#85] Lydia Nader: All About Marathons!

Lydia Nader [@fuelwithnader], registered dietician + elite athlete, is back on the podcast -- this time, talking all about marathons! So many CHAARG girls have "running a marathon" on their bucket lists, so we wanted to have an episode answering all of your questions on choosing a training plan, fueling for long runs, gearing up for race day, ++ so much more! 

Notes:
-- Lydia's Website: runwithnader.com
-- Episode #9 With Lydia
-- Less Is More Training Plan
-- Instagram To Follow: @emmacoburn [booty band workouts!]
-- Grab A CHAARG Booty Band
-- Fuel: Nuun Sport, SaltStick, Cliff Blocks, Jelly Belly Sport Beans
-- CHAARG Booty Bands

Transcript

spk_0:   0:06
Hey, guys, Welcome to charge Podcast Day. I have Lydia Nater back on the pod Cash. She was one of the first people that I ever had on the podcast. Episode nine, which is Whoa, that's amazing. We talked all about running and nutrition, and I'll definitely link that up in the show. Notes for those who haven't listened from the beginning because you guys should definitely seen that episode. But for those who are just starting to listen to the podcast, I'd love for you to reintroduce yourself and share who you are, What you d'oh! And also what has changed in the past year and 1/2 since we last had you on the podcast.

spk_1:   0:49
Okay? Yeah. Wow. So, um, I am a registered dietitian. That is my primary career. I started my own business called Run Performance Nutrition, working primarily with athletes and just active individuals and people who are motivated Thio reach their goals. So that's really cool. To work with people in that realm on then I've been a runner is that's big part of what I do, obviously the name of my company. But I've been a runner since I was 10 years old. through an organization called Girls on the Run, which I'm still involved with now, Um, and so for 17 years I've been running and I'm about to do my 11th marathon. Chicago. I'm actually doing Berlin in Germany eyes that September 29th. So it's coming up very, very soon.

spk_0:   1:38
Oh, my 11 marathons and then have you done ultras at all?

spk_1:   1:44
I have not done ultras. I've technically done one that was considered an ultra race, but it was an elimination run. So it's a little bit different than a continuous, um, 30 miles. So anything over a marathon is considered an ultra. Uh, but I ran 31 miles over eight hour period. Wow, there's a reason there was only one.

spk_0:   2:09
So what has changed within the past year and 1/2? So

spk_1:   2:12
for me, I really dived into my own business. Um, primarily that was one big change was I was keeping my foot in many different areas, having a lot of side hustles like a lot of people are familiar with. And I just decided to go all in. And, you know, the past year and 1/2 has really been a roller coaster. But an Amazing one of building that been able to partner with amazing organizations, partnered with Nike, now ah, sports dietitian for the Illinois Bone and Joint Institute, which is a really cool opportunity. So working with adolescent athletes, which is a really cool opportunity and an area I really am passionate about and want to get more into, um and then from a running standpoint, I completed a lot more marathons

spk_0:   2:57
in the past year and 1/2

spk_1:   2:59
on was part of, Ah, Nike all women's team here in Chicago called the Wind Runners Amazing Organization that literally build up women to train with each other rather than maybe training with their male counterparts. That could be just a CE fast is them but keeping fast women training with other women and empowering them while also empowering the community around them.

spk_0:   3:21
I love that. Are they doing another race day? They

spk_1:   3:24
are so ah, the wind runners. A lot of them are training for the Chicago Marathon, so watch him out there. They'll be crushing some amazing goals out there this year.

spk_0:   3:34
Wow, for those listening who are interested in working with you, is that a possibility? And can you just share a little bit about what that looks like.

spk_1:   3:43
Yeah, so absolutely a possibility. I really based my nutrition counseling and coaching on the individual. So whether your goal is to run a marathon or your goal is to start, you know, getting in the gym a little bit more frequently and how to, you know, maintain weight gain muscle mass, whatever your goals, body composition might be whether that looks like I work with those individuals. So I work usually on a one on one basis. I'm in the process of creating some more group type of stuff, but definitely more one on one right now.

spk_0:   4:13
So Oh, I love that. Well, we could talk all about that. But the reason I wanted to have you on is to talk about running a specifically marathons because, as you mentioned, we're approaching the Chicago Marathon, and I always feel like this city just becomes so alive and electric during that weekend and even the week leading up to it, I would say I also know that so many charge of girls have running a marathon on their bucket list, and so I thought this would be such a cool time to be ableto have a podcast talking to you about what would it look like to run a marathon for the first time and share all of your tips and tricks since you've literally ran 11 of them? So you're the girl that talk on. I'm

spk_1:   4:58
excited to talk about it, too, because I didn't have really any experience going into my first marathon back in 2013. I was still in college at Ohio State. Um was working basically a full time job well, being a senior applying to grad schools. And I thought, Hey, let's run a marathon at the same time. So I'm excited to share what I've learned in the years that I've been running marathons and then just as a runner with the with the rest of the charge community,

spk_0:   5:24
Let's do it before we dive into running race tips. A charge girl asked what tips you have for making running enjoyable. So I wanted to start there. That is a

spk_1:   5:37
great question. Uh, so what I would say is how to make it enjoyable is figure out first and foremost. What is your Why why are you running? Are you running to burn calories. Are you running to trained for a marathon and you're training for a five K? What's that? Why oftentimes I found that when people are running for the calorie port, part of that why it often isn't enjoyable. It often is a chore and sometimes running. If you're training for a marathon, there's gonna be those times where it's gonna be a tour. Obviously, it's not gonna all be sunshine and flowers, but there's gonna be times when you do have thio, you know, kind of work through it. But in terms of making an enjoyable run on your terms, that's what I first and foremost concern is. Run on your terms. Run when you want to run, run as fast or as slow as you want to run. Um, that's the beauty of it. Especially if you're outside and running. Your mind is stimulated. You're seeing lots of different things around you, landscaping, people, dogs, whatever it might be, um, and so that can make it in a more enjoyable experience. And if running with music makes it more enjoyable for you, just fine, what really works for you to get out there? But I'd say the first step is really figuring out. Well, why're you out there running? What's your goal?

spk_0:   6:52
What is your Why

spk_1:   6:54
my y fundamentally, always. It kind of changes here and there. But, um, the one number one, why is for my uncle. So I actually started training for my first marathon in 2013 while I was still in school because my uncle huge supporter of me running probably the one family member that was supportive didn't think I was crazy. Um, he developed leukemia, um, and was in and out of the hospital. Um, and he suddenly passed away, and he had run Boston Marathon twice on, and I never actually got to see him run, which was something that even though he was always supportive of me, never have to see that. And so when he passed away, I had been using excuses like, Oh, I'd run lots of half marathons, but like, I'm too busy to run a marathon. And so I decided when he passed away that I would never let I'm too busy be an excuse for me on Dhe. So I started training for my first marathon. And then after that, I was like, I wanted to train and qualify for Boston Marathon, which you have to d'oh and is qualify for based off of the time because I wanted to run the exact same course that my uncle had done. And so the ability to use my body for something productive and achieving something through the ability to move my body to have my limbs. That's my version of celebrating what he was able to do for me. So that's my number one. Why always there's always other things out there that kind of push me here and there. I have little motivational things that keep me going when runs get tough. But yeah,

spk_0:   8:22
uh, how could I forget the story the moment he said that? I'm like, I remember that story because I remember you saying that you're never gonna let I'm too busy. Be an excuse. Yeah,

spk_1:   8:34
it's changed my life fundamentally, not just from a running standpoint, but from a career standpoint. From a life standpoint I never, never used as an

spk_0:   8:43
excuse. Like job moment. We're just at the beginning of getting are a step one for me. I feel like is choosing the race on by race. I mean the distance, not necessarily choosing the Chicago Marathon. Would you say that is correct? Or what would you say that first step would be after deciding what is my wife for running? If someone has running a marathon on their bucket list, they want to go for it.

spk_1:   9:16
Yeah, if somebody has run a marathon on their bucket list, I recommend choosing that distance. I definitely agree with that. Um, first, you kind of you don't want to jump straight into 26.2 miles. I can't even imagine having done that myself, even having been a runner for many, many years. Prior to that, I did cross country in high school and everything. I can't imagine jumping Street to that. So I recommend start with a five K, or if you're like five K, I can hold 100%. Do a five K. No problem. Try half marathon before you ever do a marathon. I think you're just gonna have a way more enjoyable experience through the training and also on Race Day. If you set yourself up for success by doing at least 1/2 marathon before doing a fool,

spk_0:   10:00
that's a really good point. How do you know if you're ready to run a race?

spk_1:   10:07
So I would say in terms of knowing if you're ready, it's gonna be more about knowing your body first and foremost listening to your body, and it's accused. It's giving you. If you've gone through the training to run the run, the actual race, then you should be confident in that training that you are able to run that. But I would say to like, Go out for start training for one. If you think that's the case, you know you don't have to sign up right away, but start training, see how you're feeling. If you feel like it's not, you're going the miles and it's it's working out really well. Then go ahead and sign up for that race. Um, it's not necessarily going to be something that's oh, I feel ready. Wake up in the morning. I'm ready

spk_0:   10:47
to run a marathon

spk_1:   10:48
or I'm ready to go train for this race. You just kind of know when you're ready and everyone's wise, different, like I didn't think I was ready to run a marathon when I made the decision to do it. I didn't really know if I was ready, but I knew I could run 13.1, and I knew that. Okay, I can read online all these different blog's and ask advice from people who've run marathons before, uh, and then train and have confidence in my training and was able to cross that finish line. Um, and now, 10 later,

spk_0:   11:18
10 marathons later,

spk_1:   11:20
across finish line. So

spk_0:   11:22
I would say to time Commitment Yes. Is crucial. Absolutely. Oh, my gosh. I actually signed up for a marathon. This was probably six years ago, and I trained a little bit here and there by ultimately had to decide for myself not to run the marathon because I'm like, I don't I literally don't even have time to train. I can't just run here and there and expect my body to make it 26.2 miles on race day.

spk_1:   11:56
Yeah, it's a big time commitment. Absolutely. I think you have to know that you have not just the time to go to the gym for 30 minutes. It's not like that. You have to know. Okay, I have enough time to commit, you know, 23 hours, maybe even four hours five hours on a weekend, one weekend day on, then train. You know, a couple of hours in the week as well. You know, you need to be able to commit at least 8 to 10 hours a week on average. I would say, if you want to train for a marathon, so thinking about people who might just be going to the gym just 30 minutes every single day, that's not going to get you ready for a marathon. You have to be able to commit that more time to it.

spk_0:   12:37
Have you ever committed to a race and then backed out?

spk_1:   12:41
I have not. Actually, what I have done personally is I have been very blessed that I have not had an injury that prevented me from finishing a race or starting a race very, very lucky on that part and blessed with that. But I would say that I have had races where I've had intentions of trying to go out for a personal record or personal best and then in the middle of that race decided it's not gonna happen and had to pull back, and Bree and Justin go to Plan B or C or D for that day and even going into race had to readjust and go to a different plan. I've never, luckily, had Thio not do a race. Oftentimes, if there's been other situations where I have maybe not had done a race. But I helped pace another person who was maybe at a different pace than myself and help them achieve their dreams, which, personally, I love doing that way more than actually

spk_0:   13:37
going out for

spk_1:   13:37
my own. Um, but yeah, no, I've never actually had to back out of Reese. Luckily, we're really

spk_0:   13:44
lucky what tips you have for choosing a race.

spk_1:   13:51
Find one that you think is gonna be fun that you think is gonna be enjoyable. My first marathon was you Nationwide Children's Marathon in Columbus, Ohio, because I was still in college at the time, and I will still say even back in 2013 that is still one of my favorite ones because they just do such a great job putting on the race. There's music along the course. There's meaning at a lot of the of miles because they partner with Nationwide Children's Hospital, which does a lot of cancer, pediatric cancer research and treatment, so find one that's enjoyable to you. I know a lot of people do Chicago Marathon because they live in Chicago, so it's really easy to roll out of bed. Go to the start line, um, but find one that's enjoyable for you. Like I said, I'm doing Berlin. Ah, Marathon. This is my second time actually doing Berlin, and I'm doing that race because I would love to travel. So it's an enjoyable experience. I get to go literally, run around the city and experience the city on my own two feet. Ah, while traveling around Europe. So find one that's enjoyable. That's what I would say.

spk_0:   14:57
Do you believe everyone could run a marathon with the right training plan? I d'oh d'oh! My question is, who shouldn't run a marathon? I think if

spk_1:   15:10
you don't have the time to commit, shouldn't run a marathon. If you are having issues, consistent injuries and you feel like it's just you've seen, you know, however many number of doctors, physical therapists, athletic trainers, whatever it might be, and you just keep having injuries pop up here and there, that might be a sign that something needs to happen to try different shoes and, you know, nothing seems to work. You know, that might be a sign that maybe running a marathon is not for you. I have a lot of friends who've run marathons, and they keep trying to go for their goals, and they're just not achieving them. But now they're doing half marathons and they're doing great or they're doing triathlons and they're doing great. So I think it's more of a matter of find a cardio exercise or something that you enjoy. And I think it's Lothian. If the enjoyment part starts not being there to take a step back, I've personally had to do that at least two times in the past three years of Take a step back, um, one due to injury, but also because I was losing the love and the enjoyment of running. So definitely take those those moments to kind of check in with yourself and see OK, is this just way too much work trying to stay healthy, try to train, and then also is it no more, no longer enjoyable?

spk_0:   16:35
The next thing I want to talk about is the plan. There are so many training plans out there And it's so funny because when I was trading for my first marathon, I literally Googled what is a training plan where I can run the least amount and still run a marathon? And it was like the less is more trading plan and I loved it and it was so perfect for me. But it's just so funny because it really is plans for everyone. What tips do you have for choosing that trading plan? So

spk_1:   17:08
my first tip is, figure out your time commitment first and foremost like you said, like you look for a plan that was, you know, running the least amount and, you know, adding, and maybe some cross training. There's plans out there that worked really well for that. I know there's, ah lot of plans out there that you can. You're Max. Long run is gonna only be 16 miles, but you're doing a lot of cross training throughout the week as well. So if you cycle or you do rowing or you're doing strength or whatever that looks like, you kind of add that in. There's also many, many plants, so find the one kind of do your research on the different plans out there and find the one that from a time commitment standpoint, works for you. But then also be honest with yourself. If you are looking at a plan and there's a beginner and novice and intermediate advanced, you know all these different levels. Be honest with yourself about where you actually believe you are at. If you're training for your first marathon, I recommend always going with a beginner or the novice whatever, whichever one of that, um, in the categories air there. I know Nike has a marathon training program or plan that you can literally download. Good. I think it is for the everybody. That's what I would say is it's a very much like time commitment, not a huge, huge time commitment. In terms of Miles, um, it's achievable, I would say for a beginner, anything past that beginning point, though I would say you don't necessarily need to be going for that one. You can look into more advanced ones out there, reach out the friends see with their using Um, that's what I would always

spk_0:   18:36
say. It's funny because I'm curious if the Nike APP has changed their plan because that's the one that I started with five or six years ago, and I thought it was so much mileage. Really? Yeah. But granted, they may have changed. They changed it at least

spk_1:   18:53
every year, about twice a year, based off of the marathon. So a lot of the major marathons are in the fall or in the spring, so they have training plans around those two time periods that most people are training for. So hopefully they've

spk_0:   19:06
changed

spk_1:   19:07
because I probably had other people say the same thing that you said

spk_0:   19:09
because I was doing the beginner one I'm like, I can't do this like this is crazy but it's all good. I'm sure they have changed it like Runner's World as well has a

spk_1:   19:20
lot on there. And that's gonna be for the all runner, you know, you confined anywhere from an advanced Thio beginner in there, too. So

spk_0:   19:28
I'm curious about the plan you mentioned. That only goes up to 16 miles.

spk_1:   19:34
Would you recommend that it's all in the individual is what I will say. I have known people who have done very successfully just doing that, but what I will say is it's not for somebody who's doing their first marathon of your first marathon. That's not necessarily gonna be super beneficial a lot of times. Two, there's even plans out there who focus on time on your feet and less about the mileage. So if your time on your feet for 16 miles is going to be three or four hours, then yeah, you might want to cut your long run at that 16 miles. If you're going to be able to maybe hit more around the 20 20 miles, which is usually that cap for most individuals, especially the beginning of, you know, the first couple of races marathons you're running, then within that 3 to 4 hour range and maximum basically, then that's gonna be okay. You just don't want to. It's time on the feet. You know that's the whole point of a longer on. The long run is to get your body ready for that endurance event that 26.2 miles. That's what long runs are. So it depends on the time on your feet. Ultimately,

spk_0:   20:40
what do you like for this current training plan? What are you running up Thio? What's so? I

spk_1:   20:48
only run up the highest I've ever only run up the highest of about 65 miles per week in terms of weekly mileage. Um, right now I'm keeping it around Maura around 30 to 40 and doing a lot more strength, a lot more cross training. I've learned to love cycling in my training, Um, in terms of the long run. Specifically, I don't go up higher than usually 2021 miles. I've done a 22 miler reform.

spk_0:   21:17
It was not fun, but I

spk_1:   21:20
usually give it around 2020

spk_0:   21:21
one. What plan that you've done has been your favorite so far.

spk_1:   21:28
So I actually had a coach for one of my favorite plans, individual coach, which was a really good experience for me as I had a really aggressive goal going into actually last time I ran Berlin, and that plan was just really great because it balanced out when my schedule ultimately of like I knew I was gonna be really busy Tuesdays and Thursdays. But that's typically when most people run there, they're speed runs or their tempo runs. So was switched up to doing more that, like Monday mornings, had a tempo run and then Wednesday mornings had speed runs and then was able to get a few miles in on Tuesdays, Thursdays, resting on Friday and then go into longer on Saturday, rest a Sunday

spk_0:   22:12
and then do it all over again. Ah, can you share what the mileage per day was?

spk_1:   22:19
Yeah, so it varies. But I would say typically, if it was an easy run day, I would never go. Would be anywhere from five miles to eight miles. Easy keeping your heart Ray Really consistent, basically conversation pace with you're talking to somebody else on. And then, unlike your tempo days, that's gonna be a lot more fluctuating but usually nevermore than 10 miles. Sometimes and granted, I will big cabby on in this. I was trying to go for around three hours 3 10 in the marathons

spk_0:   22:52
so fast, so that tempo

spk_1:   22:55
was a little bit higher in terms of mileage, trying to train your body to run fast for longer periods of time, Um, and so doing that. And then speed runs usually around six miles, no more than seven miles, because you're doing more repeats around a track or on the lakefront path. Ah, and then long runs anywhere from that 10 miles all the way, Probably up to 20.

spk_0:   23:21
Do you have a favorite plan for a beginner from any sort of Web site or a magazine? Or maybe it's the Nike. Which one would you definitely recommend?

spk_1:   23:31
So I actually do like the 91. I think it's really easy from an APP standpoint you can easily like, put it in there. You kind of have my coaches. They call it, um, it takes him to a lot of things into consideration. If you're running the Chicago Marathon or you're running, um, some other like major Marathon, there's a lot of other additional opportunities through Nike to add other things into that training. They have coaches on there that are queuing you. So if you're running your first for your first marathon and maybe you don't live in Chicago, it's kind of nice to have that queuing as you're running. So if you do run with music, it's really nice. You have kind of pep talks while you're running, um, which is nice. So I'd say I do like their plan for especially like Chicago Marathon on those majors, especially your first time, and then after that you can start exploring a little bit more. Um, and also it's not. I will say this to plans.

spk_0:   24:22
You do not to stick

spk_1:   24:23
to it 100% less into your body. First and foremost, I think you feel like it's overwhelming. Cut back a few easy miles here and there. It's not a hard, fast rule. If you don't complete eight miles on an easy day, you're not gonna complete a 26.2 mile race. That's not the case on. I think a lot of times we can get sucked into that, especially when we have a plan in front of us is. We're like, I didn't complete that, Ron. I'm not going to be able to race the way I want to on race day. That's not the case. One day is not gonna make or

spk_0:   24:53
break for race day. So I'm gonna share with you guys. The less is more training plan. Yes, I love that you love when I think, too,

spk_1:   25:01
especially if you have a lot of other cross training opportunities. The less and less is more is a good option because you're still being active and you're giving your body other forms of activation than just running. So it also is a great injury prevention.

spk_0:   25:17
Hi. It really is all about knowing your body. And obviously, I mean, I've been in the fitness since I was eight years old, so I know that my body does not like running every day or even five times a week. And so I was like, Okay, finding a plan where was only running three times a week. It's similar to what you were saying. It's you getting getting that long. I mean, that's probably the most important sprint work out and then a pace workout. And all I did was that. And then I did yoga and core power. Obviously, they have the more flows, but then they also have the sculpt workouts with, like 5 10 Dumb about. So I was getting a little bit of strength here and there, but I don't know, it worked so well for me. It would be interesting. Yeah. Bye. Did another marathon what I would d'oh. Um, but I don't know. It's it's really about finding what works.

spk_1:   26:15
Absolutely. And I think Thio. I've talked to a lot of coaches who care in Chicago and one of things that they always say, like when things aren't really fun anymore. Kind of going back to that topic of how to make fun running fun, you know, break up the monotony of your running a lot of miles. If you loved cycling before you started training for a marathon and you haven't been to Soulcycle go to Soul Cycle instead of doing along instead of doing like a a mid week, you know, easy run of some kind, you know, break it up, break up that monotony, making fun still, Um, you know, like I said, I maxed out usually around 65 miles back when I was training before. And now I've cut back that Mac's weekly mileage because I've added in other things that are more enjoyable to me the strength training, the cycling I did my first triathlon, which was part of the process as well. But know what works best for your body because some people can handle that high mileage some people can't on DDE, adding in strength, adding, in yoga, those things. We're going to be huge injury prevention options and actually could get you to the finish line in a better state than maybe you're just running miles. Nothing else. Counterpart,

spk_0:   27:24
Definitely a charge girl asked if I don't want to commit to a plan yet, but I want to start running longer distances. What tips do you have?

spk_1:   27:36
So my tips are fine day when you can go out there and run closer to that higher mileage anywhere, I would say anywhere above six miles and you anywhere above that kind of 10 k distance and just start seeing how you can progress. And if you're already running some miles out there, start progressing like one mile here. Couple days run an extra added extra mile. Just keep kind of adding that on there. And I'd say, once you can comfortably do 12 miles 13 miles or so no problem. No injuries, no pains, anything like that. Then you can start to be more confident about committing to a plan for a

spk_0:   28:14
marathon. What tips do you have for increasing speed and improving your pace

spk_1:   28:21
so increasing speed get out there and dispute work? Ah, lot of times it's easy for us to kind of let speed work or pace work. Go to the wayside because it's usually has to happen during the weekdays and we're really busy during the weekdays. Where's the long run? It's like, Oh, it's my Saturday or it's my Sunday. I can go out and do this because I have the whole day. Um, you know, it's a little more free for individuals, so it's easy to let that go to the wayside. But that truly is. Get out there. Do speed work, do pace work. That's what's gonna get you faster. More than anything on, I'd say Number two is do strength, do some strength workout of some kind, doing hit workouts that as well that high intensity training is also beneficial for kind of increasing that cardiovascular helping with the that strength in terms of when you're doing a marathon, you're going to get tired. Doing some strength through your training allows you to actually have a little bit better Posture as you start to get tired helps you kind of propel forward when you get tired, so you have that strength endurance.

spk_0:   29:25
I feel like speed is pretty self explanatory in terms of thinking of Sprint work out. But when it comes to pace workouts, can you share Maura about that?

spk_1:   29:34
Yeah, so that's based off the individual. I would say I think there's a lot of different plans out there. You can see what those pace workouts or temple workouts kind of look like. But often times the best kind of look at that is you're doing more than a 400 meters or more than a mile. Repeat. That's what speed usually is. Is a mile repeats or less distance. You know you're on a track or you're out there running that. So a pacer tempo workout is gonna be two miles at a certain pace. It's not gonna be the same as a speed. You're not going all out. You're not doing, you know, high heart rate kind. Can't breathe type of thing. Um, at the end of a speed workout. So you're going to be a little bit more fast, comparative to what your marathon pace would typically be. But you're gonna be consist, Ai ning, that for a longer period of time, the two miles three miles I've done tempo or pace workouts are five miles long, where you're just consistently one mile, two mile. No rest in between. That's a big part of it, too. There's also work out so you can do to mile repeats and two mile repeats is still a paste workout. So you do basically a two mile tempo and you kind of figure out that tempo pace or that pace workout is going to be something that's harder than a marathon. What you want to run your marathon at, um, and typically around where you're half marathon pace would typically be. How do you

spk_0:   30:58
incorporate your marathon pace? So

spk_1:   31:02
you incorporate that usually in workouts and less on long run days? That's how I would say is incorporating it. Um, you know, oftentimes people get really nervous because they maybe don't really run much at the marathon pace. It's nice to kind of know it here and there, but often times you're not running very frequently at your marathon pace, your training your body to run at those faster paces and then eventually on race day. Magically, it all comes together

spk_0:   31:27
and you're able

spk_1:   31:28
to run that marathon pace. But I'd say you typically you're seeing those marathon paces. If you look at any training plan out there, it'll say, you know, do this. Repeat at marathon pace for ah pace, work out or something like that. That's where you're gonna start to feel what that marathon pace will look like for you. You're doing a beginner. Your first marathon, though I would say Do not concentrate as much on that kind of stuff. Um, these are for people who have done more than one marathon. I'd say

spk_0:   31:52
Absolutely. I love the tip that you shared in the beginning to it. It really is time on your feet like, don't be afraid to do your long runs running and walking.

spk_1:   32:02
Yeah, absolutely. There's tons of running and walking plans out

spk_0:   32:05
there. Yeah, it's amazing. That's what I I really did on my long runs. 0.1 walk, 0.9 run. Yep, it was great. I loved it. I'm like, I feel like I could do this forever. Ours ours, which I guess is what marathon it. Anyways, let's talk about heart rate. A charge girl asked, What's a good heart rate to keep while running?

spk_1:   32:34
So it depends, but typically you don't want to be over. Ah, 190 or 202 100 is usually the max you really want to go at, um, but you average you want to keep between a 1 40 a 1 70 I'd say, depending on your heart rate. As you trained for more marathons, you're hurry. You can get a little bit more, um, efficient with your heart rate, so it can be a little bit lower. If you're doing your first marathon, that might be a little bit higher, but it's also based off of stress levels. There's so many things that impact your heart rate, but that would be the averages between that 1 41 70 Have you start to get too high, then you probably want to slow it down. Take some deep breaths, calm yourself down because that's not gonna do your body or you any good. If your heart rate it gets way too high. Total, especially race day. How much is

spk_0:   33:27
too much running per week,

spk_1:   33:30
all based on the individual? But I would say if someone starts to feel burned out there, feel lethargic. They feel like they, you know, their legs are really heavy. Every single run cut back on some of the mileage, you know, maybe substitute instead of doing those easy miles, Um, cut those back and do some cross training of some kind. That's what I would recommend. Um, it shouldn't like it goes back to if it's not fun anymore, or if it's way too much of a tour, you're running way too much. It goes back to that for first and foremost.

spk_0:   34:08
What are your thoughts on days off? I'm curious if there are different theories out there and what you tried, what you liked, what you maybe didn't like.

spk_1:   34:17
They are amazing. They're great. If there's one thing that my Today self would tell my younger self, I would tell my younger self. Take rest days, take days off. It is not mean that you are any less of a strong individual. It does not mean that you are not going to finish that marathon in the time that you want to finish in. It means you're listening to your body and you're giving your body opportunities to recover and come back stronger. The next run you go on rest days or no run. Days are perfectly, perfectly normal and should happen. By no means should you be training not just running but training. Even if that's cross training seven days a week, there should always, always, always be at least one, if not two rest days. I take two rest days now, Um, and I'll even sometimes wake up and say my body's not feeling it. And also, you have taken to life situations as well. Um, you know, my body's not feeling it. Would I be benefiting my body by going out for this run or they'll be doing myself more damage. And if I can kind of see Okay, this is not gonna benefit me by any means. Then I take arresting, and then I attempt that work out the next day.

spk_0:   35:35
Great advice. What tips you have for early morning runs? Oh, I have an

spk_1:   35:44
early morning runners, so but I would say my tips for early morning running one get to bed at a decent time if you can rest in sleep is so important. It's number one recovery tool that you can use, so get to bed at a decent times. You can get at least seven hours. Sometimes it's six. I'm gonna be honest 6 to 78 hours before that run in the morning, so you feel a little bit more refreshed. You're not gonna feel completely refreshed, but get to bed at a decent hour. Lay out your clothes beforehand. I do that a lot just so that I don't wake up my roommate most like clinging things around. But I lay out my socks, my shoes and the clothes I'm gonna wear the next day. So it's super simple. I already know it's there, and number three tip is find a buddy, find somebody that's gonna keep you accountable. Not just because they're gonna be like, Hey, where are you? But that you know that you're meeting with someone and it gets you up out of that. I can't tell you how many times I've not wanting to get out of bed for a 5 30 in the morning workout. But knowing that I had other women waiting at the track to do a trach workout made all the difference of me getting out of it. And I was always grateful. By the time I was done, I was like, I'm glad I got up. I did something really, really progressive and productive super early in the morning, and so it's always gonna be great, but those are my three

spk_0:   37:05
tips. We talked a little bit about burnout, but I love to go more end up on that. And specifically, let's talk about your experience when you lost that motivation for a little bit. One of the reasons said was because you were injured and the other I don't think you shared yet. But what did you do during that time? How long did that time take you?

spk_1:   37:27
So Yeah, so I experienced Bernau. Um, I was 2017 the summer of 2017. I just come off of a in my opinion, for me was a horrifically Boston marathon. I trained really hard for it, had a horrible day whether had a lot to do with it. But it also is just very frustrating and mentally draining. And I had just like, I didn't know if I ever want to run another marathon again, to be honest, but I always end up doing another one. So going into that summer, I was motivated with this kind of fire of I know I can do better. And I had a coach who believed in me more than I believed in myself, which made a big difference. So have that that buddy, that coach, whatever that looks like um, kind of believing you more than you believe in yourself is really crucial. Trained really hard. Had an amazing race in Berlin, and, uh, the fall of 17 came off of that was super excited, was great. Felt strong everything. Ah, and then I kind of had that burnout started, have injuries, pop up, had things happen, felt like running had consumed my life. And that's basically what it happened the summer of 17. I really didn't hang out with people that much. I was so dedicated into my training and that just my body was like, You're burned out and sew. It told me, and I took time off. Not enough. My body said, Hey, uh, yeah, you're not fully healed. Even though I started training for another spring marathon in Copenhagen, Denmark, on dso trained for that had another bad race of that one. Ah, in the summer of 18 and then after that took about two months completely off running. And it was some of the best two months of my life. I'm not gonna lie to you

spk_0:   39:06
as much as I love running. Yeah, I

spk_1:   39:09
started strength training. I started spending more time with people in investing in relationships a lot more. So what I would say for my personal experience is you're burned out when you start to notice that relationships are not progressing or not blooming, or you're not dedicating as much time to those relationships. Also, when your body tells you it's, it's at its limit, its at its limit. Listen, our bodies are you know, I'm a nutrition is

spk_0:   39:37
dietitian, So I have

spk_1:   39:38
reached this all the time. But be mindful about what your body is telling you. Um, it's smarter than we are, um and so listen to it. If it's saying Hey, take it easy, you need a break, Take that time and you know it's the right choice when, like I experience, I had where I was not necessarily itching to get back out there and trained for another marathon. But I was excited about the opportunities in that moment and be excited about that moment. So that's where I'd say, if you are worried about burnout, just continually check in with your body when I'm training for a marathon. Now I check in with my with myself in my body and how I'm feeling pretty much daily now. I used to do it maybe weekly and see. OK, how did that feel? How were those runs? I know old school runners used to keep journals all the time about how they felt. I think we should probably

spk_0:   40:28
go back to that, you know? How

spk_1:   40:30
do you feel on that run? How? What did you drink? What did you eat? What was the weather like? Who were you running with? So you can go back to those moments of good runs and take in those moments and read those moments when you have bad runs and vice versa.

spk_0:   40:48
Did you decide on taking two months off from the beginning, or what did that process look like?

spk_1:   40:55
Started off his one month for the injury, Give it time. And then I just decided that I needed another month. I started to actually find out that I needed to gain personally at my period back. Um, I had that that issue where I had lost my period for a significant amount of time. I started to realize that was affecting burnout for me personally. A lot. And so I need to take that time I needed to gain weight. I needed to focus in on that health. Because for me, my long term goal and running I want to be running. When I'm 90 years old. I want to be that you know, that Amazing Ah woman who keeps that. I

spk_0:   41:30
think the

spk_1:   41:31
nun who does these marathons and things like that and she's so old and she's out there doing it. I want to continue doing this sport for the rest of my life, but I don't care. Take care of my body right now. That's not an achievable goal. So I've had to take that. I took that extra month because I knew that I needed that to have that long term goal

spk_0:   41:49
be achievable. Have you experienced not necessarily burnout, but lack of motivation while training for a race and if so, what did you D'oh,

spk_1:   42:01
100%. There's always gonna be that lack of motivation. I will say you have to go back to your why you have to go back to Why am I doing this? Who am I doing this for? Are you doing it for yourself or you doing for somebody else? You have to go back to that because there's going to be tough times. Whether you are an elite athlete who's running Olympic in the Olympics or you are, you know, running your first marathon and you're hoping to finish in the 66 hours and 30 six hours and 30 minute cut off of a major marathon, you have to know what your wise you have to know what that's for, who that's for, why it's for and really reflect on that from the beginning and continually come back to it. Come back to that intention. Basically, what's that intention come up with? Mantra has to say to yourself, I had lack of motivation when I've been in the middle of a run, literally like, and I really think I want to run pens two miles. Let's just we could just stop on the side of the lake from path, and no one would know. No one would ever know how to stop it, not uploaded to Strada. It's all good. Oh, but I tell myself, Why am I doing this? A lot of times, it might be your fundraising for something, you know, For me, I'm fundraising for the American Cancer Society. For Berlin. It might be because you have another family member or friend that your training with and you want to cross the finish line with that individual, you have to know what that why is in that mantra. You know, for me, one of mantra is that I always come back to That was very true. Back in 17 for me was be comfortable with being uncomfortable because it's gonna get uncomfortable. If you have a goal of getting faster or having Maur endurance, it's there's going to be points of uncomfortable or lack of motivation. Find that mantra that works for you. There's so much you could literally Google Mont running mantra is, and there's gonna be a long list. Or you could just come up with your own.

spk_0:   43:53
Do you remember a certain period of time where you fell like not just a day filled with lack of motivation, but maybe a week? And how did you get out of it? I

spk_1:   44:04
would say training for Copenhagen back in 18. Um, I definitely had weeks, um where I didn't feel very motivated. Um, oftentimes what I do instead is find something else that was active for me, whether it be, you know, walking the dog, whether it be jump on the bike with a friend going and riding around Chicago or going doing strength class with a friend, I found other forms of activity to move my body to kind of cut, that lack of motivation. That was just It was basically just a lack of motivation to go run to do that activity specifically mean. Almost 18 years now, I've been a runner. It was a long

spk_0:   44:45
time. E got have

spk_1:   44:47
to break it up on, especially when I have goals of being high level, like athletes, you have to break it up. I mean, if you follow any of the elite athletes of professional athletes out there, they will say to that They break it up with Pilate is yoga, whatever it looks like because they even have lack motivation and the their their paycheck literally depends on how they perform. And they have lack motivation. So you better believe the rest of us are gonna have lack of motivation. So just find in those weeks because that's a very big reality. Is if you have an entire week where you just not motivated. Maybe work and life are just super stressful. school's very stressful. It's okay to take a step back. It's okay to only have one run in that week or it's okay to have zero runs in that week. You have to take care of your body. First and foremost, it will work. It will work. Pay you in the end, I promise. Might not seem like it, but it will repay you in the end. You might not see that repayment immediately. You might not see it on race day, but you will see it in the long term.

spk_0:   45:47
Uh huh. And kind of going back. Thio, how can you make it more enjoyable? Like I remember, I would get super excited for long runs because I knew it was when I could eat my sport. Jelly beans, you know? Yes. Yes, I love them. And I also would take a nice Epsom salt bath. Afterwards. Go toe edge with the recovery boots and a hot cold tubs. Listen to a podcast. What are some little things that you really love about long runs or recovery or self care in general? Oh,

spk_1:   46:22
all the things, um, firmer long runs for me. A lot of that motivation or just like enjoyment is going and running with people, sometimes because of my schedule. Sometimes I do have to do long runs on my own. But there's a group called three Run to here in Chicago that literally meets at 5 15 in the morning. So sometimes I can still meet up with them in the mornings. I need to get my run done early on a Saturday, and it just was, like, so nice to be out there on the lakefront path with my friends basically. So that's a huge motivator, knowing that that's gonna happen because often times these days I'm running around working really hard on my, you know, building my business in my career. And so I can't necessarily fit my schedule all the time with other people to run. So long runs. That's my opportunity to run with my friends. Number one thing I love about that rest and recovery. Oh my gosh,

spk_0:   47:13
I love everything about rest of

spk_1:   47:14
recovery. I've done the boots, the compression boots. I love ice baths that ej the contrast baths. Two is not just ice, it's also they have a hot tubs. You can do contrast baths. It's great. After a long run. I would also say compression socks or a peril is really nice. So if you're traveling and you don't have the opportunity, go to a place or have access to compression boots, that's a really great thing. Um, I know a lot of people will do. There's, like the Thera gun sometimes or things like that. Um, so many different tools out there. Um, there's foam rollers. You know, that's always fun,

spk_0:   47:53
but that's definitely

spk_1:   47:55
something, you know. It could be very painful, but those different things out, they're gonna be really beneficial for that injury prevention side of things. And so for me, it's running with my friends on long runs, its sometimes having a good meal to. That's what motivates me. A lot of times for a long run is like Afterwards I get to share Ah, good meal with friends with family, whatever it looks like. You know, we goto a brunch place here in Chicago, brunches so so common here. And then you go after a long and you're like I can I'm fueling my body. I'm refueling my body, which is what it needs. So that sometimes a huge motivator. Fun little story is when I was in high school, actually even younger than high school like middle school area, and I started running more competitively with local high school group. My mom used to motivate me because I still I didn't want to run at

spk_0:   48:44
that age, necessarily all

spk_1:   48:46
the time. She would motivate me by saying, I'll get you a frosty um after your run. So it's like Think about you running the hot heat like in the summertime and then you get a frosty. So that's still sometimes I will do that as like my motivation. I'll goto like Wendy's here or go to Culver's, get some sort of like malt of some kind. Um, and that's my motivation and always takes me back to when my mom was like, kind of motivated me to do

spk_0:   49:09
that like you. Well, let's talk about food now that you mention it was the best food to fuel west. Oh,

spk_1:   49:20
there's so many different great things out there, But I'd say from a marathon standpoint, carbs or your friend, um, having good complex carbohydrates, your potatoes, your starchy vegetables, your whole grains, those sorts of things are gonna be fuel to help you not have heavy legs, not have burnout happen as frequently. Um, those sorts of things that's gonna be really important. Having protein as well is really good. I'm a huge fan of Kodiak cakes. They're like protein pancakes. Super easy to make. They have lots of from products. I use that throughout my training. A lot of times, I'll use them for breakfast. I'll use him as a pre long run fuel because they're super simple. Easy on the stomach, Um, and then also getting lots of like vegetables and throughout your training process for fuel. Because it has antioxidants, so helps with anti inflammatory, which gets you out there running faster, slower, like decreases your recovery

spk_0:   50:17
time. How important is that evening meal before your long run in the morning? It's pretty

spk_1:   50:26
important, I would say. It's one of those where you're not. You have to kind of goals. One. You want to fuel up as much as you can before that last long run and dumber to you want to make sure you're getting foods in that don't disagree with you. So, for example, oftentimes people can't eat broccoli or Brussels sprouts or asparagus. Those were like we think all those air greens is. Our vegetables are good for you, but sometimes that causes gas for people, or it causes just G. I distress in general. That's not something you want to eat the night before. Do you want to avoid, like, usually higher fiber type of things or food? You know that I disagree with you, um, and keep Thio. You know you don't need to have a large meal. You don't need to, like, stuff your face the night before because you don't want to be bloated or field super heavy the next morning. And also that does not feel good to go to sleep. And it's usually not a good idea to get quality sleep when you have that much in your stomach. So keep it simple, but like keep a balance play, you know, have your protein in there somehow about the size of your palm is a good source of protein there, and then having about quarter of your plate being whole grains. If you can get a little bit Maur, maybe it's a potato, maybe even starchy vegetables, and they're just kind of balance it out. But keeping away from that higher fiber stuff and making sure you're getting in some good, complex carbohydrates before that long run.

spk_0:   51:45
Do you have a favorite evening before meal?

spk_1:   51:48
For me, it is salmon with some brown rice or white rice. I'm not gonna lie to you. I do love my white rice. Sometimes they don't necessarily need to have all that fiber coming from the brown rice and then usually some vegetables as well. So usually mixed vegetables like peas or care. It's those sort of things they're still gonna provide me with good vitamins and minerals, But they're also gonna be starchy. So they're giving me some good complex carbohydrates.

spk_0:   52:14
Yeah, it's funny because you hear carbo load and you think like a big plate of pasta when I feel like that's, like, very much misconception. Yeah, What you describe that just sounds like a really amazing healthy meal.

spk_1:   52:30
Oh, yeah, and it's It is a big misconception. I think carbohydrate looting can be beneficial at times, and I definitely recommend to some of my clients to do it. Um, but I would say that it's not just that big play deposit you can carbohydrate load with potato, You can, you know, I know people who, literally, if they're traveling for a race, they goto windows to get a baked potato like That's what they do for their, you know, night before race. And then they're having some protein in there, because if you just have straight carbs, your blood sugar is one gonna spike really high and something really hard to sleep. It's also going to be really hard. Thio. You're gonna wake up really hungry the next morning, which you don't necessarily want to be pounding a lot of food before going out for that long run, because it's not going to sit really easy in your stomach. So there's multiple reasons why you want to put in some protein and they're not just have a big old plate of pasta.

spk_0:   53:21
What should you eat before the long run?

spk_1:   53:26
Keep it simple. Ah, simple carbohydrates. So I typically will say if people like fruit juices that something super simple to take in liquids. A lot of times people can take that and before long, run banana with peanut butter is a good option. Kodiak cakes. Like I said, the pain cakes you pre made pancakes or they literally now most companies not just go to kick butt like have, like little muffin in a 10 or pancakes in a little like container that you can literally throw in the microwave, heated up and go muffins. I've sometimes on muffins is a grab and go because I will say for a long run, you're probably not waking up 34 hours before that long, huh? Um, typically, whereas on race day, if you're doing ah, Major marathon, you're probably waking up three or four hours beforehand. So your your breakfast options for long runs should somewhat simulate what your race day is gonna look like. But taking into consideration, you are gonna have more time in between the time you eat breakfast in the time you race comparative, when you eat breakfast and you do your long run, so try to train with the same similar thing you do before. But just taking that into consideration when that time period. But keep it simple. Simple carbohydrates are easy on the stomach on the G I system, so they shouldn't cause you two minutes g ice to stress and the whole point of that. I know there's a lot of people out there who say, like, Well, I can't eat anything before going out, and I totally get that I was that person for a while. But the reason you do that and you see how much you can take in personally, not everyone can take in a lot of food, But the reason you do that is when you wake up, breakfast is literally breaking the fast. When you've slept, you are fasting, and so your body is using the glycogen stores in your muscles and in your liver to keep you breathing to keep you alive while you're sleeping. So it's burning. So when you wake up, you are not at, like full capacity of glycogen stores of your energy stores that you need for that long run. So that last breakfast is what's giving you that last little bit of energy topping off that gas tank. Basically, you want to top it off, because if you don't top it off, you're going to be closer to empty if not at empty. When you finish that long run, it's gonna be harder for your muscles to repair themselves and recover afterwards on, you're just gonna feel really fatigued and tired I know that often times I've seen this and this happened to also to me. But if you don't fuel up that breakfast or fuel throughout that long run, you feel really tired and lethargic. When you finish a longer and you should not feel that tired, it just not. You

spk_0:   55:57
shouldn't have to go. You shouldn't have to

spk_1:   55:59
go in sleep for three hours afterwards. Yes, it you may be woke up really early and you didn't get a lot of sleep the night before. But on in general, you should not feel super fatigue after a long run, because that means some. There's something something going on from a fueling standpoint. Maybe you were going too fast. Move your heart rate's too high. Many different

spk_0:   56:16
things. Let's talk about fueling during the run. What does that look like?

spk_1:   56:22
So test out different products are so many different products out

spk_0:   56:25
there.

spk_1:   56:26
Um, but what I would say is you typically want to aim for around 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour when you're fueling for long run. And like we said before, it's when you're feeling for a long run. It's simulating what race they should look like eso fueling with gels. You said The jelly beans is something you used. People have used Gummi Bears. I've seen Sour Patch kids, some people, so you will use candy. People use real food as well, so that's an option as well. So trading that all into consideration test out different things. Lots of sports stuff out there. But there's also real foods. You can kind of test out what works best for the individual. And then I would say hydrate. One of the biggest things, especially when you're training a summertime for Ah fall marathon is hydrating is one of the biggest things I can get to get through to people. They're like, Usually, I feel, you know, dizzy or nauseous after a long run. Usually that means you're not hydrated enough. You don't have enough electrolytes, so different products out there to make sure you get plenty of electrolytes could be like noon or a lot of products out there nowadays, have some electrolytes, like sodium, potassium, calcium, those sorts of things so you can add those into your training for a longer and a swell, typically like to tell people whatever you're testing with, taken something every 30 minutes to 45 minutes at least, just to make sure you're kind of breaking up the monotony of a long run one and two. You're just having that constant fueling, and you're just kind of topping off the tank as much as you can. That gas tank, what would you

spk_0:   58:00
recommend in terms of how much water to drink per mile? So

spk_1:   58:05
typically do it more on based off of time and liftoff of mile and typically anywhere from 4 to 8 ounces every 15

spk_0:   58:13
minutes? The average. So that would be like a big legal cut.

spk_1:   58:18
Yes, so that's about like a typically like a gulp two gulps, Um, if you're running with water or a few, there's like here in Chicago. There's a lot of water stops along the lakefront path on a weekend that's like one of those cups basically,

spk_0:   58:33
you said, per 15 15 minutes. Our and a great way

spk_1:   58:41
to that. If you want to get super specific for yourself, is you can do is way yourself before you go out for a long run and then weigh yourself after and take into consideration any fluid you drank. You can estimate it as close as possible during that long run. But a lot of things people, When they do that, they're shocked at how much weight they lose. It's all water weight, but they lose weight in there. This I've had people who have lost 3 to £4 in their long run, and then they usually don't feel super great. They're taking really long, timeto recover after that long run, and it's because they didn't hydrate enough on the long run.

spk_0:   59:15
Whoa, that's fascinating.

spk_1:   59:18
And I also want to address to cause I've gotten this question a lot, too about Well, I don't drink a lot of water on my long runs because I'm afraid we have to go the bathroom. That's a big common one. What I would say is, if you have to go the bathroom, it means that you aren't taking enough electrolytes so sodium helps balance out that water to avoid you having to go to the bathroom. So salt your food, you can add in those other products, like I was mentioning, like, noon or you're not taking enough carbohydrates. Carbohydrates hold onto water as well, so if you're hydrating properly and you're also fueling properly you should not have to go to the bathroom on your long run, even taking in more fluid than you normally. D'oh. Guarantee it's gonna work. People are skeptical, but try it. It works.

spk_0:   59:59
Eyes amazing. I didn't know that at all. How much in noone should you have her long run? Would you say

spk_1:   1:0:06
so? Typically, most people averages about one tablet for every hour or so. Um, through those aren't familiar with Noon. Noon is literally a little tablet. You throw into a water bottle, it dissolves and fizzes. It gives you nice, like flavoring and different things like that. Noon sport has higher amounts of sodium in it, so it's for you. Sweating a lot more so typically around one tablet per hour of running is going to be pretty pretty beneficial for most

spk_0:   1:0:34
individuals. Do you like any other Electra like supplements? More? Yes,

spk_1:   1:0:40
there's some salt stick, which is literally just like they have salt pills. They have salt tablets. I cannot take pills. One fact about me especially not running. And so, um, I actually do a chewable version of salt stick, and so I just take that in. You can also get it from your actual fueling gels or things like that. A lot of those have maybe extra sodium. A lot of times, I know people really like cliff blocks. That's a really common thing that people like to fuel with. And those, like there's the margarita flavor and salted watermelon have higher sodium in them. So you maybe don't need that Elektra Late supplement or electrolyte products. Specifically, you can get it from your actual fueling

spk_0:   1:1:20
that is, outside of the long run. Do you drink electrolytes throughout the day at all? What does that look like? Yeah, so I

spk_1:   1:1:29
definitely recommend drinking throughout the day, especially in the summertime. We're usually sweating more than just being out there on a run. If you come back from a run that's under that 90 minutes, when you don't really need to be taking in like fueling, you still need to be like hydrating if you can, but take in like a good way to kind of jump start after a long run, taking a glass of some electrolytes of some kind. You can even do it electrolytes from your food, so make a smoothie that has some good electrolytes in there. But Yeah, I definitely do like noon. Like I literally have heard here. I'll have nude in my water bottle that I drink throughout the day. At least one tablet per day on top of whatever I'm doing. Per run.

spk_0:   1:2:08
Yeah, I was gonna ask How do you know if you're over electrolyte ing? Yeah.

spk_1:   1:2:15
So, typically, if you're over electrolyte ng, you're usually dehydrated oftentimes, because if you do too much off electrolytes, it means that you're overcompensating and you're not having you need to like, basically your body's gonna be, say, I need more fluid because I have too much sodium. I have too much of that stuff, so it's gonna try to compensate eso. You want to make sure that you kind of balance it out a few during one tablet and you don't salt your food a whole lot. I know why Times people say they're concerned about salting food. We have a lot of our food. That's process has high sodium. But I'd say most people these days one Cos. Are listening to that and they're not salting or high. Having high sodium in food these days and to most of us, aren't consuming as many of those types of processed foods as much anymore. We're definitely still consuming processed foods, but not those high sodium one. Specifically.

spk_0:   1:3:08
Are there any other misconceptions about food and running that we should know about? Oh, are there misconception?

spk_1:   1:3:17
There are a lot of misconceptions out there, and I don't know there's enough time to talk about all of them down on this podcast, but I would say like one of the big ones is like, I don't need carbs to run a marathon. And I would say, That's not true A zit endurance athlete. And that's what if you're doing a marathon of some kind, you're an endurance athlete. You need carbohydrates. That's our primary source of fuel. That's what our bodies desire tohave to fuel on. If we don't do that, then we're not only not fueling, we're gonna be lethargic. We're gonna be tired and fatigued. But we're also gonna have a harder time to build some muscle. And so, ultimately, a long time, people want to build some muscle mass. Maybe they want to lose a little bit of body fat as well. That's oftentimes some people's. Why, for why they're doing a marathon. Um, and there's nothing wrong with that. But understanding that cutting carbs is not going to get you to that point on DSO doesn't necessary give you permission to go eat a dozen doughnuts or, you know, three or four donuts, even after a long run, because that's not gonna fuel you correctly. Post workout. But cutting carbs when you're an endurance athlete is not gonna be beneficial to your current health and your long term health. So that's a big misconception that I think a lot of people trouble

spk_0:   1:4:29
with. Can you talk a little bit about how some people went running a marathon actually gain weight and why that happens? Yeah, so that's a very

spk_1:   1:4:41
common thing. Often times it's because people are equating. I ran this many miles and most of our devices these days, which is an apple watcher, garment watch or ah Fitbit. Most of these things tell us how many calories we've burned after a workout, which is gonna tell us the exact same type of information post long run. We equate that, too. I can eat this many calories, but it's not just calories, so they might just go and get those doughnuts. That's a very common thing or eat. Not really nutritious, nutrient dense types of foods. And so often times they start to gain weight because they're not fueling their bodies with not just the carbohydrates but also protein and also good, healthy fats that help decrease inflammation that keep our bodies moving properly. So oftentimes is because people just think, Oh, I'm running a marathon. I need carbs. And then they just on Lee eat carbs and they don't balance it out with good nutrient dense other foods.

spk_0:   1:5:39
I've heard a few stories about that I'm like, I wonder what Lydia would say that and

spk_1:   1:5:44
also who like to add to that as well as you do gain a little bit of weight. Sometimes if you are, even if you're fueling right and you gain some weight, it's probably muscle. I mean, the oftentimes wait. That number on the scale is not a true indicator of what you're actually gaining, you know. Is it muscle? Is it fat? What's it look like? So oftentimes taking like that's something you're concerned about, kind of kid paying more attention to your body and how it looks Hell, things are fitting. That's a better indicator of, well, it might have been gaining weight. Maybe it's muscle, you know. That's a very real thing that could happen in marathon

spk_0:   1:6:18
training. What about hunger cues? Do you feel like if you're running a lot more, your body gets a lot hungrier, but it's a little bit confused. Is that a thing? Yes

spk_1:   1:6:31
and no. Everyone experiences a little bit differently. Some people definitely have more hunger cues as their training, their higher mileage, everything other people can have their hunger cues kind of stifled with through marathon training. And they don't feel hungry. They finish a long run and they're just not hungry and they don't want to eat anything. That's a reality as well. What I'd say is that Listen to your hunger cues. Yes, it's your body telling you what it needs. But there are gonna be times when you also need toe, not force. Feed yourself, but you need to be conscious of Okay, I have a I have a run later this evening, and maybe I should have this, you know, trail mix, you know, to fuel me for that. That run, you know, feet being conscious of. I'm running in three or four hours. Maybe I should eat something. So I'm not eating something right before the run in order to have a good successful run. Absolutely. Let's move on.

spk_0:   1:7:22
Thio gear a few questions on finding the best gear for training. I know shoes is such a big one. So, what advice do you have for finding the best running shoes? And also, what questions should we be asking these shoe experts?

spk_1:   1:7:40
Yes. My number one tip is go to a running store first and foremost. No matter where you're at, there is a running store. I guarantee it, um, running specific store. Don't go toe addict. Sporting goods don't go to those places They're not equipped or trained on fitting you for a running shoe properly. You go to a running store. They're usually runners one. So they understand. And two, they're trained on all the different steps. So they're gonna ask you questions like, Well, have you had any previous injuries? What have you been running in? What if you liked running in? They're gonna watch you walk to see if you have any pro nation or, um, or super Nation. They're gonna kind of see how you run in a more natural shoe usually take videos. It's a very thorough process, so you can feel confident when you're walking out that door with a pair of shoes that they've put in the time and effort and their runners to. So they want to make sure that you're healthy a CZ while walking out the door. But you're getting put in a pair of shoes that's going to support you and get you to your goals. So they're gonna ask you, Are you training for a five year training for a marathon? You're training for an ultra because the shoe those questions make a big difference type of shoe you're actually put in.

spk_0:   1:8:51
Would you recommend going half a size up full size up? So it all

spk_1:   1:8:56
depends. I say the average is half a size. Um, if you feel like a lot of times, people maybe have one toe that's a little longer than another um, or maybe their feet are a little bit wider, and that size difference that full size up makes a big difference for them. Then go that route. Typically, you're not going more than a full size. Most average people are doing 1/2 size up, especially for a marathon

spk_0:   1:9:18
training. Yeah, it's interesting because I go up 1/2 size because it's way more comfortable on my foot. However, I noticed that around mile eight or nine, my toast are hurting. Like that's little the only thing in my entire body. I mean, granted, I'm sure thanks. Writing about like, that's the worst pain. Yeah, and so part of me wants to go up another half sad and see how that is. Maybe has to do with socks. I'd love to hear your advice on that.

spk_1:   1:9:50
Yeah, well, is it the front of a foot? Is it the

spk_0:   1:9:54
size of the early, The tips of the toes? Yeah. So that could

spk_1:   1:9:58
be debt. That definitely could be like going up another size. Oftentimes, if you said as you get to certain mileage, it's probably the pounding at the top of the foot. You could even tie your shoe to make sure that your feet are a little more secure in the base of that shoe around the laces. So maybe you're not sliding as much. Maybe you aren't sliding as much as you maybe think you are, But that constant movement could be kind of pushing your toes into the front of the shoe. And because the shoe is only half size up, you could be hitting the front of the shul more frequently. Oftentimes, too, if you lose toenails that's often assigned,

spk_0:   1:10:32
definitely lost all my toenails besides my two big toe. So, yes, so that's a

spk_1:   1:10:39
big factor as well. So I would say going up a full size definitely could be beneficial. Um, if your toes are hurting, I would say that's not a sock issue. Um, more the shoe.

spk_0:   1:10:49
That's good to know. Damn. Like I was myself too thin having sense? What about running in two different shoes while training? So that

spk_1:   1:11:01
could be super beneficial? Um, one, because it's going to kind of avoid you that overtraining prevention of injuries because you run in just one pair of shoes. There is a life span for run shoes. Um, and so if you hit that maximum and you're maybe only, like a few weeks out from your marathon, you still need to get another pair of shoes before that marathon. Or else you're gonna kind of set yourself up for injury. If you don't swap out those shoes. So having two sets of shoes really beneficial one could be used for more long runs. Another could be used for more those speed pace workouts, Um, and the one that you use for long run could be used for easy runs. Um, something is maybe more cushioned or more of that kind of thing, where you have a lighter shoe for your speed runs your pace runs. It also allows for your feet to have different memory activation. So, basically, if you're running in different two different shoes, you are allowing your body to kind of have more muscle memory activation happening because you're running in different support in different cushion. And so your feet and your brain, or you are forced to kind of re adapt to a new shoe every time, rather than the mundane same shoe for every single run. So it actually makes you stronger by that activation standpoint,

spk_0:   1:12:24
well, other running gear do you think is important to have. If you're training for a marathon,

spk_1:   1:12:29
I say, having like a handheld hydration Ah ah, hydration vest or hydration belt hydration, hydration, hydration. Something like that is very beneficial to kind of have if you're training for a marathon. Um, not saying you have to run the marathon with that, but a guarantee that when you're out there training on your long run, you don't have anade station every mile like you would in a marathon or every three miles S o training with what you would be doing on Race Day means you be hydrating throughout the long run. So that's one piece of gear that I definitely recommend. Also, like for women, a good sports bra. Um, I say that is 100%. Figure out one that's going to support you. Well, because you're out there for long miles and you want something that's gonna keep you secure, it's not gonna cause you any pain. I'm personally a fan of pockets, especially for training for a marathon. So ah, lot of my long run and race day sports bras that I wear have lots of pockets in them. So I actually put my fuel in them. I have one that I can put like my phone in there. So when I run marathons and that I'm trying to find like my family afterwards, I'm easy. It's easier for me to find my family afterwards because I have my phone on me comparatively. If I put it in gear check so I'd say hydration for on runs and then also like a good sports bra for women. It's important thing and like good sunglasses for running or ah, good visor hat of some kind because whether you're running in the winner or you're running in the summer, you're gonna have some sunshine, and you want to kind of keep yourself safe from that sunshine as

spk_0:   1:14:02
well. What are your favorite brands for the hydration? So there's a

spk_1:   1:14:06
lot of them out there. I would say Camelback has a lot of different options. They were really good handheld option that I like, um, and then also vests as well. If you want to do, like hydration, backpack or invest, and then there's some other ones out there you can kind of test. Fuel Belt is another one that has belts and then also handheld ones as well. There's lots out there. You can kind of find

spk_0:   1:14:30
them. What's your favorite running shoe brand? So

spk_1:   1:14:35
my favorite running shoe brand now has been Nike. Um, I have lots of different pairs for different types of runs. Um, and I actually used to steer clear of Nike when I was younger of is a Mizuno girl used to run a Mizuno all the time, um, and then started to find more appreciation for the Nike running shoes run in the Pegasus model, specifically for most runs. It's a good work horseshoe. Basically, if you only wanted to have one pair of shoe for training, it can do speed runs. It can do long runs. It can do pace runs. It can do easy runs. It can do it all. Basically, if you didn't want to have multiple shoes, so

spk_0:   1:15:15
you mentioned compression socks earlier. Would you ever run in those for your long runs? Is that a thing? So I personally

spk_1:   1:15:23
don't. I think oftentimes when people do Ron with them, it's because they have some sort of injury. So maybe there's an ankle cafs really tight, something like that, trying to increase that blood flow to that area while they're running. I have found that when I have running in compression socks, I have a very odd tingling sensation often happen in my feet and my cafs, and it's not something that I really want to be happening while I'm running, so usually regret it after the fact S o, I recommend not necessarily running in them unless you really feel comfortable in them. And everyone has a different opinion. There's some people who loved running compressions on. I only do it if I actually legitimately have, like an injury of some kind that I'm trying to like keep to keep at bay or trying to, like, stave off that injury. So compression socks great for after the run. Put those things on after you've showered. After you've run, that's gonna help. Kind of increase that blood flow to your feet to your calves, all of that different stuff. So that way you can increase that recovery and get back to your run

spk_0:   1:16:27
faster. We talked about how to prevent injuries, and I'm sure there are just so many theories out there. Obviously all the different stretches and recovery most we talked about, But I really want to talk about different injuries that you've seen in people in yourself while training for a marathon. And what is something where it's like Okay, I just need to rest for a couple days. I'll be okay versus this is really serious.

spk_1:   1:16:57
Yeah, So I will say Huge caveat. I'm not a physical therapist or an athletic trainer by any means s o. If you start to see things pop up, go seek out a physical therapist. A Dr Sports are orthopedic, somebody like that. But injuries. I've seen a lot of very common in marathon training. Planter fasciitis, tight I t bands that can cause really a gamut of problems if you have a tight I t band, which is that that part along the side of your quad and your hamstring on your outward side of your leg that could get really tight and caused some knee pains and can cause hip issues. People who don't have supportive shoes and maybe need them and they prone ate a lot. They can have some shin splint issues. Often times shin splints is also being caught is common in people who don't rotate their shoes enough, and they kind of run out the life of their shoes or overtrained. That's another sign of overtraining as well. Those air coming the most common ones that that

spk_0:   1:18:00
I've seen and what do you do when you have that? Yeah,

spk_1:   1:18:05
so everyone is a little bit different with Shin's winds, you Greste anti inflammatory, whether it be through medication, whether it be through food and then also you can like massage the area. I personally had shin splints when I was in high school. And let me tell you, pay attention to it. I did not listen when athlete trainers told me you need to stop running, you need to rest, ended up having stress fractures and was not told I was not allowed to run for an entire year. Had to go to physical therapy everything. So listen, when your body tells you something, that's what I've learned. So those are three things for shin splints is rest.

spk_0:   1:18:45
How anti inflammatory and you rest. Listen, it varies. Sometimes it could be

spk_1:   1:18:49
one week. Sometimes it can be, ah, month to two months.

spk_0:   1:18:53
I didn't realize it was a week minimum. I was Oh, a day. I mean, you can

spk_1:   1:18:58
rest a day and see how you feel the next run, but if it still feels like you know, if you've been running on it and you've been kind of like that pain is getting Maur and Maur more Then one day is not gonna do it. You're gonna have to do a little bit longer. But if you start to feel something one run and then you take a day and you do the anti inflammatory, you do the massage you do icing those sorts of things that could prevent that. If you get new shoes, you kind of figure out what that issue is causing it. Then one day could do it. Okay, Yeah.

spk_0:   1:19:29
What about me? Pain?

spk_1:   1:19:30
Knee pain that varies a lot of times, um, foam rolling or loosening up the muscles in the I T. Ban in the quad in the hamstring, Those kind of things. Oftentimes, there's something pulling on the knee that could be often times. Um, there's a lot of knee braces out there. There's nothing wrong with running with a knee brace. I would say, though, go get checked out before just goingto like Walgreens and getting any brave because you have knee pain. I definitely know people who have done that, and it's not that it's gonna be bad, but you're not really fixing. The problem here is putting a Band Aid on it, and if you want long term health. Like, you know, you want to make sure that you don't doing any permanent damage. Rest can definitely do that, Um, for almost all of the injuries that pop up things that can be done to prevent them or two, like further prevent more damage if they've already popped up. Icing icing is huge. If you just have ice packs at home or you have maybe even like a big like bucket, you can throw some ice water in there and, like, throw your foot in there. If it's a foot and ankle a calf, you can kind of do that. Throw icers. If you have a bathtub, throw your ice and they're kind of do a nice bath. Something like that. I sing anti inflammatory foods and medications. All those different anti inflammatory things are gonna be beneficial. That being salmon flaxseeds, CeeCee, vegetables, nuts and seeds, those all those foods are gonna be anti inflammatory, which decreases that inflammation anywhere in your body and then also doing like band work. Um, I don't know how many people are, like, really into doing some band strength or band activation, but I found in the past year of doing that I have prevented a lot more injuries that have popped up for other individuals. And then they throw in band working like Wow, like I'm activating muscles that I wouldn't normally do in any sort of other string class I'd be doing

spk_0:   1:21:22
So what examples of band work exercises? D'oh. So if

spk_1:   1:21:28
you have, like a nice, probably medium strength type of band, put it on your legs, put it up over top of your knees and kind of go into like, a squat position and then kind of push your knees out to the side without necessarily moving your feet too much. But you're just kind of like in a squat mode, and you're activating those glute muscles, which often times is runners. We do not activate eso activating those because we need to use those when we run to make sure we don't have knee pain to make sure we don't have. You know, I taught tight I t bands. That's one you can. Even while the band is on top of your knees, you can kind of side step and keep the tension on the band you know don't necessarily want to be doing, um, like tension, non tension on tension, but kind of keep that tension to make baby steps to the side. And then baby steps to the next side Do like 10 toe right, 10 to the left. Um And then you can even do where you split your legs and you have one up in the front. Want up in the back? The band is still on your legs and kind of do that need drive again. So those air, different ones you can gonna do. Emma Coburn is track professional athlete that I love following on social media. She not only sells bands, but she also has lots of band exercises that she has on her website and on YouTube. I like to take from those Those can also be used for not only like the lower body upper body core, those sorts of things. And she's really known in the world of like running because she's been really successful and very few injuries. And she's attributes a lot of that. Too many different things. But band work

spk_0:   1:23:03
is one of those Oh, my gosh, I love that. We'll definitely put her instagram in the show notes. Yeah, thank you. Are there any stretch is that you think people aren't prioritizing that they should be. They're training for a marathon. I

spk_1:   1:23:18
would say if you're not prioritizing like hamstring stretches. So doing hamstring stretches or calf stretches oftentimes that something stretch wise people don't really look at. So for hamstrings, what you can do is kind of put your leg out, put your heel down and kind of have that extended out in front of you. Your heel down into the ground And you kind of leaned down as if you're gonna pick something up off of like your ankle and then you kind of bring your arms up So you do kind of like a sweeping motion on. And that kind of helps law you along elongated type of stretch for that hamstring without necessarily being like, Oh, I'm going to put my feet together. I'm gonna just lean down like that's a really like sharp stretch. You don't want to do that. You want to kind of more gradual, especially for hamstring type of stretching. And then for caf, find wall find Ah, you know, telephone poles, something like that that you can kind of angle your foot up against and kind of create the this angle with your foot against there and kind of lean into it, and you'll definitely feel that stretch in your calf and your Achilles.

spk_0:   1:24:24
So I want to stretch right now. And I would say

spk_1:   1:24:29
to from a stretching standpoint, one of the biggest things I know, like when I was in high school, we'd stretch before going out on Iran. Now I would say that's not as crucial. I'd say Warm your body up first. Doing static stretching when your body's not warmed up can actually be dangerous. Cold muscles stretching Not good. You could cause some injuries. So if doing some stretching, get 12 miles in for warm up and then do some stretching rather than necessarily like jumping out of bed, doing some stretching. Going for your long run.

spk_0:   1:25:01
I really want to talk about proper form. You actually mentioned that most people don't activate their glutes. How do we number one Know that we have proper form a number dio. How do we improve it?

spk_1:   1:25:16
Well, one, if you have lots of injuries, popping up is probably improper form going on. So have a gait analysis. That's something that a lot of different runs specific gyms will look into those sorts of things. Be able to kind of pay attention to that. If you have the opportunity to run on a treadmill in front of a mirror or something, you can kind of see that I do this weird thing where when I'm running like in the city and I'm running outside, I like look at myself when I'm passing by like shop windows and kind of just do a quick check of like, Okay, am I standing up tall? Am I keeping my core basically like That's a sign that I'm keeping my core engaged. And then I'm also just like keeping my shoulders back, because as we get tired, we tend to roll our shoulders in, and it's very apparent you're tired. Been out there for a long period of time and how to kind of prevent that, get that gait analysis and start doing strengthening. I mean, I had to redo my gate in the sense because I had right knee pain that was caused because my left glue wasn't firing, and so I had to work on little early muscle mind activation of my left glute in order to make sure I was pushing off correctly from my left foot. Now I don't have right knee pain, so it's really it's It gets very minute when you get to that level. I recommend going and seeing a professional to kind of get that Maur information on what's going on because they're able to kind of see things that you know you can't even see when you're out running.

spk_0:   1:26:46
Absolutely Last topic I want to discuss is Race Day. How to make the most of this experience, especially as we're talking about. This is a lot of people's first marathons, and it's been such a bucket list item. What tips would you have for going into this incredible race?

spk_1:   1:27:11
Eso number one find enjoyment in it. You've worked really hard. There's a common saying in the run community that this is your victory lap, and that's a very true statement. You put in all the time, the effort, the training now enjoy it. Take that victory lap, um, whether you're injured or whether you're not injured, take that victory lap. Whatever that looks like for you on that day, I'd also say be prepared a CZ best as you can. There's a lot of uncontrollables that happen on race day. Weather is a huge one, but be as prepared as you can. I actually have all my clients. If they're training for a marathon or an endurance race, I have them right out. Like to answer these questions. Answer. What's their dinner gonna be like the night before? What are they going to do the day before? Basically, And are they gonna go pick up their race bib? Who are they going with? What time are they going? What's the plan for the rest of the day on? And then what's there breakfast gonna be like raised a morning? How are they getting to the race? What's their plan of attack like when you're they getting into their corral? What do they plan to have on them all of these different things when what's there fueling plan. So be prepared. So that way you can't enjoy. Ultimately, I mean, I think if you're more prepared for that race, you're going to be able to enjoy it more.

spk_0:   1:28:27
Do you have any race day rituals? I so it's kind of a

spk_1:   1:28:32
funny one, but every race day, whether it's a five K or a marathon, I wake up and the first thing I do is actually braid. My hair is a really odd ritual, but I, like, have started to like it started about three or four years ago where I just started, like doing two braids down. Um, and that's like the first thing I do every morning. No matter what the race is, it's like my signature. And then I have like my breakfast. So I always in making sure that I'm having my breakfast before I like, Wake up and I'll have the breakfast and listen to some, like motivational YouTube videos or music to kind of get me pumped up and call me down because I'm not gonna lie. Even though I'm going into my 11th marathon, I still get raised a nerves, whether I'm going for a personal best or I'm going out just to pay someone or I'm just going for a fun run, whatever that looks like, I still get race day nerves.

spk_0:   1:29:23
Do you listen to music during your race? No, not on races, I think in the experience.

spk_1:   1:29:31
Personally, I like usually even when I'm in a foreign country. I take it all in because for me, that's what I love about marathons, marathons, Aaron experience that are unlike anything else. It's a sacred experience. They say that all the time. And it's one of those opportunities where you can see people who are doing something amazing that you like. Maybe they never thought they would be able to do it. And for me, like I did run with headphones for many, many of my marathons. But then I started taking them out because I wanted to be in that moment. For me, being in the moment was taking those headphones out. Me, I'm gonna take it all in. But that's my enjoyment for some people like you. Like you said for you, it's having the headphones in, and that's your enjoyment and being able to be in that moment. It's a meditation in a way, so everyone's gonna be different. But for me, it's taking in that whole experience.

spk_0:   1:30:22
Do you have any other final tips for girls who are maybe on the fence about signing up for a marathon and committing? What do you have to say to them?

spk_1:   1:30:34
What I want to say is find a friend.

spk_0:   1:30:37
It makes it way easier. Find a

spk_1:   1:30:40
friend. It's way easier to train and run that race. If you do have a friend and don't let 26.2 miles intimidate you there, people here, you'll see who don't have, who have one, like we're able to do it. You know, one of things I love about the major marathons like Chicago. You get to see a lot of, um, amputee. You see a lot of wheelchair athletes out there, and for me, that's motivation because they're doing the same training I'm doing. They're not doing anything really that different. They're training justice hard as I am, and they're putting it all out there just as much as I am. So it's one of those things where don't be intimidated by it. You can do it if you keep telling yourself you can't That's a lie that stop telling yourself that lie you hunted. Percent can run 26.2 miles. It can be a run walk that's still running a marathon. That doesn't change that, so you can do it. It's not a far outreach goal and you have a support network charge as an amazing support network that provides you with all the wellness and the training things you will need in the guidance for that. Thank you so much. Lydia. Thank you so much for having me. Like I said before, when I trained for my first marathon, I did not have a great support network necessarily around me or guidance in these areas. So I'm so glad I could share my knowledge of my experience over the last 17. Almost 18 years of running with

spk_0:   1:32:05
the rest of the charge community. Where can girls learn more about you? So

spk_1:   1:32:11
Instagram is the best place to learn more Run with Nader is my instagram handle on. And then also on my website which is run with nature dot com

spk_0:   1:32:21
Amazing. Thank you so much. And thank you guys for listening. Please let us know if you are inspired by this podcast episode and you decide Thio run a marathon. We are here cheering you on you guys next week charged girls Good morning. Yes, I'm talking to you Was time to get charged up Because these days you knew this guy says hi hands blew it And blue with the sun shining and all the birds chirping to two day is the best day to be alive. The miracles appear once you open your eyes Surprise time to keep living the dream So get up Enjoy the rest of your charge Tain.