December 4, 2025 • 45 mins
December has a way of shining a spotlight on our default habits. With holiday schedules, travel, celebrations, and a million extra to-dos, it’s easy to feel like your running routine gets thrown off track. But here’s what you might not realize: December doesn’t break your consistency— it simply reveals the defaults you fall back on when life gets full.
In this episode, we talk about how to shift those defaults so you can stay connected to your identity as a runner, even in the busiest season of the year.
You’ll hear us dive into:
- Consistency over performance — December isn’t about PRs; it’s about showing up in small, doable ways.
- Minimum viable dose training — How to keep your body and nervous system supported with simple, intentional movement.
- Adopting new, supportive habits — So you don’t feel like you’re “starting over” in January.
- Simplifying your routine — Letting go of perfection and choosing what matters most.
- Small wins to build momentum — Because they count (and add up).
- Guidance for January racers — How to stay focused without overwhelming yourself.
This is your reminder to give yourself grace, move with intention, and stay rooted in the identity of “I’m a runner,” even when the month gets busy.
Tune in and let’s make December work for you, not against you.
01:18 The Challenge of December for Runners
02:59 Maintaining Consistency Amidst Chaos
03:41 Reframing December: Protecting Momentum
06:07 The Impact of Stress and Routine Disruption
12:08 Overcoming All or Nothing Thinking
15:46 Shifting Focus: From Performance to Consistency
17:44 Minimum Viable Dose Training
21:01 The Intentional Mile Challenge
22:11 The Benefits of Outdoor Exercise
23:12 Maintaining Routine and Identity
24:11 Always Something: Alternatives to Running
25:47 Consistency and Its Long-Term Benefits
29:02 Training Through December: Practical Tips
33:52 Preparing for a Race in December
39:27 Setting Intentions and Practical Takeaways
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:00):
December is upon us.
And for so many people thatmeans a lot of extra things on
your plate.
And so many years we hear.
People say the same thing, I'llget back on track in January,
and they just blow off December.
But here's the truth, Decemberdoes not break your training.
It reveals your defaults.
(00:22):
So today we're gonna talk abouthow to change those defaults so
that you can stay consistent inDecember, so that instead of
starting the new year off,feeling like you're already
behind, you feel like you are incontrol.
So stay tuned.
(00:57):
welcome back to the showrunners.
Happy December.
Happy December.
I know I, I see, feel like I saythis all the time, but I can't
believe it's December.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
You do say that you've been saying that since
the start of November.
Speaker (01:08):
It's okay.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yep.
Speaker (01:09):
I'm still gonna, because it's still I feel like
this year has gone quickly, butalso not in some way just
because this year has been socrazy, but I just feel like time
is flying by and I think itdoes.
It is true what people say aboutwhen you have kids, how time
tends to feel like it's speedingup.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
The days are long, the years go fast.
Speaker (01:30):
Yeah, that's a great one for sure.
but especially when they getolder and they're teenagers and
it's life is just looks a lotdifferent, but anywho.
Today we're talking aboutDecember, and we are talking
about how to stay consistent inDecember because this is a
struggle that we know so manypeople have because December is
often filled with a lot ofdifferent things.
(01:53):
It tends to disrupt our normalroutine.
We have holidays, school events,weather, travel, all sorts of
things going on, and so a lot oftimes.
We hear runners talk about howDecember is a losing battle for
consistency, but we are heretoday to tell you that it
doesn't have to be.
If that's what works for you inyour life, then fine.
(02:13):
Don't beat yourself up for it.
Give yourself some grace andjust accept it.
But if you are someone thatwants to do something about it
and you want to improve yourconsistency.
In the month of December.
That is what we are here todayto help you do.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
All right.
Consistency for December.
I like it.
it's an interesting take'causewe've had so many people that
have told us that it's verydifficult.
You point out a lot of thechallenges to this, when I
started running December was thetime between seasons, like the
state meet was always inCalifornia.
The state meet was the Saturdayafter Thanksgiving.
And then.
(02:46):
Track would essentiallyunofficially start as soon as we
got back from Christmas break?
I don't know.
I have no idea because I was inhigh school at the time, so I
don't know when it officiallybegan, but as soon as we got
back from Christmas break, wewere off and going and we would
regularly get together and startup essentially.
So December was this weird,unstructured time for me.
So it still, it had this weirdit was the un uncertainty of it.
(03:09):
And I think a lot of people,because there's changes in
schedule, also hit December andthey're not quite sure what to
do with it, and it can lead toa, just a lack of anything
happening.
So that's what we've got going.
Speaker (03:19):
Yeah, and I think a lot of real life runners look at
this as not just this lack ofstructure and consistency, but
also that their routine iscompletely up in the air because
their schedule and their day today, their week to week looks so
much different than it normallydoes because of all the
additional things that Decemberbrings.
A lot of times when thathappens, we oftentimes,
(03:41):
especially we runners, tend tobe creatures of habit.
We like to do the same types ofthings on the same days.
And when that gets disrupted, itthrows a lot of people off
completely.
And so we are gonna be talkingabout that today and kind of
this whole all or nothingmindset that a lot of people
have and how we can counteractthat.
But I wanna start by justReframing the month of December.
(04:02):
So unless you are someone thathas a race in January or
February, which we're gonna betalking about later in the
episode, if you are someone witha race on the calendar, December
does have to actually be atraining month for you, and
that's part of the decision andthe commitment that you made
when you signed up for a race inJanuary or February, that
required some training inDecember.
(04:23):
But for those of you without.
A race at the beginning of theyear.
I want you to start to think ofDecember.
Maybe not as the month to makehuge gains, but as the month to
protect your momentum.
So you've been trainingconsistently throughout the
year.
maybe you haven't been, butDecember.
So regardless of.
If you feel like you've beenconsistent up until this point
(04:45):
or not, December can either be atime to get that ball rolling
and start some momentum for youwith very small intentional
practices or the time that youare actually protecting that
momentum.
So it's not necessarily abouttrying to overcome these huge
hurdles and jump into something.
Big and new, but it's takingwhat you've got and figuring
(05:05):
out, okay, what can I do topreserve and maintain this so
that again, when I'm startingthe new year, I don't feel like
I'm in a deficit.
And that's when those smallintentional practices become
even more powerful now than anyother time of year.
So those habits that maybeyou've been working on at
different times of the year,this is not the time to just let
(05:25):
them go completely out thewindow.
At the same time, maybe you'renot as strict with them as you
have been in other times of theyear, and that's totally okay.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
that's why it's nice to have a little extra grace
during this time, but a lot ofpeople.
Tend to take that, I'm gonnagive myself some grace for
December and they givethemselves off for December.
And that's not what this is.
Like you said, it's the habitsthat you've established over the
course of the year, the smallversion of them.
This doesn't mean that you'reramping training up during
December.
This means that you arecontinuing to do something so
(05:58):
that when January hits, you'renot starting from scratch.
You're not like, alright, theball has completely stopped
moving and I gotta give it thatinitial.
Oomph to get going.
It's nice to hit the new yearand have the ball already
moving, even if it's not movingfast.
Like even if maybe things wererolling really good through the
fall, you just want them tocontinue moving somewhat so that
when it hits January, things aregoing really well.
Speaker (06:20):
So going back to the concept of inertia, you want to
keep that ball in motionbecause.
December is tough for a lot ofdifferent reasons.
Number one, there is a muchhigher physiological stress load
in December, both physiologicaland emotional and mental stress
load in December.
So we have essentially a higherbaseline level of stress.
(06:42):
There's so many things on ourplate.
We've got more things to do.
We've got Christmas shows, wehave baking cookies, we have,
doing the Christmas shopping andthe Christmas cards and all
these things that we do.
That we don't do in normal timesof the year and other times of
the year.
So your full plate just startedgetting piled on top of, and
this leads to that higherbaseline of stress, which leads
(07:03):
your nervous system to move moreinto sympathetic nervous system
dominance.
So we've talked in the pastabout the difference between the
sympathetic nervous system andthe parasympathetics.
Your sympathetic is your stressmode.
Parasympathetic is rest andrecovery mode.
So if you're starting with thishigher baseline of stress,
because.
Stress is stress and all thestress, no matter if it's
(07:23):
physical, stress, emotional,psychological, financial, all
the different areas that wherewe can experience stress in our
life, it all goes into the samebucket.
So we still have.
This one bucket and now we'readding more things to it.
Add on things like poor sleepbecause of travel, or late
nights or screen time.
(07:43):
last night I was up until prettymuch midnight, almost midnight.
I think we got into.
Bed like right before midnightbecause I was trying to secure
some of those last minute CyberMonday deals, doing some online
shopping.
And I had to wake up at 5:00 AMthis morning to go meet with my
running group.
'cause Tuesdays are my earlymorning runs, I guess I should
(08:04):
say.
I.
I shouldn't say I had to, I wasjust
Speaker 2 (08:06):
about to correct you on that.
Speaker (08:07):
but that was my plan.
My plan was to wake up at 5 0 5and go run at five 30, because
that's what I do every Tuesday.
And that's a commitment thatI've made, and that's one of the
ones that I want to commit to,especially if I tell people I'm
gonna be there.
That's an important thing for mewith my integrity.
Add on poor sleep, right?
Add on some of these nutritionalshifts that we've got going on.
A lot of times during theholidays, we don't always eat
(08:29):
the same way that we eat therest of the year because there's
more indulgence.
Bring in those Christmascookies, right?
When we have Christmas cookiesin the house.
I'm eating way more cookies thanI normally eat because I love
cookies.
And cookies are delicious.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
as a teacher, there are treats in the teacher's
lounge throughout the month ofDecember because there are
always parents that are like,oh, this is gonna be something
nice for the teachers.
So I can go to the teacher'slounge on most days, and there's
a platter of something or ofsome sort of baked goods.
And depending on what mytraining is, that may actually
be beneficial for me, but it'snot beneficial for everybody.
Speaker (09:01):
and'cause the shifts in these nutritions can lead to
less stable energy levels.
There's nothing wrong withcookies, there's nothing wrong
with pies and desserts and someof these more indulgent types of
foods that we eat.
But what those things can do isthose things can spike your
blood sugar, and when your bloodsugar is being constantly spike
throughout the day, that'sleading to less stable energy
(09:23):
levels.
You get the spike and then youget the dip, and so you're.
Sugar levels and your cortisollevels and all the hormones in
your body, they're just notregulated the same way that they
are at other times of the year.
Add on again, the emotionalload, because a lot of times the
holidays trigger old patterns.
They trigger expectations.
They bring family that you'regoing to see maybe that you
(09:44):
haven't seen all year long, andyou know that Uncle Rick is
going to bring up some storyfrom when you were 10 years old
and you just don't wanna dealwith that, right?
There's a lot of these.
Emotional triggers that we haveto deal with.
Maybe you're someone that haslost someone this year and you
know that this is gonna be thefirst holiday without that
person or that in your life.
(10:05):
That's a lot, So there's a,this.
All of these areas of stressthat are affecting you.
And so when you have all thesedifferent things going on, your
perceived effort goes up andoftentimes your motivation goes
down and that leads to trainingfeeling a lot harder than it
should.
It makes your trainingoftentimes feel like it's just
(10:26):
one more thing you have to do,just one more thing on your
plate.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I think, I know you were just picking random names
out there, but I'm pretty surethat I actually spent my.
10th birthday at my Uncle Rick'shouse.
Speaker (10:38):
Oh, that's fun.
Yeah, I realized that after Isaid it, like I was just trying
to pick a random name and I waslike, oh, shoot, that's actually
Kevin's uncle.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah.
I think that was actually theyear that I slept over at my
cousin's and we stayed up tomidnight to watch the clock
click over Uhhuh so that Iturned from nine to 10.
Speaker (10:52):
Oh, that's cute.
Yeah,
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I know.
Speaker (10:53):
But that was in July.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was not a December thing.
No,
Speaker (10:57):
not a holiday
Speaker 2 (10:57):
thing.
no.
Not a holiday thing.
But, one more thing on that,like why is December so tricky?
the time shifted on us.
So if you train in theafternoon, that was the
Speaker (11:05):
beginning of November.
I
Speaker 2 (11:05):
know, but it's getting worse.
Yeah.
As we approach That's true.
Speaker (11:08):
It is getting darker.
It is
Speaker 2 (11:09):
getting darker earlier and earlier.
Yeah.
Like at the.
In November, I could still runin the evening, like we could
have practice and I could thenrun at the end of it.
That would never happen rightnow, thankfully, the cross
country season's done because ifwe're not done running around
here around five, it's startingto get dark, like car headlights
are going on.
The sun sets around 5 25 15 now,but it's getting earlier and
(11:32):
earlier.
Depending on what your job is,that might make training in the
evening.
Now training in the dark.
And that could cause problemsfor a lot of schedules,
Speaker (11:40):
right?
Especially if you're in an areawhere there's now snow and cold
and ice, and then you add darkon top of that.
Those are some more hurdles thatyou have to get over in order to
be consistent with yourtraining.
So all of that to say, wehopefully this.
Just us talking about it didn'tadd more stress onto you, but
it's just to acknowledge thatthere are real things that are
happening in your life in thismonth that's not just in your
(12:03):
head.
It's not like you're just, youjust feel like it's too much.
there's a lot of differentchanges that are going on that
makes what you're feeling andthis increased stress load a
very real thing.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah, don't worry.
The rest of the podcast is gonnahelp you.
You've got this.
You are amazing.
Here it comes.
Here we go.
Speaker (12:18):
Here we go.
one of the traps that I think alot of people fall into, and I
think that this almost becomes alittle worse for some people
when they get into midlifebecause.
Runners and midlife seem to beespecially vulnerable to the all
or nothing thinking trap of if Ican't do it right, I won't do it
at all.
Or if I can't hit my workoutjust the way that it's listed
(12:40):
here, I'm not going to doanything because it's not worth
it or it's not.
The way that I'm, I should bedoing it or it's not going to be
good enough.
We have all these judgementsthat we place on things, and
this leads to a lot of missedsessions, which then fuels the
guilt, which then fuelsinconsistency.
So it becomes this viciouscircle because you don't have
(13:02):
maybe the amount of time thatyou want for your training
sessions.
So you like, I don't really havethe 45 minutes that I need, oh,
I guess I'm just not going totrain today.
And that's going to lead you tofeeling bad that you missed your
session.
You're gonna feel guilty, andthen that's just going to
continue to fuel moreinconsistency.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
And when you do then get back and you do actually
have that time, that 45 minutesession is not gonna go the way
that you hoped it did becauseyou've missed the last couple
ones.
Instead of doing part of the setsession, instead of getting the
general idea of the, what thattraining point was supposed to
be for the day and just doing itin a smaller, reduced version
that fit into the time you had,you went with nothing.
(13:38):
And so January comes along andyou're trying to hit these
workouts, and now you'redisappointed that you're not
hitting the same times you werehitting November because you
have a hole in your trainingcalled December.
Speaker (13:48):
Yeah.
And so oftentimes like this, allor nothing thinking that we end
up.
clinging to that.
We use that because routine isvery good for us for a lot of
different reasons, but a lot ofus use routine to help us
regulate our emotions, and whenour routine breaks, your brain
can interpret that as I'mfailing or I'm losing fitness,
(14:11):
even when that's not true.
One session, if you miss onesession, you're not losing any
fitness whatsoever.
Even if you miss two sessions,you're still not losing fitness.
It's when.
Those sessions become, again,like that cycle I just talked
about, you miss the session,you're guilt you, you feel
guilty about it, and then thatjust continues to fuel
inconsistency and you tend todrop back into that all or
(14:32):
nothing thinking.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah.
The all or nothing often leadsto the nothing like that's the
problem with all or nothing isit usually is simply nothing
thinking.
Speaker (14:40):
Yeah.
It's also like the f it effect.
Yeah, that's a good one too.
And I'm gonna be.
G rated G or PG on this podcast,and not actually say the word,
but it's like that's a realeffect.
Like when your training doesn'tgo the way that you want it,
you're like, oh, screw it.
I'm just not gonna do anything,or I'm just not gonna do it.
It's not worth it.
I'm not, if it's not five miles,then it's not.
It doesn't even count.
(15:01):
Like we put these arbitrarynumbers on ourself to tell
ourselves when things count orwhen they don't count.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
and people do this with training weeks of, oh, I
missed my Monday and Tuesdayworkout.
I guess I'll get going againnext Monday.
And this tends to happen for theentire month of December.
Is the first week starts a wholebunch of like holiday stuff and
there's shopping and there's allsorts of various things.
There's Christmas shows andwhatever the time constraints
are.
The first week it goes poorly.
You're looking at the schedule,moving forward and seeing it's
(15:27):
only getting harder.
It's gonna lead more difficultfor me, do my schedule.
I guess I'll just get back to itin January when I have time
again.
Speaker (15:34):
and this is going to lead, like Kevin just said, to
some of those feelings, thosenegative feelings in January
when you realize how theinconsistency in December has.
Actually caught up to youbecause one or two missed
sessions, no big deal.
But if you miss the entire monthof December, or if you miss two
to three weeks, that is going toaffect you.
Not to say you can't get backinto it effectively because you
(15:55):
can.
You're just going to have tomodify and understand that
January is probably not gonnalook the way you want it to be.
So what do we actually need tofocus on?
What actually works for us inDecember?
If you have this all or nothingmindset, if you tend to lose
consistency in December, I wantyou to start to shift your focus
away from performance of I haveto hit these certain numbers or
(16:18):
these certain paces and justfocus on consistency.
And we have to redefineconsistency as well, which we're
gonna talk about in a second.
So we're shifting the focus fromperformance.
To consistency.
We're shifting the focus fromvolume, like training volume,
the amount of training thatyou're doing to identity of, I
am a runner.
(16:39):
That means I need to run, I needto do some training.
The amount of training that youdo doesn't determine whether or
not you are a runner.
Just the fact that you arerunning, you are training,
you're doing your strengthtraining, whatever it might be.
That is what makes you a runner.
The fact that you're thinkinglike a runner and you're making
decisions like a runner, maybeyou're not gonna be able to get
(17:00):
that same volume in.
And that's okay.
And the final shift we wannamake is shifting from intensity,
thinking about how hard yourworkouts need to be, because
this is one of the big thingsthat a lot of people do too.
They feel like.
They're not getting as much oftheir training in.
They don't have enough volume,and so then they make every
session super intense to try tomake up for it.
(17:20):
So instead of thinking of thatway and focusing on intensity,
we need to think about how to subetter support our nervous
system and how exercise and ourtraining can really help to
support our nervous systemduring this stressful time of
year.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, and we'll, we will keep getting there.
As the episode continues, thereis a point for having some
intensity, but every sessioncannot be, an all out intense
session.
if you are used to running fivedays outta the week and now
you're only doing three, allthree of those days cannot be
hard days.
That is not a balanced trainingload that even though you're
only going three days, eventhough you're at 60% on volume,
(17:56):
you've drastically overdone theintensity and.
With reduced volume, you'vestill set yourself up for
burnout and injury.
So that's a terrible move,
Speaker (18:04):
right?
So what we would like tointroduce is the idea of minimum
viable dose training.
Okay?
So your minimum viable dose.
Now, this is like a term thatyou may have heard.
If you are in the business worldof the MVP, the minimum viable
product, when someone is tryingto launch a new product out into
the marketplace, the question isalways, what's the minimum
viable product?
(18:24):
What can we launch?
Because we know the first.
Version of anything is not goingto be perfect, but we have to
get something out into themarketplace so that we can learn
from it.
Make figure out where, what arethe strengths, what are the
weaknesses.
Then we can change it andrelease an another, version of
it.
So we have to figure out what isthat minimum viable product.
So here, what is the minimumviable dose of training that
(18:47):
will help to keep you on track?
So the things that really countduring this month is number one,
intentional movement.
Now I like to think of this asokay, how can I move my body
today in an intentional way?
So yes, people will talk aboutparking further away.
Like when you go to the store,you go to the mall, you park at
(19:08):
the end of the parking lot sothat you get more steps to walk
from your car into the store.
Totally fine.
That to me would be intentionalmovement because you're making
that decision intentionally.
But I would.
Invite you to consider trying toset aside, even if it's just
five to 10 minutes per day,where you can move your body
with intention as a way to say,okay, this is the way that I'm
(19:29):
going to take care of myselfduring this time period.
The other things you wanna thinkabout when we, I.
Or looking at the minimum viabletraining load is repetition.
Okay.
You wanna make it simple.
So doing the same thing over andover again is totally fine
because again, we're lookingmore at maintenance versus
performance.
We're looking at.
(19:50):
How to, how are we going toreinforce our identity as a
runner?
So again, to be a runner, youneed to run, you need to train.
So what can I do that is goingto help me to reinforce that
identity?
And then what can I do to helpreduce the cognitive load, the
mental load that you.
Have trying to figure out, okay,what am I gonna do today?
(20:10):
Like the training, like thatpart of training tends to be a
big hurdle for a lot of people,especially in this.
So if you're not following atraining plan and you have to
figure out what to do each day,and then you get thrown off your
normal routine, then you'relike, but now, but I have to
figure out something here.
What can I fit in?
So that time for you to make adecision.
Is wasting some of your valuabletraining time.
(20:32):
So having something simple,easy, repeatable that you can do
makes.
It much more likely that you'regoing to be able to stick to
this.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Okay.
So when you talk minimum viabledose, does this vary per person?
Is this like a conscious choicethat we get to decide what our
personal, minimal viable dose isthat still aligns with our
identity as athlete?
Like it can be something smalland simple, but I feel like.
One person's if you're comingoff of training for a marathon,
(21:02):
you have a different volumelevel than if you're coming off
of training for a 5K.
If you're used to training threedays out a week, that's
different than used to trainingsix days out of a week.
So that minimal viable dose isnot like a blanket statement for
everybody.
it's a blanket concept, butevery person comes up with their
own idea for what it is forthem.
Speaker (21:19):
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Okay, so what do we have for like ideas?
Speaker (21:21):
So one of the ideas that I would love to offer, and
this is actually one thechallenge that we're doing
inside of the real life runnersteam.
So if you wanna join us in thischallenge, it's only the first
week of December.
You can join the team and youcan get it on this as well.
But we are doing a oneintentional mile per day, so it
can be walked or run.
It doesn't matter.
But you're setting aside time toactually move your body for one
(21:45):
mile per day.
And why the intentional mileworks so well is that there's a
very low barrier to entry.
You can pretty much do thisanywhere you are in the world,
and you can, even if the weatheris terrible outside, you could
literally walk a mile in yourhouse.
It might.
Take a lot of loops.
or like in the hallway, if youlive like in a condo or an
(22:05):
apartment building, like youcould go up and down the
hallway.
People already think you'reweird.
You're a runner.
Okay, so this is not anythingnew, right?
But the intentional mile.
So you can do this in a lot ofdifferent places.
It helps to maintain a routine.
It helps maintain thatconsistency of I know what I'm
doing today.
I know at least one thing thatI'm going to do today.
It helps to preserve yourrunning identity.
(22:26):
So there's a lot, there's somequestion marks here where people
are like, if I'm just walking,am I really a runner?
some days you can run it if you,especially if you wanna get it
done faster, if you have lesstime available and you need to
go out and run that mile thatday, then that's totally fine
too.
It getting outside, especiallyif you're able to do this
outside, getting out intonature, getting outside, getting
(22:46):
that fresh air, just breathingmore deeply.
This is all going to help.
Support your nervous system aswell.
so a walk can actually dowonders for your nervous system.
And this can work even if you'retraveling or during, moments of
chaos.
if you're traveling again, youcould walk around the airport if
you want to.
I, one of our team members wastalking about how this is what
(23:07):
she and her husband did.
Like they had a long layover.
So they just walked around theairport for 30 minutes.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
They visited every single gate at the entire
airport.
It was a really fun map that Isaw of the airport and the nooks
and crannies of that particularairport, which I thought was
funny.
but yeah, it works.
You can knock out a mile in awhole lot of conditions and.
If you're really pressed fortime, you might, and you're
walking it, you don't reallyeven have to change into running
clothes.
(23:33):
Now, part of the reasons why Iwould suggest actually changing
is it does help maintain thatroutine, like every day, and
identity.
It really helps the identitypart of it.
It says, look, I'm getting intomy running stuff and I am
heading out the door for myintentional mile, because that
is the routine that you mightwanna jump back into, come
(23:53):
January.
Where you have more time, itmaintains the routine and it
lets you be able to continue tosay day after day, I'm a runner,
I'm a runner, I'm a runner.
So you don't have to reestablishthat thing about, I don't know
what I was in December, but nowthat it's January, I'm gonna try
to be a runner again.
You just were a runner throughDecember.
You're still a runner inJanuary,
Speaker (24:11):
right?
And so when you're maintainingthat consistency and that spot
in your schedule, even if thatspot is shorter than it is
during other times of the year,you're still.
In integrity to maintain thattime period, whatever it might
be for yourself, for moving yourbody for exercise.
So other examples.
(24:32):
So an intentional mile is agreat idea.
something else you could dowould be like a 10 minute
strength flow.
So again, this is switching overfrom away from that all or
nothing mentality and switchingthat to always something, right?
So from all or nothing to alwayssomething.
So other examples.
The intentional mile, maybe a 10minute strength routine, like
(24:55):
you can do jumping jacksanywhere.
You can do squats, anywhere,lunges, these types of things.
You can do those things anywherewith no equipment.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
These are also things that you can do in an airport.
You can ask Angie.
She's done them both in anairport and just on the plane
itself.
Speaker (25:09):
I have done that.
That is true.
I haven't done jumping on theairport plane.
That would be ridiculous.
No, you
Speaker 2 (25:13):
should not do jumping jacks on the airplane, but
lunges right down the middleaisle that.
You did do that?
that was more
Speaker (25:17):
for mobility than just the actual like strength lunges
because my hip flexors were sotight from sitting for so long.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Okay.
So fine.
That slides into your nextpossibility here.
You could have five minutes ofmobility.
And that was, that is reallywhat you had that day because it
was a cross country flight Ithink that we were on.
So it was, that was an all dayof travel.
And that means it's just anenormous amount of.
Sitting on a plane and so yeah,you were lunging down the middle
aisle, which I thought wasfantastic, and other people
(25:45):
probably thought you were weirdand that's okay.
'cause as we already establishedseveral minutes ago, we're all
weird.
We're, it's a, we're allrunners.
Speaker (25:51):
Yeah.
And also, who cares?
I'm never gonna see those peopleagain by most likely if someone
ever comes up to me and we'relike, oh my gosh, you were that
girl that were lunging on theplane 10 years ago, I will be
floored by myself.
And actually I'll probably takeit as a compliment.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Hopefully they're a listener.
Speaker (26:06):
Yeah.
Perfect.
This, all these differentthings, even if it's short, even
if it's five minutes or 10minutes here, it helps keep your
physiology primed and youridentity intact because I think
that a lot of peopleoverestimate how much is
actually necessary for you tomaintain.
Because a lot of times it's lessthan you think, especially if
(26:26):
you have a large base built.
You can maintain where you arefor a decent amount of time with
just a little bit here andthere.
It often takes and this is wherewhy it's confusing for a lot of
people.
Because it takes a long time toget there.
It takes a long time to actuallybuild that base of strength or
of endurance, but when you'rethere, it, it takes less energy
(26:47):
to actually maintain it, whichis a good thing.
What can you gain by stayingconsistent in December, even if
it's a shorter training sessionthan you're used to?
Number one, you can help tomaintain your cardiovascular
base.
Maybe it's not exactly the sameas it was in November, but doing
something in December is goingto be better than doing nothing
in December.
(27:07):
So your cardiovascular base isnot going to decline as much as
it would if you weren't doinganything.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Even if Dec, it declines some, like it's a whole
lot easier to bring it back.
if you're taking like.
Four steps forward and one stepback.
That's a lot better than foursteps forward and three steps
back.
your January is going to come inbetter.
if you just stopped running fora couple of weeks.
Your endurance training, yourlike ability to run longer is
(27:33):
not gonna be all that affected.
Your ability to run faster getsaffected a little bit, which is
why that running with intensitysection is important I think.
Not that.
Every session is a hard session,but that you sprinkle in some
faster stuff so that in Januaryyour body is used to doing that
also.
But your body is really good athanging on to the ability to run
long distances, even with smalllittle doses sprinkled in
(27:57):
throughout December.
So if you're able to get in afew days during the week, that
is helpful,
Speaker (28:01):
right?
So if you are, maybe you'renormally running five days a
week and you pull it back tothree days a week, and.
Even if those sessions are alittle bit shorter, it's still
better, and you're stillmaintaining more of that base
than you would otherwise bydoing some strength training or
some mobility or some running.
You're also helping to maintainyour connective tissue load
(28:22):
tolerance.
So essentially what that will dois help to reduce your injury
risk in January, because if youspend December really not doing
much or not doing anything atall, all of your tissues are
gonna going to tighten back up.
They're going to.
lose some of their resilience inyour tissue.
You wanna maintain that loadtolerance because especially
like with your tendons and yourligaments, as we get older, we
(28:45):
lose some of that elasticity.
We lose some of that loadtolerance automatically.
So doing these small things andhelping to maintain that is
really important and we'll helpto reduce your risk of injury
when January.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
It prevents you from doing something stupid in
January.
Also, because a lot of peopleare like, I know I missed
December, but I wanna come backhard in January, and they try to
come back where they were.
If you're doing some load on thebody and you're putting yourself
at less injury risk, you'regoing to have a far more
successful January.
Then if you're doing nothing andyou try and come back in now
suddenly you took December off,you hurt yourself in January,
(29:19):
and now you're not running againuntil February.
No one wants that setup.
Speaker (29:22):
Yeah, nobody wants that.
also moving your body everysingle day is going to give you
more energy throughout the day.
You all know that this is true,especially if you're reducing
intensity.
Like a lot of times when you aregoing out for a longer run or a
more intense run that can sapyour energy later in the day.
But if you're going out on likeshorter runs, easier runs, that
actually gives you more energythroughout the day.
(29:43):
So that's a huge win because weall know we could use some more
energy in December with all thethings that are going on in the
holidays.
as far as your hormones and yourrecovery goes, this is going to
make when you're supporting yourbody physically and you're
allowing yourself to have thatmore stable energy level.
We all know there's a reasonthat we run.
It's physical, but we all knowthere's mental benefits from
(30:06):
running in, from gettingoutside.
That's going to make you lessreactive to the stress in your
life.
You're gonna be able to handlestress better when you know that
you've set aside time to do thisfor yourself.
You are going to get bettersleep, you are gonna have more
stable blood sugar levels, andyou're just going to feel
overall calmer and steadier inthis season because again, you
have put down an intention of Iam going to move my body.
(30:29):
I'm going to take care ofmyself, even if that looks a
little bit different than itdoes other times of the year.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yeah, everything that you just rattled off, they all
work so well together.
Being able to have less stressand have more stable blood sugar
leads to better sleep and bettersleep, then leads to feeling
calmer and being more able to beless reactive to stress.
Having better sleep actuallyleads to more stable blood
sugar.
Also.
It all works together.
And then.
(30:54):
All this also leads to identitywins, where you're able to
maintain that identity of, I ama runner, this is who I am.
My training gets adjusted forDecember, but it doesn't get
abandoned for December.
I am a person who can trainthrough busy seasons.
Maybe that's not the identitythat you've had.
Maybe you're like, yeah.
I'm a runner, but I'm a runnerwho doesn't really get through
(31:15):
December very well, and I startback up in January.
You can change that identity to,I'm a runner and I do hard
things, and right now I'm goingto train through this busy
season of my life.
And that allows you to thentrust your training even more.
It builds.
Every time you get out there, itallows you to just stack another
brick in trusting your overalltraining process.
(31:36):
So when you ramp up training forwhatever race you've got in the
future, you're gonna trust thatprocess even more because you
know that you can get throughthe difficult sessions.
Speaker (31:44):
I think that yes, you it, you're trusting your
training process, but even morethan that, you are trusting
yourself more because you'reshowing yourself even with those
small wins and these smallactions, that you are a person
of your word.
That when you give your word tosomething, when you say you're
going to do something, you.
Actually do it.
(32:04):
And that's again, one of thereasons why it's important to
make sure that this is a minimumviable dose thing.
Like you don't wanna set thesehuge things of I'm gonna train
for an hour every single day ofthe month of December.
If that's something that youknow, that is going to be very
difficult and very challengingfor you because then you're
giving your word and you'resaying you're gonna do
something.
You don't end up doing that.
(32:25):
That actually breaks trust inyourself.
And so when you utilize minimumviable dosage.
Then you're actually reinforcingthis identity of I am someone
who keeps my word.
I am in integrity with myself.
And then later, because that,again, that's a muscle too.
That's a muscle that we need towork and that we need to flex.
And then later on in yourtraining, when the days are
(32:46):
tough and the sessions arelonger, you've already started
to build that base and you canjust continue to build on it
from there.
Plus then you start January andyou're already in motion.
You don't feel like you'restarting from scratch.
You don't feel like you're backat square run, and this is gold
for us.
this is exactly what where weneed to be.
We need to be people who keepour word to ourself, people who
(33:07):
are in integrity, people whovalue movement, and who do what
they say they're going to do.
And you realize the benefits,the physical, the emotional, the
psychological benefits ofexercise and moving your body
and training.
At different levels.
It doesn't always have to lookthe same.
You don't have to run five milesevery single time you go out.
In order for it to count, youcan start to give yourself a
(33:29):
little grace.
And grace can mean maybe you doa little bit less, but you don't
abandon it completely.
So December doesn't need to be amonth that you just survive and
get through.
It can be.
A month where you get topractice who you want to be in
2026.
It can be the little jumpstartor kickstart into 2026.
You don't need to crush Decemberand be like, oh, just like my
(33:53):
training, I totally crushed it.
You need to stay connected.
You need to stay connected toyour body, to your training
identity or your identity as anathlete and to your nervous
system because that is what'sgoing to lead to long-term
sustainable progress.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
All right, so that is fantastic for getting through
December and maintaining thatconsistency.
But what about if you do havethat race at the end of the year
or January, February, thenDecember has to look a whole
heck of a lot different.
Yeah.
December is not a time forminimal viable doses.
Yeah.
December is the time to lockinto your training because you
(34:29):
have a race in.
I think I'm at six weeks rightnow actually.
Yeah.
Speaker (34:32):
And I think this is a perfect thing for you to talk
about, because Kevin actuallyhas a race on January 17th.
Is it?
Or the 18th?
The 19th.
It's that weekend.
whatever that, somewhere inthere.
Whatever that Saturday is.
It's somewhere between the 17thand the 19th I think.
I think that's what I blockedout on the calendar today.
'cause you forgot to put on thecalendar.
Silly, silly man.
What about if you do have arace?
What?
(34:52):
How do we navigate December ifyou have a race and it is more
important for you to stick toyour training schedule?
Speaker 2 (34:58):
I think knowing what it is that you're going to be
able to get in is superimportant.
Like making sure that what youhave planned out for your
training is actually going tofit into the schedule that you
have around you, I talked aboutat the very beginning of the
episode.
This is between cross countryand track season.
So I actually have removedsomething from my plate.
(35:20):
I don't have practice afterschool every day.
That completely changes myentire afternoon schedule, and
that could throw things haywire.
But I've decided if I put a racein January, I can now use this
time to really.
Lock in and get some trainingfor myself as the priority over
training for the high schoolkids.
I actually have two racesbecause there's the school 5K
(35:41):
coming up and that one's super,super important'cause I can't
lose to the high school kids andthen I have to run a really long
distance in January.
I don't have to, but I chooseto.
And In Florida training throughDecember is a whole lot
different than it is in northernstates.
It's ideal to train down here inDecember.
It's not raining all the time,and the temperatures are
(36:02):
generally really nice.
the biggest challenge, honestly,is it gets.
Dark at five in the afternoon.
But other than that, December isa great time to train down here,
so that's why I think it worksreally well.
If you're in a place with coldand snow, you've gotta figure
out, how do I lock in and trainfor this race?
Do I need other aspects to myenvironment?
Do I need to make sure I have atreadmill, I've got a bike, I've
(36:23):
got a gym that I can go to, thatI can get in my training.
You have to have a good reasonto do that race.
You had to have signed up for itfor a reason.
It's not just ah, I thought itwould be convenient to do,
because if you are in a placewith cold and snow.
It's probably not convenient todo that race, so you have to
remember why you did it, andthat will help you on days that
(36:44):
you don't want to get out andtrain.
That okay, this is why I signedup for the race.
This is what I want to get outof the race.
This is the goal that I have,and it helps you overcome a lot
of the other challenges that canhappen in the month if you have
a really good reason for doingit.
I picked the race because it'sactually easier in Florida to
train hard and long duringDecember.
Speaker (37:03):
So what if you put a race on the calendar in order to
force yourself into consistency?
Ooh.
Because there's a lot of peoplethat say, I'm not consistent
unless I have a race on thecalendar.
So they put a race on thecalendar so that they'll be
consistent.
So if we're telling them, okay,you have to remember why you
signed up and that's going tohelp you.
(37:25):
But if the reason that theysigned up is consistency, and
then they're having a problemwith consistency.
What say you there?
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Okay, so I'm fine with putting a race on the
calendar to help maintainconsistency through the month of
December.
There's a lot of places thathave New Year's races or races
very early in the New Year.
'cause sometimes it doesn't hitthe weekend, it's whatever that
Saturday is around, around NewYear's.
That's great.
That might not be the time toaim for a pr, like that's the
way that I'm looking at it isthis race is going to help me
(37:55):
figure out where I am to launchinto 2026.
It's going to see this is whatI've got to main maintaining
consistency through December,and now I know exactly where I
am to start the new year.
It's.
It's going to help withconsistency.
You have a race on the schedule.
Most people, if they put themoney down, they sign up for a
race.
They're not gonna phone it in,they're gonna try.
(38:16):
But it's not the time to belike, all right, my training
wasn't perfect, but I'm stillgonna try and grid it out and
get a pr.
That's just setting yourself upfor mental disappointment.
Speaker (38:24):
Yeah, and I think that again, will exactly relate back
to remember why you signed up.
Because if you signed up for theconsistency and you didn't sign
up for performance in a pr, it'simportant for you to remember
that because if the goal wasconsistency, then great.
Make that the goal.
And then understand that therace is then.
(38:45):
the carrot at the end that'shelping you be more consistent.
So then if you don't run yourbest time ever that re remember
that was not the goal.
The goal was consistency in theprocess.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
If the goal is not performance, then you can't be
disappointed with theperformance.
that's always my take on races.
Yeah.
if.
There's a lot of people thatjust enjoy racing, and sometimes
the goal for that particularrace is the outcome.
And actually how fast can I goin that?
But if you have a lot of raceson your calendar, they can't all
be, how fast can this racepossibly be?
(39:16):
Some of them have to just be forthe enjoyment.
Speaker (39:18):
Yeah.
And if your goal is performance,then your training needs to take
a priority, and you might needto say no to some of the holiday
engagements that you've beeninvited to.
Or some of the extra things onyour plate, like that might be
the answer.
If you have a big goal that youare training for and you and
your performance in that race isreally important to you, there's
going to be other things thatyou need to say no to.
(39:40):
That might feel reallyuncomfortable, but that's you
making a choice very again,intentionally to prioritize the
things that are important toyou.
as a recap of what to do, whatare some practical takeaways for
you in this month?
Number one, pick.
Your intention, like especially,I would love to invite all of
you to join us in theintentional mile challenge for
(40:02):
December, and if you're doingthis.
Please tag us on Instagram atreal life runners.
I would love to, repost you orshare you to the stories and all
of us support each othertogether in this real life
runners universe.
So you can run it, you can walkit, you can run, walk it, you
can be indoors or outdoors,morning or night.
But again, just do it withintention.
Do it and set aside that timefor yourself.
(40:25):
The second thing I would inviteyou to shift would be always
something options for yournon-running days.
Okay?
So one mile a day, maybe you'regoing out for a walk, if that's
enough for you, that's totallyokay.
On your non-running days, maybeyou want to also put in five
minutes of mobility work.
10 minutes of strength work.
Maybe you wanna do a warmupbefore you go out to your, for
(40:46):
your run or out for your walk.
You just can add in a littlefive minute mobility routine
before or after your walk.
Maybe you just wanna add in abreathing practice where you sit
for five minutes and do somedeep breathing.
That is fantastic for yournervous system.
And thinking about, going backto nervous system support, how
can these intentional choicessupport my nervous system and my
(41:07):
body during this time?
And then.
Of course, reducing yourDecember expectations on
yourself, giving yourself thatgrace, swapping perfection for
consistency, understanding thatthere's probably going to be at
least one time this month whereyou're not gonna be able to do
what you planned on doing.
And that's okay.
And instead of thinking, okay, Imiss this workout, ask yourself,
(41:29):
what's something I can do today?
oh, it's too bad.
I don't have enough time.
I guess I'm gonna miss aworkout.
Let's just say, okay, what can Iget in today?
Maybe it is five minutes, maybeit's 10 minutes.
Maybe you have 20 minutes andyou can get in a two mile run,
even though you had a four orfive mile run on your schedule.
Understanding that gettingsomething in is better than
nothing is a really bigperspective shift that we need
(41:51):
to make through it during thismonth.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Yeah, and the last thing you have down here I think
is super, super importantbecause I think identity is
critical throughout the month.
You don't wanna lose your runneridentity because you.
You literally stop running.
So keep track of all these winsalong the way.
Keep track of the days whereyou're getting in that
intentional mile.
Keep track of the days wherethis wasn't a running day, but I
still did this physical activityand then be able to look back on
(42:16):
it.
And when you hit January, havean account of.
Look at me.
I ran through December.
Look at me.
I did it through December.
It might not have looked thesame as it did earlier in the
year, but it shows theconsistency.
It shows your commitment torunning.
It shows that you are a runner.
Speaker (42:33):
Absolutely.
And if you want more support,again, like I said, I would
invite all of you to do thisintentional mile challenge with
us and tag us.
Reach out.
And if you want some moresupport, if you want coaches and
you want a community and youwant a daily plan, like we can
create a plan for you that isnot the plan that you normally
follow, and that's totally okay.
(42:55):
come over and check out the Reallife Runners team.
We've got.
A great program called The 30Day Reset.
It is on sale right now, so thatyou can get in.
It's going to help you give,it's gonna help give you little
daily tasks that you can dothroughout your day to help to
reinforce this identity, tostart to shift you out of this
sympathetic mode.
Help you.
(43:15):
adopt this new identity of I aman athlete, I am a strong
athlete.
I don't just have to be perfectall the time.
I can give myself grace and makea lot of progress in the process
of all of this.
So check all of that outover@realliferunners.com on that
homepage.
You've got different options.
You can join the team, you canjoin the 30 Day Reset.
you can obviously listen to thepodcast and we'll always be here
(43:37):
to support you on the podcast aswell.
If you haven't yet, leave us areview.
Share us with a friend.
Let's help more runners to startto let go of the perfectionism
and start to embrace consistencyand grace in this beautiful
month of December.
So as always, thanks for joiningus.
This has been The Real LifeRunners podcast, episode number
(43:57):
438.
Now, get out there and run yourlife.
December is upon us.
And for so many people thatmeans a lot of extra things on
your plate.
And so many years we hear.
People say the same thing, I'llget back on track in January,
and they just blow off December.
But here's the truth, Decemberdoes not break your training.
It reveals your defaults.
(00:22):
So today we're gonna talk abouthow to change those defaults so
that you can stay consistent inDecember, so that instead of
starting the new year off,feeling like you're already
behind, you feel like you are incontrol.
So stay tuned.
(00:57):
welcome back to the showrunners.
Happy December.
Happy December.
I know I, I see, feel like I saythis all the time, but I can't
believe it's December.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
You do say that you've been saying that since
the start of November.
Speaker (01:08):
It's okay.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yep.
Speaker (01:09):
I'm still gonna, because it's still I feel like
this year has gone quickly, butalso not in some way just
because this year has been socrazy, but I just feel like time
is flying by and I think itdoes.
It is true what people say aboutwhen you have kids, how time
tends to feel like it's speedingup.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
The days are long, the years go fast.
Speaker (01:30):
Yeah, that's a great one for sure.
but especially when they getolder and they're teenagers and
it's life is just looks a lotdifferent, but anywho.
Today we're talking aboutDecember, and we are talking
about how to stay consistent inDecember because this is a
struggle that we know so manypeople have because December is
often filled with a lot ofdifferent things.
(01:53):
It tends to disrupt our normalroutine.
We have holidays, school events,weather, travel, all sorts of
things going on, and so a lot oftimes.
We hear runners talk about howDecember is a losing battle for
consistency, but we are heretoday to tell you that it
doesn't have to be.
If that's what works for you inyour life, then fine.
(02:13):
Don't beat yourself up for it.
Give yourself some grace andjust accept it.
But if you are someone thatwants to do something about it
and you want to improve yourconsistency.
In the month of December.
That is what we are here todayto help you do.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
All right.
Consistency for December.
I like it.
it's an interesting take'causewe've had so many people that
have told us that it's verydifficult.
You point out a lot of thechallenges to this, when I
started running December was thetime between seasons, like the
state meet was always inCalifornia.
The state meet was the Saturdayafter Thanksgiving.
And then.
(02:46):
Track would essentiallyunofficially start as soon as we
got back from Christmas break?
I don't know.
I have no idea because I was inhigh school at the time, so I
don't know when it officiallybegan, but as soon as we got
back from Christmas break, wewere off and going and we would
regularly get together and startup essentially.
So December was this weird,unstructured time for me.
So it still, it had this weirdit was the un uncertainty of it.
(03:09):
And I think a lot of people,because there's changes in
schedule, also hit December andthey're not quite sure what to
do with it, and it can lead toa, just a lack of anything
happening.
So that's what we've got going.
Speaker (03:19):
Yeah, and I think a lot of real life runners look at
this as not just this lack ofstructure and consistency, but
also that their routine iscompletely up in the air because
their schedule and their day today, their week to week looks so
much different than it normallydoes because of all the
additional things that Decemberbrings.
A lot of times when thathappens, we oftentimes,
(03:41):
especially we runners, tend tobe creatures of habit.
We like to do the same types ofthings on the same days.
And when that gets disrupted, itthrows a lot of people off
completely.
And so we are gonna be talkingabout that today and kind of
this whole all or nothingmindset that a lot of people
have and how we can counteractthat.
But I wanna start by justReframing the month of December.
(04:02):
So unless you are someone thathas a race in January or
February, which we're gonna betalking about later in the
episode, if you are someone witha race on the calendar, December
does have to actually be atraining month for you, and
that's part of the decision andthe commitment that you made
when you signed up for a race inJanuary or February, that
required some training inDecember.
(04:23):
But for those of you without.
A race at the beginning of theyear.
I want you to start to think ofDecember.
Maybe not as the month to makehuge gains, but as the month to
protect your momentum.
So you've been trainingconsistently throughout the
year.
maybe you haven't been, butDecember.
So regardless of.
If you feel like you've beenconsistent up until this point
(04:45):
or not, December can either be atime to get that ball rolling
and start some momentum for youwith very small intentional
practices or the time that youare actually protecting that
momentum.
So it's not necessarily abouttrying to overcome these huge
hurdles and jump into something.
Big and new, but it's takingwhat you've got and figuring
(05:05):
out, okay, what can I do topreserve and maintain this so
that again, when I'm startingthe new year, I don't feel like
I'm in a deficit.
And that's when those smallintentional practices become
even more powerful now than anyother time of year.
So those habits that maybeyou've been working on at
different times of the year,this is not the time to just let
(05:25):
them go completely out thewindow.
At the same time, maybe you'renot as strict with them as you
have been in other times of theyear, and that's totally okay.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
that's why it's nice to have a little extra grace
during this time, but a lot ofpeople.
Tend to take that, I'm gonnagive myself some grace for
December and they givethemselves off for December.
And that's not what this is.
Like you said, it's the habitsthat you've established over the
course of the year, the smallversion of them.
This doesn't mean that you'reramping training up during
December.
This means that you arecontinuing to do something so
(05:58):
that when January hits, you'renot starting from scratch.
You're not like, alright, theball has completely stopped
moving and I gotta give it thatinitial.
Oomph to get going.
It's nice to hit the new yearand have the ball already
moving, even if it's not movingfast.
Like even if maybe things wererolling really good through the
fall, you just want them tocontinue moving somewhat so that
when it hits January, things aregoing really well.
Speaker (06:20):
So going back to the concept of inertia, you want to
keep that ball in motionbecause.
December is tough for a lot ofdifferent reasons.
Number one, there is a muchhigher physiological stress load
in December, both physiologicaland emotional and mental stress
load in December.
So we have essentially a higherbaseline level of stress.
(06:42):
There's so many things on ourplate.
We've got more things to do.
We've got Christmas shows, wehave baking cookies, we have,
doing the Christmas shopping andthe Christmas cards and all
these things that we do.
That we don't do in normal timesof the year and other times of
the year.
So your full plate just startedgetting piled on top of, and
this leads to that higherbaseline of stress, which leads
(07:03):
your nervous system to move moreinto sympathetic nervous system
dominance.
So we've talked in the pastabout the difference between the
sympathetic nervous system andthe parasympathetics.
Your sympathetic is your stressmode.
Parasympathetic is rest andrecovery mode.
So if you're starting with thishigher baseline of stress,
because.
Stress is stress and all thestress, no matter if it's
(07:23):
physical, stress, emotional,psychological, financial, all
the different areas that wherewe can experience stress in our
life, it all goes into the samebucket.
So we still have.
This one bucket and now we'readding more things to it.
Add on things like poor sleepbecause of travel, or late
nights or screen time.
(07:43):
last night I was up until prettymuch midnight, almost midnight.
I think we got into.
Bed like right before midnightbecause I was trying to secure
some of those last minute CyberMonday deals, doing some online
shopping.
And I had to wake up at 5:00 AMthis morning to go meet with my
running group.
'cause Tuesdays are my earlymorning runs, I guess I should
(08:04):
say.
I.
I shouldn't say I had to, I wasjust
Speaker 2 (08:06):
about to correct you on that.
Speaker (08:07):
but that was my plan.
My plan was to wake up at 5 0 5and go run at five 30, because
that's what I do every Tuesday.
And that's a commitment thatI've made, and that's one of the
ones that I want to commit to,especially if I tell people I'm
gonna be there.
That's an important thing for mewith my integrity.
Add on poor sleep, right?
Add on some of these nutritionalshifts that we've got going on.
A lot of times during theholidays, we don't always eat
(08:29):
the same way that we eat therest of the year because there's
more indulgence.
Bring in those Christmascookies, right?
When we have Christmas cookiesin the house.
I'm eating way more cookies thanI normally eat because I love
cookies.
And cookies are delicious.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
as a teacher, there are treats in the teacher's
lounge throughout the month ofDecember because there are
always parents that are like,oh, this is gonna be something
nice for the teachers.
So I can go to the teacher'slounge on most days, and there's
a platter of something or ofsome sort of baked goods.
And depending on what mytraining is, that may actually
be beneficial for me, but it'snot beneficial for everybody.
Speaker (09:01):
and'cause the shifts in these nutritions can lead to
less stable energy levels.
There's nothing wrong withcookies, there's nothing wrong
with pies and desserts and someof these more indulgent types of
foods that we eat.
But what those things can do isthose things can spike your
blood sugar, and when your bloodsugar is being constantly spike
throughout the day, that'sleading to less stable energy
(09:23):
levels.
You get the spike and then youget the dip, and so you're.
Sugar levels and your cortisollevels and all the hormones in
your body, they're just notregulated the same way that they
are at other times of the year.
Add on again, the emotionalload, because a lot of times the
holidays trigger old patterns.
They trigger expectations.
They bring family that you'regoing to see maybe that you
(09:44):
haven't seen all year long, andyou know that Uncle Rick is
going to bring up some storyfrom when you were 10 years old
and you just don't wanna dealwith that, right?
There's a lot of these.
Emotional triggers that we haveto deal with.
Maybe you're someone that haslost someone this year and you
know that this is gonna be thefirst holiday without that
person or that in your life.
(10:05):
That's a lot, So there's a,this.
All of these areas of stressthat are affecting you.
And so when you have all thesedifferent things going on, your
perceived effort goes up andoftentimes your motivation goes
down and that leads to trainingfeeling a lot harder than it
should.
It makes your trainingoftentimes feel like it's just
(10:26):
one more thing you have to do,just one more thing on your
plate.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I think, I know you were just picking random names
out there, but I'm pretty surethat I actually spent my.
10th birthday at my Uncle Rick'shouse.
Speaker (10:38):
Oh, that's fun.
Yeah, I realized that after Isaid it, like I was just trying
to pick a random name and I waslike, oh, shoot, that's actually
Kevin's uncle.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah.
I think that was actually theyear that I slept over at my
cousin's and we stayed up tomidnight to watch the clock
click over Uhhuh so that Iturned from nine to 10.
Speaker (10:52):
Oh, that's cute.
Yeah,
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I know.
Speaker (10:53):
But that was in July.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was not a December thing.
No,
Speaker (10:57):
not a holiday
Speaker 2 (10:57):
thing.
no.
Not a holiday thing.
But, one more thing on that,like why is December so tricky?
the time shifted on us.
So if you train in theafternoon, that was the
Speaker (11:05):
beginning of November.
I
Speaker 2 (11:05):
know, but it's getting worse.
Yeah.
As we approach That's true.
Speaker (11:08):
It is getting darker.
It is
Speaker 2 (11:09):
getting darker earlier and earlier.
Yeah.
Like at the.
In November, I could still runin the evening, like we could
have practice and I could thenrun at the end of it.
That would never happen rightnow, thankfully, the cross
country season's done because ifwe're not done running around
here around five, it's startingto get dark, like car headlights
are going on.
The sun sets around 5 25 15 now,but it's getting earlier and
(11:32):
earlier.
Depending on what your job is,that might make training in the
evening.
Now training in the dark.
And that could cause problemsfor a lot of schedules,
Speaker (11:40):
right?
Especially if you're in an areawhere there's now snow and cold
and ice, and then you add darkon top of that.
Those are some more hurdles thatyou have to get over in order to
be consistent with yourtraining.
So all of that to say, wehopefully this.
Just us talking about it didn'tadd more stress onto you, but
it's just to acknowledge thatthere are real things that are
happening in your life in thismonth that's not just in your
(12:03):
head.
It's not like you're just, youjust feel like it's too much.
there's a lot of differentchanges that are going on that
makes what you're feeling andthis increased stress load a
very real thing.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah, don't worry.
The rest of the podcast is gonnahelp you.
You've got this.
You are amazing.
Here it comes.
Here we go.
Speaker (12:18):
Here we go.
one of the traps that I think alot of people fall into, and I
think that this almost becomes alittle worse for some people
when they get into midlifebecause.
Runners and midlife seem to beespecially vulnerable to the all
or nothing thinking trap of if Ican't do it right, I won't do it
at all.
Or if I can't hit my workoutjust the way that it's listed
(12:40):
here, I'm not going to doanything because it's not worth
it or it's not.
The way that I'm, I should bedoing it or it's not going to be
good enough.
We have all these judgementsthat we place on things, and
this leads to a lot of missedsessions, which then fuels the
guilt, which then fuelsinconsistency.
So it becomes this viciouscircle because you don't have
(13:02):
maybe the amount of time thatyou want for your training
sessions.
So you like, I don't really havethe 45 minutes that I need, oh,
I guess I'm just not going totrain today.
And that's going to lead you tofeeling bad that you missed your
session.
You're gonna feel guilty, andthen that's just going to
continue to fuel moreinconsistency.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
And when you do then get back and you do actually
have that time, that 45 minutesession is not gonna go the way
that you hoped it did becauseyou've missed the last couple
ones.
Instead of doing part of the setsession, instead of getting the
general idea of the, what thattraining point was supposed to
be for the day and just doing itin a smaller, reduced version
that fit into the time you had,you went with nothing.
(13:38):
And so January comes along andyou're trying to hit these
workouts, and now you'redisappointed that you're not
hitting the same times you werehitting November because you
have a hole in your trainingcalled December.
Speaker (13:48):
Yeah.
And so oftentimes like this, allor nothing thinking that we end
up.
clinging to that.
We use that because routine isvery good for us for a lot of
different reasons, but a lot ofus use routine to help us
regulate our emotions, and whenour routine breaks, your brain
can interpret that as I'mfailing or I'm losing fitness,
(14:11):
even when that's not true.
One session, if you miss onesession, you're not losing any
fitness whatsoever.
Even if you miss two sessions,you're still not losing fitness.
It's when.
Those sessions become, again,like that cycle I just talked
about, you miss the session,you're guilt you, you feel
guilty about it, and then thatjust continues to fuel
inconsistency and you tend todrop back into that all or
(14:32):
nothing thinking.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah.
The all or nothing often leadsto the nothing like that's the
problem with all or nothing isit usually is simply nothing
thinking.
Speaker (14:40):
Yeah.
It's also like the f it effect.
Yeah, that's a good one too.
And I'm gonna be.
G rated G or PG on this podcast,and not actually say the word,
but it's like that's a realeffect.
Like when your training doesn'tgo the way that you want it,
you're like, oh, screw it.
I'm just not gonna do anything,or I'm just not gonna do it.
It's not worth it.
I'm not, if it's not five miles,then it's not.
It doesn't even count.
(15:01):
Like we put these arbitrarynumbers on ourself to tell
ourselves when things count orwhen they don't count.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
and people do this with training weeks of, oh, I
missed my Monday and Tuesdayworkout.
I guess I'll get going againnext Monday.
And this tends to happen for theentire month of December.
Is the first week starts a wholebunch of like holiday stuff and
there's shopping and there's allsorts of various things.
There's Christmas shows andwhatever the time constraints
are.
The first week it goes poorly.
You're looking at the schedule,moving forward and seeing it's
(15:27):
only getting harder.
It's gonna lead more difficultfor me, do my schedule.
I guess I'll just get back to itin January when I have time
again.
Speaker (15:34):
and this is going to lead, like Kevin just said, to
some of those feelings, thosenegative feelings in January
when you realize how theinconsistency in December has.
Actually caught up to youbecause one or two missed
sessions, no big deal.
But if you miss the entire monthof December, or if you miss two
to three weeks, that is going toaffect you.
Not to say you can't get backinto it effectively because you
(15:55):
can.
You're just going to have tomodify and understand that
January is probably not gonnalook the way you want it to be.
So what do we actually need tofocus on?
What actually works for us inDecember?
If you have this all or nothingmindset, if you tend to lose
consistency in December, I wantyou to start to shift your focus
away from performance of I haveto hit these certain numbers or
(16:18):
these certain paces and justfocus on consistency.
And we have to redefineconsistency as well, which we're
gonna talk about in a second.
So we're shifting the focus fromperformance.
To consistency.
We're shifting the focus fromvolume, like training volume,
the amount of training thatyou're doing to identity of, I
am a runner.
(16:39):
That means I need to run, I needto do some training.
The amount of training that youdo doesn't determine whether or
not you are a runner.
Just the fact that you arerunning, you are training,
you're doing your strengthtraining, whatever it might be.
That is what makes you a runner.
The fact that you're thinkinglike a runner and you're making
decisions like a runner, maybeyou're not gonna be able to get
(17:00):
that same volume in.
And that's okay.
And the final shift we wannamake is shifting from intensity,
thinking about how hard yourworkouts need to be, because
this is one of the big thingsthat a lot of people do too.
They feel like.
They're not getting as much oftheir training in.
They don't have enough volume,and so then they make every
session super intense to try tomake up for it.
(17:20):
So instead of thinking of thatway and focusing on intensity,
we need to think about how to subetter support our nervous
system and how exercise and ourtraining can really help to
support our nervous systemduring this stressful time of
year.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, and we'll, we will keep getting there.
As the episode continues, thereis a point for having some
intensity, but every sessioncannot be, an all out intense
session.
if you are used to running fivedays outta the week and now
you're only doing three, allthree of those days cannot be
hard days.
That is not a balanced trainingload that even though you're
only going three days, eventhough you're at 60% on volume,
(17:56):
you've drastically overdone theintensity and.
With reduced volume, you'vestill set yourself up for
burnout and injury.
So that's a terrible move,
Speaker (18:04):
right?
So what we would like tointroduce is the idea of minimum
viable dose training.
Okay?
So your minimum viable dose.
Now, this is like a term thatyou may have heard.
If you are in the business worldof the MVP, the minimum viable
product, when someone is tryingto launch a new product out into
the marketplace, the question isalways, what's the minimum
viable product?
(18:24):
What can we launch?
Because we know the first.
Version of anything is not goingto be perfect, but we have to
get something out into themarketplace so that we can learn
from it.
Make figure out where, what arethe strengths, what are the
weaknesses.
Then we can change it andrelease an another, version of
it.
So we have to figure out what isthat minimum viable product.
So here, what is the minimumviable dose of training that
(18:47):
will help to keep you on track?
So the things that really countduring this month is number one,
intentional movement.
Now I like to think of this asokay, how can I move my body
today in an intentional way?
So yes, people will talk aboutparking further away.
Like when you go to the store,you go to the mall, you park at
(19:08):
the end of the parking lot sothat you get more steps to walk
from your car into the store.
Totally fine.
That to me would be intentionalmovement because you're making
that decision intentionally.
But I would.
Invite you to consider trying toset aside, even if it's just
five to 10 minutes per day,where you can move your body
with intention as a way to say,okay, this is the way that I'm
(19:29):
going to take care of myselfduring this time period.
The other things you wanna thinkabout when we, I.
Or looking at the minimum viabletraining load is repetition.
Okay.
You wanna make it simple.
So doing the same thing over andover again is totally fine
because again, we're lookingmore at maintenance versus
performance.
We're looking at.
(19:50):
How to, how are we going toreinforce our identity as a
runner?
So again, to be a runner, youneed to run, you need to train.
So what can I do that is goingto help me to reinforce that
identity?
And then what can I do to helpreduce the cognitive load, the
mental load that you.
Have trying to figure out, okay,what am I gonna do today?
(20:10):
Like the training, like thatpart of training tends to be a
big hurdle for a lot of people,especially in this.
So if you're not following atraining plan and you have to
figure out what to do each day,and then you get thrown off your
normal routine, then you'relike, but now, but I have to
figure out something here.
What can I fit in?
So that time for you to make adecision.
Is wasting some of your valuabletraining time.
(20:32):
So having something simple,easy, repeatable that you can do
makes.
It much more likely that you'regoing to be able to stick to
this.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Okay.
So when you talk minimum viabledose, does this vary per person?
Is this like a conscious choicethat we get to decide what our
personal, minimal viable dose isthat still aligns with our
identity as athlete?
Like it can be something smalland simple, but I feel like.
One person's if you're comingoff of training for a marathon,
(21:02):
you have a different volumelevel than if you're coming off
of training for a 5K.
If you're used to training threedays out a week, that's
different than used to trainingsix days out of a week.
So that minimal viable dose isnot like a blanket statement for
everybody.
it's a blanket concept, butevery person comes up with their
own idea for what it is forthem.
Speaker (21:19):
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Okay, so what do we have for like ideas?
Speaker (21:21):
So one of the ideas that I would love to offer, and
this is actually one thechallenge that we're doing
inside of the real life runnersteam.
So if you wanna join us in thischallenge, it's only the first
week of December.
You can join the team and youcan get it on this as well.
But we are doing a oneintentional mile per day, so it
can be walked or run.
It doesn't matter.
But you're setting aside time toactually move your body for one
(21:45):
mile per day.
And why the intentional mileworks so well is that there's a
very low barrier to entry.
You can pretty much do thisanywhere you are in the world,
and you can, even if the weatheris terrible outside, you could
literally walk a mile in yourhouse.
It might.
Take a lot of loops.
or like in the hallway, if youlive like in a condo or an
(22:05):
apartment building, like youcould go up and down the
hallway.
People already think you'reweird.
You're a runner.
Okay, so this is not anythingnew, right?
But the intentional mile.
So you can do this in a lot ofdifferent places.
It helps to maintain a routine.
It helps maintain thatconsistency of I know what I'm
doing today.
I know at least one thing thatI'm going to do today.
It helps to preserve yourrunning identity.
(22:26):
So there's a lot, there's somequestion marks here where people
are like, if I'm just walking,am I really a runner?
some days you can run it if you,especially if you wanna get it
done faster, if you have lesstime available and you need to
go out and run that mile thatday, then that's totally fine
too.
It getting outside, especiallyif you're able to do this
outside, getting out intonature, getting outside, getting
(22:46):
that fresh air, just breathingmore deeply.
This is all going to help.
Support your nervous system aswell.
so a walk can actually dowonders for your nervous system.
And this can work even if you'retraveling or during, moments of
chaos.
if you're traveling again, youcould walk around the airport if
you want to.
I, one of our team members wastalking about how this is what
(23:07):
she and her husband did.
Like they had a long layover.
So they just walked around theairport for 30 minutes.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
They visited every single gate at the entire
airport.
It was a really fun map that Isaw of the airport and the nooks
and crannies of that particularairport, which I thought was
funny.
but yeah, it works.
You can knock out a mile in awhole lot of conditions and.
If you're really pressed fortime, you might, and you're
walking it, you don't reallyeven have to change into running
clothes.
(23:33):
Now, part of the reasons why Iwould suggest actually changing
is it does help maintain thatroutine, like every day, and
identity.
It really helps the identitypart of it.
It says, look, I'm getting intomy running stuff and I am
heading out the door for myintentional mile, because that
is the routine that you mightwanna jump back into, come
(23:53):
January.
Where you have more time, itmaintains the routine and it
lets you be able to continue tosay day after day, I'm a runner,
I'm a runner, I'm a runner.
So you don't have to reestablishthat thing about, I don't know
what I was in December, but nowthat it's January, I'm gonna try
to be a runner again.
You just were a runner throughDecember.
You're still a runner inJanuary,
Speaker (24:11):
right?
And so when you're maintainingthat consistency and that spot
in your schedule, even if thatspot is shorter than it is
during other times of the year,you're still.
In integrity to maintain thattime period, whatever it might
be for yourself, for moving yourbody for exercise.
So other examples.
(24:32):
So an intentional mile is agreat idea.
something else you could dowould be like a 10 minute
strength flow.
So again, this is switching overfrom away from that all or
nothing mentality and switchingthat to always something, right?
So from all or nothing to alwayssomething.
So other examples.
The intentional mile, maybe a 10minute strength routine, like
(24:55):
you can do jumping jacksanywhere.
You can do squats, anywhere,lunges, these types of things.
You can do those things anywherewith no equipment.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
These are also things that you can do in an airport.
You can ask Angie.
She's done them both in anairport and just on the plane
itself.
Speaker (25:09):
I have done that.
That is true.
I haven't done jumping on theairport plane.
That would be ridiculous.
No, you
Speaker 2 (25:13):
should not do jumping jacks on the airplane, but
lunges right down the middleaisle that.
You did do that?
that was more
Speaker (25:17):
for mobility than just the actual like strength lunges
because my hip flexors were sotight from sitting for so long.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Okay.
So fine.
That slides into your nextpossibility here.
You could have five minutes ofmobility.
And that was, that is reallywhat you had that day because it
was a cross country flight Ithink that we were on.
So it was, that was an all dayof travel.
And that means it's just anenormous amount of.
Sitting on a plane and so yeah,you were lunging down the middle
aisle, which I thought wasfantastic, and other people
(25:45):
probably thought you were weirdand that's okay.
'cause as we already establishedseveral minutes ago, we're all
weird.
We're, it's a, we're allrunners.
Speaker (25:51):
Yeah.
And also, who cares?
I'm never gonna see those peopleagain by most likely if someone
ever comes up to me and we'relike, oh my gosh, you were that
girl that were lunging on theplane 10 years ago, I will be
floored by myself.
And actually I'll probably takeit as a compliment.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Hopefully they're a listener.
Speaker (26:06):
Yeah.
Perfect.
This, all these differentthings, even if it's short, even
if it's five minutes or 10minutes here, it helps keep your
physiology primed and youridentity intact because I think
that a lot of peopleoverestimate how much is
actually necessary for you tomaintain.
Because a lot of times it's lessthan you think, especially if
(26:26):
you have a large base built.
You can maintain where you arefor a decent amount of time with
just a little bit here andthere.
It often takes and this is wherewhy it's confusing for a lot of
people.
Because it takes a long time toget there.
It takes a long time to actuallybuild that base of strength or
of endurance, but when you'rethere, it, it takes less energy
(26:47):
to actually maintain it, whichis a good thing.
What can you gain by stayingconsistent in December, even if
it's a shorter training sessionthan you're used to?
Number one, you can help tomaintain your cardiovascular
base.
Maybe it's not exactly the sameas it was in November, but doing
something in December is goingto be better than doing nothing
in December.
(27:07):
So your cardiovascular base isnot going to decline as much as
it would if you weren't doinganything.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Even if Dec, it declines some, like it's a whole
lot easier to bring it back.
if you're taking like.
Four steps forward and one stepback.
That's a lot better than foursteps forward and three steps
back.
your January is going to come inbetter.
if you just stopped running fora couple of weeks.
Your endurance training, yourlike ability to run longer is
(27:33):
not gonna be all that affected.
Your ability to run faster getsaffected a little bit, which is
why that running with intensitysection is important I think.
Not that.
Every session is a hard session,but that you sprinkle in some
faster stuff so that in Januaryyour body is used to doing that
also.
But your body is really good athanging on to the ability to run
long distances, even with smalllittle doses sprinkled in
(27:57):
throughout December.
So if you're able to get in afew days during the week, that
is helpful,
Speaker (28:01):
right?
So if you are, maybe you'renormally running five days a
week and you pull it back tothree days a week, and.
Even if those sessions are alittle bit shorter, it's still
better, and you're stillmaintaining more of that base
than you would otherwise bydoing some strength training or
some mobility or some running.
You're also helping to maintainyour connective tissue load
(28:22):
tolerance.
So essentially what that will dois help to reduce your injury
risk in January, because if youspend December really not doing
much or not doing anything atall, all of your tissues are
gonna going to tighten back up.
They're going to.
lose some of their resilience inyour tissue.
You wanna maintain that loadtolerance because especially
like with your tendons and yourligaments, as we get older, we
(28:45):
lose some of that elasticity.
We lose some of that loadtolerance automatically.
So doing these small things andhelping to maintain that is
really important and we'll helpto reduce your risk of injury
when January.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
It prevents you from doing something stupid in
January.
Also, because a lot of peopleare like, I know I missed
December, but I wanna come backhard in January, and they try to
come back where they were.
If you're doing some load on thebody and you're putting yourself
at less injury risk, you'regoing to have a far more
successful January.
Then if you're doing nothing andyou try and come back in now
suddenly you took December off,you hurt yourself in January,
(29:19):
and now you're not running againuntil February.
No one wants that setup.
Speaker (29:22):
Yeah, nobody wants that.
also moving your body everysingle day is going to give you
more energy throughout the day.
You all know that this is true,especially if you're reducing
intensity.
Like a lot of times when you aregoing out for a longer run or a
more intense run that can sapyour energy later in the day.
But if you're going out on likeshorter runs, easier runs, that
actually gives you more energythroughout the day.
(29:43):
So that's a huge win because weall know we could use some more
energy in December with all thethings that are going on in the
holidays.
as far as your hormones and yourrecovery goes, this is going to
make when you're supporting yourbody physically and you're
allowing yourself to have thatmore stable energy level.
We all know there's a reasonthat we run.
It's physical, but we all knowthere's mental benefits from
(30:06):
running in, from gettingoutside.
That's going to make you lessreactive to the stress in your
life.
You're gonna be able to handlestress better when you know that
you've set aside time to do thisfor yourself.
You are going to get bettersleep, you are gonna have more
stable blood sugar levels, andyou're just going to feel
overall calmer and steadier inthis season because again, you
have put down an intention of Iam going to move my body.
(30:29):
I'm going to take care ofmyself, even if that looks a
little bit different than itdoes other times of the year.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yeah, everything that you just rattled off, they all
work so well together.
Being able to have less stressand have more stable blood sugar
leads to better sleep and bettersleep, then leads to feeling
calmer and being more able to beless reactive to stress.
Having better sleep actuallyleads to more stable blood
sugar.
Also.
It all works together.
And then.
(30:54):
All this also leads to identitywins, where you're able to
maintain that identity of, I ama runner, this is who I am.
My training gets adjusted forDecember, but it doesn't get
abandoned for December.
I am a person who can trainthrough busy seasons.
Maybe that's not the identitythat you've had.
Maybe you're like, yeah.
I'm a runner, but I'm a runnerwho doesn't really get through
(31:15):
December very well, and I startback up in January.
You can change that identity to,I'm a runner and I do hard
things, and right now I'm goingto train through this busy
season of my life.
And that allows you to thentrust your training even more.
It builds.
Every time you get out there, itallows you to just stack another
brick in trusting your overalltraining process.
(31:36):
So when you ramp up training forwhatever race you've got in the
future, you're gonna trust thatprocess even more because you
know that you can get throughthe difficult sessions.
Speaker (31:44):
I think that yes, you it, you're trusting your
training process, but even morethan that, you are trusting
yourself more because you'reshowing yourself even with those
small wins and these smallactions, that you are a person
of your word.
That when you give your word tosomething, when you say you're
going to do something, you.
Actually do it.
(32:04):
And that's again, one of thereasons why it's important to
make sure that this is a minimumviable dose thing.
Like you don't wanna set thesehuge things of I'm gonna train
for an hour every single day ofthe month of December.
If that's something that youknow, that is going to be very
difficult and very challengingfor you because then you're
giving your word and you'resaying you're gonna do
something.
You don't end up doing that.
(32:25):
That actually breaks trust inyourself.
And so when you utilize minimumviable dosage.
Then you're actually reinforcingthis identity of I am someone
who keeps my word.
I am in integrity with myself.
And then later, because that,again, that's a muscle too.
That's a muscle that we need towork and that we need to flex.
And then later on in yourtraining, when the days are
(32:46):
tough and the sessions arelonger, you've already started
to build that base and you canjust continue to build on it
from there.
Plus then you start January andyou're already in motion.
You don't feel like you'restarting from scratch.
You don't feel like you're backat square run, and this is gold
for us.
this is exactly what where weneed to be.
We need to be people who keepour word to ourself, people who
(33:07):
are in integrity, people whovalue movement, and who do what
they say they're going to do.
And you realize the benefits,the physical, the emotional, the
psychological benefits ofexercise and moving your body
and training.
At different levels.
It doesn't always have to lookthe same.
You don't have to run five milesevery single time you go out.
In order for it to count, youcan start to give yourself a
(33:29):
little grace.
And grace can mean maybe you doa little bit less, but you don't
abandon it completely.
So December doesn't need to be amonth that you just survive and
get through.
It can be.
A month where you get topractice who you want to be in
2026.
It can be the little jumpstartor kickstart into 2026.
You don't need to crush Decemberand be like, oh, just like my
(33:53):
training, I totally crushed it.
You need to stay connected.
You need to stay connected toyour body, to your training
identity or your identity as anathlete and to your nervous
system because that is what'sgoing to lead to long-term
sustainable progress.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
All right, so that is fantastic for getting through
December and maintaining thatconsistency.
But what about if you do havethat race at the end of the year
or January, February, thenDecember has to look a whole
heck of a lot different.
Yeah.
December is not a time forminimal viable doses.
Yeah.
December is the time to lockinto your training because you
(34:29):
have a race in.
I think I'm at six weeks rightnow actually.
Yeah.
Speaker (34:32):
And I think this is a perfect thing for you to talk
about, because Kevin actuallyhas a race on January 17th.
Is it?
Or the 18th?
The 19th.
It's that weekend.
whatever that, somewhere inthere.
Whatever that Saturday is.
It's somewhere between the 17thand the 19th I think.
I think that's what I blockedout on the calendar today.
'cause you forgot to put on thecalendar.
Silly, silly man.
What about if you do have arace?
What?
(34:52):
How do we navigate December ifyou have a race and it is more
important for you to stick toyour training schedule?
Speaker 2 (34:58):
I think knowing what it is that you're going to be
able to get in is superimportant.
Like making sure that what youhave planned out for your
training is actually going tofit into the schedule that you
have around you, I talked aboutat the very beginning of the
episode.
This is between cross countryand track season.
So I actually have removedsomething from my plate.
(35:20):
I don't have practice afterschool every day.
That completely changes myentire afternoon schedule, and
that could throw things haywire.
But I've decided if I put a racein January, I can now use this
time to really.
Lock in and get some trainingfor myself as the priority over
training for the high schoolkids.
I actually have two racesbecause there's the school 5K
(35:41):
coming up and that one's super,super important'cause I can't
lose to the high school kids andthen I have to run a really long
distance in January.
I don't have to, but I chooseto.
And In Florida training throughDecember is a whole lot
different than it is in northernstates.
It's ideal to train down here inDecember.
It's not raining all the time,and the temperatures are
(36:02):
generally really nice.
the biggest challenge, honestly,is it gets.
Dark at five in the afternoon.
But other than that, December isa great time to train down here,
so that's why I think it worksreally well.
If you're in a place with coldand snow, you've gotta figure
out, how do I lock in and trainfor this race?
Do I need other aspects to myenvironment?
Do I need to make sure I have atreadmill, I've got a bike, I've
(36:23):
got a gym that I can go to, thatI can get in my training.
You have to have a good reasonto do that race.
You had to have signed up for itfor a reason.
It's not just ah, I thought itwould be convenient to do,
because if you are in a placewith cold and snow.
It's probably not convenient todo that race, so you have to
remember why you did it, andthat will help you on days that
(36:44):
you don't want to get out andtrain.
That okay, this is why I signedup for the race.
This is what I want to get outof the race.
This is the goal that I have,and it helps you overcome a lot
of the other challenges that canhappen in the month if you have
a really good reason for doingit.
I picked the race because it'sactually easier in Florida to
train hard and long duringDecember.
Speaker (37:03):
So what if you put a race on the calendar in order to
force yourself into consistency?
Ooh.
Because there's a lot of peoplethat say, I'm not consistent
unless I have a race on thecalendar.
So they put a race on thecalendar so that they'll be
consistent.
So if we're telling them, okay,you have to remember why you
signed up and that's going tohelp you.
(37:25):
But if the reason that theysigned up is consistency, and
then they're having a problemwith consistency.
What say you there?
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Okay, so I'm fine with putting a race on the
calendar to help maintainconsistency through the month of
December.
There's a lot of places thathave New Year's races or races
very early in the New Year.
'cause sometimes it doesn't hitthe weekend, it's whatever that
Saturday is around, around NewYear's.
That's great.
That might not be the time toaim for a pr, like that's the
way that I'm looking at it isthis race is going to help me
(37:55):
figure out where I am to launchinto 2026.
It's going to see this is whatI've got to main maintaining
consistency through December,and now I know exactly where I
am to start the new year.
It's.
It's going to help withconsistency.
You have a race on the schedule.
Most people, if they put themoney down, they sign up for a
race.
They're not gonna phone it in,they're gonna try.
(38:16):
But it's not the time to belike, all right, my training
wasn't perfect, but I'm stillgonna try and grid it out and
get a pr.
That's just setting yourself upfor mental disappointment.
Speaker (38:24):
Yeah, and I think that again, will exactly relate back
to remember why you signed up.
Because if you signed up for theconsistency and you didn't sign
up for performance in a pr, it'simportant for you to remember
that because if the goal wasconsistency, then great.
Make that the goal.
And then understand that therace is then.
(38:45):
the carrot at the end that'shelping you be more consistent.
So then if you don't run yourbest time ever that re remember
that was not the goal.
The goal was consistency in theprocess.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
If the goal is not performance, then you can't be
disappointed with theperformance.
that's always my take on races.
Yeah.
if.
There's a lot of people thatjust enjoy racing, and sometimes
the goal for that particularrace is the outcome.
And actually how fast can I goin that?
But if you have a lot of raceson your calendar, they can't all
be, how fast can this racepossibly be?
(39:16):
Some of them have to just be forthe enjoyment.
Speaker (39:18):
Yeah.
And if your goal is performance,then your training needs to take
a priority, and you might needto say no to some of the holiday
engagements that you've beeninvited to.
Or some of the extra things onyour plate, like that might be
the answer.
If you have a big goal that youare training for and you and
your performance in that race isreally important to you, there's
going to be other things thatyou need to say no to.
(39:40):
That might feel reallyuncomfortable, but that's you
making a choice very again,intentionally to prioritize the
things that are important toyou.
as a recap of what to do, whatare some practical takeaways for
you in this month?
Number one, pick.
Your intention, like especially,I would love to invite all of
you to join us in theintentional mile challenge for
(40:02):
December, and if you're doingthis.
Please tag us on Instagram atreal life runners.
I would love to, repost you orshare you to the stories and all
of us support each othertogether in this real life
runners universe.
So you can run it, you can walkit, you can run, walk it, you
can be indoors or outdoors,morning or night.
But again, just do it withintention.
Do it and set aside that timefor yourself.
(40:25):
The second thing I would inviteyou to shift would be always
something options for yournon-running days.
Okay?
So one mile a day, maybe you'regoing out for a walk, if that's
enough for you, that's totallyokay.
On your non-running days, maybeyou want to also put in five
minutes of mobility work.
10 minutes of strength work.
Maybe you wanna do a warmupbefore you go out to your, for
(40:46):
your run or out for your walk.
You just can add in a littlefive minute mobility routine
before or after your walk.
Maybe you just wanna add in abreathing practice where you sit
for five minutes and do somedeep breathing.
That is fantastic for yournervous system.
And thinking about, going backto nervous system support, how
can these intentional choicessupport my nervous system and my
(41:07):
body during this time?
And then.
Of course, reducing yourDecember expectations on
yourself, giving yourself thatgrace, swapping perfection for
consistency, understanding thatthere's probably going to be at
least one time this month whereyou're not gonna be able to do
what you planned on doing.
And that's okay.
And instead of thinking, okay, Imiss this workout, ask yourself,
(41:29):
what's something I can do today?
oh, it's too bad.
I don't have enough time.
I guess I'm gonna miss aworkout.
Let's just say, okay, what can Iget in today?
Maybe it is five minutes, maybeit's 10 minutes.
Maybe you have 20 minutes andyou can get in a two mile run,
even though you had a four orfive mile run on your schedule.
Understanding that gettingsomething in is better than
nothing is a really bigperspective shift that we need
(41:51):
to make through it during thismonth.
Speaker 2 (41:53):
Yeah, and the last thing you have down here I think
is super, super importantbecause I think identity is
critical throughout the month.
You don't wanna lose your runneridentity because you.
You literally stop running.
So keep track of all these winsalong the way.
Keep track of the days whereyou're getting in that
intentional mile.
Keep track of the days wherethis wasn't a running day, but I
still did this physical activityand then be able to look back on
(42:16):
it.
And when you hit January, havean account of.
Look at me.
I ran through December.
Look at me.
I did it through December.
It might not have looked thesame as it did earlier in the
year, but it shows theconsistency.
It shows your commitment torunning.
It shows that you are a runner.
Speaker (42:33):
Absolutely.
And if you want more support,again, like I said, I would
invite all of you to do thisintentional mile challenge with
us and tag us.
Reach out.
And if you want some moresupport, if you want coaches and
you want a community and youwant a daily plan, like we can
create a plan for you that isnot the plan that you normally
follow, and that's totally okay.
(42:55):
come over and check out the Reallife Runners team.
We've got.
A great program called The 30Day Reset.
It is on sale right now, so thatyou can get in.
It's going to help you give,it's gonna help give you little
daily tasks that you can dothroughout your day to help to
reinforce this identity, tostart to shift you out of this
sympathetic mode.
Help you.
(43:15):
adopt this new identity of I aman athlete, I am a strong
athlete.
I don't just have to be perfectall the time.
I can give myself grace and makea lot of progress in the process
of all of this.
So check all of that outover@realliferunners.com on that
homepage.
You've got different options.
You can join the team, you canjoin the 30 Day Reset.
you can obviously listen to thepodcast and we'll always be here
(43:37):
to support you on the podcast aswell.
If you haven't yet, leave us areview.
Share us with a friend.
Let's help more runners to startto let go of the perfectionism
and start to embrace consistencyand grace in this beautiful
month of December.
So as always, thanks for joiningus.
This has been The Real LifeRunners podcast, episode number
(43:57):
438.
Now, get out there and run yourlife.
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