can swim, you can bike ride, you can potentially do strength, it actually, for me, it goes much broader than that for the everyday person. And so they might not be able to, for instance, you know, say their shoulder might be sore. So they might not be able to, for instance, play tennis, but they can ride their bike, okay, if they can’t do ride their bike, then they might be able to go for a walk. Okay? If they can’t do, for instance, a particular regime episode CrossFit or the gym, there’s always something else that you can do, or another way that you can achieve that outcome. And so that’s not purely I guess, in the disciplines. But actually going broader than that, to, you know, it might be that triathlon isn’t your thing, but you can rock climb, or you can go out for kayak on the water. And so that basically, that ability to cross train, within an urban setting is just so so powerful. And to keep that variety in there, keeps people motivated, keeps them engaged. And that’s really what we’re after.
Mat Lock
Yeah, absolutely. And in that example, it’s an opportunity to work on weaknesses as well. I mean, I’m a friend and training buddy, the moment medical Georgette, she’s hurt her knee. So she spent the last three months advancing so far in her swimming, because that’s one of the things she can really do. And so she’s taking the opportunity, you’re getting a lot more amount of action for a while, and therefore I will work on my weaknesses. It’s similar in a business environment, let’s say, if we wanted to, we’re going to launch a new product, and we’re gonna go full bore, we’re gonna run social media ads, we’re gonna, we’re gonna do everything, but we don’t have the budget for it. Okay, so what can we do with what we’ve got? It’s the same mindset isn’t it’s exactly the same mindset. And you figure out what you can do with what you’ve got. So it works. Yeah. business life. Personal life. Yeah, life, whatever it is. Yeah, for, for me in business. When, as I mentioned, I started as a teacher, and way back then I, I had no idea. I’m not gonna lie. And so I basically decided, I’m going to transition from teaching to coaching. And I’ve got no one. I’ve got crickets. Okay. And so I could have gone and I’m and I’m like, well, I’ve got, you know, this experience, I really understand what I’m doing. I think I’ve got a lot of value to offer people as like, no one. And I was fortunate. I still was teaching and things at the time, but I could have used that and gone. Oh, well, I guess that means I’m not a good coach. That’s it and left it there. But it wasn’t in my upbringing, because that’s not what I knew from sports like, Okay, well, I got a pretty big setback here. What am I going to put in place to change that? What am I What do I not know? That I have to change? And so straight away it was basically like just having the carpet ripped out from under you. And it was like a Okay, so that’s cool. Well, there’s only one way up, like, I go backwards. And so therefore, I had to literally go cold, let’s, let’s learn about this let’s, you know, progress and build. And so I guess for me, I understood the coaching side of things, but I didn’t understand everything else that needed to happen. And, um, you know, 100% confident in that now. And, you know, down the track, as you said, I’ve got a couple of books I’ve got, you know, people that I’m coaching, they’re setting awesome times, but it wasn’t always like that. And so people see where you are now, but they don’t necessarily know where you’ve come from. And so that’s where we actually have to go, Well, okay, what has this person done? And how have they got there. And that’s open to anyone in any endeavor, if you’re prepared to put in place the steps that allow you to get there. And that’s often being open to, you know, the help and the support, as we say, going back to the one percenters, the growth mindset, all of that collectively comes together to allow you to achieve your full human potential, which I certainly know is something that we both believe in, and that can be from an elite athlete right down to an everyday athlete. It’s just there’s no difference. Absolutely. Absolutely. So for anyone, I’m conscious of time for anyone who’s listening to this, or watching this, who has that little bit of fire in their belly, to do a longer distance run or a longer distance triathlon, and isn’t quite sure if they’ve got what it takes, or any of those normal little negatives and batches that we have inside ourselves, what would you say to them?
Nick Muxlow
Believe in yourself 100%. That’s, that’s always what I come back to. Just that belief, you can do it, I probably say, grab my book, because I give you a good stepping stone on that. That’s totally lined up for you there. But yeah, and that’s, that’s what actually, that’s how I started. It’s about believing in yourself, first and foremost. And then just being prepared to actually go over the journey and grow and see where it takes you. But don’t hold back. So many people hold back through fear that they’re not going to achieve it. And that’s the first hurdle that you just got to get over. And typically, when people then do start, whether it be the first time they’re coming to start exercising, or, as you said, someone that’s wanting to take things further, because I have been exercising regularly, then, you know, by putting that self doubt behind you, and just launching in five years later, they look back and they’re like, oh, my goodness, I’m just so proud of what I’ve done, what have I achieved and how far I’ve come? And then they’re normally the ones motivating everyone else to do exactly the same. And that’s pretty special.
Mat Lock
Absolutely, I might, in my experience. And I say that I was the person you just described by there. And so no question. I’ve been there done that I had all the self doubt and everything else. I used to describe myself as a triathlete try with a why athletes until I and I had my first I distance event. Yeah, that was, I’ve got the tattoo on my leg. That was for me, you know, a huge achievement as it is for anyone. But what was interesting for me was, once I’d achieved that goal, once I knew I could do it, because I’d done it. Actually, I did a whole bunch more, but then started looking well on it, how much further can I go? What can I do? And so I often say to you know, if I’m coaching people there. So I want to run out, you know, I could never run a half marathon. I said, You know what, let’s training for a marathon then. And as soon as you do that, the half marathon since you give them permission to believe that they could do the full marathon? Well, the half marathon isn’t such a big leap anymore. And that’s the reality, because it just helps people overcome those, those setbacks. And by default, I’m saying, Well, of course, I think you could run a marathon if you want to. And you’ve got the time and willingness to train, of course, you’re going to the marathon, there’s no question in my mind, which is what you said. 100% believe. So. Yeah, it’s fascinating. The human psychology, fascinating subject. But um, Nikki for anything else you’d like, say for, let’s say, people did want to go and get a copy of your book, either journey to 100 or the Kona journey, where would they go to grab that?
Nick Muxlow
Yeah, definitely. So that either go to Amazon, or booktopia. For those in Australia. It’s also on both my websites. So www dot lakonia, journey.com and www dot the ultra journey.com. So yeah, can be picked up there. Also, if anyone wants to connect with me, I’ve also got similar channels on Instagram as well. So yeah, feel free to reach out. And I, you know, I can help anyone if they’re ever done in Adelaide and want to know where to run. Feel free to sing out but you know, Australia’s subject,
Mat Lock
someone and if someone was and I’ll put all of those links in the show notes, of course, and if someone would just was thinking and I think they came but they’re not sure and wanted to have a chat with you. Is that something that it’s possible they can have a chat normally at no cost, they can just have a chat with you and just saying it, whether it’s what they want to do, and therefore, how you can help them in that endeavor, if that’s something you offer.
Nick Muxlow
Yeah, absolutely. So probably the best option then is just to drop us an email through, either on my websites or through the contact. And that’s where I can then basically, find out what your goals are, you know, whether that’s someone looking to progress to their first marathon, or someone looking to progress to their first 50, or 100k ultra marathon will likewise with the triathlon side of things. And yeah, then I basically I offer one on one coaching. I’ve also got the ultra Club, which is being set up, which is basically a membership platform and a training plan that works with all that. And very soon, I hope to have the same thing parallel with the codegen. So yeah, there’s plenty of options there, depending on where they are at in that stage of progression. And whether they want the one on one approach or they want you know, basically a collective, like minded group of people that they want to be part of.
Mat Lock
Yeah, fantastic. No, and I know that the strength of community that you have built in our building is just phenomenal. So congratulations on everything you have done and are doing. And I’m certainly excited to work to get to stay in touch with you and see how the journey unfolds. And I’m sure it’s not the last time I’m
Nick Muxlow
hot, I think so give it give it your background. I was most impressed. Yeah, when we when we can we definitely have to tee up a run together.
Mat Lock
Exactly. Right. That really wonderful. I appreciate your time. Nick, thank you so much for sharing everything. And I look forward to chatting again.
Nick Muxlow
Thanks for having me on here. See you guys.
