Running Life: A Fitness Protection Production

Coach MK and Coach Sarah livestream question and answer sessions each week on the Fitness Protection Program Facebook Page, The Fitness Protection Program YouTube Channel, and Twitch, simultaneously. Join us! They are a lot of fun and super informative, and anyone may ask follow-up questions during the live broadcast. 

 

Messenger

Hi coach- it’s in a video I’m sure but I can’t find the answer to this question. What’s the definition of the lanes in rebuild? I’ve been winging it And want to see if I can change lanes.  I also saw you video about printing and comparing plans in TP. Do I need to upgrade to see or can I do that from basic?

 

ReBuild Questions

1. Can I move workouts around - I work a 14 hour shift every 2nd Tuesday and need to move my run to Thursday on that day. Is this ok?

2. Can I add my strength programme to my run .. otherwise I tend to skip it. If I do should I do it before or after my run?

3. I’m not anywhere close to racing, but I’m curious. What does recovery after a half marathon look like? Is it different with the perpetual training with FPP? 

4. I have a crazy dream “race.” I want to have a one-mile-loop course where friends and family can do a loo with me on my birthday, either physically or talking on the phone. And I want to be able to go for as long as there are people wanting to do it with me. Is this bonkers? Would I need to be in 3DATF shape to accomplish it?

 

Maintain Questions

1. Hi! A couple of days ago Coach MK did a twitch video on the relationship between your EE pace and 10k pace and setting realistic goals. I really appreciated the idea that my EE x 26.2 is likely the worst case scenario. I have 2 questions. My first question is about how strength affects the EE and is there anything I can do in the last few weeks before the 10 week ramp for a marathon? And my second question is about 5k pace. I used the pace from my pr 5k in December (about 9:30) which is more like 3 1/2 minutes faster than my EE, because my EE is faster than it was back in December. Am I making myself work too hard? Or does it even matter? (I'm kind of expecting the answer is that it doesn't matter as long as I feel good about it). For reference my current EE is around 13. And before I go - Coach Sara - great job going solo last week♥️ and Coach MK - keep healing♥️

2. Could you make a post or form where we can put our fall races? Im interested to see if others in the group are running the same race or other potential races as I look at destination races. Just a thought :) Thanks!

3. I have a quarter marathon race on the calendar for Saturday. Should I substitute this for my long run? Would it be better to run long on Friday or Sunday instead?

4. MK, What are your thoughts so far on your new Polar?

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Visit Our Website!

Coach MK and Coach Sarah stream live Q&A sessions each week on the Fitness Protection Program Facebook Page, The Fitness Protection Program YouTube Channel, and Twitch, simultaneously. Join us! They are a lot of fun and super informative, and anyone may ask follow-up questions during the live broadcast.

(ReBuild) Questions

1. I'm starting Maintain this month: Yay! I'm excited to start after a month of Rebuild. My question is: what is the difference between AR and Float? I see it on Monday's workout. Thanks!

2. What to do about achy feet? Combo of more miles + summer footwear is making mine cranky. I recall a foot rolling video
How much should I care about the “form” (orange) number in training peaks? There’s some words about wanting to go into race day at only slightly negative. Is there any “normal” range for during training, especially base building/consistent effort with FPP? My form number right now is -16.

3. Could you discuss cortisol from long periods of exercise, and low intensity steady state vs High intensity interval training? I get a lot of crap from people saying running is old school, and to look at the distance runner build vs sprint runner build -as far as muscles. Thank you

Maintain Questions

1. Hello Coaches! Thank you for all you do for us. My question.....I will be going on a 10 week marathon ramp by the end of July. Where should I be keeping my LR for the new few weeks? Next Saturday has 90 which seems too short with a race on the horizon or maybe I'm wrong! Thank you! Amanda Williams   2. As I continue consistently running, different niggles appear. Usually with targeted foam rolling they go away after a few weeks of working on them. Why do niggles come in different places when there isn’t any changes in my running. The same niggles haven’t resurfaced after I’m worked on them.   3. It's me....the pace averse...i run in hilly, hot, humid ATlanta and want to run by HR cap rather than pace. Pleeeeeease???? If so, what cap should I use for 10K pace? 5K pace? Elyn Macek   4. Signed up for MDI in October! So excited. (A super amazing coach mentioned it was beautiful and challenging, so pretty much my favorite combo!) So, how to best prep for the hills. Living in NY I have no shortage of elevation options! Curious as to the when/what/where to add hills, and what additional strength to also add into what is surely going to be a “fun” training cycle :-)   5. My average EE pace is around 10:15/mile. That would put my 5K pace around 8:15 ish. I have NEVER run at that pace ever in my life. Probably could if someone was chasing me, ha ha! My question is what would be a good pace to make as my 5K pace for the workouts? How do I adjust the 10K and half marathon paces as well? I realize that we are using these "paces" to learn how to switch gears and effort levels. I don't obsess about my numbers (learned that from you!) Just would like a general idea of paces so I'm not doing the workout without any type of parameters.

What does a healthy body look like, what does it feel like? What IS health anyway and who gets to decide who is healthy and who is not? Can you love a body that doesn’t function the way you want it to, a body that doesn’t look the way you want it to? A body that is in constant pain? What kinds of bodies are we REALLY allowed to celebrate and love, and what does 'loving yourself' look like?

The messages from society are conflicting, but we hope that the coaches’ message is clear: you are easy to lov

Coach Sarah guides us through a super-fun chat about the actual challenges of summer running, while reminding us that the complications of summer extend WAY beyond heat. It's never about the running, but when a run doesn't go well, we cannot move beyond the running. We also tie in heaps of wisdom from our runners in Maintain and (Re)Build, who have incredible perspectives on running this time of year!

https://www.fitnessprotection.com

 

Show Notes:

We don’t like to say “embrace the suck” because that kind of presupposes that it’s going to suck, and we are not doing ourselves any favors by framing it that way 

• “This makes me strong” (think of athletes who train at altitude)
• We are forced to think about our about self-care and notice how we do less of it when it's light past 9pm and the kids just won't go to bed. 
• “This motivates me to get up and out early so that I’m not training in the heat of the day”
• “This reminds me that I do not need to approach training with the viewpoint of an elite athlete - I get to make choices about whether going for a run is the right thing to do”

Start from a different premise than usual: rather than OMG HOW TO SURVIVE THE SUMMER WHICH SUCKS SOOOOO MUCH let’s come at it from “what do we get to do this time of year that we otherwise don’t ever get?” 

Coach MK and Coach Sarah of The Fitness Protection Program sit down to discuss Coach MK's cancer scare and explain why it isn't quite over yet. 

We all shudder to think how quickly this escalated. MK's symptoms started a long time ago, and health care providers were quick to dismiss her concerns as vanity ("aging is omg so HARD amirite?"). Ovarian cancer is NOT in fact a silent killer, it looks a lot like menopause and we cannot afford to dismiss anything related to hormones.

Visit Our Website!

Coach MK and Coach Sarah stream live Q&A sessions each week on the Fitness Protection Program Facebook Page, The Fitness Protection Program YouTube Channel, and Twitch, simultaneously. Join us! They are a lot of fun and super informative, and anyone may ask follow-up questions during the live broadcast.

Books Referenced in today's Broadcast:
Running Flow by Csikszentmihailyi
Running & Breathing by Justin O'Brien

(Re)Build Questions
1. I do the majority of my running on a treadmill in the summer. Should I make any adjustments to the training and/or settings on the treadmill? How I’ll it correlate to what I will be able to do on the road? Thankful for you both and the time and effort you are investing in this program!
2. It’s summer in Texas. I spent more of my avocado toast this week walking than running. I’m usually good with this, because it’s ridiculous outside. The only time I am not is when I wistfully think of a half marathon in 26 weeks. I’m nervous about building up enough sustained shuffling time when it’s time to jump up to maintain for that event.

Maintain Questions
1. Hey Batter Batter Batter- Swing Batter! Aka the Hammer: In the Swing workout our rest is active recovery. Is the rest for the Hammer active recovery or actual rest? Thanks for all you do Coach MK and Coach Sarah!
2. When figuring out our 5k/10k paces, etc., what Easy effort pace should we base it on? Is it an average of your EE pace over the course of a run? We don’t do a lot of straight EE runs on maintain, so it’s hard to determine.
3. Can you please give some tips on what it should feel or look like form-wise when maintaining 5k pace? Do we increase our cadence or stride? My 5k pace based on EE is somewhere between 6:15 and 6:45. Problem is holding anything faster than a 7 minute mile and my form goes to shit. I become Phoebe from friends. Am I better off staying at a 7 minute mile pace? Thanks!
4. I am struggling right now-- Just when I think I have things under control, my post-tib tendonitis acts up again. I had wanted to get into the full maintain schedule for July, and was possibly looking forward to another marathon in late fall- but now I'm not sure. Sometimes I think I'm just trying too hard, or expecting too much. I'm hoping that a relaxing week in Florida with my mom will help me reset. Not sure what my question is, but I'm just wondering if maybe I even need a break from Maintain while my body figures out what's going on.
5. Sarah asked me to post a question on breath! How to breathe during hard effort is at the top of the most valuable things I’ve learned from MK. It took a long time for it to click. I had listened to the AMR podcast many months before the hard effort runs started and understood the concept but not the application. Then I asked a question one day about feeling almost like I was having a panic attack when running at 5K pace and MK said, that’s when you shorten your breath cadence. And since then everything has changed!
6. I have a Recovery R8 Roller (hurt so good). What is your opinion, thoughts, suggestions, and/or recommendations for using it?
7. I’ll be doing my very first marathon this December at CIM. As you probably know I’ve been training with you since early 2016. I’m wondering if a 10 week build up to a marathon is going to be enough build up for me since it will be my first. Thanks!

Coach MK and Coach Sarah stream live Q&A sessions each week on the Fitness Protection Program Facebook Page, The FPP YouTube Channel, and Twitch, simultaneously. Join us! They are a lot of fun and super informative, and anyone may ask follow-up questions during the live broadcast.

This week, we remind everyone that fall racing prep starts NOW: the 10-week marathon document would initiate on Aug 12 for an Oct 17th race; and the two month lead-in period to build the base required to coast on only 10 weeks of prep would have started....on June 3.

Then, we offer a call-out for Runner, Interrupted. Beta should launch on August 1. Email [email protected] if you or someone you know would be interested in helping us pilot this program.

(Re)Build questions from the beginning
Maintain questions begin around ten minutes into the program

1. I have a full marathon in fall. My goal is to be faster than my first marathon - I would love to be around 5 hours- so how do I train my mind that I CAN run faster. How do you train your mind to not want to slow down?
2. What is the deal with training threshold notifications in training peaks? They seem to happen a lot and the values go up and down. What does it even mean?
3. I’ve recently begun to know and understand what an activated glute muscle is and how it feels. I’m aware of my non-dominate side glute, but am not able to really feel my dominant side glute working/activated.
4. Transitioning from Rebuild to Maintain, does it/ would it make sense to keep some of the rebuild strength work in addition to the Maintain circuits?
5. Can you explain the difference between AR and float in Sailing? And how are those different than the jog in Batter?
6. I have a few short ones: What does it mean when training peaks says “You set a new heart rate threshold.”? When you say that nutrition may be one of the contributing factors to a disappointing / craptastic run, do you mean nutrition in general, or do you mean nutrition just prior to and during the run? The clam series kept my booty SORE for the entire month of May. Am I loosing those gains by not continuing that series this month?
7. We are traveling international for 3 weeks. What’s the minimum running you’d like to see to not loose too much fitness? Especially considering jet lag…
8. Hills! In the past we had Hilly Tweaks...are there some basic additions we can make to improve hill performance? For example High Knees up a hill and everyone’s favorite Hill Bounds...suggestions for quantity?
9. I am super Excited for the new Marathon Programs you recently explained in Beta page. Will there be the option for to opt into a pre race coach call if needed?
10. Warm up and cool down were on your runner's priorities list. What are important elements? Running a certain period of time with HR under 140? Since silly toes was listed separately I assume that's different from warm up. What else should we know about warm up and cool down?
11. I signed up for a 10K on the Fourth of July before FPP existed. It's the Peachtree 10K which will have 60K runners. I've raced rarely and when I have I ran leisurely with little regard to pace. Since I will have been in FPP for three months on race day, I would like to challenge myself and show off new skills.
12. If I missed it in an earlier edition, I'd love to hear more of Sarah's journey into coaching (here or in podcast)?