Heather Jackson: Gravel & Ultra Trail Running Pro - Positive Risks, Growth & the Power of Starting Something New
Release Date: 02/28/2024
Colin Allred - NFL, Congress, the Senate Race - United States of Sweat - with Andrew Vontz & Jonathan Kaplan
Choose the Hard Way
Former NFL linebacker & Texas Congressman Colin Allred joins hosts Andrew Vontz & Jonathan Kaplan on United States of Sweat, presented by Choose the Hard Way. Allred played at Baylor and for the Tennessee Titans before a neck injury ended his NFL career. He went on to earn a law degree from Berkeley, work in the Obama administration, and win a U.S. House seat in 2018. After a close Senate race in 2024, he’s back on the campaign trail, running again to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. Allred talks about the mindset it takes to survive the NFL—where, as he says, there’s a 100%...
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Dylan Johnson - Always Finish the Race You Start - The Long Walk at Big Sugar
Choose the Hard Way
Pro cyclist Dylan Johnson & Choose the Hard Way creator Andrew Vontz on why you should always finish the races you start. Choose the Hard Way is the show about how hard things build stronger humans who have more fun. This conversation explores why Dylan Johnson walked two hours in road bike shoes on gravel to get to the finish line in the Big Sugar classic, the final race in the 2025 Life Time Grand Prix. Choose the Hard Way has big plans for 2026. We need your help to make it happen. Please help me double the Choose the Hard Way community in the next three months. Share this episode with...
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15 Minutes Is Enough to Train – Spencer Martin (Beyond the Peloton / WEDU) x Andrew Vontz (Choose the Hard Way / One Real Voice))
Choose the Hard Way
Spencer Martin of Beyond the Peloton / WEDU / Peacock’s Tour de France team & Andrew Vontz, co-host of the Beyond the Peloton podcast & creator of the Choose the Hard Way podcast & newsletter talk about why 15 minute training sessions count and how we get it done on the road, at the playground with the kids or at home. We’re both dads, bike racers and recovering perfectionists who have found 15 minutes is plenty of time to get in an impactful workout. Marketing might persuade you to think you need an hour, a $20,000 bike, and a $12 recovery shake to stay fit. You don’t. We...
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Josh Turek - 2x Paralympic Gold Medalist - U.S. Senate candidate from Iowa - ex Pro Wheelchair Basketball Player
Choose the Hard Way
Josh Turek knows how to win. A U.S. Senate candidate, current Iowa State Legislator, and two-time Paralympic gold medalist for Team USA, Josh joins Andrew Vontz & Jonathan Kaplan on United States of Sweat presented by Choose the Hard Way. This is the show where politicians and policymakers share stories about fitness, health and the sports they love playing. Josh has faced adversity his entire life. Born with Spina Bifida after his dad was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam, he overcame 21 surgeries by the age of 12. Later he was cut from the Team USA wheelchair basketball squad six...
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Pro Cyclist Payson McElveen - The Hardest Ride Is the One You Don’t See - on Creativity, Pressure & What Comes Next
Choose the Hard Way
Choose the Hard Way creator Andrew Vontz () in conversation with pro cyclist Payson McElveen (), Red Bull athlete and creator of the With Pace podcast & Riding with Pace YouTube channel. In a sport filled with mustaches, Payson McElveen has the most famous mustache. Payson’s palmares includes a pair of wins at The Mid South, two marathon mountain bike national championship titles (2017, 2018) and his films and podcast are among the biggest in offroad cycling. His With Pace podcast is a great listen and one of the biggest in endurance sports. His adventure films are hugely...
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Stephen Starring Grant - Author of MAILMAN: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home
Choose the Hard Way
Choose the Hard Way creator Andrew Vontz in conversation with Steve Grant, author of the memoir MAILMAN: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home. With rave reviews in The New York Times, the Washington Post, The New Yorker and The Atlantic, the memoir MAILMAN: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home is one of the hottest literary debuts in recent memory. Steve is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has been a marketing consultant and behavioral economist for more than 25 years. He’s also an Eagle Scout and led the...
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Rahm Emanuel - United States of Sweat
Choose the Hard Way
Rahm Emanuel was the U.S. Ambassador to Japan from 2022 to 2025. Prior to that, he served as the White House Chief of Staff from 2009 to 2010 under President Barack Obama, and as the Mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019. He also represented Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009. Welcome back to United States of Sweat presented by Choose the Hard Way where politicians and policymakers join us to share stories about fitness, health and the sports they love playing. Jonathan Kaplan is my co-host and the founder of WRITE CADENCE STRATEGIES, helping organizations...
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Cameron Jones - Unbound Gravel 2025 Champion
Choose the Hard Way
Cameron Jones won the 2025 edition of the 205-mile Unbound Gravel, the most competitive edition ever of the most prestigious gravel race on the planet. Three months earlier, he showed up in America, walked into a used car dealership in the Bay Area, walked off the lot with a used Honda Odyssey and a dream to make this his best season ever. But these aren’t the most interesting parts of his story. Cameron has done stints in the forestry industry and in his teens back in New Zealand was an elite mutli-sport athlete who knocked the arm warmers off the best athletes in New Zealand in...
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One Hour to Train - What do you do? w/ Spencer Martin of Beyond the Peloton / WEDU x Andrew Vontz of Choose the Hard Way
Choose the Hard Way
You've got an hour or less to train, what do you do? Spencer Martin of the Beyond the Peloton newsletter & podcast + WEDU's Outcomes / The Move takes a break from the Tour de France to join Choose the Hard Way creator Andrew Vontz to talk about what they do when life and work are at max stress and you have little time to workout. Is Zone 2 really the right move if you have a few hours a week to train and you're a cyclist, runner or triathlete with a long training history and navigating highly stressful moments in work, family and life? Should you follow a rigid...
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Tom Perriello: Congressman, Special Envoy - United States of Sweat
Choose the Hard Way
Welcome back to United States of Sweat presented by Choose the Hard Way where politicians and policymakers join us to share stories about fitness, health and the sports they love playing. In 2008 Tom Perriello won the election to represent Virginia’s 5th Congressional district by fewer than 1,000 votes. He later ran for governor of Virginia and he also served as Special Envoy for Sudan and Special Envoy for the Democratic Republic of the Congo & Great Lakes among many other acts of service. Marathons, 10-day silent retreats, Spartan Races & what happens when you’re...
info_outlineHeather Jackson has won six full Ironman triathlons, 16 Ironman 70.3 races, the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon and she also won the Wildflower triathlon four times. She played D1 hockey at Princeton where she was a two-time captain and was on the US National team for cycling track racing. In 2023, she left triathlon to be a pro gravel racer AND a pro ultra trail runner. In her first season she won the Belgian Waffle Ride San Diego and the Javelina 100 foot race.
I mean, damn.
Heather has an awesome YouTube channel and if you’re a fan, you know she has done a lot of media and podcast appearances. In this interview, we get into new material and talk about Heather’s mind game, why she continues to take positive risks and try new things and much more.
Find Heather on YouTube and Instagram @hjacksonracing, find those links in the show notes. A big thank you to Michael Marckx and Heather’s husband Wattie for helping make this interview happen and to Heather for everything she graciously shares in this conversation.
Choose the Hard Way is a podcast about how doing hard things is fun and builds stronger humans. If you haven’t done this already, now would be a great time to help me help you. To do that, just hit subscribe and rate the show five stars on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this episode with someone you care about. To be in touch, DM me @hardwaypod on Instagram.
This episode is brought to you by Movemint. If you’ve ever registered for a bike ride, run or charity event like a walk-a-thon, you know the experience usually sucks. Movemint is a new events registration platform that makes event discovery, registration and management a better, more cost effective and delightful experience for event promoters and customers. It’s making a broken and bad experience so much better that I knew I had to get involved and that’s why I’m an advisor to the company. If you’re an event promoter, go to www.movemint.cc to learn more.
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