October 3, 2024 • 28 mins
#117 - Have you ever hit a wall at a point in time during training or races? It could be burnout and it manifests itself in different ways; and is an experience that many dedicated runners face at some point in their journey. In this episode, I talk about the topic of burnout, using my personal experiences as a case study to shed light on how runners can overcome this challenge.
As I share my journey through recent races like the Spartan DEKA races and the Gulf Beach half marathon, discover how I managed the highs of personal bests and the lows of unexpected fatigue, as well as the critical lessons learned about balancing training regimens and managing expectations.
Topics Covered:
- Hear about my recent race experience and steps leading to burnout
- Listen to how burnout was affecting me and the toll it can take
- Learn about ten ways to bounce back from burnout
Resources:
- Inspire to Run on Instagram - @inspiretorunpodcast
- Free Guide - Kickstart your Fitness in 5 Steps
- 8 Week Fitness Coaching Program with Underdog Fitness
- Sign-up using code INSPIRE10 for 10% off
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, my friend, welcome to Inspire to Run
podcast.
It's been a few weeks sinceI've been here behind the mic
and recording an episode, sohappy to be back and really want
to share what's been going onwith me personally.
And you know, really it has alot to do with burnout, which is
the topic of this conversationtoday, and I want to share a
little bit about what's beengoing on with me and, you know,
(00:23):
an update on my races and kindof how I've been kind of working
through what's been going on.
So you know where we left off.
In the last episode I wastalking a little bit about my
races over the summer.
So I talked a little bit aboutthe Spartan Deca Mile, which I
did a team's race with myteammate, mickey and we had a
really great race and it was thefirst time that we had done a
(00:44):
team's race together and welearned a lot and really kind of
prepped this for races that wedid after that and one that's
coming up.
So that was one of the races wetalked about.
And then I talked about myfather's day, five miler, and
then that brought me to theSpartan Deca fit in Charlotte,
which is when I did anotherteam's race with Mickey and I
(01:05):
share a little bit about that inthe last episode.
So since then I had a reallygreat race.
I did the Woodmont 5K, which isa race in the town that I grew
up in, lived there for manyyears and then moved away for
many years and then met the raceorganizer and never knew that
(01:25):
there was a 5k kind of in thetown that I grew up with, grew
up in.
So super excited to learn aboutthat, sign up for it and I ran
it for the first time this yearand it was just an incredible
race.
You know I went into the race,not having run it before, with
very little expectations but Ireally just wanted to do well
and just kind of be in line with, you know, my times and just
(01:47):
kind of how I felt and performed, as with my other recent races,
and I actually did much betterthan I expected.
I ended up doing, I want to saylike seven minutes and 55
seconds a mile um on arelatively flat course and a
relatively mild day, so not toocool, not too hot.
So I was really happy withmyself kind of going through
(02:10):
that race and how I performed.
And you know I went from thereto the next DECA fit, which was
in Philly.
So I did another team's racewith another teammate Chrissy.
She's incredible.
She did really well that day inher age group and in another
team's race and I think we had areally excellent team's race
(02:32):
together and it was a lot of funand she's just a phenomenal
athlete.
So we did that and then afterthat I kind of rolled into the
Gulf Beach half marathon and Ithink this is my third year
doing that half marathon and Ireally enjoy it Again in the
town that I grew up in.
Relatively flat course, youknow, a couple of hills here and
(02:55):
there, but just reallybeautiful.
Big part of the course is kindof along the beach and the shore
.
The race organizer is excellent, there's always a lot of great
energy and the shore the raceorganizer is excellent.
There's always a lot of greatenergy in the race and Chrissy
actually runs that race as well.
So it's been kind of cool for acouple of years in a row that
we've been able to run it.
So I'll talk a little bit aboutkind of how I did in that race,
(03:18):
because that really is going tolead into the conversation for
today.
So you know I hadn't reallybeen doing all of my training
kind of leading up to the racebut I've been feeling pretty
good Again.
I did the Woodmont 5k and I didreally well.
I did the Decafit in Philly andit was.
The runs were hard but I justchalked it up to just being that
(03:39):
day and it just kind of kept upwith most of my runs and
training, but not to the extentthat I had been doing kind of
for previous races in the past.
So I walked into the Gulf Beachhalf marathon thinking, you know
, feeling pretty good aboutmyself.
So I would say that you know mybest time was about an hour 54.
I was looking for, you know,one minute or two minute PR and
(04:04):
you know I started off the racedoing really well, I want to say
you know, first few miles Ifelt pretty good, I tried to
keep my heart rate in check andI had a pretty good pace.
And then, before I knew it, Iwould say, about halfway through
the race, I found myself withabout a two minute buffer,
meaning I was two minutes fasterthan my goal time, which was
(04:27):
already a couple of minutesfaster than my PR.
So I was super excited abouthow I was pacing and I was even
more excited about how I wasfeeling.
I was still feeling pretty goodand I can't tell you what
happened, but I hit maybe aboutmile seven or mile eight, and
(04:48):
that's when I really started tofeel it.
Maybe the race started to catchup with me and I started to burn
through my buffer, which youknow, at that point in the race
is fine, right, so you haveabout five miles to go.
So all I really needed to dowas just kind of hang on to that
goal pace, which was abouteight minutes and 30 seconds a
(05:08):
mile.
So just hydrate, just fuel, andjust kind of hang on to that
pace.
And I just got to the pointwhere I was just losing more and
more buffer and then I startedto fall behind and I just did
the best I could and I keptmoving and I just tried to hold
on, but just got really slowerand slower as I progressed
through the race.
So I ended up finishing therace in a much longer time than
(05:32):
I anticipated, very far awayfrom my PR and very far away
from my goal time.
Unfortunately, this is the partthat kind of leads into the
conversation, because typicallywhen I finish a race.
You know, I start to thinkabout like here's everything I
think I did well, here are thethings that I think I could have
improved on, and sometimes Ikind of beat myself up over the
(05:53):
performance if I don't reallyhit exactly where I wanted.
But you know, I ended this raceand I just had a really
different feeling and thefeeling was I did.
What I did was the race.
I'm just going to move on andreally didn't think deeply about
like here are the things Icould have done better and here
are the things that I think Idid well and really excited to
(06:14):
kind of get back into mytraining and get to the next
race.
Or, you know, think about, youknow how I want to do next year.
And that part kind of botheredme more than my performance in
the race, because it's nottypically, you know how I am,
how I kind of react to myperformance.
So I started to think maybethere's something else that's
(06:35):
kind of going on right andthat's kind of what led me to
maybe I'm just kind of burningout.
You know, it's been a reallylong year of training, it's been
a really long year of races.
There's been a lot of thingshappening kind of in my personal
life that I've been workingthrough, you know,
professionally and personally,and it's just, it's been really
heavy this year.
(06:56):
So I'm like gosh, maybe I'mjust burnt out, maybe I just
need to take a break, maybe Ijust need to kind of rethink the
rest of this year or maybe evenrethink next year.
So some time has passed, youknow, a couple of weeks have
passed, and I've really thoughtabout this deeply and I want to
share with you some of the waysthat you can kind of bounce back
(07:19):
from burnout and kind of sharewith you my personal experience
over the last couple of weeksand share with you my personal
experience over the last coupleof weeks and share with you kind
of what's coming next and whythis is so important for me to
bounce back, because theexciting news is I have a
marathon that's coming up inFrance towards the end of
November, so just right beforeThanksgiving, and this is my
(07:41):
first marathon.
I'm really excited about thisone because it's one that I have
friends that have run it beforeand I really wanted my first
marathon to be special.
And then after that I have theDECA Fit World Championships,
which at this point I don't knowif I'm in yet, but really
hoping that I have theopportunity to run teams with
Mickey and or Chrissy at WorldChampionships, so really looking
(08:06):
forward to that.
So I really needed to kind ofsettle what's been going on with
me, you know personally, sothen I can get back on track and
get ready for those races.
So I just kind of wanted toshare some of the things with
you on really ways that you canbounce back from burnout.
If you know, if you're feelingthis now, if you felt it before,
you feel it kind of coming on.
(08:27):
You know, here's some of thethings you can think about.
So the first one is acknowledgethe burnout and you know, maybe
I've been in denial for areally long time.
Maybe I started feeling thismonths before again a lot of
races on the list this yearwhich, as I thought about it, I
was like gosh, I really kind ofslimmed down the number of races
(08:49):
that I'm doing, but all in allit's still a lot of races
compared to what I used to do inthe past.
Really, going back three, fouryears ago, I really didn't do a
lot of races a year, maybe justa couple.
So this is a big change for meover the last couple of years.
So that was the first one isjust kind of acknowledging that
I'm burnt out, acknowledging theway I was training or reacting
(09:11):
or responding to my performance,which is different than had it
been before, and that for me wasjust kind of one of the signs
like hey, maybe something's notright.
Plus, there's just other signsthat I would say of things that
I just didn't have interest inand I'm just wondering, hey,
maybe there's somethingdifferent here that I need to
address.
So the first one is really kindof acknowledge the burnout and
(09:35):
the second one is probably, Iwould say, obvious, right, but
it's important to note you needto rest and recharge.
So sleep obviously is a bigpart of that, and I assure you I
got plenty of sleep, kind ofafter the half marathon and I
(09:57):
took time off.
So I didn't run for about aweek, I didn't do anything, I
didn't run, I didn't work out, Ididn't train for about a week
because I really just felt like,not only just physically but
just mentally, I just needed tostep away from the training and
from the running just for thatamount of time.
And I know that's hard, I meanI'm thinking about it like I
(10:20):
don't have time to take a weekoff.
I have my first full marathonthat's coming up, you know, in
less than just about two months,maybe a little bit over two
months, so I don't have time totake off, but I feel like if I
didn't, I probably would be inmuch worse shape at this point.
So I took the risk, I rolledthe dice and I took some time
(10:44):
off from running and I want toreference some past interviews
and episodes in thisconversation because you know, I
even received this advice andwe've even talked about these
things on the show in the pastand as I've been reflecting and
as I've been preparing for thisconversation, I'm remembering
hey, you know, there's someinterviews and episodes that I
(11:06):
want to share with you now thattouch on these topics.
So the first one, kind of underthis rest and recharge kind of
step, is take a listen toepisode 97, how to improve
recovery as a runner, and thatwas with Ryan Hurley.
Ryan is the founder of LagoonSleep.
We had an excellentconversation around recovery and
(11:28):
I would recommend that you takea listen to that episode.
The next one is set boundaries,and this one, for me, is super
important because it goes waybeyond just training and running
for races probably an area ofopportunity or, I would say,
challenge that I've had for many, many years personally and
(11:48):
professionally, around kind ofsetting boundaries and thinking
about, you know, the commitmentsthat I make and I'm the kind of
person that tends to say yesand there are a number of cases
where I probably need to say no,and I've gotten a lot better
about it over the years.
Again, there's a number ofraces that I said I'm just not
(12:10):
going to do this year.
There's a number of otherthings that I just said no,
because if I do those things I'mreally going to put other
things at risk.
Right, I'm either not going todo them on time or I'm not going
to do them a good quality,because I have a lot of things
kind of on my plate and settingthose boundaries and having
commitments that I can actuallydo and fulfill is really
(12:33):
important to me.
So that's something that I'veworked on over the years and
something that you know Icontinue to kind of think about
and work on.
So making sure you have theright set of commitments and
setting your boundaries right.
Set of commitments and settingyour boundaries.
The next one is reconnect withactivities that you enjoy.
So this one's kind of aninteresting one because I enjoy
(12:57):
running.
That is an activity that I liketo do, right.
So that kind of takes me awayfrom all of the other things
that I need to kind of deal withand do in life.
So for me I'm like all right,well, what else do I do, right,
if I'm not running and I'm nottraining?
I had to think about, you know,what are some of the other
things that I like to do.
So I don't watch likenecessarily a lot of TV, but I
(13:19):
do enjoy movies.
So you know, kind of duringthat time I spent some time
watching movies, which I enjoydoing from time to time.
I also have started to getmassages, which I've kind of
done in the past, and it's notsomething that I totally enjoy
but it does kind of help merelax.
And it does help me, obviously,if you know physically, you
(13:43):
know if I've done a lot oftraining or I've done a lot of
running, massages is somethingthat helps out a lot.
So that's something that youknow I've been doing lately.
And then something else is notentirely relaxing but it's
definitely helped me is gettingthings done around the house and
I think, you know, havingthings linger and not getting
(14:05):
them done on time and havingclutter or whatever the case may
be, I feel like has been thismental load for a really long
time.
So by getting those things done, it's checking those things off
the box and just kind ofgetting them off my mind and
then kind of freeing me up tothink about other things or just
even relax, so while gettingthings done around the house I
(14:27):
don't know if I call it anactivity that I enjoy I think it
definitely kind of helped meduring this recovery period.
The next one is physicalexercise and again I needed to
step away from physical exercisebecause I feel like that had
been a large source of what hasbeen burning me out, among other
things, in my life Not the onlything, but that was one thing
(14:49):
that I had to step away from.
But if it's not physicalexercise, that's kind of what
you're facing right now.
It is a really good way to kindof help with burnout and I had
a really great conversation withFitz Kohler.
She's the founder of Fitzness,I've had her on the show a
couple times and go ahead andlisten to episode 94, avoiding
(15:16):
Burnout and EnhancingPerformance and Enjoying
Workouts and we had a reallygreat conversation about how
physical exercise can help boostyour mood and help you overall.
But she talks about howdifferent types of exercise, too
, can kind of break things upand the monotony of it.
So really good listens.
I'd recommend that.
The next one is aroundmindfulness and relaxation.
(15:38):
So mindfulness, meditation,deep breathing exercises you
know, those are all things thatcould help you kind of manage
stress and it's something thatI've done in the past that I
keep saying, gosh, I really gotto get back into it.
And as I work back into myroutine, that's something that I
have to do, but because I feellike when I did it before, it
(16:01):
really really helped me kind ofduring that time.
So one of the episodes that wehad a really great conversation
around, especially deepbreathing exercises, was episode
105.
And that is six pillars ofoptimal performance and the
power of grit.
And that was with Brad Ritterand Brad's a great guy.
(16:22):
We had a really greatconversation.
He has a really incrediblestory.
I definitely recommend that youlisten to this episode.
He also has a book out that youcan pick up.
But a lot of great tips in thisarea and really love his
framework.
And another one is episode 114,embrace the Power of
(16:43):
Mindfulness in your RunningJourney, and that's with Holly
Zajur.
So take a listen to that oneagain.
Really great conversationaround mindfulness.
The next one is seek support.
So just kind of depending onyour situation and what you're
going through and what you'recomfortable with doing, you know
(17:05):
, talking to friends and familyor, you know, health
professionals could be an optionfor you, just again, given what
your individual circumstancecalls for.
But that is definitely a goodoption for you to take as you're
kind of bouncing back orrecovering from burnout.
Next one is reevaluating yourpriorities.
(17:29):
So this one has been kind ofrelated to a previous one that
we just talked about.
So this one I've been reallythinking about how do I
establish those priorities andthen how do I kind of establish
my calendar accordingly?
So, knowing that I can't doeverything in one day, how do I
(17:51):
figure out, well, what are thethings I'm going to focus on
today?
How do I focus on, you know,the things I'm going to do
tomorrow?
So what really comes to mind isI heard this podcast episode.
I don't even remember who I waslistening to at the time, but
the guest was really talkingabout there's really only five
things you could do in your lifethat you could have at any one
(18:13):
point in time.
So, like five projects orinitiatives or big things that
you can do that you could do,there's really only five.
So you may have a list of 10,15, 20 things that you think
you're doing, but in realitythere's probably only five
things that you're doingeffectively at any one given
time.
And if you, if you want to besuccessful, you got to pick
(18:40):
those top five things and yougot to be really intentional
about doing those things.
And if you say, hey, there'sreally a sixth I need to pick up
, then maybe you need to dropone of the original five.
So you know, for me, I thinkabout, like, what are those five
things for me?
So, for me, number one is, youknow, my, the professional work
that I do is is on my list.
(19:01):
The second thing is everythingto do with my family and and
home.
The third one is, um, volunteerwork that I do.
So so that's that's numberthree, um.
The fourth one is fitness andthe fifth.
The fifth one is everythingthat I'm doing here with inspire
to run and inspire to runpodcasts.
(19:22):
So not in any order, although Ilisted them, it felt like in a
specific order, but not in anyorder.
But those are the five thingsthat I focus on.
So I say, okay, for each ofthose five things.
Here is my goal, maybe for thisweek, maybe for this month,
maybe for this quarter.
And then what I do is every dayI say you know what?
I really can only focus on twoor three of those five things a
(19:46):
day, right?
So I know, if it's a day whereI'm going to do a long run, like
a six mile run, like I didyesterday, I'm probably not
going to be able to do two otherthings that day.
I probably can only do one morething that day, probably
related to family and home, asan example.
Or if it's a day where I'm notdoing any kind of fitness, right
, maybe it's a rest day.
(20:06):
Maybe that gives me moreopportunities to do something
related to the podcast, or maybeit allows me to catch up on
work or volunteering.
So what I've started to do againis I started to think about
every day, kind of planning whatI'm going to do really
surrounding those five things.
So those are my priorities andif something new comes into play
(20:27):
, I have to make a decision.
Do I bring in that new thing ordo I say you know what, no, or
not now, or do I drop somethingfrom my original five, which I
just gave you, the list.
Probably something really hardto do for me to drop something
from that list, but maybe Ideprioritize one thing to
prioritize something else.
(20:47):
But that's kind of how I'mthinking about you know my
priorities and again, that'skind of what stuck with me for a
while is really just those fivethings.
So the next one is around kindof getting back into your
routine slowly.
So after about a week and acouple of days I started to feel
relaxed.
(21:07):
I started to feel like allright, physically I feel better,
mentally I feel better.
And oh, by the way, in justabout two months I have this
marathon coming up and I reallyneed to kind of get back into my
routine.
So what I did was, you know I Ijust kind of picked up the plan
(21:29):
from where I am at this point,being two months out, and I just
kind of slowly just did my ownthing and got back, you know,
put my running shoes back on andgot back out there and did just
a little bit, just quick 10minute run.
You know, I did a little bit ofstrength training and just just
to kind of get my body backinto the groove.
So just slowly returning towhere I was and then doing my
(21:53):
you know plan over the next twomonths getting me to my marathon
.
And then the last one here isaround lifestyle changes.
So lifestyle could be anythingaround diet and sleep habits and
work-life balance, you know,really just making sure that you
have balance basically betweenthose things and you're making
(22:14):
good choices.
And I would say I hadn't reallybeen thinking about it lately
because maybe I just felt like Iwas on the go all the time or I
was just kind of moving throughlife just getting things done
by brute force clock.
Three, four years ago I wasreally strict about my diet and
(22:42):
then here, you know, fastforward, I'm not as strict about
the diet but I have pretty goodhabits.
But lately I haven't.
Honestly, over the last two orthree months, my diet has not
been very good and I've beeneating things or drinking things
that you know more frequentlythan I normally would.
Right, when I then when I wasmore strict about my diet and I
(23:05):
think that that's kind of had animpact on me, and one of those
examples is sugar.
I'd realized how much sugarthat I was taking in per day was
way more than it had been overthe last few years and way more
than I should have been.
So I was drinking a lot ofcaffeine, I was popping a lot of
sugar with the caffeine andjust a lot of other different
(23:25):
things that I think was reallyjust kind of not not good for me
, right, physically and mentally.
So that's one of the thingsthat I, when I realized it and I
reflected, I changed right away.
Right, I'm like all, right,immediately have to cut down on
the sugar not necessarily cutout, because I don't want to
deprive myself of a lot of thesethings, but I definitely needed
(23:46):
to get back to where I was,which is, you know, much reduced
level of, you know, sugar andsome other things that I was
eating.
But that's one of the examples,I guess, of the lifestyle
changes.
And the next is kind of aroundsleep habits.
So for me, sleep has beenreally important and I've done a
lot to ensure that I get good,restful sleep over the last few
(24:10):
years.
So I don't know if I've changednecessarily any habits in terms
of going to sleep.
But what I've realized is, tosome extent I was probably
oversleeping, right?
So in the morning and maybethis is again kind of traces
back to being burnt out In themorning I should be up 530 ish,
six o'clock.
(24:30):
There are days where I'mgetting out of bed at 730, maybe
eight o'clock, maybe on theweekends even later, right so,
and I'm oversleeping and I'msure you know to some extent
that's doing me more harm thangood.
So, even though my sleep habitswasn't necessarily me staying
up late at night or not gettingenough sleep, what I've realized
(24:51):
is I was probably staying inbed longer or, you know, not
getting up until later in themorning, especially on the
weekends.
That probably wasn't doing me,you know, as much good either.
And the last one is, you know,kind of around that work-life
balance.
So you know, just reallyfiguring out a way of getting
what I need to get done, youknow, at work, and then you know
(25:12):
being able to do all the otherthings that I need to do related
to, you know, my personal life,you know, with family and with
the podcast and fitness andotherwise.
So those are some of the stepsthat can help you, hopefully
help you, bounce back fromburnout.
You know, and I'm hoping, bysharing my experience and the
(25:35):
story will help you or someoneyou know, if you're going to
through something similar.
So you know, at this point Ifeel like I'm slowly getting
back to where I want to be.
I have this marathon that'scoming up in two months in
France, which it's I'm reallyexcited about, because you can
basically call it like winecountry and it's you know, it's
(25:55):
it's really cool to to go backto France.
I spent a lot of time there.
It's probably one of the topthree countries that I've
traveled to in my life and Ireally enjoy my time there.
So the ability to go back thereafter about a year, year and a
half, and then run this race andoh, by the way, it's my first
marathon.
So I'm starting to kind of getback into the swing of things
and I'm getting really excitedabout it as the days progress.
(26:17):
So that's all good news.
And then, of course, you know,spartan, deca, world
championships.
It's would surely be an honorfor me to, you know, get the
email invite that I'm in and Ican, and I've qualified to to
run this, uh, worldchampionships.
So probably most likely thatthe DECA fit um the team's race
(26:38):
with Mickey and or Christie, soreally excited about that
opportunity as well.
So that's what I wanted toshare with you today Kind of you
know all my life updates andshare these tips with you that
can hopefully help you.
And we have a number of excitingthings that are coming with
Inspire to Run podcast.
So just kind of look out forthose.
(27:00):
I'm excited to bring on somenew guests and have some new
conversations and share thesestories with all of you.
So if you enjoyed this episode,if you have tips of your own,
if you have stories of your own,reach out, just look in the
show notes and there's a way tomessage me.
And I'd love to hear from youand love to hear your stories
and we'd love to even share yourstories on the show.
(27:22):
So with that, I want to thankyou for listening today and have
a great day.
Hey, my friend, welcome to Inspire to Run
podcast.
It's been a few weeks sinceI've been here behind the mic
and recording an episode, sohappy to be back and really want
to share what's been going onwith me personally.
And you know, really it has alot to do with burnout, which is
the topic of this conversationtoday, and I want to share a
little bit about what's beengoing on with me and, you know,
(00:23):
an update on my races and kindof how I've been kind of working
through what's been going on.
So you know where we left off.
In the last episode I wastalking a little bit about my
races over the summer.
So I talked a little bit aboutthe Spartan Deca Mile, which I
did a team's race with myteammate, mickey and we had a
really great race and it was thefirst time that we had done a
(00:44):
team's race together and welearned a lot and really kind of
prepped this for races that wedid after that and one that's
coming up.
So that was one of the races wetalked about.
And then I talked about myfather's day, five miler, and
then that brought me to theSpartan Deca fit in Charlotte,
which is when I did anotherteam's race with Mickey and I
(01:05):
share a little bit about that inthe last episode.
So since then I had a reallygreat race.
I did the Woodmont 5K, which isa race in the town that I grew
up in, lived there for manyyears and then moved away for
many years and then met the raceorganizer and never knew that
(01:25):
there was a 5k kind of in thetown that I grew up with, grew
up in.
So super excited to learn aboutthat, sign up for it and I ran
it for the first time this yearand it was just an incredible
race.
You know I went into the race,not having run it before, with
very little expectations but Ireally just wanted to do well
and just kind of be in line with, you know, my times and just
(01:47):
kind of how I felt and performed, as with my other recent races,
and I actually did much betterthan I expected.
I ended up doing, I want to saylike seven minutes and 55
seconds a mile um on arelatively flat course and a
relatively mild day, so not toocool, not too hot.
So I was really happy withmyself kind of going through
(02:10):
that race and how I performed.
And you know I went from thereto the next DECA fit, which was
in Philly.
So I did another team's racewith another teammate Chrissy.
She's incredible.
She did really well that day inher age group and in another
team's race and I think we had areally excellent team's race
(02:32):
together and it was a lot of funand she's just a phenomenal
athlete.
So we did that and then afterthat I kind of rolled into the
Gulf Beach half marathon and Ithink this is my third year
doing that half marathon and Ireally enjoy it Again in the
town that I grew up in.
Relatively flat course, youknow, a couple of hills here and
(02:55):
there, but just reallybeautiful.
Big part of the course is kindof along the beach and the shore
.
The race organizer is excellent, there's always a lot of great
energy and the shore the raceorganizer is excellent.
There's always a lot of greatenergy in the race and Chrissy
actually runs that race as well.
So it's been kind of cool for acouple of years in a row that
we've been able to run it.
So I'll talk a little bit aboutkind of how I did in that race,
(03:18):
because that really is going tolead into the conversation for
today.
So you know I hadn't reallybeen doing all of my training
kind of leading up to the racebut I've been feeling pretty
good Again.
I did the Woodmont 5k and I didreally well.
I did the Decafit in Philly andit was.
The runs were hard but I justchalked it up to just being that
(03:39):
day and it just kind of kept upwith most of my runs and
training, but not to the extentthat I had been doing kind of
for previous races in the past.
So I walked into the Gulf Beachhalf marathon thinking, you know
, feeling pretty good aboutmyself.
So I would say that you know mybest time was about an hour 54.
I was looking for, you know,one minute or two minute PR and
(04:04):
you know I started off the racedoing really well, I want to say
you know, first few miles Ifelt pretty good, I tried to
keep my heart rate in check andI had a pretty good pace.
And then, before I knew it, Iwould say, about halfway through
the race, I found myself withabout a two minute buffer,
meaning I was two minutes fasterthan my goal time, which was
(04:27):
already a couple of minutesfaster than my PR.
So I was super excited abouthow I was pacing and I was even
more excited about how I wasfeeling.
I was still feeling pretty goodand I can't tell you what
happened, but I hit maybe aboutmile seven or mile eight, and
(04:48):
that's when I really started tofeel it.
Maybe the race started to catchup with me and I started to burn
through my buffer, which youknow, at that point in the race
is fine, right, so you haveabout five miles to go.
So all I really needed to dowas just kind of hang on to that
goal pace, which was abouteight minutes and 30 seconds a
(05:08):
mile.
So just hydrate, just fuel, andjust kind of hang on to that
pace.
And I just got to the pointwhere I was just losing more and
more buffer and then I startedto fall behind and I just did
the best I could and I keptmoving and I just tried to hold
on, but just got really slowerand slower as I progressed
through the race.
So I ended up finishing therace in a much longer time than
(05:32):
I anticipated, very far awayfrom my PR and very far away
from my goal time.
Unfortunately, this is the partthat kind of leads into the
conversation, because typicallywhen I finish a race.
You know, I start to thinkabout like here's everything I
think I did well, here are thethings that I think I could have
improved on, and sometimes Ikind of beat myself up over the
(05:53):
performance if I don't reallyhit exactly where I wanted.
But you know, I ended this raceand I just had a really
different feeling and thefeeling was I did.
What I did was the race.
I'm just going to move on andreally didn't think deeply about
like here are the things Icould have done better and here
are the things that I think Idid well and really excited to
(06:14):
kind of get back into mytraining and get to the next
race.
Or, you know, think about, youknow how I want to do next year.
And that part kind of botheredme more than my performance in
the race, because it's nottypically, you know how I am,
how I kind of react to myperformance.
So I started to think maybethere's something else that's
(06:35):
kind of going on right andthat's kind of what led me to
maybe I'm just kind of burningout.
You know, it's been a reallylong year of training, it's been
a really long year of races.
There's been a lot of thingshappening kind of in my personal
life that I've been workingthrough, you know,
professionally and personally,and it's just, it's been really
heavy this year.
(06:56):
So I'm like gosh, maybe I'mjust burnt out, maybe I just
need to take a break, maybe Ijust need to kind of rethink the
rest of this year or maybe evenrethink next year.
So some time has passed, youknow, a couple of weeks have
passed, and I've really thoughtabout this deeply and I want to
share with you some of the waysthat you can kind of bounce back
(07:19):
from burnout and kind of sharewith you my personal experience
over the last couple of weeksand share with you my personal
experience over the last coupleof weeks and share with you kind
of what's coming next and whythis is so important for me to
bounce back, because theexciting news is I have a
marathon that's coming up inFrance towards the end of
November, so just right beforeThanksgiving, and this is my
(07:41):
first marathon.
I'm really excited about thisone because it's one that I have
friends that have run it beforeand I really wanted my first
marathon to be special.
And then after that I have theDECA Fit World Championships,
which at this point I don't knowif I'm in yet, but really
hoping that I have theopportunity to run teams with
Mickey and or Chrissy at WorldChampionships, so really looking
(08:06):
forward to that.
So I really needed to kind ofsettle what's been going on with
me, you know personally, sothen I can get back on track and
get ready for those races.
So I just kind of wanted toshare some of the things with
you on really ways that you canbounce back from burnout.
If you know, if you're feelingthis now, if you felt it before,
you feel it kind of coming on.
(08:27):
You know, here's some of thethings you can think about.
So the first one is acknowledgethe burnout and you know, maybe
I've been in denial for areally long time.
Maybe I started feeling thismonths before again a lot of
races on the list this yearwhich, as I thought about it, I
was like gosh, I really kind ofslimmed down the number of races
(08:49):
that I'm doing, but all in allit's still a lot of races
compared to what I used to do inthe past.
Really, going back three, fouryears ago, I really didn't do a
lot of races a year, maybe justa couple.
So this is a big change for meover the last couple of years.
So that was the first one isjust kind of acknowledging that
I'm burnt out, acknowledging theway I was training or reacting
(09:11):
or responding to my performance,which is different than had it
been before, and that for me wasjust kind of one of the signs
like hey, maybe something's notright.
Plus, there's just other signsthat I would say of things that
I just didn't have interest inand I'm just wondering, hey,
maybe there's somethingdifferent here that I need to
address.
So the first one is really kindof acknowledge the burnout and
(09:35):
the second one is probably, Iwould say, obvious, right, but
it's important to note you needto rest and recharge.
So sleep obviously is a bigpart of that, and I assure you I
got plenty of sleep, kind ofafter the half marathon and I
(09:57):
took time off.
So I didn't run for about aweek, I didn't do anything, I
didn't run, I didn't work out, Ididn't train for about a week
because I really just felt like,not only just physically but
just mentally, I just needed tostep away from the training and
from the running just for thatamount of time.
And I know that's hard, I meanI'm thinking about it like I
(10:20):
don't have time to take a weekoff.
I have my first full marathonthat's coming up, you know, in
less than just about two months,maybe a little bit over two
months, so I don't have time totake off, but I feel like if I
didn't, I probably would be inmuch worse shape at this point.
So I took the risk, I rolledthe dice and I took some time
(10:44):
off from running and I want toreference some past interviews
and episodes in thisconversation because you know, I
even received this advice andwe've even talked about these
things on the show in the pastand as I've been reflecting and
as I've been preparing for thisconversation, I'm remembering
hey, you know, there's someinterviews and episodes that I
(11:06):
want to share with you now thattouch on these topics.
So the first one, kind of underthis rest and recharge kind of
step, is take a listen toepisode 97, how to improve
recovery as a runner, and thatwas with Ryan Hurley.
Ryan is the founder of LagoonSleep.
We had an excellentconversation around recovery and
(11:28):
I would recommend that you takea listen to that episode.
The next one is set boundaries,and this one, for me, is super
important because it goes waybeyond just training and running
for races probably an area ofopportunity or, I would say,
challenge that I've had for many, many years personally and
(11:48):
professionally, around kind ofsetting boundaries and thinking
about, you know, the commitmentsthat I make and I'm the kind of
person that tends to say yesand there are a number of cases
where I probably need to say no,and I've gotten a lot better
about it over the years.
Again, there's a number ofraces that I said I'm just not
(12:10):
going to do this year.
There's a number of otherthings that I just said no,
because if I do those things I'mreally going to put other
things at risk.
Right, I'm either not going todo them on time or I'm not going
to do them a good quality,because I have a lot of things
kind of on my plate and settingthose boundaries and having
commitments that I can actuallydo and fulfill is really
(12:33):
important to me.
So that's something that I'veworked on over the years and
something that you know Icontinue to kind of think about
and work on.
So making sure you have theright set of commitments and
setting your boundaries right.
Set of commitments and settingyour boundaries.
The next one is reconnect withactivities that you enjoy.
So this one's kind of aninteresting one because I enjoy
(12:57):
running.
That is an activity that I liketo do, right.
So that kind of takes me awayfrom all of the other things
that I need to kind of deal withand do in life.
So for me I'm like all right,well, what else do I do, right,
if I'm not running and I'm nottraining?
I had to think about, you know,what are some of the other
things that I like to do.
So I don't watch likenecessarily a lot of TV, but I
(13:19):
do enjoy movies.
So you know, kind of duringthat time I spent some time
watching movies, which I enjoydoing from time to time.
I also have started to getmassages, which I've kind of
done in the past, and it's notsomething that I totally enjoy
but it does kind of help merelax.
And it does help me, obviously,if you know physically, you
(13:43):
know if I've done a lot oftraining or I've done a lot of
running, massages is somethingthat helps out a lot.
So that's something that youknow I've been doing lately.
And then something else is notentirely relaxing but it's
definitely helped me is gettingthings done around the house and
I think, you know, havingthings linger and not getting
(14:05):
them done on time and havingclutter or whatever the case may
be, I feel like has been thismental load for a really long
time.
So by getting those things done, it's checking those things off
the box and just kind ofgetting them off my mind and
then kind of freeing me up tothink about other things or just
even relax, so while gettingthings done around the house I
(14:27):
don't know if I call it anactivity that I enjoy I think it
definitely kind of helped meduring this recovery period.
The next one is physicalexercise and again I needed to
step away from physical exercisebecause I feel like that had
been a large source of what hasbeen burning me out, among other
things, in my life Not the onlything, but that was one thing
(14:49):
that I had to step away from.
But if it's not physicalexercise, that's kind of what
you're facing right now.
It is a really good way to kindof help with burnout and I had
a really great conversation withFitz Kohler.
She's the founder of Fitzness,I've had her on the show a
couple times and go ahead andlisten to episode 94, avoiding
(15:16):
Burnout and EnhancingPerformance and Enjoying
Workouts and we had a reallygreat conversation about how
physical exercise can help boostyour mood and help you overall.
But she talks about howdifferent types of exercise, too
, can kind of break things upand the monotony of it.
So really good listens.
I'd recommend that.
The next one is aroundmindfulness and relaxation.
(15:38):
So mindfulness, meditation,deep breathing exercises you
know, those are all things thatcould help you kind of manage
stress and it's something thatI've done in the past that I
keep saying, gosh, I really gotto get back into it.
And as I work back into myroutine, that's something that I
have to do, but because I feellike when I did it before, it
(16:01):
really really helped me kind ofduring that time.
So one of the episodes that wehad a really great conversation
around, especially deepbreathing exercises, was episode
105.
And that is six pillars ofoptimal performance and the
power of grit.
And that was with Brad Ritterand Brad's a great guy.
(16:22):
We had a really greatconversation.
He has a really incrediblestory.
I definitely recommend that youlisten to this episode.
He also has a book out that youcan pick up.
But a lot of great tips in thisarea and really love his
framework.
And another one is episode 114,embrace the Power of
(16:43):
Mindfulness in your RunningJourney, and that's with Holly
Zajur.
So take a listen to that oneagain.
Really great conversationaround mindfulness.
The next one is seek support.
So just kind of depending onyour situation and what you're
going through and what you'recomfortable with doing, you know
(17:05):
, talking to friends and familyor, you know, health
professionals could be an optionfor you, just again, given what
your individual circumstancecalls for.
But that is definitely a goodoption for you to take as you're
kind of bouncing back orrecovering from burnout.
Next one is reevaluating yourpriorities.
(17:29):
So this one has been kind ofrelated to a previous one that
we just talked about.
So this one I've been reallythinking about how do I
establish those priorities andthen how do I kind of establish
my calendar accordingly?
So, knowing that I can't doeverything in one day, how do I
(17:51):
figure out, well, what are thethings I'm going to focus on
today?
How do I focus on, you know,the things I'm going to do
tomorrow?
So what really comes to mind isI heard this podcast episode.
I don't even remember who I waslistening to at the time, but
the guest was really talkingabout there's really only five
things you could do in your lifethat you could have at any one
(18:13):
point in time.
So, like five projects orinitiatives or big things that
you can do that you could do,there's really only five.
So you may have a list of 10,15, 20 things that you think
you're doing, but in realitythere's probably only five
things that you're doingeffectively at any one given
time.
And if you, if you want to besuccessful, you got to pick
(18:40):
those top five things and yougot to be really intentional
about doing those things.
And if you say, hey, there'sreally a sixth I need to pick up
, then maybe you need to dropone of the original five.
So you know, for me, I thinkabout, like, what are those five
things for me?
So, for me, number one is, youknow, my, the professional work
that I do is is on my list.
(19:01):
The second thing is everythingto do with my family and and
home.
The third one is, um, volunteerwork that I do.
So so that's that's numberthree, um.
The fourth one is fitness andthe fifth.
The fifth one is everythingthat I'm doing here with inspire
to run and inspire to runpodcasts.
(19:22):
So not in any order, although Ilisted them, it felt like in a
specific order, but not in anyorder.
But those are the five thingsthat I focus on.
So I say, okay, for each ofthose five things.
Here is my goal, maybe for thisweek, maybe for this month,
maybe for this quarter.
And then what I do is every dayI say you know what?
I really can only focus on twoor three of those five things a
(19:46):
day, right?
So I know, if it's a day whereI'm going to do a long run, like
a six mile run, like I didyesterday, I'm probably not
going to be able to do two otherthings that day.
I probably can only do one morething that day, probably
related to family and home, asan example.
Or if it's a day where I'm notdoing any kind of fitness, right
, maybe it's a rest day.
(20:06):
Maybe that gives me moreopportunities to do something
related to the podcast, or maybeit allows me to catch up on
work or volunteering.
So what I've started to do againis I started to think about
every day, kind of planning whatI'm going to do really
surrounding those five things.
So those are my priorities andif something new comes into play
(20:27):
, I have to make a decision.
Do I bring in that new thing ordo I say you know what, no, or
not now, or do I drop somethingfrom my original five, which I
just gave you, the list.
Probably something really hardto do for me to drop something
from that list, but maybe Ideprioritize one thing to
prioritize something else.
(20:47):
But that's kind of how I'mthinking about you know my
priorities and again, that'skind of what stuck with me for a
while is really just those fivethings.
So the next one is around kindof getting back into your
routine slowly.
So after about a week and acouple of days I started to feel
relaxed.
(21:07):
I started to feel like allright, physically I feel better,
mentally I feel better.
And oh, by the way, in justabout two months I have this
marathon coming up and I reallyneed to kind of get back into my
routine.
So what I did was, you know I Ijust kind of picked up the plan
(21:29):
from where I am at this point,being two months out, and I just
kind of slowly just did my ownthing and got back, you know,
put my running shoes back on andgot back out there and did just
a little bit, just quick 10minute run.
You know, I did a little bit ofstrength training and just just
to kind of get my body backinto the groove.
So just slowly returning towhere I was and then doing my
(21:53):
you know plan over the next twomonths getting me to my marathon
.
And then the last one here isaround lifestyle changes.
So lifestyle could be anythingaround diet and sleep habits and
work-life balance, you know,really just making sure that you
have balance basically betweenthose things and you're making
(22:14):
good choices.
And I would say I hadn't reallybeen thinking about it lately
because maybe I just felt like Iwas on the go all the time or I
was just kind of moving throughlife just getting things done
by brute force clock.
Three, four years ago I wasreally strict about my diet and
(22:42):
then here, you know, fastforward, I'm not as strict about
the diet but I have pretty goodhabits.
But lately I haven't.
Honestly, over the last two orthree months, my diet has not
been very good and I've beeneating things or drinking things
that you know more frequentlythan I normally would.
Right, when I then when I wasmore strict about my diet and I
(23:05):
think that that's kind of had animpact on me, and one of those
examples is sugar.
I'd realized how much sugarthat I was taking in per day was
way more than it had been overthe last few years and way more
than I should have been.
So I was drinking a lot ofcaffeine, I was popping a lot of
sugar with the caffeine andjust a lot of other different
(23:25):
things that I think was reallyjust kind of not not good for me
, right, physically and mentally.
So that's one of the thingsthat I, when I realized it and I
reflected, I changed right away.
Right, I'm like all, right,immediately have to cut down on
the sugar not necessarily cutout, because I don't want to
deprive myself of a lot of thesethings, but I definitely needed
(23:46):
to get back to where I was,which is, you know, much reduced
level of, you know, sugar andsome other things that I was
eating.
But that's one of the examples,I guess, of the lifestyle
changes.
And the next is kind of aroundsleep habits.
So for me, sleep has beenreally important and I've done a
lot to ensure that I get good,restful sleep over the last few
(24:10):
years.
So I don't know if I've changednecessarily any habits in terms
of going to sleep.
But what I've realized is, tosome extent I was probably
oversleeping, right?
So in the morning and maybethis is again kind of traces
back to being burnt out In themorning I should be up 530 ish,
six o'clock.
(24:30):
There are days where I'mgetting out of bed at 730, maybe
eight o'clock, maybe on theweekends even later, right so,
and I'm oversleeping and I'msure you know to some extent
that's doing me more harm thangood.
So, even though my sleep habitswasn't necessarily me staying
up late at night or not gettingenough sleep, what I've realized
(24:51):
is I was probably staying inbed longer or, you know, not
getting up until later in themorning, especially on the
weekends.
That probably wasn't doing me,you know, as much good either.
And the last one is, you know,kind of around that work-life
balance.
So you know, just reallyfiguring out a way of getting
what I need to get done, youknow, at work, and then you know
(25:12):
being able to do all the otherthings that I need to do related
to, you know, my personal life,you know, with family and with
the podcast and fitness andotherwise.
So those are some of the stepsthat can help you, hopefully
help you, bounce back fromburnout.
You know, and I'm hoping, bysharing my experience and the
(25:35):
story will help you or someoneyou know, if you're going to
through something similar.
So you know, at this point Ifeel like I'm slowly getting
back to where I want to be.
I have this marathon that'scoming up in two months in
France, which it's I'm reallyexcited about, because you can
basically call it like winecountry and it's you know, it's
(25:55):
it's really cool to to go backto France.
I spent a lot of time there.
It's probably one of the topthree countries that I've
traveled to in my life and Ireally enjoy my time there.
So the ability to go back thereafter about a year, year and a
half, and then run this race andoh, by the way, it's my first
marathon.
So I'm starting to kind of getback into the swing of things
and I'm getting really excitedabout it as the days progress.
(26:17):
So that's all good news.
And then, of course, you know,spartan, deca, world
championships.
It's would surely be an honorfor me to, you know, get the
email invite that I'm in and Ican, and I've qualified to to
run this, uh, worldchampionships.
So probably most likely thatthe DECA fit um the team's race
(26:38):
with Mickey and or Christie, soreally excited about that
opportunity as well.
So that's what I wanted toshare with you today Kind of you
know all my life updates andshare these tips with you that
can hopefully help you.
And we have a number of excitingthings that are coming with
Inspire to Run podcast.
So just kind of look out forthose.
(27:00):
I'm excited to bring on somenew guests and have some new
conversations and share thesestories with all of you.
So if you enjoyed this episode,if you have tips of your own,
if you have stories of your own,reach out, just look in the
show notes and there's a way tomessage me.
And I'd love to hear from youand love to hear your stories
and we'd love to even share yourstories on the show.
(27:22):
So with that, I want to thankyou for listening today and have
a great day.
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