April 30, 2025 • 26 mins
Running while traveling doesn't have to be stressful or intimidating if you plan ahead and use the right tools. Following a self-supported half marathon in Malibu alongside million-dollar mansions and scenic ocean views, I'm sharing what I've learned about maintaining training while exploring new places.
• Finding routes with apps like Garmin Connect and MapMyRun to see where locals run
• Using Google Maps to verify sidewalks, shoulders, and safe running conditions
• Taking advantage of Garmin's turn-by-turn navigation feature to prevent getting lost
• Driving or walking part of your planned route beforehand to ease anxiety
• Packing versatile running gear and shoes that work for multiple running conditions
• Bringing portable recovery tools like a mini massage gun for post-run care
• Planning hydration and fueling strategies when running without support
• Prioritizing safety by sharing your route, running in daylight, and populated areas
• Embracing vacation runs as experiences rather than performance challenges
• Building mental resilience through running in unfamiliar territories
Tag me in photos from your favorite vacation runs or share your travel running stories! Follow @DogsPerMilePod on Instagram and use hashtag #dogspermile to connect with our community.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you've ever wanted to keep running while traveling
or been intimidated by a longrun in a totally new place, this
episode's for you.
I'm walking you through how Ifind routes, prepare safely and
use my Garmin for turn-by-turnsupport, and when I definitely
stay chill when things don't goperfectly.
Here on Dogs Per Mile heyrunners, you're listening to
(00:20):
Dogs Per Mile, where we'remaking running work for your
life, not the other way around.
I'm Bridget, with over 13 yearsof running experience and
approximately 4,892 dogs seen onmy run.
I'm now here to help you findyour own path to running
happiness, ready to run on yourown terms.
Let's get going.
Hey guys, welcome back to theDogs Per Mile podcast.
(00:48):
I'm your host, bridget, andhere this is where we chase joy
instead of pace or distance andwe really just try to find the
enjoyment in running and getbetter along the way and talk
about all of that.
I'm so excited to be back.
I am back from a little vacationand that's kind of what
inspired today's episode.
I recently went on a littlevacation to California, which
(01:13):
was nice to get out of theMissouri landlocked state and
sea and ocean and the beach andeverything that they have to
offer, and so while I wastraveling, I was still needing
to do my runs, and so I reallythink, over time, I've picked up
a lot of great tips and trickson how to run, either on
(01:35):
vacation or on the road or intotally new areas where you are
unfamiliar with it.
If you're anything like me andyou are a type A runner and you
love your routines and yourroutes, running in a new area
can be scary, and, as much as Ido love the treadmill and it's a
great option for times wherethe weather's not great it also
(01:57):
is a really fun way to explore anew city on foot, see things
you wouldn't normally see, orjust say that you ran in the
streets of Amsterdam or inBoston or on the beach in Malibu
.
This last week, before I leftmy trip, I looked at what my
runner plan had and I basically,no matter what, was going to
(02:19):
have to at least run one of myruns there most likely two, and
so I kind of strategicallyplanned that out to make sure
that I knew what I needed to run, and that included my own
self-supported 13.1 mile halfmarathon as my long run, which
is a long distance in general.
(02:41):
It's scary in general, and Iknew that this was something
that I wanted to do on the road.
I knew it would give me a goodconfidence boost, it would be a
lot of fun and it would be agreat motivator and kind of a
little test to my mentalstrength, which is what I have.
One of the things I've beenworking on and I've done long
(03:01):
runs in different places, butI've never run that far in
somewhere entirely new.
So it ended up being a reallyexciting and fun run and I'm so
excited to tell you about it.
I'm so excited to tell you someof the tips and things that I
use anytime I travel, anytime Igo somewhere new, to make sure I
am safe, make sure I know whereI'm going, and just to find
(03:26):
some of the more runner-friendlyroutes.
So that's what kind of we'regoing to go over in this episode
.
I'm going to kind of share whatmy venture in Malibu was like,
how I plan my routes, how I useGarmin.
My Garmin watch actually hassome cool features that I don't
think a lot of people know aboutor use or maybe they do I.
I just I think they're cool tokind of keep you on track on
(03:47):
your path, especially if you'rein somewhere where you don't
know where you are.
If you've ever struggled orwanted to keep your training
plan going while vacationing,while perhaps you're a person
who travels for work a lot, oryou really just want to hear
about me running in Malibu andgetting a little bit more mental
toughness, let's set the scene,let's go over to the West Coast
(04:11):
and let's start there.
So okay, so, as I said before,my goal for this run, or my goal
for my runs on my trip, were Iwanted to do my long run, which
was going to be 13.1 miles, andthen one medium distance run,
which was a six mile easy runs.
It said to do hills.
(04:32):
I said I'm not doing hills, I'mnot going to try to add extra
stress onto this.
So those were my only two goalsto do, which was a
self-supported half and my sixmiles, which was just me, no
water stops, no crowd support,just everything like that Kind
of the way that this run wentout is.
(04:56):
I did the six mile run a coupleof days before and then I did
the 13 mile run on Saturday.
So I utilized the six mile runin a couple of different ways.
One it was a great way to justto physically scope out the area
that I was going to plan ondoing my long run on.
It was a good way to showmyself first with a shorter
distance, that I can in fact runin a different area.
(05:19):
And this run was just six.
It was six miles with myhusband.
He did four and a half, I think, and I did.
I kept going and did six, andso I just wanted to make sure
that this was feasible, it wasdoable, and kind of prepare
mentally for that.
I was able to find some routeoptions and I kind of mapped
them out on MapMyRun and Garminto make sure the distances made
(05:41):
sense.
I use Google Maps to kind oflook at the sidewalk, see if the
shoulder is big enough, andthen my really big thing that I
love to do is just, if possible,I will drive part of the route
or walk parts of it or anythinglike that.
That helps me to alleviate anysort of stress, and the route
(06:02):
that I did was absolutelyfucking beautiful, oh my
goodness.
So the route that I ran is Istarted at Zuma Beach, which is
down at the base of Malibu, andI started there and basically
kind of ran along the sidewalk.
That's near the beach and it'sonly May, so it's not a busy
time of the year yet, so it waspretty light on congestion of
(06:23):
people, but there's still a goodamount of people out and that's
kind of one thing that made abig deal to me was making sure
that they would be peoplepresent.
And also when I drove by thebeach a couple of times, I
noticed that there wasdefinitely port-a-potties
prevalent, which if you are arunner you know.
You know, because it's veryyou're not going to make it
without one or you're going tohave a straight up bad time.
(06:46):
And so we kind of ran that partthat hugged the beach all the
way to the end and then kind ofdoubled back towards the car and
I needed to add on additionalmile and a half or so, and so I
just kept running towards moreparts of Malibu along the beach
with a pretty big shoulder,being very aware of what was
(07:09):
going on around me, because Iwas not on a sidewalk, I was not
in a protected bike lane, I waskind of out there and making
sure I was running againsttraffic, not with traffic.
I do not understand how peoplewho are clearly runners are
running the wrong direction, howpeople who are clearly runners
(07:30):
are running the wrong direction.
That's a whole other thing.
But the coolest thing is theend.
Part went towards part of abeach that they filmed Planet of
the Apes on, and I've neverseen that, but it did look
familiar from what I've seen onTV or in the internet.
So that was really freakingcool to run by something so
famous and do that, and so thatwas kind of my pre-warmup to
(07:52):
make sure the Malibu run, mylong run, was going to be
possible.
So then, when it came to thelong run, I knew I was I could
just do that run a couple oftimes.
That would be possible.
It would not be fun.
It would be possible though theday before fun.
It would be possible though.
The day before.
We drove part of the PacificCoast Highway, which is a very
iconic it's just the coastalhighway that goes from, I'm
(08:16):
pretty sure, it goes intoWashington State and goes all
the way down through California.
It's where all the beautifulbeach towns are.
It's just a really scenic andbeautiful road and fortunately
there are no sidewalks.
So when I looked on Garmin, Iwas like oh great, there's lots
of routes.
Oh, there's lots of bikingroutes, because it is a huge
biking route that people love todo 50 mile, 100 mile bike rides
(08:38):
on.
So that was less helpful.
We drove part of the PacificCoast Highway to see how big the
shoulder was, how many laneswas it, was it blocked off, was
there any sort of constructionor anything like that.
So that was really helpful,just to get a sense of what I
was doing.
And then I noticed that therewere a couple areas I could turn
(08:59):
down and kind of run down asmaller side street that would
be way less congested but didnot have as big of a shoulder.
But that was a nice littleoption.
So basically I kind of had myroute planned out and then I
fully mapped it out on map myrun to make sure that the
distances were going to work,because nothing is worse than
thinking you have the perfectroute mapped out and then you're
(09:22):
short by like half a mile andyou have to backtrack, or you're
super long, and then you'reshort by like half a mile and
you have to backtrack, or you'resuper long and then you have a
really long walk home or you gotto get someone to come get you,
and both of those equally suck.
I could have run the PacificCoast Highway much further, but
I just didn't want to be thatfar away from help or assistance
(09:42):
or anything like that.
So I decided to do a doubleloop of this Pacific Coast
Highway, fancy Street andPacific Coast Highway again.
And that was challengingbecause after I did the Pacific
Coast Highway part first, Iliterally my husband met me with
water and my gummy candy and Isaid I don't want to do that
again, cause it was straight sun, which it wasn't hot, but it
(10:05):
was warm.
It was straight sun and alittle hilly and I just didn't
want to do it again.
But I kind of made it into alittle bit of a game.
I looked at all of the reallyexpensive houses that were on it
and try to notice a differenthouse or imagine what celebrity
could live there.
And that was just a lot of funjust to see something different.
And imagine if I won thelottery would I live in this
(10:27):
house or would I live in thishouse and just amazing scenery
and beautiful.
And then I really it was tough.
There was definitely a mentalpart where I wanted to stop, but
I knew once I did that secondloop there was no turning back.
So I wanted to make sure Icould do everything in my power
to mentally guarantee I wasgoing to do this.
And I was so fucking proud whenI was done.
(10:50):
It was not as fast as I wouldhave wanted it, which is fine.
It was an easy run.
It was not supposed to be fast.
I got a little bit sunburned, Idid not fuel properly, but I
was so proud because I actuallyfollowed through on what my
training plan said, even when Iknew it was going to be fucking
hard, and it just shows that youcan run any sort of distance as
(11:15):
long as you prepare smart andare strategic about it, and it
doesn't necessarily mean it'sgoing to be always the most
perfect, beautiful route.
There are some tips and tricksthat I alluded to before that
I'm going to kind of dive into alittle bit more on how you can
make it fun for yourself andhelp you stick to your training
(11:37):
plan as easy as possible whilein a new area.
Okay, so I want to kind of breakdown a little bit of kind of
how I plan the runs whiletraveling, because I think that
really is what that was really.
What makes the difference isfinding routes, and so there's a
(11:58):
I mean, there are somedefinitely people who will willy
nilly, just run wherever, um,and that is fantastic for you.
That is not me.
I'm going to plan my route.
I'm going to have an idea ofwhere I'm going.
So the two things that I usethe most to find, uh, where runs
are is in the Garmin connectapp.
(12:18):
You can look at courses, andthis can be courses that you've
saved or other people have saved.
So I usually will move my maparound, find the area that I
want to kind of run in and seewhat people have run.
You can look for bike routes.
You can look for running routeson the website.
You can sort by, like distances, and so that's really helpful
(12:39):
just to find where I usuallylook, where there's a lot of
running routes that I've startedin somewhere.
That lets me know that a lot ofpeople have started runs here.
So I use that as validationthat other runners say that this
is a great option to start.
Another one I'll use is map myrun.
There aren't as many routes onthere, unfortunately, but I will
(13:00):
also look for any sort of likegood starting points for runs,
and then I definitely, after Iidentify a couple, I pop over to
Google Maps and look at theroutes and see if there's
sidewalks.
I look to see if there'sshoulders.
I will do a lot of.
I'll just drop a pin and lookat the map and look at what is
(13:21):
going on, just so I have an ideaof if that route is even
possible.
Is it entirely like on a smallroad?
There were definitely some thatI was like, oh, this is great.
And then I realized that it wasno shoulder, no space, and it
was just not going to be doable.
And that's perfectly fine.
So I rather spend a little bitmore time looking to see if it's
(13:42):
well lit, things like that.
And my biggest thing if I canand I have the ability to, I
will try to drive or walk partof the route beforehand, and
that just helps to ease myanxiety.
It lets me kind of get an ideaof what I'm going to see, what
(14:03):
space I have, how far things are.
Apart where my mental milecheck marks are, it's like, okay
, at six miles, I'm going to beat this point, or I'm going to
be at this at two and a halfmiles, or this is where I'm
going to have to turn, or oh,there's a little bit of
construction here, I'm going tohave to turn, or oh, there's a
little bit construction here.
I'm going to have to cross theroads.
Even like that little like fiveminute preview made me way less
anxious waking up to do it.
And then, once I have my routepicked out, if I'm using one
(14:28):
that somebody else has done,which I have done that before,
or if I'm creating my own, Iwill put it into my Garmin, and
so then the Garmin app you cando maps, and so what that lets
you do is literally like you'redropping a pin and then you map
your out, your whole entireroute all over the place, and
you can save that route, andthat's kind of how those other
(14:50):
ones are created People havecreated or ran and then you turn
it into a saved route One of myfavorite features.
I have used this in Boston, Iused this in Amsterdam when I
ran twice, because I may beDutch but I do not speak Dutch,
I don't speak it, I don't readit, and it's an entirely new
area, and so, basically, itturns your watch into turn by
(15:14):
turn directions.
It'll start buzzing at you whenyou are a few hundred feet away
from turning left or rightaccording to the route that you
have mapped, and then it willalso let you know if you get off
course.
It will buzz at you saying youare a 10th of a mile off course,
you're a quarter mile offcourse, and it has a little
teeny tiny arrow on it and letsyou kind of know what direction
(15:35):
you need to go back in.
And so I used this when I wasin Chicago, because I definitely
went on the wrong route, Iturned the wrong way and I was
so lost, and so it's reallyhelpful that you can kind of
find your way back, and that'sreally helpful when you either
don't speak the language or youjust don't know where you are,
which is very common with this.
(15:55):
And so that's that's one of myfavorite features that Garmin
has that I don't think a lot ofpeople actually spend the time
to make a course for themselvesand then follow it.
This is also how they docourses on, like race day, which
is kind of cool Another featurethat it has.
And then one thing another thingI do is make sure I pack
(16:17):
correctly, based on the runsthat I'm doing.
So it is always a little bitchallenging because when you're
at home, you have your tank tops, you have your long sleeves,
you have your shorts, you haveyour this, you have your that.
So picking, you have to kind oflook at the weather and just
kind of.
So I usually will pack oneextra, if I can, of each or.
I know that I knew that for mylong run I was going to want
(16:39):
shorts and a long sleeve, basedon the weather, because I did
not want to chafe my arm.
So when I ran the other day Iran in my tank top and it was
much warmer the second day.
But I was happier with mydecision because it worked out.
But always bring your mostversatile items.
Bring your favorites.
Bring your most versatile shoesLike even if one of your days
is going to be a speed day andthe other day is going to be a
(17:00):
long run day, if you're a runnerthat uses multiple pairs of
shoes, bring your most versatileshoes.
Bring the shoes that are goingto work for the longest distance
.
You want to have somethingthat's going to handle, you know
, gravel if there's out there,or pavement or anything like
that.
And one of the coolest gifts Igot for Christmas that I
definitely try and travel withthe most often is a mini
(17:22):
Theragun massage gun.
It's like the size of a littlebit bigger than a hamburger roll
, something like that, and it'sreally great to help warm up or
cool down or anything like that.
It's definitely one of my mostpacked running tools that I
always kind of fit either in mycarry on or anything like that,
and that's just really makingsure that you pack correctly.
(17:45):
If you need hydration, eitherplan to bring something or plan
your course around where you canstop at gas stations or hide
water bottles, if that worksbetter for you.
So for this one, I wasstrategic and I kind of knew
ahead of time that I was eithergoing to need to bring water or
my partner was going to be ableto bring me water.
(18:05):
So that's kind of what happenedis he brought me water at mile
stoppers that I would have drankhydration at, and so that's
definitely.
You kind of have to plan aheadand put a lot, a lot of thought
into this, and these are all alot of these are techniques that
you do when you do a race,where you travel, so these
aren't only applicable torunning on vacation.
It's also applicable to runninganywhere that's not at home.
(18:27):
Another thing you kind of haveto do is you have to flex when
needed and I have definitely.
I think when I was in, when wewent to London and Amsterdam, I
was planning on running inLondon doing a load of laundry
at a laundromat and then runningin Amsterdam.
Well, the weather in Londonjust didn't cooperate, and I
could have chosen to at thatpoint.
(18:47):
You'd either choose do I do therun on a treadmill, do I skip
the run, or do I end up withlike potentially really soggy
sneakers where I'm not going tobe able to run at all later on.
So you kind of have to justsometimes be okay in that moment
.
Calling, you know calling aloss, and it's okay if you have
(19:10):
to miss a run, even if you wereplanning on doing this.
If I had not been able to do a13 mile run, nothing bad would
have happened.
It would have sucked.
I would have rather have hadthat in my training plan.
I could potentially move it,but it is what it is, and
sometimes what's best is toenjoy your vacation than it is
to try to overstress yourself,and so that's definitely
(19:31):
something that you may need tojust flex, depending on the
weather and how your travel went.
If you get delayed and you'rejet lagged, that fucking sucks,
and so you might not be able torun.
And the last thing I want totouch on is how to kind of,
especially if you're a woman,it's really important to try to
(19:54):
do everything you can to staysafe while running.
Even though we should beallowed to run, we shouldn't
have to go through all theseextremes in order to stay safe.
People shouldn't just try andkill women while running, but
unfortunately so.
I will always make sure that Itell somebody where I'm going,
how distance, when I should beback.
(20:17):
If I stop for breathing or gelsor anything like that, I will
text that person and be like hey, I'm at mile four taking my
gummies, that sort of stuff.
I definitely try to run.
As much as I love running earlyin the morning when you can't
really see anything, I try torun a little bit later.
So in order to run in morewell-lit areas, I try to look
(20:38):
for areas that might be morepopulated.
I've also looked sometimes atseeing if a run club has a
running meetup during that time,and that's always hit or miss,
because run clubs can create alot of anxiety.
I know it's always nervewracking A you don't know the
people, and B you don't know thepaces, and it's just can become
a whole thing.
(20:59):
So it is an option that you canlook into, but it's kind of hit
or miss for me and when indoubt, absolutely trust your gut
.
If something looks weird, feelsweird, you don't, you just step
out the door and you, you lookand it's just not it, that's
fine.
Trust your gut, make yourselfknown, make yourself bright all
the sort of rules that applywhen you're not there in your
(21:20):
home.
Reply on the road.
And it's also kind of makingsure you run with a little bit
stronger level of confidence andawareness so you don't want to
be looking down at your phonetrying to find where you are.
And that's why I love using theGarmin as turn by turn, so that
way you don't constantly lookat your phone for your map and
be like, okay, what street do Iturn on?
That kind of helps me feel moreconfident and then more aware
(21:43):
and helps me stay safer outthere.
And lastly, I kind of want totalk about the mental challenge,
or reframing this, when you'rerunning on vacation on the road.
This, when you're running onvacation on the road, the
vacation runs are more aboutexperience than performance.
(22:04):
There is definitely a time andplace for the performance level
run while on vacation.
But a lot of times I just loveto be able to say that I got to
run around a park in Amsterdamor that I got to run near the
Boston Science Museum.
When I ran there it's moreabout seeing things that you
(22:24):
wouldn't normally on foot thanit is about trying to make sure
you hit your certain paces andyour certain tempo and your
thresholds and you kind of wantto.
Also, I know I have woken up inthe morning on some of those
days and I go.
I don't want to spend myvacation running, I want to
relax, I want to sleep in.
And you get mad because you'relike, oh, I have to go for a run
(22:47):
and you have to remind yourselfof that point.
I get to explore this city,this state, this place in such a
fun way.
I get to see what other peoplewho are runners in that city do
and see and view and it's a lotof fun.
So really just kind ofreframing that piece.
(23:08):
And I've had a lot of bad, badruns when I've been vacationing.
I have texted and ended a runearly, I've gotten lost, I have
needed to find a bathroom in themiddle of nowhere.
At the end of the day.
It really builds the mentalstrength because now I'm going
into Brooklyn in a few weeksknowing that I ran at that same
(23:35):
distance with no support, ontired legs, on a different time
zone, jet, lagged, under fueled,under hydrated, nothing was set
to perform.
That set the peak, and I stillfinished it.
It was hard but I did it andthat's going to build so much
mental resilience.
When I get to the hills and Iwant to stop or I want to walk,
(23:57):
I can remember that I candefinitely do more than I
thought I could and I think youcan too.
Thank you for listening to someof my tips, my tricks on how to
run on vacation, my recent tripto Malibu and how it was so much
fun running by million dollarmansions and near the Planet of
(24:21):
the Apes filming location andhaving the actual ocean in front
of me instead of just thebeautiful streets of Kansas City
, missouri.
I really want to hear aboutyour travel runs, so DM me your
best vacation running moment, orI'd love to hear if you would
tag me in a photo from yourfavorite route while on vacation
(24:44):
or at home.
Yeah, I am so excited.
Thank you so much and I lookforward to the next one.
See ya.
Thanks for sharing another milewith me today.
Before you cool down, here arethree quick ways to stay
(25:05):
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First, hit subscribe whereveryou're listening to this right
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Lastly, want more runningadventures?
Follow at Dogs Per Mile Pod onInstagram, where I share daily
motivation, behind the scenesmoments and plenty of pictures
(25:27):
of my two running coaches, yogiand Maple.
Be sure to tag me in your runphotos and use hashtag
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I love celebrating yourvictories, big and small, and
thank you for being a part ofthis journey.
Until our next run together,remember every step forward is
progress and every dog you seeis bonus motivation.
Keep running, keep smiling andkeep counting those dogs.
(25:49):
Thank you.
If you've ever wanted to keep running while traveling
or been intimidated by a longrun in a totally new place, this
episode's for you.
I'm walking you through how Ifind routes, prepare safely and
use my Garmin for turn-by-turnsupport, and when I definitely
stay chill when things don't goperfectly.
Here on Dogs Per Mile heyrunners, you're listening to
(00:20):
Dogs Per Mile, where we'remaking running work for your
life, not the other way around.
I'm Bridget, with over 13 yearsof running experience and
approximately 4,892 dogs seen onmy run.
I'm now here to help you findyour own path to running
happiness, ready to run on yourown terms.
Let's get going.
Hey guys, welcome back to theDogs Per Mile podcast.
(00:48):
I'm your host, bridget, andhere this is where we chase joy
instead of pace or distance andwe really just try to find the
enjoyment in running and getbetter along the way and talk
about all of that.
I'm so excited to be back.
I am back from a little vacationand that's kind of what
inspired today's episode.
I recently went on a littlevacation to California, which
(01:13):
was nice to get out of theMissouri landlocked state and
sea and ocean and the beach andeverything that they have to
offer, and so while I wastraveling, I was still needing
to do my runs, and so I reallythink, over time, I've picked up
a lot of great tips and trickson how to run, either on
(01:35):
vacation or on the road or intotally new areas where you are
unfamiliar with it.
If you're anything like me andyou are a type A runner and you
love your routines and yourroutes, running in a new area
can be scary, and, as much as Ido love the treadmill and it's a
great option for times wherethe weather's not great it also
(01:57):
is a really fun way to explore anew city on foot, see things
you wouldn't normally see, orjust say that you ran in the
streets of Amsterdam or inBoston or on the beach in Malibu
.
This last week, before I leftmy trip, I looked at what my
runner plan had and I basically,no matter what, was going to
(02:19):
have to at least run one of myruns there most likely two, and
so I kind of strategicallyplanned that out to make sure
that I knew what I needed to run, and that included my own
self-supported 13.1 mile halfmarathon as my long run, which
is a long distance in general.
(02:41):
It's scary in general, and Iknew that this was something
that I wanted to do on the road.
I knew it would give me a goodconfidence boost, it would be a
lot of fun and it would be agreat motivator and kind of a
little test to my mentalstrength, which is what I have.
One of the things I've beenworking on and I've done long
(03:01):
runs in different places, butI've never run that far in
somewhere entirely new.
So it ended up being a reallyexciting and fun run and I'm so
excited to tell you about it.
I'm so excited to tell you someof the tips and things that I
use anytime I travel, anytime Igo somewhere new, to make sure I
am safe, make sure I know whereI'm going, and just to find
(03:26):
some of the more runner-friendlyroutes.
So that's what kind of we'regoing to go over in this episode
.
I'm going to kind of share whatmy venture in Malibu was like,
how I plan my routes, how I useGarmin.
My Garmin watch actually hassome cool features that I don't
think a lot of people know aboutor use or maybe they do I.
I just I think they're cool tokind of keep you on track on
(03:47):
your path, especially if you'rein somewhere where you don't
know where you are.
If you've ever struggled orwanted to keep your training
plan going while vacationing,while perhaps you're a person
who travels for work a lot, oryou really just want to hear
about me running in Malibu andgetting a little bit more mental
toughness, let's set the scene,let's go over to the West Coast
(04:11):
and let's start there.
So okay, so, as I said before,my goal for this run, or my goal
for my runs on my trip, were Iwanted to do my long run, which
was going to be 13.1 miles, andthen one medium distance run,
which was a six mile easy runs.
It said to do hills.
(04:32):
I said I'm not doing hills, I'mnot going to try to add extra
stress onto this.
So those were my only two goalsto do, which was a
self-supported half and my sixmiles, which was just me, no
water stops, no crowd support,just everything like that Kind
of the way that this run wentout is.
(04:56):
I did the six mile run a coupleof days before and then I did
the 13 mile run on Saturday.
So I utilized the six mile runin a couple of different ways.
One it was a great way to justto physically scope out the area
that I was going to plan ondoing my long run on.
It was a good way to showmyself first with a shorter
distance, that I can in fact runin a different area.
(05:19):
And this run was just six.
It was six miles with myhusband.
He did four and a half, I think, and I did.
I kept going and did six, andso I just wanted to make sure
that this was feasible, it wasdoable, and kind of prepare
mentally for that.
I was able to find some routeoptions and I kind of mapped
them out on MapMyRun and Garminto make sure the distances made
(05:41):
sense.
I use Google Maps to kind oflook at the sidewalk, see if the
shoulder is big enough, andthen my really big thing that I
love to do is just, if possible,I will drive part of the route
or walk parts of it or anythinglike that.
That helps me to alleviate anysort of stress, and the route
(06:02):
that I did was absolutelyfucking beautiful, oh my
goodness.
So the route that I ran is Istarted at Zuma Beach, which is
down at the base of Malibu, andI started there and basically
kind of ran along the sidewalk.
That's near the beach and it'sonly May, so it's not a busy
time of the year yet, so it waspretty light on congestion of
(06:23):
people, but there's still a goodamount of people out and that's
kind of one thing that made abig deal to me was making sure
that they would be peoplepresent.
And also when I drove by thebeach a couple of times, I
noticed that there wasdefinitely port-a-potties
prevalent, which if you are arunner you know.
You know, because it's veryyou're not going to make it
without one or you're going tohave a straight up bad time.
(06:46):
And so we kind of ran that partthat hugged the beach all the
way to the end and then kind ofdoubled back towards the car and
I needed to add on additionalmile and a half or so, and so I
just kept running towards moreparts of Malibu along the beach
with a pretty big shoulder,being very aware of what was
(07:09):
going on around me, because Iwas not on a sidewalk, I was not
in a protected bike lane, I waskind of out there and making
sure I was running againsttraffic, not with traffic.
I do not understand how peoplewho are clearly runners are
running the wrong direction, howpeople who are clearly runners
(07:30):
are running the wrong direction.
That's a whole other thing.
But the coolest thing is theend.
Part went towards part of abeach that they filmed Planet of
the Apes on, and I've neverseen that, but it did look
familiar from what I've seen onTV or in the internet.
So that was really freakingcool to run by something so
famous and do that, and so thatwas kind of my pre-warmup to
(07:52):
make sure the Malibu run, mylong run, was going to be
possible.
So then, when it came to thelong run, I knew I was I could
just do that run a couple oftimes.
That would be possible.
It would not be fun.
It would be possible though theday before fun.
It would be possible though.
The day before.
We drove part of the PacificCoast Highway, which is a very
iconic it's just the coastalhighway that goes from, I'm
(08:16):
pretty sure, it goes intoWashington State and goes all
the way down through California.
It's where all the beautifulbeach towns are.
It's just a really scenic andbeautiful road and fortunately
there are no sidewalks.
So when I looked on Garmin, Iwas like oh great, there's lots
of routes.
Oh, there's lots of bikingroutes, because it is a huge
biking route that people love todo 50 mile, 100 mile bike rides
(08:38):
on.
So that was less helpful.
We drove part of the PacificCoast Highway to see how big the
shoulder was, how many laneswas it, was it blocked off, was
there any sort of constructionor anything like that.
So that was really helpful,just to get a sense of what I
was doing.
And then I noticed that therewere a couple areas I could turn
(08:59):
down and kind of run down asmaller side street that would
be way less congested but didnot have as big of a shoulder.
But that was a nice littleoption.
So basically I kind of had myroute planned out and then I
fully mapped it out on map myrun to make sure that the
distances were going to work,because nothing is worse than
thinking you have the perfectroute mapped out and then you're
(09:22):
short by like half a mile andyou have to backtrack, or you're
super long, and then you'reshort by like half a mile and
you have to backtrack, or you'resuper long and then you have a
really long walk home or you gotto get someone to come get you,
and both of those equally suck.
I could have run the PacificCoast Highway much further, but
I just didn't want to be thatfar away from help or assistance
(09:42):
or anything like that.
So I decided to do a doubleloop of this Pacific Coast
Highway, fancy Street andPacific Coast Highway again.
And that was challengingbecause after I did the Pacific
Coast Highway part first, Iliterally my husband met me with
water and my gummy candy and Isaid I don't want to do that
again, cause it was straight sun, which it wasn't hot, but it
(10:05):
was warm.
It was straight sun and alittle hilly and I just didn't
want to do it again.
But I kind of made it into alittle bit of a game.
I looked at all of the reallyexpensive houses that were on it
and try to notice a differenthouse or imagine what celebrity
could live there.
And that was just a lot of funjust to see something different.
And imagine if I won thelottery would I live in this
(10:27):
house or would I live in thishouse and just amazing scenery
and beautiful.
And then I really it was tough.
There was definitely a mentalpart where I wanted to stop, but
I knew once I did that secondloop there was no turning back.
So I wanted to make sure Icould do everything in my power
to mentally guarantee I wasgoing to do this.
And I was so fucking proud whenI was done.
(10:50):
It was not as fast as I wouldhave wanted it, which is fine.
It was an easy run.
It was not supposed to be fast.
I got a little bit sunburned, Idid not fuel properly, but I
was so proud because I actuallyfollowed through on what my
training plan said, even when Iknew it was going to be fucking
hard, and it just shows that youcan run any sort of distance as
(11:15):
long as you prepare smart andare strategic about it, and it
doesn't necessarily mean it'sgoing to be always the most
perfect, beautiful route.
There are some tips and tricksthat I alluded to before that
I'm going to kind of dive into alittle bit more on how you can
make it fun for yourself andhelp you stick to your training
(11:37):
plan as easy as possible whilein a new area.
Okay, so I want to kind of breakdown a little bit of kind of
how I plan the runs whiletraveling, because I think that
really is what that was really.
What makes the difference isfinding routes, and so there's a
(11:58):
I mean, there are somedefinitely people who will willy
nilly, just run wherever, um,and that is fantastic for you.
That is not me.
I'm going to plan my route.
I'm going to have an idea ofwhere I'm going.
So the two things that I usethe most to find, uh, where runs
are is in the Garmin connectapp.
(12:18):
You can look at courses, andthis can be courses that you've
saved or other people have saved.
So I usually will move my maparound, find the area that I
want to kind of run in and seewhat people have run.
You can look for bike routes.
You can look for running routeson the website.
You can sort by, like distances, and so that's really helpful
(12:39):
just to find where I usuallylook, where there's a lot of
running routes that I've startedin somewhere.
That lets me know that a lot ofpeople have started runs here.
So I use that as validationthat other runners say that this
is a great option to start.
Another one I'll use is map myrun.
There aren't as many routes onthere, unfortunately, but I will
(13:00):
also look for any sort of likegood starting points for runs,
and then I definitely, after Iidentify a couple, I pop over to
Google Maps and look at theroutes and see if there's
sidewalks.
I look to see if there'sshoulders.
I will do a lot of.
I'll just drop a pin and lookat the map and look at what is
(13:21):
going on, just so I have an ideaof if that route is even
possible.
Is it entirely like on a smallroad?
There were definitely some thatI was like, oh, this is great.
And then I realized that it wasno shoulder, no space, and it
was just not going to be doable.
And that's perfectly fine.
So I rather spend a little bitmore time looking to see if it's
(13:42):
well lit, things like that.
And my biggest thing if I canand I have the ability to, I
will try to drive or walk partof the route beforehand, and
that just helps to ease myanxiety.
It lets me kind of get an ideaof what I'm going to see, what
(14:03):
space I have, how far things are.
Apart where my mental milecheck marks are, it's like, okay
, at six miles, I'm going to beat this point, or I'm going to
be at this at two and a halfmiles, or this is where I'm
going to have to turn, or oh,there's a little bit of
construction here, I'm going tohave to turn, or oh, there's a
little bit construction here.
I'm going to have to cross theroads.
Even like that little like fiveminute preview made me way less
anxious waking up to do it.
And then, once I have my routepicked out, if I'm using one
(14:28):
that somebody else has done,which I have done that before,
or if I'm creating my own, Iwill put it into my Garmin, and
so then the Garmin app you cando maps, and so what that lets
you do is literally like you'redropping a pin and then you map
your out, your whole entireroute all over the place, and
you can save that route, andthat's kind of how those other
(14:50):
ones are created People havecreated or ran and then you turn
it into a saved route One of myfavorite features.
I have used this in Boston, Iused this in Amsterdam when I
ran twice, because I may beDutch but I do not speak Dutch,
I don't speak it, I don't readit, and it's an entirely new
area, and so, basically, itturns your watch into turn by
(15:14):
turn directions.
It'll start buzzing at you whenyou are a few hundred feet away
from turning left or rightaccording to the route that you
have mapped, and then it willalso let you know if you get off
course.
It will buzz at you saying youare a 10th of a mile off course,
you're a quarter mile offcourse, and it has a little
teeny tiny arrow on it and letsyou kind of know what direction
(15:35):
you need to go back in.
And so I used this when I wasin Chicago, because I definitely
went on the wrong route, Iturned the wrong way and I was
so lost, and so it's reallyhelpful that you can kind of
find your way back, and that'sreally helpful when you either
don't speak the language or youjust don't know where you are,
which is very common with this.
(15:55):
And so that's that's one of myfavorite features that Garmin
has that I don't think a lot ofpeople actually spend the time
to make a course for themselvesand then follow it.
This is also how they docourses on, like race day, which
is kind of cool Another featurethat it has.
And then one thing another thingI do is make sure I pack
(16:17):
correctly, based on the runsthat I'm doing.
So it is always a little bitchallenging because when you're
at home, you have your tank tops, you have your long sleeves,
you have your shorts, you haveyour this, you have your that.
So picking, you have to kind oflook at the weather and just
kind of.
So I usually will pack oneextra, if I can, of each or.
I know that I knew that for mylong run I was going to want
(16:39):
shorts and a long sleeve, basedon the weather, because I did
not want to chafe my arm.
So when I ran the other day Iran in my tank top and it was
much warmer the second day.
But I was happier with mydecision because it worked out.
But always bring your mostversatile items.
Bring your favorites.
Bring your most versatile shoesLike even if one of your days
is going to be a speed day andthe other day is going to be a
(17:00):
long run day, if you're a runnerthat uses multiple pairs of
shoes, bring your most versatileshoes.
Bring the shoes that are goingto work for the longest distance
.
You want to have somethingthat's going to handle, you know
, gravel if there's out there,or pavement or anything like
that.
And one of the coolest gifts Igot for Christmas that I
definitely try and travel withthe most often is a mini
(17:22):
Theragun massage gun.
It's like the size of a littlebit bigger than a hamburger roll
, something like that, and it'sreally great to help warm up or
cool down or anything like that.
It's definitely one of my mostpacked running tools that I
always kind of fit either in mycarry on or anything like that,
and that's just really makingsure that you pack correctly.
(17:45):
If you need hydration, eitherplan to bring something or plan
your course around where you canstop at gas stations or hide
water bottles, if that worksbetter for you.
So for this one, I wasstrategic and I kind of knew
ahead of time that I was eithergoing to need to bring water or
my partner was going to be ableto bring me water.
(18:05):
So that's kind of what happenedis he brought me water at mile
stoppers that I would have drankhydration at, and so that's
definitely.
You kind of have to plan aheadand put a lot, a lot of thought
into this, and these are all alot of these are techniques that
you do when you do a race,where you travel, so these
aren't only applicable torunning on vacation.
It's also applicable to runninganywhere that's not at home.
(18:27):
Another thing you kind of haveto do is you have to flex when
needed and I have definitely.
I think when I was in, when wewent to London and Amsterdam, I
was planning on running inLondon doing a load of laundry
at a laundromat and then runningin Amsterdam.
Well, the weather in Londonjust didn't cooperate, and I
could have chosen to at thatpoint.
(18:47):
You'd either choose do I do therun on a treadmill, do I skip
the run, or do I end up withlike potentially really soggy
sneakers where I'm not going tobe able to run at all later on.
So you kind of have to justsometimes be okay in that moment
.
Calling, you know calling aloss, and it's okay if you have
(19:10):
to miss a run, even if you wereplanning on doing this.
If I had not been able to do a13 mile run, nothing bad would
have happened.
It would have sucked.
I would have rather have hadthat in my training plan.
I could potentially move it,but it is what it is, and
sometimes what's best is toenjoy your vacation than it is
to try to overstress yourself,and so that's definitely
(19:31):
something that you may need tojust flex, depending on the
weather and how your travel went.
If you get delayed and you'rejet lagged, that fucking sucks,
and so you might not be able torun.
And the last thing I want totouch on is how to kind of,
especially if you're a woman,it's really important to try to
(19:54):
do everything you can to staysafe while running.
Even though we should beallowed to run, we shouldn't
have to go through all theseextremes in order to stay safe.
People shouldn't just try andkill women while running, but
unfortunately so.
I will always make sure that Itell somebody where I'm going,
how distance, when I should beback.
(20:17):
If I stop for breathing or gelsor anything like that, I will
text that person and be like hey, I'm at mile four taking my
gummies, that sort of stuff.
I definitely try to run.
As much as I love running earlyin the morning when you can't
really see anything, I try torun a little bit later.
So in order to run in morewell-lit areas, I try to look
(20:38):
for areas that might be morepopulated.
I've also looked sometimes atseeing if a run club has a
running meetup during that time,and that's always hit or miss,
because run clubs can create alot of anxiety.
I know it's always nervewracking A you don't know the
people, and B you don't know thepaces, and it's just can become
a whole thing.
(20:59):
So it is an option that you canlook into, but it's kind of hit
or miss for me and when indoubt, absolutely trust your gut
.
If something looks weird, feelsweird, you don't, you just step
out the door and you, you lookand it's just not it, that's
fine.
Trust your gut, make yourselfknown, make yourself bright all
the sort of rules that applywhen you're not there in your
(21:20):
home.
Reply on the road.
And it's also kind of makingsure you run with a little bit
stronger level of confidence andawareness so you don't want to
be looking down at your phonetrying to find where you are.
And that's why I love using theGarmin as turn by turn, so that
way you don't constantly lookat your phone for your map and
be like, okay, what street do Iturn on?
That kind of helps me feel moreconfident and then more aware
(21:43):
and helps me stay safer outthere.
And lastly, I kind of want totalk about the mental challenge,
or reframing this, when you'rerunning on vacation on the road.
This, when you're running onvacation on the road, the
vacation runs are more aboutexperience than performance.
(22:04):
There is definitely a time andplace for the performance level
run while on vacation.
But a lot of times I just loveto be able to say that I got to
run around a park in Amsterdamor that I got to run near the
Boston Science Museum.
When I ran there it's moreabout seeing things that you
(22:24):
wouldn't normally on foot thanit is about trying to make sure
you hit your certain paces andyour certain tempo and your
thresholds and you kind of wantto.
Also, I know I have woken up inthe morning on some of those
days and I go.
I don't want to spend myvacation running, I want to
relax, I want to sleep in.
And you get mad because you'relike, oh, I have to go for a run
(22:47):
and you have to remind yourselfof that point.
I get to explore this city,this state, this place in such a
fun way.
I get to see what other peoplewho are runners in that city do
and see and view and it's a lotof fun.
So really just kind ofreframing that piece.
(23:08):
And I've had a lot of bad, badruns when I've been vacationing.
I have texted and ended a runearly, I've gotten lost, I have
needed to find a bathroom in themiddle of nowhere.
At the end of the day.
It really builds the mentalstrength because now I'm going
into Brooklyn in a few weeksknowing that I ran at that same
(23:35):
distance with no support, ontired legs, on a different time
zone, jet, lagged, under fueled,under hydrated, nothing was set
to perform.
That set the peak, and I stillfinished it.
It was hard but I did it andthat's going to build so much
mental resilience.
When I get to the hills and Iwant to stop or I want to walk,
(23:57):
I can remember that I candefinitely do more than I
thought I could and I think youcan too.
Thank you for listening to someof my tips, my tricks on how to
run on vacation, my recent tripto Malibu and how it was so much
fun running by million dollarmansions and near the Planet of
(24:21):
the Apes filming location andhaving the actual ocean in front
of me instead of just thebeautiful streets of Kansas City
, missouri.
I really want to hear aboutyour travel runs, so DM me your
best vacation running moment, orI'd love to hear if you would
tag me in a photo from yourfavorite route while on vacation
(24:44):
or at home.
Yeah, I am so excited.
Thank you so much and I lookforward to the next one.
See ya.
Thanks for sharing another milewith me today.
Before you cool down, here arethree quick ways to stay
(25:05):
connected with our runningcommunity.
First, hit subscribe whereveryou're listening to this right
now.
It's the best way to make sureyou never miss an episode.
Second, if today's show helpedyou or inspired you, please
leave a review.
Your words help other runnersfind their way to our community.
Lastly, want more runningadventures?
Follow at Dogs Per Mile Pod onInstagram, where I share daily
motivation, behind the scenesmoments and plenty of pictures
(25:27):
of my two running coaches, yogiand Maple.
Be sure to tag me in your runphotos and use hashtag
dogspermile to share your owndog spotting stats.
I love celebrating yourvictories, big and small, and
thank you for being a part ofthis journey.
Until our next run together,remember every step forward is
progress and every dog you seeis bonus motivation.
Keep running, keep smiling andkeep counting those dogs.
(25:49):
Thank you.
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