From Quick Fixes to Long-Term Health: The PureSport Philosophy with CEO Dan Temm
This week on Cook Eat Run, Charlie Watson sits down with Dan Temm, the CEO of PureSport, to explore the dynamic world of sports supplements and the importance of community in the brand's ethos.
The Origins of PureSport
Dan shares the inspiring story behind PureSport, founded by two professional rugby players who sought a healthier alternative to opioid-based painkillers. They embarked on a journey to discover natural solutions, leading to the development of their innovative product line.
Product Evolution and Innovation
Charlie and Dan discuss the evolution of PureSport's offerings, from CBD products to their latest additions like creatine and adaptogens.
Community Connection
The significance of community for PureSport, and how the brand's grassroots approach fosters genuine connections among athletes. Dan emphasises the joy of engaging with customers through local run clubs and events, creating a supportive environment for all fitness levels.
Challenges
The challenges PureSport has faced, including product development hurdles and the importance of transparency in building trust. Dan shares anecdotes about the brand's commitment to addressing customer concerns and maintaining open communication.
Exciting Future Plans
Dan hints at upcoming product launches, including running gels catering to the specific needs of athletes.
Head to the website for more information on PureSport products
Connect with Dan on Linkedin
Got fuelling and nutrition questions? Episode topic suggestions? - find Charlie online @therunnerbeans / www.therunnerbeans.com
Grab a copy of Charlie’s book ‘Cook Eat Run’
The Cook Eat Run Podcast is sponsored by XMiles - the One Stop Nutrition Shop - use discount code COOKEATRUN for 10% off this month’s featured products at Xmiles.co.uk
This podcast is proudly produced by Decibelle Creative decibellecreative.com / @decibelle_creative
Transcript
>> Charlie: Welcome to the Cook Eat Run podcast with X Miles, hosted
Speaker:by me, Charlie Watson. I'm a runner, a mum, an
Speaker:NHS dietitian and author of the recipe
Speaker:book for runners Cook Eat Run. I'm also
Speaker:a 16 times marathoner and love nothing more than sharing what
Speaker:I've learned along the way through a lot of trial and
Speaker:error. Cook Eat Run is the go to
Speaker:podcast for running, nutrition training tips, marathon
Speaker:debriefs and more. I'm here to answer all your questions
Speaker:and fuel you with the knowledge you'll need to run faster,
Speaker:further and actually just to have more fun on the run.
Speaker:So whether you're training for an ultra, want to improve your marathon
Speaker:pb, or simply just get more out of your
Speaker:running, you're in the right place.
Speaker:Hello and welcome back to the Cook Eat Run podcast with
Speaker:Exmiles. In today's podcast I'm chatting with Dan,
Speaker:the CEO at PureSport, about their business, their
Speaker:favourite products and why community is such a big part
Speaker:of the brand. If you want to try a range of Puresport
Speaker:supplements, including their electrical, the cordyceps and lion's
Speaker:mane, all of which we cover in this episode, you can save
Speaker:10% by using the link in the show notes.
Speaker:Thank you so much for joining me on the Cook Eat
Speaker:Run podcast. I'm so excited to get you
Speaker:on to talk about Puresport.
Speaker:>> Dan: Yeah, I mean I'm happy to be here and thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker:>> Charlie: I was just saying to you I feel like Puresport is
Speaker:everywhere. Every time I go to any sort of run club or
Speaker:just go to Park Run in Battersea, there are multiple people
Speaker:wearing Puresport Run Club kit.
Speaker:can we take it back to kind of the beginning to start with? And
Speaker:where did Pure Sport come from? How long has it been around
Speaker:and how did it get started?
Speaker:>> Dan: Yeah, so I think like your experience is the experience that lots of people
Speaker:kind of have. They kind of feel like Pure sports popped up out of, out of
Speaker:nowhere and it's kind of like starting to tighten the seat all the
Speaker:time. But we have been around since basically like the start of
Speaker:2019. The business was originally founded by two
Speaker:professional rugby players, Adam Ashen and Grayson Ha.
Speaker:And they founded the business on the basis that they were both becoming
Speaker:addicted to opioid based painkillers and
Speaker:realise that that just wasn't something that was that good for their long term
Speaker:health. You know, all the side effects that come along that you
Speaker:know, like how you're thinking, your cognitive function,
Speaker:they're really upsetting to your guts, but also just like that, that
Speaker:overarching feeling of like becoming addicted to something. And
Speaker:in professional rugby back then, and I kind of came through that as well, which we
Speaker:can talk about. You know, the most important thing was that you
Speaker:get players on the pitch no matter what. So if they had something
Speaker:wrong with their knee, if they had to go, you had to give them a tramadol to get them out there
Speaker:like that. That's what it would take. And that off season
Speaker:both Adam and Grayson were sor, like oh gosh, this isn't that good for
Speaker:me. You know, it can't be that good. It can't be good for my long term
Speaker:health. It's very much like a quick fix
Speaker:solution. And they went on this sort of
Speaker:exploratory journey of trying to find things that could help.
Speaker:And back then in America there was a lot of rave starting
Speaker:up about CBD for the NFL, athletes, mma, people
Speaker:around concussions, around sleep around anti
Speaker:inflammatory. And they tried that and they had some really
Speaker:positive benefits from that. So that's kind of like where
Speaker:the business was founded. And I think the premise of like
Speaker:our purpose and why we exist is we exist to build a movement
Speaker:against quick fixes. And right from then they kind of
Speaker:knew like, gosh, this thing is helping me get to the Saturday or it's
Speaker:helping me get through this training session but it's not actually doing
Speaker:anything that's for my, for my long term health. And that's
Speaker:been our overarching like purpose and journey since,
Speaker:since since we came through and I joined the business, started
Speaker:helping out about 10 months into the journey. It was still very much like
Speaker:bit of a garage business, you know, figuring a few things out. I
Speaker:was actually in a rugby team with Grayson
Speaker:and then sort of joined the journey early 2020 and that's
Speaker:when Covid hit. And that kind of was more like the inception of
Speaker:PureSportster where things really started getting going for us.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So it kind of built from the first products which
Speaker:were the CBD products. I think a lot of people have
Speaker:seen the like roll ons and the balms. But it's
Speaker:evolved hugely now, hasn't it? You've got a huge
Speaker:range of adaptogens, nootropics
Speaker:and recently launched
Speaker:creatine. Can you tell me a little bit about
Speaker:how you decide what type of products you want
Speaker:to bring to market and then you know what that kind of process is
Speaker:like?
Speaker:>> Dan: Yeah. So the product evolution as you said, it's
Speaker:kind of really, really evolved, probably coming much more from that more
Speaker:holistic sort of side of supplements into what
Speaker:are now sort of more like things that are probably known as a bit more
Speaker:mainstream. And the intersection that we talk about
Speaker:is we always kind of want to be in the intersection between science and nature.
Speaker:So we want to be science led, but we always want to be doing things in the most
Speaker:natural way. Previously we've probably
Speaker:more been at the intersection of nature with anecdotal
Speaker:science. So I think that one of the interesting things about the
Speaker:evolution of the business and since we've gone more and more into, you know,
Speaker:running and these kinds of things, when we ask our customers now,
Speaker:hey, what products do you want from us? They say electrolytes,
Speaker:creatine, protein bars, you know, all these sorts of
Speaker:things. but it's really important for us to like maintain
Speaker:our heritage of some of those nootropics and adaptogens and
Speaker:other things that we were founded on. CBD turned out to be
Speaker:a really difficult regulatory environment, like
Speaker:everything under the sun of like our banks closing our
Speaker:accounts, not being able to use certain websites, not having any
Speaker:payment providers, all sorts of stuff there. So not being
Speaker:able to do any mainstream advertising. So we've actually
Speaker:discontinued the CBD ingestible products. Now we still do the
Speaker:freeze roll on the balm like you mentioned there, but also
Speaker:like trying to bring to market innovative natural
Speaker:ingredients that we believe can have a really positive impact on
Speaker:people. And I know with some of those
Speaker:things the science is more, much more anecdotal at
Speaker:this, you know, moment in time, and it hasn't caught up on
Speaker:some of those things. There's good early science around things like lion's mane, things
Speaker:like ashwagandha, some of these other things. But if you put your
Speaker:absolute science hat on, which I know some people do, down that end of
Speaker:the scale, they're sort of saying, oh, it's too early to know that those
Speaker:things really have that, that positive benefit on people. But
Speaker:you know, we really were really engaged with our customer base.
Speaker:As you've seen. We're really engaged with our community and
Speaker:we get to hear firsthand about how those things are having a positive
Speaker:impact on, on people's lives. And it's something
Speaker:that we're always continuing to look to evolve what science is
Speaker:coming out, what different articles have been written about certain ingredients.
Speaker:And one of the things about us going into creatine was
Speaker:that everyone was asking us for it and we're like, gosh, it's such a
Speaker:mainstream ingredient. It's been around for so long.
Speaker:It's the most tested and researched, like, how can we do that
Speaker:in a pure sport way? And we toyed around with everything. Should we put
Speaker:cordyceps in there? Should we put electrolytes in there? Should we do
Speaker:something innovative? And the science just led to us saying, like,
Speaker:no, five grammes of creatine monohydrate is the
Speaker:dose that's. That's going to be best for the mainstream
Speaker:audience. And when we looked at the use cases, like,
Speaker:I'm the perfect example, I've got a. I've got a
Speaker:one kilogramme of one kilo bag of creatine monohydrate under
Speaker:my kitchen sink. I remembered to take it like once or
Speaker:twice a week because I just. It's never there, it's never
Speaker:convenient. And then we're like, well, if we're not going to innovate
Speaker:on ingredient, can we innovate on form factor?
Speaker:And then that's how we end up. So we landed on the, the individual
Speaker:sachets. But I think all of this is sort of back to. And you in
Speaker:that campaign, us talking about transparency and shortcuts and
Speaker:these sorts of things. And underpinned in our business is always this
Speaker:overarching thing about being against quick fixes. And then
Speaker:under that, we have a number of values around shortcuts and all
Speaker:these sorts of things. And it was just always really feeding back
Speaker:into that for us.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, it's interesting what you say about the creatine, because I also have the
Speaker:same tub in my cupboard that we
Speaker:know that the science says we should take it
Speaker:regularly. And actually just human
Speaker:nature is, if you're not that type of person that you remember to take
Speaker:it at the same time every single day, it's. It doesn't become
Speaker:a habit. And so, yeah, making the, like, the individual sachets
Speaker:perfect for travelling. and I think you did the same
Speaker:with the, electrolytes, just making those easy
Speaker:sachets. You're not having to take a tube or decant from a
Speaker:tub. Have you had. I know
Speaker:that there were some, some teething problems with the first round of
Speaker:electrolyte. have you had any other kind of issues,
Speaker:in terms of bringing products to market? Like you mentioned about the cbd,
Speaker:but have you had any other kind of smaller
Speaker:business side of things where
Speaker:you've had some issues?
Speaker:>> Dan: Gosh, there's a long list. I mean,
Speaker:everything takes longer than you think. It's always more expensive
Speaker:and there's Always something going on from
Speaker:boxes to manufacturing times to you name
Speaker:it. one of the things I say to people when they ask me about, how do
Speaker:you like being at Puresport? What I say to them m is like
Speaker:four days a week, it's the best job in the world. And the other three days the whole business
Speaker:is on fire. and that's like really how it feels like back
Speaker:in the earlier days it kind of felt like the business on fire five days a week. So
Speaker:it's nice that we've had a bit of a transition. But
Speaker:yeah, I think that the sachets thing was obviously,
Speaker:a big thing and I think we have these seven
Speaker:values. So the way that we think about our business is we're building a
Speaker:movement against quick fixes. We operate under our strap barn
Speaker:of for the long run. And then we have a number of like values
Speaker:in the business. And you know, within that we're always,
Speaker:all of our decision making is always like, does it align to our
Speaker:vision? Does it align to our ethos and does it align to our values?
Speaker:And you know, that was a, that was a situation there that was really
Speaker:difficult. You know, we had lots of products out there. We had lots of people
Speaker:have got excited about the products, bought into the brand, you know,
Speaker:taken that step. And then as soon as we knew about that
Speaker:we're like, right, we just have to get out in front of this and talk to people about
Speaker:it, make it right as quickly as we can. And I think that the
Speaker:team, you know, did a brilliant job in reacting to that and, and
Speaker:dealing with that as best as we could. And yeah, I think
Speaker:like, one of the other things about the electrolytes which,
Speaker:which is something we hear all the time is like, you know, they are salty.
Speaker:and I'm not sure how m much you've tried them if you
Speaker:tried them yourself. But you know, when we, when, whenever we look
Speaker:at a product, whether it's creatine or whatever, that's like a 12
Speaker:month process for us. And the first step is, is
Speaker:like, is this product going to help our
Speaker:customer and our community base? And we're quite good at talking to people,
Speaker:you know, is it going to have a positive impact on our core customer,
Speaker:which is someone who's running between two to four times a week and partaking in other
Speaker:bits of exercise. But is it going to help them with that? What
Speaker:does the science say? Okay, we feel good about that
Speaker:and we feel that we can do it in a good pure Sport way.
Speaker:Let's bring to market the best possible product that we
Speaker:can. And for us, like, that is now the best
Speaker:performance hydration product, on the
Speaker:market. and with that, there is that saltiness about
Speaker:it. And what we really say to people is like, that is a performance
Speaker:hydration product. Have it. You know, if you're going for a run, have it. If
Speaker:you're doing a tough gym session, don't wake up in the morning and put
Speaker:it in a 300 mil glass of water, because then it
Speaker:is, the saltiness is going to hit it. It's quite funny because if
Speaker:anybody does that, they're like, oh, that's, you know, that's quite salty.
Speaker:But if you go to somebody who's just done an hour's worth of exercise and they
Speaker:want to drink when they have it, then they're like, oh my gosh, that
Speaker:really, like, quenched my thirst. I was really craving
Speaker:that. so that's something else that we, you know, we, you
Speaker:battle with, especially when you have products that taste because it's so
Speaker:opinion based. But, that was another one that we, that we encounter a
Speaker:lot.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. To be honest, that's why I bought them. Was that the high salt
Speaker:content, especially kind of summer training or doing
Speaker:treadmill runs when you just need the salt? Because
Speaker:I'm a very salty sweater and so few
Speaker:products like you say have that high sodium. I think it's a
Speaker:thousand milligrammes of sodium, in each serving.
Speaker:It's really hard to get that, especially in the uk.
Speaker:So to have them in the individual sachets, I could just
Speaker:throw in my bag. Yeah, I, I use them actually quite a
Speaker:lot.
Speaker:>> Dan: So.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Dan: And like, lots of people say to me, like, oh, you know, we have these other
Speaker:ones that taste really nice. And I'm like, okay, cool, let's just whip
Speaker:out the packet here. And I also have four times the amount of
Speaker:ingredients in there. And what I say to people is like,
Speaker:taste is important to us, but it's not as important as
Speaker:product efficacy. You know, like, we want that product to be a product that
Speaker:works. And like, I know that you're never going to everyone on
Speaker:taste, but honestly, those electrolytes, on an
Speaker:after workout or on a nice day with, in the Nalgene with the, with
Speaker:the like 8 or 10 cubes of ice in there, I honestly
Speaker:think it's, amazing. And I think the salt's kind of interesting because at the
Speaker:start you're like, oh, that's a bit salty. And then you're like, oh, that's a bit
Speaker:like. You kind of, like, not addictive, but you kind of, like, get a
Speaker:feel for it, and it becomes something that people really like.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, no, well, yeah, I've got some in my cupboard. I was part
Speaker:of the. So I felt like we should probably explain that the.
Speaker:It was a packaging issue rather than a, product issue with the
Speaker:electrolytes and that they were letting in the moisture so they were
Speaker:solidifying in the packaging.
Speaker:>> Dan: That's right. And it was a crazy thing, like when we
Speaker:first heard a customer say, oh, my things have gone hard.
Speaker:Oh, my goodness. And we're like, thinking that they must have, like, done something or
Speaker:stolen something. Then you get a few more people coming like, hey, my things are going
Speaker:hard. And then so we're like, oh, okay,
Speaker:well, moisture must be getting in. So what we
Speaker:did is we took some sachets and we put them into a full pint glass of
Speaker:water, and we just left them overnight. Took them out, open
Speaker:it up, poured the thing out. No water in
Speaker:there. I'm like, okay, well, if it's not coming in via the
Speaker:packaging, it must be on the line where they're making
Speaker:it. So we're on to the manufacturer, like, hey, there's got to be moisture on the
Speaker:line. They're like, absolutely. There's no moisture on the line. We're a completely
Speaker:demoisturized, you know, facility,
Speaker:etc. Well, okay, well, it must be in the ingredients when they're
Speaker:coming in. So then. And this is like a big process of like, you know,
Speaker:like couple of weeks, three weeks, four weeks, going back, testing
Speaker:that. And then what transpired was, when
Speaker:the sachet is out and it's going transitioning between, like, hot and
Speaker:cold because there's moisture in the air everywhere. The moisture
Speaker:was sitting on top of the packaging as it was transitioning between hot and
Speaker:cold. It was sucking the salt, was sucking the
Speaker:moisture into the packaging and making it go
Speaker:hard. But it took us about four weeks to figure it out.
Speaker:And, yeah, as soon as we knew as you.
Speaker:As you may be experienced if you had them, we. We jumped on the front foot to
Speaker:solve it.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah, no, I think people appreciate the transparency,
Speaker:don't they? Rather than kind of burying things.
Speaker:You see how a company behaves when. Not when the things that. When
Speaker:times are good, but when times are a bit turbulent.
Speaker:And I think that, you know, PureSport have
Speaker:built such a community, such a loyal fan
Speaker:base, partly because of the way that you're able to
Speaker:communicate and through the Run clubs and
Speaker:the events that you host. And as I mentioned that
Speaker:the kit. Why is that community
Speaker:so important to the
Speaker:Pure Sport brand? Because a lot like most of these
Speaker:events, seem to be free. So. Yeah, why is
Speaker:that something you're investing so heavily in?
Speaker:>> Dan: so I played eight years of professional, also so back to
Speaker:my childhood, like growing up in Rotorua, New
Speaker:Zealand, sport was my number one love in life. I could not play enough
Speaker:sport. And anything that got me out of school or got me out
Speaker:of homework, I would, you know, I would play it. And then coming
Speaker:over here, I played some cricket. And then I was lucky enough to be professional
Speaker:rugby player for eight years. And so sports always been a big part
Speaker:of my life. But also like everyone around Pure Sport obviously
Speaker:was founded by two professional rugby players and everyone involved in the
Speaker:early stages. We were just all such big lovers of sport. And I,
Speaker:I actually think sports like one of the greatest things we've been given on the
Speaker:planet actually may be the greatest. and that, that thing when you
Speaker:bring exercise and people together, I think there's something
Speaker:really special that happens, whether that's like in a football team
Speaker:or you know, playing duo doubles paddle or
Speaker:going on a run together. So I, I think like
Speaker:lots of people think like, oh, they must down and being like they want to be a
Speaker:community first brand. Like that's not what happened. What happened was
Speaker:we were professional rugby players that were now sat behind
Speaker:a laptop and we worked 12 hours a day. And that didn't feel
Speaker:very good. So we started going for little runs at
Speaker:lunchtime. Then a few customers messaged us about going for runs, then
Speaker:a few ambassadors, and the next thing you know we're like, oh, let's just meet at the park.
Speaker:And it just sort of went one step from there. But I think it's something
Speaker:that's like, it's very authentic to our brand,
Speaker:the people that we have here. You know, if you come down to those
Speaker:things, I'm there every Saturday. Everyone on the team
Speaker:runs them there. And like, actually for most of us it's
Speaker:like a highlight of our week because we sit in this office 60 hours
Speaker:a week trying to grow the business and move things forward. And getting to go
Speaker:down and have those real life connections with people is such a big part of the
Speaker:brand. And I think that one thing is like when we looked at our
Speaker:category supplements, you know,
Speaker:it's such a busy category and there's so much garbage out
Speaker:there and people trying to sell you Garbage and telling you that this is going to be this
Speaker:magic overnight success and all this hoopla.
Speaker:But no one's really come through this category with like a really
Speaker:emotive storytelling brand that people like really
Speaker:feel that they could be a part of. And I think if you look at all those other,
Speaker:you know, big consumer winners, Apples, Nikes, you know,
Speaker:all these other brands, even brands like Huel and these other brands, like
Speaker:people feel a part of, you know, something. And not everyone
Speaker:resonates with those brands or those products. But you can't deny
Speaker:that there's like a movement of people, there. And
Speaker:that's what we're always fascinated by, like, can we
Speaker:come through supplements? And if you look at all the big winners in
Speaker:supplements, My Proteins, Optimum Nutrition, Science and Sports
Speaker:and all those big brands, I don't think
Speaker:lots of people would be able to say what they really mean on an
Speaker:emotive level outside of potentially some
Speaker:quality products. So, that's what really drives
Speaker:us. But what I mentioned there is building a movement against
Speaker:quick fixes. Part of building that movement is we advocate
Speaker:for three things. Put good things in your body,
Speaker:exercise and meaningful social connection. And we think
Speaker:if you do those three things really well, you're
Speaker:99.9% of the way to being healthy. And we understand
Speaker:that our commercial vehicle for that is we make high
Speaker:quality supplements. There's a bit of apparel going on there, you know, bringing
Speaker:people together as a special part of our brand. But if you came to
Speaker:me and said, oh, hey Dan, I can't sleep, I would
Speaker:say to you, well, Charlie, like, what's
Speaker:your bedtime routine? Like, how much are you exercising? Like,
Speaker:are you eating really sugary, salty foods, like right
Speaker:before you want to settle down for bed? And if you
Speaker:said to me, oh yeah, I'm actually really good at all those things, I would say to you,
Speaker:oh, well, do you know that magnesium is actually a brilliant
Speaker:supplement that can help aid you in sleep if you've got
Speaker:all of these things right. And what we will never advocate
Speaker:for is we're some sort of one stop shop, magic pill,
Speaker:you know, kind of business, because those things are quick
Speaker:fixes. What's what, what our business operates under is this
Speaker:narrative before the long run of we want to implement
Speaker:habits and lifestyle changes into people's lives that
Speaker:they can do for the next 50 years.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. In terms of kind of the. We touched
Speaker:a little bit about the, the nootropics, the adaptogens
Speaker:that. Why are these kind of like, why are you
Speaker:targeting These products to athletes, why is that
Speaker:something that they might want to do, as you say, as an add
Speaker:on once they've got the kind of the sleep, the
Speaker:exercise, the diet nailed down.
Speaker:>> Dan: Yeah, I think like, what's, what's an amazing part of what's
Speaker:going on in the world right now is right now
Speaker:what's happening in the world is cool to be healthy,
Speaker:you know, like, and we are like levelling
Speaker:people up who are out there getting after exercise, doing all that
Speaker:stuff, showing up for themselves and it hasn't always been
Speaker:like that. And I think what's so cool about this movement
Speaker:is it's a ground up movement, right? Like you're not going
Speaker:to your, like maybe like, like it's not coming from the top
Speaker:down of like there's all this advertising or there's all this stuff happening
Speaker:up here, or like on a medical GP level of like people saying
Speaker:we'll go out and do this. Like it's a whole lot of people who are like,
Speaker:this feels good. I feel part of something. I want to put good stuff in my
Speaker:body and I want to exercise. And, and I think that
Speaker:professional sports people, or one thing that we
Speaker:really talk about is like the breaking down of the word performance. Like
Speaker:I think 10 years ago performance was reserved for professional
Speaker:athletes, but now I think it's so accessible to
Speaker:all of us. We're all checking our Garmin Sleep SC, we want to shave
Speaker:30 seconds up our hierarchy times. You know, all these sorts of things are
Speaker:like little additive bits into performance. And I think
Speaker:with that people are researching more and more about the things
Speaker:that they want to put in their body. And with that there's a shift
Speaker:towards more natural things. And when we think about those things,
Speaker:for us, those things are for the long run. You could take lion's
Speaker:mane every single day for the next 50 years and
Speaker:that's not going to have a negative impact on
Speaker:your health. And I think that people are
Speaker:sick of going into places, looking on the
Speaker:back of packets and there's a whole lot of things that they can't say the name of
Speaker:or they have got no idea what that is.
Speaker:So we're trying to be a part of that momentum
Speaker:shift towards putting good things in your body. And when we talk about
Speaker:those three pillars there about putting good things in your body,
Speaker:exercise and meaningful social connection. If you go
Speaker:back thousands and thousands of years and ask the
Speaker:human, what are the three things that are good for you, they would say those
Speaker:three things. It's almost like we're Going all the way back
Speaker:now, to just like
Speaker:simplifying things and making it easy.
Speaker:>> Charlie: And so with the kind of these, the
Speaker:supplements to kind of enhance that,
Speaker:what are the ones that you're finding? I see that
Speaker:cordyceps are making a big kind of
Speaker:splash at the moment. Are there any that you
Speaker:particularly think are either bestsellers for
Speaker:you guys or things that you're very excited about or ones that
Speaker:maybe you take personally, that you think are,
Speaker:are kind of the ones at the forefront in terms
Speaker:of the kind of science and nature that you've talked
Speaker:about?
Speaker:>> Dan: Yeah, I honestly think cordyceps
Speaker:is the most phenomenal
Speaker:product, in terms
Speaker:of a mushroom that
Speaker:helps increase your body's ATP for you to process
Speaker:oxygen and improve your virtue. And
Speaker:then this is actually a product that causes a lot of, of
Speaker:controversy, especially among scientists. there was actually I saw a
Speaker:TikTok video of a guy yesterday saying that cortisol
Speaker:doesn't work and don't buy pure sport cordyceps.
Speaker:And I I think like if you, if you look at
Speaker:cordyceps as ingredient, it's been used in eastern medicine for like hundreds
Speaker:and hundreds of years. And how they originally figured out
Speaker:that it had some, some benefits was
Speaker:there was groups of farmers that used to move herds around
Speaker:in the mountains and when
Speaker:cordyceps were in they used to eat
Speaker:them, they felt like they were fitter. it was like
Speaker:over years and years and years they thought oh,
Speaker:that's having a positive impact on our
Speaker:ability like oxygen, altitude and all these sorts of things.
Speaker:And it's a product that's only really come into mainstream
Speaker:in the last couple of years and I do think that
Speaker:the science is going to catch up with that. But
Speaker:it's probably our most passionately reviewed
Speaker:product. because I think for so many people
Speaker:setting goals, training for races, all these sorts of things. I actually saw an amazing
Speaker:one this morning because I still get the reviews come through. It's a little bit sad but I like to
Speaker:read them all and just this person talking about how
Speaker:they were so sceptical about cordyceps but they haven't
Speaker:really changed anything else in their routine and they're feeling amazing and all
Speaker:these sorts of things. Our best
Speaker:selling products, there's the more mainstream things, electrolytes like
Speaker:creatine is going to be a really great seller and stuff for us now because they're
Speaker:products that people are much more aware of. But I do think that
Speaker:there is some exciting exciting Things coming through.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Are there any new products that you can drop any hints about?
Speaker:>> Dan: Oh, gosh. The one we get asked for the most is running
Speaker:gels all the time. yeah, I mean it's not
Speaker:necessarily that exciting. We're going to do it in a bit of an exciting way. But
Speaker:yeah, running gels are a big one for us. And
Speaker:as I said, they're like, when we go out and ask the community now,
Speaker:you know, what are the things they want from us and we really help them, let
Speaker:them help us steer our product,
Speaker:decisions. you know, they're saying
Speaker:those things, they're saying running gels, they're asking for collagen, they're asking
Speaker:for, you know, a more complete protein
Speaker:product and fuel bars and all these sorts of things. So
Speaker:we're really leaning into, into those. Yeah,
Speaker:you know, lots of those things now. But as I say, always like keeping it
Speaker:true to our roots.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Oh, well, I'm looking forward to trying the running gels and they come
Speaker:out. Can I make a request that they have sodium in there? So
Speaker:I feel like that is what is missing in the market is a
Speaker:high sodium gel. Because at the
Speaker:moment you have to kind of somehow balance the two
Speaker:of having somebody on course with your electrolytes or taking a
Speaker:handheld and. Yeah, so that's my little
Speaker:request.
Speaker:>> Dan: We got you.
Speaker:>> Charlie: if people want to get involved with any pure sport community
Speaker:activities or just test out any of the products, where's the
Speaker:best place for people to.
Speaker:>> Dan: Yeah, so one of our big focuses here is in our first few years, obviously
Speaker:we've been very London centric. you know, I think
Speaker:some, I run into some people and they think we're some sort of big business. But
Speaker:we're a team of 15 people. You know, we have five
Speaker:people down at Run Club every Saturday. So it's always 30% of the team.
Speaker:And one of the things that we're really focused on this year is like
Speaker:really getting out there and doing more stuff around the country. So
Speaker:we're doing a big thing with Strava in June and we're going to get
Speaker:around 10 key cities in the, in the UK, including
Speaker:jumping across to Ireland and
Speaker:Northern Ireland as well. so that's going to be a great chance, like,
Speaker:especially for those, you know, people outside of London who maybe haven't been
Speaker:able to come to things. But if you are in London, we, you know, we
Speaker:have weekly runs going all the time. You can see us on the, we have a community
Speaker:page called Pure Sport clubs on Instagram where we do all the announcements and things
Speaker:like that. And as you said at the start, those things are
Speaker:completely free. You know, people ask me all the time and
Speaker:say, oh, like, does it mean you get more sales?
Speaker:Like, what's the ROI on community events, especially as you, like,
Speaker:come into more business people? And I say, oh, I actually got no
Speaker:idea. But it makes us feel good. It makes people feel, feel good. And we
Speaker:love that we're having a, you know, a positive impact on the
Speaker:world. And, you know, some of the stories to come out of the community stuff
Speaker:are just like insane, you know, from,
Speaker:from people who were like, on the verge of suicide to coming down and
Speaker:meeting new friends and pulling away from that, from
Speaker:people finding career changes, new jobs, lifelong
Speaker:friends. You know, we've got our first wedding happening next
Speaker:year. So, like, all of that
Speaker:then, like to be a part of that I think is something
Speaker:that myself and the team find really, really special.
Speaker:And, we hope that we're playing a small part in
Speaker:making the world a healthier and better
Speaker:place.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Great. Well, I've really enjoyed learning more about the brand
Speaker:and also I think you've got quite a few products that are on
Speaker:sale at XMiles. So we'll leave links
Speaker:to those because, listeners can get 10% off all of
Speaker:those products with the links in the Show Notes. Thank you so
Speaker:much.
Speaker:>> Dan: No, thank you.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Thanks again for listening to this episode of the Cook Eat Run podcast
Speaker:with xmiles. It's not too late to stock up before the London
Speaker:Marathon for all your nutrition needs. Use the link in the
Speaker:show notes to save 10% off site wide at,
Speaker:xmiles.co.uk. don't forget to rate
Speaker:and subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen.
Speaker:Next time I'm talking to Claire Rafferty about
Speaker:all things Hyrox. You do not want to miss it.
Speaker:Thank you so much for listening to Cook Run, the podcast
Speaker:hosted by me, Charlie Watson, sponsored by X Miles.
Speaker:They are your one stop nutrition shop.
Speaker:Come and find me on social media. Hereunner. beans. And
Speaker:tell me what you're loving on the podcast. Send me all of your questions
Speaker:and suggestions for future episodes. All the
Speaker:links you need to connect with me are in the show notes.
Speaker:Lastly, please rate the Cook Run podcast.
Speaker:It really means a lot to see your ratings and reviews.
Speaker:Obviously the five star ones go down very well,
Speaker:but please let me know what you think. It really does make a
Speaker:massive difference as it helps more people discover us and join our
Speaker:amazing running community.
Speaker:See you back here for another episode soon. In the meantime,
Speaker:happy running. And don't forget to fuel yourself.
Speaker:Bye.
