Best running gifts

The best gifts are something that the recipient wants but does not want to buy for themselves.  The gift is removing the barrier of spending money on something they they could live without, but don’t want to.  

Here are some of our favorites.  Find most of them at this link.

Running-specific gear: 

• Stay safe and keep your loved ones safe.  Make sure you are visible when running in the dark.  Our favorite is the Noxgear Tracer360
• Super watch - check for signals before dropping the money on something like this.  It is amazing, but not if the user does not want it - Our favorite is the Garmin Forerunner 235
• Running shoes - plug your nose and look at their shoes - make sure to get the exact style and size, as we are a picky group.  If you are not sure, take a picture and bring it to your local running store, they will know. Need a stocking stuffer, get tech socks!  It’s a sock present that people actually...

 The treadmill.  I have heard it called many things.  The dreadmill. A winter refuge. A shelter from stifling heat or powerful thunderstorms.  A human hamster wheel. The long road to nowhere. Cardio.  Personally, I like to think of the treadmill as cheap therapist that I can occasionally visit on a long lunch break or while the team heads out for a distance run.  

Whatever your relationship with this gym staple, there is one aspect we can all agree upon, it can get really boring.  Mile after mile of not actually going anywhere gets a bit tedious. On this episode, besides some basic tips on safety and general treadmill guidelines, we are going to provide some workouts that you can add into your training when you end up trapped (or blessed) on a treadmill.  

First, let’s get some basic safety out of the way.  

• Do not run while holding the front or side handles. If you cannot keep up, slow down, but do not grab on.  
• Never jump...

Life moves fast and sometimes we need to step back and enjoy the moment or expand our point of view and look at the big picture.  That is not the point of this episode.  That was last week.

Sometimes we need to move fast.  We need to get in a speed workout to test our physical potential.  We need to get four lunches packed, get in a full day of work, shuttle the kids to four places at the same time, and have a healthy dinner on the table.  That is this episode.

Running at a relaxing pace is great.  It serves some major benefits and is most ideal for runners just starting out or coming off of a break.  But let’s be honest, easy running day after day can get dull really fast. Also, you will not truly come near your physical greatness without some speed work.  

Speed work physically helps you with strength and range of motion, but not to the level that you should skip strength days or mobility exercises.  It can also help your...

“Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”  This quote from the iconic Ferris Bueller drives home the importance of going slow.  There are plenty of life lessons contained in the episode and we start with a discussion of balance.

Life is a constant balancing act between getting things done and enjoying what we are doing. We need to keep up at work, drive to the kid’s practice and doctor’s appointments, make dinner, fold the laundry, exercise and the list continues.  We also need to find happiness in what we are doing and not just satisfaction that we checked another box on the to-do list.

I was reminded of another quote by Alan Watts about making money. 

“If you say that money is the most important thing, you’ll spend your life completely wasting your time.  You’ll be doing things you don’t like in order to go on living, that is, in order to go...

Do you have that friend who seems to run a race every single weekend?  In this episode, we look into the good and the bad of constant racing. With a background in high school racing, Kevin has so many races in his rear view mirror, he cannot count.  On the other hand, Angie came into running as an adult, and naturally has fewer races to reflect on. She does however have several lined up through the next three months.

First, let’s establish that racing is great for many reasons, and this show is definitely not bashing racing.  It is in the racing environment that I think you can connect most deeply with the running community. A race can provide a constant motivator to get out the door.  A race is a way to test your body and mind in a way that simply cannot happen in a workout. Finally, nothing prepares you for a race quite like running a race. Having the experience helps remove some of the worry that comes from being in an unknown situation.  

In line...

This episode focuses on striving for greatness.  To understand this episode, I think that it would be helpful to know where it came from.  We are coming up on the end of the cross country season and trying to put things in perspective for a group of kids with hopes of reaching the state meet.  The New York City marathon is also this weekend which gets me thinking about my friend Ryan Shay who passed away during the Olympic Trials in Central Park back in 2007.  

There is a natural tendency as humans to compare ourselves to those around us.  The Olympics are the physical pinnacle of this comparison, and yet as we cover in the show the motto, “Citius, Altius, Fortius” only means faster, higher, stronger.  The goal of gathering the world’s greatest athletes is for all of them to raise each other up and test the limits of human capacity.

The ultimate comparison is not with another, but to the voice inside of you.  The goal is to...

Perspective changes everything we do and how we do it.  We naturally compare ourselves with others or with previous versions of ourselves.  We judge workouts and difficult trials before they start. We name things hard or comfortable.  We predetermine how stressful an event will be. Shaping the way we interpret every event in our lives, the perspective we bring to all situations is incredibly important.  

In this episode, we start discussing our personal comparisons.  We cover how social media can lead us to a comparison with someone else’s edited and ideal world.  Social media is starting to actually show some reality, but still is filled with the opportunity to create a comparison that is simply impossible to reach.  

Another form of comparison is the downward comparison.  In this version, we protect ourselves by making sure that we only make comparisons to people we already feel we are better than.  While it works as a nice boost...

How can I be a better runner is a regular question for a coach, and we have spent many episodes discussing the mental and physical aspects of training.  In this episode, we take a very practical approach and cover some unwritten rules of running, what we call running etiquette.  

First, we should point out that all of these answers are open for discussion.  These opinions were formed under two very different introductions to running by two very different personalities, but the big takeaway from just about every lesson is to respect those around you.  

We start with some situations that arise when running solo, like:

• What to do when you encounter another runner out on the road - should you wave? Say hi? Ignore them? and why the time of day might change your answer
• How to handle the awkward situation of running a short loop in the opposite direction of another runner.  (Hey, it’s you again!)
• What is the appropriate way to handle running with a...

It’s time for a look behind the scenes of the Real Life Runners, and a chance to listen into a coaching call.  The conversation this week is between Kevin and Angie about her latest 5k race over the weekend. The results were a bit mixed as it was a personal best, but it also fell short of the goal time.  

In this episode, we really look at the relationship of coach and athlete.  We cover how communication is key and how the long term development of an athlete should be at the front of a coach’s mind, even if that may have some short term issues.

We discuss pre-race nerves that hit Angie hard.  These nerves started about a week out and created some serious stomach issues the night before and morning of the race, not to mention the race itself.  

We cover the questions that Angie had after the race including did I put in the right work and enough of it?  Was the speed work over emphasized while longer intervals were neglected? Did cross...

This episode dives into the world of the inspirational pep talk.  We takes a few tangents along the way, but really try to view the pep talk from the perspective of both the coach and the athlete.  We also cover why the speech that gets you pumped up and ready to run through a wall can be a good and bad thing depending on how and when it is applied.

Coaches want to feel like they are helping the athlete as much as possible.  It is true that they generally plan the schedule and workouts. They help with mental tactics.  They try to manage the emotions of an athlete through rough patches. Eventually the coach may start to see their role as elevated.  

We realize that the coach is important.  Teaching is important. But in the end, it comes down to the athlete.  In all areas, the athlete is in charge. When the schedule says 5 miles, the athlete needs to do the work.  When the workout gets hard, the athlete needs to find the mental capacity...