Rajpaul Pannu

I set out a goal to lose weight since my father had passed away at a young age due to heart disease, so I created a New Year’s Resolution for 2007 to drop 45 lbs. I did so by running the mile/1600M in P.E Class every Wednesday and was obsessed with bringing my time down. I ran a 7:12 mile/1600M and by the end of the year, ended up running 6:08. I eventually was inspired by a Tylenol commercial to “run until I got lost”, I did just that by running almost 5 miles/8 kilometers until I (almost) passed out. I kept running that same route until I could run it without stopping and eventually joined the Cross-Country team my junior year.

Up Close, and Personal

To me, sport stands for…

endurance running as a sport gives me life by allowing me to represent the Indian community as an active participant on the elite level.

On a typical training day,

Morning: Overnight Oats with chia seeds, peanut butter, agave, soaked with milk and a cup of coffee or a Unived Caffeine Gel. I (eventually) do mobility drills on my yoga mat prior to my workout and then set out for my warm up. My music variety ranges from: Tool, Guns N’ Roses, Slipknot, Pantera, NIN, to The Game, Tupac, and meditation music on the Calm app. Post workout, I immediately drink 1 Unived Recovery drink, which has Beta-Alanine, spend 20 minutes drilling my body with a percussion massage tool, and foam roll/stretch out.

My idea of an effective training session is…

being able to do an easy run hours after the hard workout session to shake out the lactic acid/bring blood flow to the legs. It demonstrates that you didn’t go to the well entirely and are able to have another solid training session the following day.

The moment when I discovered my athletic potential was…

being able to run 1600 meters/1 mile in under 5 minutes-one year after I was 45 pounds overweight.

The three biggest lessons I have learnt so far in my athletic career…

1.) Take your craft seriously, but not yourself.
2.) Put more focus on the process, rather than the outcome.
3.) If you put valiant effort into your workouts, you should also respect yourself enough to do “the little things” (get sleep, eat well, hydrate).

Before a big race, I tell myself…

“This too, shall pass”.

The toughest race of my life was…

running my first Ultra Marathon, the JFK 50 Mile race was the toughest because I sprained my ankle on that Appalachian trail and ended up running the next 43 miles or so on it.

The most memorable moment of my sporting career so far…

running the Olympic Trials Qualifier in my debut marathon three years after a break due to injuries.

My training sanctuary is…

The Berkeley Marina (Berkeley, CA); Washington Park (Denver, CO).

I nourish my soul with…

eating spoonfuls of peanut butter and indulging in watermelon.

Unived helps me by…

get through my first Ultra-marathon training block. I’ve experimented with Unived gels/drinks during my long runs and have allowed me to put down some fast miles/kilometers while feeling strong.

My favourite Unived product is…

I have chosen to associate with Unived because…

the gels are easier to digest than many other gels. The gels also offer what most endurance gels do not: beta-alanine-proven to increase exercise duration and delay muscle fatigue. I truly feel like Unived is doing something special in the endurance nutrition game.