November 14, 2025 • 33 mins
This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast: Second Wind, we continue our Run the Reset series by taking on one of the hardest parts of recovery — the mental side. Kyle dives into the “post-race hangover” that so many runners feel once the medals are hung and the adrenaline fades. We talk about why it’s normal to lose motivation, how to quiet the negative voice in your head, and how to rediscover your why when running feels more like work than joy. From practical tools like journaling and unplugging from tracking apps, to learning to run just for fun again, this episode reminds us that resting the mind is every bit as important as resting the body. It’s not about giving up — it’s about remembering why you started.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hello or everyone, grease and salutations. Welcome back to another
episode of the Back of the Back Podcast, Second one.
I'm your host, Kyle Walker. Thank you so much for
tuning in. We're in our second week now here on
second win. How many two's can we fit in here?
Of the run the Reset series? All right, and so
today is resetting the mind. This is actually perfect timing
(00:32):
for this particular episode, as if you listen in on Monday,
we just got back from the Good Life HAVESI up
in Lincoln, Nebraska. Always a race that is on my calendar,
and not only is it on the calendar, it's like
circled on the calendar. It's an important race for me.
It's a race that's still my PR. Nothing changed after
this last running of it. I did not do great
(00:53):
and as we talked about in length on Monday, but
it's an important race because you know, I hold it
in high esteem and high regard. It's a previous PR.
It's a traveling race. We do the vendor table at
the expo, so like I want to meet people, I
want to see people. I know that people have joined
our team and they've come up to run this race
(01:14):
because of our mentioning of it. It's a big race.
So when that race is over, it kind of is
like it's like one of your big goal races. It's
almost like I need a little bit of a reset
after this race to kind of start easing into other
things and other running avenues, because it feels like at
least the few weeks, if not a month leading up
(01:35):
to Good Life HAVESI, it is my all consuming thought.
It is my all consuming race. Yes, there are other races,
but they're not the Good Life haves E that we're
going up to in Lincoln, Nebraska, that we got to
be ready for and that I got to present at
and that I gotta kind of be the face of
this podcast for and blah blah blah blah blah bah blah.
So it is it is nice that we're going to
(01:56):
talk about resetting the mind after doing something that is
so you know, mind and body intensive, like going to
Lincoln for the Good Life have See. Okay, So what
we're going to talk about a little bit today is
here's some of the theme of today's episode, managing post
race blues, mental fatigue, motivation slumps, and just kind of
(02:17):
rediscovering your why, especially after a long race season. Remember,
the whole premise of this series is we're in the fall.
A lot of people, not everyone, are kind of ramping
down for the year. And I know that that is
true because I saw last week's downloads of the podcast,
and our numbers have plummeted, like the temperatures in Lincoln,
Nebraska over Saturday night into Sunday morning. We have plummeted
(02:41):
because people are kind of taking running outside of their
field division right now, as they're not running this many
races and they're not training for their big marathon because
now it's over, and so running is becoming kind of
a secondary thing. So I would love to say that
this is a normal seasonal thing. It is, it's just
not one that I like. I still think that everyone
should listen to this up episode three different times on
(03:01):
three different platforms to get our numbers up, no matter
what time of year that it is, right, makes sense,
sound good? All right? Cool, I'm glad everybody's you know,
on board with that. So last week we talked about
resetting the body. This week we're talking about resetting the mind.
So it's like, all right, you've crossed the finish line,
You've hung the metals, maybe even you hit your goal,
So why does it suddenly feel hard to lace it
(03:22):
up again? That is definitely something we're going to talk about.
So let's go into like the post race hangover. We've
done this before. I've talked I did a whole episode
on this after running the twenty twenty three Boston Marathon,
because from the moment I became a runner and I
actually started looking into the running world and studying races
and figuring out the things I wanted to do. Of course,
(03:43):
you very quickly learn that Boston is the pinnacle. It
is the top of the mountain. Okay, maybe running in
the Olympics, you know, is top of the mountain, but
that's not something anyone like me is ever going to do.
I am not running in the Olympics. The best I
could hope for as an amateur weekend runner is the
(04:05):
Boston Marathon. So when that becomes your goal race, when
that is completed, like all of a sudden, you're like, okay,
it is like it's a post race hangover. It's like, okay,
what do I do now? What is my motivation in life?
Like there are post race blues that go along with it,
and I absolutely have those. So it is like it's
the crash after the big race, and what that is
is your dopamine and you're adrenaline drop. Because I can
(04:29):
sit here, and I'm fortunate I sit here and I
talk about races all the time, so I can get
fired up about a lot of different races. I can
get fired up about good life, have ze. I got
fired up about Boston. I can get fired up about Berlin.
I get fired up about Tokyo and Sydney. But when
those are done for most people, then there's a big
crash because they don't have that next big race that
they're signed up for. They don't have that next World
(04:51):
Marathon Major, or that next Boston Marathon. Because if you've
done Boston, I would venture to say, and I don't
have the numbers on this, I would say there are
probably a hundred times more people who did Boston one
time and never went back and did it again. So
when you're done with your one time, it's not like
you're already starrying to circle around, like okay, time to
start getting ready for next year. Now. I know a
(05:12):
lot of people. They they do all their training and
they go as hard as they possibly can and they
hit their BQ and then they run Boston and then
they're not gonna do that nonsense again, why would they
put themselves through that? So then there's that that I'm done,
and so that dopamine and the adrenaline drop, and that
can lead to some mental burnout. So that is like
feeling flat after a goal race. Okay, so let's say
(05:34):
you hit your big race and then you're trying to
run some other ones, but you're not hitting that same
goal because maybe your training not is not as hard
and you're just not taking it as serious as it
was before. So then you have that feeling of flat.
It's like, well, man, now i'd be cute and then
I ran a great Boston Marathon and set like all
sorts of new records for myself. Well, then I'm gonna
come back and I'm going to try and run you know,
(05:56):
blobbery blo race, and I didn't hit my goals, Like, man,
now I feel kind of worthless. Now I feel like, oh,
everything I did for Boston was all for none. You
can feel flat after a race after you've already hit
your goal, all right, And there's can also be a
loss of direction. So it's like, Okay, what now because
not everyone is me. Then it's just looking for races
damn near every weekend so they have something to talk
(06:17):
about on the podcast. Some people want their Boston, they
want their Pinnacle, they want the top of the mountain,
and then they have no idea what to do afterwards.
So that's that loss of direction. That's not what now. Now.
Do I go and sign up for Flying Pig, Do
I try and get into Berlin? Do I just want
to go down and run some five case for the
rest of the year to try and get away from
(06:40):
the full marathon training. There's a lot of what now,
and it could lead to a lot of questions on
where you want your running, not career, but your situationship
to go at that particular time after you've hit the
big goal race and after you've done that race that was,
you know, a number one on your calendar. And then
another thing that can be kind of a post race
hangover is comparing to others success. Okay, that is a
(07:04):
big one and it's in this section of post race hangover.
But if you're going to mentally reset anything, comparing yourself
to other success is going to mentally burn you. Out
more than anything else in my biggest thing, my biggest
issue this year has been because of injury, I couldn't
(07:28):
go to Marine Corps Marathon. And I saw all the
people who did, and I saw all the people who
ran a good race, and I saw all the people
with their big honk and finisher metal, and I knew
that there was a packet up there in a bib
with my name on it. I was comparing myself to them,
like I should have been there with them. I should
have finished that race. I should have just sucked it
(07:48):
up and done it, risking further harm to myself. Because
my training had been garbage and my injury being what
it is, I was not going to run a good
Marine Corps but I wanted to. I was comparing myself
to them, comparing myself to the finishers of that race.
And even though because of the government shut down it
was a shit show ear MUFSK kids, I still wanted
(08:10):
to be there. There were eleveny billion post race difficulties
that affected thousands and thousands and thousands of runners, and
I wanted to be a part of that as well,
because I still would have had that experience. I still
would have had that metal around my neck. I still
would have had just that feeling of my fifteenth full marathon,
(08:31):
of coming back after doing Marine Corps ten years ago,
of doing their fiftieth, of being there, of being a
part of the people's marathon, and so I was comparing
myself to them. And even though runner of fifteen years
experienced as experience can be with almost four hundred career races, now,
I still would have been that guy that was letting
that into my head, comparing myself to others, and then
(08:53):
on the flip side of that, not really comparing myself
to others, but holding them in this regard and not
holding myself in the same regard, like, oh, look, they
were healthy enough to do that race. I'm not. They
were good enough to go run that race, I'm not.
They beat that bridge. I couldn't. It's very dangerous. And
these are the mental things that we do to ourselves
that are ultimately not beneficial. Others might call them bad.
(09:16):
But what I want to tell you, if you're sitting
there and you're going, oh, man, I've done that, well,
I've been there. So as every runner ever, you are
in good company, my friend, because we have all felt
this way we have all done this before. We have
all played these mental games with ourselves. Sometimes you even
invoiced it to others. Do not feel bad because we
(09:36):
have all been there. I can gear on t you.
And so like in our everyday life, you know, the
same thing happens after like major work projects, after vacations,
Like how hard is it to you know? You you
work year round and you're saving money and you get
to go on this vacation and you go on this
vacation and it is the best vacation you've ever been on,
and you are away and life is great. And then
(09:58):
you come home in you're facing gold back to work,
and you face and paying the bills, and you're facing
the kids being assholes again, and it's like, oh my god,
right there's domment. It's all hangover for you right there.
It's like, it's all over. What's next? What can I
possibly look forward to? Now? The holidays? We're gonna have
to deal with all the in laws, and I got
to deal with the kids acting like jerks because of
(10:19):
the holidays, and because all the schools close every two
minutes because of either weather or in services or holiday days.
And I got to be at home with the kids,
and I'm trying to work. My boss is a jerk,
you know, whatever, your situation is, all of these things,
you know, like it's just all that post whatever hangover.
So it affects the real life world to sue world. Two,
(10:39):
don't worry about it. Milestones can also do it. After
you hit a big milestone in life, your adrenaline fates. Okay,
I got married. Now what Oh now I got to
be a spouse for the next fifty sixty seventy years.
Oh shit. As a guy who's been married twice, I
can tell you, oh boy, there's definitely some adrenaline fading
once you tie the knot and all the fun stuff
is over, and it's like, okay, what's oh life? And
(11:03):
then a lot of times restlessness can kind of sit
in after any of these things. For me, after I
take a running trip, like after Berlin, Oh there's this restlessness,
it's like, oh my god, what's next? Where am I going?
What's happening? Ah? And there was nothing. It's like, okay,
Well that can mentally drain you. Uh So next one
the importance of mental recovery. So, just like muscles, the
mind needs down time to rebuild focus. So if you're
(11:26):
constantly just on edge in your mind, if you're constantly
just creating the next event or overanalyzing the next event,
you're not giving your mind any time to rest and
to reset into an enjoy a moment if you're already
looking for the next one. I wish if I could
go back to twenty twenty three, I had spent more
time analyzing and dwelling on my Boston experience instead of
(11:48):
just constantly looking for the next thing. I was, you know, already,
because we were already doing the podcast at that time.
I'm already looking for the next big race I can
get into to cover for the podcast. I never took
the time to prop go through my thoughts in my
emotions and feelings from Boston, and I should have. I
definitely should have. It would have been better for me
mentally to have done that. Mental fatigue leads to physical mistakes.
(12:12):
So if you're mentally fatigued, it means you can, like
you skip your warm up or you get injured. You
can definitely be more irritable. But when you're mentally tired,
and definitely, for me, when I am mentally tired, when
life has just kicked my rump and beat me down,
and you know, there's not as many downloads on the podcast,
and I got that negative review, and then at work
(12:34):
we had this thing, and then my spouse has given
me a hard time, and then my kids being a jerk.
All of these things can lead to mental fatigue, and
then I can be very irritable, and you know who
else can everyone? It's called life. But when you're mentally tired,
you can definitely be more irritable with the people around you.
Resetting the mind doesn't mean quitting. It means recharging your why.
(12:57):
And we have talked about the why may many times.
You have to have your why. Your why can always change,
but you have to have your why, and recharging resetting
your mind just means recharging your why. So you can.
Here's some simple practices for it. Disconnect from your tracking
apps for a week. I love this challenge. All right,
(13:18):
go out and get a run or two without your garment,
without your without your Apple Watch. Just go run. Just
go run to go run, run outside, Go go outside,
go outside. Nothing wrong with that. You don't need to
track everything you do because there is always an extra
added pressure when you have a wearable always, always, if
(13:39):
you're trying to get what the Strava, the neighborhood, what
is it? Oh my gosh, I was just talking about
it the other day. Local legend. You're trying to get
that local legend stretch on your Strava. You're trying to
get your garment to not tell you you're a lazy piece
of crap, which it always does. You're always trying to
outdo something on these wearables. You're trying to get that badge.
(14:01):
You're trying to get that accomplishment. You're trying to get
the legend. You're trying to do this, that and the other.
Extra pressure, extra pressure, and what does it actually matter? Honestly?
And now I'm wearing my garment. I'm pointing to it
right now. If you're not watching the video, what does
it matter if we get that badge today or we
get it tomorrow, we get in next week. Don't we
let these stupid wearables control our runs far more than
(14:21):
they should. So a simple practice would be run without
it and just see how much better you feel, like,
Oh my god, I'm free. Freedom. Huh. Let's see. Yeah,
run without a watch or a pace goal. Don't worry
about your pace, don't worry if you're fast or slow.
Who cares? If you do your normal three mile route
two minutes slower than you usually do, you probably needed it.
(14:42):
Either you needed that extra time just in your own
head to be out there thinking, or your body just
needed that little bit of a break where you weren't
pushing because of what your watch told you. And then
go run with friends purely for fun. Imagine if you
could get yourself in two of your running buddies to
all go for a run. No one wears a wearable,
(15:02):
nobody tracks it, nobody brings their phone or watch, I
mean bring your phone, put it in your pocket for
safety reasons and whatnot. You get what I'm saying. But
imagine if all of you just went out to run
at a park and talk and keep it conversational pace,
and shoot the breeze and not look down at your
watch every two seconds, and not have the beeps and
the chirps and then this and then that. Oh, that
(15:24):
might go a long way towards making you feel better
about your run. And then really a lot of times
when you were mentally resetting. Again, this isn't all the
time that we're talking about the mental reset here, which
often can be fall. Choose curiosity over competition and rediscover
what you loved about running. As for me, when I
first started running, there weren't these wearables. There wasn't a
(15:46):
way to track every step that I ever took. Ever,
the very first tracking app I had came in one
even an app. It came through Nike, and I got
the Nike shoes that in the soul of it had
a little cutout where you put this little censor, and
really all it was was a pedometer. It just tracked
my steps and didn't do anything else. It didn't sync
to a smartphone because when I got divorced in twenty ten,
(16:08):
I didn't have a smartphone, so all I could do
was track my steps. That was the very first wearable
I had. It went in my Nike shoes and it
tracked my steps. And of course things have gotten bigger
and better and grander since then. But most of us,
unless you are very new to the game, most of
us didn't start with that kind of stuff. So kind
of remember what you started with and how much maybe
(16:30):
easier or nicer it was when you were not constantly
engulfed in your post run stats. I don't know, just
the thought the next one, and we've talked about it before,
we can talk about it again, because this is one
of the most critical things a runner can talk about
or think about to themselves. Refinding your why why do
you run? Revisit that question honestly, and revisit that question
(16:55):
after you've completed your big race again. If you trained
all summer to Berlin, revisit that question after Berlin. If
you trained all summer to run Chicago, revisit that question
after Chicago. You ran all summer and fall to do
the New York Marathon that just got finished. Revisit that question. Now.
(17:16):
Revisit your why now that you were done with your
big goal race that cost you your whole summer of
backyard barbecues and beer so that you could train. Revisit
it now. Let's see common shifts like you might have
started for fitness, you might have stayed for community, and
it might have evolved for your sanity. These are all things, again,
(17:36):
all things to talk to yourself about to figure out
in your own mind. Am I still running simply because
of the fitness aspect of it? Well for me, no,
because my body is falling apart. So it's not just
the fitness, although it's a lot of it. Do I
continue to run because of the community one hundred percent,
one hundred percent of the community, the community from this podcast,
my local Kansas City running community. I run a lot
(17:59):
for the community because I love seeing my peoples on
race morning, and you know, the day I can't do
that anymore is going to be a sad day. Has
it evolved for my sanity? I mean it started, It
started for my sanity. I think it has actually de evolved.
It's not as much about my mental health as it's
more i'd say these days about my physical health, maybe
some emotional health, but that since the community I think
(18:22):
is biggest for me. But you have to figure out
which is most important to you. Fitness, community, mental health.
I know it's a sanity, they're trying to be funny,
but mental health. Okay, So a practice you can do
just throwing out an option, right, your top three reasons
for running today not what they used to be today.
(18:42):
What are the top three reasons you run today? If
you started fifteen years ago, like I did, I guarantee
those reasons have changed. They certainly have. So write your
reasons for running today, not why you did the New
York Marathon. Today, after New York, after Chicago, after Salina,
after Good Life, after insert race here from the fall
(19:07):
that you just completed. Why do you run today and
then compare it to your old motivations? What has changed? Okay?
So the reason I started running in twenty ten to
handle divorce stress, why do I not run for that
same purpose fifteen years later? Well, it's not nearly what
it was. You know, my kids are older. Time heals
all wounds, not that our wound has healed necessarily. But
(19:29):
that's not my identity anymore. Where I was just a
pissed off, bitter, angry divorce guy who'd gotten screwed over
by his ex wife and then screwed over by the
court systems, and then screwed over by everything else you
can be screwed over by in the divorce world. I've
been there, done that, got all the T shirts, got
the scars, got the pain, got all the mental health
(19:49):
issues that go along with it. But again, it was
now so long ago. That's not why I still run.
That's not where I hang my hat. I've made my
life what it is, and I can sit here and
say with one hundred percent I'm a surety, And it's
not like I'm worried that my ex wife was watching
the show. I am better now than I was then,
and every person who knew me both before and after
(20:10):
will adhere or will agree to that statement. I would
not be sitting here. I would not be this version
of myself if I was still married to her, one
hundred percent, hands down, no question none. And I like
who I am. I like where I'm at now. Sure
do I wish I had fifteen years of paying thousands
(20:31):
of thousands of dollars a child support back. Yeah? Sure,
I feel like some of it was a waste because
my daughters are complete pain in the ass sometimes. Uh yeah, sure,
But what parent doesn't so No, My why is very
different from what it used to be. It is not
to deal with divorce stress anymore. It's more the fitness
in the community, and it's a habit. It's a habit
(20:52):
that I'm definitely in favor of. I love running. I
love the running world. I love getting on here and
talking to you about running. I love going to expos
and talking to you about running. I love talking to
race companies. I love going to races. Traveling for races
has been wonderful. I get to travel around for a
race and go see parts of the country and the
(21:12):
world I would have never otherwise gotten to ever ever ever.
I mean Louisville, Kentucky. Chance is me just wandering into Louisville,
Kentucky without it being for a race. Probably pretty slim
Little Rock Arkansas, same thing, Berlin, Germany, same thing. Tokyo, Japan.
For sure. I never had any desire whatsoever to go
(21:35):
to Japan. Now I'm going for the race I would,
and I imagine I'm going to see some really cool
stuff and sidebar complete sidebar here and I'm fine on time,
so I'm going to sidebar. Just know this is a
sidebar when I go over there. So my goal is
to have a tattoo for every full marathon I've done,
like kind of you know, a variation of their race
(21:55):
logo whatever it might be. In Japan, because it is
very close to the Islands of Samoa, they still they
they offer old school, old world style tattoos. I'm talking
like the stick and the thinking thing, you know, that
kind of a tattoo like you see in freaking Mowana.
They will do that in Japan. So while I'm over there.
(22:17):
My goal is to get my Tokyo Marathon tattoo in
the Old World style with a little thinking thing thing
thing think. I am so freaking excited when I have ever,
without running, had a chance to get an old World
style tattoo in Tokyo, Japan. No, trust me. I would
love to go to Samoa sometime and do that there,
(22:38):
but I'm going to do that over in Tokyo. I've
already researched it. Haha. So anyway, okay, paus game on
back in that. That's one of the one of the
big things. Uh So, let's see here A lot of
people will also kind of refining your why some people
will have their identity get tied into performance. You have
(23:01):
to detach from your pr and kind of like reignite
your joy. So, and the reason I bring that up is,
of course, last year, a year ago, twenty twenty four,
good life HAVESI I ran my pr only half marathon
ever under two and a half hours. All right, two hours,
twenty nine minutes and fifty seconds is still under two
and a half hours. But I knew that wasn't gonna
(23:22):
be repeated, so I still had to try and find
joy in running good life HAVESI knowing that a PR
was not on the table, and it wasn't at no
point in time was that gonna be on the table.
But I still have fun. But I had to. I
had to have that conversation with myself. And you're gonna
have to have that conversation with yourself too, especially if
you set a PR at a race and you go
back to next year and maybe your training hasn't been
as good or you're just not where you're at. You
(23:44):
have to be like, Okay, I'm gonna run this race,
but I know it's gonna be more of a time,
but I'm still gonna have fun with it anyway, because
ultimately this is supposed to be fun. Right. If you
lose your joy in running, stop running, take a break.
You're clearly burned out and you you need both a
physical body reset and a mental reset. One hundred percent
those need to happen if you have lost your joy
(24:06):
of running. Some tools for the mental reset, all right,
Practical ways to rebuild mental clarity. Number one journaling. And
I know a lot of people are, oh, I don't
want to write a journal every day. No, I get that.
Here's what you do over the next few days, over
a week. Take a week to do it. Do a
season recap, all right, So talk about what race was
(24:27):
an absolute win, what race was an absolute loss, just everything,
munch of crap. What race was a lesson? You learn
something about yourself, You learn something about how to race,
You learn something about how to prepare, you learn something
about how to post race. So do a season recap.
(24:48):
One win, one loss, one lesson, and then anything else,
any other reflections you had during that period of this
long race season. John it down. It's a good way
to just it. Brings it to the forefront of your mind,
especially the one win. If you had a win back
in spring, you've forgotten about it by now, bring it back,
Bring it back to the forefront of your mind. I
think it'll help a lot of people do vision boards.
(25:09):
A vision board or playlist, reset new songs, new vibe.
I think this is a fantastic idea and I desperately
need to do it. There are times my playlist is old.
I add songs at times, but there are ones I
definitely needed to take off. They spoke to me at
a period, but they don't speak to me as strongly now.
They still might be a good song, but it might
(25:30):
not where I'm at where I might be at anymore mentally,
So there's definitely a playlist. Reset sounds fantastic and I
need to do it a community connection. Volunteer to race
instead of running it. It is always an eye opening
experience to me when I volunteer at racism as opposed
to running them. Running is super fun. It's a completely
(25:51):
different world when you volunteer, So I absolutely would encourage
you to volunteer at a race or two. Well, maybe
you're taking a little time off for this reset and
then goal shift switch from outcome goals like prs to
processed goals like consistency. Okay, best example I've got of that.
So take a ten k, any ten k, whatever ten
(26:11):
k you've got your PR like for me one oh seven,
and change maybe one oh five, and change right in
that area. Instead of saying I'm going to get a
one oh four, why don't I say I'm going to
be consistent on my pace throughout the entire thing, even
if that doesn't lead to a PR and sometimes it won't,
but a consistent pace I want to try and stay
(26:34):
at eleven thirty. Let's say, for example, from start to finish,
not doing a nine to fifty eight and then a
thirteen oh three. Put an eleven eleven and a half
twelve instead of instead of you know, surging and going
really fast for a mile, but then having to walk
it off. Try and be consistent over over an entire race.
(26:58):
And again I'm talking to ten k here. Don't worry
out the pr worry about the consistency again. It just
changes your approach to a race. It changes what you're
thinking about and how you're planning things when you're at
that start line getting ready to go. So then in
everyday life, same strategies work outside of running. New projects
are great. Starting a new project around the house. We're
getting close to the holidays, so start thinking about how
(27:20):
you're gonna set up for Christmas or Hanukah or whatever.
You know, what decorations are you gonna do. You can
leave some of the bucks, you're gonna put everything out
this year. Yeah, that's just a project to kind of
to kind of help your mind mentally reset on what's
been going on over the year. Uh, find creative hobbies
and then uh, you know, rest all the mental gears
and whatever you can do. I know it's not easy,
(27:40):
especially in regular life. You're always going to be a spouse,
you're old, is gonna be a parent more than likely.
On these situations. You're always gonna be working. But try
and find resets where you can. And it's not easy,
not easy, but worth it when you can do it.
Let's say handling the negative voice, because we all have
that negative voice in our heads, so let's let's address
that song real quick. The inner often gets loud after downtime,
(28:03):
so you'll be taking this reset, you'll be feeling good
and be like, man, this is nice, this is nice,
enjoying this holiday a little more, not pushing so hard
on the weekends. This is nice. But then that little
inner voice in your head is gonna be like, oh, well,
I'm glad you're enjoying it. Your lazy sun gun. You're
lazy man. Why are you doing this? You're gonna lose
all your fitness. You're losing all your fitness by sitting here.
(28:24):
What are you doing? Get out there, run, run as
hard as you can run until you pass out. You
better get go with the pr next weekend. Now, that
voice is stupid. He don't know what he's talking about.
So you counter that voice with some facts. Okay, resting
prevents burnout. When you just go, go go, you get
burned out. The only reason I don't is because this
is my outlet. This is my creative outlet. I get
(28:45):
to come on here and talk to you all about running,
my creative outlet. Which stops from the burnout? Which stops
or which helps with the mental reset. Your base fitness
does not vanish in two weeks, despite what people might
tell you. You're still gonna be in decent shape in
two weeks. All right, Yeah, you might have to sand
down the rough edges a little bit again, but that
(29:06):
base is still there. It's not just gonna be gone
because you took two weeks off and you know, had
lighter runs and didn't train like you were trying to
BQ and then comparison steels progress. We talked about this recently.
Do not ever compare yourself to other runners. It is
a terrible idea. It is dumb. Again, you may have
started with someone just like there was a day. There
(29:28):
was the day way back when where Cody and I
could run together. Now this dude is chasing like sub
three full marathons, sub four full marathons. I'm not. I'm
still chasing survival, all right. People change, don't compare yourself.
I do not compare myself to him. He is a
different runner, and I am a different runner. So I
run as best as I can run, and other people
(29:50):
run as best as they can run, and I'm not
gonna compare myself to any of them, because you never
know what is going on with someone else. You can
see another runner and you're gonna think one of two things. Wow,
they're really they're a lot faster than they look, or boy,
they look like they'd be a lot faster than they are.
You don't know. You don't know if they're fighting injury.
You don't know if emotionally they can't go any farther.
(30:12):
You don't know if they're just trying to stay in
that course as long as they can, because this was
the most important race for them on that weekend, or
this race meant something to them and their friend who's
no longer with them and the last time he ran
this race or she ran this race. They ran it
with their buddy and their buddies and not here anymore.
And they don't want to leave the course. They don't
want to finish because they finished without their friend. You
don't know why people are running the way that they're running.
(30:36):
And yeah, i'd say probably ninety nine times out of
one hundred it just comes down to ability. But you
don't know, So why would you compare yourself? Again, comparisons
will work both good and bad. Don't do either. I
strongly suggest you don't do either. Okay, So that's kind
of where we're at for this one. I went long, Jesuise.
I didn't think that was gonna be a problem this week.
(30:57):
So this week your challenge is run once for your
mind and not your mileage. No want, no pace, just run.
It's one thing you're gonna do this week, all right,
And then next week we're gonna talk about resetting your
routine to try and you know, kind of keep going
with the reset. And then we have gone out and
filmed at a location, a restorative location, and so I'm
(31:19):
gonna try and get that episode put together for the
last week of the series and hopefully you will enjoy that.
And that's that was a big um. Sorry about that,
but just remember that resetting your mind isn't weakness, it
is wisdom. So resets are big, they're critical, they're important.
We have to do them or you will burn out.
You will start to hate what you're doing, you will
start hating the process. And as soon as hate jumps
(31:40):
into any of this, you are doomed, my friend. And
it's very hard to dig yourself out of that hole.
So don't do it. All right, So tomorrow this weekend,
we've got Yettie Endurance weekend. So we've got that coming up.
You know, there's a well, the Chasing You Rabbit's Run
Club is kind of done for November because our next
meeting is going to be on Thanksgiving, and you know,
(32:03):
some people have said they would show up, and I
know that discourse is going to be open. I'm gonna
talk to the brain trust and see if anyone might
want to do run club on Thanksgiving night. I would
not expect many people there. If you have an opinion
on that, let me know. If you're like, oh yeah,
I would absolutely come to Chasing Rapertron Club on Thanksgiving night, Okay,
let me know, because I'm teeter tottering on if we
(32:25):
might offer that or not. Who knows, but that's gonna
do it. That's it. Hopefully this made sense to you.
I would love feedback and if you have questions, fire
my way. It only makes us better. So that's gonna
do it. For another episode of the Back of the
Back podcast, second one, I'm a Skywalker. It has been
my pleasure. As always, everyone, have a safe week of
training and we will see you next week
Hello or everyone, grease and salutations. Welcome back to another
episode of the Back of the Back Podcast, Second one.
I'm your host, Kyle Walker. Thank you so much for
tuning in. We're in our second week now here on
second win. How many two's can we fit in here?
Of the run the Reset series? All right, and so
today is resetting the mind. This is actually perfect timing
(00:32):
for this particular episode, as if you listen in on Monday,
we just got back from the Good Life HAVESI up
in Lincoln, Nebraska. Always a race that is on my calendar,
and not only is it on the calendar, it's like
circled on the calendar. It's an important race for me.
It's a race that's still my PR. Nothing changed after
this last running of it. I did not do great
(00:53):
and as we talked about in length on Monday, but
it's an important race because you know, I hold it
in high esteem and high regard. It's a previous PR.
It's a traveling race. We do the vendor table at
the expo, so like I want to meet people, I
want to see people. I know that people have joined
our team and they've come up to run this race
(01:14):
because of our mentioning of it. It's a big race.
So when that race is over, it kind of is
like it's like one of your big goal races. It's
almost like I need a little bit of a reset
after this race to kind of start easing into other
things and other running avenues, because it feels like at
least the few weeks, if not a month leading up
(01:35):
to Good Life HAVESI, it is my all consuming thought.
It is my all consuming race. Yes, there are other races,
but they're not the Good Life haves E that we're
going up to in Lincoln, Nebraska, that we got to
be ready for and that I got to present at
and that I gotta kind of be the face of
this podcast for and blah blah blah blah blah bah blah.
So it is it is nice that we're going to
(01:56):
talk about resetting the mind after doing something that is
so you know, mind and body intensive, like going to
Lincoln for the Good Life have See. Okay, So what
we're going to talk about a little bit today is
here's some of the theme of today's episode, managing post
race blues, mental fatigue, motivation slumps, and just kind of
(02:17):
rediscovering your why, especially after a long race season. Remember,
the whole premise of this series is we're in the fall.
A lot of people, not everyone, are kind of ramping
down for the year. And I know that that is
true because I saw last week's downloads of the podcast,
and our numbers have plummeted, like the temperatures in Lincoln,
Nebraska over Saturday night into Sunday morning. We have plummeted
(02:41):
because people are kind of taking running outside of their
field division right now, as they're not running this many
races and they're not training for their big marathon because
now it's over, and so running is becoming kind of
a secondary thing. So I would love to say that
this is a normal seasonal thing. It is, it's just
not one that I like. I still think that everyone
should listen to this up episode three different times on
(03:01):
three different platforms to get our numbers up, no matter
what time of year that it is, right, makes sense,
sound good? All right? Cool, I'm glad everybody's you know,
on board with that. So last week we talked about
resetting the body. This week we're talking about resetting the mind.
So it's like, all right, you've crossed the finish line,
You've hung the metals, maybe even you hit your goal,
So why does it suddenly feel hard to lace it
(03:22):
up again? That is definitely something we're going to talk about.
So let's go into like the post race hangover. We've
done this before. I've talked I did a whole episode
on this after running the twenty twenty three Boston Marathon,
because from the moment I became a runner and I
actually started looking into the running world and studying races
and figuring out the things I wanted to do. Of course,
(03:43):
you very quickly learn that Boston is the pinnacle. It
is the top of the mountain. Okay, maybe running in
the Olympics, you know, is top of the mountain, but
that's not something anyone like me is ever going to do.
I am not running in the Olympics. The best I
could hope for as an amateur weekend runner is the
(04:05):
Boston Marathon. So when that becomes your goal race, when
that is completed, like all of a sudden, you're like, okay,
it is like it's a post race hangover. It's like, okay,
what do I do now? What is my motivation in life?
Like there are post race blues that go along with it,
and I absolutely have those. So it is like it's
the crash after the big race, and what that is
is your dopamine and you're adrenaline drop. Because I can
(04:29):
sit here, and I'm fortunate I sit here and I
talk about races all the time, so I can get
fired up about a lot of different races. I can
get fired up about good life, have ze. I got
fired up about Boston. I can get fired up about Berlin.
I get fired up about Tokyo and Sydney. But when
those are done for most people, then there's a big
crash because they don't have that next big race that
they're signed up for. They don't have that next World
(04:51):
Marathon Major, or that next Boston Marathon. Because if you've
done Boston, I would venture to say, and I don't
have the numbers on this, I would say there are
probably a hundred times more people who did Boston one
time and never went back and did it again. So
when you're done with your one time, it's not like
you're already starrying to circle around, like okay, time to
start getting ready for next year. Now. I know a
(05:12):
lot of people. They they do all their training and
they go as hard as they possibly can and they
hit their BQ and then they run Boston and then
they're not gonna do that nonsense again, why would they
put themselves through that? So then there's that that I'm done,
and so that dopamine and the adrenaline drop, and that
can lead to some mental burnout. So that is like
feeling flat after a goal race. Okay, so let's say
(05:34):
you hit your big race and then you're trying to
run some other ones, but you're not hitting that same
goal because maybe your training not is not as hard
and you're just not taking it as serious as it
was before. So then you have that feeling of flat.
It's like, well, man, now i'd be cute and then
I ran a great Boston Marathon and set like all
sorts of new records for myself. Well, then I'm gonna
come back and I'm going to try and run you know,
(05:56):
blobbery blo race, and I didn't hit my goals, Like, man,
now I feel kind of worthless. Now I feel like, oh,
everything I did for Boston was all for none. You
can feel flat after a race after you've already hit
your goal, all right, And there's can also be a
loss of direction. So it's like, Okay, what now because
not everyone is me. Then it's just looking for races
damn near every weekend so they have something to talk
(06:17):
about on the podcast. Some people want their Boston, they
want their Pinnacle, they want the top of the mountain,
and then they have no idea what to do afterwards.
So that's that loss of direction. That's not what now. Now.
Do I go and sign up for Flying Pig, Do
I try and get into Berlin? Do I just want
to go down and run some five case for the
rest of the year to try and get away from
(06:40):
the full marathon training. There's a lot of what now,
and it could lead to a lot of questions on
where you want your running, not career, but your situationship
to go at that particular time after you've hit the
big goal race and after you've done that race that was,
you know, a number one on your calendar. And then
another thing that can be kind of a post race
hangover is comparing to others success. Okay, that is a
(07:04):
big one and it's in this section of post race hangover.
But if you're going to mentally reset anything, comparing yourself
to other success is going to mentally burn you. Out
more than anything else in my biggest thing, my biggest
issue this year has been because of injury, I couldn't
(07:28):
go to Marine Corps Marathon. And I saw all the
people who did, and I saw all the people who
ran a good race, and I saw all the people
with their big honk and finisher metal, and I knew
that there was a packet up there in a bib
with my name on it. I was comparing myself to them,
like I should have been there with them. I should
have finished that race. I should have just sucked it
(07:48):
up and done it, risking further harm to myself. Because
my training had been garbage and my injury being what
it is, I was not going to run a good
Marine Corps but I wanted to. I was comparing myself
to them, comparing myself to the finishers of that race.
And even though because of the government shut down it
was a shit show ear MUFSK kids, I still wanted
(08:10):
to be there. There were eleveny billion post race difficulties
that affected thousands and thousands and thousands of runners, and
I wanted to be a part of that as well,
because I still would have had that experience. I still
would have had that metal around my neck. I still
would have had just that feeling of my fifteenth full marathon,
(08:31):
of coming back after doing Marine Corps ten years ago,
of doing their fiftieth, of being there, of being a
part of the people's marathon, and so I was comparing
myself to them. And even though runner of fifteen years
experienced as experience can be with almost four hundred career races, now,
I still would have been that guy that was letting
that into my head, comparing myself to others, and then
(08:53):
on the flip side of that, not really comparing myself
to others, but holding them in this regard and not
holding myself in the same regard, like, oh, look, they
were healthy enough to do that race. I'm not. They
were good enough to go run that race, I'm not.
They beat that bridge. I couldn't. It's very dangerous. And
these are the mental things that we do to ourselves
that are ultimately not beneficial. Others might call them bad.
(09:16):
But what I want to tell you, if you're sitting
there and you're going, oh, man, I've done that, well,
I've been there. So as every runner ever, you are
in good company, my friend, because we have all felt
this way we have all done this before. We have
all played these mental games with ourselves. Sometimes you even
invoiced it to others. Do not feel bad because we
(09:36):
have all been there. I can gear on t you.
And so like in our everyday life, you know, the
same thing happens after like major work projects, after vacations,
Like how hard is it to you know? You you
work year round and you're saving money and you get
to go on this vacation and you go on this
vacation and it is the best vacation you've ever been on,
and you are away and life is great. And then
(09:58):
you come home in you're facing gold back to work,
and you face and paying the bills, and you're facing
the kids being assholes again, and it's like, oh my god,
right there's domment. It's all hangover for you right there.
It's like, it's all over. What's next? What can I
possibly look forward to? Now? The holidays? We're gonna have
to deal with all the in laws, and I got
to deal with the kids acting like jerks because of
(10:19):
the holidays, and because all the schools close every two
minutes because of either weather or in services or holiday days.
And I got to be at home with the kids,
and I'm trying to work. My boss is a jerk,
you know, whatever, your situation is, all of these things,
you know, like it's just all that post whatever hangover.
So it affects the real life world to sue world. Two,
(10:39):
don't worry about it. Milestones can also do it. After
you hit a big milestone in life, your adrenaline fates. Okay,
I got married. Now what Oh now I got to
be a spouse for the next fifty sixty seventy years.
Oh shit. As a guy who's been married twice, I
can tell you, oh boy, there's definitely some adrenaline fading
once you tie the knot and all the fun stuff
is over, and it's like, okay, what's oh life? And
(11:03):
then a lot of times restlessness can kind of sit
in after any of these things. For me, after I
take a running trip, like after Berlin, Oh there's this restlessness,
it's like, oh my god, what's next? Where am I going?
What's happening? Ah? And there was nothing. It's like, okay,
Well that can mentally drain you. Uh So next one
the importance of mental recovery. So, just like muscles, the
mind needs down time to rebuild focus. So if you're
(11:26):
constantly just on edge in your mind, if you're constantly
just creating the next event or overanalyzing the next event,
you're not giving your mind any time to rest and
to reset into an enjoy a moment if you're already
looking for the next one. I wish if I could
go back to twenty twenty three, I had spent more
time analyzing and dwelling on my Boston experience instead of
(11:48):
just constantly looking for the next thing. I was, you know, already,
because we were already doing the podcast at that time.
I'm already looking for the next big race I can
get into to cover for the podcast. I never took
the time to prop go through my thoughts in my
emotions and feelings from Boston, and I should have. I
definitely should have. It would have been better for me
mentally to have done that. Mental fatigue leads to physical mistakes.
(12:12):
So if you're mentally fatigued, it means you can, like
you skip your warm up or you get injured. You
can definitely be more irritable. But when you're mentally tired,
and definitely, for me, when I am mentally tired, when
life has just kicked my rump and beat me down,
and you know, there's not as many downloads on the podcast,
and I got that negative review, and then at work
(12:34):
we had this thing, and then my spouse has given
me a hard time, and then my kids being a jerk.
All of these things can lead to mental fatigue, and
then I can be very irritable, and you know who
else can everyone? It's called life. But when you're mentally tired,
you can definitely be more irritable with the people around you.
Resetting the mind doesn't mean quitting. It means recharging your why.
(12:57):
And we have talked about the why may many times.
You have to have your why. Your why can always change,
but you have to have your why, and recharging resetting
your mind just means recharging your why. So you can.
Here's some simple practices for it. Disconnect from your tracking
apps for a week. I love this challenge. All right,
(13:18):
go out and get a run or two without your garment,
without your without your Apple Watch. Just go run. Just
go run to go run, run outside, Go go outside,
go outside. Nothing wrong with that. You don't need to
track everything you do because there is always an extra
added pressure when you have a wearable always, always, if
(13:39):
you're trying to get what the Strava, the neighborhood, what
is it? Oh my gosh, I was just talking about
it the other day. Local legend. You're trying to get
that local legend stretch on your Strava. You're trying to
get your garment to not tell you you're a lazy piece
of crap, which it always does. You're always trying to
outdo something on these wearables. You're trying to get that badge.
(14:01):
You're trying to get that accomplishment. You're trying to get
the legend. You're trying to do this, that and the other.
Extra pressure, extra pressure, and what does it actually matter? Honestly?
And now I'm wearing my garment. I'm pointing to it
right now. If you're not watching the video, what does
it matter if we get that badge today or we
get it tomorrow, we get in next week. Don't we
let these stupid wearables control our runs far more than
(14:21):
they should. So a simple practice would be run without
it and just see how much better you feel, like,
Oh my god, I'm free. Freedom. Huh. Let's see. Yeah,
run without a watch or a pace goal. Don't worry
about your pace, don't worry if you're fast or slow.
Who cares? If you do your normal three mile route
two minutes slower than you usually do, you probably needed it.
(14:42):
Either you needed that extra time just in your own
head to be out there thinking, or your body just
needed that little bit of a break where you weren't
pushing because of what your watch told you. And then
go run with friends purely for fun. Imagine if you
could get yourself in two of your running buddies to
all go for a run. No one wears a wearable,
(15:02):
nobody tracks it, nobody brings their phone or watch, I
mean bring your phone, put it in your pocket for
safety reasons and whatnot. You get what I'm saying. But
imagine if all of you just went out to run
at a park and talk and keep it conversational pace,
and shoot the breeze and not look down at your
watch every two seconds, and not have the beeps and
the chirps and then this and then that. Oh, that
(15:24):
might go a long way towards making you feel better
about your run. And then really a lot of times
when you were mentally resetting. Again, this isn't all the
time that we're talking about the mental reset here, which
often can be fall. Choose curiosity over competition and rediscover
what you loved about running. As for me, when I
first started running, there weren't these wearables. There wasn't a
(15:46):
way to track every step that I ever took. Ever,
the very first tracking app I had came in one
even an app. It came through Nike, and I got
the Nike shoes that in the soul of it had
a little cutout where you put this little censor, and
really all it was was a pedometer. It just tracked
my steps and didn't do anything else. It didn't sync
to a smartphone because when I got divorced in twenty ten,
(16:08):
I didn't have a smartphone, so all I could do
was track my steps. That was the very first wearable
I had. It went in my Nike shoes and it
tracked my steps. And of course things have gotten bigger
and better and grander since then. But most of us,
unless you are very new to the game, most of
us didn't start with that kind of stuff. So kind
of remember what you started with and how much maybe
(16:30):
easier or nicer it was when you were not constantly
engulfed in your post run stats. I don't know, just
the thought the next one, and we've talked about it before,
we can talk about it again, because this is one
of the most critical things a runner can talk about
or think about to themselves. Refinding your why why do
you run? Revisit that question honestly, and revisit that question
(16:55):
after you've completed your big race again. If you trained
all summer to Berlin, revisit that question after Berlin. If
you trained all summer to run Chicago, revisit that question
after Chicago. You ran all summer and fall to do
the New York Marathon that just got finished. Revisit that question. Now.
(17:16):
Revisit your why now that you were done with your
big goal race that cost you your whole summer of
backyard barbecues and beer so that you could train. Revisit
it now. Let's see common shifts like you might have
started for fitness, you might have stayed for community, and
it might have evolved for your sanity. These are all things, again,
(17:36):
all things to talk to yourself about to figure out
in your own mind. Am I still running simply because
of the fitness aspect of it? Well for me, no,
because my body is falling apart. So it's not just
the fitness, although it's a lot of it. Do I
continue to run because of the community one hundred percent,
one hundred percent of the community, the community from this podcast,
my local Kansas City running community. I run a lot
(17:59):
for the community because I love seeing my peoples on
race morning, and you know, the day I can't do
that anymore is going to be a sad day. Has
it evolved for my sanity? I mean it started, It
started for my sanity. I think it has actually de evolved.
It's not as much about my mental health as it's
more i'd say these days about my physical health, maybe
some emotional health, but that since the community I think
(18:22):
is biggest for me. But you have to figure out
which is most important to you. Fitness, community, mental health.
I know it's a sanity, they're trying to be funny,
but mental health. Okay, So a practice you can do
just throwing out an option, right, your top three reasons
for running today not what they used to be today.
(18:42):
What are the top three reasons you run today? If
you started fifteen years ago, like I did, I guarantee
those reasons have changed. They certainly have. So write your
reasons for running today, not why you did the New
York Marathon. Today, after New York, after Chicago, after Salina,
after Good Life, after insert race here from the fall
(19:07):
that you just completed. Why do you run today and
then compare it to your old motivations? What has changed? Okay?
So the reason I started running in twenty ten to
handle divorce stress, why do I not run for that
same purpose fifteen years later? Well, it's not nearly what
it was. You know, my kids are older. Time heals
all wounds, not that our wound has healed necessarily. But
(19:29):
that's not my identity anymore. Where I was just a
pissed off, bitter, angry divorce guy who'd gotten screwed over
by his ex wife and then screwed over by the
court systems, and then screwed over by everything else you
can be screwed over by in the divorce world. I've
been there, done that, got all the T shirts, got
the scars, got the pain, got all the mental health
(19:49):
issues that go along with it. But again, it was
now so long ago. That's not why I still run.
That's not where I hang my hat. I've made my
life what it is, and I can sit here and
say with one hundred percent I'm a surety, And it's
not like I'm worried that my ex wife was watching
the show. I am better now than I was then,
and every person who knew me both before and after
(20:10):
will adhere or will agree to that statement. I would
not be sitting here. I would not be this version
of myself if I was still married to her, one
hundred percent, hands down, no question none. And I like
who I am. I like where I'm at now. Sure
do I wish I had fifteen years of paying thousands
(20:31):
of thousands of dollars a child support back. Yeah? Sure,
I feel like some of it was a waste because
my daughters are complete pain in the ass sometimes. Uh yeah, sure,
But what parent doesn't so No, My why is very
different from what it used to be. It is not
to deal with divorce stress anymore. It's more the fitness
in the community, and it's a habit. It's a habit
(20:52):
that I'm definitely in favor of. I love running. I
love the running world. I love getting on here and
talking to you about running. I love going to expos
and talking to you about running. I love talking to
race companies. I love going to races. Traveling for races
has been wonderful. I get to travel around for a
race and go see parts of the country and the
(21:12):
world I would have never otherwise gotten to ever ever ever.
I mean Louisville, Kentucky. Chance is me just wandering into Louisville,
Kentucky without it being for a race. Probably pretty slim
Little Rock Arkansas, same thing, Berlin, Germany, same thing. Tokyo, Japan.
For sure. I never had any desire whatsoever to go
(21:35):
to Japan. Now I'm going for the race I would,
and I imagine I'm going to see some really cool
stuff and sidebar complete sidebar here and I'm fine on time,
so I'm going to sidebar. Just know this is a
sidebar when I go over there. So my goal is
to have a tattoo for every full marathon I've done,
like kind of you know, a variation of their race
(21:55):
logo whatever it might be. In Japan, because it is
very close to the Islands of Samoa, they still they
they offer old school, old world style tattoos. I'm talking
like the stick and the thinking thing, you know, that
kind of a tattoo like you see in freaking Mowana.
They will do that in Japan. So while I'm over there.
(22:17):
My goal is to get my Tokyo Marathon tattoo in
the Old World style with a little thinking thing thing
thing think. I am so freaking excited when I have ever,
without running, had a chance to get an old World
style tattoo in Tokyo, Japan. No, trust me. I would
love to go to Samoa sometime and do that there,
(22:38):
but I'm going to do that over in Tokyo. I've
already researched it. Haha. So anyway, okay, paus game on
back in that. That's one of the one of the
big things. Uh So, let's see here A lot of
people will also kind of refining your why some people
will have their identity get tied into performance. You have
(23:01):
to detach from your pr and kind of like reignite
your joy. So, and the reason I bring that up is,
of course, last year, a year ago, twenty twenty four,
good life HAVESI I ran my pr only half marathon
ever under two and a half hours. All right, two hours,
twenty nine minutes and fifty seconds is still under two
and a half hours. But I knew that wasn't gonna
(23:22):
be repeated, so I still had to try and find
joy in running good life HAVESI knowing that a PR
was not on the table, and it wasn't at no
point in time was that gonna be on the table.
But I still have fun. But I had to. I
had to have that conversation with myself. And you're gonna
have to have that conversation with yourself too, especially if
you set a PR at a race and you go
back to next year and maybe your training hasn't been
as good or you're just not where you're at. You
(23:44):
have to be like, Okay, I'm gonna run this race,
but I know it's gonna be more of a time,
but I'm still gonna have fun with it anyway, because
ultimately this is supposed to be fun. Right. If you
lose your joy in running, stop running, take a break.
You're clearly burned out and you you need both a
physical body reset and a mental reset. One hundred percent
those need to happen if you have lost your joy
(24:06):
of running. Some tools for the mental reset, all right,
Practical ways to rebuild mental clarity. Number one journaling. And
I know a lot of people are, oh, I don't
want to write a journal every day. No, I get that.
Here's what you do over the next few days, over
a week. Take a week to do it. Do a
season recap, all right, So talk about what race was
(24:27):
an absolute win, what race was an absolute loss, just everything,
munch of crap. What race was a lesson? You learn
something about yourself, You learn something about how to race,
You learn something about how to prepare, you learn something
about how to post race. So do a season recap.
(24:48):
One win, one loss, one lesson, and then anything else,
any other reflections you had during that period of this
long race season. John it down. It's a good way
to just it. Brings it to the forefront of your mind,
especially the one win. If you had a win back
in spring, you've forgotten about it by now, bring it back,
Bring it back to the forefront of your mind. I
think it'll help a lot of people do vision boards.
(25:09):
A vision board or playlist, reset new songs, new vibe.
I think this is a fantastic idea and I desperately
need to do it. There are times my playlist is old.
I add songs at times, but there are ones I
definitely needed to take off. They spoke to me at
a period, but they don't speak to me as strongly now.
They still might be a good song, but it might
(25:30):
not where I'm at where I might be at anymore mentally,
So there's definitely a playlist. Reset sounds fantastic and I
need to do it a community connection. Volunteer to race
instead of running it. It is always an eye opening
experience to me when I volunteer at racism as opposed
to running them. Running is super fun. It's a completely
(25:51):
different world when you volunteer, So I absolutely would encourage
you to volunteer at a race or two. Well, maybe
you're taking a little time off for this reset and
then goal shift switch from outcome goals like prs to
processed goals like consistency. Okay, best example I've got of that.
So take a ten k, any ten k, whatever ten
(26:11):
k you've got your PR like for me one oh seven,
and change maybe one oh five, and change right in
that area. Instead of saying I'm going to get a
one oh four, why don't I say I'm going to
be consistent on my pace throughout the entire thing, even
if that doesn't lead to a PR and sometimes it won't,
but a consistent pace I want to try and stay
(26:34):
at eleven thirty. Let's say, for example, from start to finish,
not doing a nine to fifty eight and then a
thirteen oh three. Put an eleven eleven and a half
twelve instead of instead of you know, surging and going
really fast for a mile, but then having to walk
it off. Try and be consistent over over an entire race.
(26:58):
And again I'm talking to ten k here. Don't worry
out the pr worry about the consistency again. It just
changes your approach to a race. It changes what you're
thinking about and how you're planning things when you're at
that start line getting ready to go. So then in
everyday life, same strategies work outside of running. New projects
are great. Starting a new project around the house. We're
getting close to the holidays, so start thinking about how
(27:20):
you're gonna set up for Christmas or Hanukah or whatever.
You know, what decorations are you gonna do. You can
leave some of the bucks, you're gonna put everything out
this year. Yeah, that's just a project to kind of
to kind of help your mind mentally reset on what's
been going on over the year. Uh, find creative hobbies
and then uh, you know, rest all the mental gears
and whatever you can do. I know it's not easy,
(27:40):
especially in regular life. You're always going to be a spouse,
you're old, is gonna be a parent more than likely.
On these situations. You're always gonna be working. But try
and find resets where you can. And it's not easy,
not easy, but worth it when you can do it.
Let's say handling the negative voice, because we all have
that negative voice in our heads, so let's let's address
that song real quick. The inner often gets loud after downtime,
(28:03):
so you'll be taking this reset, you'll be feeling good
and be like, man, this is nice, this is nice,
enjoying this holiday a little more, not pushing so hard
on the weekends. This is nice. But then that little
inner voice in your head is gonna be like, oh, well,
I'm glad you're enjoying it. Your lazy sun gun. You're
lazy man. Why are you doing this? You're gonna lose
all your fitness. You're losing all your fitness by sitting here.
(28:24):
What are you doing? Get out there, run, run as
hard as you can run until you pass out. You
better get go with the pr next weekend. Now, that
voice is stupid. He don't know what he's talking about.
So you counter that voice with some facts. Okay, resting
prevents burnout. When you just go, go go, you get
burned out. The only reason I don't is because this
is my outlet. This is my creative outlet. I get
(28:45):
to come on here and talk to you all about running,
my creative outlet. Which stops from the burnout? Which stops
or which helps with the mental reset. Your base fitness
does not vanish in two weeks, despite what people might
tell you. You're still gonna be in decent shape in
two weeks. All right, Yeah, you might have to sand
down the rough edges a little bit again, but that
(29:06):
base is still there. It's not just gonna be gone
because you took two weeks off and you know, had
lighter runs and didn't train like you were trying to
BQ and then comparison steels progress. We talked about this recently.
Do not ever compare yourself to other runners. It is
a terrible idea. It is dumb. Again, you may have
started with someone just like there was a day. There
(29:28):
was the day way back when where Cody and I
could run together. Now this dude is chasing like sub
three full marathons, sub four full marathons. I'm not. I'm
still chasing survival, all right. People change, don't compare yourself.
I do not compare myself to him. He is a
different runner, and I am a different runner. So I
run as best as I can run, and other people
(29:50):
run as best as they can run, and I'm not
gonna compare myself to any of them, because you never
know what is going on with someone else. You can
see another runner and you're gonna think one of two things. Wow,
they're really they're a lot faster than they look, or boy,
they look like they'd be a lot faster than they are.
You don't know. You don't know if they're fighting injury.
You don't know if emotionally they can't go any farther.
(30:12):
You don't know if they're just trying to stay in
that course as long as they can, because this was
the most important race for them on that weekend, or
this race meant something to them and their friend who's
no longer with them and the last time he ran
this race or she ran this race. They ran it
with their buddy and their buddies and not here anymore.
And they don't want to leave the course. They don't
want to finish because they finished without their friend. You
don't know why people are running the way that they're running.
(30:36):
And yeah, i'd say probably ninety nine times out of
one hundred it just comes down to ability. But you
don't know, So why would you compare yourself? Again, comparisons
will work both good and bad. Don't do either. I
strongly suggest you don't do either. Okay, So that's kind
of where we're at for this one. I went long, Jesuise.
I didn't think that was gonna be a problem this week.
(30:57):
So this week your challenge is run once for your
mind and not your mileage. No want, no pace, just run.
It's one thing you're gonna do this week, all right,
And then next week we're gonna talk about resetting your
routine to try and you know, kind of keep going
with the reset. And then we have gone out and
filmed at a location, a restorative location, and so I'm
(31:19):
gonna try and get that episode put together for the
last week of the series and hopefully you will enjoy that.
And that's that was a big um. Sorry about that,
but just remember that resetting your mind isn't weakness, it
is wisdom. So resets are big, they're critical, they're important.
We have to do them or you will burn out.
You will start to hate what you're doing, you will
start hating the process. And as soon as hate jumps
(31:40):
into any of this, you are doomed, my friend. And
it's very hard to dig yourself out of that hole.
So don't do it. All right, So tomorrow this weekend,
we've got Yettie Endurance weekend. So we've got that coming up.
You know, there's a well, the Chasing You Rabbit's Run
Club is kind of done for November because our next
meeting is going to be on Thanksgiving, and you know,
(32:03):
some people have said they would show up, and I
know that discourse is going to be open. I'm gonna
talk to the brain trust and see if anyone might
want to do run club on Thanksgiving night. I would
not expect many people there. If you have an opinion
on that, let me know. If you're like, oh yeah,
I would absolutely come to Chasing Rapertron Club on Thanksgiving night, Okay,
let me know, because I'm teeter tottering on if we
(32:25):
might offer that or not. Who knows, but that's gonna
do it. That's it. Hopefully this made sense to you.
I would love feedback and if you have questions, fire
my way. It only makes us better. So that's gonna
do it. For another episode of the Back of the
Back podcast, second one, I'm a Skywalker. It has been
my pleasure. As always, everyone, have a safe week of
training and we will see you next week
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