Today, we have an insanely cool guest Krista DuChene, aka Canada’s Marathon Mom! She’s a Canadian Olympian, a Registered Dietitian, and one of the toughest runners out there.
And when we say tough, we mean it. She once finished a race with a broken leg. Yeah, you read that right! We had to hear the full story—what happened, why she kept running, and how she bounced back to crush even bigger goals (like making it to the Olympics!).
We also got into what it takes to train for a marathon, the best pre-race snacks (spoiler: bagels are involved 🥯), and why fueling your body the right way is so important. Plus, Krista tells us how she went from playing university hockey to becoming one of Canada’s best long-distance runners.
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to push through pain, keep going when things get tough, or just want to know what marathon runners actually eat mid-race, this episode is for you!
Enjoy another curious conversation for teens by teens!
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Enjoy another curious conversation for teens by teens!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Krista (00:00):
When you're doing these long training runs, where you're
doing marathon pace, you haveto get used to working through
those patches where you don'tfeel good and then you feel
better after.
So when you get into thatdifficult part of the race, I
would always think, okay, I didthis in my training, I got
through it, and then you getthrough it each time.
But when that happens early inthe race, that can be the most
(00:21):
difficult part, because then itgets in your head and then you
can start to kind of doubtyourself and so much of the
marathon is like.
You have to have mentalstrength to keep going when
you're not feeling good.
Xavier (00:32):
Hi, welcome to Curious Conversations, a podcast for
kids, by kids.
I'm one of your hosts, xavier.
Emma (00:40):
And I'm your other host, emma, and we're so excited to
bring you another season ofinteresting discussions with
people from all walks of life,to learn about their passions
and what inspires them.
Xavier (00:49):
We are still as curious as ever and we hope you will
join us on our journey.
Emma (00:54):
Today we have an insanely cool guest, krista Duchesne,
also known as Canada's MarathonMom.
She's a Canadian Olympian, anutritionist and one of the
toughest runners out there, andwhen we say tough, we mean it.
I play hockey with Krista'sdaughter Leah and heard about
(01:15):
how her mom finished a race witha broken leg, so we had to hear
the full story.
We also talked about what ittakes to train for a marathon,
the best pre-race snacks spoilerbagels are involved and why
fueling your body the right wayis so important.
Now that she's retired, one ofher jobs is a commentator for
(01:38):
CBC Sports.
She even covered the marathonat the last Olympics, giving
expert insights into what goeson behind the scenes of the
world's biggest race.
We asked her what it's like togo from running marathons to
calling the action and breakingdown strategies for millions of
viewers.
If you've ever wondered what ittakes to push through the pain,
(02:01):
keep going when things get tough, or just want to know what
marathon runners actuallymid-race, this episode is for
you.
Hi, how are you?
I'm good, how are you Good?
Just so our listeners know howwe know you.
I play hockey with yourdaughter Leah on the Cambridge
U15 AA team and I think youlearned a new skill this year
(02:24):
because you've been helping outwith our timekeeping yes, you're
right, that's a new um addedstress level of my life.
Krista (02:33):
But I, I I'm okay as long as there's not multiple
penalties that are over twominutes oh yeah, you know what?
Emma (02:40):
I see you struggling.
Krista (02:41):
Sometimes I'm like sitting right next to the box
yeah, and as long as you'rewriting down, then I know when
to let people out of the box.
Emma (02:47):
So it's always a pretty busy box without the music
natural timekeeper, it's a lot.
Krista (02:53):
It's fun, though I like being at that level I can see
like the expression on the facesand stuff that no one else can
see, oh yeah.
Emma (02:59):
Front row Girls get mad.
Xavier (03:00):
Front row.
Emma (03:01):
Girls getting out of the box.
Oh my God.
Krista (03:03):
Yes, we get some attitude from the other team
sometimes, but we can deal withit.
Xavier (03:10):
Oh yeah, you got it Front row seat to all the action
.
Krista (03:12):
Yeah, that's right.
Xavier (03:14):
So you are a marathon runner and have raced all over
the world and you've had thechance to race for Canada in the
Olympics and we do want to talkabout all of that.
But I've been wanting to askyou one question about the time
that you ran and finished a raceon a broken leg.
Krista (03:31):
Yes, so that was in 2014 and I was doing a half marathon
and I was actually defending mytitle as Canadian champion
because I had won the yearbefore, and that week I had this
pain in my leg.
I didn't know what it was andsaw my physiotherapist and you
know, ultimately the decisionwas up to me whether or not I
(03:53):
run.
So it felt okay until, like youknow, kilometer 15, 16 out of
21 kilometers in the race, whichthe legs started to feel a bit
off.
But I was in first place, keptmy lead and then, like near to
the end of the race, like thelast one or two kilometers, it
was really hurting.
So I got passed by two women,still ended up third, but I had
(04:18):
to hop on my good leg to finishthe race.
So then the race director likescooped me up in his arms, took
me to the medical tent and then,I don't know, fast forward,
like eight or 10 hours later, Ihad to have emergency surgery to
get a screw put in my leg toreplace or to help repair a
(04:40):
fracture.
So, basically, I started outthe race with an undiagnosed
stress fracture, which is a tinylittle break, and then,
throughout the race, it just gotbigger and bigger and it was
almost completely through.
So I had to stay in Montrealand have the surgery and then I
wasn't able to go home for acouple of days because the
extent of the surgery and thatkind of thing.
(05:01):
So yeah, that's what happenedand it was because of something
called relative energydeficiency in sport.
So basically I was underfueling for the training that I
was putting my body through.
So it's it's something thatwe've learned a lot about in the
last 10 years and you know,basically I wasn't feeling
enough for what I was doing withthe training and racing, and
(05:26):
when you do that, that canaffect your reproductive health,
your energy, your immunity andyour bone health, and that's
what happened to me.
So pretty, pretty terrible.
The video is actually onYouTube.
You can see me finish the raceand it's to the music of Eye of
the Tiger.
So every time I hear that songI I kind of cringe.
But yeah, that's what happenedand, uh, I I highly uh recommend
(05:49):
that people don't do that.
But you know, we learned that'sinsane, wow, that's yeah.
Emma (05:55):
Well, you know, at least you have a fun story to tell.
Krista (05:59):
And you know that's true .
Like I remember when I was inthe hospital and you know, at
that point I was, you know,still hoping to make it to the
Olympics and, um, I was talkingto some of the surgeons and
they're like, oh yeah, my friend, he cycles.
He had the same thing happenedto me, to him, in a bike crash,
and he recovered.
And so I remember, after thesurgery, the next day I was like
, okay, I'm still going to getthe standard in two years, I'll
(06:22):
give myself two years.
And then two days after thesurgery, I'm like I'm doing this
in one year and it was 11 and ahalf months after that I got my
Olympic standard after thatbreak.
So recovery went well,everything just was healing, you
know perfectly, and I still hadthat motivation to go back and
finish what I wanted to do.
(06:42):
But I never had that completeconfidence because I wasn't sure
if I would feel the screw in myleg because and I still have it
it's pretty big and and I neverfeel it.
So I've run, like I don't know,10 marathons or more since then
.
So, yeah, it's.
It is a pretty interestingstory.
So when I was in the hospital,I remember thinking I will be
telling this as a story somedayand, and yeah, laughing thinking
(07:08):
I will be telling this as astory someday and, and, yeah,
laughing, well that's.
Emma (07:09):
That's kind of interesting .
But the that's pretty common inother sports.
Krista (07:11):
I mean, obviously nutrition's been a big, a big
thing in the next, in the lastlike 10 years, but that just
that's crazy you see it in a lotof sports that are kind of
dependent on look and weight, sothings like figure skating,
where they want them to look acertain way, and endurance
sports like marathon and cycling, as well as sports where you
(07:32):
have frequent weigh-ins, becauseyou know wrestlers who have to
hit a certain weight category tocompete.
You know it can kind of get inyour head about your weight and
what you should look like andthat kind of thing.
So in my case I think it waslike leaner is better and I'm a
marathon runner.
But again, we've learned a lotsince then and you know, even
though I was running fast times,I still had injuries after that
(07:56):
because of that, that timeperiod where I was under fueling
.
And it was also complicatedbecause at the time Leah was
like, uh, only like a year ortwo old, so I had been pregnant
or breastfeeding for so manyyears, so it was kind of
difficult to know what my bodywas doing.
Emma (08:11):
You know what?
I think that like going throughthings like that it's important
in life because, like nowaren't you're a nutritionist,
right?
So now it's kind of your job tolike teach other people about
how to properly feel their body.
Krista (08:25):
Exactly.
Emma (08:27):
So let's talk about running and just training in
general.
So you played university hockeybefore getting into running,
but how did you transition fromhockey which that was a high
level hockey to long distancerunning?
Krista (08:44):
So when I was young, in elementary school I did every
sport.
And then in high school runningand hockey were kind of like my
favorite sports that Ispecialized in and started to
kind of narrow my focus.
And then at the end of highschool I kind of had to pick
between hockey and running.
And at that time I pickedhockey, played at the University
of Guelph and loved it.
So running kind of was like onthe back burner.
(09:05):
I still kept running, but nottraining and competing like I
did when I went to office a fewtimes and that kind of thing.
So they called me the trackstar when we did dry land for
hockey, because I was thisperson no one knew and they're
just like who's this runner?
Like playing on the hockey team.
And then, you know, obviouslyhockey turned out to be, you
know, pretty successful.
But I, just when I retired fromhockey, I just got back into
(09:30):
running because I kind of feltlike, you know, there's there's
more to it and I think that Istill have stuff that I can do.
And so I remember like back inthe day before we had watches
that could tell us our pace andour distance.
I went out and I ran.
I think it was about 18k, solike we would drive where we ran
to know how far it was.
And so I was like, okay, 18k, amarathon's 42.
(09:52):
Like, hey, why not?
So I just did my first marathonfor fun, kind of like, hey,
let's try a marathon.
And then, you know, when I wasdoing my first one, like many
people running a marathon, I waslike why am I doing this?
This is so hard.
And then as soon as I crossedthe line, I was like, oh, I want
to do that all over again.
Xavier (10:19):
So I just kept doing marathon after marathon and just
kind of getting faster eachtime and falling in love with it
like more and more each time Idid it.
Krista (10:33):
So that first marathon, when did you stop playing hockey
and then went into running?
What year was that?
Remember I did my internship tobe a dietitian in there and
that's kind of when I got backinto running, like kind of
higher mileage compared to whatI was doing when I played hockey
.
Xavier (10:50):
So when you are about to do a race?
Do you have like a routine orany superstitions that you did
before the race to like getyourself ready?
Krista (11:01):
Like not superstitions, but I think for the 20 something
years that I did all of mymarathons, I always had a bagel
with honey for breakfast andcoffee.
So I don't think that everchanged.
Like maybe it was toast a fewtimes, but that was like my
go-to, because when I'mtraveling, like especially
(11:21):
overseas and other countries,and you're not sure if you can
get the food that you're used to, I would just pack that bagel
in my carry on and make surethat I had it with like little
packets of honey.
The only thing is, in a hotel,like, you don't have a toaster,
so you're basically eating likethis dry bagel.
So it was much nicer when I wasin hotels where breakfast was
provided and there's toastersand everything else.
(11:42):
But yeah, not really anysuperstitious kind of rituals or
routines, just that.
That's the thing that I know Idid like time after time so
every game you'd have a bagel.
Emma (11:54):
But like what would you do ?
I'd say, like maybe a daybefore to start fueling for your
race, and did you eat duringyour marathons, or no?
Krista (12:03):
yeah, yeah so, basically , like a couple days before I
start carb loading, so, um, I'mcutting back on like some of the
protein and fiber and thenincreasing, like rice bread,
pasta.
You want to like top up yourglycogen stores so that, um,
when you're running, you can,you know, dig deep in terms of
(12:24):
using the energy and the form ofcarbohydrates, but you still
have to take in carbohydrateswhen you're running because you
just can't have enough for, likethat, that endurance event.
So, when you're running, youtake in carbohydrates in the
form of like gels and you cantake it in your drinks.
So what I often did was, like,for professionals, we have
(12:44):
tables where we can put in yourdrinks.
So what I often did was, likefor professionals, we have
tables where we can put our owndrinks and so we make up our own
kind of concoction of whatwe're used to training with that
settles well in our stomach anddoes well for our performance.
So my bottles are always onthese tables and labeled, and I
would have a gel on the bottle.
So I would grab it, put the gelon my bra top, take the drink
(13:04):
and get hydrated and somecarbohydrates, and then wait a
little bit and take the gel.
And so I would.
I would do that every fivekilometers.
So there's eight aid stationsfor a 42 kilometer event.
Right up until 40 kilometers isyour last station, where you
grab your bottle, get your geland and finish the race.
Emma (13:24):
Is gel like exactly what it sounds like Just like gel.
Krista (13:29):
Yeah, yeah, pretty much Like.
It's like, um, it's like not asthick as toothpaste maybe, but
kind of like that texture.
So you really have to practiceit because it's not like
enjoyable.
It's not like, oh, I'm having aburger at the first aid station
, it's going to taste so good.
It's like like, oh, I'm havinga burger at the first aid
station, it's going to taste sogood.
It's like you need to learn toswallow it when you're running
fast, open the package and thenyou want to make sure that you
(13:51):
don't like drop it and that youknow it digests well with your
stomach.
But, yeah, it's.
It's kind of like honey ormaple syrup, kind of consistency
and, um, yeah, it's just kindof a necessary part of the sport
.
Emma (14:06):
So what's the hardest part of a race?
Krista (14:12):
So you can have times where, like you're tired, you
get cramping in your legs oryour stomach or you're just it
just seems like it's so longYou'll go through patches, like
it's a two and a half hour event.
Well, for me anyways, and it'snot always going to feel great,
it's actually going to feel more, not great.
And it's not always going tofeel great, it's actually going
to feel more, not great, than itfeels good.
(14:34):
So that makes sense.
So you have to learn to gothrough those patches where
you're like, oh my goodness,this is really feeling hard and
you have to get through that.
So the good thing is, whenyou're doing all of your
training, you practice that,because when you're doing these
long training runs where you'redoing marathon pace, you have to
get used to working throughthose patches where you don't
(14:54):
feel good, and then you feelbetter after.
So when you get into thatdifficult part of the race, I
would always think, okay, I didthis in my training, I got
through it, and then you getthrough it each time.
But when that happens early inthe race, that's that can be the
most difficult part, becausethen it gets in your head and
then you can start to kind ofdoubt yourself and so much of
(15:14):
the marathon is like you have tohave mental strength to keep
going when you're not feelinggood, because for the most part
we say you want to becomfortably uncomfortable, so
that's a long time to to berunning when you know it's not
just you're out for a jog,that's fine.
Xavier (15:28):
It's not just you're out for a jog, that's fun.
So you talked about the patchesof the struggles of the race,
and those parts are hard.
Are there certain parts of therace that you found like
slightly easier or likeenjoyable, I guess?
Krista (15:44):
Well, I mean, you're having fun and you're enjoying
it like you've worked to do that, but the actual race itself can
be just so difficult.
Um, but, like I said, you knowas soon as you finish it, you
want to do it all over again.
So the key is you can't haveany regrets, because if you
don't push and perform to thelevel you know you're capable of
, and then you cross the line,you start to regret and I mean
(16:08):
you can't just do it all overagain the next day.
Right, you have to wait likeanother six months to do a
marathon, but I will say my lastmarathon before I retired,
which was in Tokyo in 2023, whenI got my sixth star, that was
like the best race I have everexecuted.
It's the first time I ran likeeven split between the two so
often, at least for me.
My second half is usually alittle bit slower, so that's the
(16:31):
first time that I had the evenpacing and I think I was
motivated by the fact that Iknew that I was going to like
retire after that and, um, mytraining went well.
It was Leah's birthday, and so Ihad written on my hands, like
her, her birthday.
She was, I think, turning 12.
So I remember I was like, okay,when it starts to get difficult
(16:51):
, the gloves are going to comeoff and I'm going to see Leah 12
on my hand, and that I neverhad to take the glove off.
I just kept waiting and waiting.
I'm like, no, keep it on untilit feels really bad.
And I ended up, I think,finishing with one glove on my
hand and one glove off.
So I think that's where I hadfun and I wouldn say it was easy
, but it was the best experienceof all of the marathons I had
(17:15):
done.
Emma (17:17):
You talked about Tokyo.
You've obviously been allaround the world for a marathon
running.
What has been the favorite cityyou visited to be on a marathon
?
Krista (17:28):
Tokyo is at the top.
I had been there once beforefor another race.
It's just I love Japan, justthe people and the organization
and the like, theprofessionalism of it.
But you know, I've I've been toNew York, boston, chicago, a
bunch of American cities andthat's fun.
But I've also loved being in inlike the different European
races, so Berlin and Rotterdamand London, and and then even
(17:52):
for training I went to Kenya andeven though it wasn't a big
city, I got to like live inAfrica for a month.
So that was an amazingexperience.
And, um, yeah, I've kind ofbeen all over the world and saw
a lot of different places andI've been to every continent
except for Antarctica andAustralia.
So maybe I'll get there someday.
Emma (18:10):
I don't know about Antarctica or Antarctica,
antarctica would be a toughplace to run a race.
Krista (18:14):
Yes, they have races there.
Believe it or not, they haveraces there.
Yeah, I mean, you're going slowand you're all like bundled up
and stuff, but there's, you know, I, there's the six world
majors that I did.
They actually have anothermajor now which is in Australia,
but just you know, I've got onekid in university and other two
will be going.
It's kind of hard to justifyspending that amount of money
(18:35):
now that I'm retired to just doit for fun.
But we'll see.
Xavier (18:40):
So obviously you have to do a lot of running while
you're training and just doingthe marathons.
So how long do running shoeslast before you need to replace
them?
Krista (18:52):
So for like a typical running shoe, it's about 500 to
600 kilometers like a trainingshoe that you would just go out
and just do like an easy pacedrun.
But then we now have theseshoes called like super shoes,
which came out in about 2017 ishand you can't get nearly the
mileage you can.
They have like the carbon fiberplate and the foam and that's
(19:16):
about like half the mileage.
So they're a really expensiveshoe.
I've been sponsored by Saucony,so you know it's.
It's been an advantage for meto be able to try out these
different shoes.
But that would be maybe 200 to300.
And it really depends to onkind of the type of runner you
are, if you're having shoes andthe surface that you're running
on.
Uh, but I've I've been througha lot of shoes over the years.
Emma (19:39):
For marathons.
Do you like train with the sameshoe or do you, uh, not
obviously in a brand new shoe,but how new are your shoes when
you run your marathon?
Krista (19:49):
Yeah, when I run they're pretty new, so I might only go
do like a quick 5k and maybelike a workout like with like an
hour of running before I racein the shoe.
Like you just want to make surethat you're not like breaking
them in right out of the box,but you do want them to feel
fresh and foamy and there's evenlike a mental, like
(20:10):
psychological benefit to likenew shoes are going to be fast
and they're still shiny andclean.
So, yeah, they're pretty newwhen I when I race did you have
a favorite type of shoe?
So I've been sponsored bySaucony for like I don't know 16
years or so and I've been ableto try every shoe that they've
had and I've never been picky.
(20:32):
And actually it's kind of badbecause I often don't even know
the shoe I'm wearing.
So I'll be out with otherpeople and they're like oh
Krista, what shoe is that?
And I have a friend, mitch, whowill always be able to answer
for me.
He's like I don't know.
And I looked at he's like, oh,it's the Canvara, whatever, or
it's the Triumph, whatever.
So I've just always been prettyflexible in terms of trying and
(20:53):
enjoying a bunch of differentshoes without any certain
preference.
Emma (20:58):
So you're talking about how in Tokyo you had your first,
like you were even split.
So what is considered a goodmarathon time and what do you
consider a good marathon timelike personally?
Krista (21:11):
It's kind of hard to answer because it depends Like
if you're a new runner and youhaven't really been active most
of your life, like just tofinish a marathon is is an
incredible accomplishment.
But like, if you look at a lotof people would use, like, the
Boston qualifying times.
So for age 18 to 34, for a manyou'd have to run three hours
(21:32):
and for a woman you'd have torun 330.
But then if you look at, likethe qualifying times, when I
went to the Olympics in 2016, aman had to run 212.
And we had to run 229.
So, yeah, I think it kind ofdepends on who you ask, like the
average person would have noidea what a fast time would be.
And like if you look like theaverage person would have no
idea, um, what a fast time wouldbe.
And like if you look at theworld records, like I'm nowhere
(21:53):
near them but, um, it's.
I think you know.
Some people might even say fourhours is a great finishing time
.
Um, for a marathon, what's yourpersonal best?
228, 32 nice yeah, and that wasbefore super shoes.
So, like in the last you know10 years, marathon times all
(22:14):
across the board, all over theworld have significantly gotten
faster with the technology ofthe super shoes, because you,
you are about I don't know,maybe two to six minutes faster.
So back in my peak, when wedidn't have the super shoe, my,
my, you can't really comparethat time to the times.
Today we are always advancing,like technology with sport and
that kind of thing.
Emma (22:35):
Technology is always advancing.
Every sport, right yeah.
Xavier (22:39):
So, going back to the Olympics, what was it like to
compete at the Olympics for TeamCanada?
Krista (22:46):
Probably one of the most exciting things was getting the
Olympic standard and qualifying.
Like that's where, like, likethe relief is is kind of gone.
The weight's off your back whenyou've checked that box.
You're named the team and youknow you're going, and then you
start to get all the like likethis outfit here, right, you get
to your stuff shipped to thehouse and you're opening it up
and everything says team Canada,but you still have to keep
(23:08):
training and like, um, you knowkind of stay calm and get ready
to have this like bigperformance of your life.
So, uh, for me I had two greatthings happen.
One, my experience was good inthat, um, I stayed in Olympic
village with all of the otherathletes.
I slept well, the food was good, travel, all those things.
So, like going into the race, Iwas well prepared with my
(23:30):
training.
And also, just like myexperience was good in the
village.
Some people go, they don'tsleep well and you know by the
time they compete they justaren't feeling good at all.
And then the other thing was myrace went well.
So some people have a greatexperience, like with their
living and everything, and thencome time for their competition
it doesn't go so well.
So for me it went well.
(23:50):
I prepared in the heat andhumidity and, um, it was hot
there and so I started in aboutlike I don't know, like maybe
70th place and just worked myway up further into the group
and went finished like 35th.
So that's a great feeling whenyou're passing people and you're
not getting passed by otherpeople.
Emma (24:09):
35th insane, how do you remember how many people?
When you're right people andyou're not getting passed by
other people, 35th is insane.
Do you remember how many peoplewere in your race?
Krista (24:14):
Yeah, there was about 140 people, yeah.
And I remember, like you know,leo was there and she was like
five years old, and then her twobrothers, who were like eight
and 10.
And when I came down like thefinal stretch where all the
people were, because, like in amarathon, because it's 42
kilometers, like you pretty muchhave to stay in one spot,
unless it's a loop course, inorder to see like people finish
(24:37):
and that kind of thing, so theywere in this, the, the big um
stadium or the big um uh area atthe end.
And I remember, like I camedown and I kind of puffed my
fist because I was like I'm anOlympian.
I did it like you only havelike 100 meters to go, and like
the crowd went wild and theywere cheering.
And then I was like, oh, that'sfor me.
(24:57):
And then I kind of pumped myfist on the other side, just
like celebrating, and that sidewent crazy and they're cheering.
So I was neat, so I'm likethey're cheering for me.
And then when I crossed the line, I looked over and my family
were wearing all these redT-shirts and I just saw this big
wave of red and I got to runover to them and hug them.
And you know we're crying andwe're celebrating in the
(25:19):
Canadian flag and you know itjust all came together perfectly
and the photographers even gota picture of that moment where
we're celebrating.
Because in a lot of events,like you know, at the super bowl
and all these big professionalevents, like you, there's
nowhere no way that you can getto like your family and friends
like seconds after you'vecompeted, because you know you
just have to keep security sohigh.
(25:40):
But in rio it just was a bitmore relaxed.
I think it's been tightersecurity since.
But, um, you know, to capturethat moment was pretty
incredible.
Emma (25:51):
That's.
That is incredible.
Wow.
How far was the race into that?
I think it's two weeks.
Were you near the end?
Did you get to kind of stay?
Krista (26:05):
and watch other Olympic races, or was it at the
beginning?
Oh yeah, so every it depends onthe event that you're doing.
Swimming starts early, so a lotof those athletes are there
early.
I know the summer sports morethan the winter Olympic ones,
but for us, like, we couldn'teven get into the Olympic
village until after the openingceremony.
So I watched the openingceremony from home and people
were texting me like, oh, areyou there?
(26:26):
I'm like no, I'm still at home.
Then you can pretty much stayas long as you want after until
the Olympic games are over, andthen you have like a day or two
that you have to, you know, headhome.
So I spent some time with youknow, with um, with my family,
and then came back and watched awhole bunch of different events
.
You can just get differenttickets to different events and,
um, we watched like tabletennis and I watched a lot of
(26:49):
the track events, the racewalking.
You're seeing Usain Bolt,simone Biles All these people
are in the dining room where youare.
Everyone's just walking around.
Yeah, it was pretty cool.
Do you have a favorite eventthat you watched at the time?
(27:09):
Depending on where the Olympicsare held, some events are like
completely in other cities thatlike would take like hours to
drive to.
You know I would be game to seeanything, but I just kind of
had to see what fit my schedule.
And I think you know the trackevents, you know, appealed to me
because those were like myteammates that I could cheer for
, and my roommate, natasha Wodak, who's actually the Canadian
(27:31):
Marathon record holder.
It was cool to cheer her on.
Well, I cheered from the roombecause my event was right after
hers.
It's pretty neat to see them.
And then we had Melissa Bishop,who was competing in the 800
and got fourth place, almost gota medal, and you know, you're
we're with some of your ownteammates which are, you know,
some of the best athletes in theworld, which is pretty neat
some of your own teammates,which are, you know, some of the
(27:53):
best athletes in the world,which is pretty neat.
Emma (27:54):
So the past summer you did , uh, was it this summer?
Krista (27:56):
the olympics.
Emma (27:56):
Uh, yes, yes, in paris, yeah, so this past summer, um
what was your favorite event towatch on tv?
Krista (28:03):
still track yeah, like just because I know so much
about it.
But I I still love to watch,like gymnastics and swimming,
and I mean I'll watch anythinglike that's the time of year
where, like the TV is constantlyon, but like I definitely have
to pay most attention to themarathon just because I do the
broadcast for CBC.
So but you know, whatever's on,I will watch and love it.
Xavier (28:27):
So, going back to watching the olympics, you are a
commentator for the cbc, likeyou said, for the marathon
runners, and it said that youaren't actually there.
So what is it like tocommentate a race while you're
not actually there watching inperson?
Krista (28:46):
yeah, surprisingly a lot of events are done in that way.
So the first time I did theOlympics was during the pandemic
and that was like really unique, but I didn't know anything
else.
I'd done broadcasting for likethe Toronto Marathon in Ottawa
and a few others, which is, youknow, definitely not as high
level as the Olympics.
But that year we were in likethese booths, right, because we
(29:09):
had to have like we couldn't benear people and masks and
everything.
So my co-broadcast person waslike there's plastic between us
so we would have to like usesign language and point and that
kind of thing.
But for the most part, likeyou're watching the screen,
watching the event live, andyou've got all your notes taped.
Now, a lot of it I just knowbecause it's my sport.
(29:30):
But like some of the stuff,like I just don't have memorized
every you know second andnumber, so you're looking at
those numbers all the time.
And then when I did it justthis past summer, it was much
more relaxed because you know wewere sitting together and we
could kind of like write notesto each other and we could kind
(29:50):
of use sign language andcommunicate a bit better.
But it's a really neatexperience doing the
broadcasting.
Emma (29:56):
What do you like most about being a TV commentator and
what is the biggest challenge?
Krista (30:03):
I like that.
You know it's still a way forme to stay in the sport and
because I'm still running Istill kind of understand what it
feels like.
So you know, when athletes arerunning I explain stuff to the
common viewer that wouldn'tnecessarily know, like what I
explained to you about yourbottles and your gels and how
every athlete has their ownindividual like some formula of
(30:24):
what they're going to take inand talking about, like what
carb loading actually looks like, like how many pieces of bread,
the equivalent of that you'reeating the day before, and you
know people would have no ideahow much you have to take in.
So I like that and it keeps mein it.
And you know we can kind of benerdy and talk about stuff and
know the stories of people.
But the hardest part isdefinitely when someone takes
(30:47):
the lead in the race and youhave no idea who they are.
So we have to prepare our notes, we have to have like all their
you know bios and everythingabout them that we can.
But, like for over a hundredpeople, you can't know
everything about everyone, wherethey're from and who they are.
So and this happens where thelead camera man on the
motorcycle will follow theperson in the lead who's broken
(31:10):
away from the pack and you lookand you're scrambling and we're
looking at each other and we'retrying to figure out who it is
and sometimes we just have tosay we don't know.
So that that's tough,especially if they're staying in
the lead for a long time, likeusually they don't keep leading
because you know they're kind ofa little bit in in too far
ahead and they probably aren'tcapable of keeping that pace and
(31:31):
they get caught.
Emma (31:32):
But it's definitely a challenge when, like, the
camera's on that person andwe're supposed to be talking
about them and we're kind ofscrambling on average, like yeah
, I guess then Olympic race orcenter race in general, how many
people fluctuate between theleads Like is it like normally
four people, like four or fivepeople that break away from the
pack or no?
Krista (31:53):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Um, usually there's like a leadpack and a chase pack.
So the lead pack you'd probablysee like the top 10 or 15
people that you would expect tobe in that lead pack.
Then you're going to see somekind of people who really should
be there.
Then the chase pack would bethose people who know that they
need to kind of like keep theirdistance from the pack and kind
(32:15):
of run their own race.
So there's definitely a benefitto running with other people
when you do a marathon, because,like like I said before, it
gets tough, and when you'rerunning with other people, just
like a team sport, you don'tfeel like you're all by yourself
.
So I mean, really, that groupoften sticks together for quite
a while and then you'll start tosee it thin out, where some
(32:35):
people are kind of taking a leadand the others can't keep up
with those surges or otherpeople just fall off the pace
and they're they're gettingtired for for other reasons.
So, um, yeah, it really varies.
Like that, the year that I umdid boston in 2018, um, you can
hear the commentators at thebeginning of the race making a
comment about yuki, the man fromjapan who won it and they're
(32:57):
like, oh, he's never going to beable to keep this pace, and you
know they're kind of going onand on and they had to eat their
words in the end because he wonthe whole thing yeah, he kept
his pace, yep so kind of goingback to the training part
outside of physical training,you talked about how marathons
is quite a mental sport.
Emma (33:14):
What does it take to to be an elite athlete in general?
Krista (33:19):
well, like for the mental part, I get that question
a lot in terms of like, how doI deal with it mentally?
And it's a hard one to answerjust because everyone thinks
differently and they'remotivated in different ways.
So you really have to practicein your training, like I said,
where you have to get throughthose rough patches and find
your way out and you can thinkof things like other people are
feeling just as bad as I am.
(33:40):
I don't want to have regretsand you have those things that
you get in your head that willhelp you get through.
But you know there's otherparts to being an elite athlete.
Obviously you know you get up,you have to eat well, fuel you
can't just go out the doorwithout fueling.
You have to prepare all of yourlike drinks and gels that you're
going to take during, and thenyou know what you're going to
take in right after.
You want protein andcarbohydrates to replenish right
(34:02):
after, and then you know youhave to come back and make your
meal again, put more fuel in,and then go to like your physio
or massage or chiropractor orwhatever it is to to look after
your body and then even likeother preventative maintenance,
like you know rolling,stretching, hot tub, that kind
of thing, and then regularworking out at the gym a couple
(34:25):
times a week where you'relifting weights to make sure
that you're strong.
So for me, like I had three kidsthat I was looking after during
that time too, right, so therewas never a dull moment.
But the other thing too is likesleep is so important so I had
to make sure that I could likenap in a day when, like a kid
was napping, and get the othersto be either in school or let
(34:48):
them watch TV and make sure thatI'm getting good sleep at night
, because that just increasesyour risk of injury and illness
if you're not sleeping right,because that's like your best
form of recovery.
That's just so easy to do andgives you the best outcome so
easy to do and gives you thebest outcome.
Xavier (35:06):
So you have so much stuff to do in just one day.
Was there a way that you like,like, did you like write
everything down so you had likea schedule to do, or was it like
you just were going how thingshappen, like, how did you keep
your, how did you know what todo during those days Because
they so busy?
Krista (35:25):
yeah, I just had to be really organized and write it
down.
So between my husband and I,like you know, when you're
looking to compete at a bigevent like the world
championships or olympics,you're looking like years ahead.
So you know.
For him it was like okay, isthis a big year for you for work
, are you going to be at a lotof conferences or traveling a
lot for sale?
So then I would kind of plan myschedule with him so that we
(35:49):
would know like who's on kidduty, who's doing this, and you
know.
So there's like years andmonths out and then like day to
day, like you know, kind of hourby hour, what you're going to
do.
So as long as I'm planning myworkouts so I can get um, then
it's going to work.
Like.
So if, if I had to take Leah toa hockey tournament, I would
look weeks in advance and dolike my long run on the Thursday
(36:11):
before, cause I knew I'm notgoing to be at a hotel somewhere
and try to find like a place torun 35 kilometers.
It just wasn't going to work.
So I would, you know, look wellin advance to to map that out.
Emma (36:25):
Um, so you talked about earlier about like gels and how
different runners have liketheir own like concoctions.
Do you like?
What was your go-to kind of mixfor your drink?
Krista (36:35):
yeah, so I was sponsored by a company called elode.
Um, I was like the only drink Iever used and it worked, so I
never, never changed that.
So, um, like, lemon was myfavorite flavor.
Uh, sometimes I use orange, butI wasn't really picky, so I
just kind of stuck with whatworked.
And then I also used, uh, it'scalled endurance top and it was
(36:55):
the gel, which is basicallymaple syrup, uh, with with some
ginger and sea salt in it.
So those were the two thatworked for me and I, I, I never
changed it because, um, I didn'tneed to, and and I enjoyed it
and it worked well.
Emma (37:12):
So what advice for so it's like for young athletes like
Leah and like me and my brother?
What advice do you have foryoung athletes who want to apply
some of these high performancelessons to their own sports,
whether that be running orhockey or anything else the
listeners do?
Krista (37:29):
Like it's.
It all depends on your age andmaturity, so it has to come from
from the athlete, right.
I think that parents that pushtheir kids too much, if the kid
isn't responding or isn't takingthe lead, then you kind of have
to question why they're doingit Right.
So I think it really isimportant when you see you know
(37:50):
you're taking the lead, you'reasking the questions, you're
looking ahead at your schedule,you're packing your snacks, your
bag, you're, you know, mappingit out, so that you know when
you've got a night off and youknow you're, you're tired,
you're going to bed early, andit's not like your parents
telling you.
So that that's like a process,right, because I mean,
ultimately, as parents and asathletes who are, you know, at
(38:10):
this point in their life and abit more experience, we have
that wisdom and knowledge thatwe can kind of help you
understand and grow into so thatwhen you're an adult you gain
that knowledge and can apply ityourself.
So it's it's just beingorganized, planning ahead, and
it's like that question beforewith how I planned.
You know, you know each day ata time, it's the same with you.
(38:31):
Like you know your homework andlike I know Leah, she does her
homework on the way to practiceher games, because it's going to
be dark on the way home andshe's usually like eating or
kind of on her phone, so thatwhen she gets home she can, you
know, shower, have a snack andgo to bed.
You know, if you can handle itnow and enjoy it now, that will
(38:51):
grow with you as yourresponsibilities get deeper as
you go.
Emma (38:56):
Yeah, I do a lot of homework in the car too.
Krista (38:58):
Yeah, you have to yeah.
Xavier (39:01):
You gotta do it while you can, yeah, yeah, you gotta
do it while you can, yeah, busy.
So obviously you don't train,obviously like retired, but do
you still do like half marathonsor do you just still go and run
or do any races just near here?
Krista (39:20):
yeah.
So last may I did, uh, 100kilometer race in Sulphur
Springs, like the Dundas Valley.
So it's like this 20k loop withhills and that kind of thing
and it's not really a supertechnical course but it's fairly
hilly for what I'm used to andit's kind of something I always
wanted to do, just do like thelonger event.
But I didn't train for it, likeI trained all those years for
(39:43):
the marathon.
So I still had to train.
I mean, you can't just go outand run a hundred kilometers,
but I wasn't like, um, asinvested as I was when I was
like trying to make, you know,olympic team and and and that
kind of thing.
So, um, I'm going to do thatagain this May.
And the other thing I've beendoing is pacing friends and some
of the athletes that I coach insome of their workouts.
(40:05):
So that's a way for me to likestay fit and like I just kind of
follow what workout they'redoing or my coach gives me a
plan to kind of work with withthese goals, and I find that
motivating because I reallydon't have any desire to like
train for a race for myself.
I did that for 20 years, it's.
It doesn't motivate me anymorelike it used to, but like going
out the door and being like,okay, I'm going to pace, like
(40:26):
I'm pacing a friend in a 30k inend of March, so I'm like
figuring out what I need to doto pace her for her goals and
it's still work right, like,even though I ran fast, I still
have to do that work to keep,you know, to keep pacing them
for the goals that they want.
So that's, that's what I'mdoing, and then I'm just kind of
making it up, year by year,what I want to do.
(40:47):
I don't know that I'll keepdoing a hundred K, um, but it's,
it's fun.
Xavier (40:53):
You've done it all your life, so you must just want to
keep doing it, and it's so cool,yeah, and it's normal.
Krista (40:59):
Yeah, you're right.
Yeah, yep.
Emma (41:01):
I mean, I go crazy when I have no sports today.
So I get where you're comingfrom.
Krista (41:04):
Yeah, exactly yeah, it's just normal for you.
It's what your day looks like.
Xavier (41:12):
Yeah, you just have a feeling that if you don't have
any sports on, you want to go dosomething to show that time
yeah, and running is always agood option.
Krista (41:21):
It's easy, just go to dinner.
Well, thank you so much, justopen her.
Emma (41:26):
Well, thank you so much.
Xavier (41:27):
Yeah, okay, yeah thank you, it was so good.
Krista (41:31):
Thank you so much, bye Okay.
Emma (41:34):
Thanks guys, Thank you for listening and I know all the
shows.
You probably listened to saythis, but if you enjoyed this
episode, please follow and ratethe podcast.
Xavier (41:42):
Also, we would love to connect with you and hear your
thoughts about our episodes.
You can find us on Instagram orvisit our website.
The links are in the show notes.
Thanks for tuning in.
Bye.
When you're doing these long training runs, where you're
doing marathon pace, you haveto get used to working through
those patches where you don'tfeel good and then you feel
better after.
So when you get into thatdifficult part of the race, I
would always think, okay, I didthis in my training, I got
through it, and then you getthrough it each time.
But when that happens early inthe race, that can be the most
(00:21):
difficult part, because then itgets in your head and then you
can start to kind of doubtyourself and so much of the
marathon is like.
You have to have mentalstrength to keep going when
you're not feeling good.
Xavier (00:32):
Hi, welcome to Curious Conversations, a podcast for
kids, by kids.
I'm one of your hosts, xavier.
Emma (00:40):
And I'm your other host, emma, and we're so excited to
bring you another season ofinteresting discussions with
people from all walks of life,to learn about their passions
and what inspires them.
Xavier (00:49):
We are still as curious as ever and we hope you will
join us on our journey.
Emma (00:54):
Today we have an insanely cool guest, krista Duchesne,
also known as Canada's MarathonMom.
She's a Canadian Olympian, anutritionist and one of the
toughest runners out there, andwhen we say tough, we mean it.
I play hockey with Krista'sdaughter Leah and heard about
(01:15):
how her mom finished a race witha broken leg, so we had to hear
the full story.
We also talked about what ittakes to train for a marathon,
the best pre-race snacks spoilerbagels are involved and why
fueling your body the right wayis so important.
Now that she's retired, one ofher jobs is a commentator for
(01:38):
CBC Sports.
She even covered the marathonat the last Olympics, giving
expert insights into what goeson behind the scenes of the
world's biggest race.
We asked her what it's like togo from running marathons to
calling the action and breakingdown strategies for millions of
viewers.
If you've ever wondered what ittakes to push through the pain,
(02:01):
keep going when things get tough, or just want to know what
marathon runners actuallymid-race, this episode is for
you.
Hi, how are you?
I'm good, how are you Good?
Just so our listeners know howwe know you.
I play hockey with yourdaughter Leah on the Cambridge
U15 AA team and I think youlearned a new skill this year
(02:24):
because you've been helping outwith our timekeeping yes, you're
right, that's a new um addedstress level of my life.
Krista (02:33):
But I, I I'm okay as long as there's not multiple
penalties that are over twominutes oh yeah, you know what?
Emma (02:40):
I see you struggling.
Krista (02:41):
Sometimes I'm like sitting right next to the box
yeah, and as long as you'rewriting down, then I know when
to let people out of the box.
Emma (02:47):
So it's always a pretty busy box without the music
natural timekeeper, it's a lot.
Krista (02:53):
It's fun, though I like being at that level I can see
like the expression on the facesand stuff that no one else can
see, oh yeah.
Emma (02:59):
Front row Girls get mad.
Xavier (03:00):
Front row.
Emma (03:01):
Girls getting out of the box.
Oh my God.
Krista (03:03):
Yes, we get some attitude from the other team
sometimes, but we can deal withit.
Xavier (03:10):
Oh yeah, you got it Front row seat to all the action
.
Krista (03:12):
Yeah, that's right.
Xavier (03:14):
So you are a marathon runner and have raced all over
the world and you've had thechance to race for Canada in the
Olympics and we do want to talkabout all of that.
But I've been wanting to askyou one question about the time
that you ran and finished a raceon a broken leg.
Krista (03:31):
Yes, so that was in 2014 and I was doing a half marathon
and I was actually defending mytitle as Canadian champion
because I had won the yearbefore, and that week I had this
pain in my leg.
I didn't know what it was andsaw my physiotherapist and you
know, ultimately the decisionwas up to me whether or not I
(03:53):
run.
So it felt okay until, like youknow, kilometer 15, 16 out of
21 kilometers in the race, whichthe legs started to feel a bit
off.
But I was in first place, keptmy lead and then, like near to
the end of the race, like thelast one or two kilometers, it
was really hurting.
So I got passed by two women,still ended up third, but I had
(04:18):
to hop on my good leg to finishthe race.
So then the race director likescooped me up in his arms, took
me to the medical tent and then,I don't know, fast forward,
like eight or 10 hours later, Ihad to have emergency surgery to
get a screw put in my leg toreplace or to help repair a
(04:40):
fracture.
So, basically, I started outthe race with an undiagnosed
stress fracture, which is a tinylittle break, and then,
throughout the race, it just gotbigger and bigger and it was
almost completely through.
So I had to stay in Montrealand have the surgery and then I
wasn't able to go home for acouple of days because the
extent of the surgery and thatkind of thing.
(05:01):
So yeah, that's what happenedand it was because of something
called relative energydeficiency in sport.
So basically I was underfueling for the training that I
was putting my body through.
So it's it's something thatwe've learned a lot about in the
last 10 years and you know,basically I wasn't feeling
enough for what I was doing withthe training and racing, and
(05:26):
when you do that, that canaffect your reproductive health,
your energy, your immunity andyour bone health, and that's
what happened to me.
So pretty, pretty terrible.
The video is actually onYouTube.
You can see me finish the raceand it's to the music of Eye of
the Tiger.
So every time I hear that songI I kind of cringe.
But yeah, that's what happenedand, uh, I I highly uh recommend
(05:49):
that people don't do that.
But you know, we learned that'sinsane, wow, that's yeah.
Emma (05:55):
Well, you know, at least you have a fun story to tell.
Krista (05:59):
And you know that's true .
Like I remember when I was inthe hospital and you know, at
that point I was, you know,still hoping to make it to the
Olympics and, um, I was talkingto some of the surgeons and
they're like, oh yeah, my friend, he cycles.
He had the same thing happenedto me, to him, in a bike crash,
and he recovered.
And so I remember, after thesurgery, the next day I was like
, okay, I'm still going to getthe standard in two years, I'll
(06:22):
give myself two years.
And then two days after thesurgery, I'm like I'm doing this
in one year and it was 11 and ahalf months after that I got my
Olympic standard after thatbreak.
So recovery went well,everything just was healing, you
know perfectly, and I still hadthat motivation to go back and
finish what I wanted to do.
(06:42):
But I never had that completeconfidence because I wasn't sure
if I would feel the screw in myleg because and I still have it
it's pretty big and and I neverfeel it.
So I've run, like I don't know,10 marathons or more since then
.
So, yeah, it's.
It is a pretty interestingstory.
So when I was in the hospital,I remember thinking I will be
telling this as a story somedayand, and yeah, laughing thinking
(07:08):
I will be telling this as astory someday and, and, yeah,
laughing, well that's.
Emma (07:09):
That's kind of interesting .
But the that's pretty common inother sports.
Krista (07:11):
I mean, obviously nutrition's been a big, a big
thing in the next, in the lastlike 10 years, but that just
that's crazy you see it in a lotof sports that are kind of
dependent on look and weight, sothings like figure skating,
where they want them to look acertain way, and endurance
sports like marathon and cycling, as well as sports where you
(07:32):
have frequent weigh-ins, becauseyou know wrestlers who have to
hit a certain weight category tocompete.
You know it can kind of get inyour head about your weight and
what you should look like andthat kind of thing.
So in my case I think it waslike leaner is better and I'm a
marathon runner.
But again, we've learned a lotsince then and you know, even
though I was running fast times,I still had injuries after that
(07:56):
because of that, that timeperiod where I was under fueling
.
And it was also complicatedbecause at the time Leah was
like, uh, only like a year ortwo old, so I had been pregnant
or breastfeeding for so manyyears, so it was kind of
difficult to know what my bodywas doing.
Emma (08:11):
You know what?
I think that like going throughthings like that it's important
in life because, like nowaren't you're a nutritionist,
right?
So now it's kind of your job tolike teach other people about
how to properly feel their body.
Krista (08:25):
Exactly.
Emma (08:27):
So let's talk about running and just training in
general.
So you played university hockeybefore getting into running,
but how did you transition fromhockey which that was a high
level hockey to long distancerunning?
Krista (08:44):
So when I was young, in elementary school I did every
sport.
And then in high school runningand hockey were kind of like my
favorite sports that Ispecialized in and started to
kind of narrow my focus.
And then at the end of highschool I kind of had to pick
between hockey and running.
And at that time I pickedhockey, played at the University
of Guelph and loved it.
So running kind of was like onthe back burner.
(09:05):
I still kept running, but nottraining and competing like I
did when I went to office a fewtimes and that kind of thing.
So they called me the trackstar when we did dry land for
hockey, because I was thisperson no one knew and they're
just like who's this runner?
Like playing on the hockey team.
And then, you know, obviouslyhockey turned out to be, you
know, pretty successful.
But I, just when I retired fromhockey, I just got back into
(09:30):
running because I kind of feltlike, you know, there's there's
more to it and I think that Istill have stuff that I can do.
And so I remember like back inthe day before we had watches
that could tell us our pace andour distance.
I went out and I ran.
I think it was about 18k, solike we would drive where we ran
to know how far it was.
And so I was like, okay, 18k, amarathon's 42.
(09:52):
Like, hey, why not?
So I just did my first marathonfor fun, kind of like, hey,
let's try a marathon.
And then, you know, when I wasdoing my first one, like many
people running a marathon, I waslike why am I doing this?
This is so hard.
And then as soon as I crossedthe line, I was like, oh, I want
to do that all over again.
Xavier (10:19):
So I just kept doing marathon after marathon and just
kind of getting faster eachtime and falling in love with it
like more and more each time Idid it.
Krista (10:33):
So that first marathon, when did you stop playing hockey
and then went into running?
What year was that?
Remember I did my internship tobe a dietitian in there and
that's kind of when I got backinto running, like kind of
higher mileage compared to whatI was doing when I played hockey
.
Xavier (10:50):
So when you are about to do a race?
Do you have like a routine orany superstitions that you did
before the race to like getyourself ready?
Krista (11:01):
Like not superstitions, but I think for the 20 something
years that I did all of mymarathons, I always had a bagel
with honey for breakfast andcoffee.
So I don't think that everchanged.
Like maybe it was toast a fewtimes, but that was like my
go-to, because when I'mtraveling, like especially
(11:21):
overseas and other countries,and you're not sure if you can
get the food that you're used to, I would just pack that bagel
in my carry on and make surethat I had it with like little
packets of honey.
The only thing is, in a hotel,like, you don't have a toaster,
so you're basically eating likethis dry bagel.
So it was much nicer when I wasin hotels where breakfast was
provided and there's toastersand everything else.
(11:42):
But yeah, not really anysuperstitious kind of rituals or
routines, just that.
That's the thing that I know Idid like time after time so
every game you'd have a bagel.
Emma (11:54):
But like what would you do ?
I'd say, like maybe a daybefore to start fueling for your
race, and did you eat duringyour marathons, or no?
Krista (12:03):
yeah, yeah so, basically , like a couple days before I
start carb loading, so, um, I'mcutting back on like some of the
protein and fiber and thenincreasing, like rice bread,
pasta.
You want to like top up yourglycogen stores so that, um,
when you're running, you can,you know, dig deep in terms of
(12:24):
using the energy and the form ofcarbohydrates, but you still
have to take in carbohydrateswhen you're running because you
just can't have enough for, likethat, that endurance event.
So, when you're running, youtake in carbohydrates in the
form of like gels and you cantake it in your drinks.
So what I often did was, like,for professionals, we have
(12:44):
tables where we can put in yourdrinks.
So what I often did was, likefor professionals, we have
tables where we can put our owndrinks and so we make up our own
kind of concoction of whatwe're used to training with that
settles well in our stomach anddoes well for our performance.
So my bottles are always onthese tables and labeled, and I
would have a gel on the bottle.
So I would grab it, put the gelon my bra top, take the drink
(13:04):
and get hydrated and somecarbohydrates, and then wait a
little bit and take the gel.
And so I would.
I would do that every fivekilometers.
So there's eight aid stationsfor a 42 kilometer event.
Right up until 40 kilometers isyour last station, where you
grab your bottle, get your geland and finish the race.
Emma (13:24):
Is gel like exactly what it sounds like Just like gel.
Krista (13:29):
Yeah, yeah, pretty much Like.
It's like, um, it's like not asthick as toothpaste maybe, but
kind of like that texture.
So you really have to practiceit because it's not like
enjoyable.
It's not like, oh, I'm having aburger at the first aid station
, it's going to taste so good.
It's like like, oh, I'm havinga burger at the first aid
station, it's going to taste sogood.
It's like you need to learn toswallow it when you're running
fast, open the package and thenyou want to make sure that you
(13:51):
don't like drop it and that youknow it digests well with your
stomach.
But, yeah, it's.
It's kind of like honey ormaple syrup, kind of consistency
and, um, yeah, it's just kindof a necessary part of the sport
.
Emma (14:06):
So what's the hardest part of a race?
Krista (14:12):
So you can have times where, like you're tired, you
get cramping in your legs oryour stomach or you're just it
just seems like it's so longYou'll go through patches, like
it's a two and a half hour event.
Well, for me anyways, and it'snot always going to feel great,
it's actually going to feel more, not great.
And it's not always going tofeel great, it's actually going
to feel more, not great, than itfeels good.
(14:34):
So that makes sense.
So you have to learn to gothrough those patches where
you're like, oh my goodness,this is really feeling hard and
you have to get through that.
So the good thing is, whenyou're doing all of your
training, you practice that,because when you're doing these
long training runs where you'redoing marathon pace, you have to
get used to working throughthose patches where you don't
(14:54):
feel good, and then you feelbetter after.
So when you get into thatdifficult part of the race, I
would always think, okay, I didthis in my training, I got
through it, and then you getthrough it each time.
But when that happens early inthe race, that's that can be the
most difficult part, becausethen it gets in your head and
then you can start to kind ofdoubt yourself and so much of
(15:14):
the marathon is like you have tohave mental strength to keep
going when you're not feelinggood, because for the most part
we say you want to becomfortably uncomfortable, so
that's a long time to to berunning when you know it's not
just you're out for a jog,that's fine.
Xavier (15:28):
It's not just you're out for a jog, that's fun.
So you talked about the patchesof the struggles of the race,
and those parts are hard.
Are there certain parts of therace that you found like
slightly easier or likeenjoyable, I guess?
Krista (15:44):
Well, I mean, you're having fun and you're enjoying
it like you've worked to do that, but the actual race itself can
be just so difficult.
Um, but, like I said, you knowas soon as you finish it, you
want to do it all over again.
So the key is you can't haveany regrets, because if you
don't push and perform to thelevel you know you're capable of
, and then you cross the line,you start to regret and I mean
(16:08):
you can't just do it all overagain the next day.
Right, you have to wait likeanother six months to do a
marathon, but I will say my lastmarathon before I retired,
which was in Tokyo in 2023, whenI got my sixth star, that was
like the best race I have everexecuted.
It's the first time I ran likeeven split between the two so
often, at least for me.
My second half is usually alittle bit slower, so that's the
(16:31):
first time that I had the evenpacing and I think I was
motivated by the fact that Iknew that I was going to like
retire after that and, um, mytraining went well.
It was Leah's birthday, and so Ihad written on my hands, like
her, her birthday.
She was, I think, turning 12.
So I remember I was like, okay,when it starts to get difficult
(16:51):
, the gloves are going to comeoff and I'm going to see Leah 12
on my hand, and that I neverhad to take the glove off.
I just kept waiting and waiting.
I'm like, no, keep it on untilit feels really bad.
And I ended up, I think,finishing with one glove on my
hand and one glove off.
So I think that's where I hadfun and I wouldn say it was easy
, but it was the best experienceof all of the marathons I had
(17:15):
done.
Emma (17:17):
You talked about Tokyo.
You've obviously been allaround the world for a marathon
running.
What has been the favorite cityyou visited to be on a marathon
?
Krista (17:28):
Tokyo is at the top.
I had been there once beforefor another race.
It's just I love Japan, justthe people and the organization
and the like, theprofessionalism of it.
But you know, I've I've been toNew York, boston, chicago, a
bunch of American cities andthat's fun.
But I've also loved being in inlike the different European
races, so Berlin and Rotterdamand London, and and then even
(17:52):
for training I went to Kenya andeven though it wasn't a big
city, I got to like live inAfrica for a month.
So that was an amazingexperience.
And, um, yeah, I've kind ofbeen all over the world and saw
a lot of different places andI've been to every continent
except for Antarctica andAustralia.
So maybe I'll get there someday.
Emma (18:10):
I don't know about Antarctica or Antarctica,
antarctica would be a toughplace to run a race.
Krista (18:14):
Yes, they have races there.
Believe it or not, they haveraces there.
Yeah, I mean, you're going slowand you're all like bundled up
and stuff, but there's, you know, I, there's the six world
majors that I did.
They actually have anothermajor now which is in Australia,
but just you know, I've got onekid in university and other two
will be going.
It's kind of hard to justifyspending that amount of money
(18:35):
now that I'm retired to just doit for fun.
But we'll see.
Xavier (18:40):
So obviously you have to do a lot of running while
you're training and just doingthe marathons.
So how long do running shoeslast before you need to replace
them?
Krista (18:52):
So for like a typical running shoe, it's about 500 to
600 kilometers like a trainingshoe that you would just go out
and just do like an easy pacedrun.
But then we now have theseshoes called like super shoes,
which came out in about 2017 ishand you can't get nearly the
mileage you can.
They have like the carbon fiberplate and the foam and that's
(19:16):
about like half the mileage.
So they're a really expensiveshoe.
I've been sponsored by Saucony,so you know it's.
It's been an advantage for meto be able to try out these
different shoes.
But that would be maybe 200 to300.
And it really depends to onkind of the type of runner you
are, if you're having shoes andthe surface that you're running
on.
Uh, but I've I've been througha lot of shoes over the years.
Emma (19:39):
For marathons.
Do you like train with the sameshoe or do you, uh, not
obviously in a brand new shoe,but how new are your shoes when
you run your marathon?
Krista (19:49):
Yeah, when I run they're pretty new, so I might only go
do like a quick 5k and maybelike a workout like with like an
hour of running before I racein the shoe.
Like you just want to make surethat you're not like breaking
them in right out of the box,but you do want them to feel
fresh and foamy and there's evenlike a mental, like
(20:10):
psychological benefit to likenew shoes are going to be fast
and they're still shiny andclean.
So, yeah, they're pretty newwhen I when I race did you have
a favorite type of shoe?
So I've been sponsored bySaucony for like I don't know 16
years or so and I've been ableto try every shoe that they've
had and I've never been picky.
(20:32):
And actually it's kind of badbecause I often don't even know
the shoe I'm wearing.
So I'll be out with otherpeople and they're like oh
Krista, what shoe is that?
And I have a friend, mitch, whowill always be able to answer
for me.
He's like I don't know.
And I looked at he's like, oh,it's the Canvara, whatever, or
it's the Triumph, whatever.
So I've just always been prettyflexible in terms of trying and
(20:53):
enjoying a bunch of differentshoes without any certain
preference.
Emma (20:58):
So you're talking about how in Tokyo you had your first,
like you were even split.
So what is considered a goodmarathon time and what do you
consider a good marathon timelike personally?
Krista (21:11):
It's kind of hard to answer because it depends Like
if you're a new runner and youhaven't really been active most
of your life, like just tofinish a marathon is is an
incredible accomplishment.
But like, if you look at a lotof people would use, like, the
Boston qualifying times.
So for age 18 to 34, for a manyou'd have to run three hours
(21:32):
and for a woman you'd have torun 330.
But then if you look at, likethe qualifying times, when I
went to the Olympics in 2016, aman had to run 212.
And we had to run 229.
So, yeah, I think it kind ofdepends on who you ask, like the
average person would have noidea what a fast time would be.
And like if you look like theaverage person would have no
idea, um, what a fast time wouldbe.
And like if you look at theworld records, like I'm nowhere
(21:53):
near them but, um, it's.
I think you know.
Some people might even say fourhours is a great finishing time
.
Um, for a marathon, what's yourpersonal best?
228, 32 nice yeah, and that wasbefore super shoes.
So, like in the last you know10 years, marathon times all
(22:14):
across the board, all over theworld have significantly gotten
faster with the technology ofthe super shoes, because you,
you are about I don't know,maybe two to six minutes faster.
So back in my peak, when wedidn't have the super shoe, my,
my, you can't really comparethat time to the times.
Today we are always advancing,like technology with sport and
that kind of thing.
Emma (22:35):
Technology is always advancing.
Every sport, right yeah.
Xavier (22:39):
So, going back to the Olympics, what was it like to
compete at the Olympics for TeamCanada?
Krista (22:46):
Probably one of the most exciting things was getting the
Olympic standard and qualifying.
Like that's where, like, likethe relief is is kind of gone.
The weight's off your back whenyou've checked that box.
You're named the team and youknow you're going, and then you
start to get all the like likethis outfit here, right, you get
to your stuff shipped to thehouse and you're opening it up
and everything says team Canada,but you still have to keep
(23:08):
training and like, um, you knowkind of stay calm and get ready
to have this like bigperformance of your life.
So, uh, for me I had two greatthings happen.
One, my experience was good inthat, um, I stayed in Olympic
village with all of the otherathletes.
I slept well, the food was good, travel, all those things.
So, like going into the race, Iwas well prepared with my
(23:30):
training.
And also, just like myexperience was good in the
village.
Some people go, they don'tsleep well and you know by the
time they compete they justaren't feeling good at all.
And then the other thing was myrace went well.
So some people have a greatexperience, like with their
living and everything, and thencome time for their competition
it doesn't go so well.
So for me it went well.
(23:50):
I prepared in the heat andhumidity and, um, it was hot
there and so I started in aboutlike I don't know, like maybe
70th place and just worked myway up further into the group
and went finished like 35th.
So that's a great feeling whenyou're passing people and you're
not getting passed by otherpeople.
Emma (24:09):
35th insane, how do you remember how many people?
When you're right people andyou're not getting passed by
other people, 35th is insane.
Do you remember how many peoplewere in your race?
Krista (24:14):
Yeah, there was about 140 people, yeah.
And I remember, like you know,leo was there and she was like
five years old, and then her twobrothers, who were like eight
and 10.
And when I came down like thefinal stretch where all the
people were, because, like in amarathon, because it's 42
kilometers, like you pretty muchhave to stay in one spot,
unless it's a loop course, inorder to see like people finish
(24:37):
and that kind of thing, so theywere in this, the, the big um
stadium or the big um uh area atthe end.
And I remember, like I camedown and I kind of puffed my
fist because I was like I'm anOlympian.
I did it like you only havelike 100 meters to go, and like
the crowd went wild and theywere cheering.
And then I was like, oh, that'sfor me.
(24:57):
And then I kind of pumped myfist on the other side, just
like celebrating, and that sidewent crazy and they're cheering.
So I was neat, so I'm likethey're cheering for me.
And then when I crossed the line, I looked over and my family
were wearing all these redT-shirts and I just saw this big
wave of red and I got to runover to them and hug them.
And you know we're crying andwe're celebrating in the
(25:19):
Canadian flag and you know itjust all came together perfectly
and the photographers even gota picture of that moment where
we're celebrating.
Because in a lot of events,like you know, at the super bowl
and all these big professionalevents, like you, there's
nowhere no way that you can getto like your family and friends
like seconds after you'vecompeted, because you know you
just have to keep security sohigh.
(25:40):
But in rio it just was a bitmore relaxed.
I think it's been tightersecurity since.
But, um, you know, to capturethat moment was pretty
incredible.
Emma (25:51):
That's.
That is incredible.
Wow.
How far was the race into that?
I think it's two weeks.
Were you near the end?
Did you get to kind of stay?
Krista (26:05):
and watch other Olympic races, or was it at the
beginning?
Oh yeah, so every it depends onthe event that you're doing.
Swimming starts early, so a lotof those athletes are there
early.
I know the summer sports morethan the winter Olympic ones,
but for us, like, we couldn'teven get into the Olympic
village until after the openingceremony.
So I watched the openingceremony from home and people
were texting me like, oh, areyou there?
(26:26):
I'm like no, I'm still at home.
Then you can pretty much stayas long as you want after until
the Olympic games are over, andthen you have like a day or two
that you have to, you know, headhome.
So I spent some time with youknow, with um, with my family,
and then came back and watched awhole bunch of different events
.
You can just get differenttickets to different events and,
um, we watched like tabletennis and I watched a lot of
(26:49):
the track events, the racewalking.
You're seeing Usain Bolt,simone Biles All these people
are in the dining room where youare.
Everyone's just walking around.
Yeah, it was pretty cool.
Do you have a favorite eventthat you watched at the time?
(27:09):
Depending on where the Olympicsare held, some events are like
completely in other cities thatlike would take like hours to
drive to.
You know I would be game to seeanything, but I just kind of
had to see what fit my schedule.
And I think you know the trackevents, you know, appealed to me
because those were like myteammates that I could cheer for
, and my roommate, natasha Wodak, who's actually the Canadian
(27:31):
Marathon record holder.
It was cool to cheer her on.
Well, I cheered from the roombecause my event was right after
hers.
It's pretty neat to see them.
And then we had Melissa Bishop,who was competing in the 800
and got fourth place, almost gota medal, and you know, you're
we're with some of your ownteammates which are, you know,
some of the best athletes in theworld, which is pretty neat
some of your own teammates,which are, you know, some of the
(27:53):
best athletes in the world,which is pretty neat.
Emma (27:54):
So the past summer you did , uh, was it this summer?
Krista (27:56):
the olympics.
Emma (27:56):
Uh, yes, yes, in paris, yeah, so this past summer, um
what was your favorite event towatch on tv?
Krista (28:03):
still track yeah, like just because I know so much
about it.
But I I still love to watch,like gymnastics and swimming,
and I mean I'll watch anythinglike that's the time of year
where, like the TV is constantlyon, but like I definitely have
to pay most attention to themarathon just because I do the
broadcast for CBC.
So but you know, whatever's on,I will watch and love it.
Xavier (28:27):
So, going back to watching the olympics, you are a
commentator for the cbc, likeyou said, for the marathon
runners, and it said that youaren't actually there.
So what is it like tocommentate a race while you're
not actually there watching inperson?
Krista (28:46):
yeah, surprisingly a lot of events are done in that way.
So the first time I did theOlympics was during the pandemic
and that was like really unique, but I didn't know anything
else.
I'd done broadcasting for likethe Toronto Marathon in Ottawa
and a few others, which is, youknow, definitely not as high
level as the Olympics.
But that year we were in likethese booths, right, because we
(29:09):
had to have like we couldn't benear people and masks and
everything.
So my co-broadcast person waslike there's plastic between us
so we would have to like usesign language and point and that
kind of thing.
But for the most part, likeyou're watching the screen,
watching the event live, andyou've got all your notes taped.
Now, a lot of it I just knowbecause it's my sport.
(29:30):
But like some of the stuff,like I just don't have memorized
every you know second andnumber, so you're looking at
those numbers all the time.
And then when I did it justthis past summer, it was much
more relaxed because you know wewere sitting together and we
could kind of like write notesto each other and we could kind
(29:50):
of use sign language andcommunicate a bit better.
But it's a really neatexperience doing the
broadcasting.
Emma (29:56):
What do you like most about being a TV commentator and
what is the biggest challenge?
Krista (30:03):
I like that.
You know it's still a way forme to stay in the sport and
because I'm still running Istill kind of understand what it
feels like.
So you know, when athletes arerunning I explain stuff to the
common viewer that wouldn'tnecessarily know, like what I
explained to you about yourbottles and your gels and how
every athlete has their ownindividual like some formula of
(30:24):
what they're going to take inand talking about, like what
carb loading actually looks like, like how many pieces of bread,
the equivalent of that you'reeating the day before, and you
know people would have no ideahow much you have to take in.
So I like that and it keeps mein it.
And you know we can kind of benerdy and talk about stuff and
know the stories of people.
But the hardest part isdefinitely when someone takes
(30:47):
the lead in the race and youhave no idea who they are.
So we have to prepare our notes, we have to have like all their
you know bios and everythingabout them that we can.
But, like for over a hundredpeople, you can't know
everything about everyone, wherethey're from and who they are.
So and this happens where thelead camera man on the
motorcycle will follow theperson in the lead who's broken
(31:10):
away from the pack and you lookand you're scrambling and we're
looking at each other and we'retrying to figure out who it is
and sometimes we just have tosay we don't know.
So that that's tough,especially if they're staying in
the lead for a long time, likeusually they don't keep leading
because you know they're kind ofa little bit in in too far
ahead and they probably aren'tcapable of keeping that pace and
(31:31):
they get caught.
Emma (31:32):
But it's definitely a challenge when, like, the
camera's on that person andwe're supposed to be talking
about them and we're kind ofscrambling on average, like yeah
, I guess then Olympic race orcenter race in general, how many
people fluctuate between theleads Like is it like normally
four people, like four or fivepeople that break away from the
pack or no?
Krista (31:53):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Um, usually there's like a leadpack and a chase pack.
So the lead pack you'd probablysee like the top 10 or 15
people that you would expect tobe in that lead pack.
Then you're going to see somekind of people who really should
be there.
Then the chase pack would bethose people who know that they
need to kind of like keep theirdistance from the pack and kind
(32:15):
of run their own race.
So there's definitely a benefitto running with other people
when you do a marathon, because,like like I said before, it
gets tough, and when you'rerunning with other people, just
like a team sport, you don'tfeel like you're all by yourself
.
So I mean, really, that groupoften sticks together for quite
a while and then you'll start tosee it thin out, where some
(32:35):
people are kind of taking a leadand the others can't keep up
with those surges or otherpeople just fall off the pace
and they're they're gettingtired for for other reasons.
So, um, yeah, it really varies.
Like that, the year that I umdid boston in 2018, um, you can
hear the commentators at thebeginning of the race making a
comment about yuki, the man fromjapan who won it and they're
(32:57):
like, oh, he's never going to beable to keep this pace, and you
know they're kind of going onand on and they had to eat their
words in the end because he wonthe whole thing yeah, he kept
his pace, yep so kind of goingback to the training part
outside of physical training,you talked about how marathons
is quite a mental sport.
Emma (33:14):
What does it take to to be an elite athlete in general?
Krista (33:19):
well, like for the mental part, I get that question
a lot in terms of like, how doI deal with it mentally?
And it's a hard one to answerjust because everyone thinks
differently and they'remotivated in different ways.
So you really have to practicein your training, like I said,
where you have to get throughthose rough patches and find
your way out and you can thinkof things like other people are
feeling just as bad as I am.
(33:40):
I don't want to have regretsand you have those things that
you get in your head that willhelp you get through.
But you know there's otherparts to being an elite athlete.
Obviously you know you get up,you have to eat well, fuel you
can't just go out the doorwithout fueling.
You have to prepare all of yourlike drinks and gels that you're
going to take during, and thenyou know what you're going to
take in right after.
You want protein andcarbohydrates to replenish right
(34:02):
after, and then you know youhave to come back and make your
meal again, put more fuel in,and then go to like your physio
or massage or chiropractor orwhatever it is to to look after
your body and then even likeother preventative maintenance,
like you know rolling,stretching, hot tub, that kind
of thing, and then regularworking out at the gym a couple
(34:25):
times a week where you'relifting weights to make sure
that you're strong.
So for me, like I had three kidsthat I was looking after during
that time too, right, so therewas never a dull moment.
But the other thing too is likesleep is so important so I had
to make sure that I could likenap in a day when, like a kid
was napping, and get the othersto be either in school or let
(34:48):
them watch TV and make sure thatI'm getting good sleep at night
, because that just increasesyour risk of injury and illness
if you're not sleeping right,because that's like your best
form of recovery.
That's just so easy to do andgives you the best outcome so
easy to do and gives you thebest outcome.
Xavier (35:06):
So you have so much stuff to do in just one day.
Was there a way that you like,like, did you like write
everything down so you had likea schedule to do, or was it like
you just were going how thingshappen, like, how did you keep
your, how did you know what todo during those days Because
they so busy?
Krista (35:25):
yeah, I just had to be really organized and write it
down.
So between my husband and I,like you know, when you're
looking to compete at a bigevent like the world
championships or olympics,you're looking like years ahead.
So you know.
For him it was like okay, isthis a big year for you for work
, are you going to be at a lotof conferences or traveling a
lot for sale?
So then I would kind of plan myschedule with him so that we
(35:49):
would know like who's on kidduty, who's doing this, and you
know.
So there's like years andmonths out and then like day to
day, like you know, kind of hourby hour, what you're going to
do.
So as long as I'm planning myworkouts so I can get um, then
it's going to work.
Like.
So if, if I had to take Leah toa hockey tournament, I would
look weeks in advance and dolike my long run on the Thursday
(36:11):
before, cause I knew I'm notgoing to be at a hotel somewhere
and try to find like a place torun 35 kilometers.
It just wasn't going to work.
So I would, you know, look wellin advance to to map that out.
Emma (36:25):
Um, so you talked about earlier about like gels and how
different runners have liketheir own like concoctions.
Do you like?
What was your go-to kind of mixfor your drink?
Krista (36:35):
yeah, so I was sponsored by a company called elode.
Um, I was like the only drink Iever used and it worked, so I
never, never changed that.
So, um, like, lemon was myfavorite flavor.
Uh, sometimes I use orange, butI wasn't really picky, so I
just kind of stuck with whatworked.
And then I also used, uh, it'scalled endurance top and it was
(36:55):
the gel, which is basicallymaple syrup, uh, with with some
ginger and sea salt in it.
So those were the two thatworked for me and I, I, I never
changed it because, um, I didn'tneed to, and and I enjoyed it
and it worked well.
Emma (37:12):
So what advice for so it's like for young athletes like
Leah and like me and my brother?
What advice do you have foryoung athletes who want to apply
some of these high performancelessons to their own sports,
whether that be running orhockey or anything else the
listeners do?
Krista (37:29):
Like it's.
It all depends on your age andmaturity, so it has to come from
from the athlete, right.
I think that parents that pushtheir kids too much, if the kid
isn't responding or isn't takingthe lead, then you kind of have
to question why they're doingit Right.
So I think it really isimportant when you see you know
(37:50):
you're taking the lead, you'reasking the questions, you're
looking ahead at your schedule,you're packing your snacks, your
bag, you're, you know, mappingit out, so that you know when
you've got a night off and youknow you're, you're tired,
you're going to bed early, andit's not like your parents
telling you.
So that that's like a process,right, because I mean,
ultimately, as parents and asathletes who are, you know, at
(38:10):
this point in their life and abit more experience, we have
that wisdom and knowledge thatwe can kind of help you
understand and grow into so thatwhen you're an adult you gain
that knowledge and can apply ityourself.
So it's it's just beingorganized, planning ahead, and
it's like that question beforewith how I planned.
You know, you know each day ata time, it's the same with you.
(38:31):
Like you know your homework andlike I know Leah, she does her
homework on the way to practiceher games, because it's going to
be dark on the way home andshe's usually like eating or
kind of on her phone, so thatwhen she gets home she can, you
know, shower, have a snack andgo to bed.
You know, if you can handle itnow and enjoy it now, that will
(38:51):
grow with you as yourresponsibilities get deeper as
you go.
Emma (38:56):
Yeah, I do a lot of homework in the car too.
Krista (38:58):
Yeah, you have to yeah.
Xavier (39:01):
You gotta do it while you can, yeah, yeah, you gotta
do it while you can, yeah, busy.
So obviously you don't train,obviously like retired, but do
you still do like half marathonsor do you just still go and run
or do any races just near here?
Krista (39:20):
yeah.
So last may I did, uh, 100kilometer race in Sulphur
Springs, like the Dundas Valley.
So it's like this 20k loop withhills and that kind of thing
and it's not really a supertechnical course but it's fairly
hilly for what I'm used to andit's kind of something I always
wanted to do, just do like thelonger event.
But I didn't train for it, likeI trained all those years for
(39:43):
the marathon.
So I still had to train.
I mean, you can't just go outand run a hundred kilometers,
but I wasn't like, um, asinvested as I was when I was
like trying to make, you know,olympic team and and and that
kind of thing.
So, um, I'm going to do thatagain this May.
And the other thing I've beendoing is pacing friends and some
of the athletes that I coach insome of their workouts.
(40:05):
So that's a way for me to likestay fit and like I just kind of
follow what workout they'redoing or my coach gives me a
plan to kind of work with withthese goals, and I find that
motivating because I reallydon't have any desire to like
train for a race for myself.
I did that for 20 years, it's.
It doesn't motivate me anymorelike it used to, but like going
out the door and being like,okay, I'm going to pace, like
(40:26):
I'm pacing a friend in a 30k inend of March, so I'm like
figuring out what I need to doto pace her for her goals and
it's still work right, like,even though I ran fast, I still
have to do that work to keep,you know, to keep pacing them
for the goals that they want.
So that's, that's what I'mdoing, and then I'm just kind of
making it up, year by year,what I want to do.
(40:47):
I don't know that I'll keepdoing a hundred K, um, but it's,
it's fun.
Xavier (40:53):
You've done it all your life, so you must just want to
keep doing it, and it's so cool,yeah, and it's normal.
Krista (40:59):
Yeah, you're right.
Yeah, yep.
Emma (41:01):
I mean, I go crazy when I have no sports today.
So I get where you're comingfrom.
Krista (41:04):
Yeah, exactly yeah, it's just normal for you.
It's what your day looks like.
Xavier (41:12):
Yeah, you just have a feeling that if you don't have
any sports on, you want to go dosomething to show that time
yeah, and running is always agood option.
Krista (41:21):
It's easy, just go to dinner.
Well, thank you so much, justopen her.
Emma (41:26):
Well, thank you so much.
Xavier (41:27):
Yeah, okay, yeah thank you, it was so good.
Krista (41:31):
Thank you so much, bye Okay.
Emma (41:34):
Thanks guys, Thank you for listening and I know all the
shows.
You probably listened to saythis, but if you enjoyed this
episode, please follow and ratethe podcast.
Xavier (41:42):
Also, we would love to connect with you and hear your
thoughts about our episodes.
You can find us on Instagram orvisit our website.
The links are in the show notes.
Thanks for tuning in.
Bye.
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