Run4PRs

6 WAYS TO BECOME A BETTER RACER 🤩

Podcast episode #143 🎙

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Racing is a skill that takes time to develop. Pacing, fueling, mental toughness, etc. There are so many parts to racing that you can continually improve upon

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👉 PACING: Running negative splits & finishing races strong takes a ton of practice. Feeling out the effort and knowing when to hold back and speed up is not an easy skill to acquire!

HOW TO GET BETTER:👇

✅ Race more: Not every race you run is going to be a PR. But you can run races with non-time based goals like running negative splits or running completely off of effort without looking at your watch. Doing this often will improve your ability to read your body and pace appropriately in your PR attempt races

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✅ Set realistic goals: Look at your workouts and training as a whole. Set realistic goals based on that training. It helps to get an unbiased look at your training from a coach. The more realistic you are, the better you’ve set yourself up for success

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✅ Run your own race: If you want to negative split and finish as strong as possible, be aware that pace groups don’t run negative splits and that they run even splits. You may run better with your own plan! Keying off of pace groups can be great and it’s helpful to keep their whereabouts on your radar

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✅ Practice how you want to race: Doing progression run workouts and running all of your easy runs as progressions will help you start easier and finish strong during races. Your body will learn to run every run and race this way!

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👉 MENTAL TOUGHNESS: Racing is very mental. When you’ve done the training, it comes down to your mindset on race day to reach your goals

HOW TO GET BETTER:👇

✅ Gratitude list/”I am” statements: It seems so simple, but keeping a gratitude list and writing down “I am” statements (I am fast. I am strong. I am a good parent) daily can do so much for your mental state. Did you know you can actually rewire your brain to see the positives in things? You do this by spending a little time each day focusing on the positives. Do this daily and you’ll find you can overpower negative thoughts while racing and stay positive when it gets tough

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✅ Practice visualization: During your workouts in training, picture yourself in a racing environment. Visualize your race course and practice how you want to feel at certain points on the course. Visualize yourself finishing strong and running your last mile your fastest. The body follows the mind!

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Do you need help improving your racing? You can become a great racer! You have it in you. Start a free trial training program today and see what coaching can do for you! Link in bio. www.run4prs.com ⭐️

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STRENGTH TRAINING: THE BENEFITS

Podcast episode #142 🎙

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✅ INJURY PREVENTION: Strength training allows your body to handle your training volume and continue training without injury. Strength training strengthens connective tissue and muscles. It also corrects muscle imbalances in the body that can contribute to injury. If you have muscle imbalances, your body begins to compensate and favor the stronger side, which can lead to injury. Avoiding injury = staying consistent as a runner! Getting specific exercises for YOU from a physical therapist is key to improving your body imbalances/avoiding injury

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✅ FASTER FINISHING KICK: The marathon is 99% aerobic and 1% anaerobic (the final stretch of the race). Strength training is an anaerobic activity. If you strength train, you’re able to target your anaerobic system and improve your ability to finish a marathon strong in the final stretch

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✅ IMPROVES RUNNING ECONOMY: When your muscles are strong, they don’t need to expend as much energy to hit faster paces. This leads to your form staying intact throughout the entirety of a race, allowing you to hold onto that faster pace instead of breaking & slowing down! SMALL improvements in your running economy lead to BIG differences, especially over the course of longer races like half marathon/marathon

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✅ IMPROVES NEUROMUSCULAR CONNECTIONS: Strength training improves your power by strengthening the mind-to-body connection. This allows your body to recruit more muscle fibers more quickly, and do so much easier which makes you more efficient

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✅ IMPROVES BALANCE: When running, you’re either airbound or on one leg. There is potential for landing wrong and hurting ourselves. Our legs have many small stabilizing muscles that can help us navigate uneven terrain when they are strong

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TOP TIPS:👇

✅ Use the progressive overload principle. Start SMALL! Bodyweight only at first and work your way up to weights and then heavier weights

✅ Ideally, strength train on your hard workout days. Keep the hard days hard and the easy days easy

✅ You don’t need to do a lot! Just 20-30 minutes 2x/week will do the trick

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Want to see what strength exercises you should be doing for runner-specific strength? Start a free strength training trial with us! www.run4prs.com/strength-training

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Follow us for more training tips @run4prs

How Different Paces Should Feel

Podcast Episode #141 🎙

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👉 Have you ever wondered how pro runners don’t use GPS watches during races or workouts?

👉 OR have you ever wondered how runners ran pre-GPS watches (pre-2000s)?

👉 The KEY is learning to run off of EFFORT and knowing what different paces should feel like

👉 It can take decades to learn what different paces should feel like so be patient with yourself as you navigate effort-based training

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EASY PACE:👇

✅ It should feel like you didn’t run after an easy run

✅ Could easily nasal breathe the entire run

✅ Could sing an entire song without taking a breather

✅ 3-5/10 perceived effort level

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MARATHON PACE/STEADY STATE:👇

✅ Shouldn’t be on your hands and knees afterward

✅ Slowing down in the later miles of a steady state run/unable to keep consistent pace = going too fast

✅ Needing to take a walk break after marathon pace miles = going too fast

✅ Feels “comfortable” but not easy

✅ 6-7/10 perceived effort level

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THRESHOLD PACE:👇

✅ Can race for one hour at this pace

✅ Can talk in short phrases

✅ “Comfortably hard”/tolerable. Harder than marathon pace

✅ If you feel like you couldn’t do another mile at that pace, you’re going too fast

✅ 7.5-8/10 perceived effort level

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INTERVAL PACE:👇

✅ Able to say one word

✅ You feel breathless between intervals

✅ Not an all-out effort

✅ 8-9/10 perceived effort level

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IMPORTANT REMINDERS:👇

✅ Try to use your watch/GPS technology as a tool rather than the end all-be all

✅ Don’t attach your ego to your paces. Paces vary from day to day and so many outside factors affect it. You aren’t a robot and giving yourself a little grace will keep your confidence up and keep you from running too fast during workouts and easy runs!

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🔥 Do you need help with effort-based training? At Run4PRs, we help you with specific VDOT pacing for your fitness level as well as HR ranges and effort ranges. Sign up for a FREE seven day trial with us! Link in bio. www.run4prs.com🔥

We are doing a different format of podcast today. You may be used to the standard 1 topic podcast where Jason and I chat in depth about 1 topic but today we are asking YOU to bring your questions & we answer them. We talk about a variety of topics. We ask the audience on IG what questions they have and we answer in a podcast forum allowing for a greater discussion of the question than on an IG story. We love to help runners achieve their goals and grow a better understanding of the sport.

1- HOW DO YOU GET MOTIVATION BACK AFTER YOUR GOAL RACE WITH NO OTHER RACE IN MIND?

Post racing blues are real! It can be hard to find motivation to workout when you don’t have a goal!

1- find a goal

2- search about what it is that gets you excited about running

3- set weekly process goals

2-DIET TO ELIMINATE BATHROOM ISSUES ON LONG RUNS

AVOID FIBER

SIMPLE CARBS

TRY TO TRAIN THE BODY TO GO BEFORE

3- DOES A HEALTHY BMI IMPACT PERFORMANCE

FUELING YOUR BODY IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF RUNNING. WE WANT TO MAKE SURE WE DO NOT DEPRIVE THE BODY OF FOOD. IF YOU ARE IN A CALORIC DEFICIT, IT CAN BE REALLY HARD TO ACTUALLY HIT PRS. MANY PEOPLE START RUNNING AS A MEANS TO LOSE WEIGHT. THEY MAY FIND THAT AS THEY LOSE WEIGHT, THEY BECOME FASTER, BUT THERE ARE SO MANY VARIABLES AT PLAY IT IS HARD TO KNOW WHICH CAUSES THE SPEED INCREASE. THERE ARE CERTAINLY CAUSES OF PEOPLE WHO LOSE WEIGHT AND GOT SLOWER OR INJURED.

4- What is your least favorite thing about coaching?

Coaching is generally a good time! I don’t have a lot of complaints about coaching. It can be hard in the rare occasion that someone has a hard race and they lose confidence. It’s just one race!

5- i just took 2 months off- do i have to start back at ground zero?

Not necessarily at ground zero. It really depends on how you are feeling and why you took the time off. With a medical issue, it might make sense to treat yourself like you are starting from actual ground zero.

6- what should I do about knee pain?

Getting hurt is a really hard part of being a runner. Injuries can be common because it’s a high contact sport (with the ground). I recommend seeing a physical therapist and consider active release therapy

WHAT SETS BREAKTHROUGH ATHLETES APART?

Podcast Episode #139.🎙This is one you won’t want to miss! 🙌

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Have you ever seen someone run a big PR and think “How did they do that?! How did they get so fast?” Sometimes it can feel like there’s a secret training tool you’re not aware of. We’re here to break it down for you!👇

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✅ ENVIRONMENT & YOUR TRAINING AGE: Athletes that start running young and are exposed to the sport in their environment have a leg up. The longer you’ve been running, the better. More years of running builds your aerobic capacity and allows you to get faster over time

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✅ HOW THEY TRAIN: Consistency over the months and years, 80% of their training easy mileage, and not racing their workouts– these are all pillars to a successful training program that will give an athlete a breakthrough race in time. You need to repeatedly do the correct training to see a breakthrough!

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✅ THEIR MINDSET: You have to truly believe you can reach your goals. You have to believe in yourself wholeheartedly to make it happen. When you believe you can achieve your goals, you’ll do what needs to be done to make it happen. Mindset is so important

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✅ GENETICS: Your highest potential as a runner is determined by genetics (your VO2Max capacity, biomechanical efficiency, and other endurance-based inherited traits). However, many runners do not train hard enough or long enough to ever find out what that potential is. It’s likely much higher than you think and it takes years of dedication doing the correct training to find your performance ceiling

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Are you ready for your breakthrough race? The time will pass either way. Will you start today? Link in bio to start a seven day free trial with us. www.run4prs.com ⭐️

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Follow us for more training tips & motivation @run4prs

REBOUNDING FROM A BAD WORKOUT

Podcast Episode #138 🎙

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Have you ever had a bad workout? If you’ve been running for a while, chances are you’ve experienced a bad workout! What’s the best way to get through it and move forward? 👇

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☑️ JOURNAL & TALK ABOUT IT: Journal about it or talk to your running coach or friend about it. They can help offer perspective and remind you that you aren’t alone and you will be stronger for the next one! It’s important to debrief from the experience so you can move forward

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☑️ ASSESS WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED: Did you sleep well the night before? How was your hydration and nutrition leading up to the workout? Figuring out what may have led to the bad workout can help get you out of a negative mindset about the workout

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☑️ FIND THE SMALL WINS: You can’t always control the times and paces you’ll hit due to weather and other external factors. There are always positives you can find though. Did you complete the full mileage for the day? Did you stay mentally strong in the last mile instead of giving up?

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☑️ HAVE AN ADJUSTMENT MINDSET: Go SLOWER if you need to. Give yourself the flexibility. You can still have a great workout if you adjust and know that’s OKAY to do so especially in bad weather, on hills, etc.

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Are you looking to take your training to the next level? Start up a seven day FREE trial with us! Link in bio. www.run4prs.com ⭐️

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Follow us for more training tips @run4prs ⭐️

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#teamrun4prs #run4prs #marathontraining #halfmarathontraining #igrunner #instarunner #runnersofig #womensrunningcommunity #runcoach

SHOULD YOU DO SPEED WORKOUTS OR THRESHOLD WORKOUTS? 🤔

FREE 7 DAY RUN COACHING TRIAL AT WWW.RUN4PRS.COM

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WHAT ARE SPEED WORKOUTS? 👇

✅  Speed workouts target your anaerobic cardiovascular system and your top end aerobic system. Speed workouts increase your strength, form and efficiency as a runner

👉 EX: 6 x .5 mile @ interval pace, 10 x 45 seconds @ 1 mile/5k effort

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WHAT ARE THRESHOLD WORKOUTS?👇

✅  Train the aerobic cardiovascular & muscular system to utilize oxygen while simultaneously removing waste products such as carbon dioxide & lactic acid (imagine a bath running with the drain open. Running at lactate threshold tempo pace is the rate at which the waste removal and waste production is basically the exact same). These workouts help you run faster for longer!

👉 EX: 6 miles at marathon effort, 3 x 1 mile @ threshold effort 

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WHAT WORKOUTS SHOULD YOU DO?👇

✅  You should do BOTH, but... For half marathon and marathon training, there should be an emphasis on threshold workouts to target your aerobic system. The half marathon & marathon are 99% aerobic in nature, so you want to train the correct cardiovascular system. Speed workouts should still be incorporated so you can work on good form, efficiency and your top end speeds. However, speedwork is a big stress on your body and it's not as effective to improve your endurance event times

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Do you need help doing the right training for YOUR goal race? We're here for you! Sign up for a seven day FREE trial with us

AND/OR👇

Sign up for our FREE half marathon training program here: www.run4prs.com/half-marathon-program

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Follow us for more training tips @run4prs

www.run4prs.com for a free 7 day trial. We are doing a different format of podcast today. You may be used to the standard 1 topic podcast where Jason and I chat in depth about 1 topic but today we are asking YOU to bring your questions & we answer them. We talk about a variety of topics. We ask the audience on IG what questions they have and we answer in a podcast forum allowing for a greater discussion of the question than on an IG story. We love to help runners achieve their goals and grow a better understanding of the sport.

1- WHAT SHOULD YOU EAT BEFORE A RUN?

Eating before a run is key but it can take time to build up to tolerate that if you aren’t used to eating much. Think of the BRAT diet that you would eat after the flu. Things that sit well with your stomach! Things like toast, oatmeal, banana, apple sauce are all good starting points to build from. Avoid anything too crazy

2-MY GOAL IS SUB 5 MARATHON- WILL A 3 HOUR MAX LONG RUN BE ENOUGH?

The 3 hour rule will be perfect and we recommend that you do some back to back long runs to build the endurance and simulation of running long on fatigued legs. If you did 90 min run the night before your 3 hour run, this reduced chance of injury and also helps simulate the fatigue of the marathon. A lot of people run better when capping long run at 16. Look up the Hanson’s method! You’d be amazed

3- TOP 3 WORKOUTS FOR THE MARATHON

The long run with or without marathon work, a medium long run with some threshold/steady state work, and then more tempo work!

4- HOW TO GET MOTIVATED AGAIN AFTER TIME OFF?

The key is to start small and realize that it may take awhile to get back into the groove. Goal setting each week and each day can go a long way. Say you set a goal this week to run 3x. Then on each day you run set a goal like “run at least 2 miles”. Then you can set another goal the next week and keep building the momentum. It can be addictive over time! Having a long term goal like a race also helps

5- HOW CAN I AVOID CHAFFING?

Unfortunately some areas and some people are just more prone to chaffing. There can be many reasons for this, but bottom line is skin rubbing over and over can HURT! Where do you find you chaff the worst? It may be finding better clothing options! When I am pregnant I experience a lot more chaffing (under bra, under arms & between legs) I find that wearing longer shorts is a game changer for helping between the legs. Wearing a shirt that covers the under arm area tightly can help with under arms. I have yet to find a solution for under the bra. I would experiment with clothing!

DO YOU RUN THE CORRECT PACES?

Podcast Episode #135 🎙

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Www.Run4prs.com free 7 day trial

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There are several different online VDOT calculators available to figure out your paces for workouts and easy runs.👇 A popular one is the Run Smart Calculator by the renowned exercise physiologist and run coach Jack Daniels👇

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👉Plug in a recent race result/time trial from the past few months and you’ll get your different paces for each type of workout/run

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👉Jack Daniels uses these different pace ranges for pacing:

✅EASY PACE: Easy pace running refers to warm-ups, cool-downs, recovery runs, recovery running within a workout and generally long runs. Usually 2+ minutes slower than 5k race pace

✅MARATHON PACE: Steady run or long repeats (e.g. 2 x 4 miles at marathon pace)

✅THRESHOLD PACE: Comfortably hard running for either a steady 3-4 miles (or 5 to 6km) or repeated runs of 5 to 15 minutes each, with 1 to 3 minutes of rest between the runs

✅INTERVAL PACE: Intervals are "hard" but not all-out running by any means. Usually at a pace that you could maintain for about 10-15 minutes in a serious race

✅REPETITION PACE: Reps are fast, but not necessarily "hard," because work bouts are relatively short and are followed by relatively long recovery bouts. Recoveries are to be long enough that each run feels no more difficult than the previous run. Think of Reps as similar to current 1500 or mile race pace

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👉EXAMPLE:

🔥Recent 5k PR time: 30 minutes (9:39 average pace)🔥

✅EASY PACE RANGE: 11:16-12:21 pace (2+ min slower than 5k race time!)

✅MARATHON PACE: 10:48 pace

✅THRESHOLD PACE: 9:45 pace

✅INTERVAL PACE: 8:42 pace

✅REPETITION PACE: 8:10 pace

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⚠️ WARNING: These calculators will also give you “equivalent race times”. BE CAUTIOUS! If your 5k is 30 minutes, it will tell you that your equivalent marathon time is 4:43. This may or may not be accurate depending on your strengths as a runner. Some runners do better at long distances than short distances so your marathon time could be faster than what is projected (and vice versa!) A coach is better equipped to tell you what you’re capable of based on your training! 💪

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www.run4prs.com for a free 7 day coaching trial. STAYING CONSISTENT AFTER TIME OFF 💪Podcast Episode #134 🎙

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Did you run a fall race? Have you been running less these last few weeks? If you’ve got a spring race coming up, it’s time to gear up! But how do you do it safely and how do you stay consistent with training after time off? 🤔

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✅ PROGRESS SAFELY: Ease back in. You might have the urge to start an aggressive training plan after time off. But what is most sustainable long-term? Aggressive plans are not sustainable. Jumping from no miles to running 5 miles every day can lead to injury or burnout. Your first month back should look too easy!

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✅ TIME-BASED INSTEAD OF MILEAGE-BASED: Most of your miles coming back should be EASY! Running for time will keep you accountable to your easy pace because no matter how fast or slow you go, you need to run for “x” amount of time. Better to run slow! Run/walks are helpful as well, depending on how much time you took off

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✅ USE EASY MILES TO MULTITASK: Focus on self-development through audiobooks or podcasts, call or run with a friend for social time, etc. Try to focus on the good that will come out of your runs instead of thinking of all the other things you could be doing

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✅ RUN A NEW ROUTE: Running new routes can be a huge motivator! Seeing new things and being surprised by the route can make the miles fly by

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What are your tips for staying consistent after time off? Let us know in the comments! 👇

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Follow us for more training tips @run4prs & listen to our podcast @run4prs 🎙

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