Ultramarathoner, K-9 Lover, Epic Road Trip Fitness Adventure and CBD Athlete Jimmy “JQ” Quilenderino

[00:00:00] **Bertrand Newson:** What do you think was missing in that training build up that caused you to feel the way that you did that our audience can learn from as they go about their future training journeys?

[00:00:09] **Jimmy Q:** Respect for the distance. Now, not just respect, I gotta run 26.2. No, no, no, no. You have to build up to it or else things will hurt.

Can you complete a marathon? Running, tapering up and sure, sure you can. Absolutely, absolutely.

But you'll run better if you taper up and get those long miles I'm sure there are plenty other people that have other reasons for that, but my main reason for that is your body's not used to the pounding that it's going to take if you don't run those distances.

## Intro

[00:00:38] **Bertrand Newson:** Hello and welcome to the RaceMob podcast. This is episode number 95.

I'm Bertrand, head coach of RaceMob and founder of two legit fitness. I'm joined by my dear friend, Kevin - entrepreneur technology and fitness nerd, and founder of RaceMob.

We're joined by Jimmy Q. Yes. That Jimmy Q!

If you're looking for some motivation, inspiration, and focus to help fight all those common excuses that we're too busy, too tired, then this episode is for you.

Listen to JQ share with his humorous and engaging personality. Lots of straight, no nonsense talk on the building blocks to made him an athlete that he is today, and the art of optimizing strength training and running, fueling him to multiple marathon and ultra marathon finishes.

He shares some of his most challenging moments in the midst of hundred-mile races and how CBD has helped him with performance and recovery.

He also opens up on the profound impact that man's best friend has had on his life, that's made him an avid canine runner.

Also how a youth football experience set the tone for his toughness and grit in the years to come.

All the show notes can be found online, and I hope you enjoy this conversation as I did recording it with JQ.

## Start of the Interview

[00:01:52] **Bertrand Newson:** Hello everybody! Welcome to another episode of the RaceMob podcast.

I'm joined by my good friend, teammate, and athlete, endurance athlete, Jimmy Q who now resides in Texas by way of California.

Jimmy and I ironically are from the same hometown, same actually um, military brats by way of the Army. And Seaside high school alum.

Also I'd like to share that my cohost and good friend and the founder of RaceMob Kevin is not joining us as he is away tending to a funeral as his grandmother passed away.

So our deepest condolences Kevin are with you on behalf of the entire RaceMob family.

And with that said, Jimmy, how are you today, man?

[00:02:32] **Jimmy Q:** I'm doing good, my man. Thank you for having me. I appreciate this. Been looking forward to it for a while, man.

## Jimmy's Origin Story

[00:02:36] **Bertrand Newson:** Yeah, we both have, This is by popular demand. So man, where do I start? Actually let's, for the, the members of our audience who may follow you on social media.

But more importantly for those people who are just getting to know you right now, let's go back to your youth, your childhood. Sure. Yeah, kind of back your, your, your origin story , Jimmy, the superhero . Tell us about you as a youth growing up, and then how you found sports and what kind of start from there.

[00:02:59] **Jimmy Q:** Yeah. So, so with me, I always I had older brothers, right? The small, smallest. I was always the smallest. But they lifted weights. And so that gave me a path to start lifting weights.

And so if you're going to go back to when I first started working out before I started running it, obviously it was , fourth grade, fifth grade into sixth middle school into high school.

And what I would do is back in the nineties we had sitcoms. What I would do, I'd be watching, home improvement, fresh, fresh fresh, prince of air, that type of stuff. And I'd be doing my homework, commercial would come on cool, drop down, set of pushups, and I'd be back to doing my homework when the when the show comes back on.

And then commercials try to do sits for the entire two minute break.

And that just kept going year by year until I got a wait set. And we got a , me and my brother got a wait set and started lifting weights. And at the same time, my grandfather had moved in with us and my dad, and they both loved baseball.

So I started playing baseball, started following baseballs. Had a love for the sport for a very long time. Still do. Just diminished as you get older. start playing baseball and then when, when , when you screw up, right? Go run a lap. I, with my, with my attitude, not attitude, but with my character, with my everything. I was running a lot of laps, , I was running a lot of laps, but I loved it. I absolutely loved it. How many laps you wanted to go?

One about two and and so that, I just always had this drive. There's always had a drive since I was a kid. And then it has obviously magnified into where it is today ?

[00:04:23] **Bertrand Newson:** Great. And how many brothers? Two older brothers. Two older brothers. Two older brothers. So they've had an influence on you?

[00:04:29] **Jimmy Q:** Big did, Yeah. Yeah, yeah. When my brother was uh, so I have two older brothers. The oldest one, he's, he was like about 10. It's about a six year age different, didn't live with us, different family situation, what have you.

But I would show up and he had to have this chest. I'm like, damn, I want that chest. I want those muscles. Right? I was a little kid and the, my brother, my, the one that I lived with same bedroom, walking around with the six pack. We were kids. I'm like, I want a six pack too. So I would take those two and kind of fueled me into like that fireman. Get going, Get moving.

[00:04:58] **Bertrand Newson:** Love it. Love it. Any sports idols growing up?

[00:05:02] **Jimmy Q:** Now body building is not a sport, but people call it a sport. But I mean, Arnold, how could it now be? Arnold? Arnold back in the day, Stallone come on.

But yeah, you're looking at it was mainly baseball. McGuire, McGuire with those thick, beefy arms, those thick thighs. Conseco... say what you want about the P.E.D.s and everything.

Hey, but the size of these men you know, I'm 58 180, they're 65, 2.50. Right. It took me, now it took me a long time to realize I was never gonna be that big, but man, I tried. I tried for a long time.

## A Football Story

[00:05:32] **Bertrand Newson:** I seem to recall a football story of yours. You may wanna share what it was.

[00:05:36] **Jimmy Q:** Well, you talking about me breaking my own collarbone and saying, Nah, I'm good with this.

[00:05:39] **Bertrand Newson:** Well, let's hear it.

[00:05:40] **Jimmy Q:** So I never played football in my life, right. Other than , BS tackle football with your friends in the backyard and stuff like that. Two hand touch. And then I was 5, 6, 1 15, 1 25 freshman year. So, I mean, a big honking dude. No, no, that wasn't me. But we did have those guys.

Remember Seaside, a lot of Samoans, a lot of black dudes Everybody's big. And I was, I was this little white boy, this little honky dude running around and lined up. And I was, at the time, I was, I was afraid. I was afraid to hit , because I was so small.

But then I realized, oh, when I did start hitting, I got a little bit more respect on, on the team by certain players that I was looking for respect cause they were team leaders or what have you. And so anyways, so I started hitting more, hitting more. I'm like, Okay, it's not that bad.

Well, there's this one drill, I don't know what it's called, but it's two right in front of you, but then there's a third behind them and there's a football behind him. Cool. Gotta get that football.

Now what do they do? They put the two biggest dudes on the line and then a really athletic individual behind them. And everybody lines up and you go line up and go.

So I line up and I'm thinking, this is my strategy. I'm like, Oh, I got this. I'm gonna get that football boy. Cause one of 'em wasn't so big, right? I'm gonna go head up with him. I'm gonna spin off and then I'm just gonna go as hard as I can and die for that fall.

Yeah, everybody has a story. Everybody has a plan. They get until they get punched in the mouth. So I went head up with the first, I did my spin move. Ooh, look him so smooth then probably, it's probably about two 30 at the time. The other dude said, Cool, I like what you're doing. I'm gonna rule your plan.

Came around the back and just laid me out. And you remember Charlie Brown? Yep. When he would spin shoes would come off . That's pretty much what happened to me.

Broke my collarbone. So I went from here to here, stayed in the skin, which was nice. Now this'll get into how I am today. Later on in the conversation, I'm sure.

I was done playing for the day. Cool. Went home. My dad was bowling, so I called him up, say You know,, I, something happened to football. I need to see a doctor. Ah, just sleep it off. Sleep it off. Go to practice tomorrow.

Okay, Pain, all this pain, And so did what he told. I did what I was told. Woke up in the morning, got ready, went to school, strapped up next day, first hit, man, it hurt so bad, so fast, so I had to stop playing, right? I took a couple of them. Then it just got to the point where I had to take my pads off.

So I called and again, next night he's bowls bowling. So I call him up again. Something's really wrong with my shoulder. Like, can, can we do something about it? You know, I'm little you know, ninth grade or whatever. So I might've been in tears, welling up or whatever. Try not to show my weakness to my pops. And he's like, Fine.

Comes home after bowling, now, mind you, so you got his game in, Hey, good job, dad. Come by, swoop me up. Went to the doctor's on duty right there in in Monterey off of probably Del Monte. Anyway, it was actually across from the bowling alley, right?

So, hey , So it run X-rays and run x-rays. Sure enough, I got the I got that Wishbone look in my collarbone. And the doctor comes in and I remember this clear today. He slaps the x-rays on the table as well. You're not a wimp. And we look and he says, See right here. This is what, that's what's broken.

He says, See the crack right there? And he says, So the next thing I got this strap on. I'm like, This, my old brother's helping me get dressed in the morning. My dad's laughing at me. And it's like, Oh, it's good times. Being a small dude with the big heart you know,, as far as trying to. play some football, but yeah, you take your lumps, man.

So I was like, Now let's go to baseball.

## Body Building

[00:08:45] **Bertrand Newson:** Great story. I mean again early signs of your grit and toughness and resilience.

So for what you shared with us so far, JQ, you were a strength athlete before you were a runner. Oh, yeah. Yeah. What'd you say? Yep.

[00:08:57] **Jimmy Q:** Strength. Just body building There's bodybuilders and there's people that build their body. And I, I build my body , I, I never had to diet down and walk across the stage. That is bodybuilding. Building your body is doing all of that without walking across the stage, without doing the dieting, without all that stuff. Right. Putting yourself through hell for those 12 weeks. No, no, I never did that, but.

Yeah, just bodybuilding more than, more than strength. I've never been a really strong guy. I've been stronger than your average dude walking down the street, but never super strong. I just don't have the bone structure for it.

[00:09:24] **Bertrand Newson:** Well, for those of you who are just listening to this podcast and don't have the benefit of seeing the video, Jimmy's in fantastic shape. And the backdrop is his wall of fame medals from left to right. And that's just a, a, a small slither of his running accomplishment.

## Jimmy the Runner

[00:09:39] **Bertrand Newson:** So let's talk about Jimmy, the Runner, and what piqued your interest, your first race, and maybe we'll fast forward from there to your first marathon, then get into some of your other fantastic accomplishments.

Yes. We wanna talk about that first marathon.

[00:09:53] **Jimmy Q:** You, you don't have to, you don't even have to. There's not even a big jump. Oh, I'm damn. I get right to it.

So my running started back in about 2008, 2009. About 2009. I got a boster on, it's a French hurting dog. And this one that I had, not, not the one that I have now, but that one previous was, it was very dominant, very, I wouldn't say aggressive, but he held his own, he treated him with respect, right? And, which means he had to be ran, he had to be moved. He had, he's a hunting dog, he's gotta do something or else go get violent.

And so I'd wake up, I, and I lived in an apartment too, and so I needed to make sure that he was taken care of before I go to work. Just like a lot of people, but especially this dog. So I'd wake up freezing, go for my runs, you know, morning after morning. So that started the running.

Then uh, my girlfriend at the time had a brother, or I guess she still does have a brother, but he ran from San Jose to San Francisco, roughly a 50 mile stretch.

So he ran that, and I thought, How did he do that? Like, how does somebody run that? How did he train? What did he do? She says, Well, he went to CrossFit. I said, Okay, okay, so I wanna do CrossFit too, because I wanna be a runner.

And at the same time, I heard that there's , 0.001% of people that are walking the earth that have ever completed a marathon. I thought I would love to be in that percentage. Right? I'm sure it's grown now as the sport has taken off or what have you.

So, anyway. I thought what? I wanna be a part of that. So I looked, I was like, what are, what? Where can I find a race? Marathons in the Bay Area, San Francisco. I'm like, Okay, when is it? June? It's February. How far? What's the longest distance you've ran? 3.1. And I'm having this conversation with myself. Can you do this now? So you gotta go from 3.1 now to 26.2 in four months. Good luck.

And so I went down to CrossFit Moxi and had told the head coach there, he's like , why'd you join? Blah, blah, blah. And I told him that story. He looked me up and down like, Okay, ooh, should not have done that. Should not have done that. He should not have done that.

And the reason for it, I, I, after all these accomplishments, I've, I've, Hey, remember that time you looked me up and down? He always laughs He remembers, he remembers. I told him I got four months to train for the San Francisco Marathon. I said, That's, that's my goal right now. Can, can we do it? He said, Sure.

Then I'd go to Moxi. I had to wake up a little bit earlier, run the dog, then go to Moxi, then go to work. And my work never knew what time I was getting off. It was a very laborous job. Tough and tile refinishing. And then I would get off and go straight to Moxi.

So I was hitting double days most days and then still had to take care of the dog and all that stuff, right? And so I was getting, I mean, who gets good sleep nowadays or any day early? So I was getting terrible sleep. I was training, I was training, I was training.

Showtime comes June, probably 16th, 15th, somewhere. There was like Father's Day right around that time. And I towed the line. And in my first, first race ever was the San Francisco Marathon. And pulled a respect. I like to call it a respectable 4:32.

## CrossFit Training

[00:12:33] **Bertrand Newson:** For you to run, be running a 5k Um, before you decided to tackle the marathon journey and have a four month lead up time and for you to choose arguably the hardest road marathon in the western United States, so in California, with San Francisco with all that Elevation gain, and for you to run the time that you did. So just to finish an accomplishment. Okay. So four 30, Great job. Yeah, great job.

Let's kind of go backwards a bit. JQ with your CrossFit Moxi trainer. Take us through some of those workouts. So for someone who was just running a 5K to being able to finish the San Francisco Marathon, what did those workouts look like?

And what was your training, what kind of fitness were you in at that stage before you embarked on that short marathon training?

[00:13:13] **Jimmy Q:** So it was a lot of, it was mainly body. So I was new to CrossFit and new to CrossFit, endurance. CrossFit. Endurance is separate from CrossFit. You have your CrossFit your barbell works your, your pull ups, your kettlebells all that, right?

All that's CrossFit Now, CrossFit endurance is a lot of sprint work. So raise that threshold and then lower it, and then raise it again and lower it and just keep pulling that elastic, that rubber band and making it bigger and bigger. And that's what we, so it was a lot of sprint work.

And put it this way, I did not run over eight miles. Yeah, there was no long, there was no long runs. There was nothing. There was nothing. No double digits, nothing like that. I didn't taper up to 20 miles and 22 didn't taper. No, no, no. It was just a lot. It was an hour, basically an hour of sprint work resting , a lot of resting, as long as it took you to do , whatever it was.

And then shorten the rest, shorten the rest, but run harder. Keep your heart rate this, keep your heart rate that , use metronome all that stuff. But it never went past eight miles. And so I was doing that in the morning. Then I'd go to work and then I would do the barbell work, the snatches, the cleaning jerks, the pull ups, all of that. And then it the next day.

## First Marathon Race Day

[00:14:13] **Bertrand Newson:** Nothing like the first time marathon. So take us to race day. We want to take us through . No, no audience in full disclosure. I've had this conversation with JQ before and and we've all been there in our first, in, in some cases, first race, our first half marathon, marathon.

When you're running those longer distances and your body's still getting acclimated to repetitive motion nutrition, GI issues the importance of sodium and aid stations and cramping and all that other stuff, it's a learning experience. Ultimately, Jimmy, you finished.

But take us through, via your eyes on that first San Francisco marathon journey.

[00:14:52] **Jimmy Q:** So when you line up with board shorts and BS running shoes that have hurt you the entire time that you were training, it's not really the best idea.

And I also had , I didn't have a handheld. I was holding an Aquafina one liter bottle you know, and carrying it basically like a football. I got a picture of me crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, basically carrying it in a football for , a third of the race, what have you. But it was going good. I remember it going very well, very, very well.

I mean, I got into double digits and I thought, Wow, I'm, I'm in double digits , This is, this is great. And then about mile 18 as 16 17, 18, 18, somewhere in there, the race said, I'm glad you're having a good time. I really am. But here's the thing, this is a marathon, so we're gonna take your legs and we're gonna make 'em into telephone poles.

And then, oh, your meniscus , your shock absorb? Now I'm gonna wipe that out too. Not one leg, both legs. So now I got, every time I step my knee, it just hurts cuz it feels like it's bone on bone. At, that time, right? Mm-hmm. , hamstrings lock up or quad's locked up. My calves locked up, up my back a little bit locks up.

And so doing the as best I can, that little March, March run that people do. Mm-hmm. , back and forth on, on legs these two little telephone poles just moving along. I call 'em telephone poles cause it can't bend my leg anymore. Yeah. And so, and I'm trying to run more so on the toes.

So I'm doing this, hop on the toes , because you hit your heel, that's what sends the shock up to your knees and that's what hurts. So you gotta stay away from that.

But then , as you're doing that, other things start to hurt because that's not your normal gait. And so you gotta adjust and then you gotta stop it and things hurt and the whole time and you're looking at like, I thought I'd get a sub four

I thought sub four. cuz ,at the time I was watching Hell's Kitchen, Chef Gordon Ramsey, man ran a three 30 marathon. I'm like, Oh, this guy, if this celebrity can run that thing , I got this! I'm half his age, I'm in shape. I CrossFit.

Nope, nope, nope. Looking at the time, well 3:50, 3:55. Pacer passes me, four-pace passes me, I got miles to go, 4:10, 4:15. Luckily the 4:35 or 4:40, whatever it was, did not pass me.

But I finished and I was with two people who did not understand the pain that runners go through after their first marathon or any race that they're in.

They were like, Oh, cool. You done with the marathon? Let's go to this bar. Let's go there. Let's go walk over here and what are we doing? Everything hurts on me

[00:17:12] **Bertrand Newson:** Well, thank you for sharing that story, and I wanted you to kind of open up about it because several people on this, listening to this or viewing it, have been in your shoes before.

And others that are embarking on a future marathon, marathon distance, 13.1 or 26.2, or looking at 2023 and their bucket list or goals or wants. Could that be me one day? Could I tow the line? Can I put in the work?

And what can we learn through your personal experience, what would you tell, because you've done other marathons where you didn't experience the telephone pole, legs and, and the discomfort and, and you've changed your shoes and nutrition, all that other stuff.

What do you think was what was missing in that training build up that caused you to feel the way that you did that our audience can learn from as they go about their future training journeys?

[00:18:00] **Jimmy Q:** Respect for the distance. Now, not just respect. I gotta run 26.2. No, no, no, no. You have to build up to it or else things will hurt.

Can you complete a marathon? Running, tapering up and sure, sure you can. Absolutely, absolutely.

But you'll run better if you taper up and get those long miles I'm sure there are plenty other people that have other reasons for that, but my main reason for that is your body's not used to the pounding that it's going to take if you don't run those distances.

distances So when you start feeling these weird pains at 16, 18, and they, by, it's not each mile, it just gets a little bit worse. No, no, no. It magnifies. So it, it, there's big jumps in pain from , mile 20 to 22, 24, 20, and then you finish at 26, build up to the distance and respect the distance.

And while you're building up to the distance, maybe treat some of those training runs as race day. Get up at that time. That you gotta get up at , eat the food that you're gonna, even if you don't, in my, one of the biggest, eat the food, even though you do not, do not want to drink the drinks, even though you may not want to, when you wake up at 5:00 AM 4:00 AM whatever it may be, you will need it at mile 12, mile 15th, 18 and so on.

So, respect the distance train for the distance but also enjoy the distance. Enjoy.

You're running a marathon. This is something that not many people: 1) can do; or will want to do, and there's some people that want to do it, but may never be able to You know what I mean? But if you're signed up for it and you're, you're training for it, enjoy it. Enjoy it.

Put a smile on your face. Hey, you're going through pain. Guess what? That person is, that person is that person... everybody's going through the same pain.

So when you're running, don't complain about it. Have a good time with it, man. There's so much to the race, and when you pass, people at the aid stations don't be rude. They're given their time. And if you can't, this is a pet peeve of mine too. You get something to drink, throw it away if you can.

If there's no garbage cans, okay, and there's already a hundred cups, okay, fine. But if you pass a garbage can throw it away. Hit the mess down. Do a minimum best you can.

## Nutrition Advice

[00:19:58] **Bertrand Newson:** Excellent advice JQ. Wonderful nuggets from a coaching perspective, from someone who's run a handful of marathons, myself, sage advice.

So, continuing that same vein what advice, granted, you're not a nutritionist and neither am I, but we do know that in nutrition does play a role.

What are some tips maybe you can give a new endurance athlete from a, just a kind of baseline nutrition perspective and the importance of protein.

[00:20:21] **Jimmy Q:** So try not to train on an empty stomach, cuz if you're training on an empty stomach, you may feel good in the beginning and then in the end you're gonna taper out, but you're done. Right. Oh, I got my seven miles in. I started to do cramp. I started to get tired. But what you want, if you're gonna run those seven miles, you want those seven miles to be full, real.

And if so, if you need the fuel before those set, then take the fuel. But if you can wake up and run a five , five miler and all out with no fuel, no water, which I've done countless numbers of times, but when it gets started sitting in a longer distance, I'll grab something.

I want that training to be, to be as beneficial as it possibly can be. And if you're not, if you're not fueling for those training runs, they won't be as beneficial. Make sense?

Protein, I look at a lot of runners. No offense to anybody that looks like this, my apologies for saying this, but you can eat more protein. The reason I say that is when you're running, your muscles kind of just, they get, they get soft. They're like, Yeah, you're lean and yeah, you're, you're thin. But it's kind of like a skinny fat.

It's like you flex your arm and it's, it may look alright, but then you grab it and you're like, Oh, mashed potatoes. Or your leg or something like that. Yeah. You got the muscles still run, you got the endurance to run, but you need to take your protein to keep those muscles, to keep building those muscles.

And also strength training with your runs. It doesn't need to be every day like me. It doesn't need to be five days a week , two, three times a week. How long we've been working together. "B, how long have you known.

[00:21:38] **Bertrand Newson:** I've known you since 2015. How many times have I been in 14, 15?

[00:21:42] **Jimmy Q:** How many times I've been injured?

[00:21:43] **Bertrand Newson:** You've always kept it moving. Yeah. I cannot think of a week that I've not known that you have been putting in work that I can't think of a week where you have not strength trained three to five plus days, something like that. Yeah. I know that you have done some impromptu on the fly.

Hey. Oh, a free marathon bid. We'll get into that too. . Yeah. Yeah. So that you'll go ahead and, and run it cuz you, you are always ready. On a dimes notice to be able to get up and get after it, so...

[00:22:09] **Jimmy Q:** So I eat the protein to help build these muscles and re and the carbs to repair the muscles or what have you. And I think that a lot of runners should do that.

Yes, get your carbs, try and get your carbs before, before the race, during the race , afterwards. Eat a healthy amount of protein , 0.8 per body weight, per pound of body weight.

I do , 1.2 sometimes 2 depends , on where my training is at or what have you.

But protein, not just for aesthetics, but just to keep your, your, your body , functioning. You'd be able to lift things , you need, you need that protein, you need to lift the strength train or else. And it, it also helps like all the muscles around ligaments and everything keeps everything strong.

And I, I haven't had a real injury where I thought, Oh, I need to stop running in a very long time. And I'm talking a very, very long time. I've had , foot issues that have slowed me down from running. I've had back issues that have slowed me down, but I've never been , I'm injured. I can't run, I can't lift.

And there's a difference between being hurt and being injured, hurt. You can work through it. Injured, you're done. You gotta stop, be smart and rest. And I've, I've never been there before.

[00:23:10] **Kevin Chang:** If you like our podcast and sign up for our newsletter where we give you weekly tips on how to run your best race and have fun in the process, just go to RaceMob dot com and sign up today.