Run4PRs

Www.Run4prs.com for a free 7 day trial! 103. Ask the coaches podcast

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 for the sport.

1- What is the difference between running a race vs racing a race

There are always ABC races within a season- in a marathon training cycle your A race would be your marathon (the race you care the most about)

B race might be a half or 10k towards the end of the training cycle

A C race might be a 5k-half marathon you do without any cut in mileage and the purpose is not to run to your full potential as much

When we first start running the line between running and racing isn’t as clear but as we gain experience, we become better at learning the difference here

Covering 26.2 miles is an accomplishment in itself

Adding in pace goals

Turning it into a race

2- How much running can you replace with cross training and what is the minimum amount of running you need to do?

Consistency is the most important thing with training.

Aerobic endurance can be built with cross training like biking or swimming. Often Ironman or Half Ironman will come back to running with new found speed. However, it is likely a compilation of a lot of things not just the fact that they added in cross training.

Most of the time, we see runners can still maintain a pretty solid level of fitness running 20-25 miles per week with a ton of cross training.

The longer the distance race you are training for, the harder it can be to replace running with cross training.

It depends a lot on your goals & what you are training for. To reach your potential in the sport of running, you will want to run as much as your body will allow you to.

Many runners can not handle as much mileage when they age or if they are first starting in the sport, in this case, cross training is essential to getting back endurance

3-How do you help athletes manage training that fits their home/work

Athlete centered training is key. Your work and family life obviously should come first. What is your work schedule like then realistically try to figure out when is the best time to run?

I have trained Doctors/Nurses who work overnights or 24 hour shifts. We find that sometimes planning the rest day around that type of schedule is key. As an athlete you also need to be flexible with things and openly communicate your schedule with a coach.

We also want to plan for what can make you the most consistent. It is better to run 4x per week every week then plan for 6 then feel so discouraged that you only do 2 days then fall off the plan completely.

We are not professional athletes so our training should be fun and fit around our life.

4- Is there a such thing as an unattainable goal? Based on time, location, etc.

Yes! You have to know what type of shape you are in going into a race. Just because Jason ran a 15:28 5k as a PR 11 years ago, doesn’t mean that he could do the same thing this year. Looking at the workouts you did within your training cycle should give you a good idea of the fitness you are in.

Also important that just because you ran a certain time for a workout does not mean that you will be able to hit Y goal on race day. You still have to work hard for it.

Many things impact the race performance

Your confidence & mental game

Your racing experience/pacing

Your nutrition

Your body/immune system/HEALTH

Your stress level

The weather

The people around you

Www.Run4prs.com for a free 7 day run coaching trial. Whenever we approach the end of the month, it is popular for athletes to post about their monthly mileage totals on instagram. We see big numbers like 200 or 300 sometimes, but on average runners training for a half or full will hit about 100 miles in a month. What do all these numbers mean? Do they have any indication as to what type of shape the person is in? Does more mileage mean that you are faster? While it may seem like faster runners typically do run more mileage on average, it is a very common misconception to think that running more miles automatically MAKES you a faster runner. Mileage should be specific to each athlete. Some athletes have been running their whole lives and are very durable! Other athletes of the same fitness level are injury prone or older in age. Two athletes may be at the same exact fitness level but one runs 50 miles per week while the other runs 30 miles per week. Is one better than the other? NO! It’s about finding what works for YOUR body and being willing to adapt overtime.

1- When was the first time you realized you were a lower mileage runner?

2- Is there a stigma that comes with running less mileage?

KNOW WHY YOU RUN

3- What factors go into figuring out how many miles you should run?

Biological age, training age, season of training, durability, stress

4- How important is it to build an aerobic base? Do people ever take this to the extreme?

5- How do you know if you are doing too much or trying to reach a goal that doesn’t make sense?

6- How do you know when it is time to start doing more?

7- When is the best time to build mileage? How much mileage do you need for marathon training vs 5k training?

8- Have you ever seen someone significantly slower than you but they run 2x as much as you? What gives?

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 for the sport.

1- What should my HR be when I race & how can I bring my HR down without slowing down too much?

Type of HR monitor

Don’t go off HR but rather off pace

Lots of things can impact HR

HR will vary depending on the distance of the race

This will vary from person to person anyways using % of max HR

Better to go off paces than HR

2- How to get faster on long runs

TIME AND CONSISTENTLY TRAINING!

Measuring your fitness is key

You want to train not test

Racing is where you are able to test your fitness

Sometimes when you start to train correctly your long runs are actually slower

Long runs should usually be ran at an easy pace (2-3 min per mile slower than 5k pace)

If your fitness improves, your long run pace will improve

The best way to improve fitness is through specific training

It can be tempting to want to just run long runs ‘as fast as we can’ or ‘push up’ because it looks good or it feels like we are improving but sometimes faster long runs doesn’t mean you are in better shape.

There is a certain level of athlete who can add in segments into longer runs at tempo/marathon pace work for segments which can make long run pace faster overall

2-Different ways to carry fuel/water for training

Flip Belt

Sports bra with pockets

Practice like you will on race day

Water backpack

Water hand held

Circle back to a water stop

3- Do the coaches all pool knowledge together or do you work 100% independently?

We pool together

Diversity is important because you learn from each other

We all went to different Universities at different times

We all had different coaches in High School, College, After

We can combine all our experience and philosophies together to create better programing

We would not have grown if we would have just focused on our own philosophy

It’s important to learn and continue to grow

4- Sprained ankle 1 week ago, how much longer until I can run & is there anything I can do to not lose fitness as I recover

It takes over 2 weeks to lose fitness

Do not focus on what you are going to lose

It takes days to gain back that fitness

Cross training IF it is okayed by your doctor

Always follow your doctors protocol for coming back after an injury

5- During a cut back week can you still strength train & what are the top 3 strength training exercises every runner should do

YES! Strength training more for maintenance. We aren’t going to increase the load or go crazy

Focus on mobility more during cut back week. Don’t try to make any crazy gains. You can still even do workouts during cutback weeks. I would do strength on the same days of the week you usually do

Runners traditionally have weak hips, glutes and core once you have the basics down you can get into more specific mobility & runner specific moves. The top 3 strength training exercises that will give you the most bang for your buck are really just a traditional squat, deadlift & Pushup/plank/etc. You can add a lot of movements to be more effective for runners like mobility work, band exercises, etc.

There seems to be endless tools on the market that promote recovery for runners and athletes. The question we want to answer: do these tools actually work? We chat about the $1000 recovery boots, compression socks, massages, foam rolling & many more gadgets. We also chat about others ways to enhance your recovery process. Maybe it isn’t that you need more recovery tools in your tool belt, but you need more rest/recovery scheduled in your training. Www.Run4prs.com for a free 7 day trial

Have you ever been running along on an isolated trail and see another runner up head and wonder what the proper etiquette is? I have noticed over the years most runners are really great about waving but sometimes they mean mug as they run by. We wanted to chat about the runner code and what is good etiquette while running!

When do you wave/smile/say hi vs when do you not?

Have you ever been running along on an isolated path and paced by the same person more than once and they ignored your wave?

Have you ever been in the middle of a workout and not waved or acknowledged someone?

Should you say on your left if you come up behind walkers?

What side of the road should you be on if there is no sidewalk?

What side of the road should you run on if you see another runner up ahead on the sidewalk?

Is weaving on the sidewalk a no no? If so why?

Running on the bike path: acceptable or no?

Running on a track and other people are there: how do you know what lane to run? & what direction?

Spitting?

Passing people just for the hell of it?

RACES:

Where should you start?

Cutting bathroom lines?

Water stops?

Encourage runners when you pass them?

Running through the finish line?

WHY YOU SHOULD NOT TRAIN LIKE AN ELITE (unless you are one!)

Elite runners are great to look up to. We often like to know the secrets of how they train. It can be mind boggling to see elite marathoners logging 120+ miles per week. How can they do it? What does it feel like? Often we use the principles in training as the elites on a broad level. All athletics generally operate in a similar fashion using the growth formula. Stress + REST = growth. We grow when we expose our body to stress and then allow our bodies to build adaptations to that stress by resting. It is only in the resting phase that our body is able to rebuild stronger as a response to the stress. Therefore, we are only able to improve if we are able to fully recover from the stress we put our bodies through. We live in a culture that prides itself on working harder. In America, we have a bit of a hustle culture. This is NOT always a good thing. Often employees are overworking and not being as productive as they could be. Our culture does NOT value rest as much as it should. Often, these go-go-go and do-it-all-mentalities boil over into our hobbies and family life. However, in athleticism, doing more without adequate rest is a recipe for disaster. This is why we are going to discuss why you should NOT be training like an elite when you are not a professional runner.

What does a professional runner do on a day to day or week to week basis

What does their ‘job’ look like?

How does one become an elite/professional runner?

How much time do they dedicate to rest? Do they get to take naps every day?

Do they have their own PT and massage therapists?

Do they have a huge focus on fuel and perhaps people cooking for them?

What does the typical recreational elite athlete have in their life that would prevent them from training like an elite?

What is the thing that will limit most athletes like yourself? Is it talent or is it lack of resources?

What would happen if you stretched yourself thin? Would you continue to improve?

Is it all worth it?

Do you think some elites dislike the rigid-nes of their life?

Are they able to have fun, drink, go out?

The workout volume of an elite vs mortal?

How do workouts change as you progress in the sport?

Cross training vs easy running? Running more = faster runner?

Online vs in person coaching

Online coaching has been a big hit in the past 10 years with the growth of the internet age. Prior to 2000, almost all coaching was done IN PERSON. There are still a lot of in person groups. We have coaches who started with in person coaching but over time moved into the online coaching space. There are some similarities but also a lot of difference. How do you know which is the right one for you? We are going to do a deep dive into our experiences coaching both and talking about the pros and cons to both sides

Why did you start coaching in person?

What are the best parts of in person coaching?

What are some of the downfalls to in person coaching?

How is it less personal? Do people often have to speed up or slow down to run with others?

Do people ever feel left out?

Is there wasted time with waiting around and driving to locations?

Is it hard to tailor the training to each person when you are in a group setting?

Did you like being able to see their form or how they finished reps?

Does everyone look them same when they are fatigued?

What was the best part of transitioning to online coaching?

Are you able to assess the data from runs better?

How is it more personal to have online coaching?

How can you assess someones form?

What are the downsides to in person coaching?

Www.Run4prs.com —> we build stronger runners! Fill out the form on our site to get a free 7 day trial of custom run training. For those who follow us on instagram, you may know that we had 5 different run4prs coaches due with babies between August of 2020 and April 2021! 5 run4prs babies in less than 8 months. It is a run4prs coaches baby boom, so we decided to have a podcast on the topic of running during pregnancy & postpartum because many people have watched us training from afar and are curious about some of the topics involved. This topic of training during and after pregnancy is more specific and a bit different than past episodes. If you have no interest in hearing about running in relation to pregnancy, motherhood & postpartum, it might be the time to skip this episode. We will mainly be sharing about our own personal experiences. Each pregnancy and each person is SO different. When we work with postpartum or pregnant athletes, it’s important to make things individualized to YOU! This is just our own personal experience.

I am coach Victoria, and I am a mom of 2 kiddos. I currently have a 4 month old & a 3 year old. I ran 1700 miles during my first pregnancy & 1500 miles during my second which ends up being about 40 miles per week. I also ran the Boston Marathon 5 months postpartum & my current PRs in the half and full marathon within 12 months postpartum with my first child. My experiences are just my own and are not always the norm for running during pregnancy or postpartum.

I have brought on another coach to discuss our different experiences. Coach Briana is almost 6 months postpartum with her first baby. She ran for most of her pregnancy and is training for her first marathon right now and crushing it! Coach Briana has been coaching for 6 years and prior to that was a personal trainer. She is very experienced in the field of human kinesiology, so I am excited to chat with her about this!

We will dive right in with some questions

PRE-PREGNANCY

Before we dive into pregnancy running, we wanted to cover the trying to conceive & pre-pregnancy topics that soon-to-be-moms-to-be may be curious about

I am sure you worked with lots of women over the years. We all know losing your period is not a good thing. Can you explain why someone might lose their period?

Have you ever lost your period due to intense training?

Have you ever thought you needed to cut back your training to get pregnant?

How long did it take you to get pregnant?

What was your training like during that time leading up to pregnancy?

Did you plan racing around pregnancy or vice versa? (registering for big races like Boston)

How did you think running during pregnancy would be before you got pregnant?

PREGNANCY

How was your first trimester?

How was training impacted?

Were you ever scared to run?

What has your HR been when training?

What has your OBGYN said about training?

What was your training like during the second trimester?

What was your training like during the 3rd trimester?

When did you know it was time to cut down or stop?

Did you do any additional strength training or yoga?

Postpartum

Do you think running helped with labor and delivery

Did your delivery go as planned?

Did anyone tell you that you would ‘bounce back’? Did it happen?

How long did you take off?/How was recovery?

How did you start back with walking?

If you are breastfeeding, how do you incorporate that with running (aka not getting mastitis, I'd love to chat on this one because I learned so much along the way)?

Race goals after baby and expectations?

Is it harder or easier than you thought it would be?

Self belief will take you to the next level

Mental training is critical to becoming the best runner you can be. You can put in the work and follow the training to a T but if you don’t believe in yourself and see yourself achieving your goals, it it likely that you will fall short. Running requires belief and confidence in your abilities. The best thing we can do as runners is to work on our mental strength and confidence in our abilities. This is easier said than done! We wanted to give some practical ways to improve your mindset to take your training to the next level

What kind of attitude do you think you need to have to be a successful distance runner?

Why is it important to be positive?

What are your thoughts like during a race?

How do you personally keep from going negative during a race?

If you have ever had a bad race, how do you keep that from effecting future performances and being afraid of failure?

Do you think your life attitude is reflective of how you approach your races?

How can you work to improve your mindset in your day to day life and translate that into races?

There is a point of diminishing returns: How do you allow yourself to be open minded instead of saying ‘I have already peaked’?

Is this something you always need to be working on or is it one and done?

Nutrition, Yoga, Sleep, Foam Rolling: all the little things

Running takes up a lot of time! I know just running 30-40 miles per week can often take 6-10 hours a week depending on how fast you run. That time alone is a hug commitment and can sometimes feel like a partime job! When we start to throw in recommendations for nutrition, yoga, foam rolling, strength training, cross training, etc it can all start to feel a little overwhelming! There is only so much time we each have to devote to this hobby and our health, so how do we know where to spend our time? Are all the little things worth it? We are going to do a deep dive into the various activities and what we recommend for optimal performance!

What is the most important part of training when it comes to runners?

How do you know how many miles you should be running?

How many hours per week should you be sleeping?

Why is sleep important?

Running and sleeping are the two most important things, so what is the next important thing?

How often should you strength train?

Why does strength training make you a better runner?

How often should you stretch or do yoga?

What are the benefits to yoga or stretching?

How often should you foam roll, message, ice, epsom salt bath?

Should you just do as you feel or is it important to do regularly?

Do these things drastically improve your recovery or is it more of a placebo?

Do you think doing all the little things gives you an extra edge?

How many hours per week do you think it takes to do all of these things regularly?

Should you compromise running miles to do any of these activities?