Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life

Some guests make you want to train harder. Mike Wardian makes you want to live wider — and stop postponing the things that matter. 

Mike is 52, a runner, adventurer, and lifelong “yes” person. What stood out here wasn’t a race résumé. It was how he builds a life where training fits inside the day, curiosity stays lit, and progress keeps happening even when time is tight. 

Mike’s story has that ...

Two weeks ago, I attended Vitalist Bay in Berkeley, surrounded by scientists, doctors, founders, and researchers exploring the future of longevity.

A few days later, I was in the Eastern Sierra, recovering from ankle surgery, mountain biking instead of climbing, soaking in hot springs, and thinking about a different side of healthspan: the lived side.

In this solo episode, I share 7 lessons from 70+ athletes on what it really takes t...

Joe Friel is 82, still training, and still paying attention. In the last five years, he felt the shift—power fading on climbs, muscle disappearing even with a lifetime of lifting—and he’s not sugarcoating what that feels like. 

This episode is about the mistakes that quietly accelerate decline after 50: training like your recovery is unchanged, letting ego run the plan, and waiting too long to adjust. Joe&rsqu...

Caroline Paul has spent decades doing things most people stop doing after 50 — flying experimental planes, surfing, skateboarding into Yosemite at 57. Her new book, Why Fly, is built around a question that follows her everywhere: what changes in us when the world suddenly feels bigger than our problems?

Astronauts call it the overview effect — that strange shift that happens when you're suddenly confronted with scale, be...

Ed Viesturs was a childhood hero of mine. When I was younger—dreaming about mountains—his story helped shape what I thought “greatness” actually was: more than bravado, but also patience, judgment, and the discipline to come home.

In this episode, Ed takes us inside an 18-year mission: climbing all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks without supplemental oxygen—with Annapurna as the final, most da...

Greg Benning is a masters single sculler outside Boston — and at 64, he’s still finding ways to get faster. I came into this conversation not knowing much about rowing, but that’s exactly what made it powerful: once Greg translates the sport, what emerges is a universal framework for longevity performance.

For the last 15 years, Greg’s question has been simple: can marginal gains in efficiency offset age-rela...

Amelia Boone rose to prominence in the early 2010s as one of obstacle racing’s most dominant competitors — known for thriving in long-format, high-suffering events and earning the “queen of pain” reputation. But this conversation is less about grit-as-identity… and more about what it takes to stay capable for decades.

We talk about the hidden cost of over-optimizing, why Amelia stepped away from tracki...

What happens when the moment that changes your life doesn’t come from the “dangerous” thing… but from an ordinary day at home?

Cedar Wright has spent decades in the vertical world—professional climber, storyteller, and filmmaker whose adventures helped bring climbing culture to a wider audience. But in this conversation, the sharpest lesson isn’t about climbing at all. It’s about how quickl...

Amy Appelhans Gubsers (56) is a nurse at UCSF, a mom and grandma, and the first person to swim from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Farallon Islands—nearly 30 miles and roughly 17 hours in cold Pacific water, in what many consider shark territory. 

This is more than an epic swim. It’s a practical conversation about how big goals actually get done: patience over years, calm under pressure, and the ability to keep movin...

Overhead motion is everywhere — in sport and in life. This episode is a practical deep dive on shoulder pain with Dr. Tyler Nelson, who works primarily with climbers but applies the same principles across overhead athletes and active adults: build tolerance with smart progressions, manage volume, and avoid getting trapped chasing “perfect fixes.”

What to expect

This is more technical than a typical Ageless Athlete e...

What if staying athletic for life isn’t about doing one thing really well — but learning how to start over, again and again?

Susan Hunt has spent the last four decades doing exactly that.

She describes herself as “very average” — yet she’s completed Ironman triathlons, raced the Eco-Challenge in Borneo, run the Marathon des Sables across the Sahara, and summited Mount Everest at 53.

Now at 68, she&r...

What does it take to stay capable through the years?

Jason Hardrath is one of the most creative endurance athletes in the mountains today.

An ultrarunner, climber, and mountain linkup specialist, Jason is known for massive single-push adventures that combine running, climbing, swimming, biking, and even paragliding. He has completed the Bulger List — the 100 highest peaks in Washington — in record time, along with numerou...

What happens when the thing that defines you is suddenly taken away?

For legendary American alpinist Jack Tackle, climbing wasn’t just a sport — it was identity.

For more than five decades, Jack has explored remote mountains across Alaska, the Himalaya, and the Karakoram. He spent decades guiding in the Tetons and helping shape an era of bold American alpinism built on patience, partnership, and resilience.

But in the year...

It’s March.

The January energy has faded. The motivation posts are quieter. And this is where the real long game begins.

In this episode, I lay out 10 non-negotiables for athletes who plan to keep performing — not just this year, but for decades.

This isn’t about hype.
 It isn’t about biohacking.
 And it definitely isn’t about chasing trends.

It’s about durability.

Drawing from over 10...

Why do we avoid the very feelings that might help us grow?

In this conversation, Jerome Rand shares what it’s like to spend 271 days alone at sea—crossing oceans with no easy way out, no distractions, and nowhere to hide.

But this is more than just a story about sailing.

It’s about what happens when you sit with discomfort long enough for it to change you.

We talk about:

•  why real growth often feels like resis...

What does running feel like inside one of the most controlled countries in the world?

Johan Nylander entered North Korea shortly after it reopened—joining a small group of foreign visitors to run the Pyongyang Marathon.

At 52, he found himself on a starting line few outsiders ever experience.

But this story doesn’t start there.

After years covering geopolitics across Asia, Johan was burned out—physically depleted and ...

This episode brings together moments from conversations recorded throughout 2025 with athletes who have spent decades working inside uncertainty — in the mountains, on open water, on the road, and in daily training.

What connects these excerpts is more than accomplishment or outcome. It’s how each person has learned to operate when conditions narrow, when simplicity, judgment, and restraint matter more than force.

Every c...

What if the story you’ve been told about aging joints isn’t the whole story?

In this episode of Ageless Athlete, I speak with orthopedic surgeon and researcher Dr. Kevin Stone about what’s recently changed in orthopedics — especially for athletes over 40 who’ve been told to slow down, live with pain, or prepare for joint replacement.

Dr. Stone shares how modern approaches are shifting from simply removin...

At 62, David Green did something most endurance athletes wouldn’t.

He stopped taking supplements.

Not as a statement—but as an experiment.

What followed wasn’t a drop in performance. It was the opposite.

More clarity. Better training. And eventually, the fitness to run across Europe.

In this conversation, David shares what changed when he stopped outsourcing decisions and started paying closer attention to his body.

We ...