008: The Importance of Exercise and Building Community through Fitness with Brian Maas, Lauren Zangl and Mike Gruber


Did you know ECS launched a podcast? Coffee Talk: From the Ground Up is meant to be educational, entertaining and encouraging with practical advice you can apply directly in your work and life.  Listen and subscribe now on AnchorSpotifyGoogle Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts.

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Intro

Steve Gosselin:

Welcome to Coffee Talk: From the Ground Up, an ECS podcast where we strive to provide a more personable way to communicate with employees. I’m Steve Gosselin, but you can call me Goose. And I’m part of our senior leadership team. And I’m joined here by Julie Smith, who is part of the marketing communications team, and our resident chocoholic. Say hi, Julie.

Julie Smith:

Thanks, Steve. Hey everyone. I’m glad you’re joining us today. So Steve, what are we doing here?

Steve Gosselin:

Great question, Julie. One of the struggles with a company our size is getting a message to the masses, without it being diluted along the way. From projects and people, to services and career insight, we hope this podcast helps provide an avenue to communicate the stories that are worth sharing. It’s to learn about our culture, and feel more connected, and to have some fun along the way.

Julie Smith:

So, what you’re saying is we hope this podcast is educational, entertaining, and encouraging, with practical advice you can apply directly to your work and life.

Steve Gosselin:

Well said, Julie, and that’s why you’re in marketing.

Julie Smith:

So, grab a cup and settle in.

Julie Smith:

Our attorney makes us say this. This podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only. Nothing herein shall be construed as providing professional engineering services, or used to establish the standard of care. This podcast and the comments contained therein represent only the personal views of the participants, and do not reflect those of ECS. While we make every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors.

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Steve Gosselin:

We always start with a safety minute, and today’s safety minute is actually related to the topic of the broadcast today of our podcast. We’re going to be talking about movement, resting, and stretching. I’m going to go through the safety minute. And then I’m actually going to ask a question of you all. To maintain physical wellbeing, people need to move their bodies. I mean, we all know that, it’s what we’re talking about today. If they’re sedentary for long periods of time, they also need to rest when they’re tired. And this is especially helpful in reducing occurrences of overuse injuries, and keeping workers alert you. And those are our biggest injury instances, or just people either not being loose, or especially with the weather getting cold. They just overexert themselves and they don’t ask for help. Things like that. Anyone that works at a desk using a computer all day needs to incorporate regular intervals of movement, and stretch their hands, their wrists, their shoulders, their legs, their back.

Workers who are continually on the go, and that’s at least 50% of our workforce, need short, but frequent periods of rest. Stretching overused muscles will benefit them as well. To add on to the safety minute, I’m just going to ask each of you, including you, Julie, because I know you’re one that moves around a lot. Even though we’re out and about, we spend a lot of time behind the computer sitting down at a desk. What do you do during the day? Do you have stretches? Do you move around? Do you get up and walk? Brian and I used to work with a colleague that went out and rode his bike every day at lunch. I’ll just start with Julie and work around the horn. So, Julie, what about you? What do you do during the day?

Julie Smith:

I definitely try and take walking breaks if I have a phone call or a conversation that I can take with a coworker here in the office, but we can take laps outside, even just around our office. I try and do that. And I’m regularly filling up my water cup, and maybe taking a lap around the building when I do that as well. So, try to get some movement in every hour or so just to get up, walk around, and reset my eyes, get some movement. So, yeah. That’s what I do.

Steve Gosselin:

Awesome. Great. What about you, Mike?

Mike Gruber:

I would agree with Julie, the same thing. I get up and walk around. I struggle sitting still because of ADDHD, but so, sitting still is not very good for me. So, I get around and move around quite a bit, actually. Going to client’s offices, going to the offices here in the office, and talk to colleagues, and then get back to the computer or driving. One of the three.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. Great. And Lauren, what about you?

Lauren Zangl:

I actually have a standing desk, so that’s my biggest hack to get some movement is just be standing. Luckily, I work in downtown Chicago, so I usually try and plan my lunch so that I have to go a couple blocks away to get it. So, I can get out, get some fresh air, as fresh air as you can get in downtown Chicago, and just get out, get some movement that way.

Steve Gosselin:

Okay. And Brian Maas.

Brian Maas:

Yeah, I’d echo the same. I get stiff if I sit too long, so about every hour I try and get up and get some movement. In the late fall and winter, our street actually has a pretty good sidewalk up and down the street, and there’s a little lake at the end on Cover Boulevard. So, if I’m not at a client event, I’ll even take a walk, just walk up and down the street. It’s a mile up the road, mile back, could get a couple miles in. I don’t do it in the heat of the summer, but I enjoy just getting out and stretching, and moving around.

Steve Gosselin:

All right. Well, excellent safety minute there. Just for our listeners, if you’re stuck behind a desk, try to find time, plan time to get up, move around. Stretching is really important if you’re sitting down all day for your lower back, and your legs and shoulders. And then if you’re out in the field, make sure that you’re constantly staying loose, that your muscles are warm, things like that before you lift, and use proper lifting techniques. All right. Well, good morning everyone. If you haven’t been listening up to now, you realize that we’ve got three of our more active employees on the call today. We’ve got Lauren [Zangle 00:05:59], Mike Gruber, and Brian Maas joining us this morning on Coffee Talk. What we’re going to do is just start out with some quick introductions, and just tell us a little bit about yourself, and your ECS journey, and how you’ve gotten here. So, Lauren, we’re going to start with you. You’ve got the horn.

Lauren Zangl:

So, I am sitting in Chicago. I am the business development manager for the environmental department. So, started in January, loving ECS so far.

Steve Gosselin:

All right, cool. And Mike?

Mike Gruber:

I’m Mike Gruber. I’m with business development with ECS of Florida. I was, in the past, with Ellis & Associates, which we were acquired by ECS in 2015. I was there for 35 years. So, my journey continues. So, I’ve been in the industry for … Starting in February, it will be 41 years.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. Excellent. And Brian Maas.

Brian Maas:

Brian Maas. I have been with ECS 25 years. I helped open the office with Steve Gosselin, Steve [Neece 00:06:58]. I have had a variety of roles, from environmental department manager, branch manager, I’ve been subsidiary environmental director, but I’ve been more involved day-to-day with business development in Greensboro for the last seven years. And I really enjoy it. It’s my passion to get out and see clients. I don’t miss the HR stuff, and dealing with all the headaches. So, there are other headaches to deal with, but chasing work is easy, comes naturally to me. So, I’ve really enjoyed it. And honestly, since I made the move from a management position to more of a business development position, I’ve been able to balance my lifestyle a lot better since making that move. If I can get into that a little bit, but I find more time to exercise, and spend time with my family, and still do the job of getting work in the door, and making sure we’re feeding our troop.

Steve Gosselin:

Excellent. Okay. And just an aside, I’ve known Brian for almost 30 years. I came to North Carolina almost 30 years ago. I went to work at law engineering, and Brian and I became fast friends working on projects together, chasing projects, and chasing work. We spent a lot of time together. I’ve worked really closely together. Like he said, he and I, and Steve Neece opened up the Greensboro office. So, Brian’s a good guy. And he’s a great friend as well too. And we’re lucky to have Brian, Mike, and Lauren on a call today. Really looking forward to what we have to say. We try to find a way to find a little bit more, and get to know our folks a little bit better on the podcast. So, we’ve got a rapid fire to go here this morning, and I’m going to mix it up. I’m going to say your name and then I’m going to ask a question of each of you. We’ll start with Mike. Ice cream cone or snow cones?

Mike Gruber:

Ice cream cone.

Steve Gosselin:

All right. Lauren, cardio or weights?

Lauren Zangl:

Both.

Steve Gosselin:

Oh, very good. All right. Brian Maas, jogging or hiking?

Brian Maas:

Both. Depends where I am.

Steve Gosselin:

There you go. All right, Mike. So, while you’re walking, or riding your bike, or running, or working out, music or podcasts?

Mike Gruber:

Neither.

Steve Gosselin:

Neither. There you go. Okay. Brian, how about you? Money or free time?

Brian Maas:

I am free time at this point. I enjoy the money, but I’m free time now. I love it.

Steve Gosselin:

No doubt about that. If we ever have a financial savings podcast, we need to invite Brian back for that. He is very excellent and regimented at that. Okay, Lauren. Iced coffee or hot coffee?

Lauren Zangl:

Hot coffee.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. I hear that. So, Brian, this is for you. Ocean or mountains?

Brian Maas:

I’m mountains. Take me there. Any day.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah, no doubt. All right, back to Lauren. Card game or board game?

Lauren Zangl:

How about we go do something active? Neither.

Steve Gosselin:

All right. And Mike Gruber, bring us home here. Dog or cat dog?

Mike Gruber:

Dog.

Steve Gosselin:

There you go. Emphatically. No doubt about it. Okay. We’ll go through these questions with each of you, and we’re going to go ahead and start with Lauren. So, what’s your favorite form of exercise?

Lauren Zangl:

Everything. I mean, it depends on the time of year, really. In the winter, I do a lot more weightlifting because it’s kind of cold outside. Summer, I do a lot more cardio, hiking, outdoor biking, anything. So, it depends on the time of year what’s my favorite.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. So, tell me about your lifting. Machines? Free weights? You use a bench? TRX? I mean, what is that you do?

Lauren Zangl:

I do a little bit of everything really. I’ll do usually about six weeks of a free weight training program. Usually that’s in the dead of winter when it’s easier to just go to the gym and just throw some weights around. I get into the TRX, more body weight movement lifting, more towards the spring. My main goal is usually obstacle course races. So, I usually structure my training around my obstacle course races in the summer.

Steve Gosselin:

Excellent. Do you use bands?

Lauren Zangl:

Not usually. I have some, but I don’t use them very often.

Steve Gosselin:

Wow. You sound a lot like my wife, Karen. I use bands as well too. And she’s like, “No, just don’t like the bands, don’t get into it.” That’s interesting. Okay. So, why do you exercise?

Lauren Zangl:

I am just a crazy person, and I love doing things that people consider very difficult, and just downright insane. And it’s just kind of a point of pride for me to be able to say … It’s a very good conversation starter, especially when it comes to clients just to be like, “Oh yeah, I did five Tough Mudders.” People will be like, “Holy cow. How do you do that?” And it’s just a really good conversation to get things rolling with clients, find some common ground with working out, because everybody has … Should be working out in some form. It makes me feel good. I like feeling strong and capable to be able to do anything physically.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. No doubt. Tell us a little bit about your favorite race, or your experience maybe in a race or competition.

Lauren Zangl:

My favorite race, they don’t do it anymore. It’s the Warrior Dash. I used to do at least two of them a year. It’s the 5K mud run. They canceled that race series back in 2018, I believe. I still do Tough Mudders, which are the basically half marathon version. So, they’re usually about 12 miles, 20-some obstacles. That’s usually my favorite thing. And my favorite part of doing those kinds of races is the comradery. And that’s really why I do anything is just to build relationships. So, Tough Mudder I will do by myself, and I will fall into another team. And I’ve actually done that a couple times where I’ve made friends on the course who have been friends for life. And it’s a really fun way to meet people because you’re starting out with something in common that’s very challenging.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. I like that. That’s very good. Any tips, or advice, or anything to our listeners today, about a way to increase their physical movement, fitness, or just to make things easy? A good place to start, maybe?

Lauren Zangl:

Find a partner. Find someone that’s going to hold you accountable. I personally don’t, obviously I don’t need too much of someone holding me accountable. I can do it myself, but I like having … Setting goals. So, either having someone help set a goal together to do a race in three months, and then you have to train for it. Or you have a goal that you want to lift a certain weight. So, you have a gym buddy that will meet you at the gym at 5:00 AM every morning. Whatever it is, find something that holds you accountable. That’s the best advice I have for anyone to get started.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah, no doubt. Somebody that’ll make sure that you get out of bed.

Lauren Zangl:

Yep.

Steve Gosselin:

Awesome. All right, Mike Gruber. We’re going to switch to you. So, what’s your favorite phone of exercise? What do you like to do?

Mike Gruber:

Well, I love to run. I love to cycle, and I love to lift weights. I like all three of those.

Steve Gosselin:

Okay. So, tell us a little bit more. So, when you cycle, I know it’s pretty flat in Jacksonville. Is it long distances? You got some places where you can find some Hills? I mean, what kind of cycling?

Mike Gruber:

Okay. A little bit of both, Steve. As an example, this morning I got up, and I’ve already done 35 miles this morning. Last weekend, I did a ride over in Ocala, which is not flat, very hilly. We had elevation change of 2,000 feet in the ride, 44 miles. So, combination thereof. The cycling in particular is like Lauren talked about, the camaraderie. You’re with a lot of people, and it’s a great opportunity to build relationships with all kinds of clients, because all kinds of clients love to exercise.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. And a little known fact, everybody thinks that Florida’s flat, but especially if you had Western Jacksonville towards the Panhandle, the Panhandle has really a lot of terrain. A big change in the topography there. Why do you exercise, Mr. Gruber?

Mike Gruber:

I’m kind of like Lauren. I’m one of those unique individuals, I’m addicted to exercising. I don’t have to be coerced to wake up in the morning to go do it. I love the feeling that it gives your physical body, the endorphins that it kicks in. It gives you … Helps your self-esteem. You feel good. You feel good about yourself, and I’m just addicted to it. So, I’ve been exercising all my life, from youth all the way through. And I turn 64 next week. So, I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. Good for you. Well, I love hearing that. So, do you have a favorite race, or experience, or something like that you like to share with our listeners?

Mike Gruber:

Well, the favorite race I have is the Gate River Run, which is the United States champion 15K held here in Jacksonville, anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 people. I typically get qualified so I can get in the front rows. When I say the front rows, they put them in stalls because there’s a lot of people there, but it is quite a run. And they have bands playing throughout, it’s just fun. Sometimes I do it competitively. Sometimes I just do it to just take in all of the crazy people that are out there, rooting us on, offering us beer, mimosas, donuts, whatever you want. And the bands are fun. The fans are great, and there’s bands lined up for literally 9.3 miles cheering you on. And it’s quite an ordeal.

Mike Gruber:

And then I would say along with it, the MS ride that is done out of Jacksonville, out of Ponte Vedra, and all the way down to Daytona, spend the night and come back. That’s quite an event because actually there we’re giving to people. We’re giving to help people that have MS. And that’s very exhilarating to think that I have an opportunity to help fundraise, and give back to the community of people that may desperately need our help.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. Excellent. Good. Good for you. Anything you want to leave with our listeners about how to get active? What they might be able to do to get on their start to physical fitness?

Mike Gruber:

Well, again, I agree with Lauren. Getting with other people really helps you. In fact, I’ve done several competitions when it comes to either losing body fat, losing weight. I mean, every one of us want to be more fit. I mean, the truth be known. People want to look good, and they want to look good into their later years so that they can have mobility. So, I really encourage … The gyms are really great opportunities to help people. They’ve got trainers involved there. You can get with people that really know what they’re doing, that’ll help you to get involved, and get active, and have fun. The reality of this is it’s all about having fun. Don’t make it a drudgery. Enjoy life, enjoy exercise. I listened to a lady the other day, a nutritionist, well known national nutritionist. And she said it like this, “Exercise is medicine for the body.” And I love that quote. So, I want to leave that with you guys. People are on all kind of medicine, start exercising and drop the medicine.

Steve Gosselin:

Well said, well said. Yeah, just every trip starts with the first step, and just making that commitment and getting started. All right, dude. Brian Maas, tell us your favorite form of exercise.

Brian Maas:

Well, I have two forms of energy that kind of drive my lifestyle, my healthy lifestyle. One is my family. And I’ll talk about them in a second actually. But the second thing, and this is what drives me day in, day out, week in, week out, year in, year out, it’s a men’s group called F3. Fitness, Fellowship, Faith. It is a men’s peer-led workout group. It was founded in Charlotte about 11 years ago. And the goal of F3 is to plant, grow, and serve small workout groups for men for the re-invigoration of male community leadership. There is a sister organization called FIA, Females in Action that do the same thing. But I got tagged six, seven years ago by some leaders in our scout troop to start showing up to some F3 workouts. So, they’re a mixture of boot camps. You can go to running based ones.

Brian Maas:

You can go to weight based ones. They’re all outdoors. They’re all peer led in a rotating fashion. Doesn’t matter, heat, cold, winter, summer. I’m out there. I actually prefer this time of year. This gets hot to do it in the summer. I’d much rather be up at 5:30 in the morning when it’s 40 degrees, 30 degrees, exercising than when it’s 70 degrees and sweltering heat. So, they’re led in rotating fashion. We all end in a circle of trust, but the value of it for me is, one, it holds me accountable to get up out of bed every day. And so, I usually go to two, three, sometimes four F3 workouts a week, rotating between bootcamp style, and running based ones. And so, that been the fuel to kind of drive me, and F3, I’ve met so many great connections just with people here in Greensboro.

You’re motivated when you’re up, out, exercising and running with 15, 20 guys in the gloom, so to speak. And it just drives us to get up, come back, see everybody again. The client connections have been awesome as well. I have invited clients out. I’ve met clients. We’ve got home builders, we have contractors, we have bankers, we have attorneys. So, just depends, any given day you start talking to somebody. If you go to different workout sites across the community, you’re going to start talking, and meeting somebody. And F3, they’re really international now, but they’re nationwide. So, that is what drives me to get up, get out, stay trained, stay active. I need that. I will say F3’s mission is really for the guys in their 30s to 50s that lose their shape, lose their will to exercise, and get in that spin of working, and family.

Brian Maas:

And they lose those friendship connections. And I lost that. I mean, in my 30s, early 40s, when my kids were young and I was starting up my career at ECS, I lost fitness. I lost connection to staying fit, staying healthy, and really through my teens, 20s, I was pretty good at it. And then once I settled into my career and my family life, I got away from it. But really F3 has kind of kept me consistent with that. And the other part of that is my family. I have a wife, Andrea, a daughter, Carly, who’s in graduate school at the University of Maryland, and the son, Daniel, who’s at Western Carolina University. But ever since the fourth grade, they both got involved in what they call Go Far Races, which is for elementary school kids designed to get them to come out and train to go on …

Brian Maas:

And this a national organization, to get kids interested in running and walking for a 5K race. And it started with my daughter in fourth grade. And then my son jumped in, and really, for the last 10, 15 years, it’s just been a source of our family strength. So, I’m not one that’s going to run 30, 40 miles a week, but I find balance in running, and hiking, and being with my family, and going to F3 workouts. We visited 46 state capitals and 25 national parks. So, one of the motivation for us staying healthy is we like to get out, we like to travel. We like to see places, go on day hikes. So, I kind of see it as a lifestyle. So, my family and F3 drive me to be able to do that.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. Great. Thanks for sharing that with us. And especially F3. You never know on these podcasts, and Julie will attest to this. I mean, we’re always surprised the things we learn, either about our folks, or what their interests are, things like that. And my son is actually very active in F3 here in Charlotte. So, it is a great organization. And I know it’s helped him a lot too. Not only exercise, but the people he’s met, and the fellowships he’s developed as well too. So, Julie, you’re not getting off the hook here. I’ve known Julie for … I don’t know, we’ve worked together probably close to 10 years. And I know she’s really active too. You’re part of this, what’s your favorite form of exercise.

Julie Smith:

Oh, geez. I should have known that I was going…

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah, you’re on the spot.

Julie Smith:

So, I grew up as a gymnast and a dancer, and so physical activity is been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Right now my favorite form of exercise is I’m a member at Orange Theory Fitness, and I know several other colleagues are as well. And so, that involves running, rowing, and lifting weights. Yeah. And like Lauren and you guys, I like all the things. I like lifting, and I like cardio.

Steve Gosselin:

All right. During the next summer Olympics, if you want to experience something you’ve never seen in your life, when the gymnastics competition is on, either before, during, or after, FaceTime with Julie. I’m telling you, she is so … And she tells you every detail about what’s going on. And especially this past year, with what happened at the Olympics, and all the stuff that was going on, and Julie would come in every day and she’d give me a blow by blow description. So, for our listeners, yeah, Julie’s quite an accomplished gymnast.

Julie Smith:

I will wake up at 3:00 AM and watch it live. Whatever the local time was, I will wake up. I will watch that sport live. Yep. Don’t want it ruined by social media. Have to see it first.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. And so, she would come in, and you could imagine. It was overseas, and she had dreary every day. But man, she really did. She told me the intimate details about what was going on, and what they are doing. I’m like, “Really? I had no idea.” Yeah. It was really cool. So, just remember that next summer Olympics call up Julie, she’ll let you know what’s going on with the gymnastics. Okay. So, we’re going to start wrapping this up, and we always finish with one final question. So, we’ll start with you, Lauren. What fills your cup?

Lauren Zangl:

Nature. Getting outside. Live in Chicago so there’s not too much nature. So, I usually try and plan at least one day a week to get out to the forest preserves, to go for a hike with my dog.

Steve Gosselin:

Nice. Nice. Do you spend much time down at Lake Michigan?

Lauren Zangl:

Lake Michigan’s weird. It’s a little far to be going over there. There’s no parking. So, unless I’m running over … Planning a really long run to get over there, I don’t usually head over there that often. It’s a good resource if you live close to it though.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. Nice. Okay. Mike Gruber, what fills your cup?

Mike Gruber:

People. I love people. I just love being around them, love talking to them, love learning from them. Love hearing their experiences. Love connecting. I think the biggest thing about with exercise is the people that you’re involved with, what you learn from them. It’s amazing what you can learn during a run, or a ride, or whatever. I just, I love people.

Steve Gosselin:

Excellent. Good. And Brian Maas, what fills your cup?

Brian Maas:

Balance. A balanced lifestyle, hard work, hard play, traveling the country the way my family has. It inspires us every year to take a trip and plan for it. But I do enjoy meeting people, spending time with people, making connections with people. But for me, it’s about a balanced lifestyle at this point. Staying fit, staying healthy, staying active, but working hard along the way.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. Nice. Very good. So Julie, before we sign off, any final questions or comments for Lauren, Mike, or Brian?

Julie Smith:

Sure. You know I always have to have a few. Mike, this question is for you. I’m one, I have run six half marathons before in my previous life, but I’ve always been intrigued about cycling. But I’m a little overwhelmed with all the equipment that you need to try and start cycling. So, what would you recommend to someone who’s like, “Oh, I might be interested in that,” but there’s some hurdles to get through in terms of getting a bike and all the other stuff.

Mike Gruber:

Boy, that’s a great question. I got brought into cycling probably in ’09. And I had no idea, I’m just warning you, Julie, how expensive it can be. But it doesn’t have to be. But if you hang around people that are cyclists, it can be very expensive. But I would go to a local recommended bike shop, and have a conversation with them. They’re professionals. They will set you up with the right equipment, because there’s a lot of equipment that goes into cycling. And I mean, and the sky’s the limit, I’ll be honest with you. I mean, you can have power meters. You can have carbon fiber. I mean, the sky’s the limit, and the cost is the limit too. I mean, I’ve got friends that spend 20 grand on a bike, but you don’t have to.

My first bike I bought, I bought for $600, and I rode it for at least five years. But it’s a great sport. I love it. I love being out. Again, with Lauren, one of the reasons I love to run and I love to cycle is both of them are outdoors. I don’t run on a treadmill very often. I will take an outdoor run in a heartbeat over being on a treadmill or in the gym. Now, I do lift weights in the gym, but cycling gets me outdoor. I see things. I mean, just the other day I was riding and four deer cut right in front of us. I mean, that’s what I love to live for. I love nature. I love getting out there. Cycling is a great sport, and it’s great to do with people.

Julie Smith:

Yeah. Love it. Okay. Now I know where I need to go next weekend. Want to start biking with you. Okay. Lauren, you talked about … I don’t even remember. How many Tough Mudders have you done? How many Warrior Dashes have you done? A lot?

Lauren Zangl:

Yeah. I’m checking my trophy wall behind me to count. I think I’m at seven or eight Warrior Dashes. I’m going to be tooting my own horn here, but I usually … Like Mike, I do the competitive waves for Warrior Dash. So, I actually did one where … A couple where I’ve qualified for the world championships with the obstacle course races.

Mike Gruber:

Awesome.

Lauren Zangl:

So, that’s just seven Warrior Dashes. The world championships, I think I’ve done five Tough Mudders now, I believe. Couple Ragnar Relays, which are 24-hour races with a team, which is what ECS sponsored back in September. I’ve done a few half marathons. I haven’t done a full marathon yet, but I want that experience, like Mike was talking about with his race, the 15K, where the whole marathon is just lined with crazy people offering Bloody Mary’s. And the Chicago Marathon is fantastic. Biking races, triathlons, I’ve done … I literally have a trophy wall behind me. All the medals I’ve done.

Julie Smith:

So, your Tough Mudders and your Warrior Dashes, that’s more than “just running,” right? There are those obstacle courses that you were talking about. How do you train for those? What does that look like? How did you get started in that?

Lauren Zangl:

It starts with running. I mean, you need to have the endurance to be able to complete it. That’s first and foremost. I shouldn’t even say you have to be able to run it, because most of those races you don’t have to run anything. You have to be able to finish, at least cross the line. Then it just it’s being able to do some, what I call technical training. So, there’s different ways to do it. But I personally use Nike Plus Training Club. It’s a free app that has really good basically coach-led workouts that, anything from mobility, to strength training, to HIIT workouts, upper body work, anything that focuses on being able to incorporate balance as well as hand-eye coordination and strength.

Lauren Zangl:

Some people use CrossFit to figure that out. That part of it is up to you. That’s one thing that I do to train. But to build up the strength, as I was saying earlier, is I do the strength training in the winter, build up, get a really … So I can get really strong in the winter, do my technical training in the spring. And then in the summer I just focus on my endurance, because endurance doesn’t last as long as strength does. That’s how I train for them.

Julie Smith:

Yeah. Gotcha. That’s awesome. Awesome. Okay. Brian, my question for you. So, I know you’ve done the Ragnar Relay before, and you’ve done several other races. I know you participated in Light the Night recently, earlier this fall, which was a walk and a fundraiser. What’s next for you? Do you know? What’s next? What’s coming down the pipe?

Brian Maas:

Well, our motivation probably this summer for my family will be New Mexico and Arizona. So, we’ll start training for touring, and walking, and running, and hiking. We’ll probably take 10, 12 days in summer, and go out there, and hit the national parks, state parks. We’ll hit both state capitols and I’ll actually start training for that now, really, because when we go on a hike or when we go on a trip like that, we’re running and hiking easily 80 to 100 miles during the trip, just in total. So, that’s what fuels me again is my family, but I use F3 throughout the year to keep me motivated and keep me fit. I will do the Light the Night event again next year. I think we’ll have better participation with it being … Hopefully we’ll be out of this COVID. We did our fundraising, our team fundraising. Julie, thanks for your help with that.

Brian Maas:

We were able to raise $5,500 of the Light the Night campaign. And that’s just my first year of trying. So, we’ll get some more momentum for that. It’s for Leukemia and Lymphoma Cancer Society. And we just had a great time doing it. They could not do the walk live. It’s usually a three mile walk. They couldn’t do it live this year because of the COVID risks. And you’re dealing with immune compromised individuals that walk these. So, next year it’ll feel like what it should be, but it was still a great event and glad we participated. And then we’re always active with Run the Runway at PTI, with different events. Some people in our office are prone to go golfing when there’s trade association golfing events come up.

Brian Maas:

I’m the guy that raises my hand when it’s a charity run, a charity walk, 5K run with a client. When we get pulled in on those from great clients, I’m the one who raises my hand and volunteers to take the lead on those. So, I’m going to continue doing that and find ways to plug into the community, and just keep that connection to our clients, to our market. And there’s a side benefit in that we all stay healthy while doing it too.

Lauren Zangl:

Sweat working. That’s what I call.

Brian Maas:

Yes.

Lauren Zangl:

Networking and sweating.

Brian Maas:

Yes.

Steve Gosselin:

Amen.

Lauren Zangl:

No better way to build a relationship than sweat working.

Julie Smith:

Yeah. Oh, I love that. Awesome. All right. Those are all my questions. I’m done.

Steve Gosselin:

We’ll go ahead and wrap this up. Before we close, any final comments or burning shares from the group? Anything you guys want to add?

Mike Gruber:

One quick thing I would like to share. It reminded me of the comment made earlier about how people help you. My first marathon I ran was 2002, and I had not run … Trained for it only by running a half marathon. But I was in really good shape. The first part of the marathon, I ran 7:30 pace. The second part I about died, because it was like 38 degrees in Jacksonville. But an older gentleman, who was about 10 years older than I, kept pushing me, kept pushing me, kept pushing me, and I made it. And I ended up running 3:46, which was … I thought was really good for my first marathon to … But I would’ve never finished had it not been for that older gentleman.

Steve Gosselin:

Awesome.

Lauren Zangl:

The one thing I would add is for the ECS employees, because we encourage everyone to build relationships with clients, project managers, everyone, use workouts as a way to connect with clients. It’s a really good way, it’s a benefit for both of you. It’s really builds a strong relationship, and it’s something to use. It’s your advantage. Find a workout that you both like, skiing is a good thing in the winter if you’re in an area with snow, golfing is a good thing, runs. There’s a lot of our client companies that actually host 5K runs as fundraisers. Find our clients that do that and participate. It’s a really good way to build … Meet people and build relationships.

Steve Gosselin:

Yeah. Great advice. And well said.

Brian Maas:

I would say, for those, listening in, start slow. This is a marathon. It’s not a sprint. You don’t build a healthy lifestyle by suddenly thinking you’re going to get out and run five, six miles every … No. Do what your body will allow you to do. Make sure, whether you are working out with a client or just trying to get motivated, just do what your body will allow you to do. But keep at it, find connections, find a friend, find a group, join a gym, whatever it is. Just keep at it because it’s a lifestyle, it’s not a one-month diet plan. So, just keep working at it and do as your body’s able to do. I’m telling you, I am not the fastest F3 guy out there, but everybody circles back for the slowest. You probably hear this term in the military, I’ve got your six. I’ve got your back.

Brian Maas:

F3 is about having your back. And some days you might be the slowest, because there are some running groups that, I tell you, there are seven, six minute mile people, and I’m trugging away at the nine minute mile pace in the back, just trying to keep up. And they always come back and circle for you. So, find a group that is a positive lightning to keep you going, keep you energized, keep you coming out, because if you can build a lifestyle of work and balance, it’ll pay off and you’ll be much healthier as you age, like some of us on this call are doing. That’s it.

Steve Gosselin:

That’s great. I love it. Well listen, outstanding conversation today, outstanding session. As always Julie, thanks for getting this set up, and the questions, and Lauren, Mike, and Brian, I really appreciate y’all taking time out of your busy schedules, and your exercise schedules as well, too. Spend time with us, and share why movement, why exercise, why connecting with people this way is so important for you all. And I’m sure this is going to go a long way towards, not only providing motivation for our listeners, but really just helping everybody. So, thanks again. Thanks for participating. I hope everybody listening today got a lot out of this, and that’s a wrap.

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Outro

Steve Gosselin:

Thank you for listening to Coffee Talk: From the Ground Up. We hope you enjoyed today’s episode. If you have an idea on future topics, guests, or up for a round of golf, you can call me, text me, email me, just get in touch with me and I’ll get it to Julie, and we’ll get it set up.

Julie Smith:

And for those of you that don’t want to play golf, and you may hate talking on the phone, that’s okay. You can send us an email at ecsmarketing@ecslimited.com. Be sure to follow us on social media, and subscribe to this podcast so you never miss an episode.

Steve Gosselin:

Thanks, Julie. Here’s to having a great day.

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