Episode 21: How to Schedule Your Running: Building a Week You Can Repeat

In this episode of Dirt Nap Diaries, I’m breaking down how to schedule your running in a way that actually fits real life. We’re talking about weekly structure, why four days of running works for most everyday trail runners, and how to stop overthinking your training when your schedule is already full.

This is not about building the perfect plan or doing more. It’s about creating a repeatable week that supports your life, your energy, and your long-term goals.

We also talk about how to handle holiday weeks, travel, and those chaotic stretches where everything feels off. Because missing a run does not mean you’re failing. It means you’re human.

If you want training that feels sustainable instead of stressful, this episode will help you rethink how your week actually works.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why structure matters more than motivation
• A simple four-day running framework
• How to place runs in a busy week
• What to do during holidays and off weeks
• When five days of running makes sense and when it doesn’t
• How to build consistency without burning out

Share this episode with a friend who feels overwhelmed by their training. And if you haven’t yet, follow the podcast so you don’t miss what’s coming next.

Links & Resources for This Episode

• Follow me on Instagram
• Visit my website: www.sunrisetrailscoaching.com
• Want to work together? Learn about 1:1 Coaching
• Free guide: What’s In My Pack? Download here

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey y'all, welcome back to DirtNap Diaries. I'm your host, Brittany Olson, Trailrunner, Women's Trailrunning Coach, Hypewoman, and Professional Overpacker of Midrun Snacks. This show is for the everyday trailrunner, the ones training on real life legs and real life time. You've got slack pinging, kids asking where their shoes are, laundry piles you could snowshoe through, a dog who's too cute to leave without some extra pets, and a cat who somehow saves their puke for your run window. You're not out here chasing podium spots, you're chasing finish lines, sunrises, and maybe a little sanity. This podcast is about trail running, but it's also about navigating life. The hard seasons, the joyful ones, and the ones where everything feels like too much. So let's get into it. Alright, as we know, personal life update. It is almost Christmas here. Um I like to blame the holiday season on being so busy, but I think that's just life right now. Uh, but I am excited. I have two weeks off my uh consulting job with Johnson ⁇ Johnson, so that's super exciting. Um, what else? My runs are getting stronger. I just finished my VO2 Max block uh with uh three-minute uh repeats, uh basically as hard as I could go. Um my last one is uphill, so uh there was four of those, do that three times and three minutes of rest in between. Uh so I had my long run today because I worked an event in Avondale yesterday. But um definitely it's very weird to feel like I actually feel stronger. My easy efforts, like my pace has picked up a little bit, which is great. So same effort, but but better pace, better leg turnover, which is fantastic. But I also felt that fatigue from doing two VO2 max workouts for three weeks straight, right? So it's just kind of interesting how that works. But um, next week, or actually I guess this coming week, it's almost here, is a D-Load week, which just means a little less intensity. Um, it looks like just slightly less time on feet, not a whole lot. Um so looking forward to that. And then the next week that volume really starts to pick up because Coca-Dona 250 is at the beginning of May, y'all. That is coming up very quickly. So life is gonna be full of lots of training, uh, lots of coaching athletes. Gotta know an athlete doing Cocodona just like me, hopefully. And then they're on the wait list, but I think they'll get in. Um, and then like some doing the 125, some doing the 39 miler that's out there. So uh it's gonna be a fun, fun racing season for everybody, I think. So yeah. But really, let's get in uh to what this episode is about. So we're gonna talk about everybody's favorite topic, scheduling, but specifically how to figure out how to schedule like runs into your life. Um, because that is an important thing to do. We can't just be like, okay, I'm running four days a week, and there's nothing else outside of that bubble. Because most of us listening, if not all of us, um, have lots going on. We could own our own business, um, we could have two or three kids, um, we could just have a very busy job, we could have all the things, and on top of that, if you are running, you should also be strength training. And yes, I will repeat that if you are running, you should also be strength training. So we're gonna figure out how to layer that into everything else that you've got going in on going on in your life. But I mean, this episode, I mean, it's for humans, just period. Busy humans, yes, but most humans have a lot going on. But also for folks who feel like running is always the first thing that gets put on the back burner. Like the thing that brings you joy, you don't always do it, or it gets pushed off, or you push off a goal because you're like, this person needs this, or like work needs this, or um, you know, like I need to go do this instead. So this is hopefully this hits home for you if if anybody here listening is not like chasing those dreams that they have or getting out there like they would like to. Um, because guess what, y'all? You can take you can put yourself first sometimes. Like that's we get one life, and you can't always put yourself on that back burner. So this one's for you for sure. Um this matters because, and I brought this up uh last episode too about motivation. Most people don't need more of that. Um motivation is very, very fleeting. Um, so this is a way to really actually structure your training so it fits. So you don't have to worry about that motivation. You will build those sustainable habits so you can keep that running up. And then also we're gonna talk about when obstacles come up or um like now, like when the holidays come up, like how do you plan for that, right? Because they can get busy. You know, some people are simply busy on Christmas Day. Um, some, you know, have Hanukkah, so they're they have things planned the entire time. Some people like celebrate different holidays and it takes like multiple weeks, but they still have space in their day to do things. So we're gonna just talk about how that, how a plan can actually fit into your life. Uh, because we don't want to just be shoving stuff in there. We want to figure out how it can work for you. So we're gonna talk about weekly structure and we're gonna use a four-day uh run week. I know a lot of my athletes are running five days a week, depending on what they're training for, eventually getting up to six weeks as they are training for something longer. But um, we're gonna start with the four, just the four-day just to look at it, and then I'm gonna talk a little bit about getting how to get in a fifth day, uh, just so you know, you can all just see how to add it in. So we can pretend to, as I'm talking about, four days. If you're already running five days, when I'm talking about that fifth day, you'd be like, oh, this is how I get a sixth day into my into my uh running week. So um, and again, I mentioned this, but just how to handle holidays and those like chaotic weeks that's come up. Sometimes surprises come up, right? Where we might have to drop a run or we might get sick, and that's okay too. But we know certain things are coming, whether it's travel for work, travel uh for vacation, um, again, holidays, like I've mentioned, some things we can plan for. And when we have a plan in place for all those variables that we know can happen, when something surprising comes up, it doesn't set us off or set us off. I guess set us back, it wouldn't be off, set us back as much. So um just so you know, this is not gonna be your perfect schedule. Like, and that's not what we're looking for. There's no such thing as a perfect schedule because life, life's like that's just how it is, but it is gonna help you see how your schedule can work for you. And it's not a one-size-fits-all plan. I don't believe in one size fits all plans. I have athletes who will run the exact same race, and their plans will not look exactly the same. Um, different goals, different experience, different backgrounds, different humans, you know, so different lives, right? So none of this is one size fits all or perfect or a perfect schedule, but it's to help you figure this out for you. So, maybe a lot of us know this, but like scheduling does matter a lot more than some people think, right? So when running floats around in your week, when you're just like, I might go on this day, or like I'm I'm oh man, Monday's not gonna work, I'm just gonna switch it to Tuesday. Um, don't just do that to your coach, by the way. Let them know that you missed a run so they can help you out. But um, back to it. Uh, but you need to have like specific days. If you're just like, I'm gonna run this day, it becomes more optional. And I'm not saying you should ever feel like, oh my god, I have to run, I have to, like, oh my god, but more, you don't want it running to feel like it's an option because that's when everything starts getting pushed back. That's why when that joy of running that you that you love to do, it goes away because you're making it optional in your life. Also, and I mentioned this before too, decision fatigue is real. So if you have a plan in place and you have a schedule in place, you're not having to make decisions day after day on like when you're gonna run, how far you're gonna run, how much time on feet, what effort level, all these. It is just a schedule that you are going to follow and you know when, where, and how you're gonna do it. So you get rid of that part of the decision fatigue. We're making decisions all day long, so it's super, super important to have a schedule. Um, structure also creates consistency even when motivation is low or non-existent. Again, motivation is fleeting, but a lot of people use that word, so you'll hear it a few times in this episode. But structure creates consistency, not perfection. And we want that consistency because that's what builds you up, that's what keeps you going, that's what's gonna make you a stronger, more powerful runner. A schedule also protects your energy, not just your time. So I'm not gonna be like, hey, let's break down what time is. Yeah, of course it protects your time, but it also protects your energy. Um, I've done an energy uh um an episode about um and uh like people who suck your energy and all of that, but you have to have the energy to be able to do things. And if you have a schedule, especially for your runs and your day, you're gonna be able to protect that energy that's there because we need our energy for things that we love. So if you don't run, and I don't know if you guys have noticed this, like I've overslept before and missed a run, and my energy is off the entire day. So think if you're consistently missing runs because you're not scheduling or have a plan in place. Like, that's tough. That's tough, and your energy does start to dip. Um, also, like, we're not trying to like win the week. Um, and let me explain that just a little bit. So we're not out here being like, okay, like I have four runs this time, be perfect, do all these things, and I have this and this with my kids and this. We're not trying to win, right? We are trying to have a schedule that fits in with our lives. And you're gonna hear me say that a lot too, because that's what's important for us. Like, all of us have lives outside of running, and we have to find a way to work with that together. So let's talk about that framework. And like I said, this is just gonna be based on a four-day run week. Um, I know some people are running more, but you can use this for any amount of days. If you want to do three, you know, you can just like reduce this a little bit. If you want to do five, like think up. That's all we're but we're keeping it at four just to keep it as simple as possible. Um again, so this is like, especially when I'm starting out with somebody, if they already have a base and they're already running three or four days, I'm gonna put, especially if they want to run ultra, I'm gonna put them at a four-day, like run week to start out. Um, this works for lots and lots of goals. Um, you can train for like a marathon, even a 50k in four days. I don't like to do it. You'll hear me tell anybody I like to do five days a week uh for a 50K, but it is totally possible to do with four days. Um, some people do it for three days. I don't like that. I think it adds too much volume to each of your days and can lead to a higher risk of injury. Um, so um that's why the four day. Um and then also uh the four day also leaves enough room for strength training and life. With strength training, uh most people I work with strength train two or three days a week, some do four. Uh, but we have to be able to strength train when we're running. And if we're trying to fit it all in at once and we're not easing ourselves into it, it can be hard. And normally what gets missed if we're running strength, it's gonna be the strength that starts getting missed too. And we want to incorporate that because again, you're gonna have an increased risk for injury if you're not doing strength training. So, all right. So, what are these actual four runs? Like, what are they gonna look like through the week? So it depends on the block, but so we're not gonna get into specific workouts. Remember, I said this is not gonna be like your plan, but this is gonna be what it looks like. So you're gonna have one long run, right? So longer time on feet. You are gonna have one workout. Like when I say workout, like either a hard workout, like a VO2 max, a moderate, you know, to hard workout, like a tempo run or lactate threshold. Um, and then you or you and then as you get closer to your race, there could be an endurance run, right? So we're just gonna say one long run, then one workout, and then two like easy recovery runs. So that makes four, okay? One long run, I'm gonna repeat it so you get it. One long run, one workout run, and then two easy runs. Okay. So, and remember this when I say easy, easy does not mean pointless. A lot of people struggle in that easy, um, in those easy efforts, but like this is where you build a lot of like endurance. This is where you learn to keep running for longer periods of time, um, and where you should be able to talk the whole time. So bring a friend if you struggle with that. Um, and just remember too, as you're like thinking about how you're building your schedule out, not every run needs to feel like it's hard. You don't need to be exhausted after everyone. I hope you're not exhausted now after every run. Um, I had an athlete text me recently and made me so happy she's been increasing or we've been increasing her time on feet. Um, she's coming back from um be having an injury and she's been doing really great with her PT. Um, and I got a text yesterday uh after her long run. She goes, Oh my gosh, she's like, I used to be so exhausted after my long runs, I couldn't do anything. And now she's been focusing on her long run and her eating and all of that stuff. And she was able to like, she's like, I did grocery shopping and I did these errands and I cleaned my apartment, I did all these things. So, like, part of having this schedule is going to be able, first of all, yeah, you gotta eat during your run, but having a schedule is going to allow you to be consistent and it's gonna allow you to be able to recover from those longer runs so your whole day isn't just gone when you have a long run.

unknown 12:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Also remember too, recovery is part of that training. So when you're running for four days, it's nice because you first of all have your recovery runs, which are the easy runs. Um, but then you also can have a couple of rest days built in there too. So as you're easing into running, if you decide you're gonna want to run five or six days eventually, you're giving yourself time to ease into that instead of just totally jumping into it and burning your body out. But okay, so we've got those four, what are we gonna do in those four days? We're gonna do the long run, a workout, and then two easy runs. We're gonna place those runs in a real week. Like, what does a real week look like? All right. Well, I can't tell you what your week looks like, but mine gets crazy with full-time work and coaching and um just everything, everything in life. So we build around life first. So as a coach, what I do, and almost my athletes can attest to this, is like I ask what the heck their schedule looks like. Like, what what do you have going on? What days can you actually run and you will not miss it? Like, when do you have work travel? When do you have life travel? Um, when do you know you're never gonna run? Like, I have a few athletes like Sundays, they're never gonna run because that is family day. Or if they're gonna run on Sundays, it better be later in that block whenever they're getting closer to race day and it's peak week and they know they're just gonna take a couple weekends to do that extra work. But like Sunday's just a day they're not going to because that's a family day. I have had some people who say, I have to run on Mondays because I like to start out my work week with a run. So we do that, right? So we build it around life first, though. Like, period. So if you have a Wednesday where you know you work a 12-hour shift and it is gonna be too exhausting to run, then we don't run on that day. But if you have a Wednesday where you have a 12-hour shift and you like to run to start out your day, then we're gonna put it there. So again, you want to think about work schedules, family schedules, your energy levels, right? As the and as the day goes on too, um, not just the week, but as the day goes on, we get more and more tired. We are less likely to do things later in the day, and that's very normal. Like, that's that's science, psychology, all of that stuff. So this isn't really part of it, but like when it comes to running, most people do better um in the mornings, like getting it in right when they wake up before like the day has hit them and they started doing other things. That said, I do know a handful of people who run better at night. They are more night owls. So don't be like, hey, if I'm gonna be a runner, I have to run in the morning. Because if you're a person who can run um at night, I'm looking at you, Amanda. Um, but she uh she runs at night better, and she found that once she felt gave herself permission to run in the evening instead of trying to be a morning runner like everybody else, uh, she ended up training for a first decay and finished it. So like just keep that in mind too. So your energy levels do matter. Um so all right, so you also need to have space in your like in your in your uh between your hard workout and your runs. Um so when you think about a hard workout, right, you're pushing harder than an easy run. That makes sense, but you still have to recover harder than what you needed to um from your easy run. Like that's the whole point. So how I like to do it is typically um if I have an athlete doing a Saturday long run, I typically do a Wednesday workout. So if they do a Friday long run, I do a Tuesday workout. That just gives the time between the workout to the long run and then from the long run to the next workout to recover. Okay. You don't always have to do that. My VO2 max block this last um couple weeks, I did two a week. I had Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and then once I had Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday because my Saturday was busy and I couldn't run that day. So, but typically I'd like to see that Wednesday run, then Thursday, Friday, and then uh would be their recovery run and rest, and then Saturday is a is a run. So those two days in between. Okay. Um, and that really is for recovery purposes. That way you get the most out of your workout and the most out of your long run. Um, and there's nothing wrong with back-to-back runs, by the way. And I don't mean back-to-back long runs. Those we do those, but those are for specific reasons. So, for example, for me, like I really enjoy doing a little bit of a uh shakeout of some kind the day after I do a hard workout. It just gets my legs going. Um, it just it just makes me feel better. Uh so like, and biking, by the way, let me throw this in here. I know we're not talking much about biking, but I do it is about fitting things in. If you do like to bike, um it's a good idea to do that a day after a hard workout. Um, I did that on Tuesdays when I had a hard workout. The next day I would uh Peloton for an hour. So it was easy, low impact, like nothing big, but I was still able to get on a bike and do something. So when you're looking at the structure of a week and you're like, you know what, like I like to bike, or even I like to swim. Swimming's a great thing too, by the way. But if there's something you like to do, schedule it. That's that's a that's not, I don't say that's not a huge impact on your body, right? Like it shouldn't be the same motion as running or running hard. You can do that the next day. Like it's a great way to shake out the muscles and keep moving and still giving you that bump in your day that you you like to have for for moving in the morning or whenever you're moving. So think about it as okay, like I did a workout, a hard workout on a Wednesday. I'm gonna do a bike ride on a Thursday and just like flesh out those legs and just feel good, and it's something I love to do. Um also making sure that you are uh stacking, and when I say stacking, this is gonna be strength and running, stacking your hard days. So not stacking your hard days of like running, but strength training and running. So for example, you make your hard days hard and your easy days easy. That's not really an example, that's just a sentence. But anyway, so what I mean by your easy days easy, when you're doing a recovery run, like if that's what you're doing that day, more than likely, like it's better to do like an upper body day and some core work because you're not putting impact on your legs. Uh your recovery run was easy, so that means that's how you keep your easy days easy. How do you keep your hard days hard then? Hmm, interesting. Great question, Brittany. So if you're doing a hard workout, um, go ahead and do a leg day that day. Uh it depends, and some people I've had that's asked so many times, um, they're like, Do you say do strength before or do running before? It's a personal choice. My how my life works. I typically have to do my run and then strength. That is just how my life works. However, when I had the opportunity to do strength, a leg day, before my run, I actually felt stronger during the run. Unfortunately, my life just does not allow for that to happen very often. So I don't have an order in which to do it in. Some coaches may. Um, what I have found out, I will let people just test and see what they say. I have a lot of runners with their lives, they get up first thing in the morning to get their run in, and maybe they can get their strength in like right after that, but sometimes they have to do it at lunch, or sometimes they have to do it after work. So it really just depends. But but try it hard. So with this schedule, make your easy days easy, make your hard days hard. Um, if you want to, if you'd throw in a third day of strength training, um, that would be great to do like on a long run day too, and that could be a four. Body workout. You guys might already have your strength training lined up and all of that. So if you already have strength training days, say you have a personal trainer, you work out with a friend, you may try, or I would say it's a good idea to try to put your runs based on those strength days then too, right? So excuse me, I meant to hit stop and I still coughed in the microphone, and I'm not gonna edit that because I don't feel like it, but uh, but say for example, you already have a leg day with a friend on a on a Tuesday, um, and you're doing your long run on a Friday. Well, keep that that workout with your friend on a Tuesday and just make sure you're doing your hard workout on a Tuesday. Like that's all there is to it, because you want to make sure you have that time. If you are a person who does a hard leg workout, or just a normal leg workout, just a leg workout, right? Working those legs. If you are doing that strength training on a Tuesday and then you're going to try to do a hard workout on a Wednesday, typically you're not getting the best bang for your buck because you're not able to put as much effort as you need and as much power as you need into that workout on the next day. So that's why we we like to do those on the same day too. It allows for recovery from the hard run or the long run and that workout. That way you're recovered. Again, I mentioned that earlier. That's why we space out the long run and the hard workout, too. You want to be recovered enough to get to do the best in each one of them. So just keep it in mind. I mean, I always just say, and it's the same thing I say tell my athletes, same things my coach tell me. Easy days easy, hard days hard. If you have to repeat yourself over and over, totally fine. So but just so you know, the order matters really. It like as I'm saying this, so you know, you could do a recovery run or an easy run. I tend to use those interchangeably inter interchangeably. I apologize, but say Monday you do an easy run, Tuesday you rest, Wednesday you do your hard workout, Thursday you decide to bike or swim after that, Friday you do an easy run, and then Saturday you do your long run, and boom, there you go, right? That leaves if you want to, that would be Tuesday and Sunday is total rest days because you you're not biking on Tuesday, you're not doing anything on Sunday, you know, it is what it can be, and then that allows you that flexibility with your life. So whether it's hey, I needed one day a week to be able to sleep in, I need one day a week to hang out with my kids, or I need to, I want to go with my friends on a hike on Sundays, like it allows you to have some flexibility in your schedule. Again, if you are a very active person like I am, I do mark in my um and I uh my uh schedule for my coach, like what I've got going on so she can always see what I'm doing. That way, if I've ever like, man, Liz, I am just I'm tired. Like, she's gonna be able to see what the heck I'm doing, right? So as a I don't I would never hire a coach who just says like you can't do this, you can't do this, you can't do this. Like I would say this is what I do in my life, this is what the activities I do, yes, this is my goal. Here's what I would like to like keep in my life, even though I'm pursuing this running goal, um, and see what they say. Because some it is good to have a coach who can tell you, like, hey, all of these things you were doing, they're not adding up to the goal that you want. And that's a conversation to have with. If you're gonna hire a coach, that's a great conversation to have. That way you can hear from them what they're thinking. It's not that they want to take things out of their your hands, but they heard you and they want to make sure they know exactly, like, hey, here's what your goal is, but if you want to do all these things, it's gonna be very difficult to reach that goal. Same conversation I have my athletes too. It's like you have this goal, and then they're like, Well, I'm gonna do this, this, and this too. And I'm like, okay, here's the goal you told me. If we do this, we have to re-evaluate what's happening. It doesn't mean it's a no, it means we gotta make some changes. So always keep that in mind. But if you have a goal you're on fire for, make sure you're doing the things to get you there. Uh so on top of that, okay, so we've talked about, hey, here's what a four-day uh week looks like with your two easy runs, your hard workout, and your long run. Uh, we've talked about how to make your hard days hard and your easy runs easy and layering that strength into those days. Maybe even throw in a bike or a recovery swim after a hard workout. Again, you don't have to do that the day after. If you want to recover after that, you can do that. But you do need to think if there's other things you like to do when those would fit in, and that what's the purpose behind it, right? Like, is the purpose to like flesh out those legs? Is the purpose to keep your sanity, whatever that looks like, just keep that in mind too. Now we want to talk about just holidays, travel, chaotic weeks, you know, whatever, whatever it is, there are ways to work with it. Um, but you just need to have a plan in place. So I'm gonna swing the holidays, and I probably should do this episode a couple weeks ago so you guys could use it for Christmas, but if you celebrate Christmas, but um holiday weeks don't mean you have to take the whole week off, unless that's what you need to do with your life. So what I do is I just plan ahead. For me, my I like to run on my holidays. Like, I don't have a problem. Like, I love running so much, it doesn't bother me, and I'm not running for like five hours on Christmas because I do have things to do on Christmas, but I am making sure, like, okay, like I'm gonna get my movement in on Christmas, and it's about 60 minutes. Like, this this year I think it's 57 minutes because it's a workout. So, like, for me, taking 57 minutes out of my entire Christmas day, I don't mind that. Plus, the weather in Arizona is beautiful, so I'm always looking for a reason to be outside in that. Um, but if you are a person who like cannot run on Christmas, which is fine because you have just everything going on, that whole entire day is lined up, plan the week around that. Know that, hey, you know what, I did take a couple days off around the holidays, which is awesome, and you can plan your run around that. It's that simple. And it's also setting boundaries too, y'all, and that's the not so simple part, right? I know people will have families that will be like, oh, oh, so you're gonna go run now, or they're not super supportive, you know. So it is setting those boundaries. Say, yes, like I am gonna get my runs in because I have a goal. Uh, some people will actually take an off season at this time of year just because it is that busy and that's perfectly fine too, and it's a little bit more unstructured, but it's still running. So keep that in mind. Like, if you are a person who takes a month or two off from structured training, um, and this might be a good time for you to do that too. I don't normally have much of an off-season, so um, it's up to you. But what I do is I do do less volume for a little while, especially if it's after a long race. Um, so it's still structured and I still have the days that I run, but I'm not like pursuing a goal in that time. So if you're a person around the holidays, and I just I just like structure so much, it really, it really keeps my brain settled. But if you're a person who knows, like, hey, you know, Thanksgiving and through the end of the year is gonna be super, super busy for you, then that might be the time where you do that, where you keep your structure if you want to, right? And then um that way there's not so much pressure on you, and it feels a little bit easier to flex that schedule. So just something you can do. Not something you have to do, something you can do. Um now, travel weeks. So I find those pretty difficult if I would be traveling for work or like I'm not traveling for an adventure. Typically when I travel, it's normally for an adventure, y'all. So I don't normally have too much problems getting runs in, but it can happen. Um, so especially though with traveling for work, but I have a couple of athletes who when they have to travel for whatever reason, they do, if it's not for running reason, they do make sure the hotel they have they they are in has a treadmill. I know, I know treadmills, yuck. I feel the same way. But it is an option, and it's a if you have that option, you you don't have to skip. Like you have that treadmill there. Now you may be asking, why, Brittany, do these people make sure they have a hotel that has a treadmill when they can just go outside? Anybody can go outside. Well, not everybody feels safe going outside in a new place or an unknown place, right? So there is nothing wrong with getting on that treadmill because you don't want to run outside in a place and you if you are by yourself, and that's perfectly fine. Um, so but if you are going on a trip and it is you feel safe there, yeah, you can go outside and do it. But if your work schedule is gonna be about the same as what it was whenever you were at home, you can still fit your run it runs in and at the same time, right? What I've noticed when people, and I'm just giving an example, when people get thrown off on travel, it's a lot of times when they have dinners with colleagues or they had to do a happy hour, um, or it just ends up being more social. Um, even though we can normally anticipate that because a lot of times that's why, at least that's when I had to travel for work. Yes, there was business, but there was always a dinner or something happening. I always made sure to get my uh work in, my workouts in early. Um, and then I also just didn't drink that much alcohol, if any, when I did that, because that's what I've heard a lot from. They're like, I plan on doing this, and then I had a couple too many drinks, and I ate something I don't normally eat, and now my stomach hurts. And there is no judgment when I say that I have been there before. But one way to make sure during travel weeks that things like don't go completely awry is avoiding alcohol or limiting alcohol and making sure you're eating food that doesn't really make you feel bad. I'm not saying you have to be the best of the best out there and like eat only broccoli and drink water, but do your best knowing that you have a goal in mind whenever um whenever you're running. So, because that is that's gonna be continue to be important even even during travel. I said when we're running, but I meant to say when traveling. So you're getting all, I'm not editing today. Y'all are just getting it all out there. This is this is how my brain's working. Um But also, there are times when things are gonna be more chaotic. Um, and it could be anything, but it's something that's expected every year. So I'm not talking about the unexpected chaos, but the expected. Um, end of the school year, when summer's about to start and your kids are getting out of school, right? And that first week when you're trying to figure out all the schedules for everybody. Uh that first week of school back, right? Um, that can get chaotic. Um, trying to think. Spring break. I'm trying to think when I have planned chaos, and I don't know. I think just sometimes I know like when my work is gonna be a little bit busier, which is normally year-end. Like year-end, I get a lot more uh for my consulting job. So that's gonna be a busier time of year. And I know year-end sounds like a big time and it is kind of from September to December, but like I do know that's gonna be busier for me work-wise. So maybe I plan a race or like structured training, but I'm in an off-season during that time. But it is when you have something that you know is going to happen, whether it's for a week, whether it's for a month, whatever it is, plan for it. Always plan for it. I run around four days a week. Tell yourself that here are the days of the week that I have to work, here's the days of the week that I have to get my you know, kid to school, here's when I have to take my dog to the groomer, whatever it is. Plan around that because you can do that. Know what's going on in your life. Don't just throw like spaghetti against the wall and hope that it sticks, because it sure as shit isn't going to. Have a plan, be intentional. Um, I do hear excuses, not just from athletes, from friends, from people I just know. I overhear conversations, and my brain sometimes go, ah, it's just an excuse, right? And I have a whole hell of a lot of empathy people, and I'm not just saying that to brag on myself. I'm a very empathetic person, but I also know, like, I also hear the excuses. And it's because a lot of times there is no plan. There is no plan at all. It's just like, okay, like I'm gonna run these four days of the week, but they don't think about everything that's going on in their life, and they don't actually block their time and their energy for that. So keep it in mind. When you know things are gonna happen, plan for it. If you have a coach, um, I hope you do, because they're awesome. I'm awesome. But if you do have a coach, let them know in advance. Um oh, here's a plan thing that I have. I work events. Um, and in the fall, from the end of September especially through now, like yesterday, I am very busy on some set. There's sometimes where I'm like busy four Saturdays in a row, and I do like to do my long runs on those days, but it doesn't happen then because I have to be up at three between three and five in the morning, go work this event, and then by the time it's done, like it's just it's I'm tired, we're taking a nap, all that good stuff. So what I do is I let my coach know, and it's in the little app that we have, and I'm like, hey, not running this day, or I can run like 45 minutes to 60 minutes this day, but like I can't do my long run this day. So I know that's happening, so I let my coach know, like, as soon as I can, like, this is what this is my schedule. Um, I write very extensive notes, by the way, but I have a few athletes that do, and I love it. So, like, again, just let your coach know that this is happening. You're not gonna be able to run for five hours that day, but you could run for one. Or if you can't run at all, just put it there. And that's their job to structure that training around that. And just know there's gonna be unexpected chaos. There always is. It could be something as simple as you get sick, it could be something, you know, a hell of a lot worse. Who knows, you know? But those are times too when maybe you have to flex and run on a different day, and maybe you just call it a day and miss a run. Like those are gonna happen. However, when those unexpected things happen, when you plan for everything else, the holidays, the travel, the weeks you know are gonna be chaotic, the weekends where you have more going on, so you know you can't do your long run on that Saturday like I do. When it's unexpected, you can pivot, you can react well, and if you take a day off, there's not as much guilt, hopefully no guilt, because you plan for everything else. So the unexpected sucks, but you've had a plan for everything else, and it's not as big of a deal. Your brain doesn't explode because you've done so well with the other pieces. So again, you've gotta give yourself grace then. Sometimes you get sick, you shouldn't run because you're just gonna push yourself into more sickness. Uh, a kid gets sick, a kid breaks an arm, you know, you gotta take your pet to the emergency vet. Whatever it happens to be, those things are gonna happen because we're human, and just give yourself some grace and take the day off. You know, make an adjustment if you need to. Again, if you want to run those four days a week, you can adjust as needed, because right, we're gonna do two easy runs, one workout, and one long run. Okay? Alright, now if you have to, and I've talked about this before, but sometimes you might have to shorten the duration of your run, too. So this is part of that kind of like if something comes up or if you oversleep or whatever, you know, something is always better than nothing. Well, I don't say always, that's I don't like using the word always. Something is normally better than nothing. So, you know, if you have an hour plan and you uh oversleep and you can only get 30 road miles in instead of 60 trail, 60 minutes of trail in, you just pivot to 30 minutes on the road. Don't just not do anything. You're missing out, and you're still gonna get that bump in the morning, you're gonna get that energy that you need. You just shorten the duration of your run. And that's okay. You've still kept that consistency. Remember? Consistency, not perfection. Um, and then like I've mentioned this, but let go of the rest without guilt. You just got to, right? Like, you might have had to shorten a run one week, you might have missed a run another week, you know, you might have nailed a workout though because you took that extra rest day because shit was hitting the fan. Whatever it is, let the rest go without guilt. Consistency over time beats one perfect week. I'm gonna let you know that because if you're gonna have more than like if you're gonna have a ton of perfect weeks, that's crazy. Because I'm not gonna- You're not human then. You're not human. No, I'm kidding. But consistency over time beats one perfect week. So focus on that consistency. Now, what if you want to run five days? How does that work? Just so you know, five days is not a default, and it's not better for any reason. Like, it is what it depends on your goals, right? It could be better for your goals. You may not need that fifth day, you might not be able to get that fifth day in, right? It depends on the season that you're in. Are you in a season where you can like fit that in? Um, great. If you're not, don't try to fit it in because all it does is cause burnout. You're probably trying to push too much in, your body's not going to recover as quickly, you're gonna be more snippy, you're gonna get impatient, all of those things. So don't force it. Um, and it does depend on your recovery and stress too. You have to be able to recover from those runs to be able to continue doing that. Um, so how does it look though? So we're so how I do it for most of my athletes who have got it at four days a week of running, and it really depends how long we do four days a week of running. Sometimes we're doing four days a week because we're just easing them into the fifth day, like we know that's the the future goal. Sometimes it's four days a week because they are that busy, so we're keeping it four days as we navigate those four days and making sure we can be four days consistent before we even think about anything else. So I don't always have athletes come to me with race goals, just so you know, they come to me with goals of being consistent in their running. Like they're like, I know if I can just get consistent, I can like do this race, but I need to get consistent first, but I keep trying to focus on the race and then like I try to do too much, and then I always end up reverting back. So, like, just so you know, like consistency can be the goal. It doesn't have to be a race. So, how do we add in that fifth day? A lot of times what I do is I will add a 30-minute run in there. It is not long. A lot of times they will do it on the road because I don't not all my athletes live on a trail or live on a trail, live near a trail. I mean, I have roadies too, just so you know, I have road runners, so so 30 minutes is just out the door, right? Just go out the door and get those 30 minutes in. And then I will gradually increase that. I will say, um, and my athletes get 30 to 45 minute runs, especially during recovery or when we're if we're building base or anything like that. But typically like 60 minutes is a minimum once we're like recovered, once we're really in the block. 60 minutes is that is the minimum. Um, it just is because 30 minutes is great to get started, but then it just gradually increases. So again, like I might do 30 minutes the first week, 45 minutes the second week, maybe 45 minutes a third week, and then bump it up to 60 minutes by that fourth week. It just depends on what the goals are, what your life looks like, all of those things. I've had to keep some athletes at 30 minutes for four weeks, and they missed it, missed that run twice, right? So we had to figure out how it would work because we thought a fifth day would work on a Friday. That's the example. And we tried for three weeks, and they got it in once, and we're like, all right, that's not working. Like that's the let let's try a different day. Let's try Tuesday. And then that ended up working. So we were able to figure out what where we could fit it out of their life, and then gradually increase it up to that hour. I'm not saying those runs didn't go above an hour either, but I do always, by the time I'm in my training blocks, almost all my runs are at least 60 minutes. Um, and I love it. I love 60 minute runs because I'm gonna go to the trail if I get 60 minutes. If it's anything under, I'm normally on the road because of driving. But that's just me. Uh, so that's really it. Uh adding that fifth day. If you want to add, say you're doing two days of strength training um for those four days of running, and you're like, you know what? I would like to add in another workout. Um, because I've noticed my feet and ankles, like, as I increase my volume, my feet and ankles just seem to like be a little unsteady. They hurt a little bit more. I use an example because I have to do a foot and ankle workout twice a week right now. So we figure out also how to layer in an additional workout for the foot and ankle too. So some of my athletes like double up all of their strength and running. So if they're doing strength training, there's gonna be a run that day. That way they have a they have like two rest days, period. Like they don't have to um, they don't they don't have to like do a strength workout on a rest day. They want two straight up rest days, and that's perfectly fine. So we layered in like that where if they are doing a strength workout, they're gonna have a run that day. I have some Who, when they're running four or five days, um, they have one rest day and that's it, because they will do a strength workout on a day they don't have a run. There is no wrong way to do it. It's gotta work for your life. And remember too, like, if adding in a day creates unnecessary stress, it's really not helping your training. Like, if you are just so stressed and obsessed about that one day and it's just causing you anxiety, you gotta figure that out. And next that day, whatever it is, maybe, maybe it's nothing big. Maybe you've just realized you don't have the time, work is too busy at this time of year, or maybe you get something deeper, you're like, I am putting everybody else first, and that's why I can't get my fifth day. You gotta figure that shit out. I have been to therapy a couple times, and it has helped me each and every time with my anxiety and making space for myself. Um, because as a woman, that is one of the hardest things that we do. Uh, we're always caring for others. We put others first, it's ingrained in us, but sometimes we have to learn to put ourselves first, and that has taken me quite a bit to get to. But once I did, I'm like, hey, this is okay. We can do this, we can be our own individual person and still care for others and do that, but we could still put ourselves first at times. So keep it in mind. But again, four days of running, we are going to do two easy runs, one hard workout, and one long run. We're gonna do strength um two or three days a week, but what what we want to remember that is we want to make our easy days easy. So, say an upper body and core workout on a recovery run or easy run day, and then a lower body workout on a hard workout or a long run day, right? We want to make sure we've got that easy days easy, hard days hard. When we start to layer in that fifth day, or we put in that fifth day and then layer in if we want to layer in an additional day of strength training, we want to make that fifth day on a day that works for us. We want to do it slowly, maybe for 30 minutes. If that day we find out is not working for us, we try to switch it to another day before we start increasing that time. I typically increase it by about 15 minutes, 30 to 45 to 60, and then we see how that goes. And then again, if you want to layer in another day of lifting, you can do it on a day you're running, you can do it on a day where you're not running. Um, I do like at least for people to have one complete rest day or a whatever you want to do that day for you, as long as you're not pounding your body in the ground. So hopefully that all helped there. It's a lot of information, um, but a lot of good stuff there. So you always know how to reach me. Y'all I have some people reach out from these podcasts, and it makes me so happy. They ask questions, um, they DM me on my Instagram, they send me an email, um, whatever it is, because sometimes these do spark questions in your brain that I didn't address. Um, so always happy to answer them. But now, think about this though. You don't need the perfect schedule, you just need one that you yourself can repeat, not somebody else what you can repeat. Training should support your life and not compete with it. And if your weak blew up, that doesn't mean you're a failure. It means you adapt and you keep going. Running isn't about doing everything right all the time. It's about showing up again and again and again. And that's how progress actually happens. So if you love this episode, and I sure hope you did, make sure you download it, follow the show, leave a review, share it with a friend, share it with a non-running friend. Um, it helps this message reach more everyday peeps like you. Again, I don't know how it works, but somehow it gets out there, so I appreciate you all. Now, go move your body, drink some water, stretch your calves, and if you're listening while running, loosen your shoulders. You're welcome. Good effort, with a positive attitude.