Category: Uncategorized

88. How to find a routine for success: morning or afternoon runners

EPISODE 88. How to find a routine for success: morning or afternoon runners

LISTEN HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run4prs/id1446735036

When I first started running, I worked an early shift, so I had to be an afternoon runner. I always wished I could run in the morning, but when I had to leave for work by 6:30am, I just couldn’t do it! Instead I opted to workout after work. I later worked for a company with a later morning culture. Most people got in around 8:30-9am, so I didn’t need to leave for work until almost 8:00! This gave me almost 90 min in the morning to get my run in. Let me tell you how difficult of a transition it was for me! Despite not having to wake up much earlier, I felt like it was almost impossible to be a morning runner for the first few months. I soon made the full transition and could never go back. We are going to chat about how to set yourself up for success no matter what type of routine you pick for yourself.

-What is the best time of day to run?

– Why are so many people morning runners?

– Is it harder to run in the morning or afternoon?

– How do you fuel for a morning run?

– How do you fuel for an afternoon run?

– Getting ready the night before morning run?

– Packing stuff for after work runs?

– Does a run group help?

– What if you miss a day?

– successful tips for sticking with your routine?

87. How to become a running coach

EPISODE 87. How to become a running coach

LISTEN HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run4prs/id1446735036

We get asked this question all the time! Being a run coach is such a unique endeavour. On the surface level it may not seem that running would be a sport complicated enough to need a coach, but if you have listened to our podcast, you know that there is SO much to learn and discover within the sport of running. A good running coach can help open your eyes to all the details that can help propel your training to the next level. We will be chatting about our journey to becoming a run coach & what we recommend people do if they want to get started coaching.

• How did you get started run coaching?
• When was the first time you got paid to coach & how much was it?
• How many years of running experience did you have before you started coaching?
• What is your background/what certifications or qualifications do you have that you think others should have?
• Do you think you need to have a certification to get started?
• What type of people make good run coaches?
  • Passion for running and improvement
  • Personable – interest in others and their running 
  • Leadership qualities
• What are the top 3 things that run coaches have to do & be good at?
  • Understanding of physiology
  • Open minded & Flexible
  • Empathetic and understanding (know what the runner needs from you)
• Do you think people have misconceptions at what run coaching is?
  • Create a training plan 
  • Not fully aware of the support that it may take and barriers that can come up during training 
• Are there different types of coaches like college level vs moms on the run group? How do you find your niche?
• Do you have to be a certain level of athlete to become a run coach?
• If you coached yourself to fast times, does that mean you will be a good coach?
• What are some of the sacrifices to your own training you may have to make?
• Should you get a mentor?
• Should you read a book?
• Should you become certified?
• Should you practice by writing plans for free?

Should you work for free with local high school?

Episode 86- Getting a training plan & working with a coach: how it works

Episode 86- Getting a training plan & working with a coach: how it works

LISTEN HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run4prs/id1446735036

86. Getting a training plan & working with a coach: how it works

How does Run4PRs work? I know some of you already work with us as athletes, but maybe others are curious what exactly we do. How does our training work? What is so different about working with a coach vs a free plan online? Today we are chatting about our process and how it would look if you hit YES to try a free 7 day trial with us no strings attached.

Variety is super important

What is the difference between following an online training plan free vs getting a coach?

How is it custom to each person?

Where should people go if they want to try us out or get started?

What will happen when you fill out the form?

What if people have filled out the form but they are not getting the e-mail?

Who is the e-mail coming from?

Who will read the athlete consultation form?

What information on the form do you look at?

How do you pair athletes with their coach?

How long does it take to have the plan? 

How does the coach communicate with you?

What does the plan look like?

Where is the plan?

How many days per week is it?

How often can I chat with my coach?

How personalized is it?

Is there any subscription?

How can they assess my form?

How do you assess my fitness?

How is it better than something I find online?

Do I need to have a garmin?

85. Reflecting on 2020 accomplishments & Setting goals for 2021

EPISODE 85 REFLECTING ON 2020 ACCOMPLISHMENTS & SETTING GOALS FOR 2021

LISTEN HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run4prs/id1446735036

2021 is right around the corner. We are in the last month of the year. Congratulations on all that you have accomplished. I love to spend the month of December reflecting on all the amazing things that happened over the year. Maybe you completed your first marathon, got your spouse into running or qualified for Boston for the first time. Whatever your story is, it is important to reflect and celebrate what you have accomplished for the year. 

• What was your greatest running accomplishment this year?
• What was something you worked on and stayed committed to for the whole year that you set for yourself at the beginning of the year?
• What was your favorite race or running moment?
• Did you help anyone get into running?
• How did you give back to the running community?
• Did you push yourself when you didn’t feel like running?
• Did you allow your body time to recover when you needed recovery?
• Did you reach any time goals you set for yourself?
• How many miles per week or year did you run?

When we reflect over our proudest moments, it is easy for us to see what we want to do more of for the upcoming year. In this podcast we will be chatting about goals for 2021 and how you can set SMART goals to get there.

• What is something you achieved this year that you want to continue to build on?
• What is something you wanted to achieve this year but didn’t?
• What are areas you could improve on with your mental training?
• How can you work on stepping outside of your comfort zone?
• What big scary goals do you have in your head that you have not told anyone else?
• How should you select goal races and plan for this?
• What comes first the plan or the races?

84. Polarized Training: Why Running Slow Makes You Fast

EPISODE 84. Polarized Training: Why Running Slow Makes You Fast

LISTEN HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run4prs/id1446735036

Polarized training may sound like a fancy word, but it is the way we should all be training to reach our potential in the sport of distance running. Have you ever heard of the 80/20 principle? We want to keep 80% of your weekly mileage EASY then the remaining 20% should be reserved for harder efforts. This principle of keeping the hard days HARD and the easy days easy stems from the growth formula of stress + rest = growth. If you are not able to fully recover from the hard running workouts with nice rest/easy running days, you will not be able to grow or improve as a runner. We want to train smart & get the most out of our daily effort. This is why it is important to make sure our training is really polarized. Polarized means making sure we keep the hard days HARD and keeping the easy days truly easy. It is like the ying and yang. You need to have to rest to offset the stress. 

• When was the first time you were introduced to easy running vs harder running efforts?
• How do distance runners get caught up in the gray zone?
• What exactly is the gray zone for paces? What is YOUR gray zone?
• Is there a such thing as going too slow?
• Should you be able to tell by someones pace weather it was a workout day vs an easy day?
• Workout day pace vs easy day pace
• Workout day HR vs easy day HR
• Easy running for everyone? Should some people cross train? What if your HR is always too high on easy days?
• What if I am not doing workouts? Can I go faster on my easy days?
• How do you get people to buy into this methodology?
• Will this look different for everyone? IE- your easy pace looks like most people’s hard paceS?
• Do you think as you get faster, you cannot get away with doing non-polarized training?

83. Staying motivated with these workouts over the holidays

EPISODE 83. Staying motivated with these workouts over the holidays

LISTEN HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run4prs/id1446735036

The holidays are officially here. If you are anything like us, this can be a tough time of year to stay motivated. So many holiday parties, holiday christmas shopping and not enough time to ourselves! So many people fall off the bandwagon over these winter months, and we wanted to chat about things you can do to help with motivation and staying on track and consistent over the holidays

• Have you ever taken a month off?
• Is it hard to get back into training if you don’t train during the holidays?
• How do you stay on track when you have holiday work parties and happy hours and parties to go to?

SET WEEKLY OR MONTHLY GOALS – MAYBE 1 KEY WORKOUT EACH WEEK

• Is it better to do a short run than no run?
• How do you stay in the routine of working out even if you don’t have time?
• How can you make it a part of your family routine to prioritize fitness even when it’s the holiday season?
• Are there ways to involve the whole family and make it fun?
• Should you sign up for a race in the spring?
• Does working with a coach and having a plan help you stay on track?
• Should you add in workouts to the mix to help the time go by faster?
• Is it okay to use the treadmill?

82. Tips for dressing in the cold

EPISODE 82. Tips for dressing in the cold

LISTEN HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run4prs/id1446735036

In the last episode we talked about staying motivated to run outside in the cold. In case we inspired you a little bit we will be chatting about ways to stay warm and dressing for these colder temps. Jason and I live in Wisconsin, and we have both ran and raced several times in blizzards and sub zero temps. We have a lot of practice dressing for various temps, and we want to share some tips with you

How often should you be checking the weather?

How/when do you decide if you are running in or outside?

Things that will make you feel WARMER than the temp outside

• If it is sunny and you wear all dark colors
• If there is no wind it will feel warmer

50 degrees:

• What do you wear upper layer?
• Lower layer?
• Gloves or hat?

40 degrees

• What do you wear upper layer?
• Lower layer?
• Gloves or hat?

30 degrees

• What do you wear upper layer?
• Lower layer?
• Gloves or hat?

20 degrees

• What do you wear upper layer?
• Lower layer?
• Gloves or hat?

10 degrees

• What do you wear upper layer?
• Lower layer?
• Gloves or hat?

0 or under

• What do you wear upper layer?
• Lower layer?
• Gloves or hat?

Where can you purchase these items?

Is there any secret that will keep you warm or does it always kind of suck?

Do body parts ever go numb?

81. Running your best 5k: turkey trot addition

EPISODE 81. Running your best 5k: turkey trot addition

LISTEN HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run4prs/id1446735036

If you are in the USA you know that it is that time of year again! People are gearing up for Thanksgiving day turkey trots. This tradition has been growing, and we are so excited that more people are participating in these events. A lot of our listeners may be coming back into running more again after a big fall marathon or half marathon, so this is often a strange time of year for racing. We wanted to chat about some tips to help with your turkey day 5k-10k.

How much of this race is aerobic vs anaerobic?

Is it still important to keep your easy days easy?

Are you still running high mileage? 

How do elites train for 5ks?

• What sort of workouts should you do the week of the race? Strides and short fartleks 
• Should you do strides? Yes! Before the race, I definitely want 4+ quality strides. I’m a fan of a few longer 200m pickups about 10-15 minutes or so before the race and a few shorter ones 50 meters right before your race
• What sort of pacing plan should you have? Negative split or even split
• How do you know what kind of shape you are in? Recent time trials or workouts. Compare consistency in your recent training block to previous seasons when you ran a 5k.
• Will the weather play a role? Weather always plays a role to some degree. Hopefully being that Turkey trots are in November that is typically a nice time of year in most areas where we don’t experience one extreme or the other.
• Should you consider using this as more of a fun run? Absolutely, It can be tough to run well if it’s colder like here in the midwest. Also It’s a great family event to do and a great way to start the Holiday. 
• How long of a warm up or cool down? 1-3 Miles
• How many days should you taper before? 2-3 or perhaps a few more.
• Pacing for a 5k: what is the speed limit the first mile? Your Goal 5k pace (should be 5-10 seconds slower than) If you are super fit it may be okay to run 5-10 seconds faster than 5k goal pace 
• Pacing for a 10k: what is the speed limit for the first 1-2 miles? I would say even a bit slower, so 10-20 seconds slower than your goal 10k pace. You have more time to work your way down to race pace 🙂 
• How should you feel during the halfway point? Strong – Like you can negative split
• How should we dress? Be prepared for the weather including overdressing at the start if it’s cold! 

80. How to stay motivated to run in the cold

EPISODE 80. How to stay motivated to run in the cold

LISTEN HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run4prs/id1446735036

If you live anywhere near us, it is starting to get really cold really fast. I am not talking 40-50 degrees. I am talking single digits and negative wind chills here in Minnesota. We get it pretty bad for 4 months out of the year most days don’t get above 20 degrees in the morning if we are lucky. Most days can be single digits or below zero when we get up to run in the early morning. It can be tough to find the motivation to stay running in the cold. We are going to chat about what we do to stay motivated to run outside during these cold months!

• What is the coldest temp you have ever ran in?
• What is your cut off temp for running outside?
• At what temp does it just make sense to do your workout inside?
• How are you able to breathe in the cold?
• At what temp does it become hard to breathe and execute workouts?
• How do you dress in 30 degrees?
• How much does the wind play a role?
• How can you run in the snow?
• Do you have to buy expensive gear?
• What does your college team do when it is cold outside?
• What are other options if you stay inside?
• Do you have to run outside in the cold to be a real runner?

79. Setting goals for the winter & 2021

EPISODE 79. Setting goals for the winter & 2021

LISTEN HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/run4prs/id1446735036

Last week we chatted about the importance of the off season. We want to make sure we take time off to recover between major training blocks. However, a lot of athletes can get trapped in the all or nothing approach of training. I can’t train? Okay I will run zero miles per week. Or I don’t want to take time off, I am going to continue to train hard! We want to make sure we find a happy medium and set some goals for this winter

• Winter can be a tough time for training: why?

What are some things that can you help stay on track?

What do you not like about it?

• Do you ever feel like there isn’t enough time or motivation during the offseason?
• What are some goals you can set to help you stay on track?
• When should you start thinking about 2021 races and finding a path?
• What do the top athletes do during the winter months that set them up for success?
• Should Strength training be something you start to add in?
• Should we set goals based on weekly mileage or consistency?
• How do we reward ourselves for staying on track if there is no goal race?
• How do you stay motivated if you are stuck inside?