How to nail your long run

Um, hi!! This week's podcast is our first episode with TWO special guests which we think calls for a celebration - can we get a WOO?!

We start off by giving you our Top Ten Tips on how to nail a long run to help you *and us* have the best possible chance of making a long run the best run of the week.

We then introduce our special guests and ask for their insights to help us answer the listener questions for this week. 

Thanks to the team at On for helping us bring this season to life and creating such magical running shoes/apparel. 

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts + Instagram, Tiktok, Phoebe's Strava + Anna's Strava, and join our Strava community 🩵

Music produced by Hugh Raper. Logo design by Michael Cotellessa. Podcast edited by Kiara Martin.

Transcript

copy_64546035-009E-4281-A361-043471F4955D: 0:00

Cheeky Run Club recognises that every day we live, work and run on Aboriginal land. Marathon is a team sport. For our build to Berlin, we're proud to be part of Team On and we love having all of you on Team Cheeky, no matter what you're building towards. Welcome to Cheeky Run Club, the social running podcast and community for your everyday amateur runner. Hello, Phoebe. Hello, Anna. And hello, listeners. Today we are diving into week eight of our marathon prep slash week one of recovery. Four, three week. Yeah. Four, three and a half maybe. Of recovery. Yeah. But our deep dive for today is on how to nail your long runs. Yes. Our top 10 tips, top 10 tips are back, do back. We have top 10 tips are back, where they're gonna finish by crowning our cheeky team member of the week. But first, as always, we're going to kick it off with our Notable Runs slash, do you want to do cross training or just experience? How's your cross training been? Have you done some notable cross training? Yeah, you've got notable cross training. I think experiences. I, I, but that's, I've done one cross training. We'll do, okay, that can also be experiences. We'll do experiences. Okay, um, Notable Experiences slash Runs of the Week. Anna, tell me about your worst experience this week. Oh, this one is so easy. Yeah, do you want me to say it? Do you want me to repeat it? So I, we are in person, first of all. Yeah! Hello! We are recording and it is Saturday, I was due to fly out of Rome to Barcelona on Thursday night and then I went to check in on Thursday afternoon, realized that my Flight was in fact booked for the 12th of September, not the 6th. Classic stitch up. Absolutely classic stitch up. Uh, anyway, so luckily I wasn't at the airport, so there's a silver lining. I found that out when I was still in the AirBnB. Anyway, so then I slept on the couch of my in laws that night. Is that what you did? Yeah, cause my husband Dave was flying out back to Australia that night. Luckily was able to book a really early flight on, Friday morning. I'm going to try and, I'll try and be quick with this. So I booked the flight at 7am, but because it was international, obviously I had to get up, get there really early. And I was also petrified that for some reason, cause it was so early, the Uber wouldn't come or would cancel. So I booked the Uber for 3. 50am and got up at 3. 30, got to the airport. Everything was fine. Like, walk in the park. There was barely anyone there. And then we were due to start boarding at six. And at 6. 15, got an email from Vueling. Um, actually I'm going to name and shame, because they were absolutely awful to deal with. Yeah, their airline. Saying that your flight's been cancelled. And then, pretty much, there was just like, uproar within the gate. An email, even though you were all An email, yeah. And there was no staff there. What? So there was absolutely no explanation. Yeah, so then there was just like, It's just me and all these Italians sort of yelling. Were you yelling as well? Yeah, I just joined in. All of you? Yeah. Hiya, Mamma Mia! That is them. At the gate. They're like, who is this chick? Um, anyway, so then went and collected my bags, went to the check in desk, cause they were like, lined up at the desk. And then lined up at the desk for an hour and a half only to find out that they will email you again with your new flight. And then in that time they said it could be days. So I quickly jumped online and tried to book another flight at 1pm that day. And then I was thinking, Oh, that's not that bad. It's like not that long. And then I got to the checkout of that. and the seats had all been taken. So then I went again to do it, and then I ended up catching a 5. 30 flight out of Rome yesterday. So I had 14 hours, which was delayed. So I had 14 hours at Rome airport. Oh my goodness. What's Rome airport like? Um, I think of all airports I've been to, I would say it's a medium. It's like probably a 5 out of 10. I don't love airports, even if it was like the best airport ever. Yeah. Yeah. There's just not a whole lot to do. You're not an airport gal. I'm just not an airport gal. Give me some, like, fresh air. And, also, yeah, I, I scoped out the Terminal 1 upstairs has a nice little cafeteria. And I also, as I was telling you, was trying to save battery for a lot of it because I wasn't able to check in for my flight because it was so crowded. So later, so much later in the day, I was sitting outside the terminal. So there were no charges, like PowerPoints or anything for my phone. So I was trying not to go on my phone because I didn't want to waste the battery in case I needed it for something. And I didn't have my headphones cause I gave them to Dave on the way home. So I was just sitting. You were raw dogging. I was raw dogging. I raw dogged the whole day at Rome airport. Anyway, enough of that. The day has passed. The sun came up today. side of travel though. Yeah, I actually was speaking to our friend Mel and she was like, Oh, well that's one side of travelling, it's all part of it. Which is very, very true. You're like, that's not helpful. Yeah, I just need some sympathy right now. Tell me it's okay to be crying in the airport line by yourself. Um, anyway, what was, that went on for way too long. What was your worst like this side, you're like, I'm not going to let this go on for too long. Yeah, yeah. It's going to be a snappy recap. It's like that Spongebob thing where, have you seen that? They, when they like shift scenes, they're like 15 minutes later. No, don't worry about it. You can shoulder me up though. Yeah. Um, what was your worst run this week? Okay. Not to sound like a broken record, but my worst run was. Guess my long run run now? No, but this is the last time that my long run's gonna be award because this is, so since we last recorded, I've done two long runs. Yes.'cause it's kind of been 10 days. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And my one, um, not this most recent one, but the one before. Yeah. So I was in, so when you're still back in Melbourne? I was in Sydney, actually. Oh, Sydney. Yeah, because I had a friend's wedding down the coast. Uh, on Saturday, and so I was doing my long run on Friday morning in Sydney. Yeah. And I just have been Oh, of course. Yeah. Yes. I've been, uh, had been continuing my train of, um, feeling really, um, terrible in my runs. It's just that it's a nice little habit I'm in. Sorry, I shouldn't giggle. No, you shouldn't. It's been terrible. And Friday, I really pumped myself up for it. I was like, okay, I'm You're gonna be fine. Yeah, I'm gonna get this done. Like there's nothing wrong with you. You just You're not sick anymore. Whatever. You've had a I had such a restful week. I'd only done two easy runs that whole week I was yeah, basically tapered and I did the first hour with a friend Gemma, which is lovely I was actually really really nice to catch up with her But I felt it getting harder and harder and harder and by the time I said bye to her I was like, oh wow Life's getting hard. Yeah, and then I ran into another friend, Joe, and I was running with him And I just was like, again, my heart rate was getting up to like 185 I was like feeling really terrible and then Sean joined us and he was like, are you okay? Like you look like not good. Anyway, I was meant to do two and a half hours, but after two hours I was just like, I think I'm gonna pass out or was getting really nauseous and I felt like So I just stopped. and I think that was just like, I actually had a little cry afterwards. I just felt so demoralized. I was like, I don't know what's going on. I've had a week of not doing much, really trying not to run. Like, why do I feel? I should be arrested. It's kind of, it's not scary, but you just like, don't understand what, I'm not used to my body feeling like that. Like, yeah, you sort of feel out of control a little bit. Yeah. And so, even when I got like a blood test, Which was fine. I was like, okay, there's something, there's gotta be something wrong. Like, full blunts. My iron. Yeah. And like, to be fair, iron was on the lower side. But it was not, they were just like, get on my iron tablets. I'm like, oh, fine. Um, so yes, that was, that was a very demoralizing run. But it was like, a really, um, needed run. reality check. Yeah. Of like, you're not, you're not getting better. Like you're not, um. Yeah, you need to actually properly rest, which now that you are over here, I feel like for instance, today, I feel like you're starting to wind down a little bit. A hundred percent. No, like I said, that was like that. And then I had a few like really useful conversations this week, just with like friends and so on, just kind of talking about like, okay, it's not just about taking a break from running. It's about like, look at your life right now and how busy it is and how can you. I can. really actively try and like make time for recovery. Yeah. And, like listen to your body and what it's trying to tell you, which is that like you have no energy and you're really tired. And so I have had a really concerted effort over the last few days to just like Yeah, yeah. Yeah, nice. Yeah. Proud of you. Thank you. Uh, tell me about your best experience. Well, best experience was today as a whole, I think, because it was just, So different to my day yesterday. so we are in Girona at the moment, which is about an hour and 20 minute drive North West ish more North of Barcelona. And it is. This town is so beautiful. It is so nice. It's charming. Yeah, it's charming. It's charming. That is the perfect way to describe it. but went for a ride this morning with our Spanish correspondent, Noz, and that is actually the first bit of sort of like exercise that I've done all week. And I even said to her when we were riding, Oh my gosh, it feels so nice to just Be active and moving my body and sweating a little bit. You looked so excited going off to that party. Oh my gosh, it was honestly the best. And then like, even after, like, got coffee and breakfast. Yeah. It just, it just felt so sort of like wholesome. Yeah. And I think that's what I've really been missing and what I've been craving. And then we went to a little beach. We found this beach on the Costa Brava coast. It was just kind of, I mean, they're all probably like this and it honestly was so beautiful. It was like a beautiful little coastal beach. Insane. Yeah. Yeah. Um, refreshing, clear, hot day, hot, sunny day. So nice. And then, yeah, so that was my best experience. Were you about to go on? I was about to go on about the restaurant. So, I mean, I will. Long story short, we, uh, Imagine Fawlty Towers, the TV show. If you haven't watched it, then Google what it is. It's pretty much this hotel where everything goes wrong. That was this restaurant that we went to for lunch. We were there for an hour and 40 minutes. I don't think we got served for an hour. An hour and 20 minutes. And then they kept getting our order wrong, and they were so angry just at the world to the point where I actually thought she was joking and then she was going to crack a smile. This lady came down and gave us glasses like of water and slammed them on the table and then another time then this like glass got knocked off a tray and pretty much landed like underneath our table. It was just absolute chaos. It was so funny because they ordered, finally ordered our food and then 20 minutes later they came out with like four plates of just the complete none of it and we're like No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Sorry, like, not you. And they were like, yes. And they were like, yes, this is what you ordered. And it was like, meat and just things that, like, we hadn't ordered. Yeah, yeah. And then we had Yeah, baby's a vegetarian. I'm a celiac. And it was bread and meat. Bread and meat. We're like, no, don't you remember, like And then when we recited the autotune, she was like, Oh, yeah, like remembered and then came out funny stuff. It was chaos. Anyway, it all added to the Spanish. Yeah. It was actually really good. Yeah. Um, what was your best run? Okay. Best run was, I'm going to say it was my other long run. Yeah. Just to prove the turnaround. All in a week's work. I wouldn't say it was like, I was back feeling amazing. I still found that long run incredibly hard, but I kept comparing it to how I felt just a week earlier. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this is, I'm, I ran for two hours and 50 minutes. I did like some of it kind of at pace with leash. Um, I felt so much stronger and just like it was just more doable. And so even though parts of it were very hard, I was like, that's okay. Long runs are meant to feel hard. And, um, that's not like the point, but the point was. I was like, okay, I had tried to make a really intentional effort to set myself up to like recover more mentally as much as physically. And I could feel it starting to pay off. And it was almost just like, I know that I'm going to have to be a little bit patient. And it would probably take a little while of like lots of sleeping and, or not lots of sleeping, but more recovering to get back to normal. But it was the first sign of like, Oh, you listened to your body and now it's, it's in the right direction. And I was running with Leash, our first long run in like two years together, in Vic Park in London, which was beautiful. It was like a perfect morning, no wind. How good is, that's where I run in London, also with Leash, and how nice is it? It's lovely. It's a perfect long run spot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Then really good to get that done before we came here. So that here's just can be a bit more, you're feeling pretty smug. I feel pretty smug. All right, let's get into it. So we have our top 10 tips of how to nail a long run whilst you're in your marathon block. Yeah, we wanted to kind of cater it specifically for marathon block. A, because it's something that, well, I've obviously struggled with a lot over this, like learned a lot of what not to do, but also just because generally it's probably. the most, um, notorious part of training for a marathon like, well, you end up having to do these big long runs. And there's probably a lot of things that we've learned on the way that we now implement that make them a lot more achievable and even enjoyable, dare I say. And we thought we'd, We don't like to knowledge hoard, we like to knowledge share. Yes, exactly. And I think as well, when the marathon block starts, they're the one run of the week that are imperative to the block. And all of the other training kind of ends up revolving around it. and as I said on the pod months ago, they were the thing that I was like most daunted about, about starting the marathon block. Just because it is such a significant jump and difference to what you normally do. So we wanted to break it down a little bit and give you sort of some of our Yes. Learnings. Our lessons. All right, tip number one, what have we got? This is funny because you should be reading this out. I should be reading. Yeah. Tip number one, is sleeping well the night before is pretty much the best thing you can do to set yourself up for a good run. Yeah. It's almost like the number one predictor of how much you will enjoy a run. How much sleeping you got the night before. Sleeping is one of the major, major factors. And, and even to the extent that we were talking about this in the car on the drive back from the beach, and Leesh was saying like, she actually limits her caffeine intake the day before, just to try and help make sure that she can get a really good quality sleep. Yeah, so she can, yeah. This is the exact kind of thing that I reckon, if I'd thought about early on in my running journey, I would have been like, oh, whatever, doesn't make that much of a difference. But now, you know. Having done long runs for how many years? Yeah. It is, it can make, if you're like well rested coming into that run, it can be like the make or break for whether you feel good. Yeah, I think as well, cause you've got to think about not just the long run, but it's also the recovery from the long run as well. And if you're already coming from a place that's not rested at all, um, I think that it just like makes such a difference in your recovery or your like inability to recover and sort of like set yourself. Like put yourself on the back foot. So yeah, yeah, definitely sleep, sleep, sleep my queens. That's it. number two, set realistic expectations. So make sure you're intense with what you want to get out of the long run, whether or not that be sort of like pace or heels, or time on legs. I think you want to be really clear in what you want to get out of it, what you want to achieve and how you want to. feel at the end. Um, just to almost sort of like mentally prepare, I guess more than anything. Yeah. This comes back to, I know we spoke about this when we were talking about prepping for a race and we were speaking about like, it's okay to take it seriously. Yeah. I think it's the same with the long run sometimes. Like something we both, I've spoken to each other about, we used to struggle with is like giving ourself permission to like, Like, take it easier the night before. Cause you're like, Oh, we're not serious runners. Yeah. We shouldn't have to. But it's like, you actually can just have a pizza and watch a movie. You're actually going to enjoy the run so much better. Yeah. And if you take the time to be like. Okay, wow, this is going to be a big effort tomorrow. I'm going to be putting in a lot of work and this is what I want to get out of it. Like take a moment to kind of set those expectations. Yeah. Um, which leads us into number three. Number three, this is a big one and it is fueling starts the day before and finishes at the end of the day of a long run. Yeah. So it's not just a lot of the time when we talk about fueling in a long run, we talk about gels and what you're during the run or beforehand. Yeah. But actually like You need to be thinking about it, like almost 24 hours out, definitely 12 hours out. Um, what, how are you, like, how are you making sure you get enough carbs in? And hydration, hydrating. That's a, yes, that's such a big one, which also is like still a lesson for me. Hydrate the night before. What's going to not upset your stomach? Yeah. Do you have like a go to meal? Um, not really. I feel like I can sort of have anything. I just make sure that whatever I'm eating, I I'm very like conscious to make sure that I'm eating probably more than I normally would. and so, I don't know, if I'm having like pasta or something, like I'll have some bread. As well or like I'll have an extra bowl of pasta just to make sure or particularly if it's gonna be a hard long run I just want to make sure there is like absolutely like I've covered all bases in the fueling sense So I'm like giving myself the best possible chance. Yeah, like run as well as possible the next day Definitely and also in turn recover, which is why I mean I like quite often after our long runs Um, get laughed at. But because I am a celiac and sometimes like cafes and stuff can be a little bit tricky to eat at. So I quite often like will pack my breakfast to have at coffee. So I'll like have my muesli and yoghurt and everything. and like protein and eat it. When we're having coffee because I find that I think that one of the biggest learnings for me when I first started running a little bit longer was that I would stay for coffee and then like quite often people wouldn't eat or they would just be doing whatever. And then by the time I got home and had a shower. It's like midday. Yeah. And I. I am so cooked because you never, you can't recover the whole day. Yeah, I agree. You feel so depleted no matter how much you eat after. I feel like that time that like couple of hours after the run, you really need to make sure that you're like feeling correctly. So I kind of think of, even though they're long run, like physically, yes. They're like active. It finishes. I feel like, um, in order to like reap the rewards of it, you've got to be really conscious of like the decisions you're making about like fueling and hydrating. So it's like, yeah, do it the night before, morning of, like eat more than you'd normally eat before a run. Yeah. Don't eat before a run, like really think about like taking on board fuel before. Figure out your gels during, and then eat afterwards. Eating is going to make, and drinking water. Such a difference. number four, know thy root. Know thy root. Which I think is, I guess like in a sense similar to the mental preparation, I feel like you want to logistically prepare. You want to know, where you're going, and ensure that wherever you are going, you know, there are like toilets along the way. If the goal of, um, coming back to your intention of the run, if your goal is to sort of like try to run as far as possible without stopping too much, go somewhere where there are lots of bike paths or go somewhere where, you know, there's sort of, there's a road free loop. or around a park and I think even it's like the mental load of having to think of a route or where you're going to go to make up the kilometers, especially when you're getting tired can be so draining. So I feel like knowing the route, it's just like, it's another way to prepare. So there's like one less variable. That might impact your run. And it can make it exciting as well. Yeah, for sure. It also, as we, like, we have both sort of said, it's kind of fun planning out and mapping a route. I really enjoy it. Yeah. Actually, there's a listener question on, like, how to do this at the end. So we'll talk about that in more detail. But yeah, it is your rights counterpart. There's like mental preparation. Yeah. There's also logistical preparation. And to speak to that, our next tip, is run with friends who are on the same page about the run. So run with friends is something that people hear us say all the time, but for a long run you actually need to go one step further and be like, I want to run with friends who want to run the same pace, who are on the same page, like in terms of how serious they are about the run. Like if you're in a state where like you're not really training for anything then stopping is fine, getting lost is fine, all those things are fine. But if you're really wanting to like minimise your stopping and hit a certain pace and you're running with friends who have a different set of expectations about the run. It actually can be, can ruin the run. Yeah, well for both of you because it's just like you haven't communicated your sort of like wants and needs and like your intent for the run. And I feel like that's more like I, I sort of love like doing whatever when you're just sort of like moseying around. but I feel like. Especially in a, in a marathon block a lot of the time, the, the long run is you want to go a long way, and you also don't want to be out there for five hours. And I think, yeah, you just don't want to sort of like miscommunicate. with your friends, or also like if, if people don't want to go the full thing with you, which is like completely fine. Like organize for them to join in with you for half an hour. Yeah, it's like have a clear sort of meeting spot and then they'll peel off after five kilometers. And it's also such a nice way to break up the run. Break up the run. But being able to like incorporate the friendship and the like social side of running with it as well. Yeah, it's basically like it's fine to, to say to your friends, I actually want to kind of run this one this way. Yeah. And so, like, let's just meet up afterwards. Yeah. No issues. Well, please come with me. Yeah. Oh, exactly. Please do this with me. Consider your clothes at number six. I think is a huge one. I know that I always try to make sure my most comfy or practical, practical clothes aren't in the wash or in the dirty basket, um, before my long run. Especially, um, the considerations. that I quite often take into account if I'm going to need gels. Like I want pockets in my shorts or like a space in my bra to put them in. I guess the same if you're running alone or meeting up with people you kind of want your phone so you want to really consider what to wear or even if it comes down to shoes or socks if you're prone to getting blisters in the longer runs make sure that you're good to go. Socks or like your bed of socks is sort of like saved for that day I just think that can make a world of difference set yourself up for success I think a lot more about the weather in long runs than I do it. Yeah Any run during the week? I'm like, whatever if I chat, it doesn't really matter cotton t shirt or it doesn't matter Yeah on a long run i'm like, okay, how hot am I going to get? Oh, yeah, I want to be as comfortable as possible. Yeah, and it'll be rainy. Well, I need a hat sunglasses. Yeah Thinking about, yeah, setting yourself up for success in the actual gear that you have. Yeah. I think can make a massive difference. Yeah. Tip number seven is training, is on training your gut and knowing where the toilets are. And I'll probably add bubblers to this list as well. Yeah, yeah, because you want to have a bit of water with your gel. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, training your gut. I mean, This is actually a massive barrier to entry for a lot of people with long runs. Is that, that if they don't, if they think they're going to need to go to the toilet and it makes them nervous about wanting to go for a big run or meet up with friends cause they'll, and it's a genuine thing. Just very practically something that you need to deal with and something that, Gary, my coach says is like the most important muscle to train when prepping for a marathon is your gut. Yeah. And I love that because it, it changes your gut and bowel movements, et cetera, from being something that is just like, Oh, I have no control over to being like, Oh, it's like everything else you need to have. Trial and error. You need to get a routine, get a system and find something that works for you. Yeah, and it's the exact same with your long runs like be thinking really carefully around What do I eat? When? That makes me feel what way? How far into the run? Do I want to have a bathroom option? Yeah, do those things are gonna make you feel better? more comfortable. And, yeah. And even if you are trying different gels, be really mindful of how they make you feel and if you like them. I think sometimes I'll have, I'll have something new or whatever and I'm like, oh yeah, and then afterwards or a week later, if I'm, or if it's in a race and I'm thinking, oh, what should I, Yeah. Like, what should I have during the race? I'm like, oh, I didn't actually really pay attention to how it made me feel. I had it. Whereas I think, like, being sort of, trying to be proactive and thinking, okay, this, like, my stomach feels absolutely fine having this. Or, alternatively, like, I had a caffeine gel, oh, I actually I feel okay, but I feel a little bit queasy. Maybe that's sort of like a signal that then if you were like pushing really hard, you would feel even worse. So maybe like steer away from that. But yeah, I think that's a really, really big thing. yeah. Number eight, when a long run is hard, break it down into chunks. Um, so I think the thing that I find comforting is that everyone goes through bad patches. of a long run or even a race. It is inevitable. Yeah. At some point in your longy, apart from those two. freak golden longies where you just feel like you're floating the whole time which are so rare at some point you're going to feel like oh my god this is hard yeah and it's meant to be and i try to welcome that rather than shy away from it because i kind of think that's a sign that you're doing a long run yeah because if if you didn't have that i mean like if long runs were crazy Everyone would just do them all the time. It wouldn't be a thing. And you wouldn't be getting fitter from them. Yeah, exactly. Whereas I kind of welcome that being like, Oh, okay, the hardness is coming. Like here we are. That's okay. It'll like stick around for a few kilometers and then it will sort of like go away again. And like almost like reframing it more as a positive, not a positive, but just sort of an expectation rather than a negative connotation. And I think that also helps with the, like, you know, you can like, those like dark thoughts sort of like start entering and then you can spiral and then it just becomes so negative and all you're focusing on is like everything that's wrong with your body and what you're doing and like what's like happening at that time. But I feel like the spiraling kind of stops or you almost like reverse it a little bit if When it starts to come, you're reframing it and welcoming it rather than shut, like, sort of trying to push it back away. It's almost like, don't take it too seriously. Yeah. I mean, and we'll talk in a second about when to actually listen to it. Yeah, yeah. But for the majority of the time, you have the expectation that it's going to be hard. You go through a tough patch and ReFramed is like, as you say, it is what it is. I'm just going to leave that there and focus on something else for a minute. Yeah. Like, focus on, just get through the next two Ks and then I'll think about it again. Yeah. Like, give, like, make it feel more manageable. And then 99 percent of the time it does actually thank the Lord, and then that's rewarding. Exactly, yeah, and I think breaking it down into chunks just makes it seem so much less intimidating as well. Because you're only focusing on the next 5k's, rather than thinking, Oh my gosh, I've got 30k's to go. Yeah, and I really, yeah, I really like what you said about like, almost reframing it. It's like, okay, this is when the good stuff, it's getting hard. This is when the benefits are happening. This is when I can like, Push myself and try and see if I can improve my fitness. Yeah, like maybe I'm a bit of a sicko, but I kind of love that. No, I kind of don't like that. is learn how to listen body in a longie. So I know we've just spoken about the Particularly me was saying I'm a bit of a sicko and I love it when it gets hard. But I think there's a very big difference to a long run becoming hard in a positive sense. and I feel like there's a line between, for whatever reason, like quite often external factors or whatever's going on in your life, you actually, you shouldn't be. Running this far or like today's not your day. You've got a niggle. Yeah, or you're you've been sick this week and The best thing for you to do is to actually just stop Yeah, like you go again next week and that is not the end of the world at all Yeah, I definitely think your long run is the ultimate time when your body will speak to you. Yeah. And tell you how it's going. Yeah. And you need to be able to hear it. Yeah. Like I would say my long run that I just spoke about in terms of hardest run of the week, I honestly, I probably could have stopped maybe like 20 minutes earlier is when I first started feeling like. dizzy and so on. But I was kind of like, kept waiting for it to go away. Yeah, yeah, totally. I was like, what is going on? I'm going, I slowed down a lot and it was still so hard. Yeah. And so I think, being able to like, respect what your body is telling you. If it does feel bad, if you're obviously, if you're in pain or anything like that. Yeah. And being able to. Being and being kind to yourself when that happens. Yeah. Yeah, and not beat yourself up over it. Because as Leisha's dad says when I've actually written this down because I like this quote when the tide goes out You see who has been swimming naked Which I just think is so true with the long run like when it starts sort of getting hard it exposes Sort of like other aspects or other like stresses or what's going on in your life more so than a lot of other things can Yeah to your point, it's like you put yourself in such a vulnerable position by doing a long run so if there are things that are wrong like for instance you last week you needed to have a rest yeah like that's when you're gonna really that's when it is really yes it's not in my other runs which i can like push through yeah exactly weeks now it's like in those there's a reason that for the last month every my worst run of the week every week is in my long run yeah yeah and that's like i probably should have been listening to that earlier to be like Okay, my body is not coping with this like it normally does. Yeah. I need to be able to listen to that, those cues. Do Number 10. This is such a big one and that is to do with recovering afterwards. And the real tip here is that your only fitness gains that you get from your long run are the fitness gains that you are able to absorb in terms of how you recover afterwards. Okay. which I would say is something that I never used to think about for my long runs. It was just like, oh, done it and on with the day. Yeah, I think it's only really been this year that I've been able to, I don't know, I guess like think a bit more broadly, or maybe, I don't know if it's from experience, or maybe a bit of maturity, but just, it's not like running as fast. the only act. It's like everything you do around it. Like I used to so often go for a long run and then, and not to say that you can't do this, like, like do this at times, but not all the time. And, but then I'd like go out for quite a few drinks with friends and like not really get much sleep and then be absolutely exhausted come Monday. And I never used to think twice, but now I think of that and I'm like, Oh my gosh, that is so dumb. Like you've just put your body through this and then you're also expecting it to do all this. And then you're wondering. Why you don't feel good or why you're getting a bit niggly. Well like, to speak to the example we've spoken about before, that long run, massive long run you did a couple weeks ago. Yeah. Then you didn't sleep that night because you had a flight at 3 in the next morning. Yeah. And then you're on a flight for 24 hours. Like, that, and I would honestly say a lot of my injuries in the past have not come during a long run, but they've come the session three days afterwards. After, which is what happened to me. Yes, you do the session a few days afterwards, and I think that it actually takes our body so much longer than we realize to recover from those massive efforts, like the next few days, like be thinking about really consciously, how am I like prioritizing recovery? Cause that is when injuries will happen. It will be when you try and back up the next day and you haven't slept well the night before. Yeah. Yeah. Whereas like I was saying, even that long run is. The end of the long run is the finish line. I've done it. Whereas I shouldn't have been. Yeah. Yeah. Ah, hindsight. Oh, in hindsight, it's all so simple. That's so wise.

copy_6718FBDA-2390-4A76-AEB9-F8C1A4861FEA: 34:22

So, let's get into our listener question segment. Which we haven't done for a while, but this time we are very excited to be joined by two extremely special guests, the most specialists of guests, um, which is, and I'm going to introduce them and get them to say hi. So you recognize their voices. The first one is our friend Leash. Hello everyone. Hello Leash. And the second one is our friend Eleanor. Hola chicos. Hola chicos. Our Spanish correspondent Eleanor, AKA. So, um, we've pulled in Leash and Noz to help us out answering some listener questions because they are the real experts on running, I would say. I would tend to disagree, but happy to be called in. They're helping out. Um, so first question is from listener Alice. And Alice has said, how would you recommend setting a training plan? When you don't have a race coming up. And yeah, that is such a good question from Alice. and something that we had a bit of a discussion about before we answered this question. Um, and Fee brought up that when we actually started getting really into running, Around the same time, which was in the COVID era, we, neither of us were training for races cause they were all canceled, but we got a lot of joy out of having a structured program just to get us through each day. and looking at running as more of a holistic lifestyle choice rather than a race directed, Activity? Yeah. It's like race, the race isn't, shouldn't really be, ideally, the be all and end all. As fun as it is, and as helpful as it can be to have a race as a goal that you then like can build towards, like races are just, they're just an element of running, which is fun. But, it, it's not. You need to find a, well ideally you find a way so that running is like sustainable and really enjoyable even outside and beyond races. That's it as like a lifelong pursuit. Yeah, yeah, so what are some examples of other like goals people could set that would help them kind of stay motivated when it comes to running? That's it. I feel like trying to hit a consistent mileage per week can be a really helpful goal, or trying to improve a specific area of weakness, uh, like your speed, or your endurance, or yeah, if there's a great chance to work on your strength, or that's it, flexibility, anything that was like a niggle for you in the lead up to that run. Yeah, you can let it sort of settle down properly and reassess what areas you enjoyed and what areas you'd sort of want to prioritize going forward in your next block. And so in terms of like the specific question of like, how would you recommend setting up a training plan, I guess. He's saying is like, identify that area of what can be the new goal. And then you can kind of structure the training plan around that a little bit more. I think that would be a really good approach. Don't know what Gary would think, but, uh, yeah, I wonder, I'm actually so interested to know how an actual coach would answer this question, something very different. But I feel like that would be a really good approach and something that keeps it fun. Cause at the end of the day, running should be really pleasurable and enjoyable. Yeah. And maybe you can try going to do different routes or. Yeah, running with different people. Yeah, mix it up a bit. Yeah. Recover a bit. Yeah. I love it. Thank you, Leesh. My pleasure. So, I'll direct the next question at you, Noz, and it is from listener M, and the question is, how do you plan a running route? Yeah, that's also a good question and something I've had a fair bit of practice on moving around, um, well, I guess moving to a new city and things. Running route enthusiasts. Yeah, running route enthusiasts, you could say that. Um, some are successful, some are not. Um, but I think the main things I think about when studying or trying to find a new running route, I guess looking at like, what's the purpose of the run? Is it just a chill run, which you can probably play it by ear a little bit more and wing it a little bit? Or is it more of a long run or is it a session in which case you kind of want some specific, terrain or not be so interrupted. So I think some of the resources that I use to, figure that out is going through Strava, which has like great features. You can map your run, so you can kind of plot it out on a map. You can say what the elevation profile is. It's actually so handy. Yeah. Is that, do you know, is that only on premium Strava? That's a good question. I think it could be. Could be. Yeah. Maybe desktop version. You can definitely do it, like, Map My Run. Map My Run. I've definitely used that before. Um, if you just want to get a gauge of like how far something is and what the yeah, it's honestly I feel like it's almost worth paying for premiums driver just for the run mapping It's so useful and you can see bubblers Yeah, you can see toilets like all those things you can elevation as you say can kind of plan around Yeah, and you can even like you can see save routes so you can kind of search for a certain length You can search for a certain difficulty, and then you can plan your route from there. And it just kind of gives you ideas as well as like where the places that people run in different cities or even your own city if you've been there and getting a bit route sick. That's true. That sounded better in my head. I immediately knew what you meant. Like R O U T E. I'm on Strava a lot. Sick. That's actually true that you do, I feel like in Melbourne there have been times where I'm like so sick of like, we start at Cheeky's, we do that one river loop, and then you're back. Yeah. It can be a really fun thing the night before to like sit down and like actually plan it out a little bit. Yeah, absolutely. Um, and you will like, there will be some, um, Some routes that don't go so well and others that have success. Endless options. Um, love it. Thank you, Eleanor. And thank you listeners for submitting such great questions. Thank you. Thanks guys.

copy_64546035-009E-4281-A361-043471F4955D: 40:20

Okay, time to crown our cheeky team member of the week. So, um, Timely reminder, this segment is sponsored by ON. As ON like to say, running and particularly marathon training is a team sport, which we could not agree with more. And so as usual, this week we have posted a question on Strava, posed a question to the Cheeky Brains Trust. This week the question was all about you're running wearables or running tech stack. Yeah. So as, yeah, I mean you, I would think we've spoken about on the pod before you wear an aura ring and I feel like I, now that I'm not running, kind of like looking at different things of like how to be able to measure how your body's feeling because my brain doesn't really. We should actually do a deep dive on wearable. Yeah, I think you used to wear before you lost it. No, a heart rate monitor. A heart rate monitor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And our cheeky team member this week. As voted, as voted for popular vote, I think their response got the most likes. Likes from anyone. Yeah. Yeah. Was Jen Church. And I like this because I thought there was a good balance between tech and also, sort of like stepping away from just being so accessible all the time. Yeah. Which I really like. I think more so on holidays has made me think sometimes it's nice to like not always be on your phone and blah blah blah, la la la, all that mindful stuff. so Jen Church's answer to the wearables question was she is a Garmin girl for life, but no phone notifications, running and swimming is my time. No work or life interference. Very, very important. Thank you, Jen. Alright, that is it for week 8 of the Berlin Mariblog. So fun to be doing it with you again. I know. And we'll do one more in person next week in Zurich. Zurich, woohoo! as always, thank you so much to Onn for making this episode of Cheeky Possible. And if you can just like, subscribe. Just a special request this week. Just something, I don't know if you guys know, but it would be absolutely amazing. It actually means so much for us. Nah, in all seriousness, it does. But actually, yeah. Please like or subscribe wherever you listen to your pod. Follow us on social media at Cheeky Run Club. Hope I haven't been talking over you as much. Or if you haven't, Listen to the last like 30 seconds of the episode from last week. Please listen because it is just, it's pure chaos. Okay, bye. Bye. No, wait 10 seconds. Okay, bye! Nice.