Run4PRs

The off-season is coming. We spent all year building up for big races this fall. After your goal races it can be a time of recovery for most athletes. We talked a few weeks ago of the post-marathon blues and why it is important to take some time off after a race even if you ‘feel good’, but we are going to continue this conversation chatting more about what an off season is and how to do it What is an off season? How long should it last? Do you still need to work with a coach? Is having a plan a better way to stay accountable rather than assume you will run when you feel like it? What is the biggest off season training mistake you see? How many miles per week should you run? Should you lift? Should you cross train? How long should your long runs be? How many rest days should you have? Does everyone need an off season? Does the offseason have to be right after your goal race?

77. Doing a back-up marathon if the first one doesn’t go as planned We have all been there. Train hard, in great shape then something uncontrollable happens on race day. Maybe it’s terrible weather. Maybe our body just felt off. Maybe we got a sinus infection the week of the race. We are chatting today about what to do if your goal race doesn’t go as planned. Have you ever had a race that didn’t go well? What did you do after to utilize your fitness? How do other people react when you fail to reach your goal? Does anyone really remember or care? What is the risk of doing back to back marathons? Can it work? What are signs you should maybe not try to do the back up race? Should you only do back up races after the race and not plan for a just in case back up race before?

76. Marathon recovery & blues We have been chatting a lot about race day planning and taper, but we have not yet chatted about the aftermath that may come after you finish the marathon. Many of you have spent the last 3-6 months really building up into great marathon shape. You have spent hours every week doing long runs and workouts. You have made sacrifices, had fun and seen so much improvement. The build up for these races can be exhausting but also an incredible feeling. There is a huge build up for a race that usually lasts 3-5 hours in duration. It is over before we know it. It can often be anti-climatic. That was it. Now it is over. We much address some of the feelings we might experience after a marathon and remember recovery is important! Have you ever finished a marathon and NOT wanted to take time off? Do you think some people fall into two categories 1- pumped to take time off and 2- struggles to really take time off Either super excited to continue to improve because I feel like I didn’t really reach my potential OR I am scared to lose fitness and don’t think I really pushed myself to the limits Always needed to grow and build towards something Pushing other things aside for 6 months→ cleaning the garage, organizing your computer files, yard work, baking, meal prep, friend meet up for coffee, meet up for drinks, oil change, hair done What do you think is the hardest part for people after a marathon mentally? Even if you have had a race where you reach your goal and crush it, are you still 100% satisfied? How do you feel after a race that goes so-so? What about a race that goes terribly wrong? Have you ever dived back into training too fast? Why do you think it is hard for people to take time off? How much time do you think is enough time to take off?

Traveling to your goal races Fall is quickly approaching! That might mean some runners will be traveling across the country to their goal races. With Covid-19 a lot of races have been cancelled, but there are some states with races still going on! We are going to be speaking more in general terms with regards to travel. These are tips you can use in 2020 or even if you are listening in 4 years from now headed to the Chicago Marathon. Whether you are traveling 50 miles or 5,000 miles we have some tips for you to use to make sure you have your best race ever even on the road! Jason and I have traveled to several marathons across the country including Chicago, LA, Las Vegas, and Boston and ran BQ times on the road. What is the best race you have ever traveled to? What is the hardest part about traveling to races? Do you prefer races at home or away? Do you think people should travel this year? Nutrition Should you bring snacks? How should you eat on the road? How important is this? How to stay hydrated but also not pee every 5 min on a plane or car ride? How do you not try anything new when you have to eat out the night before? Should you get reservations to dinner the night before? Should you pack food in your carry on for the race day breakfast and fuel? Clothing and gear How do you pack for the race? Watch charger, cell phone charger, phone carrier, headphones! All your running gear! Should you put your running stuff on the carryon? How many race day outfits should you pack? Throw away clothes? Logistics How should you get to the race expo? When should you go to the race expo? When should you do any sight seeing? How early should you get to the race start? Should you take their transportation or get dropped off? Should you have a plan after you finish?

74. Calming the taper nerves As fall races approach, we see more and more athletes tapering for their goal races. You know how taper is. You spend months building up mileage, busy & exhausted from training then suddenly there are cuts in mileage and more time and energy to worry about all the things. We start to second guess ourselves! Did I do enough? Is this training cycle good enough to get me to my goal time? We start to worry and get anxious. Our normal outlet for our worries may be running, so it is ironic that we are unable to get the fix we need. In this podcast we will be chatting about typical concerns athletes have going into a race and our mindset approach to fix them. Sometimes when we bring our fears to light, they aren’t so scary anymore. What if I go out too fast? What if I don’t hit my goal time? What will people think if I DNF or walk or don’t BQ? What if something flares up and I am unable to finish? What if the weather is so bad that it rains the whole time and I become hypothermic? What if I get sick the day before? What if I get my period? What if I just have an off day? What if I don’t feel accomplished after? What if my support system isn’t proud of me? How can I ask others to support me during this taper time? What would help calm my nerves?

It is so important to go into a race mentally ready to tackle the big event ahead. Part of being mentally prepared is having a pacing plan and knowing exactly what you should be doing to feel good during the race. Today we will be chatting about ways to assess your fitness to develop goals then how to establish a pacing plan for a half marathon and full marathon race. How can you assess your fitness level? How many times you have ran the race What is your history with the races What are your tendencies as an athlete What do you feel confident with → over confident vs under confident Aggressive vs less aggressive factors Range of goals Time isn’t the only factor What is the best distance workout or race to look at when determining marathon race? Half marathon shape? Should you look at past performances? Should you have A,B,C goals depending on weather & how you are feeling? What is a good range between goals? 5, 10, & 20 min? Is it okay to throw out your race plan and run faster than A race? Does it matter how many times you have raced this distance? IE setting more aggressive goals if you have done it a lot What if your goal is just to finish? Should you still have a pacing plan? What if I always blow up on race day? Should I try to negative split? Why do negative splits work? What is your recommendation to someone who says negative splits dont work for them? Start even slower! How many seconds per mile slower than goal race pace should you start? What if you follow the plan but you find the pace is feeling too hard or you slow down? Should you follow pacers? Should you use a pacing band? Should you memorize your pacing plan or is it better to go off effort?

Race day is approaching for athletes! Many people are looking back over their cycles or thinking ahead to what their goals will be for races this fall. How do you know what kind of shape you are in and when should you narrow down your goal for race day? When does an athlete generally get a sense of what sort of shape they are in? What are some of the key things you look at as a coach to see what type of shape an athlete is in? Mileage Consistency History/Experience Key workouts over time Long runs & feedback from athlete Some people like to have more aggressive goals and other people don’t like to put time goals on themselves: know what type of runner you are! How soon before they race are you really able to give an athlete a race plan with paces? How much will the taper & cooler temps add to their performance? Will race day weather impact your game plan? Should you get a pace band this far out? Do you recommend mile by mile pacing or more effort based? Are their ways to do this without getting to antsy?

Marathon tapering dos and don’t We are getting to the fall racing season. The temperatures are hopefully dropping near you but if not, don’t worry they will be soon! This cooler temps make for prime racing weather! It is an exciting time to go out there and run fast, but we want to make sure we don’t get too aggressive especially during the taper. It may be tempting to hammer some of your runs when the temps fall, so we wanted to talk about the importance of the taper and making sure we stick with the training! We will discuss the dos and don'ts of the marathon taper. Nutrition When should you start carbo-loading? If you cut back in mileage do you really need to be eating more? Are there foods you should avoid? High fiber, high sugar Should you cut out alcohol? Should you clean up your diet if you have been eating really bad? Is now a time to start something new like going vegan? Training If it feels good/legs are fresh can I go faster? Will I feel like crap during the taper even though I am doing less? Should I still do workouts? Should I still do long runs? How should my mileage look? Mental Training Should I obsess over a pacing plan? Should I try to test my fitness before? Should I reflect on my training? Should I talk a lot about my race?

Last chance BQ tips September is almost here! That means that the Boston Marathon registration is almost here. The next few weeks will be the ‘last chance’ for anyone to qualify for Boston. As a result, there are many athletes around the USA and world gearing up for these last chance races. We have seen great success and great disappointment around the years. Here is what you need to know going into this weekend -Will Boston be around next year to qualify for? How do you deal with the pressure of putting all your eggs in one basket for race day? Most people will sneak in with their qualifying time: what sort of times will be accepted to Boston? When can someone get excited when they cross the finish line and qualify. How will they know if they got in or not? How should they define success this weekend? What about the weather: how will that play a role? Should the athlete consider dropping out if they fall off pace? How should you pace yourself if you are going after a BQ time? Any last min advice?

Injuries happen and they can be tough! One of the biggest questions we get is what to do if you get injured & how to come back from an injury. We are going to be covering both of those topics in this episode as well as sharing first hand experiences with coming back from injuries. Don’t make the mistakes we made in our younger years from pushing the envelope on the comeback. The best comeback is slow and steady. -Have you ever been injured & what was your hardest injury to comeback from? -What are some of the things you have learned to avoid injuries over the years? -What are some of the first signs you are injured or going to get injured? ------- -What should you do as soon as you feel an injury come on? -What is the worst thing you could do if you feel an injury coming on? -How long should you take off?/who should you see? ---------- -How should you come back from injury? -Should you have a timeline? What if you have a race? -Should you always come back with run/walks even if you are fast or above that? -Does running every other day make it easier to come back? -Bone injuries vs muscles -Can you cross train when injured? -What are some things runners should do to avoid injury from coming back?

Perfect your race day fueling plan As our long runs increase, fueling can become one of the most important factors of our run. We will be chatting about the 24 hours leading up to and 24 hours after your run today. It is important to find a fueling plan and stick with it for race day. -What should you eat the night before a long run? - Is it okay to skip a meal the day before a long run even if you snack? - Should you increase your carb intake the day before? - Should you avoid any specific foods the day before? -Will keeping a journal help to see what works for you? Morning of: What are good options for breakfast? Can you run fasted? What if you have never eaten before a run before? How long after eating should you start your run? How much should you drink before a run? What sort of electrolytes should you use? During: How many gus/gels should you take? What are other fueling options? Is it okay to just take a small amount? Should you practice water stops? Should you use what they will have on the course on race day? How often to take What if you get sick? After How soon after should you eat? What sort of food should you eat? What if you don’t have an appetite?

Marathon PEAKING check in: where should we be 2-3 months out We are inching closer to those fall races and entering our peak training for many athletes. We want to do a check in on what you should be thinking about during this time of the season for fall marathoners. Should you have your fueling plan established? How should you practice water stops? Is it important to get a race on the schedule before race day? Should you be thinking what shoes/outfit to wear? Chaffing under control? What if you are just really lacking motivation right now? How do you determine what your long run should be? When will you start thinking about race day goals? Is it normal to not feel like you are getting faster with the heat? How should you avoid burnout during this time of year? What do you do if you miss a few days?

Down Week: If you haven’t had one in awhile you should take one We are amidst peak training for fall races. We don’t want to be feeling completely exhausted from our training just yet because the taper can still be a few weeks away for many of us. It is really hard for athletes to take an extra day off or do a cut back week during training because they are worried it might negatively impact their training. We are taking a dive into the benefits of taking time off even during the marathon training cycle Do you think running every day is good? How do you know when it becomes too much How long do you think an athlete can go before seeing their running have very negative impacts from not resting enough? What is a ‘cut back week’ & why is it important? Should you run long every weekend? Do you think most people do cut back weeks? Why not? What if you feel good? Do you still have to do a cutback week? Is it important to rest before you feel like you have to? How does human physiology work when it comes to recovery? What is the benefit of a rest day over running easy? Should you cross training or strength train on your rest days? When should you take your weekly rest days? What if you are scared to take a rest day or are on a run streak? How long will it take to lose your fitness?

Why it could be good to wait to do 26.2 The marathon is all about aerobic strength. Holding a moderate pace over a long distance. We aren’t worn down so much by the speed of our pace, but rather by the distance over which we are holding it. Aerobic strength takes time to build. It’s not something that happens overnight, or even over weeks. But it does happen. Every time we lace up we are adding a brick to our aerobic base. It is something that we can continue to build and improve on over the course of our running careers. There is no real expiration date on aerobic fitness. However, the same cannot be said about speed. It’s a fact of life that as we get older, we slow down. We tend to lose some of that gut-busting power we had when we were younger. For some this happens in their early 30’s and for others, like 5x Olympian and Masters world record holder Bernard Lagat, it may not happen until well into their running careers. But the fact remains the same, at some point it does happen. So shouldn’t it make sense that we train speed while we still can? Why do many elite runners wait to run the marathon until their mid-20s or 30s? When do most people peak in their running speed? Can you gain speed and aerobic endurance at the same time? What would be the negative of going right to the marathon? Is there a greater chance for injury? What happens when athletes jump into the marathon right away? When is the right time to make the switch to the marathon? What are the benefits to having variety in training: switching from 5k training to marathon & vice versa? When athletes stagnate in the marathon, can it be beneficial to switch into speed for awhile? Confidence boosting? Is it less time consuming or maybe easier to train for a marathon when you are fast already? The compound effect of mileage over time of a cross country athlete vs someone who just started running? Everyone has different goals

Peak Heat: Why it will make you faster this fall You made it to August! This is the hottest time of the year, but the good news is the temps will begin to drop soon! All these hard weeks of sweating it out and working hard in the hot temps will actually work to your advantage on race day when the temps drop. They say summer training brings fall PRs, and they are right! Don’t lose hope yet! What happens physiologically in your body when you train in the heat? Does your body have to work harder when it is hot? When the temps drop,  your body won’t be working as hard? How cold does it have to be to start feeling these effects? What if it is hot on your race day? Should you still hydrate and fuel the same even on colder days? Is there any ways to replicate this type of effect in the summer They say humidity is poor man's altitude training: do you agree? How hot does it have to be to see these effects? Does this mean we should run at the hottest times of day to get the best effect?