Welcome to this week's Friday 1 on 1 Angriest Trainer podcast with Vinnie Tortorich and guest Jaden Merrick. Jaden Merrick is a 7 year old runner who is an extremely competitive runner with a true love for the sport. PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS Pure Vitamin Club Villa Cappelli RUNNING HISTORY Jaden started running at 2 or 3 Ran his first 5k at age 5 Jaden wouldn't stop until his father made him Inspired to run by his father FIRST 5K He got a lot of looks because he was the youngest runner Jaden was running faster than his father Ran slightly under 30 minutes RANKING & SPEED Now he places top 50 out of everyone in races of ~1000 Jaden runs mid 20's for 5k 180-186 steps/min His zone 2 is 170-175 RUNNING FORM Children naturally know how to run properly Explained in Born to Run book Jaden has absolutely no issues with form and stride Running coach films Jaden sporadically and cannot find flaws in his running style SHOES Runs in Brooks PureFlow most often Occasionally will run in the Altras which have zero drop THE DIET Jaden is not eating any sugar Brent is NSNG which inspired Jaden Breakfast is generally bacon and eggs For lunch he had some fish and cheese snacks Dinner is pork chops and cauliflower Jaden feels that he has more energy while running now that he doesn't eat sugar JADEN'S PARENTS Parents think the Merrick's are crazy because of their son's running Jaden is the one who wants to run, and while his parents encourage it, they don't over-push it They have to follow him on a bike when he trains because he runs so fast They do pump him up with some rap music (Snoop Dogg especially) TRAINING Jaden's ultimate goal is to go to the Olympics in 2024 He is currently training for a half marathon Meb is his hero/inspiration Scouts will start looking high school so Jaden should work for that He has no overuse injuries and the trainer says he is good to run as he is Jaden does squats, lifts some weights, etc His coach gives him lots of exercises to do in addition to his running