January 28, 2025 • 30 mins
In today’s episode, I’m sharing my 4 Winter Weather Running Tips to keep you motivated and moving:
- Mindset is Key: Embrace the challenge and stay positive.
- Warm-Up First: Start warm to avoid the shock of the cold.
- Dress in Layers: Find what works and keep experimenting.
- Have Fun: Forget pace—focus on effort and enjoy the beauty of winter.
What’s your go-to winter running tip?
If you found this helpful, rate the show on Spotify, subscribe on YouTube, and share it with a running buddy!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
All right, welcome back everybody to the do hard
things podcast.
I'm your host, jay Teagues, andafter a year long hiatus, I am
thrilled to be back with you.
If you're new here, thispodcast is about embracing
challenges, pushing boundaries,mindset and movement.
That's how we empower your life.
And yeah, I took I took a yearyear off, and so in this episode
(01:06):
I'm going to really just kindof fill you in on what I've been
up to.
I'm going to give you fivewinter running tips that will
help you keep your sanityBecause, let's be honest,
treadmills suck.
I don't like running on them.
They're a great tool, but Iwould rather hang my laundry off
them than to run on it.
But you got to do what you gotto do sometimes, but I prefer to
(01:29):
run outside.
So I'm going to share with yousome tips and some
considerations to help you.
You know run.
You know run during the winter.
A lot of runners hibernateduring the winter and then
they're behind on the, you knowon the spring season, and you
know how do we maintain thatmomentum.
You know winter is aboutbuilding base, but how can you
do it?
That doesn't suck nearly as bad.
So we're going to dive intosome winter tips and then,
(01:52):
ultimately, the way ahead whatyou can expect from the Do Our
Things podcast, do Our ThingsNation and the way ahead.
So let's talk about this pastyear and why the break.
Well, I didn't mean to takethis much time away, but this
past year has been a time ofdeep reflection for me, personal
growth and pivoting in my ownpersonal journey as a high
(02:13):
performance coach and runningcoach.
It's very important and I saythis a lot to people that I work
with and and you know, coachesneed to eat their own dog food.
You got to practice what youpreach and there are a lot of
charlatans out there that are inthis industry and I don't want
to be one of those and I want toapologize right now If you hear
(02:33):
some background noises.
Our contractor is hererepairing our home after a flood
.
We had a washing machineincident upstairs, flood it, the
uh, uh from the top floor tothe living room and down into
the basement, making one heck ofa mess and, um, I didn't
(02:55):
realize that he was going to bedoing some work right behind me,
so I apologize for any noise.
Um, but anyway it, this yearwas necessary for me to really
kind of uh, reevaluate where Iwanted to take the podcast, the
type of work that I wanted to do, and it was a big year of
transition because I had justretired from the military after
27 years so I've been wearing auniform for 27 years.
(03:19):
I'm trying to figure out who Iam and what I want to do, and I
realized that I needed to dosome work on myself and, to be
honest, my cup was empty andit's hard to pour from an empty
cup and I needed to recharge,recalibrate, take a knee, focus
on myself.
And so I spent the yeartraveling.
I worked with some world-classcoaches Lacey and I had some.
(03:41):
We did a few races.
I did the Expedition Ozark, afive-day adventure race, longest
race I've ever done.
Did it with food poisoning.
I'll have to have an episodespecifically on that one.
We ran the Nashville Marathon,which was an adventure.
That particular marathon isvery hilly.
It's awesome.
I mean I love the crowd.
Nashville is such a cool town.
Love the crowds.
It was incredibly hot.
(04:03):
Lacey will have to tell youabout her temperature check.
Maybe I can get her to come onthe podcast and talk about her
Nashville experience, cause thatwas a um, a leading edge
experience for her finishing heruh first marathon.
Uh and uh, but it was, it wassuper hot, um, someone actually
passed on the course cause itwas so hot.
I mean, that's that's how,that's how bad I got, um, but it
(04:25):
was, it was still fun.
And then we ultimately did theuh Marine Corps marathon, which
was super awesome.
I did the 50 K, lacey did theuh the marathon.
That was a really cooladventure and, like I said, a
lot of work on ourselves.
We, uh, we moved over the, theuh the summer.
Uh, for those that may not know, I had finished up my career at
Fort Leonard Wood and my wifewas living in Columbia, so we'd
(04:47):
had this like long distancething going on and decided to we
need to be adults and move intogether.
So we sold both houses andmerged into this beautiful home,
which is currently still underconstruction, and so just bottom
line, just a lot of thingshappening, and I just needed
time to kind of reset andrecalibrate and I needed to
really focus on my own mental,physical and emotional, uh,
(05:11):
wellbeing, which is what we talkabout on this podcast a lot.
And, yeah, just to you know, rerefill the cup.
So that's um, those are some ofthe just the the, the white
tops, the white white caps, ifyou will, of what had gone on
this year.
I'd also kind of I kept mycoaching practice.
(05:31):
I got my real estate license.
I've been interested inmultifamily real estate,
investing and doing some workwith that group.
I applied for a job as amortgage lender and decided that
wasn't the path.
Bottom line is I was throwingspaghetti against the wall,
seeing what stuck, trying tofind my own way, do some
(05:52):
deprogramming and focus on selfand what I've learned.
And you know what, what Godcalls me to do.
He pulled me back to like youneed to continue to coach and
teach and spread this message ofdoing hard things.
We got the trademark for dohard things.
That was like a, that was amoment, cause I'd been a couple
of years in the works and I'mlike you know what, every time I
veered off the path, I getcalled back to doing hard things
(06:13):
and this message.
So, yeah, what you can expectgoing forward from the podcast
Um, you know we used to have,like you know, a weekly, a
weekly schedule.
I'm just going to kind of seehow it goes.
I'm not going to currentlycommit that.
It'll be a weekly, every dot.
You know.
You know, every Wednesday, likewe had in the past, I'm going
(06:34):
to go.
I'm looking for quality overquantity and I want to.
I'm going to be sharing morehealth and wellness tips.
You know we're going to focuson running, lifting diet, health
and wellness tips.
You know we're going to focuson running, lifting diet,
nutrition I've learned a lotabout fasting so many other
different facets when it comesto your physical body and then
(06:55):
we're going to be talking aboutmindset.
We're going to be talking aboutmindset, high performance topics
that will help you, becauseit's all about mindset and
movement.
We want to empower people tolive a better life through
mindset and movement.
We're going to have someincredible interviews with some,
you know, relatable guests.
I want to bring in someindustry experts, but I also
want to bring in relatableguests that are doing really
cool things.
(07:16):
There's a lot of theory outthere.
There's a lot of guests thathave a lot of theory but almost
can be feeling like out of touch, you know, and out of reality,
and I want to bring in moretactics that you can actually
employ into your life, and thenwe'll have some surprises along
the way.
So I'd love to hear from youyou know what topics or
challenges are you facing rightnow in life and in your fitness
(07:37):
like both from a mindset andfitness and you can reach out
directly and go to do morethings nationcom.
Uh, we're on all the socialmedia platforms so you can find
us on Facebook.
We've got a TikTok account.
We're really active on.
We're on Instagram, we'reeverywhere.
We're on the YouTube.
(07:57):
But really, what is the Do OurThings Nation?
Well, what we're moving towardis we're basically trying to
grow a community.
We have a membership.
We have a high-performancemindset coaching, running
coaching, wellness coaching,running plans, support.
There'll be weekly calls,there'll be a book club and
(08:18):
virtual events and personalevents.
If you go todoourthingsnationcom, you can
get the latest and greatest.
Plus, we have all the awesomemotivational gear.
Check that out.
We'll be talking more about theway ahead, so let's get into
what I really want to talk abouttoday, which is how do you
survive winter running?
Let's be real, the treadmillisn't the most fun.
(08:40):
Treadmills suck.
And let's give you some tactics, some things to consider to
make your winter running better.
Because really, let's be real,a lot of runners go into
hibernation mode because,especially, I'm living in the
Midwest and it was literallylike single digits last week and
it's not fun.
It's icy, it's snowy, it's dark, it's cold and many runners go
(09:04):
into hibernation mode and andsome runners stick to the
treadmill.
But I don't know anyone thatruns a treadmill and says, yes,
give me more of that.
That really sucks, right, butyou got to do what you got to do
to run.
I personally prefer to runoutside, so I'm one of those
crazy ones that I like to runoutside no matter what is
(09:28):
probably negative 30 degreesFahrenheit.
This was in Japan.
Being in the military, we didsome extreme cold weather
training and so I've been insome really, really extremely
cold weather conditions.
Now I look at it as a for mepersonally in my training.
You know I'm training for arace as a trail runner, an
endurance cyclist, adventureracer.
(09:49):
You know the conditions for alot of these races like it's got
to be really really bad tocancel.
So I feel like it gives me aleg up.
I've also been a career soldier, so the weather doesn't stop
the army, right.
So I'm pretty used to runningin cold weather and I actually
have learned to enjoy it.
I just love being outdoors.
There's something magical aboutbeing out in the quietness of
(10:11):
the early morning, knowing thateveryone is sleeping peacefully
in their beds and I'm out theregetting after it, the clear
mornings, the crispness of theair.
It feels refreshing After agood snow.
It's just, I don't know.
It's really pretty.
It adds another level ofpeacefulness and it builds a
level of mental toughness thattransfers to if I can do this, I
(10:35):
can do anything in life Right,and so I feel that there's a.
It builds mental discipline andgrit, and so I'm going to share
with you some of the tips andadvice that I could give you to
help you, you know, crush yourwinter running and get you out
of hibernation mode and avoidthe treadmill if you need to.
(10:55):
So, number one, number oneprinciple it's all about mindset
.
Like you got to make the choicethat you know what I'm going to
run, no matter what.
I am a year round runner, I amnot a yo-yo runner, I'm not a
fair weather runner, and I'mgoing to, you know I'm going to,
you know, embracing.
I'm going to embrace the suckhere.
I'm going to do hard things,and the winter is really a good
time to really just build base.
It's long, slow running aboutbuilding mileage, because this
(11:20):
is really the off season there'snot a lot of runs.
People aren't really trainingfor winter runs.
There are some winter runs, butreally we're trying to prepare
for spring Now.
Those that have ran through thewinter are going to have a leg
up when springtime comes and youcan see when you cross the
start line.
You don't want to peak in thedead of summer, right?
You want to peak in the springwhen the weather is like really
(11:41):
optimal to run in.
So, from a mindset perspective,you know, running is a choice,
except the fact that it's winterand you can't always control
the conditions.
But you can control how youshow up and focus on what.
You focus on the control,control the controls, removal
any expectations and just setthe intention of having fun.
And this is very hard.
(12:02):
As I coach runners, you know,tell people you gotta, you gotta
do zone two running.
Winter is all about long, slowzone two running.
And so just take your, take thepressure off of having to
maintain high pace and, on ascale of one to 10, get that
sweet spot of like four whereyou can have a conversation, use
it as an opportunity to listento some audio books and and you
(12:23):
know, listen to some greatpodcasts and just move the body,
just get the mileage out there,build that base, burn those
calories, burn those wintercalories and go into it with a
positive attitude.
If you think every time that youknow waking up and I'm going to
run outside and this sucks,every time, like then this going
to suck every single time, ifyou carry that, that attitude.
(12:43):
But if you're like, you knowwhat, I have the gear, I have
the mindset, I get to runbecause there's people that
would give anything to have thephysical capability that you do
and change that mindset from youknow what I have to suffer to.
You know what I get to do this,I get to this and sometimes you
may have to, like you know,talk yourself out of it Because
I get it.
It is difficult some morningsto get out there and do it, but
(13:07):
if you go into it thinking it'sgoing to suck, then guess what
it's going to suck.
So just don't think about thetemperature, don't think about
the wind, dress appropriately,do your proper warmup and and
get running, get moving.
So let's talk about um, a tipabout warming up first.
Now you uh, I see this oftenI'll go to a group run and
(13:31):
everyone just will stand aroundtalking about the route, what
we're going to be doing, andthen we just up and just go run
and people aren't warming upproperly and it you know I'm
going to, I'm going to warm upduring the run.
Well, what what happens is isthat you're not giving your body
ample time to a warmup, and itcan kind of be kind of a shock.
And I always suggest doing awarmup routine, the uh.
(13:55):
When I coach my runners, we doleg swings and the lunge matrix.
This is something that Ilearned from Jay Johnson and
it's like the perfect amount.
It's exactly what you need towarm up properly for a run.
And those drills are great.
And you know what you can do.
Those drills in the house, likeif you, if you're um at your
house and you're ready to runoutside, just do your drills in
the house, get warmed up andthen, as soon as you get out the
(14:17):
door, your body's warmed up andit's not nearly as shocking.
So, and if you are, you know,out in the, in the group, you
know, show up a few minutesearly and just it anyway,
because it's the right thing todo and it won't be nearly as
shocking to your body when it istime to move.
So let's talk about gear.
(14:40):
What type of gear do you need?
And what I'm going to sharewith you is pretty common sense,
but common sense isn't alwayscommon practice.
But the number one rule ofthumb is to dress for 10 to 20
degrees warmer than the actualtemperature.
We just talked about doing thewarmup.
Like, as you start to do thewarmup, your body temperature is
(15:02):
going to rise and when youstart running it's going to feel
cold initially.
But as your body warms up, youknow um, you're, you're, you're
going to feel it, andoverdressing can lead to
overheating and you knowlayering is really, really
important.
So here's just a quickbreakdown from a temperature
perspective.
This isn't the end, all be all,but just some things to think
(15:23):
about.
When it's above 40 degrees, youmight want to wear something
like lightweight, long sleeve orsome base layers.
Some of my favorite shirts arekind of like these, these long
sleeve, wicking shirts.
If you go to do our thingsnationcom, we've got some there
that those are some of myfavorite.
They just they feel reallylight and they whip the sweat
away.
And I might wear a t-shirtunderneath that's also wicking,
(15:46):
but I'll layer up in one ofthose layers.
I might wear a vest and I mightwear something.
I think a vest is great to keepthe core nice and warm when you
are at 20 to 40 degrees.
You might add a thermal layerand maybe some gloves, because
you got to protect theextremities and thermal layers.
You know, I think of likesomething like wool.
(16:07):
I think wool is great,especially if it's like rainy.
You might need something tokind of block the wind.
You always want to check thewind because the wind chill can
make a big impact and you know,between that 20 to 40 degree, it
might feel.
You might see that when you goon to your weather, when you're
checking the weather, it's likeit's 40 degrees but it feels
like you know 32.
Well, that's typically becauseof the wind and maybe the
(16:30):
precipitation that's in the air.
So you gotta you know you needto have your thermal outer layer
reflect that.
You might need to wearsomething that is kind of uh, uh
, wind resistant.
Um, or, like I said, wool is agreat.
I love smart wool.
Anything smart wool makes usfantastic.
Anything below 20 degrees you'reprobably going to want to cover
the skin, right.
Um, probably anything below 30would be ideal.
(16:51):
I'll go maybe upper 20.
Sometimes people look at melike I'm crazy.
Definitely below 20.
You probably want to cover that.
You definitely want to coverthe skin and you know, probably
hat, insulated gloves, maybeanother.
Another layer I like to wear aneck gaiter that's like.
If you're not familiar withthose are they kind of just go
around your neck but you canpull them over your head.
(17:11):
I got a smart wool one.
I got different layers, I'vegot ones that are thicker and
I've got some that are reallythin.
But those neck gaiters areprobably one of my favorite
pieces of equipment because yourneck and your ears and your
mouth and nose can get reallycold and you can pull it up.
You know you can wear it onyour head if you want to.
You can adjust it, which ispretty cool.
(17:38):
And the smart wicking becauseyou know you're you're blowing
out some some snot and you gotstuff coming out of your mouth
and you've got like yourbreathing it can get really wet
and that smart wool keeps itwarm even though it's even
though it's wet.
Um, some other things toconsider.
You know where moisture wickingfabrics keep your sweat off the
skin as you warm up.
You're going to get sweaty.
You're going to want to protectyour extremities.
You want to protect yourfingers, your toes, your ears,
because they lose heat reallyfast as they're exposed to the
(18:00):
outer and as the blood starts to, it's going to start to pull
inwards.
You know you're not going tohave as much blood circulating
there, so they get colder.
So you want to avoid any typeof cold weather injury or
frostbite, and that's usuallywhere you're going to get it
right Fingertips, toes and ears.
So just be careful.
It's going to be dark outside,right?
So let's talk about you knowyou probably want to wear
something reflective.
(18:21):
I drive, you know, in the darkoften, and I will see runners
and cyclists.
Have you ever have you had thatexperience where you're driving
and all of a sudden, like outof nowhere, there's like a
person because they're notwearing anything reflective?
We think that we have enoughtime to see the runner and the
runners forget that.
You know those reaction times,especially when everyone is like
not paying attention, they'redoing everything but driving,
(18:44):
they're scrolling on TikTok anddoing everything but paying
attention.
So it's really, reallyimportant to wear reflective
gear of some type.
So I wear, you know, I've gotsome reflective bands.
I'll wear, you know, a blinkylight.
I've got this.
I think it's a box gear, it'slike a little vest with a
(19:06):
battery pack on the back that'sgot these tubes that really
light up, like you can't missanyone really, um, wearing one
of those, and they're kind ofcool cause they can light up in
multiple different colors and,um, yeah, so wear something
that's reflective, have a, havea light so you can see and other
people can see you.
The the blinkier the better,because, like I said, it was
(19:27):
early morning.
You know people are trying toget off to work and that, really
paying attention, um, you, youneed to be seen.
So be very, very careful outthere.
Um, you want to?
Um, what am I missing as far asthat?
Get a good headlamp, get andmaybe carry a backup with you
just in case the battery runsout.
I actually had my um, mybattery pack um run out on me
this morning and it kind ofsucked because there's like some
(19:48):
black ice out there, so itreally slowed me down.
I, you know, uh, maybe a half amile away from the finish,
thought that I had plenty ofjuice left in my, in my
flashlight, but didn't, and Inoticed it significantly when I
didn't.
Um, you know, and I didn'tbring a backup.
So, um, I'm, I, I'm gonna, I'mgonna slap myself on the wrist
(20:09):
here for that one Cause I alwaystalk about.
You know, um, uh, you know,make sure you're, you have,
you're, you're prepared and havea backup plan.
And I didn't, so I got caughtshort.
But, um, yeah, um, make surethat you have a backup, make
sure you get plenty of batterylife for that, but get a good
quality headlamp, um, and youmight want to experiment.
There's, there's a variety ofdifferent ways and people have
(20:29):
their own preferences, but havea light.
I think it's going to be really, really important.
What else do we want to talkabout as far as gear?
Oh, one more really good pieceof kit that I recommend,
especially even when it's likesnowy or icy, especially in the
ice.
In the Midwest we have a lot ofice.
They have these things calledyak tracks no-transcript, excuse
(20:52):
me or run in, and these are.
This is a great piece of kit,one of the best pieces of winter
kit.
They just slide over your shoes.
I would get the.
They've got a couple ofdifferent levels of them.
I guess, from pricing options,I would recommend getting the
more expensive where they've gotthe strap that goes over the
top, you can get them to wherethey kind of go around the
bottom of your shoe, which isperfect for hiking.
(21:13):
But get the strap that goesover the top, cause I think it
just fits better if you're goingto be running and moving
quickly.
So yak tracks are awesome.
We're not sponsored by them,but, hey, if yak tracks, uh,
here's us we would love tosponsor because I think they're
the greatest piece of winter kitout there.
I mean, I like to use them justto walk around, like if I put
them on my boots, um, just toget in and out of the car, just
to get in and out of the car,just to go to the grocery store
(21:35):
because, uh, they're, they'rejust so good for, uh, for you
know, uh, avoiding slipping onice.
I, um, I did not have.
So I went on a little ruck withthe dog, um, a couple of weeks
ago, thinking that the ice hadmelted and I was walking down
the street it's kind of packeddown and I didn't bring my yak
tracks and I was walking and Iwas, I was actually rucking and
my feet slipped up andcompletely went.
(21:57):
What just on my back,completely wiped me out, knocked
the breath out of me.
Dog ran up to me.
I was like, are you okay?
And then I knocked the wind outof me.
But I'm like man, if someonewould have saw that, like, if
there was like a ring camerathat would have caught that, it
had to be hilarious, because myfeet went completely out from
underneath me, I fell back ontomy rock, knocked the wind
completely out of me and I feltstupid.
(22:20):
But then I started laughing athow ridiculous that probably had
to look.
So, um, I should probably goknock on their doors and see if
they got a ring camera and seeif they got footage of that
Cause.
That was, uh, that was prettygood.
All right, all right.
And then we're going to finishup um on this topic with um.
All right, all right.
And then we're going to finishup on this topic with you know.
Tip number four is just removingall expectations.
(22:40):
Just remove the pace.
Don't put pressure on yourself.
Winter running is about zonetwo.
Zone two and I feel like I saythis a lot to my running clients
is, in order to run fast, yougot to run slow, and winter
running is all about runningslow, and it seems so
counterintuitive, but this iswhere you develop mitochondria.
Mitochondria are like thepowerhouse of your cells and in
(23:04):
your body that's what is goingto.
The more mitochondria you have,the longer you can run, the
more efficient you can run andyou can really maximize the
development of this in zone two.
I don't know why I didn't makethe rules on how biology works,
but there's a lot of things whenit comes to health and wellness
that just seems socounterintuitive.
And this is one the world'sgreatest runners marathon
(23:27):
runners.
They spend most of their timerunning incredibly slow, where
you can hold a conversation andit doesn't feel like you're
getting a lot out of it, but youare Okay.
This is an opportunity to workon your cadence.
You know how quickly you turnover your feet.
You're in that fat burning zone.
You're becoming more efficient,your body is building
mitochondria and it just can'tdo this when you're in a higher
(23:49):
heart rate zone.
Like I said, I didn't make upthe rules, I don't know, but run
smarter, not harder.
Okay, so slow.
If you want to run fast, you'vegot to run slow, and in the
winter time, just remove thatexpectation.
Run slow, pace doesn't matter.
Okay, pace doesn't matter.
80% of your run should be thisyear round.
80% of your run should be atzone two in the winter.
Just really focus on slow, okay, just slow, slow, smooth,
(24:13):
smooth, fast, especially ifyou're going to be running out
in the, in the conditions.
So, um, yeah, it's um, like Isaid it, if you remove all the
expectations to include the, thepace, just go out there and
just enjoy it.
Put an audio book on, listen toyour podcast, like this one,
get caught up on your do hardthings podcast and uh, and just
take your time.
(24:33):
Have a good time out there,just enjoy nature, be grateful.
It's a good opportunity to evenmaybe not listen to anything
Like, just be mindful, just bepresent with yourself, listen to
your heart rate and just reallyget settled into your thoughts.
And, you know, focus onbuilding that base mileage and
(24:59):
getting ready for the springrunning season.
So, yeah, so those are somesurvival tips and if you got to
run the treadmill, by all meansgo run the treadmill.
But I think that I personallythink that there's a lot of
great benefits for braving thecold being out there.
It just feels really good, itfeels very empowering Anytime
that humans can get out intonature.
I truly believe we weren'tdesigned for these concrete
(25:20):
jungles and all the screens thatwe have available to us, and
the more that we can get outside, the more that we can get in
touch with our biological, humanself, the inner caveman, the
inner warrior, the inner hunterand gatherer, I think the better
off, uh, uh, we are.
I, you know it.
It's always a challenge to getout the door and start when it's
(25:44):
cold and dark, but I alwaysfeel amazing and I feel
incredibly accomplished when Ido.
And, um, so that's the case.
And and also, I think, when theweather conditions during a race
suck, people aren't trained forit and you can endure it.
So I think, for me personally,it gives me a leg up when it
comes to competition.
I love it when the weather istough, because I'm like you know
(26:04):
what my competition didn'ttrain they, uh, they're, um, you
know they're, uh, what do youcall that?
Um, fair weather runners.
You know the treadmill runners?
I'm gonna going to crush them.
I'm going to take some souls inthis bad weather.
So, yeah, all right.
So the way ahead.
Well, first and foremost, Iappreciate you If you've
(26:25):
listened this far, reallyappreciate it.
If there are any other tipsthat I left off, I would love to
hear what winter tips that youmight have that might be useful.
We can definitely put them upin the social media channels.
And, yeah, if any one of theseresonated with you, we'd
definitely love to hear yourthoughts about winter running,
(26:46):
like, how do you survive thewinter months?
And, yeah, once again, goingforward, we're going to
expectations.
Going forward, we're going tocontinue to grow the community
and we're going to focus on avariety of different topics, on
mindset and movement, and I justappreciate you If you're
listening to this.
You're someone that is playingfull out.
(27:09):
You obviously care about yourhealth and well-being and we
want to provide content that isuseful for you, that's tactical,
that you can employ, and ifanything here was useful, once
again, we'd love to hear fromyou and feel free to share this
with someone else that needs tohear.
You know this message and I'llleave you with this the.
(27:30):
You know, life isn't aboutavoiding hard things.
It's about seeking them out.
It's about embracing them.
What I love about running andgetting into the gym and lifting
, you know, is that every day,it's in a controlled environment
where you can really pushyourself and you can focus on
yourself and make yourselfharder to kill.
And I think about the um, theold Chinese proverb.
(27:52):
I would rather be the umwarrior in the garden versus the
gardener in the war.
It's about being prepared,about being prepared, and I
think that you get to train.
You have an opportunity totrain every day, train the body
and train the mind, and we dothis every single day, and so I
appreciate you.
I'm excited to continue thisjourney with you.
And remember, if you choose todo hard things, share it with
(28:14):
others, because you never knowwho you're going to inspire, and
the world needs more lighthouseleaders that are doing amazing,
epic things, because we live insome interesting times and I
think people need to hearpositive messaging.
They need role models that areout there getting after it.
So it isn't always easy, but itis simple.
(28:34):
Do hard things, oftentimes thehardest things.
They're simple to do, butthey're simpler not to do, and
it's just making the choice todo the harder thing and your
life will improve.
So let's get after it.
Keep doing hard things and wewill see you guys in the next
episode.
Next episode is going to beawesome.
I've got an interview withMichael Schmitz, which is super
cool.
We had served in the armytogether, michael Schmitz, which
(28:56):
is super cool.
We had served in the armytogether.
We talk about fasting, we talkabout dieting, we talk about
physical fitness, we talk aboutmental grit and resiliency.
It was not meant to be apodcast.
It was actually a conversationtalking about when we're going
to schedule the podcast, but itwas so awesome that it turned
into a podcast recording andthat will be the next one in the
hopper.
And I also have the um, anotherinteresting gentleman who, uh,
(29:22):
his name is Michael Pickeringand he is the pole runner.
I met him on Tik TOK.
He has been training with a.
He runs, he's training for amarathon with a 63 pound section
of telephone pole.
So those are some of the guestswe have in the hopper, plus, I
guess, some other excitingguests.
We've got some other excitingtopics coming up, but that's
what you can expect goingforward in the near future, and
(29:42):
that's it.
We will see you guys in thenext episode.
Keep doing hard things and wewill talk to you soon.
All right, welcome back everybody to the do hard
things podcast.
I'm your host, jay Teagues, andafter a year long hiatus, I am
thrilled to be back with you.
If you're new here, thispodcast is about embracing
challenges, pushing boundaries,mindset and movement.
That's how we empower your life.
And yeah, I took I took a yearyear off, and so in this episode
(01:06):
I'm going to really just kindof fill you in on what I've been
up to.
I'm going to give you fivewinter running tips that will
help you keep your sanityBecause, let's be honest,
treadmills suck.
I don't like running on them.
They're a great tool, but Iwould rather hang my laundry off
them than to run on it.
But you got to do what you gotto do sometimes, but I prefer to
(01:29):
run outside.
So I'm going to share with yousome tips and some
considerations to help you.
You know run.
You know run during the winter.
A lot of runners hibernateduring the winter and then
they're behind on the, you knowon the spring season, and you
know how do we maintain thatmomentum.
You know winter is aboutbuilding base, but how can you
do it?
That doesn't suck nearly as bad.
So we're going to dive intosome winter tips and then,
(01:52):
ultimately, the way ahead whatyou can expect from the Do Our
Things podcast, do Our ThingsNation and the way ahead.
So let's talk about this pastyear and why the break.
Well, I didn't mean to takethis much time away, but this
past year has been a time ofdeep reflection for me, personal
growth and pivoting in my ownpersonal journey as a high
(02:13):
performance coach and runningcoach.
It's very important and I saythis a lot to people that I work
with and and you know, coachesneed to eat their own dog food.
You got to practice what youpreach and there are a lot of
charlatans out there that are inthis industry and I don't want
to be one of those and I want toapologize right now If you hear
(02:33):
some background noises.
Our contractor is hererepairing our home after a flood
.
We had a washing machineincident upstairs, flood it, the
uh, uh from the top floor tothe living room and down into
the basement, making one heck ofa mess and, um, I didn't
(02:55):
realize that he was going to bedoing some work right behind me,
so I apologize for any noise.
Um, but anyway it, this yearwas necessary for me to really
kind of uh, reevaluate where Iwanted to take the podcast, the
type of work that I wanted to do, and it was a big year of
transition because I had justretired from the military after
27 years so I've been wearing auniform for 27 years.
(03:19):
I'm trying to figure out who Iam and what I want to do, and I
realized that I needed to dosome work on myself and, to be
honest, my cup was empty andit's hard to pour from an empty
cup and I needed to recharge,recalibrate, take a knee, focus
on myself.
And so I spent the yeartraveling.
I worked with some world-classcoaches Lacey and I had some.
(03:41):
We did a few races.
I did the Expedition Ozark, afive-day adventure race, longest
race I've ever done.
Did it with food poisoning.
I'll have to have an episodespecifically on that one.
We ran the Nashville Marathon,which was an adventure.
That particular marathon isvery hilly.
It's awesome.
I mean I love the crowd.
Nashville is such a cool town.
Love the crowds.
It was incredibly hot.
(04:03):
Lacey will have to tell youabout her temperature check.
Maybe I can get her to come onthe podcast and talk about her
Nashville experience, cause thatwas a um, a leading edge
experience for her finishing heruh first marathon.
Uh and uh, but it was, it wassuper hot, um, someone actually
passed on the course cause itwas so hot.
I mean, that's that's how,that's how bad I got, um, but it
(04:25):
was, it was still fun.
And then we ultimately did theuh Marine Corps marathon, which
was super awesome.
I did the 50 K, lacey did theuh the marathon.
That was a really cooladventure and, like I said, a
lot of work on ourselves.
We, uh, we moved over the, theuh the summer.
Uh, for those that may not know, I had finished up my career at
Fort Leonard Wood and my wifewas living in Columbia, so we'd
(04:47):
had this like long distancething going on and decided to we
need to be adults and move intogether.
So we sold both houses andmerged into this beautiful home,
which is currently still underconstruction, and so just bottom
line, just a lot of thingshappening, and I just needed
time to kind of reset andrecalibrate and I needed to
really focus on my own mental,physical and emotional, uh,
(05:11):
wellbeing, which is what we talkabout on this podcast a lot.
And, yeah, just to you know, rerefill the cup.
So that's um, those are some ofthe just the the, the white
tops, the white white caps, ifyou will, of what had gone on
this year.
I'd also kind of I kept mycoaching practice.
(05:31):
I got my real estate license.
I've been interested inmultifamily real estate,
investing and doing some workwith that group.
I applied for a job as amortgage lender and decided that
wasn't the path.
Bottom line is I was throwingspaghetti against the wall,
seeing what stuck, trying tofind my own way, do some
(05:52):
deprogramming and focus on selfand what I've learned.
And you know what, what Godcalls me to do.
He pulled me back to like youneed to continue to coach and
teach and spread this message ofdoing hard things.
We got the trademark for dohard things.
That was like a, that was amoment, cause I'd been a couple
of years in the works and I'mlike you know what, every time I
veered off the path, I getcalled back to doing hard things
(06:13):
and this message.
So, yeah, what you can expectgoing forward from the podcast
Um, you know we used to have,like you know, a weekly, a
weekly schedule.
I'm just going to kind of seehow it goes.
I'm not going to currentlycommit that.
It'll be a weekly, every dot.
You know.
You know, every Wednesday, likewe had in the past, I'm going
(06:34):
to go.
I'm looking for quality overquantity and I want to.
I'm going to be sharing morehealth and wellness tips.
You know we're going to focuson running, lifting diet, health
and wellness tips.
You know we're going to focuson running, lifting diet,
nutrition I've learned a lotabout fasting so many other
different facets when it comesto your physical body and then
(06:55):
we're going to be talking aboutmindset.
We're going to be talking aboutmindset, high performance topics
that will help you, becauseit's all about mindset and
movement.
We want to empower people tolive a better life through
mindset and movement.
We're going to have someincredible interviews with some,
you know, relatable guests.
I want to bring in someindustry experts, but I also
want to bring in relatableguests that are doing really
cool things.
(07:16):
There's a lot of theory outthere.
There's a lot of guests thathave a lot of theory but almost
can be feeling like out of touch, you know, and out of reality,
and I want to bring in moretactics that you can actually
employ into your life, and thenwe'll have some surprises along
the way.
So I'd love to hear from youyou know what topics or
challenges are you facing rightnow in life and in your fitness
(07:37):
like both from a mindset andfitness and you can reach out
directly and go to do morethings nationcom.
Uh, we're on all the socialmedia platforms so you can find
us on Facebook.
We've got a TikTok account.
We're really active on.
We're on Instagram, we'reeverywhere.
We're on the YouTube.
(07:57):
But really, what is the Do OurThings Nation?
Well, what we're moving towardis we're basically trying to
grow a community.
We have a membership.
We have a high-performancemindset coaching, running
coaching, wellness coaching,running plans, support.
There'll be weekly calls,there'll be a book club and
(08:18):
virtual events and personalevents.
If you go todoourthingsnationcom, you can
get the latest and greatest.
Plus, we have all the awesomemotivational gear.
Check that out.
We'll be talking more about theway ahead, so let's get into
what I really want to talk abouttoday, which is how do you
survive winter running?
Let's be real, the treadmillisn't the most fun.
(08:40):
Treadmills suck.
And let's give you some tactics, some things to consider to
make your winter running better.
Because really, let's be real,a lot of runners go into
hibernation mode because,especially, I'm living in the
Midwest and it was literallylike single digits last week and
it's not fun.
It's icy, it's snowy, it's dark, it's cold and many runners go
(09:04):
into hibernation mode and andsome runners stick to the
treadmill.
But I don't know anyone thatruns a treadmill and says, yes,
give me more of that.
That really sucks, right, butyou got to do what you got to do
to run.
I personally prefer to runoutside, so I'm one of those
crazy ones that I like to runoutside no matter what is
(09:28):
probably negative 30 degreesFahrenheit.
This was in Japan.
Being in the military, we didsome extreme cold weather
training and so I've been insome really, really extremely
cold weather conditions.
Now I look at it as a for mepersonally in my training.
You know I'm training for arace as a trail runner, an
endurance cyclist, adventureracer.
(09:49):
You know the conditions for alot of these races like it's got
to be really really bad tocancel.
So I feel like it gives me aleg up.
I've also been a career soldier, so the weather doesn't stop
the army, right.
So I'm pretty used to runningin cold weather and I actually
have learned to enjoy it.
I just love being outdoors.
There's something magical aboutbeing out in the quietness of
(10:11):
the early morning, knowing thateveryone is sleeping peacefully
in their beds and I'm out theregetting after it, the clear
mornings, the crispness of theair.
It feels refreshing After agood snow.
It's just, I don't know.
It's really pretty.
It adds another level ofpeacefulness and it builds a
level of mental toughness thattransfers to if I can do this, I
(10:35):
can do anything in life Right,and so I feel that there's a.
It builds mental discipline andgrit, and so I'm going to share
with you some of the tips andadvice that I could give you to
help you, you know, crush yourwinter running and get you out
of hibernation mode and avoidthe treadmill if you need to.
(10:55):
So, number one, number oneprinciple it's all about mindset
.
Like you got to make the choicethat you know what I'm going to
run, no matter what.
I am a year round runner, I amnot a yo-yo runner, I'm not a
fair weather runner, and I'mgoing to, you know I'm going to,
you know, embracing.
I'm going to embrace the suckhere.
I'm going to do hard things,and the winter is really a good
time to really just build base.
It's long, slow running aboutbuilding mileage, because this
(11:20):
is really the off season there'snot a lot of runs.
People aren't really trainingfor winter runs.
There are some winter runs, butreally we're trying to prepare
for spring Now.
Those that have ran through thewinter are going to have a leg
up when springtime comes and youcan see when you cross the
start line.
You don't want to peak in thedead of summer, right?
You want to peak in the springwhen the weather is like really
(11:41):
optimal to run in.
So, from a mindset perspective,you know, running is a choice,
except the fact that it's winterand you can't always control
the conditions.
But you can control how youshow up and focus on what.
You focus on the control,control the controls, removal
any expectations and just setthe intention of having fun.
And this is very hard.
(12:02):
As I coach runners, you know,tell people you gotta, you gotta
do zone two running.
Winter is all about long, slowzone two running.
And so just take your, take thepressure off of having to
maintain high pace and, on ascale of one to 10, get that
sweet spot of like four whereyou can have a conversation, use
it as an opportunity to listento some audio books and and you
(12:23):
know, listen to some greatpodcasts and just move the body,
just get the mileage out there,build that base, burn those
calories, burn those wintercalories and go into it with a
positive attitude.
If you think every time that youknow waking up and I'm going to
run outside and this sucks,every time, like then this going
to suck every single time, ifyou carry that, that attitude.
(12:43):
But if you're like, you knowwhat, I have the gear, I have
the mindset, I get to runbecause there's people that
would give anything to have thephysical capability that you do
and change that mindset from youknow what I have to suffer to.
You know what I get to do this,I get to this and sometimes you
may have to, like you know,talk yourself out of it Because
I get it.
It is difficult some morningsto get out there and do it, but
(13:07):
if you go into it thinking it'sgoing to suck, then guess what
it's going to suck.
So just don't think about thetemperature, don't think about
the wind, dress appropriately,do your proper warmup and and
get running, get moving.
So let's talk about um, a tipabout warming up first.
Now you uh, I see this oftenI'll go to a group run and
(13:31):
everyone just will stand aroundtalking about the route, what
we're going to be doing, andthen we just up and just go run
and people aren't warming upproperly and it you know I'm
going to, I'm going to warm upduring the run.
Well, what what happens is isthat you're not giving your body
ample time to a warmup, and itcan kind of be kind of a shock.
And I always suggest doing awarmup routine, the uh.
(13:55):
When I coach my runners, we doleg swings and the lunge matrix.
This is something that Ilearned from Jay Johnson and
it's like the perfect amount.
It's exactly what you need towarm up properly for a run.
And those drills are great.
And you know what you can do.
Those drills in the house, likeif you, if you're um at your
house and you're ready to runoutside, just do your drills in
the house, get warmed up andthen, as soon as you get out the
(14:17):
door, your body's warmed up andit's not nearly as shocking.
So, and if you are, you know,out in the, in the group, you
know, show up a few minutesearly and just it anyway,
because it's the right thing todo and it won't be nearly as
shocking to your body when it istime to move.
So let's talk about gear.
(14:40):
What type of gear do you need?
And what I'm going to sharewith you is pretty common sense,
but common sense isn't alwayscommon practice.
But the number one rule ofthumb is to dress for 10 to 20
degrees warmer than the actualtemperature.
We just talked about doing thewarmup.
Like, as you start to do thewarmup, your body temperature is
(15:02):
going to rise and when youstart running it's going to feel
cold initially.
But as your body warms up, youknow um, you're, you're, you're
going to feel it, andoverdressing can lead to
overheating and you knowlayering is really, really
important.
So here's just a quickbreakdown from a temperature
perspective.
This isn't the end, all be all,but just some things to think
(15:23):
about.
When it's above 40 degrees, youmight want to wear something
like lightweight, long sleeve orsome base layers.
Some of my favorite shirts arekind of like these, these long
sleeve, wicking shirts.
If you go to do our thingsnationcom, we've got some there
that those are some of myfavorite.
They just they feel reallylight and they whip the sweat
away.
And I might wear a t-shirtunderneath that's also wicking,
(15:46):
but I'll layer up in one ofthose layers.
I might wear a vest and I mightwear something.
I think a vest is great to keepthe core nice and warm when you
are at 20 to 40 degrees.
You might add a thermal layerand maybe some gloves, because
you got to protect theextremities and thermal layers.
You know, I think of likesomething like wool.
(16:07):
I think wool is great,especially if it's like rainy.
You might need something tokind of block the wind.
You always want to check thewind because the wind chill can
make a big impact and you know,between that 20 to 40 degree, it
might feel.
You might see that when you goon to your weather, when you're
checking the weather, it's likeit's 40 degrees but it feels
like you know 32.
Well, that's typically becauseof the wind and maybe the
(16:30):
precipitation that's in the air.
So you gotta you know you needto have your thermal outer layer
reflect that.
You might need to wearsomething that is kind of uh, uh
, wind resistant.
Um, or, like I said, wool is agreat.
I love smart wool.
Anything smart wool makes usfantastic.
Anything below 20 degrees you'reprobably going to want to cover
the skin, right.
Um, probably anything below 30would be ideal.
(16:51):
I'll go maybe upper 20.
Sometimes people look at melike I'm crazy.
Definitely below 20.
You probably want to cover that.
You definitely want to coverthe skin and you know, probably
hat, insulated gloves, maybeanother.
Another layer I like to wear aneck gaiter that's like.
If you're not familiar withthose are they kind of just go
around your neck but you canpull them over your head.
(17:11):
I got a smart wool one.
I got different layers, I'vegot ones that are thicker and
I've got some that are reallythin.
But those neck gaiters areprobably one of my favorite
pieces of equipment because yourneck and your ears and your
mouth and nose can get reallycold and you can pull it up.
You know you can wear it onyour head if you want to.
You can adjust it, which ispretty cool.
(17:38):
And the smart wicking becauseyou know you're you're blowing
out some some snot and you gotstuff coming out of your mouth
and you've got like yourbreathing it can get really wet
and that smart wool keeps itwarm even though it's even
though it's wet.
Um, some other things toconsider.
You know where moisture wickingfabrics keep your sweat off the
skin as you warm up.
You're going to get sweaty.
You're going to want to protectyour extremities.
You want to protect yourfingers, your toes, your ears,
because they lose heat reallyfast as they're exposed to the
(18:00):
outer and as the blood starts to, it's going to start to pull
inwards.
You know you're not going tohave as much blood circulating
there, so they get colder.
So you want to avoid any typeof cold weather injury or
frostbite, and that's usuallywhere you're going to get it
right Fingertips, toes and ears.
So just be careful.
It's going to be dark outside,right?
So let's talk about you knowyou probably want to wear
something reflective.
(18:21):
I drive, you know, in the darkoften, and I will see runners
and cyclists.
Have you ever have you had thatexperience where you're driving
and all of a sudden, like outof nowhere, there's like a
person because they're notwearing anything reflective?
We think that we have enoughtime to see the runner and the
runners forget that.
You know those reaction times,especially when everyone is like
not paying attention, they'redoing everything but driving,
(18:44):
they're scrolling on TikTok anddoing everything but paying
attention.
So it's really, reallyimportant to wear reflective
gear of some type.
So I wear, you know, I've gotsome reflective bands.
I'll wear, you know, a blinkylight.
I've got this.
I think it's a box gear, it'slike a little vest with a
(19:06):
battery pack on the back that'sgot these tubes that really
light up, like you can't missanyone really, um, wearing one
of those, and they're kind ofcool cause they can light up in
multiple different colors and,um, yeah, so wear something
that's reflective, have a, havea light so you can see and other
people can see you.
The the blinkier the better,because, like I said, it was
(19:27):
early morning.
You know people are trying toget off to work and that, really
paying attention, um, you, youneed to be seen.
So be very, very careful outthere.
Um, you want to?
Um, what am I missing as far asthat?
Get a good headlamp, get andmaybe carry a backup with you
just in case the battery runsout.
I actually had my um, mybattery pack um run out on me
this morning and it kind ofsucked because there's like some
(19:48):
black ice out there, so itreally slowed me down.
I, you know, uh, maybe a half amile away from the finish,
thought that I had plenty ofjuice left in my, in my
flashlight, but didn't, and Inoticed it significantly when I
didn't.
Um, you know, and I didn'tbring a backup.
So, um, I'm, I, I'm gonna, I'mgonna slap myself on the wrist
(20:09):
here for that one Cause I alwaystalk about.
You know, um, uh, you know,make sure you're, you have,
you're, you're prepared and havea backup plan.
And I didn't, so I got caughtshort.
But, um, yeah, um, make surethat you have a backup, make
sure you get plenty of batterylife for that, but get a good
quality headlamp, um, and youmight want to experiment.
There's, there's a variety ofdifferent ways and people have
(20:29):
their own preferences, but havea light.
I think it's going to be really, really important.
What else do we want to talkabout as far as gear?
Oh, one more really good pieceof kit that I recommend,
especially even when it's likesnowy or icy, especially in the
ice.
In the Midwest we have a lot ofice.
They have these things calledyak tracks no-transcript, excuse
(20:52):
me or run in, and these are.
This is a great piece of kit,one of the best pieces of winter
kit.
They just slide over your shoes.
I would get the.
They've got a couple ofdifferent levels of them.
I guess, from pricing options,I would recommend getting the
more expensive where they've gotthe strap that goes over the
top, you can get them to wherethey kind of go around the
bottom of your shoe, which isperfect for hiking.
(21:13):
But get the strap that goesover the top, cause I think it
just fits better if you're goingto be running and moving
quickly.
So yak tracks are awesome.
We're not sponsored by them,but, hey, if yak tracks, uh,
here's us we would love tosponsor because I think they're
the greatest piece of winter kitout there.
I mean, I like to use them justto walk around, like if I put
them on my boots, um, just toget in and out of the car, just
to get in and out of the car,just to go to the grocery store
(21:35):
because, uh, they're, they'rejust so good for, uh, for you
know, uh, avoiding slipping onice.
I, um, I did not have.
So I went on a little ruck withthe dog, um, a couple of weeks
ago, thinking that the ice hadmelted and I was walking down
the street it's kind of packeddown and I didn't bring my yak
tracks and I was walking and Iwas, I was actually rucking and
my feet slipped up andcompletely went.
(21:57):
What just on my back,completely wiped me out, knocked
the breath out of me.
Dog ran up to me.
I was like, are you okay?
And then I knocked the wind outof me.
But I'm like man, if someonewould have saw that, like, if
there was like a ring camerathat would have caught that, it
had to be hilarious, because myfeet went completely out from
underneath me, I fell back ontomy rock, knocked the wind
completely out of me and I feltstupid.
(22:20):
But then I started laughing athow ridiculous that probably had
to look.
So, um, I should probably goknock on their doors and see if
they got a ring camera and seeif they got footage of that
Cause.
That was, uh, that was prettygood.
All right, all right.
And then we're going to finishup um on this topic with um.
All right, all right.
And then we're going to finishup on this topic with you know.
Tip number four is just removingall expectations.
(22:40):
Just remove the pace.
Don't put pressure on yourself.
Winter running is about zonetwo.
Zone two and I feel like I saythis a lot to my running clients
is, in order to run fast, yougot to run slow, and winter
running is all about runningslow, and it seems so
counterintuitive, but this iswhere you develop mitochondria.
Mitochondria are like thepowerhouse of your cells and in
(23:04):
your body that's what is goingto.
The more mitochondria you have,the longer you can run, the
more efficient you can run andyou can really maximize the
development of this in zone two.
I don't know why I didn't makethe rules on how biology works,
but there's a lot of things whenit comes to health and wellness
that just seems socounterintuitive.
And this is one the world'sgreatest runners marathon
(23:27):
runners.
They spend most of their timerunning incredibly slow, where
you can hold a conversation andit doesn't feel like you're
getting a lot out of it, but youare Okay.
This is an opportunity to workon your cadence.
You know how quickly you turnover your feet.
You're in that fat burning zone.
You're becoming more efficient,your body is building
mitochondria and it just can'tdo this when you're in a higher
(23:49):
heart rate zone.
Like I said, I didn't make upthe rules, I don't know, but run
smarter, not harder.
Okay, so slow.
If you want to run fast, you'vegot to run slow, and in the
winter time, just remove thatexpectation.
Run slow, pace doesn't matter.
Okay, pace doesn't matter.
80% of your run should be thisyear round.
80% of your run should be atzone two in the winter.
Just really focus on slow, okay, just slow, slow, smooth,
(24:13):
smooth, fast, especially ifyou're going to be running out
in the, in the conditions.
So, um, yeah, it's um, like Isaid it, if you remove all the
expectations to include the, thepace, just go out there and
just enjoy it.
Put an audio book on, listen toyour podcast, like this one,
get caught up on your do hardthings podcast and uh, and just
take your time.
(24:33):
Have a good time out there,just enjoy nature, be grateful.
It's a good opportunity to evenmaybe not listen to anything
Like, just be mindful, just bepresent with yourself, listen to
your heart rate and just reallyget settled into your thoughts.
And, you know, focus onbuilding that base mileage and
(24:59):
getting ready for the springrunning season.
So, yeah, so those are somesurvival tips and if you got to
run the treadmill, by all meansgo run the treadmill.
But I think that I personallythink that there's a lot of
great benefits for braving thecold being out there.
It just feels really good, itfeels very empowering Anytime
that humans can get out intonature.
I truly believe we weren'tdesigned for these concrete
(25:20):
jungles and all the screens thatwe have available to us, and
the more that we can get outside, the more that we can get in
touch with our biological, humanself, the inner caveman, the
inner warrior, the inner hunterand gatherer, I think the better
off, uh, uh, we are.
I, you know it.
It's always a challenge to getout the door and start when it's
(25:44):
cold and dark, but I alwaysfeel amazing and I feel
incredibly accomplished when Ido.
And, um, so that's the case.
And and also, I think, when theweather conditions during a race
suck, people aren't trained forit and you can endure it.
So I think, for me personally,it gives me a leg up when it
comes to competition.
I love it when the weather istough, because I'm like you know
(26:04):
what my competition didn'ttrain they, uh, they're, um, you
know they're, uh, what do youcall that?
Um, fair weather runners.
You know the treadmill runners?
I'm gonna going to crush them.
I'm going to take some souls inthis bad weather.
So, yeah, all right.
So the way ahead.
Well, first and foremost, Iappreciate you If you've
(26:25):
listened this far, reallyappreciate it.
If there are any other tipsthat I left off, I would love to
hear what winter tips that youmight have that might be useful.
We can definitely put them upin the social media channels.
And, yeah, if any one of theseresonated with you, we'd
definitely love to hear yourthoughts about winter running,
(26:46):
like, how do you survive thewinter months?
And, yeah, once again, goingforward, we're going to
expectations.
Going forward, we're going tocontinue to grow the community
and we're going to focus on avariety of different topics, on
mindset and movement, and I justappreciate you If you're
listening to this.
You're someone that is playingfull out.
(27:09):
You obviously care about yourhealth and well-being and we
want to provide content that isuseful for you, that's tactical,
that you can employ, and ifanything here was useful, once
again, we'd love to hear fromyou and feel free to share this
with someone else that needs tohear.
You know this message and I'llleave you with this the.
(27:30):
You know, life isn't aboutavoiding hard things.
It's about seeking them out.
It's about embracing them.
What I love about running andgetting into the gym and lifting
, you know, is that every day,it's in a controlled environment
where you can really pushyourself and you can focus on
yourself and make yourselfharder to kill.
And I think about the um, theold Chinese proverb.
(27:52):
I would rather be the umwarrior in the garden versus the
gardener in the war.
It's about being prepared,about being prepared, and I
think that you get to train.
You have an opportunity totrain every day, train the body
and train the mind, and we dothis every single day, and so I
appreciate you.
I'm excited to continue thisjourney with you.
And remember, if you choose todo hard things, share it with
(28:14):
others, because you never knowwho you're going to inspire, and
the world needs more lighthouseleaders that are doing amazing,
epic things, because we live insome interesting times and I
think people need to hearpositive messaging.
They need role models that areout there getting after it.
So it isn't always easy, but itis simple.
(28:34):
Do hard things, oftentimes thehardest things.
They're simple to do, butthey're simpler not to do, and
it's just making the choice todo the harder thing and your
life will improve.
So let's get after it.
Keep doing hard things and wewill see you guys in the next
episode.
Next episode is going to beawesome.
I've got an interview withMichael Schmitz, which is super
cool.
We had served in the armytogether, michael Schmitz, which
(28:56):
is super cool.
We had served in the armytogether.
We talk about fasting, we talkabout dieting, we talk about
physical fitness, we talk aboutmental grit and resiliency.
It was not meant to be apodcast.
It was actually a conversationtalking about when we're going
to schedule the podcast, but itwas so awesome that it turned
into a podcast recording andthat will be the next one in the
hopper.
And I also have the um, anotherinteresting gentleman who, uh,
(29:22):
his name is Michael Pickeringand he is the pole runner.
I met him on Tik TOK.
He has been training with a.
He runs, he's training for amarathon with a 63 pound section
of telephone pole.
So those are some of the guestswe have in the hopper, plus, I
guess, some other excitingguests.
We've got some other excitingtopics coming up, but that's
what you can expect goingforward in the near future, and
(29:42):
that's it.
We will see you guys in thenext episode.
Keep doing hard things and wewill talk to you soon.
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