February 26, 2022 • 53 mins
So you registered to train with Chicago Endurance Sports, and now you are thinking “What have I gotten myself into”. It is understandable to feel a little anxious when taking on a new challenge, but relax we have got you covered.
On this episode of the Chicago Endurance Sports podcast we will try to answer many of the questions you may have as you begin your CES journey. We’ll discuss how CES does things and what to expect from your CES training program so you feel comfortable as you get started training with us.
We’ll go over how CES intends to support you through communications and staff, how your training is assigned and structured, what to expect from group workouts, and answers to some commonly asked questions participants have.
This is a must listen for those new to Chicago Endurance Sports, and a great refresher for those returning alumni.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lori (00:05):
Welcome to the Chicago Endurance Sports podcast.
My name is Coach Lori McGee Kochand I am the lead coach of the
Old Town location.
I am here with Coach Michael andI'm lead coach at the South Loop
location.
We are thrilled that you'relistening to this today.
This is a, informational sessionwhere we talk about the way that
CES produces training throughouta season.
(00:26):
We're here to talk about thecommon questions that
participants might have talkabout the training schedules,
how we assist participants ingetting into the right training
program that will lead them tosuccess and meet the goals that
they have for the particulartraining season that they're
about to start.
We're going to talk about thestructure and support, and then
all the details and, frequentlyasked questions that you might
(00:48):
have about your trainingschedules, your support systems,
such as coaches and Pacers, ouradministration staff, and all
other little goodies that weprovide to support group
training.
Michael (01:00):
Sounds great.
So where should we get started?
Lori (01:02):
Well, let's talk about the support system, the actual
people that will be out theresupporting the group training,
and if you're a virtualparticipant supporting that
virtual training.
And so we, have a lot of playersthat are part of our village.
Well, let me first start talkingabout our coaches.
So we have a large network ofcoaches.
(01:24):
They all come from differentbackgrounds so they're not just
people that can just run reallyfast and do a lot of races.
They all have a very unique anddifferent background that sort
of embellishing the wholepicture of all the training
needs that you have.
So some might have degrees innutrition, some of them are
personal trainers.
Some of them have just ran a lotof races and, have picked up the
(01:45):
skill set to help people along,just understanding that the
quirks that will happen duringtraining, help you understand
what you might be doing on raceday and then help you also make
a lot of schedule adjustments,throughout the season, again,
based on your goals and what youwant to do.
Michael (02:05):
I really love that CES is able to offer such a variety
of coaches with variousbackgrounds?
I always encourage participantsto talk to all the coaches and
get to know all of them becausethey all have a unique
perspective and bring their ownexperience with them.
Also, I know as a coach myselfis when confronted with a
(02:25):
question from a participant thatI'm unable to answer, I know I
have a pool of knowledgeableexperienced coaches that I can
go to and amongst us guaranteedto get an answer that's going to
be able to help out.
Lori (02:40):
Yeah.
And I agree, Michael, if youthink about it, you and I have
been two, the coaches have beenaround actually the longest and
we've met so many differentcoaches and have been able to
collaborate with so manydifferent coaches with unique
experiences and expertise.
What's kind of your expertise,Michael.
Michael (02:58):
I started late in life.
I'm not a lifelong athlete.
I didn't start when I was reallyyoung, I wasn't involved with
school athletics or anythinglike that, So I come from a
perspective of, I guess,politely they call it a master
runner, which I guess means oldrunner.
But I just got hooked on it andI've learned a whole lot.
And I educated myself a wholelot since.
(03:18):
I have, never been a speeddemon, but I've been dabbling
quite a bit with the ultradistances, so I have a lot of
familiarity with running ontrails and all sorts of terrain
and be able to log a lot ofmileage while trying to stay
healthy, which I've been prettysuccessful at.
(03:40):
I think that kind of is myunique niche amongst the other
coaches that CES currently has.
What about yourself?
Lori (03:49):
Yeah, so I feel like I've gone through the ups and downs
and can relate to a wide varietyof athletes.
Growing up, I was prettyoverweight and didn't really run
a lot.
And then I kind of a longerstory for another podcast is I
landed myself on my collegecross country team and so then I
kind of, I wasn't speed demonfor a number of years and an
(04:11):
accomplished a lot of races andhad those types of goals.
But throughout time I startedcoaching and putting my efforts
more towards that.
And then I've had a couple ofbabies, so my goals have kind of
changed.
And now I'm kinda more on therun-walk side as I'm in this
little piece of my life rightnow, but it's great.
I feel like I can relate to alot of the paces.
(04:33):
I'm doing a lot of differentdistances running while
pregnant.
So I can bring a lot of thosekinds of things to the table
and, you know, we'll talk more,as the season goes on, we
encourage you to talk to as manycoaches as possible to get a
feel for just what theirexperiences are and what tips
they can give you.
And sometimes too, you know, youmight connect with a certain
personality that you can kind ofcling on to and get the coaching
(04:57):
advice from them, but thecoaches are there to support
you, and we're pretty proud ofthe team that we've put
together.
The next piece of support thatwe have is what is called our
Pacers, sometimes they're calledmentors, it depends on what kind
of training you're doing.
If you're doing a 10 K training5k training program or the half
or full program.
(05:18):
These individuals are quiteexperienced runners and
athletes, they're out therehelping you with the safety on
the path, help you collaboratewith other fellow runners,
leading the groups through, themileage.
Sometimes they're the ones thatyou might connect with very
closely.
Michael (05:35):
Pacers are basically participants who are taking a
leadership role and have beenrunning with CES for a period of
time.
They'll know what the route is,they'll know where to the
turnaround points are andthey'll help you maintain a
steady pace.
They'll have a lot of knowledgeto share through their
experiences, but the coaches aregoing to be your main contact to
(05:59):
answer a lot of seriousquestions.
The coaches, there there to helpyou out while the Pacers are
there to guide, but they'rethere for their training as
well.
So in addition to our coachesand Pacers, we have another arm
that is very important to theteam and the expectations that
you can have with see CES andyour support, and it's our
(06:20):
administration team and ouradministration team deal with
our registration, they'll beoften answering some questions
that you might've emailedthrough info at Chicago,
endurance sports, and makingsure that you get your
appropriate questions answeredand they deal with a lot of the
communications.
So the communications that youcan expect, our weekly
(06:40):
newsletters, we have a Twitteraccount that does our weather
updates, there's a Facebookpage, and then there's these
podcasts.
So when you first register, andas we're starting to get
information out to you, you canexpect to get newsletters.
If you are not gettingnewsletters after you
registered, you do need to emailthe info at Chicago endurance
sports to ensure you're gettingthat information.
(07:02):
That newsletter is going to comeout on a weekly basis and it's
going to have valuable tips,info on training, stuff about
any races that we might bepresent at, and that we're
supporting and just kind ofother fun stuff as well.
It will give you the most richinformation for the week.
We have a Twitter account to.
Mainly the Twitter account isfor our weather updates.
(07:25):
So from season to season, thereare a lot of different weather
conditions that we do encounter.
And so every once in a while wemight delay the training start a
little bit, or we might cancel,we try as hard as we can not to
but that information isdefinitely going to be up there
as soon as we know the bestinformation that we can give
you.
There's always a Facebook pagetoo, for each season.
(07:47):
So make sure that you aregetting on that Facebook page,
that Facebook page drives upreally fun communication between
the participants, the coachesand pacers also will give you
fun tips and conversation aswell.
Then also on that Facebook pageis a really great way to share
your workouts, share yoursuccesses, even talk about
(08:07):
things that might not have goneas well, and get support,
through that arm of ourcommunications.
Lori (08:13):
And then finally, in these podcasts.
So we have already produced afew podcasts that you can go
back and look at, and then youcan look forward to more
podcasts that talk about our,our training and other types of
support.
Like what else can we expect forthose podcasts, Michael?
Michael (08:30):
Yeah, our podcasts give us the opportunity to take deep
dives into subjects and topicsrelated to your training and
running in general.
It's an opportunity to kind ofgo in depth in a more long form
format to discuss thingsrelevant to your training and
your goals.
We have the opportunity to bringin experts and talk to them in a
(08:53):
more extended format where wecan really get more thorough and
deep into the information toeducate you.
Also, we know a lot of peopleenjoy listening to podcasts
during the workout, so bysupplying these, hopefully you
could consume some informationfrom your coaches during your
workout as well.
Lori (09:13):
So at the beginning of the season, one of the most
important communication piecesthat you're also going to get is
called the participants factsheet and this link will lead
you to a form that is going toask you a number of questions
about your current level offitness, how much you've been
running, if you've had anyrecent injuries, any sort of
training goals that you havepreferences for the training
(09:37):
schedules that we might assignto you, what else does it ask?
Michael (09:41):
Well, I think you've covered, a lot of the standard
things that covers, I think it'simportant to know that this one
of the very first steps you needto take at the beginning of
every season.
It's really giving your coaches,a snapshot of where you
currently are in your fitnessand your running.
So we can make assessments.
And for that reason, it'simportant for you to be honest
(10:01):
with yourself and honest withyour coaches when you're
completing that form, you're nottrying to impress us, but it's
important that we understandexactly where you are at this
time, so we can put you in thebest program so you'll be able
to get the most out of thatprogram.
Lori (10:19):
That is correct and that just brings up that it's not
just one blanket program that wehand out to our participants,
but we have, five differenttraining schedules that we put
together and they're based on acouple of factors.
How much you've actually beenrunning, what your pace is, what
your goals are going to be, andwhether or not, you might be
(10:41):
more appropriate to be in a planthat's called a continuous
running or a plan that's calledrun walking.
Within those training schedules,when you receive them, you're
going to notice that they have aname that is a color.
So we have Purple Green, Yellow,Red, and Blue.
So our Purple and Green programsare run-walk specific programs.
(11:02):
And the difference betweenPurple and Green are two
factors.
Purple is a different run-walkinterval.
It is a three minute run twominute walk that builds to a
four minute run two minute walkprogram is also a program that
has a little bit moreconservative type of mileage.
(11:23):
Our Green program is a fiveminute run, one minute walk type
of program, and it has a littlebit more mileage built in there
than the Purple program does.
With our continuous run program,they are based on a couple of
different things.
They're called Yellow, Red, andBlue.
The Yellow program is our mostadvanced program, it has the
most mileage built into it, andwithin our paces we support that
program anywhere from a 7 (11:48):
30 to 9
kind of on their location.
We have a Red program, which isjust intermediate mileage, that
supports those middle paces thatare in there, which, which might
be anywhere from like a 9 to a10: 30 mile.
And then our Blue program, it'sjust a more conservative type of
(12:08):
mileage, so there's the leastamount of mileage built in there
as a continuous run.
And typically a person in thatprogram might be between a 10
minute to 11:30 minute miler.
So, there's a point to be madetoo, like the difference between
Red and Blue on the long runs inthe weekend might only look like
one mile, but there's a lot ofother rich information and
(12:30):
different information thathappens throughout the week that
is built into those programsthat are very different.
So people have to kind of keepin mind what you're doing across
the entire week and as coaches,when we assign those programs,
have a good understanding whenyou fill out those forms and
what you should be doingthroughout the week as a whole
package, as opposed to just thatone long run.
(12:52):
Now the Yellow program has a lotmore mileage built in there,
than the Red and the Blue.
And I think sometimes whenpeople get their training
programs, they automaticallylook what that long mileage is,
but, you know, pay attention towhat is suggested and built
throughout the week for you aswell.
And then sometimes too, it's alittle bit based on what your
actual training pace is too, butthat's kind of, we look very
(13:16):
specifically at each individualparticipant fact sheet to ensure
that we're giving you the besttraining recommendation that we
possibly can.
So sometimes people feeldisappointed that we might
suggest a run program instead ofa continuous run program for
them.
But there's a number of reasonswhy we could be suggesting that.
One might be, you might have arecent injury that might be
(13:37):
concerning that you're sort ofcoming back from, and it's an
excellent way to come safelyback from an injury and still be
able to get the same amount ofmileage in.
For some people they're actuallyfaster in a run walk program.
I find throughout time,depending what, where I'm at in
my training sometimes I findthem a little bit faster in a
run-walk than I am in acontinuous run, but it just
(14:00):
depends on where I'm at in mytraining cycle.
And I think that's the point ofthese entire training schedules.
We reassign them every seasonbecause everybody's, body's a
little bit different in theirfitness throughout each training
cycle.
And that's just kind of thereality of especially doing
distance training.
What can happen and just havingsetting realistic expectations
(14:23):
and with these trainingschedules, we're just trying to
help you set realisticexpectations.
Michael (14:29):
Yeah.
There's a couple of things Ithink I could add to that.
First of all, is I know I speakfor myself and not to be
braggadocious or anything, butafter years of doing this, I
think I'm pretty good atassigning things based on the
information given on theparticipant fact sheet, however,
sometimes not everything comesacross as it needs to be, or
(14:52):
look, get all the details.
So if you're assigned to a groupor a schedule that you don't
think is appropriate for you,you're certainly welcome to come
and talk to one of the coachesand bring that up and you could
talk through it more to makesure you are in fact in the
right spot.
But the other part I wouldmention is don't feel like
you're being judged, don't thinkthat because you're not a
(15:15):
certain color, you're any lessof an athlete or you have a less
potential, it's just putting youwhere you are now, so you are in
a spot where you'll excel.
Lori (15:25):
Yeah, I think that's the reason why we have such a large
coaching staff to there shouldbe always somebody that you can
come to where you are, like, Ijust didn't, I don't think I
fall on this Blue program andI'm not sure what to do, and
this is my pace.
That's why we're here, pleasetalk to us, email us because we
can make other tweaks to yourtraining schedule because what's
wonderful about endurancerunning is everybody's very
(15:49):
unique and it has a skill setthat we can build off of.
And just because there's thesefive programs, and we're glad
that we have these five programsbecause we can fit a lot of the
athletes.
There's going to be certaintweaks.
It's going to be individualizedfor you, that we're going to be
able to help you with.
And that's why we have coaching.
Michael (16:09):
Great points.
Absolutely.
Lori (16:10):
So then what to expect during a typical week.
So we'll assign each one ofthese training programs first of
all, let's talk about that.
And then what you're going toget is you're going to get an
email from your coach, it'sgoing to have a PDF kind of
outlook for the season, but moreimportantly, it's going to have
a thing called Training Peaks onthere.
And this is an online trainingtool where your training
(16:33):
schedule is loaded in there.
And I highly advise that you usethe Training Peaks and be
interactive with it becausewhat's going to be different by
that PDF that you're going toget that's not on that PDF, but
in Training Peaks is it's goingto give you more details about
what that workout should looklike.
So you're going to get thistraining plan, it's going to
(16:53):
give you a suggestion of whatyou're doing every day, but
you're not going to know thedetails of that and how exactly
to perform the workout the best,unless you go into Training
Peaks and open that up and seewhat the workout details look
like.
And with the Training Peaks aswell, depending on what kind of
devices that you use to trackyour workouts, you could upload
those workouts in your trainingpeaks, and then you can keep
(17:15):
really good track of what you'vebeen doing throughout the
training season and you couldalways reflect back on that to
see which workouts were workingout for you, which ones that
maybe didn't go so well for you.
What else can it do for you?
Michael (17:28):
Yeah Training Peaks is a really valuable tool.
When we send out your email withyour schedule assignment it
really doesn't take very long toset up.
And once you get that TrainingPeaks schedule set up online,
you have the opportunity to viewit in your browser, there's free
mobile apps for your phone thatyou basically call up your
workout at any point.
(17:49):
As Lori pointed out each workoutin Training Peaks has a really
detailed description as opposedto a PDF where we only have like
a quarter inch by quarter incharea to describe what the
workout is.
Also, you could go into TrainingPeaks and log your workout and
how you felt and what you woreand keep a daily log of what you
(18:12):
did.
And likewise, your coaches couldget in and look at your Training
Peaks to see your log and seehow you've been doing maybe look
for some trends to help you withyour training.
And they even have the option togo in and customize and switch
your around workouts as well incase maybe you're going on a
trip or you get sick or have aninjury and you need to adjust
(18:35):
your schedule a little bit.
Lori (18:36):
So Training Peaks the number one recommended thing
that your coaches are going toconstantly be asking, if you
signed up for your TrainingPeaks, if you, you have certain
questions, we might be able togo back and reflect on that.
But again, I go back to that youcould also reflect on what
you've been doing and it givesyou a really good visual, giving
you the information that youneed to know to have those
(18:57):
moments of realizing how you'reprogressing or maybe where some
of your roadblocks arethroughout your training.
Michael (19:05):
Right, and Training Peaks could automatically send
you an email every single day totell you what your upcoming
workout is so you didn't evenhave to think about it.
It just kind of be fed to youevery single day.
Lori (19:16):
That's an excellent point as well.
I think that's one of the numberone features most people like
actually about it.
Even if you don't log yourworkouts in there, just having
that information, that one, thatalert, and then two, sometimes
we might prescribe a workoutthat's outside the group
training and you may be a littlebit like, well, wait, I don't
know exactly what this means thefirst thing we're going to tell
(19:37):
you is open up your TrainingPeaks and look at that
description and it'll kind ofgive you a guide you through
what you need to do for thatworkout.
And then if you still haveadditional questions, that's why
the coaching staff again, isthere, you can email them and
have a conversation with themabout which pieces of that
either you want to modify thatyou might be confused about,
just so you can make sure thatyou're getting the workout
(19:57):
that's prescribed in.
Michael (20:00):
You're really not going to get the full benefits of
training unless you take thetime to use training Peaks the
PDF is just sort of therebecause maybe a throwback to
1989 or something like that, Idon't know.
So the other thing you're goingto notice once you get your
training program too, is you aregoing to see that there's kind
of a prescribed thing thathappens every day on that
training plan.
(20:21):
But let's talk about the grouptraining and how that is laid
out on your training plan.
Lori (20:26):
Unless you are virtual, there's group training workouts,
so there's the group traininghappens twice a week.
So there's a weekday workout andthere's a weekend workout.
And, you know, depending onwhere you're at on at home base
is going to change that.
So for example, I train out ofOld Town so our weekday workouts
on Wednesday nights and our longrun is on Saturdays.
(20:50):
And Michael, your group is wemeet on Tuesday evenings and on
Saturdays as well.
Yep, and so then, yeah, we havea suburb location in Elmhurst on
Tuesdays and Saturdays as well.
And then we have another greatoption, which is Lincoln Square,
which is on Thursday nights andthen Sunday mornings.
So there is an opportunity forpeople in the group training to
(21:14):
go any of those days.
So again, you'll have a homebase.
So if you're training on an OldTown Wednesdays and Saturdays,
however, if you find that yourschedule needs to be tweaked a
little bit, because you'retraveling or, you know, any
other life events that come up,you can go to any of those
locations.
Michael (21:30):
All the workouts are the same.
So the weeknight workouts aregoing to be the same at all the
locations or just differentnights of the week.
So you get the same experienceand the same thing for distances
on Saturday workouts.
Lori (21:43):
That's correct.
So then, but you know, whatbrings up a good point though,
is when you do still have a homebase, those training schedules
that we send out to you aregoing to be on those specific
nights in a weekend mornings onyour training schedule.
But if you decided to go toanother location and that's
fine, you're always welcome todo that it's part of your
training package.
And then if you need tounderstand any sort of
(22:04):
modifications, you might need todo that because you trained on a
different night with a differenttype of workout, just reach out
to your coaches and they canhelp you make that tweak.
Michael (22:12):
Yeah, the big message here is there's no excuse to
miss your workout.
Do you want to explain thedifferences or what to expect on
the weekend and the weekdayworkouts?
Lori (22:24):
Yes, that was the next thing I was going to talk about,
I just wanted to make surepeople understood that, the way
their training plan might read,but one of the number one
questions we definitely get iscan I go to a different
location?
And you just made the point ofthat is correct.
And we have so manyopportunities for you there's no
excuse to miss.
(22:45):
So the difference between aweekday and a weekend workout,
the weekday workouts are a verydifferent type of workout than
the weekend.
So the weekday workouts arebuilt to be a strengths, speed
type of workout.
So this is the one workout wherewe're going to be asking you to
push it and to maybe be a littlebit faster.
(23:07):
They're going to be differenttypes of workouts that we're
going to do with the all sort ofencompass the same type of
strength and speed type oftraining.
So you're to expect that wemight be doing, half mile,
quarter mile repeats, or we dosome workouts are called ladder
workouts, which are basicallykind of the same concept, but we
change it up a little bit wherethey're, the intervals are based
(23:30):
on minutes as opposed to thedistance that you're running
fast.
We're going to do some circuitworkouts, which will incorporate
some strength training with somerunning in between.
We will do a couple of clinicsin the beginning called good
form running.
So we can teach you someconcepts about, again, this kind
(23:50):
of the good form of running andhow to be conscious of that and
how to build that into improveyour running form.
What are the pieces of I missingthere for the weekday workouts?
Yeah, I think a common thing issome runners, especially newer
runners will be like, well, I'mjust trying to figure out how to
run, I'm not fast, I never goingto be fast or I'm not at that
(24:13):
point yet, why by show up to theweekday workouts.
So can you maybe respond tothat?
Exactly.
So I think some people too arealso, to that point, even if
somebody feels like, okay, Iwant to increase my heart rate
and run a little bit faster, alot of people feel shy,
especially if you're on a moreconservative side of pacing
(24:33):
that, oh, everyone's going to befaster than me and I don't want
to be left behind, but we havesuch a wide variety of runners
in this program that's not thecase at all.
And it's, it's one of thosethings you do show up and you,
you can do what you need to do,and nobody's paying attention to
that, and we try to partner youup with somebody else to ensure
(24:54):
that you do feel supported.
But all I can say about thoseworkouts is that is going to be
one of the best workouts that isgoing to make you a little bit
faster, it is actually going tomake you feel a little bit
stronger, and what happens inthose weekday workouts too, is
consistently showing up for themis actually going to make your
long run on Saturdays orSundays, feel a lot easier
(25:17):
because the combination ofbuilding that strength and speed
with your long run and buildingyour endurance is the two things
that you put together on raceday.
And so now talking about theweekend workouts, this is not
about the speed and thestrength, it's about building
the endurance.
So you'll notice as yourtraining program that you will
build mileage over two or threeweeks, then we'll kind of cut
(25:40):
back and then we'll buildmileage over two or three weeks.
But those runs are all about,again, building endurance.
They're supposed to be at anice, easy, conversational pace
and that's how you build thatweekday and weekend work out
together.
But those are what encompassesour group workouts.
We've talked about what you canexpect if you were part of the
group training in the groupworkouts.
(26:01):
So we have this one weekdayworkout that you can come to and
then the weekend workout, butthere's other workouts that are
prescribed throughout thetraining plan, which we've kind
of mentioned before, but let mekind of walk you through what
you can expect.
So there's going to be a restand stretch day.
So we want these recovery days,but there's going to be other
days, too, that you might see onyour training plan.
(26:22):
Some of them might look likejust an easy run, where we want
you to go out there at an easypace.
And that pace will be basicallywhat your long run pace is or
even something even moreconservative.
You might also see what's calleda Hill workout and this is a
good example of like, when youlook at your PDF and it will say
Hill workout 45 minutes, andyou're like, what is that?
(26:45):
That's where you open up yourTraining Peaks, look at that and
understand what the descriptionof that is there might be other
runs that are on there it saysCross Training, and a lot of
people have a lot of questionsabout what can cross training
be.
We can discuss that with you.
And sometimes it's veryindividualized, we like the
cross training to be somethingthat you enjoy.
(27:05):
We could talk about that alittle bit more later, but there
is a very formula related thingof why we do certain workouts in
certain timing frames.
So for example, if you've doneyour long you will see that the
day after we typically ask youto rest or stretch, and that's
(27:26):
typically because we want you tobe able to recover from that
mileage that you're doing.
And another important point tomake is you might see the the
weekday run, which is like alittle bit more of a speed or
strength type of run that nextday, you might see it's going to
be cross training or an easyrun, and that's specifically set
up that way so you can recoverfrom these runs that put a
(27:49):
little bit more stress on yourbody, so then you're ready to go
and your system andphysiologically, fully available
to do the workout, even afterthat and the most efficient way
that you possibly can.
Michael I thought that you havea lot to add to that as well.
Yeah, I think that it'simportant to understand when you
(28:11):
look at the schedule and youshould look at the schedule.
A lot of people only look at thelong run on the weekend, which
is not really training, it'sjust going for a run.
Is that the schedule as a whole,was to put together with a lot
of thought, and there's a methodto that madness, how the pieces
fit together.
In the same way, we talked abouthow the weekend long run serves
(28:33):
one purpose and the weekday runserves another purpose, each of
these workouts that you've beenassigned hold a special
significance in training.
For instance, Hill training ison your schedule, and some
people go, well, I run Chicagothere's not a lot of hills, or
my race is not someplace hilly,but there's plenty of studies
(28:56):
that will support howsignificant running hills can
contribute to making you abetter, faster, stronger runner
overall.
So, pay attention to it, all,respect to all of it, and
getting back to your coaches andTraining Peaks, if for some
reason you need to move aroundthe schedule where you need to
do your Cross Training days on adifferent day of the week and
(29:21):
you don't know how to fit it in,you could talk to a coach and
they could help you readjustyour schedule so it fits into
your life.
That brings up another goodpoint too, is we brought up
before that you can go to anytraining location, and that's a
benefit of your trainingpackage, however I was bringing
up earlier about, doing certainworkouts before, after, certain
(29:42):
key workouts, ensuring if youare doing that a lot and you are
looking at a specific location.
So for example, let's say you'rea signed up for Old Town and
your, your schedule saysWednesdays and Saturdays, but
you decide that you're actuallygoing to Lincoln Square a lot
you might just want to talk to acoach a little bit about, just
(30:03):
enhancing anything that we canhelp you with and tweaking a
workout to make sure that youmaximize your recovery efforts,
so you're always ready for thosetypes of workouts.
One other workout I did want tobring up that I get a lot of
questions about is why we do arun the day before the long.
(30:24):
A lot of people would thinkthat, well, don't, you want to
be fully recovered the daybefore and fully recovered the
day after when you do a longrun, but when it comes to the
distance training programs, likethe half and full marathon,
there's a lot of literature outthere that really does say that
what you're basically doing istrying to run on tired legs.
(30:47):
So when you do a bit of a runthe day before your long run,
you're actually maximizing theefforts of building endurance
and over a season, your bodybecomes more efficient
recovering from mileage.
Yeah, I remember when I firststarted training, I used to
think if I did any work duringthe week that I would not have
(31:09):
any strength to do the long runat the end of the week.
So at first I used to skip allthat stuff.
Over time, I learned that if youdo the work during the week, the
easier those long runs actuallybecome at the end of the week.
Also people that are maybe newerto understanding the different
types of workouts, have to becautious too.
It doesn't mean that now I haveto run as fast as I can, and as
(31:31):
hard as I can throughout theweek now to enhance running on
tired legs, these workouts arevery specific and have a lot of
backing again in the researchand literature on what you
should be doing.
So we say do an easy run and itneeds to be easy.
It needs to be easy.
It's been shown over and overagain, balancing the speed and
(31:54):
strength with the endurance andsome easy runs in between, and
then when you strategicallyplace your, your rest days
people do very, very well.
Sometimes it takes a couple oftraining cycles to kind of
believe it, but again, thesetraining programs are built on a
lot of knowledge that has beenproduced over the years.
Michael (32:13):
Right, we always say trust the process that a couple
of things I always come acrossas there tends to be like
sometimes two extremes, onewhere people are struggling at
the beginning of the season andI usually encourage them to try
to follow the schedule the bestthey can for the first three
(32:33):
weeks.
And if they're consistent,things usually fall into place
and they become routine andbecome easier.
And the struggle disappearsafter you get into the flow of
things.
If not, if you're stillstruggling after three weeks,
come talk to a coach, they maybeneed to modify things or put you
into a different schedule.
(32:55):
On the other extreme.
We have people who come to theprogram going, this is not as
much work as I've been doingevery season know I've been
running a lot more mileage and,and doing a lot more, it's not
testing me.
And I give the same advice, givethe three weeks and if you're
not being tested after threeweeks, if you still feel that
way, talk to a coach.
(33:16):
Most of the time though, giventhat those, those weeks, that
period of time, they realizethey are in the right place,
they just need to give that achance.
Lori (33:25):
Oh, I completely agree.
And again, people respond to thetraining and the training
stresses very differently.
And so that's again, why we havethe coaching staff.
So the other amenities beyondjust having the coaching staff
and the training schedules and,these group training
opportunities are the amenitiesthat we have being able to train
(33:49):
out of the Fleet Feet stores.
Michael (33:51):
Yes, we are very fortunate to have access to the
Fleet Feet stores for those whotrain with us in person,
probably the first benefit wouldbe access to bathrooms.
So you have the opportunity touse the restrooms at the Fleet
Feet stores prior to, and afteryour run, which I know for a lot
of people is pretty imperative.
(34:14):
Also we have a gear check, so ifyou need to bring a change of
clothes or something warmer,with you we'll have a safe,
secure place for you to storeyour stuff.
We do ask you don't bring atrunk full of gear, but if it's
a regular bag, you're welcome tostore it there.
And the to go along with that isall the locations have a
(34:35):
changing room, so for example,after your run if you're all
sweaty you want to get into somedry clothing, you can use the
changing rooms.
If you're coming from work inthe evening and you want to
change out of your work year andget into your running gear, you
use the changing rooms as well,but these are great
opportunities to do that andwe're very fortunate to offer
(34:55):
them.
Lori (34:58):
The other part of this amenities it's just having Fleet
Feet is a part of ourco-ownership.
And so being able to be in thosestores you have at your
fingertips, the nutrition thatyou might need to supply
yourself with.
Also those stores typicallyprovide water and Gatorade at
the start and the end of theworkout.
(35:19):
Just being at the Fleet Feetstores too, you have experts
that are available to help youwith any sort of shoes that you
might I need to be fitted intobeing able to understand the,
the gear inside and out.
The message really is the FleetFeet staff are experts at what
they do.
They know all about the latesttechnology, they know how gear
(35:39):
fits and how it feels, and itcan help you find what you need.
Take advantage the expertise tomake sure you're fitted in gear
that was going to work best foryou.
As coaches, one of the firstthings that we're going to guide
you on and what you need tobring to training and what your
homework is for the first weekto make sure that you have the
(36:00):
best experience is you want tomake sure your fit is a proper
shoe, and that your shoes areupdated, meaning, if you have
not updated your shoes in a longtime.
And don't realize that you needto replace your shoes every
three to six months, dependingon how much mileage you're
putting on them.
The next thing you need to haveis some sort of watch some sort
of a tool that will help youeither guide, if let's say
(36:22):
you're doing run, walk, run,walk intervals, or just kind of
give you some timing, but theGPS watches are great, it'll
help you keep track of theamount of mileage that you're
doing.
And there are newer technologiesthat will help you keep track of
your heart rate and give you alot of metrics that will guide
your training and make it abetter experience.
And then the third thing, whichis probably almost the number
(36:45):
one thing is the hydrationsystem and making sure that
you're carrying your own systemthat so you can hydrate as early
and as often, it is needed toagain, have a good experience
for the day and make you feelbetter, throughout your run and
after your run.
Yeah.
So to just to follow up on that,you mentioned the shoes are sort
(37:06):
of the base and that's where theexpertise of Fleet Feet can
really help you out.
As far as timing devices go,once again, they can help you
out there, but that's alsosomething that probably your
coaches and your pacers couldgive some advice on as well.
You don't need anythingexpensive or fancy necessarily,
some people like the high-techstuff, some people like
(37:27):
simplicity, but there's lots ofoptions at all price ranges for
everyone.
And I had hydration system, Iwould speak to your coaches and
especially your pacers, becausesome people prefer the
handhelds, some people preferwaist belts, and they could give
you all sorts of feedback ontheir personal experiences on
what worked for them.
So, I would definitely takeadvantage of speaking to your
(37:51):
pacers, your fellow runners andyour coaches on that.
Michael (37:55):
So next thing we want to talk about is training in the
weather and yes, we're outsideso get to enjoy being outside,
but obviously the weatherchanges quite a bit and we need
to adapt to it.
So it's really important thatyou've trained in all kinds of
weather.
I remember seeing a memesomewhere with a calendar,
marking the perfect days forrunning.
(38:15):
And it marked like one day outof the entire month because
conditions aren't always goingto be perfect.
And we need to learn how to runin various types of conditions
because on race day, you don'tknow what the conditions are.
So that means if it's a windyday or what's a rainy day or a
humid day or really cold day,you want to get out there and
(38:36):
have some experience running.
However, there's going to betimes where it's just not safe
to get out there and train,those days we might have to
cancel training.
Those are going to be when thetemperatures are extreme will be
really, really, unsafe as faras, being cold or if it's
(38:57):
extremely hot and humid and it'sjust not safe to get your
workout in.
Sometimes we will have to workout, then we'll adapt to
workout, but a lot of timeswe'll need to cancel it.
The other part is lightning.
We definitely will run in therain, if you haven't done it
before, sometimes it could be adeterrent, but a lot of people
find that some of the most funtimes to run is in the rain.
(39:19):
However, when there's lightningpresent, we need to cancel, it's
just not safe.
So whenever lightning is in thearea, we're going to either
cancel the run.
Or if we're out on the run andwe experience lightning, we're
going to cut the run short andget everyone into a safe place.
Lori you want to add to that?
Lori (39:40):
Just with the weather, we have to be adaptable and we do
the best we can.
We always want to make sure thatwe're able to get the workout
in, but we always want to makesure that the conditions are
safe enough for that.
So sometimes we adapt to start alittle bit later or cut the run
short, like you said, but justknow that we are constantly
(40:00):
monitoring terrain conditionsall the time to make sure that
we can give you thatinformation.
It goes back to that Twitteraccount, if there is going to be
modifications or we're going tocancel the workout, we will post
cancellations or, adaptationsthere and the same thing with
the Facebook page too.
So those are two going back tothe communication, two important
(40:20):
pieces to be connected with.
So you can kind of understandand follow what we're trying to
do and thinking to make surethat the weather is going to be
conducive with the actualtraining that we're doing.
Michael (40:34):
And just remember that our goal is really always is if
at all, possible try to get theworkout in.
But once again, it comes down tosafety.
People's health and safety arefar more important than a single
workout.
And if you're consistent indoing the majority of your
workouts, having to cancel aworkout here, there is not going
to destroy your entire trainingprogram.
Lori (40:57):
And that is correct too.
So consistency right?
Going into that is that's wherepeople get a little bit nervous
about any sort of cancellationsor adaptions that we have to
make in the workout.
But being consistent is one ofthe most important things you
can do in this training program.
And to Michael's point, if wemiss one or two of those due to
(41:17):
cancellations, that's fine, butbeing consistent week to week to
week with making sure thatyou're getting at least four of
your workouts, and I dunno, it'shard to put like a number to
them necessarily, but one of myfirst things I like to do, like
starting the training andtalking about the training from
(41:38):
day one is that consistency isgoing to be your best friend and
ensuring that you have a goodplan, have a good goal are
committed and are able to in thecapacity that's available in
your life, get workouts andconsistently, and if you're not
able to do that, then you're notgoing to have a good training
experience.
Michael (41:58):
It's such an important component to endurance sports
and distance running really tokeep your body healthy and to
achieve your goals the moreconsistent you could be the
better, and oftentimes they tellpeople, cause I know they have
busy lives.
They have family, they have workand school and everything else
going on in their life is thatif for some reason you, say you
(42:22):
have a 45 minute workoutscheduled, but you only have 30
minutes.
It's better to do the 30 minutesthen to say, well, I can't do
the whole thing so I'm not goingto do it at all.
Basically getting to your biggergoal is based on all the little
pieces that you build up overtime.
(42:42):
It's not just one or two piecesthat make you successful.
It's all the little bits andpieces in between that you add
together over the course of theseason that builds a total
athlete and builds your successat the end of the training
session.
Lori (42:58):
I completely agree with you.
I think sometimes too, somepeople might get overwhelmed by
looking at their trainingschedule that we have sent to
them, and exactly a good pointwas if it says 45 minutes and
you only get in 30 minutes, getin the 30 minutes sometimes I
think people think that if thecan't get that exact workout in,
then forget it and then theystart to shut down and then it
(43:21):
adds up over the weeks.
And then again, I'm alwaystalking about the experience we
are talking about these things,trying to arm you guys with
these tools to ensure that youhave the best experience as
possible.
Is it going to be pictureperfect and what the actual
training schedule says?
No, everybody's, life'scompletely different, but this
(43:42):
is part of the, the grouptraining or even if you're
virtual training, you have someonline tools to help get some of
that support.
Use the advantage of thiscommunity to ensure that you can
make sure that you get yourworkouts and then never forget
to have fun with it too.
So I think the more fun youstart to have with it, and the
more you kind of engage, thenthe more likely you're actually
(44:05):
going to be able to get yourworkouts in.
So it all kind of perpetuatesitself so you can be consistent
and have a good time.
Another frequently askedquestion and we get about the
training schedules is we havethe weekends written in mileage,
and then we have the weekdayswritten in minutes.
It's all about differentstrategies and the difference
(44:25):
between doing timed workouts anddoing workouts that have mileage
a lot of times it has to do withhow you focus on your pace and
how you focus in on the actualeffort that you're putting
forth.
So sometimes with the timeworkouts, we don't really want
you to necessarily focus so muchin, on your pace but more about
(44:45):
time on your feet and just theamount of effort you're putting
in for that run.
And sometimes we just don't wantyou to have too much time on
your feet throughout the wholetraining program as well.
They both have differentbenefits and people argue about
doing actual mileage and timed,but having a balance of both has
over and over again, shown to bemore effective for training.
Michael (45:09):
Yeah, I think you've kind of hit spot.
We talked about effort and asathletes, we need to think more
about our workout from an effortstandpoint, our bodies don't
have a speedometer or odometer,it doesn't know how fast we're
running, it doesn't know how farwe're running.
It just knows the effort you'reputting into it.
There's a lot of talk in thetraining community about load
(45:31):
which is kind of equivalent toeffort, how much you're putting
in, and as humans, we like toquantify things with things like
our our watches as far as a paceper minute and our distance.
But really when you break thingsdown, you're kind of regulating
the load and able to maximizethe effort you're putting in.
Lori (45:54):
So a couple of other frequently asked questions about
the training plan and when youreceive it is if you know, you
might've reported that you'rerunning a different race, which
is very common, there's lots ofrace opportunities out there.
It's really great that we have,the ability to choose events
that peak our interest in ourtraining goals, but it might not
(46:15):
match up exactly what the CEStraining program that you
receive.
So with that, we handle it acouple of different ways and we
want to kind of set upexpectations for the
participants and understandinghow, how we do that.
So for example, you might bedoing a race it's a week earlier
than the CES planned event, andhow can you handle that?
Come to a coach?
(46:36):
Let us know about that.
And what we do is tweak yourlong runs on the weekends.
We don't do a lot of stufftweaking during the week.
We can make suggestions, but wewill tweak your long runs.
Or same thing if it's a week ortwo after the CES planned event,
that's kind of how we handlethat.
Now, if you want very specific,tweaks, even if it's not a
(46:59):
different race, that is likeevery single day, then we'll
have a conversation with you.
If you're appropriate more forlike a one-on-one coaching
situation, which we do haveavailable.
But just start off with comingto a CES coach, we can start
tweaking those long runweekends, and then we can kind
of go from there and make therecommendations.
Michael (47:18):
That's right.
Basically we want to try and dowhat we can within the scope of
the training program to makesure that you feel ready for
your specific race.
Lori (47:28):
And it's very common, there are so many events out
there, and lots of times there'snew events that come up and So
it's fun.
It's fun that we have all theseopportunities.
One last thing I wanna touch onwhen it comes to the run-walk
programs sometimes people arenot a hundred percent certain
and how we deal with the overallpace for those programs.
(47:48):
And as this is a frequentlyasked question, we'll kind of go
into what to expect for thefirst week of training, but this
is one of them that I think isimportant.
And it's how fast is the runpace for the run-walk programs.
So, for example, we talked aboutour Green program is a five one
(48:10):
run-walk pace, meaning you'rerunning five minutes and walking
one minute and you're repeatingthat cycle throughout your long
run.
So what does that mean with yourpace?
So if you are in our 11:30 groupand it's a run-walk group.
How fast is that run pace?
It's not the run pace of 11:30.
(48:32):
It's the pace overall with therun and the run walk for the
mile.
So at an 11:30 pace for the runwalk, you're probably running
more like an 11 minute mile.
And with that one minute walk,the overall interval and overall
miles, 11:30.
So to wrap this up, I think whatwe should do is talk about what
(48:55):
to expect on the first couple ofdays, so nothing's really a big
surprise, right?
Michael (49:00):
So probably the first thing you want to make sure you
do is make sure you completedyour participant fact sheet
before the season begins so wecan get you your schedule.
So when you show up on day oneto group training, you know,
what schedule you've beenassigned and what color to
associate with.
Lori (49:18):
And then once you know that, the first day is going to
be a weekend long run.
When you show up, you're goingto notice that there are going
to be individuals standingaround with signs that have a
color and a number on them.
And what you're looking for isthe color of the training
schedule you were assigned.
(49:38):
So if you're assigned Blue, youlook for a blue sign.
However, you're going to alsonotice there might be three
different blue signs.
One might say 10, what might say11?
Won't you say 1130, and withinthose, you're looking for the
actual pace that you will berunning with that.
So if you're a 10 30 person, youwere assigning a Blue schedule,
(50:00):
you look for the 10 30 blue signand that'll go across the other
colors too.
If you're not sure, look for acoach or let's look for
somebody.
There's a lot of time.
We have a lot of, we're verylucky to have a lot of alumni
that are around too, that cankind of guide you where you need
to be.
So you'll have that expectationthat again, we've talked about
before, there'll be a gearcheck.
(50:21):
There's some restroomopportunities when we suggest to
you that you show up earlierrather than later, so you can
get kind of the lay of the land.
You'll match up with thosegroups.
And then a coach will do someannouncements, giving you a lot
of information on what to expectfor the day and the routes and
all that good stuff.
That's what you can expect forlike the first weekend.
(50:44):
And then what will happen isyour second workout will be,
during the week on a weekday.
And that is not as much pacerled as it is more coach led.
And so then there's usually agood two to four coaches that
are available on those runs, andthose are a little bit more
independent.
We don't actually have specificpacers that are leading you out
(51:05):
as formalized as we do on theweekends.
That's because speed andstrength ability is very
different than people's long runabilities.
And so we embrace that and thecoaches kind of run back and
forth between people.
In one way, you're running thatworkout a little bit more
independently because we wantyou to focus in on your ability
for that type of workout, butalso we do support you and we
(51:29):
have the group around and thecoaches around to support what
you need to do for that day tobecome a better runner and take
advantage of our trainingpackage that sort of encompasses
all the workouts together.
So you can become the bestathlete as possible and reach
the goals that you have for thisspecific training season for
(51:49):
yourself.
Michael (51:50):
Yeah, and to just emphasize that all group
training, there'll be coaches onhand, they're there specifically
for you to help you.
It's not their training, they'rethere to be on hand to help you
out.
And they'll always be a coach atevery workout who will sweep the
back of the pack to make sure noone's left out there alone.
They'll stick it out and waituntil everyone has completed the
(52:13):
workout and made sure everyonegets back safely.
Lori (52:16):
So we really hope that this answered a lot of questions
that you might be thinking aboutas you're coming into a new
training season, whether or notyou're alumni or a new, training
member, or like, we like to saya new member of our CES family.
If you are new member of our CESfamily we welcome you and we're
(52:37):
so excited and we hope you makea lot of friendships.
We hope you learn a lot, abouttraining.
We hope that you are able toreach your goals.
If there's any other questionsknow that it goes beyond this
podcast and we haven'temphasized enough already that
there is a large coaching staff,you will be connected with
(52:57):
pacers and mentors that will beable to answer a lot of your
questions as well, and we'rejust here to do this journey
together and support thecommunity as best as we can, and
we couldn't be more excited thatwe're able to provide that
assistance.
Michael (53:12):
I think that sums it all up.
We want everyone to have thebest possible experience they
can.
So thank you all for listeningto the Chicago Endurance Sports
podcast.
If you're new to the podcast besure to check out our earlier
episodes and subscribe so youdon't miss any future episodes.
Welcome to the Chicago Endurance Sports podcast.
My name is Coach Lori McGee Kochand I am the lead coach of the
Old Town location.
I am here with Coach Michael andI'm lead coach at the South Loop
location.
We are thrilled that you'relistening to this today.
This is a, informational sessionwhere we talk about the way that
CES produces training throughouta season.
(00:26):
We're here to talk about thecommon questions that
participants might have talkabout the training schedules,
how we assist participants ingetting into the right training
program that will lead them tosuccess and meet the goals that
they have for the particulartraining season that they're
about to start.
We're going to talk about thestructure and support, and then
all the details and, frequentlyasked questions that you might
(00:48):
have about your trainingschedules, your support systems,
such as coaches and Pacers, ouradministration staff, and all
other little goodies that weprovide to support group
training.
Michael (01:00):
Sounds great.
So where should we get started?
Lori (01:02):
Well, let's talk about the support system, the actual
people that will be out theresupporting the group training,
and if you're a virtualparticipant supporting that
virtual training.
And so we, have a lot of playersthat are part of our village.
Well, let me first start talkingabout our coaches.
So we have a large network ofcoaches.
(01:24):
They all come from differentbackgrounds so they're not just
people that can just run reallyfast and do a lot of races.
They all have a very unique anddifferent background that sort
of embellishing the wholepicture of all the training
needs that you have.
So some might have degrees innutrition, some of them are
personal trainers.
Some of them have just ran a lotof races and, have picked up the
(01:45):
skill set to help people along,just understanding that the
quirks that will happen duringtraining, help you understand
what you might be doing on raceday and then help you also make
a lot of schedule adjustments,throughout the season, again,
based on your goals and what youwant to do.
Michael (02:05):
I really love that CES is able to offer such a variety
of coaches with variousbackgrounds?
I always encourage participantsto talk to all the coaches and
get to know all of them becausethey all have a unique
perspective and bring their ownexperience with them.
Also, I know as a coach myselfis when confronted with a
(02:25):
question from a participant thatI'm unable to answer, I know I
have a pool of knowledgeableexperienced coaches that I can
go to and amongst us guaranteedto get an answer that's going to
be able to help out.
Lori (02:40):
Yeah.
And I agree, Michael, if youthink about it, you and I have
been two, the coaches have beenaround actually the longest and
we've met so many differentcoaches and have been able to
collaborate with so manydifferent coaches with unique
experiences and expertise.
What's kind of your expertise,Michael.
Michael (02:58):
I started late in life.
I'm not a lifelong athlete.
I didn't start when I was reallyyoung, I wasn't involved with
school athletics or anythinglike that, So I come from a
perspective of, I guess,politely they call it a master
runner, which I guess means oldrunner.
But I just got hooked on it andI've learned a whole lot.
And I educated myself a wholelot since.
(03:18):
I have, never been a speeddemon, but I've been dabbling
quite a bit with the ultradistances, so I have a lot of
familiarity with running ontrails and all sorts of terrain
and be able to log a lot ofmileage while trying to stay
healthy, which I've been prettysuccessful at.
(03:40):
I think that kind of is myunique niche amongst the other
coaches that CES currently has.
What about yourself?
Lori (03:49):
Yeah, so I feel like I've gone through the ups and downs
and can relate to a wide varietyof athletes.
Growing up, I was prettyoverweight and didn't really run
a lot.
And then I kind of a longerstory for another podcast is I
landed myself on my collegecross country team and so then I
kind of, I wasn't speed demonfor a number of years and an
(04:11):
accomplished a lot of races andhad those types of goals.
But throughout time I startedcoaching and putting my efforts
more towards that.
And then I've had a couple ofbabies, so my goals have kind of
changed.
And now I'm kinda more on therun-walk side as I'm in this
little piece of my life rightnow, but it's great.
I feel like I can relate to alot of the paces.
(04:33):
I'm doing a lot of differentdistances running while
pregnant.
So I can bring a lot of thosekinds of things to the table
and, you know, we'll talk more,as the season goes on, we
encourage you to talk to as manycoaches as possible to get a
feel for just what theirexperiences are and what tips
they can give you.
And sometimes too, you know, youmight connect with a certain
personality that you can kind ofcling on to and get the coaching
(04:57):
advice from them, but thecoaches are there to support
you, and we're pretty proud ofthe team that we've put
together.
The next piece of support thatwe have is what is called our
Pacers, sometimes they're calledmentors, it depends on what kind
of training you're doing.
If you're doing a 10 K training5k training program or the half
or full program.
(05:18):
These individuals are quiteexperienced runners and
athletes, they're out therehelping you with the safety on
the path, help you collaboratewith other fellow runners,
leading the groups through, themileage.
Sometimes they're the ones thatyou might connect with very
closely.
Michael (05:35):
Pacers are basically participants who are taking a
leadership role and have beenrunning with CES for a period of
time.
They'll know what the route is,they'll know where to the
turnaround points are andthey'll help you maintain a
steady pace.
They'll have a lot of knowledgeto share through their
experiences, but the coaches aregoing to be your main contact to
(05:59):
answer a lot of seriousquestions.
The coaches, there there to helpyou out while the Pacers are
there to guide, but they'rethere for their training as
well.
So in addition to our coachesand Pacers, we have another arm
that is very important to theteam and the expectations that
you can have with see CES andyour support, and it's our
(06:20):
administration team and ouradministration team deal with
our registration, they'll beoften answering some questions
that you might've emailedthrough info at Chicago,
endurance sports, and makingsure that you get your
appropriate questions answeredand they deal with a lot of the
communications.
So the communications that youcan expect, our weekly
(06:40):
newsletters, we have a Twitteraccount that does our weather
updates, there's a Facebookpage, and then there's these
podcasts.
So when you first register, andas we're starting to get
information out to you, you canexpect to get newsletters.
If you are not gettingnewsletters after you
registered, you do need to emailthe info at Chicago endurance
sports to ensure you're gettingthat information.
(07:02):
That newsletter is going to comeout on a weekly basis and it's
going to have valuable tips,info on training, stuff about
any races that we might bepresent at, and that we're
supporting and just kind ofother fun stuff as well.
It will give you the most richinformation for the week.
We have a Twitter account to.
Mainly the Twitter account isfor our weather updates.
(07:25):
So from season to season, thereare a lot of different weather
conditions that we do encounter.
And so every once in a while wemight delay the training start a
little bit, or we might cancel,we try as hard as we can not to
but that information isdefinitely going to be up there
as soon as we know the bestinformation that we can give
you.
There's always a Facebook pagetoo, for each season.
(07:47):
So make sure that you aregetting on that Facebook page,
that Facebook page drives upreally fun communication between
the participants, the coachesand pacers also will give you
fun tips and conversation aswell.
Then also on that Facebook pageis a really great way to share
your workouts, share yoursuccesses, even talk about
(08:07):
things that might not have goneas well, and get support,
through that arm of ourcommunications.
Lori (08:13):
And then finally, in these podcasts.
So we have already produced afew podcasts that you can go
back and look at, and then youcan look forward to more
podcasts that talk about our,our training and other types of
support.
Like what else can we expect forthose podcasts, Michael?
Michael (08:30):
Yeah, our podcasts give us the opportunity to take deep
dives into subjects and topicsrelated to your training and
running in general.
It's an opportunity to kind ofgo in depth in a more long form
format to discuss thingsrelevant to your training and
your goals.
We have the opportunity to bringin experts and talk to them in a
(08:53):
more extended format where wecan really get more thorough and
deep into the information toeducate you.
Also, we know a lot of peopleenjoy listening to podcasts
during the workout, so bysupplying these, hopefully you
could consume some informationfrom your coaches during your
workout as well.
Lori (09:13):
So at the beginning of the season, one of the most
important communication piecesthat you're also going to get is
called the participants factsheet and this link will lead
you to a form that is going toask you a number of questions
about your current level offitness, how much you've been
running, if you've had anyrecent injuries, any sort of
training goals that you havepreferences for the training
(09:37):
schedules that we might assignto you, what else does it ask?
Michael (09:41):
Well, I think you've covered, a lot of the standard
things that covers, I think it'simportant to know that this one
of the very first steps you needto take at the beginning of
every season.
It's really giving your coaches,a snapshot of where you
currently are in your fitnessand your running.
So we can make assessments.
And for that reason, it'simportant for you to be honest
(10:01):
with yourself and honest withyour coaches when you're
completing that form, you're nottrying to impress us, but it's
important that we understandexactly where you are at this
time, so we can put you in thebest program so you'll be able
to get the most out of thatprogram.
Lori (10:19):
That is correct and that just brings up that it's not
just one blanket program that wehand out to our participants,
but we have, five differenttraining schedules that we put
together and they're based on acouple of factors.
How much you've actually beenrunning, what your pace is, what
your goals are going to be, andwhether or not, you might be
(10:41):
more appropriate to be in a planthat's called a continuous
running or a plan that's calledrun walking.
Within those training schedules,when you receive them, you're
going to notice that they have aname that is a color.
So we have Purple Green, Yellow,Red, and Blue.
So our Purple and Green programsare run-walk specific programs.
(11:02):
And the difference betweenPurple and Green are two
factors.
Purple is a different run-walkinterval.
It is a three minute run twominute walk that builds to a
four minute run two minute walkprogram is also a program that
has a little bit moreconservative type of mileage.
(11:23):
Our Green program is a fiveminute run, one minute walk type
of program, and it has a littlebit more mileage built in there
than the Purple program does.
With our continuous run program,they are based on a couple of
different things.
They're called Yellow, Red, andBlue.
The Yellow program is our mostadvanced program, it has the
most mileage built into it, andwithin our paces we support that
program anywhere from a 7 (11:48):
30 to 9
kind of on their location.
We have a Red program, which isjust intermediate mileage, that
supports those middle paces thatare in there, which, which might
be anywhere from like a 9 to a10: 30 mile.
And then our Blue program, it'sjust a more conservative type of
(12:08):
mileage, so there's the leastamount of mileage built in there
as a continuous run.
And typically a person in thatprogram might be between a 10
minute to 11:30 minute miler.
So, there's a point to be madetoo, like the difference between
Red and Blue on the long runs inthe weekend might only look like
one mile, but there's a lot ofother rich information and
(12:30):
different information thathappens throughout the week that
is built into those programsthat are very different.
So people have to kind of keepin mind what you're doing across
the entire week and as coaches,when we assign those programs,
have a good understanding whenyou fill out those forms and
what you should be doingthroughout the week as a whole
package, as opposed to just thatone long run.
(12:52):
Now the Yellow program has a lotmore mileage built in there,
than the Red and the Blue.
And I think sometimes whenpeople get their training
programs, they automaticallylook what that long mileage is,
but, you know, pay attention towhat is suggested and built
throughout the week for you aswell.
And then sometimes too, it's alittle bit based on what your
actual training pace is too, butthat's kind of, we look very
(13:16):
specifically at each individualparticipant fact sheet to ensure
that we're giving you the besttraining recommendation that we
possibly can.
So sometimes people feeldisappointed that we might
suggest a run program instead ofa continuous run program for
them.
But there's a number of reasonswhy we could be suggesting that.
One might be, you might have arecent injury that might be
(13:37):
concerning that you're sort ofcoming back from, and it's an
excellent way to come safelyback from an injury and still be
able to get the same amount ofmileage in.
For some people they're actuallyfaster in a run walk program.
I find throughout time,depending what, where I'm at in
my training sometimes I findthem a little bit faster in a
run-walk than I am in acontinuous run, but it just
(14:00):
depends on where I'm at in mytraining cycle.
And I think that's the point ofthese entire training schedules.
We reassign them every seasonbecause everybody's, body's a
little bit different in theirfitness throughout each training
cycle.
And that's just kind of thereality of especially doing
distance training.
What can happen and just havingsetting realistic expectations
(14:23):
and with these trainingschedules, we're just trying to
help you set realisticexpectations.
Michael (14:29):
Yeah.
There's a couple of things Ithink I could add to that.
First of all, is I know I speakfor myself and not to be
braggadocious or anything, butafter years of doing this, I
think I'm pretty good atassigning things based on the
information given on theparticipant fact sheet, however,
sometimes not everything comesacross as it needs to be, or
(14:52):
look, get all the details.
So if you're assigned to a groupor a schedule that you don't
think is appropriate for you,you're certainly welcome to come
and talk to one of the coachesand bring that up and you could
talk through it more to makesure you are in fact in the
right spot.
But the other part I wouldmention is don't feel like
you're being judged, don't thinkthat because you're not a
(15:15):
certain color, you're any lessof an athlete or you have a less
potential, it's just putting youwhere you are now, so you are in
a spot where you'll excel.
Lori (15:25):
Yeah, I think that's the reason why we have such a large
coaching staff to there shouldbe always somebody that you can
come to where you are, like, Ijust didn't, I don't think I
fall on this Blue program andI'm not sure what to do, and
this is my pace.
That's why we're here, pleasetalk to us, email us because we
can make other tweaks to yourtraining schedule because what's
wonderful about endurancerunning is everybody's very
(15:49):
unique and it has a skill setthat we can build off of.
And just because there's thesefive programs, and we're glad
that we have these five programsbecause we can fit a lot of the
athletes.
There's going to be certaintweaks.
It's going to be individualizedfor you, that we're going to be
able to help you with.
And that's why we have coaching.
Michael (16:09):
Great points.
Absolutely.
Lori (16:10):
So then what to expect during a typical week.
So we'll assign each one ofthese training programs first of
all, let's talk about that.
And then what you're going toget is you're going to get an
email from your coach, it'sgoing to have a PDF kind of
outlook for the season, but moreimportantly, it's going to have
a thing called Training Peaks onthere.
And this is an online trainingtool where your training
(16:33):
schedule is loaded in there.
And I highly advise that you usethe Training Peaks and be
interactive with it becausewhat's going to be different by
that PDF that you're going toget that's not on that PDF, but
in Training Peaks is it's goingto give you more details about
what that workout should looklike.
So you're going to get thistraining plan, it's going to
(16:53):
give you a suggestion of whatyou're doing every day, but
you're not going to know thedetails of that and how exactly
to perform the workout the best,unless you go into Training
Peaks and open that up and seewhat the workout details look
like.
And with the Training Peaks aswell, depending on what kind of
devices that you use to trackyour workouts, you could upload
those workouts in your trainingpeaks, and then you can keep
(17:15):
really good track of what you'vebeen doing throughout the
training season and you couldalways reflect back on that to
see which workouts were workingout for you, which ones that
maybe didn't go so well for you.
What else can it do for you?
Michael (17:28):
Yeah Training Peaks is a really valuable tool.
When we send out your email withyour schedule assignment it
really doesn't take very long toset up.
And once you get that TrainingPeaks schedule set up online,
you have the opportunity to viewit in your browser, there's free
mobile apps for your phone thatyou basically call up your
workout at any point.
(17:49):
As Lori pointed out each workoutin Training Peaks has a really
detailed description as opposedto a PDF where we only have like
a quarter inch by quarter incharea to describe what the
workout is.
Also, you could go into TrainingPeaks and log your workout and
how you felt and what you woreand keep a daily log of what you
(18:12):
did.
And likewise, your coaches couldget in and look at your Training
Peaks to see your log and seehow you've been doing maybe look
for some trends to help you withyour training.
And they even have the option togo in and customize and switch
your around workouts as well incase maybe you're going on a
trip or you get sick or have aninjury and you need to adjust
(18:35):
your schedule a little bit.
Lori (18:36):
So Training Peaks the number one recommended thing
that your coaches are going toconstantly be asking, if you
signed up for your TrainingPeaks, if you, you have certain
questions, we might be able togo back and reflect on that.
But again, I go back to that youcould also reflect on what
you've been doing and it givesyou a really good visual, giving
you the information that youneed to know to have those
(18:57):
moments of realizing how you'reprogressing or maybe where some
of your roadblocks arethroughout your training.
Michael (19:05):
Right, and Training Peaks could automatically send
you an email every single day totell you what your upcoming
workout is so you didn't evenhave to think about it.
It just kind of be fed to youevery single day.
Lori (19:16):
That's an excellent point as well.
I think that's one of the numberone features most people like
actually about it.
Even if you don't log yourworkouts in there, just having
that information, that one, thatalert, and then two, sometimes
we might prescribe a workoutthat's outside the group
training and you may be a littlebit like, well, wait, I don't
know exactly what this means thefirst thing we're going to tell
(19:37):
you is open up your TrainingPeaks and look at that
description and it'll kind ofgive you a guide you through
what you need to do for thatworkout.
And then if you still haveadditional questions, that's why
the coaching staff again, isthere, you can email them and
have a conversation with themabout which pieces of that
either you want to modify thatyou might be confused about,
just so you can make sure thatyou're getting the workout
(19:57):
that's prescribed in.
Michael (20:00):
You're really not going to get the full benefits of
training unless you take thetime to use training Peaks the
PDF is just sort of therebecause maybe a throwback to
1989 or something like that, Idon't know.
So the other thing you're goingto notice once you get your
training program too, is you aregoing to see that there's kind
of a prescribed thing thathappens every day on that
training plan.
(20:21):
But let's talk about the grouptraining and how that is laid
out on your training plan.
Lori (20:26):
Unless you are virtual, there's group training workouts,
so there's the group traininghappens twice a week.
So there's a weekday workout andthere's a weekend workout.
And, you know, depending onwhere you're at on at home base
is going to change that.
So for example, I train out ofOld Town so our weekday workouts
on Wednesday nights and our longrun is on Saturdays.
(20:50):
And Michael, your group is wemeet on Tuesday evenings and on
Saturdays as well.
Yep, and so then, yeah, we havea suburb location in Elmhurst on
Tuesdays and Saturdays as well.
And then we have another greatoption, which is Lincoln Square,
which is on Thursday nights andthen Sunday mornings.
So there is an opportunity forpeople in the group training to
(21:14):
go any of those days.
So again, you'll have a homebase.
So if you're training on an OldTown Wednesdays and Saturdays,
however, if you find that yourschedule needs to be tweaked a
little bit, because you'retraveling or, you know, any
other life events that come up,you can go to any of those
locations.
Michael (21:30):
All the workouts are the same.
So the weeknight workouts aregoing to be the same at all the
locations or just differentnights of the week.
So you get the same experienceand the same thing for distances
on Saturday workouts.
Lori (21:43):
That's correct.
So then, but you know, whatbrings up a good point though,
is when you do still have a homebase, those training schedules
that we send out to you aregoing to be on those specific
nights in a weekend mornings onyour training schedule.
But if you decided to go toanother location and that's
fine, you're always welcome todo that it's part of your
training package.
And then if you need tounderstand any sort of
(22:04):
modifications, you might need todo that because you trained on a
different night with a differenttype of workout, just reach out
to your coaches and they canhelp you make that tweak.
Michael (22:12):
Yeah, the big message here is there's no excuse to
miss your workout.
Do you want to explain thedifferences or what to expect on
the weekend and the weekdayworkouts?
Lori (22:24):
Yes, that was the next thing I was going to talk about,
I just wanted to make surepeople understood that, the way
their training plan might read,but one of the number one
questions we definitely get iscan I go to a different
location?
And you just made the point ofthat is correct.
And we have so manyopportunities for you there's no
excuse to miss.
(22:45):
So the difference between aweekday and a weekend workout,
the weekday workouts are a verydifferent type of workout than
the weekend.
So the weekday workouts arebuilt to be a strengths, speed
type of workout.
So this is the one workout wherewe're going to be asking you to
push it and to maybe be a littlebit faster.
(23:07):
They're going to be differenttypes of workouts that we're
going to do with the all sort ofencompass the same type of
strength and speed type oftraining.
So you're to expect that wemight be doing, half mile,
quarter mile repeats, or we dosome workouts are called ladder
workouts, which are basicallykind of the same concept, but we
change it up a little bit wherethey're, the intervals are based
(23:30):
on minutes as opposed to thedistance that you're running
fast.
We're going to do some circuitworkouts, which will incorporate
some strength training with somerunning in between.
We will do a couple of clinicsin the beginning called good
form running.
So we can teach you someconcepts about, again, this kind
(23:50):
of the good form of running andhow to be conscious of that and
how to build that into improveyour running form.
What are the pieces of I missingthere for the weekday workouts?
Yeah, I think a common thing issome runners, especially newer
runners will be like, well, I'mjust trying to figure out how to
run, I'm not fast, I never goingto be fast or I'm not at that
(24:13):
point yet, why by show up to theweekday workouts.
So can you maybe respond tothat?
Exactly.
So I think some people too arealso, to that point, even if
somebody feels like, okay, Iwant to increase my heart rate
and run a little bit faster, alot of people feel shy,
especially if you're on a moreconservative side of pacing
(24:33):
that, oh, everyone's going to befaster than me and I don't want
to be left behind, but we havesuch a wide variety of runners
in this program that's not thecase at all.
And it's, it's one of thosethings you do show up and you,
you can do what you need to do,and nobody's paying attention to
that, and we try to partner youup with somebody else to ensure
(24:54):
that you do feel supported.
But all I can say about thoseworkouts is that is going to be
one of the best workouts that isgoing to make you a little bit
faster, it is actually going tomake you feel a little bit
stronger, and what happens inthose weekday workouts too, is
consistently showing up for themis actually going to make your
long run on Saturdays orSundays, feel a lot easier
(25:17):
because the combination ofbuilding that strength and speed
with your long run and buildingyour endurance is the two things
that you put together on raceday.
And so now talking about theweekend workouts, this is not
about the speed and thestrength, it's about building
the endurance.
So you'll notice as yourtraining program that you will
build mileage over two or threeweeks, then we'll kind of cut
(25:40):
back and then we'll buildmileage over two or three weeks.
But those runs are all about,again, building endurance.
They're supposed to be at anice, easy, conversational pace
and that's how you build thatweekday and weekend work out
together.
But those are what encompassesour group workouts.
We've talked about what you canexpect if you were part of the
group training in the groupworkouts.
(26:01):
So we have this one weekdayworkout that you can come to and
then the weekend workout, butthere's other workouts that are
prescribed throughout thetraining plan, which we've kind
of mentioned before, but let mekind of walk you through what
you can expect.
So there's going to be a restand stretch day.
So we want these recovery days,but there's going to be other
days, too, that you might see onyour training plan.
(26:22):
Some of them might look likejust an easy run, where we want
you to go out there at an easypace.
And that pace will be basicallywhat your long run pace is or
even something even moreconservative.
You might also see what's calleda Hill workout and this is a
good example of like, when youlook at your PDF and it will say
Hill workout 45 minutes, andyou're like, what is that?
(26:45):
That's where you open up yourTraining Peaks, look at that and
understand what the descriptionof that is there might be other
runs that are on there it saysCross Training, and a lot of
people have a lot of questionsabout what can cross training
be.
We can discuss that with you.
And sometimes it's veryindividualized, we like the
cross training to be somethingthat you enjoy.
(27:05):
We could talk about that alittle bit more later, but there
is a very formula related thingof why we do certain workouts in
certain timing frames.
So for example, if you've doneyour long you will see that the
day after we typically ask youto rest or stretch, and that's
(27:26):
typically because we want you tobe able to recover from that
mileage that you're doing.
And another important point tomake is you might see the the
weekday run, which is like alittle bit more of a speed or
strength type of run that nextday, you might see it's going to
be cross training or an easyrun, and that's specifically set
up that way so you can recoverfrom these runs that put a
(27:49):
little bit more stress on yourbody, so then you're ready to go
and your system andphysiologically, fully available
to do the workout, even afterthat and the most efficient way
that you possibly can.
Michael I thought that you havea lot to add to that as well.
Yeah, I think that it'simportant to understand when you
(28:11):
look at the schedule and youshould look at the schedule.
A lot of people only look at thelong run on the weekend, which
is not really training, it'sjust going for a run.
Is that the schedule as a whole,was to put together with a lot
of thought, and there's a methodto that madness, how the pieces
fit together.
In the same way, we talked abouthow the weekend long run serves
(28:33):
one purpose and the weekday runserves another purpose, each of
these workouts that you've beenassigned hold a special
significance in training.
For instance, Hill training ison your schedule, and some
people go, well, I run Chicagothere's not a lot of hills, or
my race is not someplace hilly,but there's plenty of studies
(28:56):
that will support howsignificant running hills can
contribute to making you abetter, faster, stronger runner
overall.
So, pay attention to it, all,respect to all of it, and
getting back to your coaches andTraining Peaks, if for some
reason you need to move aroundthe schedule where you need to
do your Cross Training days on adifferent day of the week and
(29:21):
you don't know how to fit it in,you could talk to a coach and
they could help you readjustyour schedule so it fits into
your life.
That brings up another goodpoint too, is we brought up
before that you can go to anytraining location, and that's a
benefit of your trainingpackage, however I was bringing
up earlier about, doing certainworkouts before, after, certain
(29:42):
key workouts, ensuring if youare doing that a lot and you are
looking at a specific location.
So for example, let's say you'rea signed up for Old Town and
your, your schedule saysWednesdays and Saturdays, but
you decide that you're actuallygoing to Lincoln Square a lot
you might just want to talk to acoach a little bit about, just
(30:03):
enhancing anything that we canhelp you with and tweaking a
workout to make sure that youmaximize your recovery efforts,
so you're always ready for thosetypes of workouts.
One other workout I did want tobring up that I get a lot of
questions about is why we do arun the day before the long.
(30:24):
A lot of people would thinkthat, well, don't, you want to
be fully recovered the daybefore and fully recovered the
day after when you do a longrun, but when it comes to the
distance training programs, likethe half and full marathon,
there's a lot of literature outthere that really does say that
what you're basically doing istrying to run on tired legs.
(30:47):
So when you do a bit of a runthe day before your long run,
you're actually maximizing theefforts of building endurance
and over a season, your bodybecomes more efficient
recovering from mileage.
Yeah, I remember when I firststarted training, I used to
think if I did any work duringthe week that I would not have
(31:09):
any strength to do the long runat the end of the week.
So at first I used to skip allthat stuff.
Over time, I learned that if youdo the work during the week, the
easier those long runs actuallybecome at the end of the week.
Also people that are maybe newerto understanding the different
types of workouts, have to becautious too.
It doesn't mean that now I haveto run as fast as I can, and as
(31:31):
hard as I can throughout theweek now to enhance running on
tired legs, these workouts arevery specific and have a lot of
backing again in the researchand literature on what you
should be doing.
So we say do an easy run and itneeds to be easy.
It needs to be easy.
It's been shown over and overagain, balancing the speed and
(31:54):
strength with the endurance andsome easy runs in between, and
then when you strategicallyplace your, your rest days
people do very, very well.
Sometimes it takes a couple oftraining cycles to kind of
believe it, but again, thesetraining programs are built on a
lot of knowledge that has beenproduced over the years.
Michael (32:13):
Right, we always say trust the process that a couple
of things I always come acrossas there tends to be like
sometimes two extremes, onewhere people are struggling at
the beginning of the season andI usually encourage them to try
to follow the schedule the bestthey can for the first three
(32:33):
weeks.
And if they're consistent,things usually fall into place
and they become routine andbecome easier.
And the struggle disappearsafter you get into the flow of
things.
If not, if you're stillstruggling after three weeks,
come talk to a coach, they maybeneed to modify things or put you
into a different schedule.
(32:55):
On the other extreme.
We have people who come to theprogram going, this is not as
much work as I've been doingevery season know I've been
running a lot more mileage and,and doing a lot more, it's not
testing me.
And I give the same advice, givethe three weeks and if you're
not being tested after threeweeks, if you still feel that
way, talk to a coach.
(33:16):
Most of the time though, giventhat those, those weeks, that
period of time, they realizethey are in the right place,
they just need to give that achance.
Lori (33:25):
Oh, I completely agree.
And again, people respond to thetraining and the training
stresses very differently.
And so that's again, why we havethe coaching staff.
So the other amenities beyondjust having the coaching staff
and the training schedules and,these group training
opportunities are the amenitiesthat we have being able to train
(33:49):
out of the Fleet Feet stores.
Michael (33:51):
Yes, we are very fortunate to have access to the
Fleet Feet stores for those whotrain with us in person,
probably the first benefit wouldbe access to bathrooms.
So you have the opportunity touse the restrooms at the Fleet
Feet stores prior to, and afteryour run, which I know for a lot
of people is pretty imperative.
(34:14):
Also we have a gear check, so ifyou need to bring a change of
clothes or something warmer,with you we'll have a safe,
secure place for you to storeyour stuff.
We do ask you don't bring atrunk full of gear, but if it's
a regular bag, you're welcome tostore it there.
And the to go along with that isall the locations have a
(34:35):
changing room, so for example,after your run if you're all
sweaty you want to get into somedry clothing, you can use the
changing rooms.
If you're coming from work inthe evening and you want to
change out of your work year andget into your running gear, you
use the changing rooms as well,but these are great
opportunities to do that andwe're very fortunate to offer
(34:55):
them.
Lori (34:58):
The other part of this amenities it's just having Fleet
Feet is a part of ourco-ownership.
And so being able to be in thosestores you have at your
fingertips, the nutrition thatyou might need to supply
yourself with.
Also those stores typicallyprovide water and Gatorade at
the start and the end of theworkout.
(35:19):
Just being at the Fleet Feetstores too, you have experts
that are available to help youwith any sort of shoes that you
might I need to be fitted intobeing able to understand the,
the gear inside and out.
The message really is the FleetFeet staff are experts at what
they do.
They know all about the latesttechnology, they know how gear
(35:39):
fits and how it feels, and itcan help you find what you need.
Take advantage the expertise tomake sure you're fitted in gear
that was going to work best foryou.
As coaches, one of the firstthings that we're going to guide
you on and what you need tobring to training and what your
homework is for the first weekto make sure that you have the
(36:00):
best experience is you want tomake sure your fit is a proper
shoe, and that your shoes areupdated, meaning, if you have
not updated your shoes in a longtime.
And don't realize that you needto replace your shoes every
three to six months, dependingon how much mileage you're
putting on them.
The next thing you need to haveis some sort of watch some sort
of a tool that will help youeither guide, if let's say
(36:22):
you're doing run, walk, run,walk intervals, or just kind of
give you some timing, but theGPS watches are great, it'll
help you keep track of theamount of mileage that you're
doing.
And there are newer technologiesthat will help you keep track of
your heart rate and give you alot of metrics that will guide
your training and make it abetter experience.
And then the third thing, whichis probably almost the number
(36:45):
one thing is the hydrationsystem and making sure that
you're carrying your own systemthat so you can hydrate as early
and as often, it is needed toagain, have a good experience
for the day and make you feelbetter, throughout your run and
after your run.
Yeah.
So to just to follow up on that,you mentioned the shoes are sort
(37:06):
of the base and that's where theexpertise of Fleet Feet can
really help you out.
As far as timing devices go,once again, they can help you
out there, but that's alsosomething that probably your
coaches and your pacers couldgive some advice on as well.
You don't need anythingexpensive or fancy necessarily,
some people like the high-techstuff, some people like
(37:27):
simplicity, but there's lots ofoptions at all price ranges for
everyone.
And I had hydration system, Iwould speak to your coaches and
especially your pacers, becausesome people prefer the
handhelds, some people preferwaist belts, and they could give
you all sorts of feedback ontheir personal experiences on
what worked for them.
So, I would definitely takeadvantage of speaking to your
(37:51):
pacers, your fellow runners andyour coaches on that.
Michael (37:55):
So next thing we want to talk about is training in the
weather and yes, we're outsideso get to enjoy being outside,
but obviously the weatherchanges quite a bit and we need
to adapt to it.
So it's really important thatyou've trained in all kinds of
weather.
I remember seeing a memesomewhere with a calendar,
marking the perfect days forrunning.
(38:15):
And it marked like one day outof the entire month because
conditions aren't always goingto be perfect.
And we need to learn how to runin various types of conditions
because on race day, you don'tknow what the conditions are.
So that means if it's a windyday or what's a rainy day or a
humid day or really cold day,you want to get out there and
(38:36):
have some experience running.
However, there's going to betimes where it's just not safe
to get out there and train,those days we might have to
cancel training.
Those are going to be when thetemperatures are extreme will be
really, really, unsafe as faras, being cold or if it's
(38:57):
extremely hot and humid and it'sjust not safe to get your
workout in.
Sometimes we will have to workout, then we'll adapt to
workout, but a lot of timeswe'll need to cancel it.
The other part is lightning.
We definitely will run in therain, if you haven't done it
before, sometimes it could be adeterrent, but a lot of people
find that some of the most funtimes to run is in the rain.
(39:19):
However, when there's lightningpresent, we need to cancel, it's
just not safe.
So whenever lightning is in thearea, we're going to either
cancel the run.
Or if we're out on the run andwe experience lightning, we're
going to cut the run short andget everyone into a safe place.
Lori you want to add to that?
Lori (39:40):
Just with the weather, we have to be adaptable and we do
the best we can.
We always want to make sure thatwe're able to get the workout
in, but we always want to makesure that the conditions are
safe enough for that.
So sometimes we adapt to start alittle bit later or cut the run
short, like you said, but justknow that we are constantly
(40:00):
monitoring terrain conditionsall the time to make sure that
we can give you thatinformation.
It goes back to that Twitteraccount, if there is going to be
modifications or we're going tocancel the workout, we will post
cancellations or, adaptationsthere and the same thing with
the Facebook page too.
So those are two going back tothe communication, two important
(40:20):
pieces to be connected with.
So you can kind of understandand follow what we're trying to
do and thinking to make surethat the weather is going to be
conducive with the actualtraining that we're doing.
Michael (40:34):
And just remember that our goal is really always is if
at all, possible try to get theworkout in.
But once again, it comes down tosafety.
People's health and safety arefar more important than a single
workout.
And if you're consistent indoing the majority of your
workouts, having to cancel aworkout here, there is not going
to destroy your entire trainingprogram.
Lori (40:57):
And that is correct too.
So consistency right?
Going into that is that's wherepeople get a little bit nervous
about any sort of cancellationsor adaptions that we have to
make in the workout.
But being consistent is one ofthe most important things you
can do in this training program.
And to Michael's point, if wemiss one or two of those due to
(41:17):
cancellations, that's fine, butbeing consistent week to week to
week with making sure thatyou're getting at least four of
your workouts, and I dunno, it'shard to put like a number to
them necessarily, but one of myfirst things I like to do, like
starting the training andtalking about the training from
(41:38):
day one is that consistency isgoing to be your best friend and
ensuring that you have a goodplan, have a good goal are
committed and are able to in thecapacity that's available in
your life, get workouts andconsistently, and if you're not
able to do that, then you're notgoing to have a good training
experience.
Michael (41:58):
It's such an important component to endurance sports
and distance running really tokeep your body healthy and to
achieve your goals the moreconsistent you could be the
better, and oftentimes they tellpeople, cause I know they have
busy lives.
They have family, they have workand school and everything else
going on in their life is thatif for some reason you, say you
(42:22):
have a 45 minute workoutscheduled, but you only have 30
minutes.
It's better to do the 30 minutesthen to say, well, I can't do
the whole thing so I'm not goingto do it at all.
Basically getting to your biggergoal is based on all the little
pieces that you build up overtime.
(42:42):
It's not just one or two piecesthat make you successful.
It's all the little bits andpieces in between that you add
together over the course of theseason that builds a total
athlete and builds your successat the end of the training
session.
Lori (42:58):
I completely agree with you.
I think sometimes too, somepeople might get overwhelmed by
looking at their trainingschedule that we have sent to
them, and exactly a good pointwas if it says 45 minutes and
you only get in 30 minutes, getin the 30 minutes sometimes I
think people think that if thecan't get that exact workout in,
then forget it and then theystart to shut down and then it
(43:21):
adds up over the weeks.
And then again, I'm alwaystalking about the experience we
are talking about these things,trying to arm you guys with
these tools to ensure that youhave the best experience as
possible.
Is it going to be pictureperfect and what the actual
training schedule says?
No, everybody's, life'scompletely different, but this
(43:42):
is part of the, the grouptraining or even if you're
virtual training, you have someonline tools to help get some of
that support.
Use the advantage of thiscommunity to ensure that you can
make sure that you get yourworkouts and then never forget
to have fun with it too.
So I think the more fun youstart to have with it, and the
more you kind of engage, thenthe more likely you're actually
(44:05):
going to be able to get yourworkouts in.
So it all kind of perpetuatesitself so you can be consistent
and have a good time.
Another frequently askedquestion and we get about the
training schedules is we havethe weekends written in mileage,
and then we have the weekdayswritten in minutes.
It's all about differentstrategies and the difference
(44:25):
between doing timed workouts anddoing workouts that have mileage
a lot of times it has to do withhow you focus on your pace and
how you focus in on the actualeffort that you're putting
forth.
So sometimes with the timeworkouts, we don't really want
you to necessarily focus so muchin, on your pace but more about
(44:45):
time on your feet and just theamount of effort you're putting
in for that run.
And sometimes we just don't wantyou to have too much time on
your feet throughout the wholetraining program as well.
They both have differentbenefits and people argue about
doing actual mileage and timed,but having a balance of both has
over and over again, shown to bemore effective for training.
Michael (45:09):
Yeah, I think you've kind of hit spot.
We talked about effort and asathletes, we need to think more
about our workout from an effortstandpoint, our bodies don't
have a speedometer or odometer,it doesn't know how fast we're
running, it doesn't know how farwe're running.
It just knows the effort you'reputting into it.
There's a lot of talk in thetraining community about load
(45:31):
which is kind of equivalent toeffort, how much you're putting
in, and as humans, we like toquantify things with things like
our our watches as far as a paceper minute and our distance.
But really when you break thingsdown, you're kind of regulating
the load and able to maximizethe effort you're putting in.
Lori (45:54):
So a couple of other frequently asked questions about
the training plan and when youreceive it is if you know, you
might've reported that you'rerunning a different race, which
is very common, there's lots ofrace opportunities out there.
It's really great that we have,the ability to choose events
that peak our interest in ourtraining goals, but it might not
(46:15):
match up exactly what the CEStraining program that you
receive.
So with that, we handle it acouple of different ways and we
want to kind of set upexpectations for the
participants and understandinghow, how we do that.
So for example, you might bedoing a race it's a week earlier
than the CES planned event, andhow can you handle that?
Come to a coach?
(46:36):
Let us know about that.
And what we do is tweak yourlong runs on the weekends.
We don't do a lot of stufftweaking during the week.
We can make suggestions, but wewill tweak your long runs.
Or same thing if it's a week ortwo after the CES planned event,
that's kind of how we handlethat.
Now, if you want very specific,tweaks, even if it's not a
(46:59):
different race, that is likeevery single day, then we'll
have a conversation with you.
If you're appropriate more forlike a one-on-one coaching
situation, which we do haveavailable.
But just start off with comingto a CES coach, we can start
tweaking those long runweekends, and then we can kind
of go from there and make therecommendations.
Michael (47:18):
That's right.
Basically we want to try and dowhat we can within the scope of
the training program to makesure that you feel ready for
your specific race.
Lori (47:28):
And it's very common, there are so many events out
there, and lots of times there'snew events that come up and So
it's fun.
It's fun that we have all theseopportunities.
One last thing I wanna touch onwhen it comes to the run-walk
programs sometimes people arenot a hundred percent certain
and how we deal with the overallpace for those programs.
(47:48):
And as this is a frequentlyasked question, we'll kind of go
into what to expect for thefirst week of training, but this
is one of them that I think isimportant.
And it's how fast is the runpace for the run-walk programs.
So, for example, we talked aboutour Green program is a five one
(48:10):
run-walk pace, meaning you'rerunning five minutes and walking
one minute and you're repeatingthat cycle throughout your long
run.
So what does that mean with yourpace?
So if you are in our 11:30 groupand it's a run-walk group.
How fast is that run pace?
It's not the run pace of 11:30.
(48:32):
It's the pace overall with therun and the run walk for the
mile.
So at an 11:30 pace for the runwalk, you're probably running
more like an 11 minute mile.
And with that one minute walk,the overall interval and overall
miles, 11:30.
So to wrap this up, I think whatwe should do is talk about what
(48:55):
to expect on the first couple ofdays, so nothing's really a big
surprise, right?
Michael (49:00):
So probably the first thing you want to make sure you
do is make sure you completedyour participant fact sheet
before the season begins so wecan get you your schedule.
So when you show up on day oneto group training, you know,
what schedule you've beenassigned and what color to
associate with.
Lori (49:18):
And then once you know that, the first day is going to
be a weekend long run.
When you show up, you're goingto notice that there are going
to be individuals standingaround with signs that have a
color and a number on them.
And what you're looking for isthe color of the training
schedule you were assigned.
(49:38):
So if you're assigned Blue, youlook for a blue sign.
However, you're going to alsonotice there might be three
different blue signs.
One might say 10, what might say11?
Won't you say 1130, and withinthose, you're looking for the
actual pace that you will berunning with that.
So if you're a 10 30 person, youwere assigning a Blue schedule,
(50:00):
you look for the 10 30 blue signand that'll go across the other
colors too.
If you're not sure, look for acoach or let's look for
somebody.
There's a lot of time.
We have a lot of, we're verylucky to have a lot of alumni
that are around too, that cankind of guide you where you need
to be.
So you'll have that expectationthat again, we've talked about
before, there'll be a gearcheck.
(50:21):
There's some restroomopportunities when we suggest to
you that you show up earlierrather than later, so you can
get kind of the lay of the land.
You'll match up with thosegroups.
And then a coach will do someannouncements, giving you a lot
of information on what to expectfor the day and the routes and
all that good stuff.
That's what you can expect forlike the first weekend.
(50:44):
And then what will happen isyour second workout will be,
during the week on a weekday.
And that is not as much pacerled as it is more coach led.
And so then there's usually agood two to four coaches that
are available on those runs, andthose are a little bit more
independent.
We don't actually have specificpacers that are leading you out
(51:05):
as formalized as we do on theweekends.
That's because speed andstrength ability is very
different than people's long runabilities.
And so we embrace that and thecoaches kind of run back and
forth between people.
In one way, you're running thatworkout a little bit more
independently because we wantyou to focus in on your ability
for that type of workout, butalso we do support you and we
(51:29):
have the group around and thecoaches around to support what
you need to do for that day tobecome a better runner and take
advantage of our trainingpackage that sort of encompasses
all the workouts together.
So you can become the bestathlete as possible and reach
the goals that you have for thisspecific training season for
(51:49):
yourself.
Michael (51:50):
Yeah, and to just emphasize that all group
training, there'll be coaches onhand, they're there specifically
for you to help you.
It's not their training, they'rethere to be on hand to help you
out.
And they'll always be a coach atevery workout who will sweep the
back of the pack to make sure noone's left out there alone.
They'll stick it out and waituntil everyone has completed the
(52:13):
workout and made sure everyonegets back safely.
Lori (52:16):
So we really hope that this answered a lot of questions
that you might be thinking aboutas you're coming into a new
training season, whether or notyou're alumni or a new, training
member, or like, we like to saya new member of our CES family.
If you are new member of our CESfamily we welcome you and we're
(52:37):
so excited and we hope you makea lot of friendships.
We hope you learn a lot, abouttraining.
We hope that you are able toreach your goals.
If there's any other questionsknow that it goes beyond this
podcast and we haven'temphasized enough already that
there is a large coaching staff,you will be connected with
(52:57):
pacers and mentors that will beable to answer a lot of your
questions as well, and we'rejust here to do this journey
together and support thecommunity as best as we can, and
we couldn't be more excited thatwe're able to provide that
assistance.
Michael (53:12):
I think that sums it all up.
We want everyone to have thebest possible experience they
can.
So thank you all for listeningto the Chicago Endurance Sports
podcast.
If you're new to the podcast besure to check out our earlier
episodes and subscribe so youdon't miss any future episodes.
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