305: Be A Stronger Runner - PODCAST AUDIO
===
[00:00:00] ATR USB microphone: This is the Real Life Runners podcast, episode number 305. Be a stronger runner.
[00:00:07] Angie: all right, so today we are talking about becoming a stronger runner. Yes. Yeah. Most, and you guys know if you've been following us for any period of time, that we really want you to become both a physically and a mentally stronger runner. And so we are gonna be talking about both of those things. In today's episode, we are gonna be talking about the importance of physical strength and the importance of mental strength and some common mistakes that people make.
Some common myths when it comes to strength training and what you can do to become a physically and [00:01:00] mentally stronger runner, because that's how you're going to be a better runner in general. You need to build both physical strength and mental strength, and we are gonna be making the case for that in today's podcast episode, and also giving you.
Action items and things that you can do to start becoming both physically and mentally stronger.
[00:01:17] Kevin: Yeah, I think that a few action items is gonna be helpful cuz I think there, there's probably several people listening right now that are like, yes, I know I should be a stronger runner. Yeah, I get that. But how, so we're gonna have a little bit of the how.
Yeah.
[00:01:31] Angie: So we. Want you to understand really by the time you finish this episode, why strength is so important and why it's important for you to be a stronger runner, that we use those terms very intentionally, like we want you to become a stronger runner. Because a lot of times people just focus on becoming a faster runner or trying to improve their endurance or improve their running statistics.
But by neglecting strength, they often hit plateaus [00:02:00] in their training or they get injured when they're trying to increase their training load because they wanna be faster, they wanna improve their endurance and be able to run longer. And so they only focus on the things that they think are gonna get them to those goals, and they neglect strength along the way.
And what we want you to understand after listening today's to today's episode, Is that by building strength, both physical and mental, you are going to be able to run faster. You are going to be able to run longer. So yes, we want you to be faster runners. We want you to be able to improve your endurance as well so that you can achieve your goals.
But sometimes, People focus on the wrong thing. So by focusing on strength, you are really going to be better set up to achieve those goals that you have set for
[00:02:45] Kevin: yourself. Yeah, a hundred percent. I think the, the strength, it's not the immediate answer on so many of these things. People are like, I want to go faster, so I'm going to run faster or run more.
I, yeah, I wanna run further, so I'm just going to continue to [00:03:00] to run further. Yep. Which is great. And sometimes you do get the immediate payback Yep. Of like, I wanna run faster, I'm gonna try and go faster. And, oh, look at me, I went a little bit faster. Mm-hmm. Maybe next week I crank it up just a little bit faster.
It's, you might get some short-term wins, but you're not gonna get long-term wins and eventually you're gonna plateau. Or if you keep pushing train, push through the plateau by just doing the same things, you're gonna get broke. And the strength is really that, that first step to actually start before you're like, why don't I just do everything faster?
Or just add a whole lot more miles. Strength needs to be at the, the beginning.
[00:03:34] Angie: Okay, so let's start out with some common myths about strength training, because there is a lot of misinformation out there about strength training, and if you follow any running accounts on social media, depending on who you follow, you may or may not understand the importance of strength training Nowadays, I think that more information is coming out about the importance of strength training for runners, which is fantastic, but you still have to be aware of [00:04:00] your sources.
Okay. Especially when it comes to social media. So one of the things that we see, When it comes to strength training is that a lot of runners don't have enough information, or they believe incorrect information about strength training. So a lot of runners just tend to avoid it. Right? And that leads to a lack of strength, which can cause a host of problems that we're gonna be talking about later.
But first, let's just go over some of the common myths that you might hear about strength training, specifically strength training for runners so that we can break down some of these myths to help you understand why strength training is so important, and so that you'll feel more encouraged to go out there and actually do it.
[00:04:38] Kevin: Yeah, I think if, if you're gaining any of your information from social media, you're probably not suffering from a lack of information.
[00:04:44] Angie: Yeah.
[00:04:44] Kevin: About strength training. But there might just be so much
[00:04:47] Angie: that's true too,
[00:04:48] Kevin: that disagrees with itself. Which then, which one are you supposed to believe? So then, yep, you probably wanna believe the one that seems the most straightforward to you, or the one that already just justifies what you're currently doing, right?
So if you [00:05:00] find anything that says, oh, I don't need to strength train, you're probably gonna stick with it. But there's, there's a lot of information
out there.
[00:05:05] Angie: There is. And so again, make sure that you guys are always checking the sources, just following running accounts on Facebook, Instagram, wherever you are is fine.
Most of the time, but like I'm in some of these running groups on Facebook and some of the things that people post are absolutely ludicrous. Like, and some of the advice that other runners give other runners, don't follow that stuff. Guys. Like in general, like I think that you really have to be careful who you listen to.
All right? Like that is such a really good point that you make here, is that it's not necessarily a lack of information, but it could be an overload of information and learning how to sift through that information to see what, what's actually correct and what's actually not correct and what you actually need to follow or do.
And so I wanna start this episode out. If you've never listened to us before, I have my doctorate in physical [00:06:00] therapy. We'll start there. I've got over 15 years of experience working with runners. Kevin has over 15 years of experience coaching runners. I have over a decade of experience coaching runners.
So we know based on science and based on experience. Okay. Both with ourselves, both of us are runners and we've also coached hundreds, actually thousands of runners by this point in time. Mm-hmm. So we know the importance of strength training. We know what works, what doesn't work, and I have all of that stuff.
it, it's, it's what we teach. All of our clients inside our group coaching program, and I've actually put together, a free resource for you about some strength training. So I'm gonna go ahead and throw it in here. Now. we'll link to it in the show notes as well, but if you go to our website, real life runners.com/strength, you can grab that free strength download that I've created for you.
And when you get that download, it's a pdf. I also give you a video where you can see these exercises, and I also give you like a, a short video right after you download it. Explaining [00:07:00] why I chose those exercises, because I want you to understand that I didn't just pick random exercises. I picked all of the exercises in that strength circuit for a very specific reason.
Because as runners, we need to strength train differently than other humans on the planet. Like strength training just to get stronger is one thing. Strength training to become a stronger runner is a little bit of a different thing. Okay, so with that out of the way, let's go into some of these, common myths.
[00:07:26] Kevin: All right. Myth number one, strength is going to lead you to get bigger and bulkier. Strength training is about bulking up. Yep. Essentially strength training is bodybuilding. Mm-hmm. Which, It could be, it could be, you can strength train to put on a large amount of bulk, but there is a way to string train to, to strength train for bulk versus strength training towards strength and power to strength train as runner, this is, goes exactly to what you just said, is there are exercises that you pick and not just exercises, but ways to perform the exercises.
Mm-hmm. [00:08:00] Like the, the appropriate load and how you're fueling during the thing. In order to bulk up the amount of, of calories and protein that you'd have to be taking in is very different than how a lot of runners are going in. Right. And I think that is, is part of the thing of people don't wanna get big and bulky as a runner, but if you're running an extensive amount, you're just not going to do it.
It just doesn't really work well
together.
[00:08:23] Angie: Yeah. It's just not gonna happen. Like lifting weights or doing strength training exercises as a runner, as an endurance runner. You will not get big and bulky. You will get more muscular, you will get stronger. That is the point, okay? You will have more muscle tone and muscle definition, but you are not going to be all of a sudden a muscle head in the gym that is.
You know, lifting 400 pounds on, on the squat rack and like grunting while you're in the gym. Unless you want to be that like, unless that's what you want. Right. But you're not going to suddenly look like the rock [00:09:00] unless you are really, really, really intentional. If you guys follow the rock on social media and you watch what he does for his strength exercises, that's not what runners need to do.
Okay. The rock is also, and other people like the rock that are trying to get big and very muscular. The amount of nutrition, like Kevin mentioned, that you have to eat, the amount of protein and focus nutrition that you have to eat in order to build muscles of that size is very, very, very specific. Okay.
You need to take in a ton of calories, you need to take in a ton of protein. a lot of those bodybuilders are also taking other supplementation. I'm not gonna make any comments on that. Okay. But, You have to really try to get really big and bulky. It's not just gonna happen by lifting some weights at
the gym.
[00:09:47] Kevin: Yeah. No, that's, that's a really good point. And then if strength training is not about bulking up, then what is it that you're actually doing as you get stronger? Mm-hmm. There are so many different aspects that are improving besides [00:10:00] actually like increasing your muscle mass. Like I. As, as you start getting stronger, one of the things, and this is my favorite, if you just start getting into strength training, you haven't done it in a while, is muscle coordination.
You'll go from like lifting one week to lifting the next week. Mm-hmm. And you're like, this got way easier. Or I can lift more weight and I look basically the same, so how come I'm able to lift more? Yeah. It's literally, your muscles are coordinated in the movement practice at this point, which is fantastic.
Right.
[00:10:26] Angie: It's the message that's going from your brain down to the muscles. When you start practicing sending that mu that message from the brain to the muscles, you get better at it. Right? It's, it's neuromuscular, neuromuscular coordination, that improves before actual strength gains are noted. Like before your muscle actually starts to get bigger.
You just get better at. Doing those movements. Right. Which is the coordination piece.
[00:10:51] Kevin: That's a good one. Also, muscle recruitment. So you don't, if you're doing, let's do something super simple like a bicep curl. You don't have a bicep muscle. Like doing a [00:11:00] curl does not make one little fiber go. There's thousands and thousands of fibers.
But when you try and do a curl, they don't all fire simultaneously. If you practice and you, you go through a regular lifting routine, you start firing more of the fibers together. Mm-hmm. Working together in unison, which means you're naturally going to get stronger. The, the muscles are coordinated, they're moving in a nice together, coordinated fashion.
Mm-hmm. And more of the muscle fibers are working simultaneously. Right. So you're naturally stronger even before you start actually putting on any mask
at all.
[00:11:32] Angie: Right. And I like to think of this as like lifting a piece of furniture, like a couch. Like if you've ever tried to move a piece of furniture in your house, if you try to move that furniture by yourself, it's going to be a lot harder than if you ask your.
Friend or your spouse for help, right? Like if there's more people trying to pick up and move a heavy object, it's going to go smoother. And it will especially go smoother if you all do it on the count of [00:12:00] three, right? Like yes. So that you're all working together and all putting, putting in that strength in a coordinated fashion and then recruiting more people to help, which decreases the load on each person.
Person individually. So working together and in unison will help move that piece of furniture much easier. And it's the same thing with us as runners and really like trying to improve our strength. We improve the number of fibers that are firing and the coordination with which those fibers fire, which makes us feel stronger.
[00:12:30] Kevin: Excellent. All right, another myth, high reps, low weight. This. This was how when I was in high school, that was the answer. It was a lot of reps with very, very low weight and just
keep going.
[00:12:40] Angie: Right? And this comes from the idea that running is an endurance sport and that people used to think that in order to train endurance athletes, we need to improve muscle endurance, which means we need to do low weights and high repetitions because those high repetitions will make us.
You know, last longer, like we'll be able to do more [00:13:00] reps, which is better for endurance and that is not necessarily the case anymore. Okay. More research studies are coming out that have shown that lower reps, higher weights to help runners develop more strength and power are better for us. when it comes to
running.
[00:13:15] Kevin: Yeah. Someone I heard them break down why? The whole idea of low, low weight high rep makes no sense if, if you just think of running itself, running itself is kind of, well, it is, it is jump jumping from one foot to the other. So if you think of it as sort of like a very, very mini squat, every single time you take a step cuz you have to land and kind of then push back off of the leg you are taking.
Over the course of a 30 minute run, roughly 5,000 mini squats. So the difference between doing like low weight and 50 reps versus higher weight and like eight reps, right? 50 is still nowhere near the 5,000 steps you're gonna take over a 30 minute run, right? So yes, it's higher reps, but it's so [00:14:00] far from like what you would actually need to exhaust the muscles.
Mm-hmm. That it's just kind of a silly concept,
right?
[00:14:05] Angie: And so when you lift higher weights, you improve that coordination and that muscle fiber recruitment that we were talking about before in a more effective manner. And you actually improve your power production with heavier weights as well. You also need other types of strength training, plyometrics and, and things that we're not going to get into right now, but the.
Idea of high reps, low weights is kind of an outdated way to strength train as a runner.
[00:14:31] Kevin: Excellent. Myth number next, we need a gym membership. Myth number next, Uhhuh. We need a gym membership or all sorts of fancy equipment. I saw somebody on social media. They were in a gym. The lift that they were doing, they were balancing on a bosu ball.
They had, a dumbbell in one hand and a kettlebell in the other, and then there was a band around their waist attached to a wall, and everything was swinging. Do I need all of the equipment? No. Okay. [00:15:00]
[00:15:00] Angie: The end. Thank you for clarifying. So you don't need a gym membership. You don't need a ton of fancy equipment.
You need some basics, right? Like we just said, that it's important for you to start increasing the level of resistance and load, but that is after you start your strength training, you've been doing it for a little while. We recommend starting with body weight exercises first, which you don't need a gym.
You don't need any fancy equipment until you master certain movements, and even after you master certain movements. There's still a lot of body weight exercises like the side plank and the plank that I recommend all of my runners do. Okay, plank and side plank. You don't need any resistance. You don't need any weight if you're doing those exercises correctly.
Yes, you can just hold them for a little bit longer period of time and get fantastic benefits, get very good muscle recruitment, very good muscle strength improvements, and stabilization improvements. Again, it depends on what you're trying to focus on. If you're trying to focus on stability or power, which again, we're gonna go to, into later in the episode, but you don't need a [00:16:00] fancy.
Gym in order to start strength training as a runner. Once you start mastering those basic movements, then yes, getting some, some dumbbells or getting some bands, getting some basic equipment at your house, or if you want to join a gym. If you liked the idea of like going to a, you know, a gym and meeting other people and hanging out there, you can do that too.
Okay. But you don't need to. All right. That, that should not be the introduction into strength training. There's a lot that you can do just at home, on your own time in 10 to 15 minutes a day, and get a lot of benefits, which I guess. Really brings us to another myth, which is that you need to spend a lot of time strength
[00:16:38] Kevin: training.
Yes, yes. We didn't actually write that one down, but you don't, but we should add it and we'll highlight this even more the, the idea of what equipment might be necessary. Yeah. As you continue in your strength training and like how much time is really actually important because mm-hmm. Look, you and are, are all about the, the strength training.
And I agree with the, the principles behind strength training, but I don't enjoy [00:17:00] the strength training the way that you do. So I don't want to spend a huge amount of time strength training. Mm-hmm. If it's beyond what I'm gonna get a benefit for. Yeah. Like I wanna maximize my time, strength training and then be done and do something else.
Honestly, it's kind of the same except for like a long run where I do enjoy just going and going and going. There are certain speed workouts where I'm like, all right, can I be like, is eight reps sufficient? Am I actually gonna get a better benefit if I add two more reps and make it 10 because I have a certain amount of time that I, I would like to finish my, run it and then move on with my day and do other things.
Yeah. Same thing comes with strength. If, if I can do it in 30 minutes. And I'm gonna be getting great benefits. Why am I spending 60? Mm-hmm. Like, that's kind of the thing I I, where I'm at with most workouts, honestly.
[00:17:48] Angie: Yeah. It's about the effectiveness and the efficiency of your movements, of your workouts.
Yeah. That's really important. and then finally, the myth that strength training doesn't burn enough calories. Okay. Now this [00:18:00] is kind of true and kind of a myth, and I'm gonna address the true portion first. It is true that while you are doing strength training, while you are doing those strength exercises, whether it's in your home or in a gym, you are not burning as many calories per minute, per hour as you do when you're running strength, or, I'm sorry, running.
Burns more calories than strength training during the actual activity.
[00:18:26] Kevin: I've gotta feel like running burns more calories than most things. The activity, which is one of the reasons
[00:18:31] Angie: outside of like CrossCountry skiing, which is one of the reasons that people come into running because a lot of people start running because they wanna lose weight or they wanna get in shape.
Okay. And running. Burns the most calories as compared to other exercises and other activities. And it seems the most simple. And I
[00:18:47] Kevin: mean, it's, it's gonna beat cycling cuz you're sitting, it's gonna be swimming cuz you're buoyant. So you're running it, it, it's right.
[00:18:52] Angie: It's, it's for sure it's, it's a win, right?
And so yes, you do burn more calories sh running versus strength training. But [00:19:00] strength training burns more residual calories after the activity. No residual calories, okay? Because what happens is while you're strength training, you create deficits both in like the energy and oxygen that your body then needs to recover from later because you're creating all these micro tears in your muscle.
That's what you're doing when you're strength training, is you're actually breaking these muscles down. And so when your body is repairing those muscles and making you stronger during the rest period, you're actually still burning calories at that time Now. I'm, I'm gonna even avoid the whole debate of whether or not we should even be talking about calories, because I don't even think we should be talking about calories.
I don't think that that's a good reason to run. I don't think that that's the, those are not the people that we're trying to target here on the podcast. So like, if you are running purely to burn calories, this is probably not the right podcast for you, and that's totally fine. Okay. We wanna talk to those of you that love running or that want to love running and that want to be able to run for as many [00:20:00] years as you possibly can, want to make running a very sustainable part of your life and of your fitness routine.
And when you think about strength training and running together, that's why I like, I like this idea of having a fitness routine, right? Because the, the two things can compliment each other when put together correctly. And that's really what we want you to think about, is that strength training is going to help you as a runner.
It's going to help you improve as a runner. And it's going to help you get closer to those goals. Okay. So trying to just even take calories out of the equation. I mean, that would be my, my best suggestion out of all of this. All right.
[00:20:35] Kevin: Excellent. I, I got one more myth, but it's kind of a myth that let's start moving us into the second concept.
We're just talk more about physical strength and its benefits. Yeah. Is if, if I lift more that's going to hinder the running workouts that I can do uhhuh, like, I'm gonna be so tired from lifting that I can't go on a long run, I won't be able to do a speed workout. Yep. I just, I even can't even go on my easy run.
I have to cut that because I'm tired from my lift.
[00:20:59] Angie: Yeah. [00:21:00] I, I mean that's true sometimes. Okay.
[00:21:01] Kevin: Yeah. It's sometimes that is not a myth. It's just not a myth actually is
factual.
[00:21:05] Angie: Yeah. so you weren't, did you have any comments on that or you wanna just throw it out there for me?
[00:21:08] Kevin: No, I just wanna
kinda put that, that thought out there and have you kind of
[00:21:11] Angie: Yeah,
no, it's, it's for sure true.
I mean, like, it is if, and this is why. Programming and timing of your workouts and having a comprehensive training plan is so important because if you're just throwing strength training in it for sure can affect your speed workouts or your long runs or whatever you have scheduled that day, the following day, depending on how your training is laid out.
So yes, it does have the potential, which is why it's so important for you to have that complete training plan with all of your workouts planned out for you so that you can minimize any of that.
[00:21:47] Kevin: Ah, so this is the benefit of the training plan and Correct. Actually having a doctor of physical therapy that figures out what, how you should schedule things, so that figures it all out.
One is not just. Completely screwing up the other, because if you try and put them too close, like mm-hmm. [00:22:00] Like the benefits, kind of like, I have heard again from the magic of the social media Ooh. That, that if you put like a, an endurance run next to a strength workout, like back to back things that they essentially cancel each other out, that you're not getting the endurance benefits or the strength benefits.
[00:22:16] Angie: That's just
ludicrous. I mean,
[00:22:18] Kevin: for two, I saw it on the social medias
[00:22:20] Angie: for two workouts to quote unquote cancel each other out. Like, come on, like your workouts aren't canceling each other out. Is it changing the benefits? Yeah. There's the, depending on whether or not you do your strength first, or you're running first, you are gonna have different benefits depending on.
If you do them like immediately back to back versus trying to spread one out, like in doing one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Mm-hmm. Yes. That's going to give your body different benefits. There are lots of ways that you can program your workouts to give your body different benefits and doing one before the other, like doing running before strength is gonna have a different benefit than if you do strength before running.
Like [00:23:00] that's like a very common question that we get. And the answer is always, it depends. It depends on your goal. Okay. So let's get into the importance of physical strength and if you have more questions we can address them along the way. Okay. Excellent. So those are some of the common myths about strength training.
Hopefully, you know, we've broken some of those things down for you. Now I really wanna talk about why physical strength is more important because so many runners think that if I wanna be a better runner, I just have to run more. And unfortunately, what happens for a lot of people is that they start to increase their mileage or they start to increase their pace because they wanna be faster.
And that leads a lot of people to get injured. Okay. There are statistics out there. The last one that I've heard, recently, I was listening to a podcast last week and they were saying that there was a research study that came out. I have to go find this study, to actually look at it. But the study that came out relatively recently said that basically 90% of runners get injured.
[00:24:00] 90%. Okay, and this is because people aren't training properly. It's because people are trying to increase their load too quickly. They're trying to either increase their speed because they don't like whatever pace is being shown to them on their watch. Or they're trying to increase their distance too quickly because they think, oh, well, a mile's not enough or two miles, or isn't enough.
Three miles isn't enough. Whatever that number is in your head, and you wanna be further along than you already are. You can do it. You can do anything you want to do. I f I firmly believe that. I believe that we are capable of so much more than we actually think we are, but we have to do it in a smart and sustainable way.
Okay. Because if we think, well, if I, in order to become a better runner, I just have to run more. So I'm just gonna keep running and I'm just gonna keep increasing it. At some point, you're either going to plateau or you're gonna get injured and probably both. Okay.
[00:24:52] Kevin: Yeah. I
mean, I think that strength training is really just all about load management.
Yeah. And if, if you've got like,
[00:24:59] Angie: not
[00:25:00] just strength training, like training in general. Like training. Yeah. Training as a runner, training as an athlete.
[00:25:05] Kevin: It's, it's all load management. It's all load management. If you've got like a, a little small, compact car mm-hmm. And you're like, I need to haul this large piece of furniture.
In theory it's a, it's an automobile. The furniture should be able to go with it. But wouldn't it be nicer if you increased this, the carrying capacity of the vehicle if you upgraded the car to like a small truck? Mm-hmm. Now it's designed for the job,
so,
[00:25:28] Angie: oh, do you remember when we went to like lace saw get sod for our backyard?
Yes. And I was like, oh, well we'll just go pick it up. I'll borrow my dad's truck and we'll go pick up the sod. And you're like, well, can his truck handle that much? And I'm like, it's just grass. Of course it can handle it's sod. And and Kevin goes, Angie, do you understand how much sod weighs? And I was like, no.
How much the sod weigh, like it's just grass A lot. It's like lot. It's like over a ton, wasn't it?
[00:25:52] Kevin: It was
an enormous amount of weight.
[00:25:54] Angie: Were about to calculate it. I was like, oh shoot. And I like looked up the load capacity of the truck and the truck could [00:26:00] not actually hold a pallet of
sod.
[00:26:02] Kevin: Yeah, no.
We had to
actually get a delivery.
[00:26:04] Angie: I was baffled by it. But that's a, that's a perfect example because. I just assumed that the truck, it's a truck, right? It's like a, it's an F-150. It's a big truck like, or whatever truck my dad has now, G M C something or other, but like, it's a big truck.
[00:26:19] Kevin: It's a big
truck.
We'll put stuff in the back it truck business, you know, like obviously we just put things in the back of it and go, I run, I ran five miles yesterday, so clearly I should be able to put my shoes on and go six miles today.
Totally. I ran at 10 minute pace last week, so now I'm going to go at nine minute pace. Yep. Because I run so I can do a little bit more. It's a truck. We'll put stuff in it and it'll be fine. No, it, it's designed for a certain thing and you can, you can push towards the limits. Mm-hmm. And this is where the, the metaphor of a carb kind of breaks down here is you can in fact improve your loading capability.
Like the truck had a maximum. Yeah. You couldn't, you couldn't go over it. We wanna break the struts. We, [00:27:00] we could not, but the, the whole idea behind this is you can in fact improve your carrying capacity. Right? But you don't do it by just throwing more miles at it. You actually start with the strength training.
Mm-hmm. As a way to increase your foundation. So many people think, oh, I need to increase my running base, so I'll run more easy miles. Instead of thinking that the foundation is strength and on top of that foundation of strength, then you drop a large amount of easy miles. Now you have foundation of mileage on top of solid foundation of strength.
[00:27:31] Angie: Right. It makes me think about another construction metaphor, because apparently my head, my head is in construction. A lot of times my head is in like food metaphors, right? Like food and cooking. I worked sports on this one actually. But it makes me think about construction and down here in South Florida when we were looking at buying a house, one thing that my dad, like I said, he's a, he was a general contractor.
One thing that he was absolutely adamant about is that we bought a house that was made of concrete block, and we [00:28:00] were not even allowed to go look at houses that had wooden frames. Okay? Because hurricanes, like in South Florida, we get hit with hurricanes, hopefully not every year, and thank God it has not been every year.
But if a big hurricane comes through, you look at pictures from Hurricane Andrew in 1992 from down in Homestead, all of those homes were wood frame houses. They were just demolished. They did not even look like they existed, right? Concrete block homes don't get demolished like that because it's a strong foundation.
Those concrete blocks, when you put a block and then a layer of cement and another block and a layer of cement, you're building a very strong and stable foundation so that it can withstand a lot of load. When that hurricane comes through the tropical storm or whatever it is. And those winds come through, they're putting a lot of load and pressure on the house and the concrete block can withstand it.
Wood frame cannot [00:29:00] wood frame can withstand much lower wind speeds than concrete blocks. And that's what strength training is for us as runners. We wanna help build our foundation out of concrete blocks. Now, not out of wood frames because we need to have strength to number one, stabilize us as we run.
Cuz like Kevin mentioned before, running is jumping from one foot to another. So every time we switch feet as we run, Our one leg has to accept our entire body weight. And it's actually three to seven times your body weight, depending on how fast you're running and a couple other factors. What, what kind of surface you're running on.
so every time you land on one leg, it's not just your body weight, it's three times your body weight up to seven times your body weight. That that one leg has to stabilize with every single step. So all of your muscles have to turn on and stabilize you and then push you forward, propel you forward in the matter of.
Quarter of a second.
[00:29:58] Kevin: I was gonna say like, yeah, the, [00:30:00] the amount of impact is two tenths Yeah. A 10th because you're taking roughly a step, three steps every second. Right. So, but that's, that's a full step that that's not just like the amount of time that your foot's on the ground because part of the time of running both feet are in the air.
That's what makes it running there is floating involved. So, yeah. 10, two tenths, 10th a second. Right. Sore in that ballpark.
[00:30:22] Angie: So
we need the strength to stabilize ourselves and we also need strength to propel us forward. And that goes back to, you know, that muscle coordination and synchrony that we were talking about earlier in the episode.
Like all of these muscles need to like, be able to turn on and work and push us forward and stabilize and do all of these things. And strength training helps to build the, the capability of our muscles to be able to do
all of that.
[00:30:46] Kevin: Yeah. That coordination, the synchrony is, is a beautiful word there. I like where the muscles are, are actually working together.
If you're trying to get the muscles in your calf to actually fire so that your toe, your, your foot moves correctly mm-hmm. And [00:31:00] some of the muscles are firing correct, but some are firing slightly later than other ones. There's just like a delay in the communication, getting to them. They're not all firing in unison.
You lead to really awkward uncoordinated movements as you're trying to run and. I pointed out before you go out for like a half hour jog, that's gonna take you 5,000 ish steps. If you have 5,000 uncoordinated steps, that's a setup for an injury. Yep. If you have 5,000 smooth looking steps, you are far less likely to get injured.
Mm-hmm. So you want to actually work on making sure that you have good, smooth movements, movement patterns, and that comes from strength. Because as you strengthen, as you coordinate all the muscles, you're able to move through all sorts of different ranges of motion. You're able to move in different directions because the strength and the coordination is there.
[00:31:48] Angie: Yep, exactly. And. The final point that I really wanna make, actually, there's two more points that I wanna make, but number one is that runners are athletes and we need to train [00:32:00] like athletes. And this is a point that I really, really emphasize inside the Real Life Runners Training Academy. I have a whole lesson about fueling like an athlete and, and learning to think like an athlete.
And I was listening to another podcast last week, about this idea as well, is that in a lot of these research studies and whatnot, people were taking a look at recreational runners and like what we as recreational runners do on a daily basis, on a weekly basis. We are athletes and a lot of recreational runners don't think of themselves as athletes, but that is 100% what we are.
And so athletes, if you think about. Athletes at the highest level. Like let's just go ahead and think about an Olympic athlete. And I understand that most of us listening to this podcast, or maybe all of us are not Olympic level athletes, and that's cool, but we should still be training, not with the same training load as an Olympic athlete, but with the same mindset, with the same focus, [00:33:00] with the same balance, and understanding that in order to be better, we don't just run, we have to then, like when you think about an Olympic athlete, they're spending time running, of course they're spending time in the gym, strength training, they're spending time resting and taking naps and doing other things to help their bodies recover, like getting massages or infrared or cold therapy, like all sorts of different things.
massages. Did I already say that? Yep. I like massages.
[00:33:28] Kevin: They're
eating. I think it's really why you wanna be a pro athlete is just the increase of massages.
[00:33:33] Angie: I know. they're eating. Like athletes, they are paying attention to what they're putting into their body. And that's not saying that they don't indulge, that's not saying that they count every calorie, but they're paying attention and making sure that they're getting enough protein, they're getting enough carbohydrates, they're getting enough fats to fuel their bodies and when they don't.
Because if we really dive into the world of elite professional runners specifically, but really any elite level [00:34:00] athletes, there are a lot of different types of dysfunctional eating and eating disorders. When they don't pay attention to that, their bodies break down. Right. That's why so many runners are s subject to stress fractures and other issues.
It's, it's oftentimes because they're not fueling their bodies appropriately and they're increasing their training
load too much.
[00:34:18] Kevin: Yeah. I mean, I think at the elite level you get a lot of injuries because, Elite athletes are trying to ride the, like, totally put it as like, as close to the edge as they possibly can.
Yep. How much can I, can I squeeze out of myself? Right. And then I think you get a lot of recreational athletes that don't view themselves as a, as a complete athlete. Mm-hmm. There's this part of my day where I run and then there's the rest of my day and they keep these completely separate from themselves.
So as a runner, they're like, oh, well I just, I run, that's what I do. Mm-hmm. But that's, that's having, you train in really one dimension. If you do a lot of running on a treadmill, it really cuts down the amount of movement that you have. You do a lot of running on smooth roads or sidewalks. It's a very stable surface that you're on.
So heaven forbid you go through your run and now [00:35:00] suddenly there's a slight uphill, there's a downhill, there's a crack in the road, there's a, a rock that you step on. Mm-hmm. You're not used to that lack of stability. So the, the metaphor that I thought about this one, cuz we've got, you know, the, the kids softball team that we've been paying attention to, if you're an infielder
[00:35:16] Angie: paying attention to, we've been coaching, well I keep a 10 and under.
Girl softball team. I keep
score.
[00:35:21] Kevin: I don't do much coaching myself for the past couple of, it's not my skillset. I, I cheer a lot, I cheer enthusiastic or, and
[00:35:29] Angie: you're an excellent scorekeeper.
[00:35:30] Kevin: There you go. but if you're trying to like, help work with an infielder, what's their job? They have to pick up a ground ball and throw it to first base.
Like that's really what it is. So you're like, oh, so I should just roll the ball to them and then have them throw it over there? Well, no, because every single hit in the game is not gonna come exactly to them. Some of them are gonna come bouncing to them, some are gonna come rolling to them. Some of they may have to run forward to, some of they might have to move left to right.
You have to kind of mix up a whole variety of things. So when you're like, oh, well I just run, [00:36:00] sure. But everything you do is not just a straightaway. I'm assuming that your 30 minute run is not just a 30 minute straightaway, and then you get in a car and drive back to your starting point. There's gonna be some twists, some turns, some ups and downs.
Yeah. Some curbs, even trails, roots, whatever it is, you have to be able to handle all the different conditions. That's where training like
an athlete comes in.
[00:36:20] Angie: Right. And just like in softball, you do have to start with the basics. Like when, if you have a bra, like we had a couple of brand new people on the team that had never played softball before.
Mm-hmm. For them, I did start by throwing the ball right to them. Right to them. Right. Rolling the ball right to them so that teaching them, okay, first you have to put your, your glove on the ground. Yes. Right. Like, first we have to bend over and put your glove on the ground to stop the ball. Right. Like they, we have to learn those basics and then yes.
As, as they learn those basics, then we la add on those layers of complexity that, those layers of challenge where. You know, they might be standing in one spot and the ball's going somewhere else and they have to run and get [00:37:00] it. Or now we start to add in. Okay, then now there's a runner on base, so we're not throwing it to first base every time.
Now we're gonna throw it to second base. And you know, some of the other assistant coaches that, that were helping me out, were like, well, are we gonna practice this? I said, yes, but not yet. Like, they need to learn things built up. Step by step first. Yes. We're not there yet.
[00:37:18] Kevin: And you start
with those very basic foundational things, right?
Which is where strength training comes in. It gives you this super great core Of foundational movements. That's like the strength routines that you have created for the people in our academy. Yeah. Which is also available to us. What was the website? How did they get to it again?
[00:37:34] Angie: realliferunners.com/strength
[00:37:37] Kevin: Yeah. It's phenomenal. You should all go to it. If, if, I think we probably have some people listening who have been to that website before. Yeah. it's, but if you don't have it yet, go get it. Go get it. It's a phenomenal resource because it gives you such great foundational movements mm-hmm. That you can then build from that.
You can build longer mileage, faster running. Mm-hmm. You can increase your strength and different strength movements from there. Right. Don't start with the crazy, [00:38:00] ridiculous movements because you saw somebody on social media. Do it. Start with your basic foundational movements. The same way the infielder starts with the ball rolled to them mm-hmm.
Before they start doing
anything else.
[00:38:10] Angie: Yeah. And once you get those basics master, then you can move on to. More complicated movements, but strength train doesn't need to be complicated. Like there are a, a handful of basic movement patterns that you really need to learn. And then you can start adding resistance.
You can start adding layers of complication. Yes, if you are able to do, say a single leg deadlift on a flat ground, then adding in a layer of complication where you're barefoot or where you're on an unstable surface, that will increase the load and the challenge on your muscles, but you're not ready for that at the beginning.
There's ways that you need to do it at the beginning. And then there's smart ways for you to progress. And again, I have progressive strength programs, all planned out for. Our members. So yes, if you guys are interested in our coaching program, you can go check out out on the website. Also real life [00:39:00] runners.com.
You can get to the strength program there. The free, we, we have a free download for you there. I have a comprehensive, progressive strength program that I will tell you about as well on the website. And then there's obviously our academy, which. Does everything okay? That gives you all of your strength, all of your running workouts gives you coaching along the way.
It teaches you exactly how to build yourself a personalized training plan. So head over to real life runners.com if you guys haven't been over there yet. and at a minimum, get grab that, that free download. Okay? If you don't wanna sign up for anything else right now, that's totally cool, but go get that free download for yourself, okay?
[00:39:32] Kevin: Because your only other option is to marry Angie and I'm not letting her go. So that's pretty much, those
[00:39:38] Angie: are, that's your options. I am taken. All right, let's move on to mental strength. Okay. So we really, hopefully understand, or hopefully by now you guys understand the importance of building physical strength.
Now we're gonna talk about mental strength because when we say that we want you to be a stronger runner, we're not just talking about physical strength, we're talking about mental strength. And a lot of [00:40:00] runners think, okay, mental strength, I, I get this right. I will just naturally develop that as I run.
I'm just gonna naturally develop mental strength. The more I run and what we if, if people think that way, what we often see is that those people keep making the same mistakes. Those people self-sabotage themselves. Those people give in when it gets hard. They actually have a lot of mental weakness that limits them and they create obstacles for themselves in their head.
And when you understand the power that your mind and your thinking has over all of the results in your life, especially in your running, okay, because your running is a part of your, your life as well, obviously, that's when you really start to unlock some true potential and really start to see what you're capable of.
Because the mental side. Of your life, your thoughts, [00:41:00] control everything else that happens in your life because your thoughts lead to your actions and your actions give you the results that you have in your life. So if you don't like the results that you have, Yes. A lot of people wanna go one step backwards and look at their actions, right?
They're like, well, I'm not doing enough, or I'm not doing the right thing, and we're encouraging you to go back even further and start looking at the thought patterns that are leading you to take the actions or to not take the actions that you need to be taking that are giving you those results.
Because it all starts with the mental side of things.
[00:41:35] Kevin: Yeah. And I mean, the, the mistake here is, is huge. So many people think that if they just run, they will naturally get mentally stronger. But what tends to happen is that you actually just form this really nice habit Yep. Of highlighting the same mental weakness over and over again.
Yep. Until it becomes a thing that naturally happens. Like, oh, well, there's that run that I do, and every time I get to the hill, man, I, I struggle up the hill. [00:42:00] And then that means that every time you get to the run, you're gonna struggle up the hill. Mm-hmm. And so now you put yourself in a new scenario where you're in a race and there's a hill, and you have decided and built this pattern in that you struggle at hills.
Mm-hmm. Or that you have to stop and walk. You have to stop and walk because it's a hill, it's a thing that you've just built in. Or in you start getting workouts that don't go well for you. Mm-hmm. And when you start feeling similar situations in races, similar physical sensations. Yeah. You're like, oh, I've had this before in a workout, and then I, the workout tanked.
Mm-hmm. What now, I guess this race is going the other direction. Instead of realizing that these patterns, these thoughts have come up and addressing them, it's just if you don't give them thought, if you don't pay attention to them mm-hmm. You're going to build them in as a habit that's going to come back in a negative way when you're faced with adversity in a race.
[00:42:47] Angie: Right. So there's a lot of talk out there if you guys are on social media about mindset. Right. What the heck is mindset? Like if you really think about it,
[00:42:56] Kevin: that's what you have to put into all social media posts. It is.
[00:42:58] Angie: Right. And [00:43:00] I've, I've used the word mindset because it's a one word that can describe a very complex thing, but basically mindset is just a pattern of thoughts.
It's a pattern of thinking. And like Kevin said, if you're not. Consciously cultivating a certain mindset or a certain way of thinking, you are just naturally going to fall into whatever your natural inclination is. And, and for a lot of runners, for a lot of people, our natural way of thinking is not necessarily the way that we want to be thinking about something because it's not leading us to the results that we want.
So mental strength number one, needs to be consciously cultivated. Okay. Mental strength is not just something that you develop. Right. If you think about it, it's like something that I've, I've thought about for a very long time. When I think about, you know, the stories that you hear from inspirational speakers that have had really, really hard lives.
Right? Okay. And, and they've overcome, you know, [00:44:00] abuse and addiction and like all of these things in their life, and they've come out on the other side and now they're. Successful and they're living a, a wonderful life. And then I th I look at people that are say in jail or still addicted to, to substances.
Right. That grew up with similar types of backgrounds. Okay. Right. And I always ask myself, what's the difference? Right? Like, what makes this person that grew up in this situation different than someone that grew up in a very similar situation, that this person's now successful and used it to help fuel them and push them forward?
Mm-hmm. And this person just. Fell into the same patterns as everyone else in their life.
[00:44:42] Kevin: How did one
spin out and the other just stayed spiraling
in it?
[00:44:45] Angie: Yeah. And the answer is mental strength. The answer is the way that they were thinking about that situation. Some people can use adversity to fuel them and to help move them forward.
And other people use adversity as evidence of [00:45:00] why they're, it's not gonna work out. This is, I'm not gonna improve. Like when you have those workouts like to take, bring it back to running, you have those workouts that don't go well and you're like, yep, see this is, this is more proof that running's not for me.
Or this is more proof that I'm never gonna hit that two hour goal that I have for the half marathon. Or this is proof that blah, blah, blah, blah. It's the difference in. Becoming in charge and taking control over what you can control, which is the way that you're thinking about the situation versus becoming a victim to your circumstances.
[00:45:36] Kevin: Yeah, I mean, you got a lot going on there. The
[00:45:40] Angie: welcome to Marriage with Angie. I know it's not all Sunshine and rainbows Yes, I'm a physical therapist and I can help you, but I also say all sorts of crazy stuff.
[00:45:51] Kevin: I mean, what you said is all brilliant, but you teed up such a whole wide area. Like where, where do I wanna go?
[00:45:57] Angie: Where do you wanna go with it?
[00:45:58] Kevin: I, I, I think I'm, I'm gonna [00:46:00] go to what you, a point you have very well written here in the outline, which is that mental skills can actually be developed. Yes, they are much like physical still skills that take actual development, but. There's a, there's a way to develop these things and step one is to bring awareness to it.
Yep. It's to go beyond that. Like, well, if I just run, I will naturally get better as a runner. Mm-hmm. That's true. To a point. Yep. If I just run, I will naturally develop mental skills. If you are aware of your thoughts during a run. Mm-hmm. Like if you actually consciously think about that, and this doesn't mean that during, the entire run, you just have to be like, what is my brain saying?
No, no, no. What thoughts are going through? But it could involve at the end of a run, maybe you're doing some, like some drills at the end. Maybe it's just during the time of like untying your shoes or taking a shower that you think about how that run went. Instead of just being like, I'm done with my run.
I move on. You can actually give it some thought about how did that run feel. [00:47:00]
[00:47:00] Angie: Yeah. And I
think that's a good place to start. Go, right. bringing awareness is really just starting to notice like when you are running, when you are in those hard workouts or those races, what is your brain telling you? What are the thoughts coming through your head?
Like, yes, you can, you know, do it after the running, kind of like go back and reflect, but it becomes very powerful when you can actually start to see it on the run as well. Mm-hmm. Because those things go through my head all the time. You guys, like, we, people think a lot of times that in order to become a more positive person, I have to get rid of my negative thoughts.
And that is completely false. You will have negative thoughts for the rest of your life. Welcome to being human. Okay. Our brains are wired for negativity. It's part of our survival mechanism. It's why when we, like, we oftentimes think about. You know, the worst thing that can happen, it's because our brains are just trying to figure out and how to survive, how to keep us [00:48:00] alive.
And so we try to prepare for the worst. And so our brains are wired for that negativity. It's called negativity bias. You can look it up in the research. Okay, so knowing that those negative thoughts are going to come, let's just accept that, right? We're not, we don't have to fight against those negative thoughts.
I think a lot of times people think that they just need to get rid of the negatives and bring in the positives, and that is a very inauthentic way, and that's what makes mental training very, very difficult for a lot of people because they're going about the whole thing wrong. So instead, Become aware of what your brain is telling you.
Like when I'm doing a hard workout that I don't wanna be doing my br, my brain literally says to me, I don't wanna be doing this right now. Yep. Pretty much it. Like, yeah. And then it repeats it loudly. Yeah. Like, I don't wanna do this. Like, why am I doing this? That's another one. My, it asks a lot of questions like, why are you doing this right now?
Like, this is painful. Like, there are all sorts [00:49:00] of things. Okay. So step one is awareness. Starting to notice those thoughts. Step two is intention. If you guys have listened to, our episode on the Real Life Runners Method, a couple episodes ago, I think it was episode 300, you probably recognize some of these words, right?
Awareness, intention, action. That's the real life runners method, step one, two, and three. So, bringing awareness first, noticing what's happening. Step two, intention, actually, actually what do you wanna say to yourself instead of those thoughts? And it doesn't have to be super like, oh no, I feel amazing right now. A a lot of times I just acknowledge, yep, you're right.
Like, I don't wanna be doing that this right now. And I say, yep, you're right, but I'm gonna do it anyway. Like that's a, that's some of my self-talk that I use. Yeah. But self-talk is one of those mental skills that you can learn and that you can develop just like physical skills, just like you learn. How to strength train, just like you learn, improved running form.
You have to learn how to [00:50:00] breathe. You have to learn how to swing your arms when you're running. Or maybe you need to bring some awareness and attention to that if you don't have, some decent running form already. I'm not, well, we're not getting into running, we're not getting a running form today. But the point is, mental skills are like physical skills in that they take awareness, they they need intention and then they need practice.
That action piece is practicing how you want to respond and trying different things. Right? There are sometimes that I try just acknowledging there are, sometimes I try to reframe it. There are some, sometimes I try to bring in a positive mantra. There's lots of different ways that you can then start to use mental skills and build that mental strength that you have for yourself.
It's like having, one of those tools like, like the multifunction tools, right? That can do all the different things. We need to have mult, multifunction tools in our brain to help us when it gets tough, to help us learn how to push through. when. It gets harder.
[00:50:59] Kevin: Right. [00:51:00] Because what's the, what's the good saying?
If you only have a hammer, then every obstacle you see is a nail. Mm-hmm. Like, it's possible that you have some mental skills. It's possible that you have, ah, mental skill you put here in the, in the outline that it's more than mantras, which I think Yes. It's more than mantras. I think mantras are good. Yes.
I think that it's, that having one that you go to is a, is a very much, I have a hammer approach to trying to use your mental skills. Mm-hmm. Because sometimes the one mantra that you're like, oh, this is what I go to every time and it works for me. Sometimes you, you say it in the middle of a, of a run or a workout and you say it and it just sounds ludicrous.
Mm-hmm. In your head you're like, that doesn't make any sense. Yeah. Like, I am strong. No, I'm not. I feel like I've got a side stitch and my legs are killing me. So telling myself you are a strong runner. It just sounds stupid and, and you're going to need to come up with something else because if the mantra doesn't, is not something believable.
If it's not something you can buy [00:52:00] into, then it's not going to come back. There've been plenty of studies that show. Giving yourself that positive talk is good, but you need, you need like a repertoire. Like you need a whole, yeah. You need a comedy act. Like having that one joke is not going to work. You're like, yeah, I've tried that joke before it landed, but delivering it again is not going to be funny.
Mm-hmm. Hitting that mantra again is not necessarily gonna get me through one more rep. Yeah. Two more reps, five more reps. It's, it's going to eventually dull and it's not gonna work anymore.
[00:52:30] Angie: Right. And so that's why mental strength needs to be cultivated. It needs to be intentional, it needs to be practiced.
You need to figure out what works for you, what doesn't work for you, what's believable, what's not believable, what works in some situations, but not others. Having that like bag of dog treats that you can reach into and get different things out of nice. Right? Mm-hmm. Like that. Because there are some things, and like I've, when we were training our dog, when I was training, training our dog, one of the [00:53:00] things that, the dog trainer taught me was that there are certain levels of dog traits.
Like there are high level reward dog traits that you don't go to unless you need to, versus like the low level reward. Mm-hmm. So like low level reward, be like a piece of her kibble. Like she does something good and I give her a piece of her kibble to like, reinforce and reward her. Sure. But there are certain things that like, she will not, you know, if there's a duck in the yard and she wants to chase that duck, she's not coming back for ki she's not coming back for kibble.
Right. But if I have a piece of Turkey or cheese or like a higher level reward or a duck or another duck, right? Like the, there are different levels of rewards that the dog will respond to and it's like, Kind of bringing this back to us, right? There are different levels of mental skills that our brain is going to respond to given whatever the circumstance might be.
[00:53:50] Kevin: Well, I mean,
there's, there's things that you can say to yourself. Yeah. Sometimes people like to bring in music. Music definitely works. Mm-hmm. It, it's a way to actually not have the thoughts [00:54:00] going through your head because you kind of tune them out because you've got music in instead. Yeah. It's, it's definitely been shown that people can run faster and farther.
With music. Mm-hmm. Because it distracts from the pain around them. Right. That's why there's races that it's not even allowed to have the music involved.
[00:54:14] Angie: Yeah. And distraction
is a technique.
[00:54:15] Kevin: Sure. You can zoom in, you can zoom out. Like instead of trying to figure out, oh man, my legs hurt. Well then look at the big world around you and kind of enjoy the entire environment.
Mm-hmm. Or if you find yourself slowing down, maybe you have to zoom so far in that you're like, okay, I just need to stay on pace until I get to that sign. And then that tree and it goes much, much smaller. I'm gonna keep my, my rhythm of my step going for the next 10 steps. How tight can you zoom in? Yeah.
All sorts of different things, but you have to put yourself into uncomfortable situations and then see which trick will help get you out of that situation.
[00:54:49] Angie: Right, exactly. But all of this goes back to the core principle that your thoughts. Create your act, your thoughts lead to your actions and your actions lead to [00:55:00] your results.
So learning to think differently are go is going to affect your training and your results. So if you want different results, you have to start thinking about your training differently. You have to start, and it's not just while you're in your runs. Like we're not just talking about mental strength during runs.
We're also talking about your thoughts about going out for your run on any given day. Like one of the biggest things that people talk about as the reason that they're not consistent is motivation. Lack of motivation. Motivation is just the way you're thinking about things. Motivation is a feeling that comes from your thought.
You either feel motivated or you don't feel motivated. Right? That's coming from whatever you're thinking. Your thoughts actually create your feelings, your feelings lead to your actions and then give you those results. I kind of skipped a little bit of that, but they're all connected. Right? And going back to our softball team, I talk about, you know, I talk to my, my girls, they're all like 8, 9, 10 years old.
And so a lot of them are new and they're, they don't wanna disappoint anybody. They don't wanna disappoint their coaches. They don't wanna [00:56:00] disappoint their teammates or their parents. And so when they get up to bat, a lot of them are nervous. And I, I tell them, I said, what are you thinking about up there that makes you feel nervous?
And they're like, well, I don't, I don't wanna strike out. Okay. And I said, okay. And I said, if you're thinking about striking out, do you think you're more likely or less likely to strike out? And they're like, probably more likely. Yeah, exactly. If you are thinking about hitting the ball and saying, I'm gonna hit the ball, do you think you're more likely to hit the ball or less likely?
And they're like, probably more likely. Right? Exactly. So, yes. They can't control the pitcher. They can't control the umpire. There's a lot they can't control. And I try to teach them that as well. But what they can control is the thoughts that they're thinking about. So if they're trying to focus on hitting the ball, they're gonna be more likely to hit the ball versus if they're thinking about striking out.
And then there's
[00:56:48] Kevin: always the ever popular two for one, where it's your thoughts about strength training that can lead you to become a mentally stronger person while you convince yourself that you need to go and [00:57:00] actually do the strength training to make yourself a physically stronger runner so that you incon increase your speed and your endurance and maintain the consistency.
[00:57:08] Angie: There you go. Yeah. I like it. Mm-hmm. But like, if you guys think about it too, like maybe you're not a softball coach, but have you ever had that. Experience where maybe you're looking at new cars. Like we were joking around about this a few years ago. I wanted to get a Honda pilot like that was, you know, the car that I decided I wanted and all of a sudden whenever we drove anywhere, there was a million Honda pilots on the road that we never saw before.
Yeah. Like we actually made it into a game of like, how many Honda pilots can we count today? Or if you're thinking about red cars, all of a sudden you start seeing so many red cars or so many Teslas, whatever. It was like our youngest went through a Tesla phase, you know, where she just like pointed out every single Tesla on the road and all of a sudden it's like, geez, how many Teslas are there in this town?
Right. Yeah. She's not a bed anymore.
[00:57:54] Kevin: He took away your blue check says, yeah, she's done with it.
[00:57:57] Angie: So, but it's because. You're [00:58:00] telling your brain that that thing is important. So all of a sudden you start seeing more of those, they were always there, right? Your brain just filtered them out as unimportant. And now if you're telling your brain this is an important thing, your brain starts pointing those out more.
So again, your thoughts affect your experience and affect, you know, your actions and your experience of the world around you.
[00:58:20] Kevin: Yeah. I mean I think that the awareness is such a big thing. This was, this was my thought on, on how this connects in. I enjoy art, like I like drawing, but I don't really have a desire to improve myself as an artist.
I like just kind of sometimes playing around drawing for fun. It's, it's entertaining, but I've never really done it at a level that I've tried to improve my skills. Just kind of doodling every once in a while is not gonna make me a better artist. Just going out and running and being like, well, I think as I run, so obviously it's going to improve my, my mental skill game.
It's not true. You have to bring that awareness. Yeah. With the goal of intentionally improving your mental skills. If I wanna improve as an artist, I have to intentionally focus on [00:59:00] improving my skills. Exactly.
[00:59:02] Angie: So hopefully you guys. Really, really understand the importance of being a stronger runner and the importance of both physical strength and mental strength because it's not just one.
Both of them are absolutely critical for you to become a stronger runner, which will then allow you to become a faster runner and, achieve the other goals that you want to achieve in your running and help running. Just feel a lot better. It'll help running be more sustainable, especially as you get older.
Like becoming a stronger person, both mentally and physically is going to help you with all aspects of your life. And really that's why I. I think we're all running in the first place, right? We want to live healthier lives, we wanna be stronger humans. We want to be able to stay active into the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth decades.
10th decades of our lives, right? Because I don't know about you guys, but I sure as heck don't wanna be limited in what I'm capable of. I don't wanna be stuck in a wheelchair. I wanna be [01:00:00] able to go out and run around with my great, my grandkids and my great grandkids, and set some master's records on the track when I'm older.
I mean, who knows what's gonna happen?
[01:00:08] Kevin: Yeah. What the grandkids have to try to keep up. Yeah.
[01:00:11] Angie: Try to keep up with grandpa. I love it. Right. So, Really, that's why all of this is important. That's why the physical strength and the mental strength is important. So go out and be a stronger runner. Become a stronger runner.
Cultivate physical strength by including strength training in your programming. Cultivate mental strength by starting to think about your runs differently and starting to become aware and become more intentional with your running and with your training. And if you want help, we are here. Okay? We can help you with all of this.
We have created a program that helps you become both a physically and a mentally stronger runner because you need both. All right? But. Like I said, go grab that free resource [email protected] slash strength. you can then grab some of our other stuff. You can join our coaching program. [01:01:00] All of that information is on the website.
If you guys want help, to become stronger runners, we would love, love, love to help you. And if you haven't yet, please leave us a review on iTunes, or I should say Apple Podcast is, is what it's called now. head over to Apple Podcasts. Leave us a rating and leave us a quick review. It'll only take you a minute or two and will help us to reach more runners and also show your appreciation for the podcast.
If you're a regular podcast listener, that's a great way for you to show some appreciation for all of the effort that we put in to this podcast every single week. And as always, thanks for being here. We appreciate you guys. This has been the Real Life Runners podcast, episode number 305.
Now, get out there and run your life.
