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10% off your stay. Hello

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and welcome to the Marathon Training Academy

1:00

podcast, where we empower and inspire you

1:02

to run a marathon and change your

1:04

life. I'm Trevor. And I'm

1:06

Angie. In this episode, we bring

1:08

you part two of Ask the Coach as

1:11

we field questions about nutrition, fueling,

1:13

training plans, breaking two hours

1:15

in the half marathon, considerations

1:18

for perimenopause runners, running postpartum,

1:20

how to race Boston, the

1:22

impact of alcohol on training,

1:24

and more. Lots of good stuff. And don't

1:27

forget, also as a member of the

1:29

Academy, if you feel like jumping in, you

1:31

can get access to all of our training

1:33

plans, podcast episodes, and talk to our coaches

1:35

anytime inside our online group for members. Find

1:38

out how to join when you visit

1:40

marathontrainingacademy.com. All

1:43

right, tomorrow we are leaving for Tokyo. So

1:45

by the time everyone hears this, we will

1:47

be in Japan. Looking forward to meeting up

1:50

with some listeners over there and doing the

1:52

Tokyo Marathon. In this episode, we're going

1:54

to jump into some great questions. We have

1:56

two other coaches from our team who

1:58

are going to be joining us. Coach Abbey and

2:01

Coach Cindy. Before we get into all

2:03

the good stuff the nuts and bolts,

2:05

we wanna give some proper words of

2:07

congrats to some members out there doing

2:09

some awesome stuff. We'd like to say

2:12

congratulations to Elisa. She works with Coach

2:14

Abbey and she recently finished the Santa

2:16

Rosa Half Marathon. Elisa says I was

2:18

plagued with a high heart rate, side

2:20

stitches, nausea, and by the end a

2:22

headache. It was a big test of

2:24

my mental toughness. I wanted to walk

2:26

and for a minute I thought about

2:28

a Dns. However, I stuck it out

2:30

and I'm proud of that and a

2:32

few silver linings include finish seen in

2:35

One Forty Nine, Thirty Seven which is

2:37

an almost six minute Pr. I was

2:39

also the third overall female and first

2:41

in my age group. Yeah. You never

2:43

know even what a half marathon can throw.

2:45

it's you. But it sounds like she was

2:47

tougher than whatever Santa Rosa have had to

2:50

describe that day, right? That's right, Answers Youth.

2:52

Glad that she pushed herself to those

2:54

really challenge scenes are physical feelings and

2:56

it probably felt like a big boost

2:58

to have such a great result. Liked

3:01

off the congrats to Candace who works

3:03

with Coach Lin Arts. He's working on

3:05

her Fifty State Marathon go and just

3:07

finished North Carolina. We'd have

3:09

like say congratulations to Kyle! He ran

3:12

a perfectly paste six minute half marathon

3:14

Pr at the Disney Princess Half Marathon

3:16

and he's in the middle of his

3:19

marathon training block thousand working with Coach

3:21

Chris on the team and Coach Chris

3:23

says that he's made great strides in

3:25

his speed and endurance. Boost in his

3:28

The.score several points. Excited to see what

3:30

lies ahead. He has the Cleveland Marathon

3:32

up next. And. Then found we

3:34

have this email from Michelle who did

3:37

one of our virtual or challenges that

3:39

we launched in Twenty Twenty! She

3:41

says hi Nc and Trevor this email us

3:43

a long time coming. I was signed up

3:46

for my second marathon, the Wehrmacht City Marathon.

3:48

When the pandemic kit then you guys came

3:50

out with the social distancing run. I thought

3:52

this is great. I'll get a marathon training

3:54

plan to qualify for Boston. I continue to

3:57

do casual runs through the pandemic and ended

3:59

up with. The injury. He was

4:01

coming to the and a Twenty twenty and I

4:03

still hadn't done my marathons to earn my social

4:05

distance. Metal Slug December Thirtieth I put on my

4:07

warm gear and went out to run my call

4:10

the Sat neighborhood as I had three kids at

4:12

home and I needed be able to check in

4:14

on them. People probably thought I was crazy. My

4:16

Garmin map is a bunch of lines over and

4:18

over each other, but I did it. I took

4:20

my mental out of the package and hang it

4:22

with the rest of my metals. I. Have

4:24

you to say because in my next marathon

4:27

I ran in Rhode Island and I trained

4:29

using the training plan I got when signing

4:31

up and and at Boston. Qualify and I

4:33

ran Boston and Twenty Twenty Three for the

4:35

first time and also geek you during it.

4:38

While she's on a beach you roles and right. Yes!

4:40

had a fantastic. Well that's

4:43

good to hear Michelle! Congrats!

4:45

Everyone out there training and run

4:47

and races. We hope that this

4:49

episode is helpful. We're joined by

4:51

Coach Abby includes Cindy. they will

4:53

introduce themselves, says we jump on

4:56

the call but I can say

4:58

that both of these ladies are

5:00

tremendous asset to our team. There

5:02

of course certified running coaches and

5:04

have years of experience coaching and

5:07

also running marathons themselves. As you

5:09

can hear, Coach Abby is also

5:11

a triathlete. Coach Cindy has finished

5:13

over twenty five marathons. And she

5:15

was a former division one A collegiate

5:18

athletes thinks they ruinous and in a

5:20

question we're going into law degree topics.

5:22

Here is as the coach una parte

5:24

to. All

5:36

right we're on the podcast now with

5:38

Coach Cindy from Dayton into it's Abby

5:40

from Chicago. Welcome ladies to the him

5:42

to a podcast we like for. Folks

5:45

you know you real quick here in

5:47

the beginning. So coats Cindy tell little

5:49

about yourself, the have kids are and

5:51

what got you interested in Been a

5:53

running coach. Yeah I well

5:55

thanks for having me. It's great to be

5:58

on the show of my Am A. I'm

6:00

a mom of five. We're a

6:02

military family stationed here in Dayton,

6:04

Ohio area. And

6:06

I've been a runner for a long time. I've

6:09

actually been an original listener of the podcast for

6:11

many years. And I always

6:13

remember we were stationed over in England for

6:15

about eight years, always listening and saying, oh, I can't

6:17

wait to do all these races when I come back to the

6:19

States. So it's been great to

6:21

kind of follow along the journey. And

6:24

what got me in to being a running coach,

6:26

just all the things running. I made a

6:28

lot of mistakes when I started off as a

6:30

long distance runner. I was a sprinter in college

6:32

and did the Hepathelon. And

6:34

about 15 years ago or so, I

6:37

started getting into long distance because I

6:39

really enjoyed it after having babies and loved

6:41

it. Didn't know how to do anything, made

6:43

all the mistakes. And here I

6:45

am as a running coach trying to help people because

6:47

people aren't as full headed as I am to

6:49

make all the mistakes and keep running. But

6:52

it's been a great journey. It's been awesome.

6:54

It has meant a lot to me over

6:56

the years and it's a little bit about

6:58

me. Okay, Coach Abby. We'll

7:01

start with the kids. I have two. They

7:03

are both in their early 20s. So

7:06

they are grown up. We're empty nesters now. As

7:09

far as coaching, you know, I have

7:11

a very long history with running, you know, did cross

7:13

country and track in high school. And

7:15

then had a long period where I

7:17

was kind of in and out. Kale

7:20

college, moving around, getting married, having kids.

7:23

In my later 30s, I

7:25

was finally diagnosed with hypothyroidism, which

7:27

was just life changing. And

7:30

it was the point where my kids were getting old enough that

7:32

I could invest a little

7:34

bit more time in running. So I

7:36

did a half marathon, did a marathon,

7:38

qualified for Boston. And

7:40

very quickly, I found that people were coming to

7:43

me for advice, partly just because I like to

7:45

read a lot and like to learn. So people

7:47

identified me as a resource. And I thought, well,

7:49

if I'm going to give people advice, I better

7:52

know what I'm talking about. So

7:54

that just started me down this path. I

7:56

went back to school. I ended up with

7:58

a master's degree in extra. The fight with

8:00

the allergies. I. Got through to

8:02

fight is a pretty much trainer

8:04

and then as an Rc A

8:06

coach I've added on health and

8:09

Wellness Co certifications and most recently

8:11

U S A T trap on

8:13

Coach. We got some

8:15

great question sent in listeners and members

8:17

and all kinds of folks. So let's

8:19

start with some questions about motivation. This

8:21

is from Maria. She says how do

8:24

you motivate yourself after taking a six

8:26

month break. Abby. Any thoughts

8:28

on how to motivate yourself? Ever taken a

8:30

six month break? The. First thing

8:32

that comes to my mind is simply set

8:34

a goal and make it small but big

8:36

mess to motivate you. And for me it

8:38

would be a five k. I defy

8:41

with coming off a break that long. I

8:43

would look for fight the and look for

8:45

something that's gonna be fun to do Something

8:47

you're gonna just look forward to the every

8:50

day itself no matter what your training, that

8:52

fight and it might also help with five

8:54

kids. They're always been used as fundraisers for

8:56

all kinds of charities of find one that

8:59

raising money for causes meaningful for you or

9:01

that some of your friends want to do

9:03

you or whatever but setting a small go

9:06

two or three months out enough that you

9:08

did a see real progress in that time.

9:10

And shouldn't fencing really? Substantial to show for

9:12

it. Yeah yeah, just sign

9:14

up, you force yourself and train again.

9:17

I like to look at it as

9:19

a forced self development program or you're

9:21

putting yourself through boot camp the ready

9:23

because is gonna come. He is the

9:25

calendar will not stop raise your not

9:27

as like Tokyo for us in one

9:29

week right? Okay

9:32

to snacks was from Stephanie. She says

9:34

I'm wondering how to stick with the

9:37

training plan. If you have chronic disease

9:39

and pain that and flair off and

9:41

on, how can I balance staying positive

9:43

and realistic? Yes, We're not sure

9:45

what the chronic disease and pain as you can

9:47

specify but have any be dealt with. That and

9:49

any thoughts for Stephanie. While.

9:51

I have with the hypothyroidism and

9:54

more recently with some chronic asthma

9:56

so I suspect through periods when

9:58

it was just the start. for

10:00

doing anything with the struggle. It probably is not the same

10:02

thing because she's talking about pain. I didn't necessarily

10:04

have pain, but particularly when my

10:06

thyroid was just really messed up for a while, I

10:09

would just have good days and bad days. And I

10:11

never knew what it was gonna be until I started

10:13

running. A bad day, I would

10:15

be struggling to run two or three

10:17

miles at, you know, at a low pace. A

10:20

good day, I might be able to do a

10:22

fairly decent tempo workout and go out and

10:24

run 10 miles or so and maintain my

10:26

pace, right? So the key

10:29

is to try to just get

10:31

out the door and start at

10:33

these next levels. Be open to

10:36

say, what does today look like, right?

10:39

Do your warmup and then say, is this a

10:41

good day? And I can push myself a little,

10:43

is this a bad day? And it's just gonna

10:45

be a few miles easy. And then

10:47

go in and stretch, you know, do some yoga or

10:49

something. I think that flexibility,

10:51

the openness, if you're working with a coach, they can

10:53

kind of give you, you know, a plan A and

10:55

a plan B. And then they can

10:57

tell you when you're looking at the rest of the

10:59

week, okay, this was a bad day. I had to

11:02

skip the planned interval and just do

11:04

a little bit. Maybe I feel better later in the

11:06

week. Do I try to get that workout in another

11:08

day or just let it go? Either

11:11

one may be the right answer, just

11:13

depending, just be flexible. And I'm still

11:15

like that even now, because of the

11:17

asthma, it's been particularly with swimming. I

11:20

get in the pool and some days I just

11:22

start slow and just get slower and slower and

11:24

slower and just can never find a rhythm with

11:26

the breathing and stuff. Other days I get in,

11:28

my airways opened up, I get a great rhythm

11:31

and it's fantastic. And I never know,

11:33

honestly, there's nothing before I get in water that

11:35

tells me what kind of day it's gonna be.

11:38

And so I don't really

11:40

go with a specific plan for swimming

11:42

workouts. Don't tell anyone that. That's

11:45

a bad one. But I kind of have

11:47

a plan A and plan B. I'm like, if it's a good day,

11:49

I'm gonna do this. It's a bad

11:51

day. I'm gonna do some drills, do

11:53

a few, you know, 100s and just

11:56

call it good. It's better than doing

11:58

nothing. I like it. Here's one

12:00

from Adrianne and I'm not qualified to

12:02

answer this question because it's about getting

12:04

up early in the morning for long

12:06

runs. How can I stay motivated as

12:09

mileage ramps up especially when it means

12:11

waking up early for those

12:13

long runs solo? Angie,

12:15

that sounds like your first marathon when you had to get up

12:18

and bang out your runs before I went to

12:20

work because our kids were young and diapers. Yeah,

12:22

I think that's the experience for

12:24

many runners because they have a

12:26

pretty fixed schedule with work or

12:28

other responsibilities and so the struggle

12:30

is real. Let me just, I've

12:32

been there, I know how that

12:34

is. Cindy, you've got five

12:36

kids, you know, you've got a busy

12:38

life. Yes, work. Your military family, you guys don't

12:41

think twice about getting up early. Yeah,

12:46

I think back to my first marathon

12:48

back in 2011 and I was

12:51

partnered up with another mom, new mom. I

12:53

just had a baby, I was

12:56

about seven, eight months postpartum

12:58

when I started training and I

13:00

think both of us were postpartum and nursing and

13:02

all the things. So I kind of joke we

13:04

used to compare how much sleep we would get

13:06

going into the long runs and it'd be three

13:08

or four hours or whatever but, you know, having

13:10

somebody, you know, kind of wake up with you

13:12

or do part of the miles with you is really

13:14

great to meet and there's a lot of people that

13:16

can do some of it if not all of the

13:18

work with you. So that's one of

13:20

the things that I've utilized. And just having

13:22

that goal in front of me, you know, knowing that I'm training

13:25

for something that's a big goal that I've

13:27

never done before or something, a new location

13:29

or, you know, whatever that goal is, having

13:31

that visual in front of you and thinking about

13:33

that throughout. Big fan of

13:35

having goal posters and putting pictures

13:37

in place, whatever that helps to

13:39

motivate you to kind of get out of the

13:42

door those long runs when it's dark and very dark

13:44

and nobody else is awake except for you. But

13:46

as a mom of five, I enjoy waking up before my

13:48

kids because I know I can have that quiet for me.

13:54

I was going to say that I think sometimes you

13:56

can reframe it to be like, I don't have to

13:58

do this long run. this is an

14:00

opportunity for me to have that time. Obviously,

14:03

you're still challenging yourself. It's not like

14:05

a vacation, but it is. It's

14:08

time when there's no one asking you questions.

14:10

Nothing is being demanded of you other than

14:12

doing your mileage. And I like

14:14

to save sometimes an audio book

14:16

that I'm really into for a long

14:18

run. And it kind of gives

14:20

you an incentive. You can pair the long run

14:22

with something else that you enjoy. It gets you

14:24

a little more excited to be out there because

14:26

it can be really difficult, especially in the winter.

14:28

You know, if it's cold plus

14:31

dark plus early, it's a challenge.

14:34

I like it. I don't have to do my long run. I

14:36

get to do it. It's a big change of attitude. I like

14:38

it. We got some questions

14:40

about training plans and all three of

14:43

you ladies have written training plans, so

14:45

we get to dive into some coaching

14:47

wisdom here. His first question is from

14:49

Robert. I'm just kidding. Robert. If

14:54

you caught that he's French. This

14:56

first, this

14:58

first question is from Robert. Robert

15:00

says I'm following a marathon training plan from

15:02

a running magazine with a specific marathon goal

15:05

in mind. The plan calls for running six

15:07

days a week with cross training, such as

15:09

cycling on the rest day. But I cycle

15:11

to work five days a week and the

15:14

route is a fairly hilly five miles each

15:16

way and my overdoing it

15:18

and potentially jeopardizing my marathon goal by

15:21

doing too much. Should I cut back

15:23

the running days to allow more recovery?

15:26

I don't know. I see red flags right there. Six

15:29

days a week. What

15:32

do you guys think? I think that

15:34

just the fact that he's questioning it may be

15:36

a concern. You know, it's hard to know without

15:38

talking to him about what symptoms and

15:40

signs that he's having that might be overdoing

15:42

it. You know, how, how are the legs feeling?

15:44

How's the body feeling? How does he feel

15:47

mentally? You know, cause it tends to be, if

15:49

it's too much mentally, it's going to be

15:51

hard to complete the marathon training and

15:53

arrive at the marathon feeling good. So

15:56

I think those are some of the big questions that I would

15:58

have with doing. too much. Dr.

16:01

Justin Marchegiani And we don't know anything about his

16:03

running background but what kind of runner at

16:05

what level is doing 6 days a week

16:07

typically? Dr. Julie Seidler It depends. I mean some

16:09

people like to run most of the days of the

16:11

week. You know, however, probably

16:13

a marathon training plan that has 6

16:15

days a week and advises that you

16:18

cross train on your rest day might

16:20

be for a more fast time goal. I'm just

16:23

making an assumption here. Dr.

16:25

Julie Seidler I think the re– the biggest

16:27

red flag for me was that they advise

16:29

doing something on the rest day. You

16:32

know, 6 days a week of running and

16:34

then advising to do something on the rest

16:36

day plus the fact that he cycles. Abby,

16:39

what are your thoughts because I know as a

16:41

triathlete, you do have to double up. You do

16:43

have to get in. Abby Stover Yes. Dr. Julie

16:45

Seidler A lot of stuff during a training plan.

16:47

Abby Stover Exactly. I am a very big believer

16:50

on the rest day and having one day a

16:52

week that's a true complete rest. I–

16:54

I might go for a walk. I try not

16:56

to actually walk too far. It's actually possible to

16:58

overdo it even with a walk. So

17:00

yeah, that's the first thing is to just have

17:02

one day that's the rest day. As

17:05

far as the cycling goes, it's kind of

17:07

a big depends because if he's been doing

17:09

this every day for a long time, it's

17:12

probably not putting extra strain on him

17:14

but it still might be. So

17:17

I would say look at the recovery

17:19

runs because surely with 6 days a

17:21

week, some of those are easy recovery

17:23

runs. And should

17:25

he just drop one or two of those

17:27

and say the cycling is enough on those

17:30

days? Probably, right?

17:32

But again, it depends. Or

17:34

maybe shorten the recovery runs, right? Instead

17:36

of doing 30 minutes or

17:38

40 minutes, do one or two miles just enough

17:40

to loosen up the muscles. But

17:43

also paying attention to how he feels is kind of

17:45

what you said before. Does he

17:47

feel recovered after a recovery day?

17:50

Or does he go out into a recovery

17:52

run and feel more tired than he did

17:54

before that recovery day? So

17:56

if that's the case, then yeah, he definitely needs to come back.

18:00

recovery runs and really feels recovered

18:02

afterwards, then it's fine. That's

18:04

also where some heart rate data would be helpful,

18:06

right? To see if he's truly rested. I know

18:08

Angie has this aura ring where

18:10

you can see how rested you are. Yeah, heart

18:12

rate variability. There's a lot of factors that

18:14

you can use to judge those kind of

18:16

things. But obviously at the end of the

18:18

day, you have to decide how you feel.

18:21

The numbers can say one thing, but even

18:23

if my aura ring says I am, quote,

18:25

totally recovered, if I feel

18:27

tired, if I feel like I'm dragging, like I'm

18:29

coming down with something, like that doesn't matter. I'm

18:31

going to take it easy. I'm going to take

18:34

a rest day. So, you know, he knows his

18:36

body the best. If he thinks that this might

18:38

be too much, it probably is. Yeah, exactly. All

18:41

right, good stuff. This next one

18:43

is from Vaughn. He's an Academy member. I've trained

18:46

with Coach Lynn, actually, and I got to meet

18:48

him at the Richmond Marathon last

18:50

year. He said, how many marathons

18:52

can average 30 mile a

18:54

week runner complete in a year and

18:56

stay healthy? Are there any guidelines about

18:59

realistic limits? So it sounds like

19:01

he's found a sweet spot. He likes to do 30 miles a

19:03

week. How many marathons in a year

19:05

can one do? The sky's the limit,

19:07

right, ladies? Sure,

19:09

I'm going to try it, you know, who

19:12

did 12 marathons last year. Wow.

19:14

Is it MTA client? Yeah, yeah,

19:16

one of our MTA Heathers. Oh, yeah.

19:18

Right. She did 12 marathons last

19:21

year. So the answer

19:23

is it depends on how fast

19:25

he wants to run them. If he

19:27

wants to race and really

19:29

like be pushing for PRs or BQ,

19:32

two and maybe three, but if he's

19:34

willing to approach it more like a

19:36

training run for an ultra where you

19:38

just go as slow as you want and you

19:41

don't care how long it takes, you could

19:43

do that once a month. Just

19:45

going to agree pacing. It's really depending on

19:47

what the goal is. You know, you might

19:50

have a marathon maniac that is trying to

19:52

do qualify or do a lot of races

19:55

in a short time and that goal is

19:57

going to be different with pacing for the

19:59

races. You know, maybe it's somebody

20:01

that actually is a pacer for a run and does

20:03

a lot of pacing, you know If they're doing

20:06

lower volume or lower intensity running

20:09

then yeah, they can definitely do a lot more

20:11

I remember years back I've done five six marathons

20:13

in a year. It takes a toll on you

20:15

You have to think about that recovery time. That's

20:18

the big piece, too So

20:20

the year is still young and I'm

20:23

wondering what everyone has planned this year

20:25

for marathons Angie I know you're doing

20:27

Tokyo because I'll be there. Yes.

20:29

I'm just really gonna see how Tokyo goes

20:31

for me Perry

20:34

menopause has been kind of eating

20:36

me up and spitting me out lately So I'm really just

20:38

kind of having to take it a little bit like a

20:40

day at a time Which

20:42

is hard for me as a type a person who

20:44

likes to have my entire life planned out I'm having

20:47

to like let go of the reins a little bit

20:49

So I'm waiting to talk to Tokyo to register for

20:51

anything else Yeah, definitely a

20:53

half marathon in May when we

20:55

go to the Rebel White

20:57

Mountains That's right, you know, just kind of see

20:59

how the year plays out but lots

21:02

opportunities. How about you Abby? I know you just

21:04

got back from somewhere, right? Yes. I just

21:06

did the Mason Marathon two weeks ago Coming

21:09

up. My next thing is I'm doing a

21:11

75 K trail ultra

21:13

in Traverse City, Michigan in May

21:16

I'm really excited about the odd number, isn't

21:18

it? 75 K Course

21:22

is a 25 K loop Okay,

21:24

they have 25 50 7500 K options so you can bail at 50 if you want

21:37

Exactly I paid extra to do that extra

21:40

loop, right? And

21:42

I'm excited because even though I was very beat

21:44

up by Mason two weeks ago. I feel recovered

21:46

I feel ready for the long

21:49

slow distance of ultra training. So

21:51

very excited to get started that

21:53

after that I'm doing an iron

21:55

distance triathlon in mid-September. Nice

21:58

Wow. Have you done a full iron? man

22:00

before? I have. I did the

22:02

same event. It will have been eight

22:04

years ago. So going back

22:06

to it again, I take a lot of

22:09

investment obviously to train for an iron just

22:11

the time, particularly on the bike. You know,

22:13

it's not something I want to do every

22:15

year, but it's a good mix, right? Take

22:17

a little break from the high volume of

22:19

ultras as far as running and do high

22:21

volume cycling instead. Nice.

22:23

Well, my year looks quite easy compared to

22:26

all that. As

22:31

one would expect. Cindy,

22:35

what about you? I've

22:37

got some shorter races coming

22:39

up, rock and roll in DC

22:41

in March. And I'm going

22:44

to do Smokey Mountains. I like

22:46

that those vacation races. Those are fun. Like that's got

22:48

to do that last year. And I like the challenges,

22:50

the 5k, you know, when they

22:52

have the 5k, 10k half or whatever that

22:54

is. Flying Pig, I did the challenge last

22:56

year. That was fun in the rain. And

22:59

then my big race. I'm trying to shoot

23:01

for Honolulu. That's on the bucket list to

23:03

get to Hawaii and run that for great

23:05

things about that. And that's my goal.

23:08

Are you trying to do all the vacation

23:10

races like all the parks? Yes, I'd like

23:12

to. It might take me forever, but I'll

23:14

try. Yeah, I still

23:16

have added new parks by then, right? Do

23:20

they do Big Bend National Park in Texas? I

23:23

don't think so. Okay. I was just

23:25

there last week and thought, man, this is an epic

23:27

place to run. Not in the summer though, for sure.

23:30

We're going to move on now to nutrition and

23:33

fueling. Okay. So this first one is from

23:35

Allison. She says, what are

23:37

your thoughts on the effects of alcohol

23:39

on training and recovery? Should you avoid

23:41

all alcohol during a training cycle or

23:43

is light to moderate consumption okay? What

23:46

about a post-workout libation for recovery? Yes. Seems

23:48

like training group runs often end at a

23:51

local drinking hole. And I'm wondering if this

23:53

is a good idea. Yes. All

23:55

right. You're not the coach since we're talking to you right now.

24:02

Well, I'm a big discourager of alcohol.

24:05

I won't just say a hard no,

24:07

but this is what alcohol does

24:09

to your body. It dehydrates

24:12

you, right? So if you're

24:14

trying to rehydrate or dehydrate it through

24:16

your next long run, it's going to

24:18

impede that. It

24:20

impairs metabolism of

24:23

macronutrients because your body

24:25

is always going to prioritize breaking down

24:28

the alcohol and clearing that out, which

24:30

means it's not taking in and using

24:32

carbs, protein, fat like it should. Number

24:34

three, this is a big one that a lot of

24:37

people don't know, is alcohol messes with your sleep. You

24:40

know, hydration, food, sleep are

24:42

the three big ones for recovery,

24:44

right? And alcohol messes with

24:46

all three. Your sleep quality is impaired.

24:49

So if you are a person who

24:51

drinks regularly, I would just say try to cut

24:53

back during the big training cycle. Avoid

24:56

drinking the night before your long

24:58

runs. After a big

25:00

run, make sure you've had some water and

25:02

something to eat before you have that post-race

25:05

food. I got to say

25:07

I did dry January and I did

25:09

have some non-alcoholic beer and there's some

25:11

really good non-alcoholic beer now. So

25:13

try that. Yeah, if you need the taste,

25:15

but you don't want all the negative side effects. I

25:17

was still feels like a celebration. I

25:20

just saw this morning the World Health

25:22

Organization classifies alcohol as a class one

25:24

carcinogen and it's right

25:27

up there with the bestest radiation and

25:29

tobacco. So it's

25:31

like, you know, like if

25:34

you just Google like the effects of alcohol on

25:36

training or the effects of alcohol on recovery,

25:38

there's no one saying it's good for you,

25:40

you know, but people do have lives that

25:43

include alcohol. And so I think you have

25:45

to balance how to be responsible with it.

25:47

Cindy, what are your thoughts? I

25:49

kind of agree with Abby. So

25:52

I've had friends to train for some of

25:54

these races, the one in big one in

25:56

France where they drink along the course. So

25:58

those friends were practicing. that

26:01

they're training with drinking so they can be prepared

26:03

for race day. But really,

26:05

I agree with some of those side effects,

26:08

knowing how alcohol affects you, how a lot

26:10

of people as a trainer over the years trying

26:12

to lose weight and doing all the things right,

26:14

except they'd be drinking on the weekend. So,

26:16

okay, well, maybe if you reduce that, it will

26:18

help your body burn fat and improve your metabolism

26:21

a little bit better to help with that. So

26:23

if I have somebody coming to me as a

26:25

goal of, hey, I'm training for a

26:27

marathon and I'm also trying to watch

26:29

the weight, then yep, let's go ahead and

26:31

mix alcohol, see how you feel, you

26:33

know, do that training without that so we

26:36

can improve their goals and get them to

26:38

what they're trying to do. So, all right,

26:40

this one's from Stephanie. She says,

26:42

I know fueling recommendations are individual,

26:44

but what would be an optimal

26:46

carbohydrate per hour range to shoot

26:49

for? All right, Coach

26:51

Abby, you were just at a conference. You

26:53

said, right. Yes, I just came from the

26:55

ACSM Health and Fitness Summit in

26:57

Chicago this weekend. And what is that?

27:00

ACSM is American College of Sports

27:03

Medicine. They are the

27:05

organization that I have my physical

27:07

trainer credential with. And they're very

27:09

big for exercise for different populations,

27:11

right? So it's not just your

27:14

healthy population, but how do you

27:16

train somebody who has diabetes or

27:18

cancer or heart disease, whatever, right?

27:20

So it's a really good organization.

27:22

They're very good about saying what

27:25

is evidence-based. So one

27:27

of the presentations was nutrition

27:29

for endurance sports. So I got, you know,

27:31

the very latest of all

27:33

of the recommendations for during long runs.

27:35

If your long run is over 75 minutes,

27:38

that's when you need to make sure you're

27:41

getting some carbohydrates in during the run. From

27:44

that, about an hour up to three hours, the

27:46

goal is 30 to 60 grams an hour, which

27:48

I'm like, that's a huge range, right? 30

27:51

is about one energy gel. So,

27:53

you know, is it one energy gel? Is it two?

27:55

That's going to depend a little bit. Really, from what

27:57

I've read, it's as much as your stomach will tolerate.

28:00

The more you can get in, the better, but

28:02

not to the point of making yourself sick. If

28:05

you're long run, this is more for the

28:07

ultra marathons when you're going longer than three

28:09

hours, 60 to 90

28:11

grams per hour, and then it just really becomes eating

28:13

as much as you can. That's

28:16

why they eat so much junk food out there. Well

28:19

calorie dense, we'll just say that

28:22

very calorie dense products. Yes.

28:24

Let's go to this question from Adrianne.

28:27

What are simple ways to increase caloric

28:29

count as mileage ramps up? So

28:32

maybe this is kind of, we can riff on that

28:34

last question. Maybe it's hard for

28:36

people to get more than one gel an

28:38

hour down the hatch, right? Or

28:41

maybe she's talking about everyday life, not necessarily

28:43

running. I don't know. We

28:45

can answer both. Yeah. I

28:48

think if she's just trying to

28:50

increase her calories, you know,

28:52

somebody that's just daily caloric intake as

28:55

you're doing more miles, it's really trying to

28:57

increase frequency of your meals. Thinking

28:59

about adding in good dietary fat

29:01

sources. I think about things like peanut

29:04

butter, tree nuts, avocado to each of

29:06

those meals, and then trying

29:09

to work on getting good carbohydrate in with each

29:11

of the meals. Your complex

29:13

and your simple carbs. I think

29:15

about like, you know, in the morning oatmeal

29:17

with maybe added fruit to kind of increase

29:19

that throughout the day. So a couple

29:22

of things that come to mind. It's

29:24

an interesting question because I don't think I've

29:26

ever had problems increasing my calories is usually

29:28

the other way around for me. Well, some

29:30

people have trouble keeping weight on, you know,

29:32

when they're doing endurance training. So

29:35

that can definitely be an issue for people.

29:37

Abby, what were you thinking? I

29:40

was just going to say on that note, when I

29:42

was training for an ultra this past fall, I

29:44

lost weight for about a month. You know, the first

29:47

week or two, you're like, well, that could just be

29:49

a normal fluctuation. But after three, four weeks of

29:52

the steady decline, I'm like, okay, this is

29:54

me under fueling. And I never had

29:56

that problem before. So yeah, I just step back and say,

29:58

how can I eat more? more injured

30:00

today. One of my absolute favorites is homemade

30:02

cookies, right? I don't, especially with it just

30:04

being me and my husband, I don't bake

30:06

a whole lot. So when I'm

30:09

doing high volume, that's my excuse to

30:11

bake some cookies, whatever I feel like,

30:14

and then I can just add that in as an

30:16

extra snack throughout the day. Fruit

30:18

is always good, right? You know, add

30:20

a couple extra pieces of fruit, a

30:23

nice smoothie where you get protein and

30:25

fruit, you know, whatever else you want

30:27

to throw in. We'll get you some

30:30

calories without a lot of extra work. This

30:33

would be a good time to recommend working with a

30:35

nutritionist from MetPro. They are

30:37

especially good if you're pursuing a

30:39

performance goal and also trying

30:41

to change your body composition. You could put

30:44

people on the exact same eating plan,

30:46

diet, exercise plan, and everyone's body is

30:48

going to respond a little bit differently.

30:51

And so I think that is the beauty of

30:53

MetPro. They connect you with your coach, the person

30:55

who's going to be working really closely with you

30:57

in the midst of the onboarding

30:59

process. They kind of give you like

31:01

a baseline meal plan that you do

31:03

for a few days and you're tracking

31:05

in the app which is really handy

31:07

and convenient and they just see how

31:09

your body responds to that baseline plan.

31:11

And then depending on your goals, they

31:13

will up or down adjust you from

31:15

there. So adding or subtracting certain macronutrients

31:18

and the beauty of the plan is that it

31:21

is changing enough so that your body

31:23

doesn't get used to what it's doing

31:26

and plateau. You'll have weekly calls with

31:28

your nutrition coach as well as unlimited

31:30

texting and so they just give

31:32

you a lot of support and I think

31:34

fitting it into your lifestyle is key and

31:37

that nutrition coach is there every step of

31:39

the way to help you with that. Yeah

31:41

so check it out go to metpro.co/MTA tell

31:43

them that we sent you you'll save some

31:45

money 500 bucks in

31:48

fact metpro.co/MTA This

31:56

one's about pacing from Emily

31:58

who's a coaching client. She says,

32:00

what tips do you have for a pacer

32:02

during a marathon? I'm going to be pacing

32:04

my mom to help her qualify for Boston

32:06

during the Eugene marathon and I want to

32:08

be as helpful as possible. Should

32:11

I run in front or alongside? Should I

32:13

get her water? Should I hand

32:15

her gels when it's time to fuel? Thanks for

32:17

your help and a big shout out to Coach

32:19

Abby who is coaching both of us in working

32:21

towards our VQ goals. Mother-daughter

32:24

combo. Run in

32:26

the Eugene marathon in Eugene, Oregon. Do

32:29

you all have any experience pacing someone through a marathon?

32:32

Yeah, I have a few times. Did you

32:34

have a whip? Like whip them along? Yeah,

32:37

I mean it helps to be, you know, have be

32:40

a fitness instructor. I do have a lot

32:42

of different changes

32:44

in voice speaking. We

32:46

can do on the course and especially towards

32:48

the end and music and all the

32:50

things. But, you know, I really think

32:52

about just the communication, whether you're pacing

32:54

somebody or running with a friend, make sure

32:56

before you get to that, especially a big marathon,

32:58

make sure you talk about what the plan

33:00

is because you're always going to have somebody that's

33:03

going to be faster than the other or something

33:05

happens. You know, are you going to stay together?

33:08

With her trying to get a BQ, you know, what

33:10

does she want? Does she want this gels to be

33:12

handed to her? You know, I had a client recently

33:14

that was on a long run with somebody and they

33:16

kept running in front of them and it annoyed

33:18

them. They said, you just need to pull her

33:20

aside, let her know that this is not okay

33:22

with for you and just kind

33:24

of have that communication ahead of time. Yeah,

33:27

Abby, what have you been advising Emily

33:29

to do? Well, most of

33:32

the way I'm making sure Emily is getting her

33:34

mom running too fast. Emily

33:36

is a pretty fast runner. I'm like, you have to do

33:38

these long runs at your mom's pace. Exactly.

33:40

You know, first time's the same thing just

33:43

overall. And for her to be in the

33:45

habit of running at that pace, right? So

33:48

that she's ready to help her through the whole race. Practice,

33:51

communicate, you know, what is going to be best

33:53

for the water? Is it going to be best

33:55

for her mom just to pick up the water herself or save her

33:57

a little bit of energy to get it for her? Running

34:00

alongside is probably generally the best, but here's the thing.

34:02

If it's a windy day, run a little bit in

34:04

front and, you know, break the wind a little bit

34:06

for her. Well, good luck to both of you

34:08

if you're hearing this. Okay,

34:11

let's talk about the Boston Marathon. This

34:13

is from Saskia. I

34:16

will be running Boston this year.

34:18

I love some tactical advice. What

34:20

would you do differently in Boston

34:22

compared to other big city marathons,

34:24

if anything? So

34:26

Coach Abby, we got to meet you at

34:29

the Boston Marathon a couple years ago. So

34:31

what would you say to Saskia? Yeah,

34:34

I've done Boston twice. The

34:36

biggest thing in training is to make sure you

34:38

are putting some hills in the middle of your

34:41

long runs, some good size hills. If you live

34:43

where I am, that's a challenge to do, but

34:45

you know, do your best, get some

34:47

uphill there when your legs are starting

34:50

to get tired and work on

34:52

pacing those hills so that

34:54

you're not tying yourself out running up them.

34:56

The nice thing about Boston, once you get

34:58

to the top of Heartbreak Hill, you've got

35:01

a long downhill and mostly flat after that.

35:03

You know, those last few miles, if you

35:05

are not exhausted, those last few miles are

35:07

wonderful. So Boston

35:09

is all about don't run too hard at the

35:11

beginning because it is mostly downhill at the beginning.

35:14

Gradual, but still it's a lot of down at

35:16

the beginning. You really have to hold back. Don't

35:18

let yourself go too fast. If you pace those

35:20

first 13, 14 miles, right, when you get to

35:23

the hills, you're going to feel strong. You'll

35:25

be passing the people who went out too fast

35:27

and then you're going to come down Heartbreak Hill

35:29

and just feel good. There you

35:31

go, Saskia. Boom. Execute

35:34

now. Do exactly what

35:36

we tell you to do and you won't fail. Well,

35:39

we can't give that guarantee. Angie

35:42

always walks back anything I say. Angie,

35:46

you've run Boston like three, four times. Three

35:48

times. You tell her what's the mean. I

35:51

agree with everything Abby said. You

35:53

know, I think if you look at it

35:55

tactically, pace yourself smart, there's going to be

35:58

so much excitement at different places along the

36:00

course and it can be really easy to

36:02

like burn yourself out, getting fired up by

36:04

the crowd in different places. So you really

36:06

have to just, you know, stay within yourself,

36:08

run your own race, use that

36:10

to gain energy, but don't let it push

36:12

you outside of what you need to be

36:14

doing out there. And you

36:17

know, then it's just general marathon stuff,

36:19

stand top, you're fueling your hydration in

36:21

Boston can be notoriously fickle for either

36:23

being too hot or too cold. So

36:25

you know, you have to really take

36:27

that into consideration. Another thing

36:29

with Boston is that it's a later

36:31

start time than a lot of races are. So

36:33

you have to really adjust your morning nutrition so

36:36

that you're fueled well, not

36:38

too much, not too little. And

36:40

you know, running like late morning, early afternoon is often a

36:43

time that a lot of us don't do our long runs.

36:46

So it might be helpful to do a long

36:48

run, maybe started at 11 in the

36:50

morning and just to kind of simulate what

36:52

that might feel like for your body. But

36:54

it's such a great marathon. It's really

36:57

an exciting one. So the most important thing

36:59

is go out there and have fun. Yeah,

37:02

I would add in don't go with the goal

37:04

of getting a PR. Hopefully

37:06

you can get another BQ, but even don't stress

37:08

about that goal with the idea that you're

37:10

going to enjoy being there. Because

37:13

it is a fantastic experience. Now

37:16

we're gonna talk about breaking two hours in the half. This

37:18

is from Bridget. And she says, I'm at

37:20

a plateau, I just can't shake. I've been

37:23

trying to break two hours for half for

37:25

years. She says she's been between 203 and

37:27

213 and it's driving her nuts. I'll take

37:29

whatever ideas anyone has. Yeah,

37:32

that's a good goal to break two hours and a

37:34

half. I know a lot of people have that goal.

37:36

Coach Cindy, any ideas for Bridget? All

37:38

the things, right? You know, first of all, the

37:40

fact that she's been trying to do this for

37:43

a few years, that would be frustrating. So just

37:45

kind of taking a step back to kind of

37:47

assess where she's at. It would be nice to

37:49

talk to her and just give her

37:51

some pointers because I'm sure there's something. And

37:53

coaches have coaches, so trying to think, what are we

37:56

doing wrong? Some of us have more speed than others.

37:58

Some of us are better on the end. endurance,

38:00

sounds like she may need to work

38:02

on speed work, kind of throwing in some 5K, 10Ks,

38:05

some tempo work if she's not doing

38:07

that already. Thinking about weekly mileage,

38:09

you know, what does that mileage look like?

38:12

Is she consistent? Cross

38:14

training, are we doing some, you know, added strength

38:16

training and things to add to that? Working

38:19

with the coach, and I think that's the thing if she's that, you

38:21

know, been doing it for this long and trying to get there. Working

38:24

with the coach, we can talk about, you know, what

38:26

races to kind of shoot for that might be flat

38:28

and fast and getting

38:30

that time down for her. Definitely. We often

38:32

look at when someone comes to us,

38:35

there's areas of leverage that a coach

38:37

has where you can dial in the

38:39

training, the several things you can adjust

38:41

like the fueling, the speed work, the

38:43

cross training, the rest, the recovery. So

38:46

what a coach does is kind of look

38:48

over what you're doing already, what your recent

38:50

times have been, what your fitness level is,

38:52

your health history, and then see where are

38:54

those levers that they can adjust to get

38:56

you where you want to go. Yeah,

38:58

I want to particularly take a look at

39:01

nutrition. A lot of people think they don't

39:03

need to worry about fueling a half marathon.

39:06

But you remember what I said about feeling a long

39:08

run over 75 minutes, you

39:10

need to be getting some carbohydrates in. So

39:13

a two hour half marathon, at least one

39:15

gel is not two, you know,

39:18

or a gel and sports freak with sugar or

39:20

something, because sometimes that's all it is that

39:22

they're just not taking an energy gel and

39:25

getting an energy gel an hour in is

39:27

going to make that second hour feel a

39:29

lot better. Feel before you need it.

39:32

All right, let's talk about strength

39:34

training. Now one of Angie's favorite

39:37

topics. We got a good question

39:39

here from Angelica. She says, When

39:41

should I do my leg strength workout? Do I do

39:43

it on the same day that I run or on

39:45

the next day when I'm not running? And

39:47

if I do it on the next day that I'm not

39:49

running, would this cause the legs to not be rested? So

39:52

what day do you do it Angie? Well,

39:55

it depends on how many days a week you run.

39:57

Obviously, I like to do mine on Mondays because I

39:59

typically either do my long run on a Friday or

40:01

Saturday. So it gets me a couple

40:03

days to recover and then I like

40:05

to hit it hard on Monday with

40:07

heavy lower body and then

40:09

do like a recovery run on Tuesday. And

40:12

then by the time I roll

40:14

into like either a speed workout or a

40:16

long run, then my legs

40:18

are usually recovered. So that's what's worked well

40:20

with me. I mean, I like the philosophy,

40:22

keep your hard days hard and your easy

40:24

days easy. So I would sometimes

40:26

do two a day workout. So I could

40:28

do like prioritize my run that day, maybe

40:31

do like hills that morning for my

40:33

run. And then after I've fueled and

40:35

maybe had some recovery time do lower

40:37

body. But that's kind of just been

40:39

my pattern is do it early in the week. But it

40:42

depends on like when you're doing your key workouts,

40:45

when you're doing your long runs, it's different for

40:47

everyone. Sometimes you don't really have the

40:49

option, you know, I mean, sometimes you have

40:51

to kind of get it in there. And

40:53

so, you know, obviously looking at when you're

40:56

timing that leg day with that next hard

40:58

effort, making sure that there's some

41:00

space there. And then if you aren't strength training,

41:02

you know, adding it in doesn't

41:04

have to be anything fancy doesn't have to be a

41:07

lot, but getting some work in getting the something

41:09

focus on the quadriceps, the hamstrings, the

41:11

hips, glutes, I'm a big fan of

41:13

working on hip and glute strength and

41:15

core work to help all folks that

41:17

sit too much during the day. So

41:19

that's kind of important to to kind

41:21

of think about. I'm a big

41:24

fan of do it when you'll do it. You

41:26

know, we can talk a lot about what's the ideal, but

41:29

it's better to do some than to do

41:31

nothing. And so if you can

41:33

do your hard workout and do the strength later

41:36

in the day, that's probably ideal. But if you're

41:38

just not going to have time or energy or

41:40

whatever, then do it on your recovery day when

41:42

you have a short run and you have a

41:44

little bit more time for it. Just do something.

41:47

I agree. I think sometimes that holds people back

41:49

from even starting strength training. They're like, I have

41:51

to have the perfect plan. I have to have

41:53

the perfect schedule and like that

41:55

never lines up perfectly life is

41:58

always full of variables. So definitely.

42:00

Start something and do it

42:02

imperfectly at first if you have to You

42:05

don't have to get it, right? You just have to get it going. Someone

42:07

said Okay, let's talk

42:10

about Masters runners. This is from Frank

42:12

He says there are very few books

42:14

and articles about running for people that

42:16

are 68 years old Articles

42:19

focusing on Masters runners are typically speaking at the

42:21

people in their 40s He says I

42:23

think there needs to be a different category at some point

42:25

maybe for people 65 and up

42:27

call those ultimate Masters There's

42:30

a term called Grand Master. Sometimes it's I

42:32

have seen 60 and up sometimes

42:34

even as low as 50 Which I think is kind

42:36

of weird. But yeah, that's cool He says

42:38

I can't get a training plan that suits me

42:40

and keeps me healthy So where do

42:43

we turn as older runners to get the

42:45

guidance needed? Last

42:48

week to a friend of mine who's

42:50

in that age range and he still

42:52

runs I don't know that he's doing

42:54

marathons anymore But he's just like I

42:57

just like being out there and I

42:59

just like to keep moving So it depends

43:01

a lot on just where he is health wise

43:04

The number one goal is of course to not

43:06

get injured and a lot of times at that

43:08

age It does mean slowing

43:10

down a bit, but not necessarily It

43:14

means really emphasizing strength training

43:16

and protein intake, right? There's

43:19

a lot of evidence a lot of studies on

43:21

you know 70 and up there used to be

43:23

this belief that you just lost muscles no matter

43:25

what once you're over 50 You're going to lose

43:27

muscle the recent research says

43:29

that's simply not true If you get

43:32

enough protein and the stimulus from

43:34

strength training, you not only don't lose muscle But

43:36

you can still build muscle it well in here

43:39

So don't give up on it really take

43:41

the time the strength training is important for

43:43

everyone like we talked about but especially the

43:46

older you get the more important it is

43:48

and Getting enough protein so

43:51

that your body has what it needs to

43:53

build muscle I would emphasize

43:55

that and while I say so down

43:57

you still need to do some high

43:59

intensity studies up but keep it a

44:01

very low volume. Go out do some

44:03

one minute sprints, two minutes sprints, maybe

44:06

a little bit of tempo, kind of depends

44:08

on what your goal is but just a little

44:10

bit. A little bit goes a long ways and

44:12

then just run easy. Whatever that means. If it

44:14

means taking walk breaks, take walk breaks. Whatever

44:17

it takes so that you don't have pain

44:19

or injuries. I was

44:21

thinking about a few of the folks I've

44:23

worked with over the past couple years that

44:25

were over age 60 and just kind of

44:28

looking at their training cycle,

44:30

doing more of a 10-day training cycle

44:32

versus a seven-day cycle and then incorporating

44:34

not just the running but other things.

44:37

Cross-training, mobility work. I'm a big fan

44:39

of flexibility and mobility work because we

44:41

need to be able to move joints

44:43

as we get older and that's important.

44:47

Not just running and then doing

44:49

what we can. Might be tailoring that running

44:51

a little bit like she said, doing some

44:53

faster stuff but then also some slower stuff.

44:56

Seeing what works with the athlete, with the

44:58

person. There are a couple of

45:00

books that you know, I know Jeff Galloway's got

45:02

a book out Running Until You're 100 and he's

45:05

got a couple of books for that. So there

45:07

are a few out there but he's right. There

45:09

isn't as many resources for that age group. Dr.

45:12

Justin Marchegiani Running Until You're 100, probably a

45:14

lot of people know who Jeff Galloway is.

45:16

He's a run, walk, run guy. That's a

45:18

great plan to look at. I think if

45:20

you're concerned and there's this dude in Cincinnati,

45:22

I don't know if you guys know him.

45:24

His name is Mike Fremont. The guy's 102

45:28

and he's gonna do the Flying Pig Mile.

45:30

He's good friends with Harvey Lewis, the ultra

45:32

runner. So I see these videos and this

45:34

guy can still do pull-ups at his age.

45:36

It's pretty amazing. You know, and here's the

45:38

book that I couldn't think of the name

45:41

earlier. It's called Train Smart Run Forever

45:43

by Bill Pearson Scott Mer. We had

45:45

them on the podcast in 2017 and

45:47

Cindy, you mentioned a

45:50

10-day training plan. So

45:53

you're only doing your long run every 10 days instead of

45:55

every 7. The secret

45:57

sauce of this book is a 10-day

45:59

training plan. So, Frank, if you haven't

46:01

checked that one out, you might enjoy it. I think

46:03

there are training plans actually in that book. And of

46:05

course, we do work with runners of all ages. Yeah,

46:07

I was gonna say some of my favorite coaching

46:09

clients are in their 60s and 70s. And

46:12

you know, sometimes we would do every other weekend

46:15

long runs. So it would be more like a

46:17

14-day cycle. So I think

46:19

it's all about trying things, keeping what works

46:21

for you and just moving on from the

46:23

things that don't. And there are

46:25

differences when it comes to Grandmaster runners too.

46:28

There's people who are brand new to running,

46:30

which I love it when people in their

46:32

60s, 70s run for the first

46:34

time. That is so amazing.

46:36

There's people who are returning to it from a long

46:39

break. So maybe they ran when they were younger. And

46:41

then there's people who have just been running

46:44

their whole lives. So like each demographic is

46:46

gonna be approaching training just slightly differently. But

46:48

with all these great tips that you guys

46:50

have shared. I like the name Grandmaster. You

46:53

should get to wear special hats and maybe an

46:55

apron like the Freemasons do when you get to

46:57

be that level. Can I start

47:00

with a quick shout out though? I have to

47:02

do like a little family break. So my

47:04

father-in-law turns 82 next month. He

47:07

hikes up and down a mountain every week.

47:10

And the point is, don't let age

47:12

limit your perception of what you can

47:14

do. I mean, yes, physical conditions might

47:16

limit you, but age itself is not

47:18

a limiter. And

47:21

if you keep, you're strong and keep doing

47:23

as much as you can, you can keep

47:25

going for a long time. That's fantastic. Wow.

47:28

Hey, quick break to thank our friends

47:30

at AG1, makers of a daily nutritional

47:32

supplement. They have these handy little travel

47:34

packs that we like to take when

47:36

we travel. For example, if we were

47:38

to like to say theoretically go to

47:40

Tokyo, just decide, let's go to Tokyo.

47:43

Those travel packs would go in our suitcase. Could

47:45

you imagine a scenario like that, Angie? I

47:48

already have mine packed actually. It

47:51

is really nice to know that you have

47:53

all your bases covered as far as your

47:55

nutrition, especially when you travel where sometimes eating

47:58

in the healthy manner that you're you

48:00

like to in your normal life is a bit

48:02

hit or miss. And

48:04

AG1 takes all the guesswork out of

48:06

trying to combine the right supplements in

48:08

your daily life and of course during

48:10

travel and it provides multiple products in

48:12

one easy scoop. Yep, we're

48:14

talking about multivitamin, probiotic, digestive enzymes,

48:16

all the good stuff. Give it

48:19

a try. Drink ag1.com/MTA.

48:21

Ordering for the first time, you

48:23

can actually get a one year

48:25

supply of vitamin D3 plus K2

48:28

and 5 travel packs with your first purchase.

48:31

Drink ag1.com/MTA.

48:34

Alright, we got two

48:36

more questions. This one is about postpartum

48:38

running from Karen. She

48:40

says I'm about six months postpartum after having

48:42

my first child and I've been following a return

48:45

to running program for the past 12 weeks.

48:47

I'm now able to run about five to

48:50

six miles per run on roads. I'm eager

48:52

to get back to trail running. Are there

48:54

any precautions I should keep in mind for

48:56

trail running after having a baby? Cindy,

48:59

I'll kick it over to you first.

49:01

Yeah, I mean, really everybody's different, right?

49:03

We have people that are running marathons

49:05

and all the things

49:07

with having babies before, during, after.

49:09

So I think really just listening to

49:11

your body, trusting your providers that you're

49:14

working with and making sure that they're

49:16

giving you good information and you're asking

49:18

questions. And then starting

49:20

out doing trail work, you know, six months

49:22

should be adequate time to be able to

49:25

go out and do that, but could be

49:27

as easy as starting as hiking and walking

49:29

on trails. It doesn't have to be, you

49:31

know, right into running on trails. Other

49:34

concern I was thinking about is if she

49:36

was nursing or breastfeeding, just to watch out

49:38

for just hormones and

49:41

hormone relaxin and your progesterone would be

49:43

higher, which would loosen up those

49:45

ligaments and joints. So just make

49:48

sure she's protecting and knowing about

49:50

that risk because that could be something

49:52

that could make potential injury for

49:55

trails. Yeah,

49:57

and then just also she's nursing, watching for

49:59

hydrating. and caloric needs with

50:02

doing that. But six months hopefully should

50:04

be long enough that she'd be away from some

50:06

of those other concerns

50:08

and then listening to her body and working

50:11

with providers. You mentioned you have

50:13

five kids. Are they all at home still? Yep,

50:16

my oldest is just turned 17 and

50:18

my youngest is six. Got

50:20

a good range of ages and developmental

50:22

levels. So fun.

50:26

On time. Yes. Abby,

50:30

do you have anything to add about the postpartum period?

50:33

You know, I really second everything Sydney said.

50:36

I would really spend some time

50:38

on strength before really hitting the

50:40

trails too hard. You know,

50:42

core strength, especially postpartum, but

50:44

you know, everything, hips, hamstrings,

50:47

calves, all those things

50:49

can get pretty beat up with running on

50:51

trails. So just work on strengthening them as

50:55

you gradually reintroduce the trail running. And

50:58

our final question is from an

51:00

Academy member named Angela and has

51:02

a question about perimenopause. She

51:04

says, I'd like to know how running,

51:06

strength training and or diet should change

51:09

as women hit perimenopause. It's

51:11

a popular topic. There's a lot of

51:13

us out there. I'll

51:17

just start. I mean, you know, really as I go

51:20

into perimenopause, I think think about how

51:22

my running is changed. You know, every day

51:24

don't always feel like being the fastest that

51:26

they can be. So really listening

51:29

to your body and knowing that out of

51:31

the gate, you may have to just change

51:33

things up. That, you know, running may not

51:35

be as much of a focal point as

51:37

it was in the past. This is

51:39

a great opportunity to start adding in that

51:41

good work with strength training and those other

51:44

cross training things in because

51:46

that can really help with protecting bones

51:48

as we get older and make that

51:50

transition. Of course, we always hear about nutrition

51:53

being so important, especially the protein. So making sure that

51:55

that is a focal point in the

51:57

diet. I've never had a problem

51:59

with protein. I love protein but a lot of people

52:01

do. Just

52:04

thinking about reducing injury risk so

52:06

we are warming up. Some

52:08

people just go right into the run like let's just take our

52:10

time and same thing with cooling down. Just

52:13

don't go right in just to make sure we're

52:15

doing things with more thought to help protect us

52:17

as we go through that change. Yeah,

52:19

it's definitely different for everyone and I

52:22

think there's a bigger range of perimenopause than

52:24

is actually even recognized. I know a lot

52:26

of women, it

52:28

can start for some women in their

52:30

late 30s. Of course if you've had

52:32

a surgical hysterectomy, it can start earlier.

52:35

So there's a huge range and

52:38

women's experiences are vastly different of

52:40

perimenopause and menopause. So

52:42

I think realizing that it's going to be a

52:44

journey where it's kind of like the great unknown.

52:47

You can learn from people who have been there

52:49

who are on the path but your journey is going to

52:52

look different than theirs and giving

52:54

yourself grace through that process I think. Abby,

52:56

do you have anything? I would

52:58

just add a note of caution to

53:00

make sure that we don't say

53:03

that symptoms that correlate with perimenopause

53:05

are caused by perimenopause because a

53:08

lot of things kind of

53:10

hit or a risk of them increase

53:12

at that stage of life here. 40s

53:14

to early mid 50s, 60s. You

53:17

know a lot of things just show up at that age.

53:20

Thyroid disease, asthma gets

53:22

worse as I discovered around 50. You

53:25

could not have any trouble with asthma or have it

53:27

controlled. It can suddenly get worse. All kinds

53:29

of things. Nutrition, if

53:31

you have your good nutrition, it

53:33

just becomes more significant later. And

53:36

it may or may not be

53:38

hormonally related. So my point is

53:41

that if you are having like

53:43

sluggishness, fatigue, weight gain, unexplained weight

53:45

loss, all kinds of things, even

53:48

menstrual irregularities are a symptom

53:50

of thyroid disease. So you might think

53:53

that it's a perimenopause thing, that

53:55

things are suddenly irregular. It could be

53:57

your thyroid. So my point is go

53:59

to your doctor. doctors get these chucks, you

54:01

know, gut blood works out, get your thyroid levels

54:03

chucked, iron, vitamin D, vitamin

54:05

D, calcium. Make sure your nutrition

54:08

is good. Make sure your hydration

54:10

is good because your symptoms might be

54:12

as simple as that you're a little

54:15

bit dehydrated, right? Your sluggishness might just

54:17

be dehydration. It might be stress. And

54:20

sometimes the hormonal

54:22

shifts simply amplify

54:24

an underlying problem

54:27

with not dealing with

54:29

stress well, right? And so we

54:31

say, do I just need to look at

54:33

what's causing stress in my life and

54:36

learn better coping skills? So

54:38

part of it is that,

54:40

yes, perimenopause and menopause, even

54:43

monthly, you know, monthly cycles can cause

54:45

a ton of things, but a lot

54:47

of things can masquerade as

54:50

hormonal issues that are really

54:52

something else. So just look, make sure you're looking

54:54

at the whole picture. Yeah, that's

54:56

a great point. I think it's really important

54:58

to get yearly blood work done and

55:00

be keeping track of some of those things, those

55:03

numbers, so you know what's normal for your body

55:05

and you can be an advocate for yourself. Even

55:07

if someone says this is normal, you know, you

55:09

don't have to accept that it's true because a

55:12

lot of, you know, throughout history that women have

55:14

been told that a lot of things are normal

55:16

and they have to live with them and you

55:18

really have to do your research and be an

55:20

advocate for yourself and keep pursuing

55:23

your goals. And even if

55:25

they look different, even if the process looks different than

55:27

you think, you're going to get on

55:29

the other side and be a stronger person for it.

55:31

So I think that's exciting. It's a time of life

55:33

where you get to learn more about yourself. Yeah,

55:37

I love how you reframe everything. That's, that's

55:39

important to do. Speaking of blood work, we

55:41

used to have Inside Tracker as a sponsor,

55:43

they make it really easy to get a

55:45

blood test right from home. So I think

55:47

we still have a link that'll give you

55:49

a discount. I'll throw it in the

55:51

show notes to this episode. So boom, anybody that

55:53

wants to get a blood test done, we do

55:55

recommend at least once a year seeing what's going

55:57

on under the hood. And thank you. ladies

56:00

for taking time to come on the podcast

56:19

and share your wisdom and expertise with us. Thanks also for all the good

56:24

work that you do with clients here at MTA. You guys are changing lives. Yeah, I

56:28

think we're going to be doing a lot of work. Okay,

56:34

we've reached the end of Ask

56:36

the Coach. Q&A, big thanks to

56:38

Cindy and Abby for joining us.

56:40

Also appreciate everyone that sent in

56:42

a question. We actually have 15

56:45

coaches on the team right now, and I dare

56:48

you to come to us with a goal

56:50

that we haven't helped someone with before. Our

56:52

coaches have probably done it themselves, maybe except

56:54

run naked across the desert. Coach Steve did

56:56

run across the desert, but I think he

56:58

was closed most of the time. Yeah,

57:01

I remember back in the day, I was

57:03

the only coach. I always felt bad because

57:05

I could only take a certain number of

57:08

coaching clients, but now we have this amazing

57:10

team with expertise that even far exceeds mine.

57:13

We have room to help as many

57:15

people as possible. If you are interested

57:17

about checking into that process, you can

57:19

go to our website, marathontrainingacademy.com

57:23

slash coaching. You can also sign up

57:25

for a call with our head coach

57:27

to kind of see what the coaching

57:29

process might look like for you. Once

57:31

again, that's marathontrainingacademy.com and click on the

57:34

coaching link. As always, thanks for

57:36

being a listener. Remember, you have what it

57:38

takes to run a marathon and change your

57:40

life. www.cst.eu.com