June 5, 2025 • 47 mins
In this episode of the Real Life Runners podcast, we discuss the importance of starting fall race preparation during the summer months, particularly June and July. We delve into the concept of cycle stacking, emphasizing the need to lay a strong foundation now to avoid last-minute rush and stress. Key topics include the importance of strength training, building mental toughness, adapting to heat, and incorporating up and down weeks for better adaptation and reduced injury risk.
The episode also highlights the flexibility required during summer schedules and vacations, encouraging runners to redefine consistency and integrate new training strategies that align with their current life circumstances.
05:00 Importance of Summer Training for Fall Races
08:20 Cycle Stacking: Building a Strong Foundation
12:04 Adapting Training for Runners Over 40
14:33 Strength Training and Addressing Imbalances
18:26 Mental Training and Consistency
21:50 The Power of Up and Down Weeks
25:57 Planning Ahead for Recovery
26:16 Balancing Business and Training
27:33 Training in the Heat
29:12 Heat Adaptation Benefits
34:34 Summer Training Strategies
39:30 Creative Training Solutions
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:00):
Welcome back to the Real Life Runners podcast.
If you've got a fall race on thecalendar, whether it's a 5K, 10
k, half marathon, or fullmarathon or ultra marathon, this
episode is for you because somany runners wait until.
Late summer or early fall to getserious.
But the truth is, if you reallywant your fall race to go well,
(00:21):
your work starts now.
June and July are your secretweapons.
This is the time to lay thefoundation, build strength, and
adapt intelligently so that yourrace prep feels strong and not
stressful.
Today we're breaking downexactly what to focus on this
summer.
How to use cycle stacking.
Why up and down weeks mattermore, especially after 40, how
(00:43):
to train effectively in the heatand how to stay consistent
through vacations and busyschedules that the summer often
brings.
Because your fall race successis not about going harder, it's
about being more intentionalnow.
So stay tuned.
(01:19):
What's up runners?
Welcome back to the show.
Last week we had an amazingguest on the podcast, so I hope
that you all have listened tothat.
And now Kevin and I are backwith our first episode of the
summer.
Happy Summer, Kev.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Happy summer.
It's good times.
Speaker (01:34):
I know this is a wild time for us here because.
Kevin, for the past 18 years ofteaching has taught summer
school every single year, andthis is his first summer without
teaching summer school.
How you feeling about that?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It's super weird 'cause I have to actually just
clean up my classroom in just acouple of days.
Oh.
And then?
And then go, yeah.
True.
Like normally I have an extrafive weeks to clean up my
classroom and then, and the.
You know, maintenance crew comesin and takes care of it.
Yeah.
But I, I slowly get rid of allmy stuff over the course of
multiple weeks.
Yeah.
Now it's, it's gotta go
Speaker (02:07):
now it's gotta go.
So how are you feeling aboutlike, having this whole summer
now to relax or train howeveryou want to without the time
crunch of a schedule given toyou?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Well, so that's, that's an interesting one.
Yeah.
It's not, not always the timecrunch.
Sometimes having a scheduleactually makes training easier.
That's true.
Because you're like, oh, well Ineed to run here because I can't
run at any other time during theday.
So that's where it goes.
I think sometimes the, the sortof laid backness of, of summer,
mm-hmm.
Especially from my perspectiveas a teacher, actually makes it
(02:42):
almost more difficult to train,even though the openness of the
schedule should make it so mucheasier.
Speaker (02:47):
That's a really interesting point.
And so I'm wondering how many ofyou out there listening are kind
of nodding your heads to that aswell, like, oh yeah, that's true
because we do get into theseroutines and routines are very
helpful for us as runners andtruly just as humans.
We humans do well with routinesand the summertime is often.
When those routines changewhether your kids are not in
(03:09):
school, if you still have kidsat home with you and now they're
in summer camps.
And the summer camp schedule isprobably different than the
school schedule was, or thingsat work are kind of different
like they are for you as ateacher, they're definitely very
different.
Um, summer just can bring somechallenges and some of them are
not really expected.
Like I wasn't really expectingyou to say what you just said
(03:31):
because I would think thathaving more time would make
training.
Easier, but I can see how thatpresents just a different
challenge now.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah.
Thankfully the fact that it's,uh, it's still South Florida,
the only time to train ispre-dawn.
Yes.
Otherwise, heat stroke is thebest method of training, and
that's not always ideal.
Speaker (03:48):
I know that was one of the things that I was thinking
about in talking to my runningfriends about as well, because I
typically.
One day a week, I wake up and Igo run at five 30 with my
friends.
And then the other days of theweek, I typically run a little
bit later after I drop off thegirls at school.
But that is not really an optionanymore during the summer
because it is just too darn hot.
(04:09):
So it's kind of weird, but I'mgonna be waking up earlier over
the summer and not getting tosleep in as much.
I mean, I'm, I'm gonna sleep inon the other days when I have
strength days and those kinds ofthings where I'm not running
outside, but.
I think I'm going to be workwaking up a little bit earlier
on my running days than I'm usedto.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah.
I mean there's just so manyscheduled changes.
Like we've got the kids stillaround the house and they're
gonna like to stay up a littlebit later.
Mm-hmm.
And so then you get the combo ofeverybody else in the house is
staying up later, but I need toget up early and get a run in.
Yeah.
And yet there's still a way tomake summer work for you.
Mm-hmm.
To be set up for super successin, in whatever fall race you
have.
Speaker (04:46):
Yeah.
And I think that is a challengeas you have kids that.
That get older as well as theywant their bedtime to go later,
but we still want our bedtime togo the same or even earlier,
maybe earlier.
Earlier,
Speaker 2 (04:58):
8, 8 30, please.
Yeah.
Speaker (04:59):
Yeah.
So today we thought it would begood to talk about how your
success in the fall starts nowand not in August, because a lot
of people kind of lose track ofthe summer between.
The changes in schedule, summervacations, all these different
things, the heat, these thingsthat can get in your way of
summer training and then all ofa sudden it's August, the kids
(05:21):
are going back to school andyou're like, oh yeah, I signed
up for that race in a couple ofmonths.
I better start training.
We don't want you to findyourself in that position and
whether or not.
You're training for a race ornot?
This episode will still apply toyou because I am not a big
racer.
I don't have a race scheduledfor the fall.
Neither do you actually.
But some of the concepts thatwe're gonna be talking about in
(05:44):
today's episode are importantregardless of what your goal is.
If your goal is to build muscle,to build bone, to get stronger,
to improve your endurance,whatever it might be, even
without a race on the calendar,this episode is going to apply
to you.
So.
Let's start about why June andJuly are critical months when we
(06:05):
are looking forward to a fallrace.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Okay, so this goes all the way back to when I was
in high school as a runner.
Mm-hmm.
And the classic cross countrycoaches.
Coaches, cliche is fallchampions are made in the
summer.
Mm-hmm.
Like that.
And there's a reason to it,like, yeah.
Every coach likes to bring thatout and it's, it's true.
Mm-hmm.
Because what you do over thesummer puts you in position to
(06:30):
then not start essentially fromscratch.
Yeah.
When fall starts, you know,there's a lot of of athletes
that essentially go throughtraining cycles and they have a
spring race and they kind ofchill and relax over the summer
and they have like a late fall,early winter race.
You know, kind of depends onyour geography of when racing
season is around you, but that'show they work.
(06:50):
Sometimes summer just slipsaway.
So being able to find somethingthat you can focus on using
summer as a chance to build upweaknesses where you're not
like, oh, well that race is sosoon.
I wanna make sure that I reallyprioritize the workouts that are
designed specifically for thatrace.
But you kind of take a step backand look at your overall
training.
You're like, I have a big windowto work with here.
(07:11):
So it's not just.
One area I can focus on, I mightbe able to knock out two or
three things and build up myoverall fitness, not just for
this race, but my just overallfitness, which will pay off
regardless of what distanceyou're going for.
Speaker (07:25):
Yeah, and it definitely is evident in the fall.
As cross country coaches, whenwe have kids that show up on day
one of practice, we knowimmediately who has been
training over the summer and whohasn't been training over the
summer because the kids thathave been running are number one
used to the heat.
You know, down here in SouthFlorida, August training really
(07:47):
kind of no matter where you are,but especially here, the heat is
a major.
Thing that we need to get usedto, and this is one of the
things we tell our cross countrykids as well, is that even if
you're going outside to walk orto walk run, it's just important
for you to be outside so thatyour body can start acclimating
to the heat so that when we areasking you to go out and run
(08:08):
three, four, or five miles inthe, in the fall, it's not,
you're not dying out there ofheat stroke.
So it is very important for.
Them and obviously us also asrunners over 40.
So let's start by just definingone of the most important terms
that we're gonna be talkingabout today, which is cycle
stacking.
So we believe, and this is theway that we train all of our
(08:31):
clients here at real liferunners in 90 day cycles.
And sometimes cycles can be alittle bit shorter or can be a
little bit longer depending onwhat you're focusing on.
But 90 days is a good measurefor us to, to kind of look at
and.
Each 90 day cycle needs to havea specific goal.
So for example, if you arelooking to build strength,
(08:53):
correct weaknesses, rehab, uh,maybe some nagging aches or
pains that you might have,that's gonna be the main focus
of a cycle.
If you are training for a 5K orfor a half marathon, that would
be the main focus of a cycle.
Now, it's important tounderstand that when you are,
when you have one goal for.
A certain cycle.
That doesn't mean that youignore everything else.
(09:14):
We're still going to be doingstrength training and mobility
and speed work and other typesof workouts during each cycle.
It's just a matter of what thefocus is and how much of an
intensity we're gonna be puttingin each place.
So when we have a cycle that is,has a 90 day focus, then we can.
(09:35):
Stack those cycles on top ofeach other so that we can build
up the plan for a year or maybeeven multiple years, so that
each cycle builds on the lastone, and then you are able to
progress more regularly.
That's not the word I'm lookingfor, like progress better over
time without all the.
(09:56):
Highs and lows that so manyrunners go through in their
training.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah.
It's still not gonna be a linearprogression because every time
you, you add a new focusedstimulus, you're gonna be able
to make a jump in, in whateverthat direction is.
Yeah.
Like if you spend some time,you're like, I'm really gonna
focus in on speed now you'regonna be able to see some speed
gains.
And then you try and maintainendurance and maintain strength
in that, and you're like, okay,now I'm gonna pull away from
this and I really want to startfocusing on building endurance.
(10:21):
You're still gonna be able tomaintain the speed, but now
you're gonna focus on, you know,stretching out the runs.
And so then as it gets closerto, you know, maybe there's a
goal race of a half marathon ora marathon, if you've had some
time prepping speed and sometime prepping endurance, now you
start merging those thingstogether and you are now.
Training, endurance and speed.
(10:42):
That's essentially what racing along distance race is, is the
combination of both those guys.
So summer gives you anopportunity to be like, all
right, what is it that's, thatmight be holding me back from
whatever my goal is?
You know, is do you have a goaltime that seems like crazy out
of reach?
Maybe what's holding you back isyour higher end speed.
(11:03):
And so many people, and this is.
My cross country bias that theyuse summer as a chance to go
longer and slower, but that'snot necessarily what is NN.
Going to be the best thing foryou, depending on what your goal
is, maybe summer is anopportunity to go faster.
Maybe what's been holding youback is every time you start
ramping up mileage for a race,you get hurt.
(11:25):
So instead of worrying aboutramping up mileage, use summer
to ramp up your strength.
So that when it comes time tostart ramping up mileage, you
have this huge foundation ofstrength and your body can
physically handle the load.
When you push all of this stuffoff and you kind of do some
training over the summer, butwithout like a key focus to it,
you get into your later falltraining, race training cycle,
(11:47):
and you're trying to do too manythings simultaneously.
That's, that's the issue islike, well, I need to build up
my mileage and I should probablyget some work on strength and,
well, I don't wanna lose any ofthis.
Speed.
Now you're doing all the thingssimultaneously, which means
you're not really doing any ofthem super well, and it's just
too much strain on the body.
Speaker (12:04):
Yeah, and that's one of the reasons that so many runners
get injured because they'retrying to do too many things all
at once, and especially over 40,especially as a woman over 40,
as are hormones start to change,you're probably noticing that it
takes a little bit longer foryour body to recover.
In between, especially thoseharder sessions, it takes a
(12:25):
little bit longer for your bodyto adapt to training.
So by giving yourself a longerrunway and giving yourself a
different focus for the cycle,the couple of months leading up
into your race training cycle inthe fall, that's going to allow
your body to make more gradualprogress with less risk for
(12:45):
injury because you're not tryingto ramp up mileage and speed and
strength all at the same timebecause there is this.
Thing that happens to us, likeit takes longer for our bodies
to adapt, and there is a termcalled adaptation lag.
The body just needs a little bitmore time to respond to training
stimuli in midlife and beyond,and that's why it's so important
(13:07):
for us to start building now sothat you can maintain and then
sharpen later, not just toscramble to build.
Fitness during those peak weeksof your race training?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Right.
I mean, sometimes this may haveworked when, when we were all a
little bit younger.
I knew that it didn't take methat long to be able to add in a
a few extra hard stride sessionsand I could get my speed back to
a pretty decent level.
It takes some time now.
Mm-hmm.
Like that first time that Ireally pushed myself on strides
after I haven't done them in awhile.
Is like, okay, I feel like I'mgoing really hard, but my pace
(13:42):
is just not there because I'mjust, it takes a while to get
that coordination going again,to get the muscles all firing in
unison so that I feel, I feelpowerful, that's fine, but I
actually am using the powerinside of my muscles to propel
myself forward at a good speed.
It's just not as, as smooth andas quick of an uptake in my body
(14:02):
as it it used to be.
I need more sessions.
Speaker (14:05):
Yeah, and I think that a lot of people can relate to
that.
And I think that it's importantfor us to talk about that
because it's a very real thing.
And there's a lot of people,especially women, that are
starting to go through the, thehormonal changes that think that
it's just them.
And there's something wrong hereand I don't understand what's
going wrong.
And I think it's, again, I'mgonna keep repeating this on so
(14:25):
many of our podcasts.
There's nothing wrong with you.
Your body is just changing, andso your training has to change
also.
So when we look at what to focuson in June and July, there are
multiple options.
And like Kevin said, the classiclonger, slower distance running
base building types of trainingtend to be popular over the
(14:47):
summer.
And if that works for you,great.
I personally like to focus onstrength and I think that.
Addressing weaknesses now andbuilding up your strength
training in the summertime is afantastic use of your time for a
lot of different reasons.
Number one, it's hot outside andso the, your strength training
(15:07):
most likely is going to be doneindoors, whether you work out at
home or in a gym.
It's more indoors, so you arenot exposed to all of the heat
and the thunderstorms.
I know that down here in SouthFlorida, they, our summer
thunderstorms have alreadystarted.
The afternoon thunderstorms arehere and they, the one today was
(15:30):
quite windy and everything I wasin, in my doctor's office when
that started and I was justsitting there and all of the
blinds were closed and then allof a sudden I heard this noise
and I thought to myself, isthat.
Outside, like, what ishappening?
And so I got up and like peekedout the window and I could not
believe the storm that washappening outside with that
wind.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah.
I forget if it was Friday orSaturday, but that one was even
windier and, but they're,they're so quick.
Mm-hmm.
It's like this massive gusts ofwinds for about like three
minutes.
Then the downpour hits and thenit's like, all right, now I'm
just gonna kind of sprinkle anddrizzle through the rest of the
afternoon.
Oh
Speaker (16:02):
yeah.
And it was so dark outside too,so it did get
Speaker 2 (16:04):
really dark.
Speaker (16:05):
So there are.
Weather issues that you have tothink about.
And you know, regardless ofwhere you are in the world,
there's heat, there'sthunderstorms, there's something
going on.
If you're in the southernhemisphere, maybe you're in the
middle of winter.
Yeah.
Here
Speaker 2 (16:18):
comes the snow,
Speaker (16:19):
right?
And we've got all of ourAustralians shout out to our,
our Aussies.
Uh, but that is one reason Ithink it's very good idea to
focus on strength building inthe summertime is just because
then you're out of the heat andyou can be.
Indoors.
Um, it's also the perfect timeto work on your strength
imbalances.
One of the biggest reasons thatrunners get injured is because
(16:40):
they have weaknesses and theyhave imbalance between either.
There're, um, different parts ofone side of the body or between
the two sides, between the leftside and the right side.
There is an imbalance instrength as well.
So summer's a great time for youto find those imbalances and
then start working on them tobuild that strength up in those
(17:00):
areas so that you can thenprevent injury as you start to
ramp up your speed or yourmileage in your fall race cycle.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Yeah.
I mean, another idea that youcould focus on over the summer
is your running form, yourcadence.
These are not necessarily the,the sexiest things to do, and
they are lower priorities whenyou have a, a race impending.
Mm-hmm.
Like if you've got a couple ofmonths before your race, that's
not the time to be like, whydon't I overhaul my running
form?
Like that is the, that is waytoo low on the importance meter.
(17:30):
But over the summer is anexcellent chance to be like,
Hey.
Why don't I just take out myphone and do just like a, a
quick shot of me running towardsthe camera.
I'll run sideways next to thecamera, and you can go back and
look at it and be like, wait, amI moving in in a nice fluid
manner?
Sometimes just filming yourselfactually points out some muscle
imbalances because one armswings differently than the
(17:51):
other.
One leg swings differently thanthe other, and that that's a
good chance that you've got somemuscle imbalance or some
tightness on one side that youdon't necessarily have on the
other side.
I, I know I was superimbalanced.
I also had a hernia, but I thinkthat that hernia was messing
with, uh, all sorts of balances.
Speaker (18:08):
Everything.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
It was messing with everything.
But then to try and strengthenand pretend that I didn't have a
hernia and I could just keeprunning, I could strengthen one
side more than the other.
And so my arms pumpedasymmetrically then.
Mm-hmm.
So that was fun.
Speaker (18:20):
So fun, so fun.
I'm so glad we're over that humpin, in your training.
Um, another thing you could workon during the summer months as
well is some mental training.
And I think that.
People often think that mentaltraining comes when I'm pushing
myself hard.
That's when I have to then pushthrough and find those mental
(18:42):
tips or hacks or things thatwill help me get through those
harder workouts.
But.
You can actually start to buildup your mental skills outside of
racing, outside of racetraining, so that when you get
into your race training cycleand things get hard, now all of
a sudden you have new mentaltechniques to help you get
(19:03):
through those tougher weeks.
Especially those, um, high loadweeks of your training when you
just feel exhausted in all theways you're not gonna wanna
then.
Come up with new mental skillson top of that, like you're
already exhausted.
So learning some mentaltechniques, learning some, um,
how to influence the way thatyou're thinking about your
training and the way that yourbrain is wired.
(19:24):
Now, when you have a little bitof extra rest time and recovery
time and you're not in the peakof training is a great idea
because now we, you start tobuild some of those neural
pathways and neural pathways donot get built quickly.
They are not, if you.
Live in an area where they'reconstantly doing highway
construction and it just seemslike it never ends.
(19:46):
That's kind of what it's like torewire your brain as well.
Your certain thoughts andbeliefs and ways of your
thinking have been programmedfor so many of us for decades
and decades, and so.
Just one race training cycle isnot going to start reprogramming
that.
So by starting now to find someof those thoughts and beliefs
that might be holding you back,start to reprogram and rewire
(20:08):
those pathways.
Now it's going to be much easierfor you to jump on those
pathways when race trainingstarts.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah, and you don't need a race to be able to put
yourself into a position whereyou're going to need some, some
proper thought work to have theconfidence and the consistency.
There are plenty of days overthe summer where you're like,
Ooh, it would be nicer to sleepin.
Or where you're training plangets thrown off because you're
on vacation with a family.
(20:35):
It would be much easier to slideinto a place of, of a lack of
consistency, but being able tosay, no, no, no.
I train with consistency.
I put in this, this type of workallows when it gets difficult.
When you're trying to stack moredifficult workouts in the fall,
you can lean back on what youbuilt over the summer and be
like, look, even when it wastough, I still maintain
(20:56):
consistency.
It's going to be tough thisweek, but I've already shown
that I can maintain theconsistency.
The more often that you showyourself you're capable of doing
something, the easier it's goingto be next time a similar
situation presents itself andmaybe that project at work and
being on vacation are different,but they're both time
constraints.
So they're both like, how do Ifit my, my exercise as a
(21:19):
priority when I have these othertime constraints hanging out
around me?
Speaker (21:24):
Yeah, so I think that, you know, we can really use this
time to build the foundationboth physically and mentally, so
that your race prep is smootherand more powerful.
Yes, we can do strengthexercises, we can address
mobility limitations, and we canalso work on building your
mental strength as well, becausethat's going to set you up
better.
(21:45):
Um, so that's kind of the ideaof cycle stacking and really
looking at some of yourweaknesses.
Now, the other thing we wantedto address would be the power of
having a longer runway andreally giving yourself time
instead of just trying to fitall of your training into a 12
week cycle or a 16 week cycle.
Taking it and extending that,giving yourself a longer runway
(22:07):
with up and down weeks are goingto allow you to adapt.
Um, even better.
So what am I talking about whenI'm, when I say up and down
weeks, there's a lot of peoplethat when they train for a race,
especially a longer race, theyjust add on say, one mile per
week.
Okay, I'm just gonna start off.
My long run is 10 miles and I'mjust gonna add on a mile every
week.
(22:27):
And that would be an example oflinear progression, even though
we already talked about how thebody does not adapt linearly.
That's one of the reasons thatwe.
Pretty much always institute.
I, I think always not, there'snot one plan or client that I
can think of that we don't dothis with.
Um.
We use a non-linear progression.
(22:48):
So for example, two weeks on andone week off, where we are
building for two weeks, whetherthat's your strength, your
mileage, your speed, and then wedo a down week or a pullback
week.
And this gives your body yourboth your nervous system and
your musculoskeletal system,your muscles, your bones, your
tendons, your tissues, all ofthat.
(23:10):
Time to adapt.
It also helps to reduce burnout,your injury risk, and hormonal
dysregulation because if you arejust pushing hard all the time,
and if you are constantly justadding training load to your
body, your hormones are gonnaget dysregulated.
Your.
Risk of injury is higher.
So having these pullback weeksin your training can really
(23:31):
benefit you in so many ways, butyou're gonna need a little bit
of a longer training cycle toreally institute these in the
best way, especially if you'rebuilding up for a longer race.
I think
Speaker 2 (23:42):
that, uh, you did a great job and that's exactly
where I would've started isfocusing on the ability to
recover on this.
But the up down week cycle alsoincludes the ups, and sometimes
you might have a window oftraining that gives you an
opportunity to pulse up higherthan you're used to because you
might also have an opportunityto recover better than you're
(24:04):
used to.
You know, if you are are like,eh, I've got these couple of
weeks over the summer that Icould do something sort of
different and unique with.
Maybe don't push really hard forboth of them.
If you pushed harder than normalfor the first one, but then you
could use the second one torecover.
Like to essentially recoverharder than normal.
(24:26):
Recover softer than normal.
Is that the appropriate way tosay it?
I'm not sure exactly what theterminology there.
But like if I had two weeks thatI could dedicate to like a
training camp setting, yeah.
I would overdo the first weekand then over recover on the
second week.
That seems great.
So if you know you're built up,like, oh, I've got, we've got
this vacation plan, I'm reallynot gonna be able to do much
(24:46):
during that week.
If you have the opportunity toalso go bigger the week before,
that will be a, a wonderful twoweek combination.
Speaker (24:53):
Yeah, and the other thing that it does is it all
also allows you to understandhow to train when your body's
tired.
I think, you know, because ifyou do go harder on the one week
and then you're still trainingthe following week, even if you
pull back a bit, you're stilltraining on tired legs or a
tired body because your body'sstill recovering and adapting
to.
The increased load that youplaced on it the week before?
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Yes.
Yeah.
But I mean, in general, theability to constantly put in
these pullback weeks or put themin as necessary, like you can
schedule it and be like, oh,we're gonna go two up and one
down, or three up and one down,or whatever it is.
But sometimes you just, you canfeel it.
You need a recovery week.
So the longer.
Runway you have, the easier itis to be like, this needs to be
(25:36):
a pullback week and it canstretch the training cycle out a
little bit.
Speaker (25:40):
Yeah, and I think that this is really important to look
at your schedule ahead of timeand your calendar and see okay,
if I'm having, if I have avacation coming up or if I have
something going on where I knowI'm gonna be, you know, it'd be
easier for me to get some morerest.
Or it might be harder for me toget in training.
You can start to plan this outahead of time.
And I actually just had arecovery week last week because
(26:03):
not only was I pushing likeharder, I was increasing, I'm in
a strength building cycle rightnow, so I've been increasing the
weights on my strengthexercises, but I've also been
like.
Here in the business.
'cause the other thing we wantyou to keep in mind is that your
real life matters too.
And so here in the real liferunners business, I had a big
(26:25):
ramp up in the beginning of Maywhere I, I did our five day
challenge, which those of you,you know, welcome.
If you've just found our podcastbecause you found our challenge
and you're new to us, I'm gladthat you guys are here, but
that.
Like running challenge week.
And then we had, um, ourenrollment period where we were
running promotions to get peopleto join the, the real life
(26:46):
runners team and, and talkingabout that a lot.
That takes a lot of.
Power and energy and all sortsof stuff from me.
And so last week it actuallyworked out really well that that
was my down week for my trainingand also the week after all of
our big promotions ended.
So I was really able to give mybody recovery on both fronts,
which was really helpful.
(27:07):
And I could actually just pullback and rest and take a nap and
do things that really allowed mybody and my mind to recover
because.
So a lot of times it's both, weneed both mental and physical
recovery.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Yeah.
I mean, so that's, I think the,the last thing I'd like to point
out on that one is just becauseit's a, a running recovery week
does not necessarily mean youcan then super ramp up
everything else.
Yeah.
Because that's not necessarilygoing to be a recovery week.
Speaker (27:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Alright, so with summer comesHeat, especially like for us
down here in South Florida.
And so it's important for us tounderstand how to train in the
heat and we've done multipleepisodes in the podcast
specifically about training inthe heat and how to allow your
body to adapt better and how to.
Make sure that you're preventingany heat related illnesses so
(27:54):
you can go back, um, we'll tryto link some of those in the
show notes as well.
But you can go back and look inour huge catalog of past podcast
episodes and just search forsummer or heat, and you can get
a lot of really greatinformation.
But heat, the thing that wewanna point out today is that
heat is an extra stress on thebody, so.
Oftentimes that means that yourpace is going to be slower, but
(28:18):
your effort level is still goingto be higher.
And I know that this frustratesa lot of people because they see
their pace slowing down or theyfeel that, you know, when
they're trying to maintain theirquote unquote normal pace, it
feels so much harder and they'reso much more tired and just
feeling more wiped out aftertheir training sessions.
That's because heat is an extrastress on the body, so we have
(28:41):
to be very.
Aware of this and very mindfulof this, when we are going out
to training.
So that means, yes, it's goingto feel harder.
Yes, your pace is going to beslower and that is normal.
Nothing has gone wrong here.
It's totally okay.
You need to know about it andthen figure out how to adapt.
But that doesn't mean that youshould just stop running all
(29:04):
summer long.
Yes.
Can you run on a treadmill?
Absolutely.
If you would like to stayindoors and run on a treadmill,
totally fine.
However, there are some benefitsfor running outside in the heat
as well, and the benefits ofheat adaptation will actually.
Benefit you in your fall racesalso?
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah.
I mean there's massive benefitsof heat adaptation, especially
if you do it safely.
Mm-hmm.
And really hydrate and, and eatwell afterwards.
Like you can't just be like, oh,I'm gonna go out and run in the
heat and get, get all myadaptations.
You can't get the adaptationsunless you do all of the steps.
And training in heat is one ofthe steps.
But then actually putting in.
(29:45):
The, the fluid and the, thenutrients and the calories
afterwards to gain theadaptations is, is key.
Because what will happen isyou're going to increase your,
your plasma volume inside ofyour blood, and then relative to
the amount of liquid that youhave in your blood, you don't
have enough red blood cells andso then your body's like, Ooh,
we need to make more red bloodcells so that you can fill up
(30:07):
the, the plasma level back withthe appropriate red blood cells
and get back to where you werebefore.
The takeaway from that is youend up with more red blood
cells, which means you can carrymore oxygen to all of your
muscles, which means yourmuscles will feel better for
longer at faster efforts.
It's a massive win all over theplace.
F
Speaker (30:23):
during your fall races?
Yes.
Right.
Like that's the thing that'scool is that your blood volume
will carry over.
Yes.
At, at some point when it, it'snot as hot, your blood volume
will decrease and your body willadapt to cooler temperatures as
well.
But this is one of the benefitsof running in the heat, and this
is also a benefit of altitudetrainings.
(30:43):
The same kind of thing happens.
It's a little bit different withthe actual physiological
mechanism in the body.
But the, the point is the sameis that your.
Y uh, your body is better atcarrying oxygen to the working
muscles, and that is a plus whenyou're trying to run farther or
run faster.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
And it, it doesn't take that long to get the
adaptations.
Mm-hmm.
It's why the beginning of summerfeels terrible, but the middle
and late summer do not feel asbad even if the actually gone up
because.
It takes a couple of weeks ofhot runs to be able to be like,
oh, my body has gained someadaptation toward this.
(31:21):
And you just start feelingbetter.
It's the tricky part of beinglike, oh, I'm going to do most
of my runs, and it's, it's arecommendation that we have.
I'm gonna do basically all of myruns in the morning in the
shadiest routes that I can, I'mgonna do some treadmill running.
If you do that, that's fine, butthen every time you head out,
you will not have gained theheat adaptations.
(31:42):
If you do a couple of runs ofduring the week in the actual
heat of outdoors, and I'm notsaying go out at two in the
afternoon where it's like themost oppressive heat, that's a
bad choice.
You do it.
I know I do, but that's not myrecommendation for our whole
podcast audience.
It's a bad I agree.
It's a bad blanketrecommendation, but
Speaker (32:02):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
But man, do you get some good heat adaptations to
it?
Speaker (32:05):
Well, and if you're someone like Kevin that is doing
100 mile races where you do haveto run at 2:00 PM in the
afternoon, it is a good ideabecause you are.
Forcing your body to adapt tothose conditions.
So if you're just doing all ofyour training at 5:00 AM when
it's dark outside and there's nosun, and then you wanna go out
(32:26):
and run a half a day or a fullday race, your body doesn't know
what to do with itself.
So this is, again, one of thoseplugs for make sure that you're
training for your goal, not justtraining for someone else's goal
training in the way thatsomebody else is training.
Your training needs to bespecific to your goal.
So Kevin knows.
For his 100 mile races.
(32:47):
Those are his last one.
Took him 18 hours.
He started at 6:00 AM I think,and you finished like 1:00 AM I
think whatever, 18 hours issomething like that.
I think he finished around alittle after 1:00 AM but he had
to run all day long at 10:00 AMat 12:00 PM At 2:00 PM At 4:00
PM he was running and so.
When he goes out in the middleof the day, yes, it seems kind
(33:09):
of crazy.
But he's adapting.
He's training in a way so thathis body can adapt to the way
that he wants it to be able toperform in whatever race he's
currently training for.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
But when you do that and you, you make the choice to
be like, all right, I'm gonna goout in the middle of the day and
it's gonna be a bajilliondegrees.
Then you make sure that you verymuch lock in and it is a, a
tricky mental training.
Yeah.
But you have to lock into your,your rating of perceived
exertion way more than whateverpace you're doing.
Yes.
Like if you were training in thewinter and you head out in like
(33:42):
six layers of clothes, you gotlike the tights and then the,
the.
Like tights over the top of thatand a big puffy coat, you would
not expect to be running thesame pace because you're wearing
all of the clothes.
If you're running in the middleof the summer, it's like you're
strapping all of these clothesonto yourself because that's how
hot it is.
Like you're just not gonna bemoving as well.
(34:02):
You might have to take walkingbreaks.
You're gonna really need to haveto.
Focus on fueling and hydratingduring the run because you're
losing so much.
Your electrolytes are super key.
You pointed out, we've got somegreat episodes on this.
You really have to focus onthis, but don't worry about your
pace.
Yeah.
Especially on runs where you'relike, this is gonna be a run
where I focus on heatadaptation.
(34:23):
Mm-hmm.
That means that you just have tobe out there and get some
exposure to it.
It can be nice and slow.
You can take the walking breaks.
Walking breaks, doesn't stop thesun from beating down on top of
you.
You're still getting plenty ofheat exposure.
Speaker (34:34):
Yeah, and I think that it's important for us to
remember that summer training isnot about performance because
you are not racing, most of youare not racing in the heat of
the summer.
You're training for a race inthe fall.
At least that's what we'retalking about in this episode.
So summer running is not aboutperformance, it's about
adaptation.
(34:54):
And when you can reframe that inyour mind, the.
Goes along with what I wastalking about before with mental
training and starting to rewirethen your pace.
Doesn't have as much of ameaning and you stop making your
pace mean something about you,about your ability, about your
progress because you realize,wait, I'm just out here to allow
(35:18):
my body to adapt.
It doesn't have to be about thepace and the time and all of
that stuff.
I'm just out here to allow mybody to gain the benefits of
heat adaptation.
And so that makes seeing those.
Slower paces on your watch.
I think it makes it mentallyeasier when you understand.
Yeah, it's not about the.
The time on my watch, it's justabout me being out here.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Yeah, no, the only time you need to keep track of
the time on your watch is tomake sure that you're hydrating
enough, like, oh, haven't takena drink in five minutes.
I should do that again.
Like that's a good reason tokeep, keep an eye on the watch.
Speaker (35:50):
Absolutely.
So the next thing.
And possible obstacle that youmight encounter during the
summer months are summerschedules, vacations, this
difference in your flexibility.
So between vacations and kids'activities and shifting
routines, oftentimes there's alot of runners that realize that
training during the summer isnot going to be perfect, and
(36:13):
that's okay, and this is why.
Again, looking at those mentalshifts that we wanna make,
instead of focusing onperfection and making sure that
you're just checking everysingle box on your training
plan, it's more important tofocus on consistency.
And that might mean that youhave to redefine what
consistency is because somepeople think consistency means I
(36:36):
do all of the workouts on mytraining plan.
And while that is one definitionof consistency.
There are many definitions ofconsistency, so you might need
to redefine what consistencylooks like during this season,
during this cycle, and that's areally cool opportunity as well
for you to decide.
(36:58):
Uh, very consciously what youwant things to mean.
You know, like, this is kind ofgoing back to this idea of like
thoughts versus truths versusbeliefs.
A lot of people think that if Imiss a session, that means I'm
not consistent and that.
Is not a truth.
That is a thought.
If you redefine what consistencymeans to you over the summer and
(37:19):
say, as long as I get in threesessions this week, then that
will be consistent.
Or if I making sure that I getin at least two runs and two
strength workouts, that's gonnabe my definition of consistency.
And you're.
Definition of consistency isalso allowed to change week to
week, whether or not you're athome or on a cruise ship in the
(37:41):
middle of the ocean somewhere.
Right?
Like these things can adjust andcan change to take real life
into consideration.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Yeah.
Speaker (37:47):
I
Speaker 2 (37:47):
think, you know, one of the things we, we talked
about is.
Uh, having a goal for what thisparticular part of your training
plan looks like.
If your, if your training planis focused on increasing
endurance, then consistency isabout being able to ramp your
mileage up from one week to thenext.
If you're really focused onstrength, consistency means
hitting your strength routinesduring the week.
(38:09):
And if that means that, oh, Imissed a run, that's not a ding
on your consistency.
Yes.
If you're consistently missingyour strength workouts.
During a time where you're like,I'm really gonna focus on
strength, that's a lack ofconsistency.
But if, if you're able to alwaysget the strength and you miss a
couple of other things becauseyou've got other priorities,
(38:29):
because it didn't fit yourschedule, because things are
coming up, know what it is.
That's most important to beconsistent with over the summer.
Know your priority for yourparticular goal.
Speaker (38:40):
Yes, and that's also the benefit of cycle stacking,
like we talked about, is knowingthe goal of your current cycle
and then also making sure youkind of hit some of the
minimums.
With the race the next cycle inmind, right?
Like yes, I agree that when youare in a strength cycle, it is
most important for you to getthose strength workouts in.
(39:01):
However, if you have a marathoncoming up in the fall, you can't
just not run.
It's important for you to makesure that you're still getting
in the minimums so that you'llbe best set up for the next
cycle as well.
That's why each cycle is not.
Its own little island.
Each cycle connects to the cyclebefore and after it.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
I was just thinking of all the islands on that like
inside out movie, now they'reall connected to her hub in the
middle.
Yeah,
Speaker (39:27):
that's true.
I love that movie.
That's such a good one.
I
Speaker 2 (39:29):
know
Speaker (39:30):
the summer scheduling can also be a good opportunity
for creativity in your trainingas well.
Like, okay, what do you got?
Well, because if you'retraveling, you're, you might not
have access to the sameequipment or.
You know, trails or routes thatyou normally have,
Speaker 2 (39:47):
but you might have new trails and routes.
Mm-hmm.
That's always God, always
Speaker (39:51):
fun.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Always fun to find new trails, new routes around
the city.
Not necessarily my favoriteexperience.
You love it?
Speaker (39:57):
I do.
I love exploring new places onfoot and really trying to just
see different things.
I think it's so fun.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
I love new trails that I've ever been on.
I think that is super exciting.
Mm-hmm.
But, and, and you love exploringnew cities and stuff.
Trying to figure out how to makestrength training work in new
environments also can involvesome creativity.
Speaker (40:15):
Yeah.
Because maybe you're staying ina hotel and they've got a nice
weight room and you can go aheadand get your strength workout
in, and maybe you're not, maybeyou're staying in an Airbnb and
there's no.
Equipment whatsoever.
So now you get to experimentmore with body weight training
so that you're just gettingsomething in and maximizing the
time that you have.
You know, maybe you just get ina 20 minute strength workout
(40:37):
because you've got a really busyday with the family, and maybe
you're going out for hikes oryou're going kayaking or doing
other things.
That's also.
Physical activity that you cancount as part of your training.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Yeah.
Maybe you're going kayaking.
That is a whole upper bodyworkout that I am not used to.
Yeah, you love to take uskayaking and suddenly my abs are
sore for like four days afterthat.
I'm like, that is a whole upperbody workout that I was not
quite fully prepared for.
Speaker (41:04):
Yeah, so I think it's important for us to remember
that flexibility is not failure.
It's just part of the plan.
It's part of this season, it'spart of this cycle, and when you
can see it like that, then youcan stop beating yourself up for
missing out on a couple ofthings because you're, instead
of.
Seeing and only focusing on, oh,I missed my training.
(41:24):
You can redirect yourself andsay, yes, maybe I didn't get my
exercise in, but now I'mfocusing on getting more time in
with my family, and that'simportant to me.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Yes, and that's, that's the other thing is.
If you missed a strengthsession, what you're doing later
with your family does not haveto become part of your strength
session.
It can just become time with thefamily.
Speaker (41:43):
Or maybe you just do a whole hit session with the
family and make everybody workout.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
That seems like a great option.
Speaker (41:49):
I've done that before.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Yes, yes.
When they were
Speaker (41:51):
younger, they would definitely not do it now.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
No, definitely not now.
But I was thinking like the lasttime we went kayaking.
Mm-hmm.
I was like, this could be astrength workout.
Or I could just go kayaking withmy daughter, and that could be
fun also.
Speaker (42:03):
Yeah, that's true.
And that's, that's the thing.
Is it because you have adifferent focus to it then?
Yes.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
Like it doesn't.
If it has to also be yourstrength cycle mm-hmm.
It might take away of what itwas supposed to be.
Yeah.
Which was time with your family.
Mm-hmm.
Know what your activities are.
Sometimes it's great and youcan, you can multitask the
things and sometimes that'sgonna lose the benefit of both
sides.
Speaker (42:23):
Yeah, exactly.
And that's why it's so importantfor you to know your priorities
and then make your choices veryconsciously.
So as a little recap.
Your strategy for fall success.
Number one, stack your cycles.
So have a point to your summertraining.
Don't just say, oh, I'm justgonna get in some things where I
(42:45):
can, unless you don't reallycare about your results in the
fall, if you don't care aboutyour results in the fall.
That's totally fine.
Maybe the TI summer is a goodtime for you to just take off
and give yourself both a mentaland a physical break.
We didn't even talk about that,like that's actually a really
good idea.
Also, if you don't have a racein the fall or if you don't have
some sort of performance goalcoming up later this year.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
Yeah.
I mean, just because you have arace in the fall doesn't mean it
has to be the best race you'veever done.
Right.
Like you might have a race andyou're not.
That's why I
Speaker (43:14):
said performance goal.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
It doesn't have to be chasing a pr.
Yeah.
It's just a race that you'regonna participate in.
Mm-hmm.
Then yeah, summer is a greattime to stay
Speaker (43:21):
fit,
Speaker 2 (43:21):
but take all of the pressure off of it.
Speaker (43:23):
Yeah.
Which is great, but then again,know that and then choose that
consciously so that you can takethe guilt away.
I think that a lot of timespeople kind of have that in
their head, like, oh, I'll justget in what they, what I can,
but then you feel guilty becauseyou're missing training or
because you feel like you're notgetting quote unquote enough in.
So having a definition for whatenough is, having a definition
(43:44):
for consistency during thesummer, I think are going to be
really helpful knowing the pointof the current cycle that you're
in.
All of those things are going tobe really helpful.
Hi.
I highly suggest taking thesummer to address any of your
weak links.
So if you've got, if youhaven't.
Been consistent with strengthtraining or with mobility
training, now is a really goodtime to focus in on that, to
(44:08):
build up your muscle strength,to work on how your body is
moving, the fluidity of yourmovement, any tight spots, any
weak spots.
Now is a great time to addressthose things while you kind of
maintain a base of mileage sothat you can ramp up in the
fall.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Right and embrace the variability of what summer and
different plans and differentschedules can provide for you.
Embrace the opportunity to trainand heat and get those
adaptations that you might notget at other times during the
year because those adaptationscan pay off in the fall, and
there are ways to hang ontothose adaptations through the
fall.
Even if you have a late fallrace, early winter race, you can
still hold onto those heatadaptations.
Speaker (44:45):
Absolutely.
So ask yourself, you know what?
Is one thing that you can committo this week or in the next
couple weeks, or in the month ofJune, that is going to help set
you up for success in the fall.
It is a good idea to stay onsome sort of a training plan or
a training schedule,understanding that that might
need some flexibility.
(45:05):
So if you want some help, if youwant coaching, if you want a
training plan that is flexible,that does fit your train, your
life and your training, comecheck out the Real Life Runners
team.
All of our plans are customizedfor you.
We believe in a personalizedexperience here inside the Real
Life runners team.
The team is really a hybrid ofgroup coaching and having an
(45:29):
amazing community with groupcoaching calls and all sorts of
good stuff, and a personalizedplan that is.
Where you are in your trainingright now with the goals that
you have, with the goals thatyou have coming up later in the
year, we would love to help youand to coach you through it.
So check out all of ourresources
over@realliferunners.com slashteam.
Uh, we also have some amazingguest speakers this summer as
(45:52):
well.
That's.
All part of our team membership.
We've got our gut health expert,Nikki Deza.
Um, Dr.
Nikki was on the podcast lastweek talking about gut health,
and she's gonna be coming intoour team to, um, do a member
workshop with us next week.
So if you're on our email list,keep an eye out to to your
email.
I've got a special invitationfor you, even if you're not part
(46:13):
of the team.
I wanna invite you to come joinus for this workshop because
it's going to be a great one.
And she's gonna be talking allabout gut health for runners.
And why your gut is soimportant, not only for your
performance, but also for howyou feel in the rest of your
life.
So, um, come check it out, youknow, become a part of the team
and you get access to all ofthose resources.
So, um, you have anything elsethat you wanna add?
Speaker 2 (46:36):
You are beautiful.
Speaker (46:37):
Aw, you're the sweetest.
Alright guys, thanks so much forjoining us.
This has been The Real LifeRunners podcast, episode number
412.
Now, get out there and run yourlife.
Welcome back to the Real Life Runners podcast.
If you've got a fall race on thecalendar, whether it's a 5K, 10
k, half marathon, or fullmarathon or ultra marathon, this
episode is for you because somany runners wait until.
Late summer or early fall to getserious.
But the truth is, if you reallywant your fall race to go well,
(00:21):
your work starts now.
June and July are your secretweapons.
This is the time to lay thefoundation, build strength, and
adapt intelligently so that yourrace prep feels strong and not
stressful.
Today we're breaking downexactly what to focus on this
summer.
How to use cycle stacking.
Why up and down weeks mattermore, especially after 40, how
(00:43):
to train effectively in the heatand how to stay consistent
through vacations and busyschedules that the summer often
brings.
Because your fall race successis not about going harder, it's
about being more intentionalnow.
So stay tuned.
(01:19):
What's up runners?
Welcome back to the show.
Last week we had an amazingguest on the podcast, so I hope
that you all have listened tothat.
And now Kevin and I are backwith our first episode of the
summer.
Happy Summer, Kev.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Happy summer.
It's good times.
Speaker (01:34):
I know this is a wild time for us here because.
Kevin, for the past 18 years ofteaching has taught summer
school every single year, andthis is his first summer without
teaching summer school.
How you feeling about that?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It's super weird 'cause I have to actually just
clean up my classroom in just acouple of days.
Oh.
And then?
And then go, yeah.
True.
Like normally I have an extrafive weeks to clean up my
classroom and then, and the.
You know, maintenance crew comesin and takes care of it.
Yeah.
But I, I slowly get rid of allmy stuff over the course of
multiple weeks.
Yeah.
Now it's, it's gotta go
Speaker (02:07):
now it's gotta go.
So how are you feeling aboutlike, having this whole summer
now to relax or train howeveryou want to without the time
crunch of a schedule given toyou?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Well, so that's, that's an interesting one.
Yeah.
It's not, not always the timecrunch.
Sometimes having a scheduleactually makes training easier.
That's true.
Because you're like, oh, well Ineed to run here because I can't
run at any other time during theday.
So that's where it goes.
I think sometimes the, the sortof laid backness of, of summer,
mm-hmm.
Especially from my perspectiveas a teacher, actually makes it
(02:42):
almost more difficult to train,even though the openness of the
schedule should make it so mucheasier.
Speaker (02:47):
That's a really interesting point.
And so I'm wondering how many ofyou out there listening are kind
of nodding your heads to that aswell, like, oh yeah, that's true
because we do get into theseroutines and routines are very
helpful for us as runners andtruly just as humans.
We humans do well with routinesand the summertime is often.
When those routines changewhether your kids are not in
(03:09):
school, if you still have kidsat home with you and now they're
in summer camps.
And the summer camp schedule isprobably different than the
school schedule was, or thingsat work are kind of different
like they are for you as ateacher, they're definitely very
different.
Um, summer just can bring somechallenges and some of them are
not really expected.
Like I wasn't really expectingyou to say what you just said
(03:31):
because I would think thathaving more time would make
training.
Easier, but I can see how thatpresents just a different
challenge now.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah.
Thankfully the fact that it's,uh, it's still South Florida,
the only time to train ispre-dawn.
Yes.
Otherwise, heat stroke is thebest method of training, and
that's not always ideal.
Speaker (03:48):
I know that was one of the things that I was thinking
about in talking to my runningfriends about as well, because I
typically.
One day a week, I wake up and Igo run at five 30 with my
friends.
And then the other days of theweek, I typically run a little
bit later after I drop off thegirls at school.
But that is not really an optionanymore during the summer
because it is just too darn hot.
(04:09):
So it's kind of weird, but I'mgonna be waking up earlier over
the summer and not getting tosleep in as much.
I mean, I'm, I'm gonna sleep inon the other days when I have
strength days and those kinds ofthings where I'm not running
outside, but.
I think I'm going to be workwaking up a little bit earlier
on my running days than I'm usedto.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah.
I mean there's just so manyscheduled changes.
Like we've got the kids stillaround the house and they're
gonna like to stay up a littlebit later.
Mm-hmm.
And so then you get the combo ofeverybody else in the house is
staying up later, but I need toget up early and get a run in.
Yeah.
And yet there's still a way tomake summer work for you.
Mm-hmm.
To be set up for super successin, in whatever fall race you
have.
Speaker (04:46):
Yeah.
And I think that is a challengeas you have kids that.
That get older as well as theywant their bedtime to go later,
but we still want our bedtime togo the same or even earlier,
maybe earlier.
Earlier,
Speaker 2 (04:58):
8, 8 30, please.
Yeah.
Speaker (04:59):
Yeah.
So today we thought it would begood to talk about how your
success in the fall starts nowand not in August, because a lot
of people kind of lose track ofthe summer between.
The changes in schedule, summervacations, all these different
things, the heat, these thingsthat can get in your way of
summer training and then all ofa sudden it's August, the kids
(05:21):
are going back to school andyou're like, oh yeah, I signed
up for that race in a couple ofmonths.
I better start training.
We don't want you to findyourself in that position and
whether or not.
You're training for a race ornot?
This episode will still apply toyou because I am not a big
racer.
I don't have a race scheduledfor the fall.
Neither do you actually.
But some of the concepts thatwe're gonna be talking about in
(05:44):
today's episode are importantregardless of what your goal is.
If your goal is to build muscle,to build bone, to get stronger,
to improve your endurance,whatever it might be, even
without a race on the calendar,this episode is going to apply
to you.
So.
Let's start about why June andJuly are critical months when we
(06:05):
are looking forward to a fallrace.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Okay, so this goes all the way back to when I was
in high school as a runner.
Mm-hmm.
And the classic cross countrycoaches.
Coaches, cliche is fallchampions are made in the
summer.
Mm-hmm.
Like that.
And there's a reason to it,like, yeah.
Every coach likes to bring thatout and it's, it's true.
Mm-hmm.
Because what you do over thesummer puts you in position to
(06:30):
then not start essentially fromscratch.
Yeah.
When fall starts, you know,there's a lot of of athletes
that essentially go throughtraining cycles and they have a
spring race and they kind ofchill and relax over the summer
and they have like a late fall,early winter race.
You know, kind of depends onyour geography of when racing
season is around you, but that'show they work.
(06:50):
Sometimes summer just slipsaway.
So being able to find somethingthat you can focus on using
summer as a chance to build upweaknesses where you're not
like, oh, well that race is sosoon.
I wanna make sure that I reallyprioritize the workouts that are
designed specifically for thatrace.
But you kind of take a step backand look at your overall
training.
You're like, I have a big windowto work with here.
(07:11):
So it's not just.
One area I can focus on, I mightbe able to knock out two or
three things and build up myoverall fitness, not just for
this race, but my just overallfitness, which will pay off
regardless of what distanceyou're going for.
Speaker (07:25):
Yeah, and it definitely is evident in the fall.
As cross country coaches, whenwe have kids that show up on day
one of practice, we knowimmediately who has been
training over the summer and whohasn't been training over the
summer because the kids thathave been running are number one
used to the heat.
You know, down here in SouthFlorida, August training really
(07:47):
kind of no matter where you are,but especially here, the heat is
a major.
Thing that we need to get usedto, and this is one of the
things we tell our cross countrykids as well, is that even if
you're going outside to walk orto walk run, it's just important
for you to be outside so thatyour body can start acclimating
to the heat so that when we areasking you to go out and run
(08:08):
three, four, or five miles inthe, in the fall, it's not,
you're not dying out there ofheat stroke.
So it is very important for.
Them and obviously us also asrunners over 40.
So let's start by just definingone of the most important terms
that we're gonna be talkingabout today, which is cycle
stacking.
So we believe, and this is theway that we train all of our
(08:31):
clients here at real liferunners in 90 day cycles.
And sometimes cycles can be alittle bit shorter or can be a
little bit longer depending onwhat you're focusing on.
But 90 days is a good measurefor us to, to kind of look at
and.
Each 90 day cycle needs to havea specific goal.
So for example, if you arelooking to build strength,
(08:53):
correct weaknesses, rehab, uh,maybe some nagging aches or
pains that you might have,that's gonna be the main focus
of a cycle.
If you are training for a 5K orfor a half marathon, that would
be the main focus of a cycle.
Now, it's important tounderstand that when you are,
when you have one goal for.
A certain cycle.
That doesn't mean that youignore everything else.
(09:14):
We're still going to be doingstrength training and mobility
and speed work and other typesof workouts during each cycle.
It's just a matter of what thefocus is and how much of an
intensity we're gonna be puttingin each place.
So when we have a cycle that is,has a 90 day focus, then we can.
(09:35):
Stack those cycles on top ofeach other so that we can build
up the plan for a year or maybeeven multiple years, so that
each cycle builds on the lastone, and then you are able to
progress more regularly.
That's not the word I'm lookingfor, like progress better over
time without all the.
(09:56):
Highs and lows that so manyrunners go through in their
training.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah.
It's still not gonna be a linearprogression because every time
you, you add a new focusedstimulus, you're gonna be able
to make a jump in, in whateverthat direction is.
Yeah.
Like if you spend some time,you're like, I'm really gonna
focus in on speed now you'regonna be able to see some speed
gains.
And then you try and maintainendurance and maintain strength
in that, and you're like, okay,now I'm gonna pull away from
this and I really want to startfocusing on building endurance.
(10:21):
You're still gonna be able tomaintain the speed, but now
you're gonna focus on, you know,stretching out the runs.
And so then as it gets closerto, you know, maybe there's a
goal race of a half marathon ora marathon, if you've had some
time prepping speed and sometime prepping endurance, now you
start merging those thingstogether and you are now.
Training, endurance and speed.
(10:42):
That's essentially what racing along distance race is, is the
combination of both those guys.
So summer gives you anopportunity to be like, all
right, what is it that's, thatmight be holding me back from
whatever my goal is?
You know, is do you have a goaltime that seems like crazy out
of reach?
Maybe what's holding you back isyour higher end speed.
(11:03):
And so many people, and this is.
My cross country bias that theyuse summer as a chance to go
longer and slower, but that'snot necessarily what is NN.
Going to be the best thing foryou, depending on what your goal
is, maybe summer is anopportunity to go faster.
Maybe what's been holding youback is every time you start
ramping up mileage for a race,you get hurt.
(11:25):
So instead of worrying aboutramping up mileage, use summer
to ramp up your strength.
So that when it comes time tostart ramping up mileage, you
have this huge foundation ofstrength and your body can
physically handle the load.
When you push all of this stuffoff and you kind of do some
training over the summer, butwithout like a key focus to it,
you get into your later falltraining, race training cycle,
(11:47):
and you're trying to do too manythings simultaneously.
That's, that's the issue islike, well, I need to build up
my mileage and I should probablyget some work on strength and,
well, I don't wanna lose any ofthis.
Speed.
Now you're doing all the thingssimultaneously, which means
you're not really doing any ofthem super well, and it's just
too much strain on the body.
Speaker (12:04):
Yeah, and that's one of the reasons that so many runners
get injured because they'retrying to do too many things all
at once, and especially over 40,especially as a woman over 40,
as are hormones start to change,you're probably noticing that it
takes a little bit longer foryour body to recover.
In between, especially thoseharder sessions, it takes a
(12:25):
little bit longer for your bodyto adapt to training.
So by giving yourself a longerrunway and giving yourself a
different focus for the cycle,the couple of months leading up
into your race training cycle inthe fall, that's going to allow
your body to make more gradualprogress with less risk for
(12:45):
injury because you're not tryingto ramp up mileage and speed and
strength all at the same timebecause there is this.
Thing that happens to us, likeit takes longer for our bodies
to adapt, and there is a termcalled adaptation lag.
The body just needs a little bitmore time to respond to training
stimuli in midlife and beyond,and that's why it's so important
(13:07):
for us to start building now sothat you can maintain and then
sharpen later, not just toscramble to build.
Fitness during those peak weeksof your race training?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Right.
I mean, sometimes this may haveworked when, when we were all a
little bit younger.
I knew that it didn't take methat long to be able to add in a
a few extra hard stride sessionsand I could get my speed back to
a pretty decent level.
It takes some time now.
Mm-hmm.
Like that first time that Ireally pushed myself on strides
after I haven't done them in awhile.
Is like, okay, I feel like I'mgoing really hard, but my pace
(13:42):
is just not there because I'mjust, it takes a while to get
that coordination going again,to get the muscles all firing in
unison so that I feel, I feelpowerful, that's fine, but I
actually am using the powerinside of my muscles to propel
myself forward at a good speed.
It's just not as, as smooth andas quick of an uptake in my body
(14:02):
as it it used to be.
I need more sessions.
Speaker (14:05):
Yeah, and I think that a lot of people can relate to
that.
And I think that it's importantfor us to talk about that
because it's a very real thing.
And there's a lot of people,especially women, that are
starting to go through the, thehormonal changes that think that
it's just them.
And there's something wrong hereand I don't understand what's
going wrong.
And I think it's, again, I'mgonna keep repeating this on so
(14:25):
many of our podcasts.
There's nothing wrong with you.
Your body is just changing, andso your training has to change
also.
So when we look at what to focuson in June and July, there are
multiple options.
And like Kevin said, the classiclonger, slower distance running
base building types of trainingtend to be popular over the
(14:47):
summer.
And if that works for you,great.
I personally like to focus onstrength and I think that.
Addressing weaknesses now andbuilding up your strength
training in the summertime is afantastic use of your time for a
lot of different reasons.
Number one, it's hot outside andso the, your strength training
(15:07):
most likely is going to be doneindoors, whether you work out at
home or in a gym.
It's more indoors, so you arenot exposed to all of the heat
and the thunderstorms.
I know that down here in SouthFlorida, they, our summer
thunderstorms have alreadystarted.
The afternoon thunderstorms arehere and they, the one today was
(15:30):
quite windy and everything I wasin, in my doctor's office when
that started and I was justsitting there and all of the
blinds were closed and then allof a sudden I heard this noise
and I thought to myself, isthat.
Outside, like, what ishappening?
And so I got up and like peekedout the window and I could not
believe the storm that washappening outside with that
wind.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah.
I forget if it was Friday orSaturday, but that one was even
windier and, but they're,they're so quick.
Mm-hmm.
It's like this massive gusts ofwinds for about like three
minutes.
Then the downpour hits and thenit's like, all right, now I'm
just gonna kind of sprinkle anddrizzle through the rest of the
afternoon.
Oh
Speaker (16:02):
yeah.
And it was so dark outside too,so it did get
Speaker 2 (16:04):
really dark.
Speaker (16:05):
So there are.
Weather issues that you have tothink about.
And you know, regardless ofwhere you are in the world,
there's heat, there'sthunderstorms, there's something
going on.
If you're in the southernhemisphere, maybe you're in the
middle of winter.
Yeah.
Here
Speaker 2 (16:18):
comes the snow,
Speaker (16:19):
right?
And we've got all of ourAustralians shout out to our,
our Aussies.
Uh, but that is one reason Ithink it's very good idea to
focus on strength building inthe summertime is just because
then you're out of the heat andyou can be.
Indoors.
Um, it's also the perfect timeto work on your strength
imbalances.
One of the biggest reasons thatrunners get injured is because
(16:40):
they have weaknesses and theyhave imbalance between either.
There're, um, different parts ofone side of the body or between
the two sides, between the leftside and the right side.
There is an imbalance instrength as well.
So summer's a great time for youto find those imbalances and
then start working on them tobuild that strength up in those
(17:00):
areas so that you can thenprevent injury as you start to
ramp up your speed or yourmileage in your fall race cycle.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Yeah.
I mean, another idea that youcould focus on over the summer
is your running form, yourcadence.
These are not necessarily the,the sexiest things to do, and
they are lower priorities whenyou have a, a race impending.
Mm-hmm.
Like if you've got a couple ofmonths before your race, that's
not the time to be like, whydon't I overhaul my running
form?
Like that is the, that is waytoo low on the importance meter.
(17:30):
But over the summer is anexcellent chance to be like,
Hey.
Why don't I just take out myphone and do just like a, a
quick shot of me running towardsthe camera.
I'll run sideways next to thecamera, and you can go back and
look at it and be like, wait, amI moving in in a nice fluid
manner?
Sometimes just filming yourselfactually points out some muscle
imbalances because one armswings differently than the
(17:51):
other.
One leg swings differently thanthe other, and that that's a
good chance that you've got somemuscle imbalance or some
tightness on one side that youdon't necessarily have on the
other side.
I, I know I was superimbalanced.
I also had a hernia, but I thinkthat that hernia was messing
with, uh, all sorts of balances.
Speaker (18:08):
Everything.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
It was messing with everything.
But then to try and strengthenand pretend that I didn't have a
hernia and I could just keeprunning, I could strengthen one
side more than the other.
And so my arms pumpedasymmetrically then.
Mm-hmm.
So that was fun.
Speaker (18:20):
So fun, so fun.
I'm so glad we're over that humpin, in your training.
Um, another thing you could workon during the summer months as
well is some mental training.
And I think that.
People often think that mentaltraining comes when I'm pushing
myself hard.
That's when I have to then pushthrough and find those mental
(18:42):
tips or hacks or things thatwill help me get through those
harder workouts.
But.
You can actually start to buildup your mental skills outside of
racing, outside of racetraining, so that when you get
into your race training cycleand things get hard, now all of
a sudden you have new mentaltechniques to help you get
(19:03):
through those tougher weeks.
Especially those, um, high loadweeks of your training when you
just feel exhausted in all theways you're not gonna wanna
then.
Come up with new mental skillson top of that, like you're
already exhausted.
So learning some mentaltechniques, learning some, um,
how to influence the way thatyou're thinking about your
training and the way that yourbrain is wired.
(19:24):
Now, when you have a little bitof extra rest time and recovery
time and you're not in the peakof training is a great idea
because now we, you start tobuild some of those neural
pathways and neural pathways donot get built quickly.
They are not, if you.
Live in an area where they'reconstantly doing highway
construction and it just seemslike it never ends.
(19:46):
That's kind of what it's like torewire your brain as well.
Your certain thoughts andbeliefs and ways of your
thinking have been programmedfor so many of us for decades
and decades, and so.
Just one race training cycle isnot going to start reprogramming
that.
So by starting now to find someof those thoughts and beliefs
that might be holding you back,start to reprogram and rewire
(20:08):
those pathways.
Now it's going to be much easierfor you to jump on those
pathways when race trainingstarts.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah, and you don't need a race to be able to put
yourself into a position whereyou're going to need some, some
proper thought work to have theconfidence and the consistency.
There are plenty of days overthe summer where you're like,
Ooh, it would be nicer to sleepin.
Or where you're training plangets thrown off because you're
on vacation with a family.
(20:35):
It would be much easier to slideinto a place of, of a lack of
consistency, but being able tosay, no, no, no.
I train with consistency.
I put in this, this type of workallows when it gets difficult.
When you're trying to stack moredifficult workouts in the fall,
you can lean back on what youbuilt over the summer and be
like, look, even when it wastough, I still maintain
(20:56):
consistency.
It's going to be tough thisweek, but I've already shown
that I can maintain theconsistency.
The more often that you showyourself you're capable of doing
something, the easier it's goingto be next time a similar
situation presents itself andmaybe that project at work and
being on vacation are different,but they're both time
constraints.
So they're both like, how do Ifit my, my exercise as a
(21:19):
priority when I have these othertime constraints hanging out
around me?
Speaker (21:24):
Yeah, so I think that, you know, we can really use this
time to build the foundationboth physically and mentally, so
that your race prep is smootherand more powerful.
Yes, we can do strengthexercises, we can address
mobility limitations, and we canalso work on building your
mental strength as well, becausethat's going to set you up
better.
(21:45):
Um, so that's kind of the ideaof cycle stacking and really
looking at some of yourweaknesses.
Now, the other thing we wantedto address would be the power of
having a longer runway andreally giving yourself time
instead of just trying to fitall of your training into a 12
week cycle or a 16 week cycle.
Taking it and extending that,giving yourself a longer runway
(22:07):
with up and down weeks are goingto allow you to adapt.
Um, even better.
So what am I talking about whenI'm, when I say up and down
weeks, there's a lot of peoplethat when they train for a race,
especially a longer race, theyjust add on say, one mile per
week.
Okay, I'm just gonna start off.
My long run is 10 miles and I'mjust gonna add on a mile every
week.
(22:27):
And that would be an example oflinear progression, even though
we already talked about how thebody does not adapt linearly.
That's one of the reasons thatwe.
Pretty much always institute.
I, I think always not, there'snot one plan or client that I
can think of that we don't dothis with.
Um.
We use a non-linear progression.
(22:48):
So for example, two weeks on andone week off, where we are
building for two weeks, whetherthat's your strength, your
mileage, your speed, and then wedo a down week or a pullback
week.
And this gives your body yourboth your nervous system and
your musculoskeletal system,your muscles, your bones, your
tendons, your tissues, all ofthat.
(23:10):
Time to adapt.
It also helps to reduce burnout,your injury risk, and hormonal
dysregulation because if you arejust pushing hard all the time,
and if you are constantly justadding training load to your
body, your hormones are gonnaget dysregulated.
Your.
Risk of injury is higher.
So having these pullback weeksin your training can really
(23:31):
benefit you in so many ways, butyou're gonna need a little bit
of a longer training cycle toreally institute these in the
best way, especially if you'rebuilding up for a longer race.
I think
Speaker 2 (23:42):
that, uh, you did a great job and that's exactly
where I would've started isfocusing on the ability to
recover on this.
But the up down week cycle alsoincludes the ups, and sometimes
you might have a window oftraining that gives you an
opportunity to pulse up higherthan you're used to because you
might also have an opportunityto recover better than you're
(24:04):
used to.
You know, if you are are like,eh, I've got these couple of
weeks over the summer that Icould do something sort of
different and unique with.
Maybe don't push really hard forboth of them.
If you pushed harder than normalfor the first one, but then you
could use the second one torecover.
Like to essentially recoverharder than normal.
(24:26):
Recover softer than normal.
Is that the appropriate way tosay it?
I'm not sure exactly what theterminology there.
But like if I had two weeks thatI could dedicate to like a
training camp setting, yeah.
I would overdo the first weekand then over recover on the
second week.
That seems great.
So if you know you're built up,like, oh, I've got, we've got
this vacation plan, I'm reallynot gonna be able to do much
(24:46):
during that week.
If you have the opportunity toalso go bigger the week before,
that will be a, a wonderful twoweek combination.
Speaker (24:53):
Yeah, and the other thing that it does is it all
also allows you to understandhow to train when your body's
tired.
I think, you know, because ifyou do go harder on the one week
and then you're still trainingthe following week, even if you
pull back a bit, you're stilltraining on tired legs or a
tired body because your body'sstill recovering and adapting
to.
The increased load that youplaced on it the week before?
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Yes.
Yeah.
But I mean, in general, theability to constantly put in
these pullback weeks or put themin as necessary, like you can
schedule it and be like, oh,we're gonna go two up and one
down, or three up and one down,or whatever it is.
But sometimes you just, you canfeel it.
You need a recovery week.
So the longer.
Runway you have, the easier itis to be like, this needs to be
(25:36):
a pullback week and it canstretch the training cycle out a
little bit.
Speaker (25:40):
Yeah, and I think that this is really important to look
at your schedule ahead of timeand your calendar and see okay,
if I'm having, if I have avacation coming up or if I have
something going on where I knowI'm gonna be, you know, it'd be
easier for me to get some morerest.
Or it might be harder for me toget in training.
You can start to plan this outahead of time.
And I actually just had arecovery week last week because
(26:03):
not only was I pushing likeharder, I was increasing, I'm in
a strength building cycle rightnow, so I've been increasing the
weights on my strengthexercises, but I've also been
like.
Here in the business.
'cause the other thing we wantyou to keep in mind is that your
real life matters too.
And so here in the real liferunners business, I had a big
(26:25):
ramp up in the beginning of Maywhere I, I did our five day
challenge, which those of you,you know, welcome.
If you've just found our podcastbecause you found our challenge
and you're new to us, I'm gladthat you guys are here, but
that.
Like running challenge week.
And then we had, um, ourenrollment period where we were
running promotions to get peopleto join the, the real life
(26:46):
runners team and, and talkingabout that a lot.
That takes a lot of.
Power and energy and all sortsof stuff from me.
And so last week it actuallyworked out really well that that
was my down week for my trainingand also the week after all of
our big promotions ended.
So I was really able to give mybody recovery on both fronts,
which was really helpful.
(27:07):
And I could actually just pullback and rest and take a nap and
do things that really allowed mybody and my mind to recover
because.
So a lot of times it's both, weneed both mental and physical
recovery.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Yeah.
I mean, so that's, I think the,the last thing I'd like to point
out on that one is just becauseit's a, a running recovery week
does not necessarily mean youcan then super ramp up
everything else.
Yeah.
Because that's not necessarilygoing to be a recovery week.
Speaker (27:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Alright, so with summer comesHeat, especially like for us
down here in South Florida.
And so it's important for us tounderstand how to train in the
heat and we've done multipleepisodes in the podcast
specifically about training inthe heat and how to allow your
body to adapt better and how to.
Make sure that you're preventingany heat related illnesses so
(27:54):
you can go back, um, we'll tryto link some of those in the
show notes as well.
But you can go back and look inour huge catalog of past podcast
episodes and just search forsummer or heat, and you can get
a lot of really greatinformation.
But heat, the thing that wewanna point out today is that
heat is an extra stress on thebody, so.
Oftentimes that means that yourpace is going to be slower, but
(28:18):
your effort level is still goingto be higher.
And I know that this frustratesa lot of people because they see
their pace slowing down or theyfeel that, you know, when
they're trying to maintain theirquote unquote normal pace, it
feels so much harder and they'reso much more tired and just
feeling more wiped out aftertheir training sessions.
That's because heat is an extrastress on the body, so we have
(28:41):
to be very.
Aware of this and very mindfulof this, when we are going out
to training.
So that means, yes, it's goingto feel harder.
Yes, your pace is going to beslower and that is normal.
Nothing has gone wrong here.
It's totally okay.
You need to know about it andthen figure out how to adapt.
But that doesn't mean that youshould just stop running all
(29:04):
summer long.
Yes.
Can you run on a treadmill?
Absolutely.
If you would like to stayindoors and run on a treadmill,
totally fine.
However, there are some benefitsfor running outside in the heat
as well, and the benefits ofheat adaptation will actually.
Benefit you in your fall racesalso?
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah.
I mean there's massive benefitsof heat adaptation, especially
if you do it safely.
Mm-hmm.
And really hydrate and, and eatwell afterwards.
Like you can't just be like, oh,I'm gonna go out and run in the
heat and get, get all myadaptations.
You can't get the adaptationsunless you do all of the steps.
And training in heat is one ofthe steps.
But then actually putting in.
(29:45):
The, the fluid and the, thenutrients and the calories
afterwards to gain theadaptations is, is key.
Because what will happen isyou're going to increase your,
your plasma volume inside ofyour blood, and then relative to
the amount of liquid that youhave in your blood, you don't
have enough red blood cells andso then your body's like, Ooh,
we need to make more red bloodcells so that you can fill up
(30:07):
the, the plasma level back withthe appropriate red blood cells
and get back to where you werebefore.
The takeaway from that is youend up with more red blood
cells, which means you can carrymore oxygen to all of your
muscles, which means yourmuscles will feel better for
longer at faster efforts.
It's a massive win all over theplace.
F
Speaker (30:23):
during your fall races?
Yes.
Right.
Like that's the thing that'scool is that your blood volume
will carry over.
Yes.
At, at some point when it, it'snot as hot, your blood volume
will decrease and your body willadapt to cooler temperatures as
well.
But this is one of the benefitsof running in the heat, and this
is also a benefit of altitudetrainings.
(30:43):
The same kind of thing happens.
It's a little bit different withthe actual physiological
mechanism in the body.
But the, the point is the sameis that your.
Y uh, your body is better atcarrying oxygen to the working
muscles, and that is a plus whenyou're trying to run farther or
run faster.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
And it, it doesn't take that long to get the
adaptations.
Mm-hmm.
It's why the beginning of summerfeels terrible, but the middle
and late summer do not feel asbad even if the actually gone up
because.
It takes a couple of weeks ofhot runs to be able to be like,
oh, my body has gained someadaptation toward this.
(31:21):
And you just start feelingbetter.
It's the tricky part of beinglike, oh, I'm going to do most
of my runs, and it's, it's arecommendation that we have.
I'm gonna do basically all of myruns in the morning in the
shadiest routes that I can, I'mgonna do some treadmill running.
If you do that, that's fine, butthen every time you head out,
you will not have gained theheat adaptations.
(31:42):
If you do a couple of runs ofduring the week in the actual
heat of outdoors, and I'm notsaying go out at two in the
afternoon where it's like themost oppressive heat, that's a
bad choice.
You do it.
I know I do, but that's not myrecommendation for our whole
podcast audience.
It's a bad I agree.
It's a bad blanketrecommendation, but
Speaker (32:02):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
But man, do you get some good heat adaptations to
it?
Speaker (32:05):
Well, and if you're someone like Kevin that is doing
100 mile races where you do haveto run at 2:00 PM in the
afternoon, it is a good ideabecause you are.
Forcing your body to adapt tothose conditions.
So if you're just doing all ofyour training at 5:00 AM when
it's dark outside and there's nosun, and then you wanna go out
(32:26):
and run a half a day or a fullday race, your body doesn't know
what to do with itself.
So this is, again, one of thoseplugs for make sure that you're
training for your goal, not justtraining for someone else's goal
training in the way thatsomebody else is training.
Your training needs to bespecific to your goal.
So Kevin knows.
For his 100 mile races.
(32:47):
Those are his last one.
Took him 18 hours.
He started at 6:00 AM I think,and you finished like 1:00 AM I
think whatever, 18 hours issomething like that.
I think he finished around alittle after 1:00 AM but he had
to run all day long at 10:00 AMat 12:00 PM At 2:00 PM At 4:00
PM he was running and so.
When he goes out in the middleof the day, yes, it seems kind
(33:09):
of crazy.
But he's adapting.
He's training in a way so thathis body can adapt to the way
that he wants it to be able toperform in whatever race he's
currently training for.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
But when you do that and you, you make the choice to
be like, all right, I'm gonna goout in the middle of the day and
it's gonna be a bajilliondegrees.
Then you make sure that you verymuch lock in and it is a, a
tricky mental training.
Yeah.
But you have to lock into your,your rating of perceived
exertion way more than whateverpace you're doing.
Yes.
Like if you were training in thewinter and you head out in like
(33:42):
six layers of clothes, you gotlike the tights and then the,
the.
Like tights over the top of thatand a big puffy coat, you would
not expect to be running thesame pace because you're wearing
all of the clothes.
If you're running in the middleof the summer, it's like you're
strapping all of these clothesonto yourself because that's how
hot it is.
Like you're just not gonna bemoving as well.
(34:02):
You might have to take walkingbreaks.
You're gonna really need to haveto.
Focus on fueling and hydratingduring the run because you're
losing so much.
Your electrolytes are super key.
You pointed out, we've got somegreat episodes on this.
You really have to focus onthis, but don't worry about your
pace.
Yeah.
Especially on runs where you'relike, this is gonna be a run
where I focus on heatadaptation.
(34:23):
Mm-hmm.
That means that you just have tobe out there and get some
exposure to it.
It can be nice and slow.
You can take the walking breaks.
Walking breaks, doesn't stop thesun from beating down on top of
you.
You're still getting plenty ofheat exposure.
Speaker (34:34):
Yeah, and I think that it's important for us to
remember that summer training isnot about performance because
you are not racing, most of youare not racing in the heat of
the summer.
You're training for a race inthe fall.
At least that's what we'retalking about in this episode.
So summer running is not aboutperformance, it's about
adaptation.
(34:54):
And when you can reframe that inyour mind, the.
Goes along with what I wastalking about before with mental
training and starting to rewirethen your pace.
Doesn't have as much of ameaning and you stop making your
pace mean something about you,about your ability, about your
progress because you realize,wait, I'm just out here to allow
(35:18):
my body to adapt.
It doesn't have to be about thepace and the time and all of
that stuff.
I'm just out here to allow mybody to gain the benefits of
heat adaptation.
And so that makes seeing those.
Slower paces on your watch.
I think it makes it mentallyeasier when you understand.
Yeah, it's not about the.
The time on my watch, it's justabout me being out here.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
Yeah, no, the only time you need to keep track of
the time on your watch is tomake sure that you're hydrating
enough, like, oh, haven't takena drink in five minutes.
I should do that again.
Like that's a good reason tokeep, keep an eye on the watch.
Speaker (35:50):
Absolutely.
So the next thing.
And possible obstacle that youmight encounter during the
summer months are summerschedules, vacations, this
difference in your flexibility.
So between vacations and kids'activities and shifting
routines, oftentimes there's alot of runners that realize that
training during the summer isnot going to be perfect, and
(36:13):
that's okay, and this is why.
Again, looking at those mentalshifts that we wanna make,
instead of focusing onperfection and making sure that
you're just checking everysingle box on your training
plan, it's more important tofocus on consistency.
And that might mean that youhave to redefine what
consistency is because somepeople think consistency means I
(36:36):
do all of the workouts on mytraining plan.
And while that is one definitionof consistency.
There are many definitions ofconsistency, so you might need
to redefine what consistencylooks like during this season,
during this cycle, and that's areally cool opportunity as well
for you to decide.
(36:58):
Uh, very consciously what youwant things to mean.
You know, like, this is kind ofgoing back to this idea of like
thoughts versus truths versusbeliefs.
A lot of people think that if Imiss a session, that means I'm
not consistent and that.
Is not a truth.
That is a thought.
If you redefine what consistencymeans to you over the summer and
(37:19):
say, as long as I get in threesessions this week, then that
will be consistent.
Or if I making sure that I getin at least two runs and two
strength workouts, that's gonnabe my definition of consistency.
And you're.
Definition of consistency isalso allowed to change week to
week, whether or not you're athome or on a cruise ship in the
(37:41):
middle of the ocean somewhere.
Right?
Like these things can adjust andcan change to take real life
into consideration.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Yeah.
Speaker (37:47):
I
Speaker 2 (37:47):
think, you know, one of the things we, we talked
about is.
Uh, having a goal for what thisparticular part of your training
plan looks like.
If your, if your training planis focused on increasing
endurance, then consistency isabout being able to ramp your
mileage up from one week to thenext.
If you're really focused onstrength, consistency means
hitting your strength routinesduring the week.
(38:09):
And if that means that, oh, Imissed a run, that's not a ding
on your consistency.
Yes.
If you're consistently missingyour strength workouts.
During a time where you're like,I'm really gonna focus on
strength, that's a lack ofconsistency.
But if, if you're able to alwaysget the strength and you miss a
couple of other things becauseyou've got other priorities,
(38:29):
because it didn't fit yourschedule, because things are
coming up, know what it is.
That's most important to beconsistent with over the summer.
Know your priority for yourparticular goal.
Speaker (38:40):
Yes, and that's also the benefit of cycle stacking,
like we talked about, is knowingthe goal of your current cycle
and then also making sure youkind of hit some of the
minimums.
With the race the next cycle inmind, right?
Like yes, I agree that when youare in a strength cycle, it is
most important for you to getthose strength workouts in.
(39:01):
However, if you have a marathoncoming up in the fall, you can't
just not run.
It's important for you to makesure that you're still getting
in the minimums so that you'llbe best set up for the next
cycle as well.
That's why each cycle is not.
Its own little island.
Each cycle connects to the cyclebefore and after it.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
I was just thinking of all the islands on that like
inside out movie, now they'reall connected to her hub in the
middle.
Yeah,
Speaker (39:27):
that's true.
I love that movie.
That's such a good one.
I
Speaker 2 (39:29):
know
Speaker (39:30):
the summer scheduling can also be a good opportunity
for creativity in your trainingas well.
Like, okay, what do you got?
Well, because if you'retraveling, you're, you might not
have access to the sameequipment or.
You know, trails or routes thatyou normally have,
Speaker 2 (39:47):
but you might have new trails and routes.
Mm-hmm.
That's always God, always
Speaker (39:51):
fun.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Always fun to find new trails, new routes around
the city.
Not necessarily my favoriteexperience.
You love it?
Speaker (39:57):
I do.
I love exploring new places onfoot and really trying to just
see different things.
I think it's so fun.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
I love new trails that I've ever been on.
I think that is super exciting.
Mm-hmm.
But, and, and you love exploringnew cities and stuff.
Trying to figure out how to makestrength training work in new
environments also can involvesome creativity.
Speaker (40:15):
Yeah.
Because maybe you're staying ina hotel and they've got a nice
weight room and you can go aheadand get your strength workout
in, and maybe you're not, maybeyou're staying in an Airbnb and
there's no.
Equipment whatsoever.
So now you get to experimentmore with body weight training
so that you're just gettingsomething in and maximizing the
time that you have.
You know, maybe you just get ina 20 minute strength workout
(40:37):
because you've got a really busyday with the family, and maybe
you're going out for hikes oryou're going kayaking or doing
other things.
That's also.
Physical activity that you cancount as part of your training.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Yeah.
Maybe you're going kayaking.
That is a whole upper bodyworkout that I am not used to.
Yeah, you love to take uskayaking and suddenly my abs are
sore for like four days afterthat.
I'm like, that is a whole upperbody workout that I was not
quite fully prepared for.
Speaker (41:04):
Yeah, so I think it's important for us to remember
that flexibility is not failure.
It's just part of the plan.
It's part of this season, it'spart of this cycle, and when you
can see it like that, then youcan stop beating yourself up for
missing out on a couple ofthings because you're, instead
of.
Seeing and only focusing on, oh,I missed my training.
(41:24):
You can redirect yourself andsay, yes, maybe I didn't get my
exercise in, but now I'mfocusing on getting more time in
with my family, and that'simportant to me.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Yes, and that's, that's the other thing is.
If you missed a strengthsession, what you're doing later
with your family does not haveto become part of your strength
session.
It can just become time with thefamily.
Speaker (41:43):
Or maybe you just do a whole hit session with the
family and make everybody workout.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
That seems like a great option.
Speaker (41:49):
I've done that before.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Yes, yes.
When they were
Speaker (41:51):
younger, they would definitely not do it now.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
No, definitely not now.
But I was thinking like the lasttime we went kayaking.
Mm-hmm.
I was like, this could be astrength workout.
Or I could just go kayaking withmy daughter, and that could be
fun also.
Speaker (42:03):
Yeah, that's true.
And that's, that's the thing.
Is it because you have adifferent focus to it then?
Yes.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
Like it doesn't.
If it has to also be yourstrength cycle mm-hmm.
It might take away of what itwas supposed to be.
Yeah.
Which was time with your family.
Mm-hmm.
Know what your activities are.
Sometimes it's great and youcan, you can multitask the
things and sometimes that'sgonna lose the benefit of both
sides.
Speaker (42:23):
Yeah, exactly.
And that's why it's so importantfor you to know your priorities
and then make your choices veryconsciously.
So as a little recap.
Your strategy for fall success.
Number one, stack your cycles.
So have a point to your summertraining.
Don't just say, oh, I'm justgonna get in some things where I
(42:45):
can, unless you don't reallycare about your results in the
fall, if you don't care aboutyour results in the fall.
That's totally fine.
Maybe the TI summer is a goodtime for you to just take off
and give yourself both a mentaland a physical break.
We didn't even talk about that,like that's actually a really
good idea.
Also, if you don't have a racein the fall or if you don't have
some sort of performance goalcoming up later this year.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
Yeah.
I mean, just because you have arace in the fall doesn't mean it
has to be the best race you'veever done.
Right.
Like you might have a race andyou're not.
That's why I
Speaker (43:14):
said performance goal.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
It doesn't have to be chasing a pr.
Yeah.
It's just a race that you'regonna participate in.
Mm-hmm.
Then yeah, summer is a greattime to stay
Speaker (43:21):
fit,
Speaker 2 (43:21):
but take all of the pressure off of it.
Speaker (43:23):
Yeah.
Which is great, but then again,know that and then choose that
consciously so that you can takethe guilt away.
I think that a lot of timespeople kind of have that in
their head, like, oh, I'll justget in what they, what I can,
but then you feel guilty becauseyou're missing training or
because you feel like you're notgetting quote unquote enough in.
So having a definition for whatenough is, having a definition
(43:44):
for consistency during thesummer, I think are going to be
really helpful knowing the pointof the current cycle that you're
in.
All of those things are going tobe really helpful.
Hi.
I highly suggest taking thesummer to address any of your
weak links.
So if you've got, if youhaven't.
Been consistent with strengthtraining or with mobility
training, now is a really goodtime to focus in on that, to
(44:08):
build up your muscle strength,to work on how your body is
moving, the fluidity of yourmovement, any tight spots, any
weak spots.
Now is a great time to addressthose things while you kind of
maintain a base of mileage sothat you can ramp up in the
fall.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Right and embrace the variability of what summer and
different plans and differentschedules can provide for you.
Embrace the opportunity to trainand heat and get those
adaptations that you might notget at other times during the
year because those adaptationscan pay off in the fall, and
there are ways to hang ontothose adaptations through the
fall.
Even if you have a late fallrace, early winter race, you can
still hold onto those heatadaptations.
Speaker (44:45):
Absolutely.
So ask yourself, you know what?
Is one thing that you can committo this week or in the next
couple weeks, or in the month ofJune, that is going to help set
you up for success in the fall.
It is a good idea to stay onsome sort of a training plan or
a training schedule,understanding that that might
need some flexibility.
(45:05):
So if you want some help, if youwant coaching, if you want a
training plan that is flexible,that does fit your train, your
life and your training, comecheck out the Real Life Runners
team.
All of our plans are customizedfor you.
We believe in a personalizedexperience here inside the Real
Life runners team.
The team is really a hybrid ofgroup coaching and having an
(45:29):
amazing community with groupcoaching calls and all sorts of
good stuff, and a personalizedplan that is.
Where you are in your trainingright now with the goals that
you have, with the goals thatyou have coming up later in the
year, we would love to help youand to coach you through it.
So check out all of ourresources
over@realliferunners.com slashteam.
Uh, we also have some amazingguest speakers this summer as
(45:52):
well.
That's.
All part of our team membership.
We've got our gut health expert,Nikki Deza.
Um, Dr.
Nikki was on the podcast lastweek talking about gut health,
and she's gonna be coming intoour team to, um, do a member
workshop with us next week.
So if you're on our email list,keep an eye out to to your
email.
I've got a special invitationfor you, even if you're not part
(46:13):
of the team.
I wanna invite you to come joinus for this workshop because
it's going to be a great one.
And she's gonna be talking allabout gut health for runners.
And why your gut is soimportant, not only for your
performance, but also for howyou feel in the rest of your
life.
So, um, come check it out, youknow, become a part of the team
and you get access to all ofthose resources.
So, um, you have anything elsethat you wanna add?
Speaker 2 (46:36):
You are beautiful.
Speaker (46:37):
Aw, you're the sweetest.
Alright guys, thanks so much forjoining us.
This has been The Real LifeRunners podcast, episode number
412.
Now, get out there and run yourlife.
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