311: Summer Running, Happened So Fast - POD AUDIO
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[00:00:00] This is the real life runners podcast, episode number 311 summer running part two. Last week, we talked about running in the heat and humidity of summer. This week, we talk about how to get your running in during the summer months when your schedule and your routines might not be what they normally are so stay tuned
[00:00:22] Angie: All right, so we're onto more summer running. This is our summer running part two episode. It so it's theories. It is theories. So last week we had summer running. Had me a blast. Mm-hmm. This week, summer running happened so [00:01:00] fast. You guys obviously know we're Grease fan. Well, I should say I'm a Grease fan.
I don't know about Kevin. I've seen the movie. Is that it? Yep. Like one time. Maybe we've been having this like debate on when is appropriate to show grease to our kids because there's a lot of, I feel like answer is never, there's a lot of inappropriate things in Grease, but I know when I watched it as a kid, I didn't catch at least half of the references.
Like I didn't know what any of that stuff meant. No.
[00:01:25] Kevin: I looked up the lyrics to my gosh, song, grease Lightning somewhere in my twenties. It's dirty. Oh God. That's awful. It's
[00:01:31] Angie: dirty, you guys. It's crazy. Agree with that. I know. I know. So today in part two of summer running, we wanna talk. Well, so if you caught last week, last week we talked about running in the heat, specifically the, the heat and humidity.
We touched a little bit about dry heat, but we know more about running in humidity because we live in South Florida and Kevin ran for a, a good chunk of his life out in California. So you've got the experience. So we, we covered a lot about running. In the [00:02:00] summer months, especially with heat and humidity and how that affects you in all ways.
So if you miss that one, go back and catch part one. You don't need to listen to part one before you listen to that because this one, because they are basically separate things, they're just kind of connected with this thread of the summer. But what we wanna talk about in today's episode is how our schedules are often affected during the summer, and how we can adjust our schedules and how we can adjust our mindset around our running in order to accommodate for those.
Schedule and routine changes in the summer, because especially if you have kids, you understand that the summer is not like the rest of the year. No,
[00:02:41] Kevin: not at all. And so much of exercise and most of our like fitness and health routine is just that it's a routine. Mm-hmm. Which means it's rooted in habits.
Right. And habits have like, oh, well first I do this and then this naturally follows. Mm-hmm. First I have a cup of coffee, then I go to the bathroom, right. And then I'm off on my run and you're like, oh, [00:03:00] I have a cup of coffee and. Now my kids are awake and not going to school. And the whole routine can get completely thrown.
And it does. Maybe you take a vacation in there, you gotta figure out, how do I deal with this? Because you don't necessarily have the same habit cues and your routine could get
[00:03:14] Angie: completely upending. Yeah. And I don't think that everyone consciously realizes this. They don't understand it. I did not. Yeah.
Like how powerful that root. Our routines are just our normal daily routine or weekly routine when people are in school or Kevin is a teacher and so he, when he has a, um, his normal school schedule, his summer schedule, Kevin teaches a summer school class, but that schedule is still different than it is the rest of the school year.
Yeah, I
[00:03:40] Kevin: start later. I end earlier and my lunch is. Totally different. Right. Which I did not realize was gonna cause a problem until I started trying to run in the afternoon after my summer school class. Oh, okay. Yeah. Because my lunch is like 30 to 45 minutes later. Oh. Which, yeah. Is 30 to 45 minutes less digesting.
Mm-hmm. Than I would
[00:03:59] Angie: normally [00:04:00] have. Yeah. So little things like that. We might not realize how much that affects us. And so today we wanna kind of go over exactly how those things may affect you and then what you can do about it. Because a lot of times we see people that have goals, especially if you are someone that has a fall race mm-hmm.
That is trying to train through the summer. Things can get a little sticky and a little complicated. If they're not dealt with correctly. And oftentimes in the summer, people take vacations and vacations are fantastic and we definitely promote rest and recovery and like enjoy your family vacation. But they can cause problems when you may have like unrealistic or unspoken expectations.
So what do I mean by that? Number one would be. Like trying to fit everything in as if that vacation doesn't even exist. Yes. I
[00:04:50] Kevin: think that falls into the unrealistic expectations umbrella
[00:04:53] Angie: there. Um, or the opposite end of things, which is ignoring your training schedule, ignoring everything about your [00:05:00] running routine and your fitness because you're on vacation.
Right.
[00:05:02] Kevin: Which could be fine. Mm-hmm. Like that could be completely acceptable except. If you come back off of that and now you're angry that you have completely fallen off for your routine. Yeah. Because you went on vacation. It wasn't recovery, it wasn't restful at all because now you're angry about it.
Mm-hmm. So you just have to have the, the appropriate expectations about what vacation is going to do. Right. To your running routine.
[00:05:24] Angie: Right. Because. If you ignore the fact that things are different, that there are changes in your routine, or that you're off on vacation and you're doing something that you're not used to doing, we can become very frustrated with the results that we're getting.
Like we see that a lot. Oh yeah. From people you know, like they're often, they're frustrated because they're trying to get things in and it's not working out in their schedule, and then they end up getting mad at. Their family or whoever they're vacationing with. Because you look
[00:05:50] Kevin: right at me as you say that.
[00:05:52] Angie: No, I, I mean, have you ever gotten mad at us? Totally. Okay. Okay.
[00:05:57] Kevin: And tell us more. I mean that, I can't [00:06:00] remember the specific details of when this happened, but I guarantee that there have been vacations mm-hmm. Where I unspoken Yes. Had a plan. And I think that that's the key. I, that's what we're gonna get into.
Yeah. That's why I didn't want to go too much right now. Like, I kind of wanna dive into this a little bit more, but that's part of the issue is the unspoken expectations. Right. And, and this is part of like, we're gonna get into this of. There needs to be clear communication between everybody involved in the vacation, right, of what hopes are reality is.
Mm-hmm. How hopes and reality can kind of blend together. Right. What, what might need to get pushed aside, just a little bit. All important things. Communication is, is super important around changes in routine.
[00:06:41] Angie: Yeah. And I think that this is also, you know what, like I said, You can end up very frustrated.
Right. And then there are people also like you. Yep. That ends up being very accommodating to everyone else's schedule. Sure. Like you in general are a very accommodating person. You're a very go with the [00:07:00] flow. You don't like to rock the boat. And so oftentimes I think that leads you to just kind of going along with things even though you might wanna do something else and not.
Speaking those expectations or those desires, and then that would lead to more frustration and maybe even regression on your part.
[00:07:18] Kevin: Right? Depending on how long the routine is, is thrown for, you could actually regress in your physical ability. Yeah. If you take a couple of days off on like a long weekend, totally fine if you could skip it all and you can come back basically a hundred percent.
Right. But if, if you miss a few days. And you sit there and just stew in your own silent frustration, annoyed at the world around you, that you're not getting in the workout, that in your head you had planned out, but you hadn't told anybody about. Right. I don't, I don't know if it has as much physical repercussions, but I feel like stewing in your own frustration has gotta be more regressing than just being like, eh, I'm gonna have this as an off day.
Yeah. I feel like the mental has to drain on you just
[00:07:59] Angie: a little [00:08:00] bit more. I, I completely agree. You know, cuz like we talk about, Many times on this podcast, stress is stress, physical stress, mental stress, emotional stress, psychological stress. It's all stress. And so by you kind of stewing in it and not, and feeling frustrated that you're not being able to do what you want to do, that's increasing your emotional stress or your mental stress around all of it too, right?
So you're,
[00:08:21] Kevin: you're not getting any of the recovery that the vacation might
[00:08:23] Angie: actually provide. I just like say then you're not actually able to enjoy that vacation as much, right? Like, And this is what we want you guys to understand is that vacations are fantastic. Yeah. They are vacations though. They should lead to a change in your plan possibly, right?
I think it's very important for you to go into your vacation. Like Kevin said, there's a lot of different factors that we need to look at here. I. But you need to go into it with a clear goal for your fitness routine on that vacation, because if you go in and you don't even think about your fitness routine.
Yep. That I think is what leads to a lot of like the frustration or the [00:09:00] disappointment or the guilt of shame. It's a. Right. Like cuz then you feel guilty that you're not following your plan or, and the
[00:09:06] Kevin: shame quickly follows, and now you're sitting there and stewing and angry at
[00:09:09] Angie: the world around you.
Exactly. So number one, make a clear goal for your fitness while you're on vacation. And that goal might be, I'm not going to work out on vacation. Yep. And that is a totally fine. Goal to have or expectation to have? As long as you make it consciously.
[00:09:27] Kevin: Yes. You can totally have the, I'm not gonna work out.
Mm-hmm. Or maybe you're used to running 60 minute, like working out 60 minutes a day. Five days a week and on vacation, you've decided that you're gonna be fine with 30 minutes, three times mm-hmm. Over the course of the week. And that's a huge change in, in your normal workout routine, but you've decided, you know what, it's vacation.
I don't want to kind of completely have to try and find a gym somewhere or a trail that I'm not familiar with. I'm just, I'm [00:10:00] gonna do this. This is gonna be fine. This is my base level, and I will be happy. Mm-hmm. And satisfy. Fight with this, but here's the catch. You have to tell other people that. Okay.
And I'm gonna go with my personal story. Yeah. We went up to the, the mountains in Georgia. Mm-hmm. A few years ago. Mm-hmm. The plan was to run. Yeah. We had a cabin in the middle of the woods. It was like, this is gonna be fantastic. We literally walk out the cabin door. There's gonna be trails right there.
They were not. Yes, there were not clear trails right there. There were woods, but there was no like trail around. No. And the roads that were not safe cuz it was twists and turns. There was no shoulder. It was like a one. One lane. Mm-hmm. Twisty turn road. So the closest thing that we could do to run was to probably like drive 20, 30 minutes, right.
To a park where there was in fact a clear trail head. I decided, all right, that's fine. I'm gonna shift this and be like, you know what? Vacation's gonna be awesome. We're gonna do some great hiking. I'm gonna wake up in the morning and relax. We're gonna have coffee. I'm gonna sit on the porch, is gonna be amazing.
I failed to tell that to [00:11:00] Angie. So you the whole time were like, he's gonna, he's gotta be upset, like, I don't know why he's not upset. I think he's hiding that he's upset with this. I thought you were lying. Yeah. Yeah. You thought that. I was like, I, I'm, you thought I was stewing? Mm-hmm. And in my head I had said as soon as we got to the cabin, literally as soon as we got, we're unpacking and I look around, I'm like, okay, so running is out the window.
Mm-hmm. And, but I didn't express it so key that you and everybody involved have a clear goal for vacation and it's expressed to everybody
[00:11:33] Angie: involved. Yeah, and I think that that kind of leads us to our second point here of know what is available to you, where you are going. Okay, so good one. When you decide where you're going on vacation, Do your best to try to do some research ahead of time and see what's available to you.
Is there a fitness center? Like if you're going somewhere and staying at a hotel, is there a fitness center available to you? Are you near, near trails where you can run? Mm-hmm. Are there roads? Do those roads have shoulders [00:12:00] or sidewalks next to them? Like figure out what you might have available and then you can always supplement.
You know, if you want to bring, like, one of the things that I like to bring with us when we go out on vacation would be like bands that I can get in some strength work you need to put into it. Yeah. And then a tx, um, like a, a suspension trainer that I can put over a doorway and I can do a ton of strength training work with that suspension trainer.
I. And it takes up very little room in my
[00:12:25] Kevin: suitcase. Yeah. Those are two very easy to pack. Mm-hmm. Very. They're not heavy and they don't take up a lot of space. Right. And you can use them
[00:12:31] Angie: anywhere. And you're only doing this for maybe a week, maybe two weeks, depending on how long you're on vacation. Exactly.
So you're not gonna lose a ton of fitness. It's really just about maintaining. Yes. Like understanding that. My goal during that time is now not to progressively overload my muscles, because in all likelihood I won't have access to a lot of equipment depending on what's going on. So my goal is just going to be maintenance phase during that week, whatever it might be, um, or.[00:13:00]
You could be like me or not. I, I would not suggest being like, this is actually not a recommendation when you go to a hotel that has a really nice fitness center that actually has more equipment than I usually have access to at home. Um, like I did on our Thanksgiving vacation a couple years ago and I got so excited about all of the new equipment and kettlebells and all the things that I completely overdid it in my first strength workout and ended up.
Throwing out my back and then head back pain for the rest of the trip. Yep.
[00:13:33] Kevin: Don't do that. Yeah, but you could, like you overdid on like multiple exercises on day one.
[00:13:41] Angie: And see this is one of the things though, I think that vacation brings us too, is it brings us lots of extra time. Extra
[00:13:46] Kevin: time and and the potential.
And that, I mean, that was a great gym. Yeah. So I think if you looked at that and known ahead of time, this is what I've got at my disposal. Yeah. You could have ahead of time planned a routine instead of walking [00:14:00] into the gym and being like, Ooh. Like Kid and candy story. This was Angie and Candy story.
You're like, I know. Look at the kettlebell. I'm gonna swing it over my head while standing on a Bosu ball. No, I didn't. It's not actually what you did, but, but I did
[00:14:11] Angie: do kettlebell swings and I had not done kettlebell swings that they were not an like normal part of my workout routine for months.
[00:14:18] Kevin: Right? So, unclear exactly what weight you should have necessarily been at.
It was less than the one I chose. Definitely less than what you chose. So when you, when you have a new thing, that doesn't mean that you can't use the new thing, right? It just means that you have to ease into the new thing because new is automatically going to create soreness. Yes. You're like, oh, well, it doesn't have the same machines, it doesn't have the same free weights that I'm used to, so I'm gonna have to mix it up.
I'm gonna have to do this instead. Immediately reduce the intensity on strength training, I think is a safe way to play it. Yeah. To see what you've got. If you are on vacation for a couple of weeks, use the first time that you're gonna try a strength routine in the new fitness center there as a chance to like, [00:15:00] Ease into it and be like, let's see how the machines are working and how my body feels with these movement
[00:15:05] Angie: patterns.
Yes. It's so much easier said than done. I know. Especially when you love fitness, right? Yeah. Like, and I think that this is what I was like, what I wanted to um, point out is that I. Those of us that love fitness and that love running. Yep. All of a sudden we go on vacation and we don't have our normal schedule.
We, we don't have, I've done this myself yet. Right. We don't have the normal constraints on our time. We have all of this free time, extra time, and so you're like, Sweet. Like normally I only can get in 30 minutes, but now I could go out for an hour and a half. Mm-hmm. I can go out for two hours. And you, this goes with both strength training and with running.
Yep. Right. We see people that all of a sudden have all this extra time on their hands. They're not limited by, I need to get this workout in before I get to work. So now I have all this time in my hand. So I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna go on a five mile hike. And then I'm also going to go for my run. And then I might also add in some strength training.
Mm-hmm. Because look at all these amazing things at the gym. [00:16:00] Yeah. And so then you end up overdoing it and that, I mean, I've fallen into that trap more than once. And this shows you that even though I'm a coach, even though I know better, I'm still human. And so even though you might listen to this podcast, even though you might be a member of our training academy, And you know, this information, sometimes we get a little excited, kind of like kids in a candy store, like you're saying.
Like, you know, if you eat too much candy, you're gonna get a stomach ache. But a lot, sometimes the kids still eat all that candy and then ends up with a stomach ache or end up throwing up because of it.
[00:16:35] Kevin: Kid in a candy store, Angie, in a fancy fitness center. Having had a new trail head. Yes. Like these are places where things can get overdone when we go out to visit my parents out in California.
Mm-hmm. So it's like, oh, I know these hills. Ugh. I ran these hills for years. I love running. But the problem is I have not run these hills in years. Mm-hmm. So when I go out, it cannot be hill workout day upon day upon day. Right. I would like to try [00:17:00] to be on the trails. I love being on the trails instead of, you know, the roads and the sidewalks and whatnot.
Mm-hmm. But if I do a hill loop one day and I wanna go back and experience the joy of the hills and the trails again the next day, that second day needs walking breaks. Mm-hmm. That I would not normally do and normally be like, I'm not taking a walking break on this thing, but I just ran the whole hill thing the day before.
So if I want to keep it easy, it's almost going to require walking breaks on it that I would not normally do.
[00:17:29] Angie: I'm so glad that you said that. I'm so glad that you mentioned the fact that you would take walking breaks. Yep. Because I think that people in general are anti walking breaks or don't wanna feel like they should or have to take a walking break, but they look at you, someone that can run.
A marathon in a like two and a half hours, essentially cheaper. Right. And like, oh, Kevin doesn't ever have to walk. I bet Kevin never has
[00:17:53] Kevin: to deal with this. Yeah. This, this steep uphill, or especially, this is what gets me, I'm not used to running downhills. Mm-hmm. [00:18:00] Downhills on rocky trails. And California has some well groomed trails, but there's a couple spots on different trails by my parents that is fairly steep, downhill and rutted and rocky.
Mm-hmm. And it's like, all right, I could. Run this right. But my muscle memory on how to run this thing downhill is fading. Mm-hmm. So I'm gonna take it real slow. I'm gonna walk this section of it right. So that I don't do something stupid and, and take, you know, summer salt down the hill, that seems like a terrible
[00:18:26] Angie: idea.
And this, or twist your ankle. Yeah. And then you can't run the rest of the week we're there. Yes. Right. Because you, you're so excited that like, oh, I've, I've got these trails. I can't wait to get out there. And then you go out and do something stupid like, Like I did and, and threw out my back. And then I couldn't really use the fitness center the rest of the week, and then I was mad at myself.
Yeah, right. And then, so then I'm. Like
[00:18:46] Kevin: mad. Yes. So here's the thing, your vacation, it's going to lead to a change in plans, right? Maybe it has a huge time restriction that you're not used to, right? Maybe it has. What's the opposite of restriction? A time expansion. Abundance. It [00:19:00] has an abundance of time.
There you go. Um, so that you've got this extra time and you're like, oh, if I have extra time, I should fill it in. I should
[00:19:08] Angie: make a longer workout or a longer run just because I have the time
[00:19:12] Kevin: available. And the thing is that you can't. Like you could say, all right, on this, on these few days, I'm gonna treat it like an extended training block.
And one, your family needs to be on board. That that extra time is not just in your head, but it's, it's okay with everybody. Yeah. That your workout is now 60 minutes instead of 30 minutes. Mm-hmm. An hour and a half instead of 45 minutes. Whatever it is, that's fine. But remember the rules of. Of two, like you cannot increase your intensity and your volume and your strength.
Like it's, it's too much of this and too much of this, and too much of that. Right. Pick something, pick one and expand it. Yeah. Like, oh, I'm gonna work out longer than I normally do. Okay, that's fine, but don't also up the intensity. And add in new strength training exercises. Mm-hmm. Oh, look at the fitness center that I don't normally have [00:20:00] access to.
Great. Definitely don't increase your running volume. Like only so many things can play can can be increased at the same time. Yeah.
[00:20:08] Angie: And I think what making that point of everyone needing to be on board and communicating that is really important. Because I know sometimes when we went out to your. Your parents' house and your sister would come in to visit?
Yep. We'd be like getting ready for the day. We were gonna go to the zoo with the kids and every, we'd look around and be like, where is she? Like, where's your sister? And like, oh, she just went out for a run. Well, when did she leave? Oh, like five or 10 minutes ago. How long is she gonna be gone? I don't know.
I don't know. Right. And so like here we are just kind of all sitting around waiting for her to get back because A, we had no idea when she left. We had no idea how long she was going. And then it kind of, Killed the plans, especially when you have little kids. Yes. And like you tell your kids you're going and you're leaving and you're like, sorry, we have to wait.
Like being able to communicate what you want to, everyone that's involved in your vacation is really important and will lead to. Just better results all [00:21:00] around. Like better feelings for everyone.
[00:21:02] Kevin: More enjoyable vacation, joy to everybody involved. More. Yes. More joy. The bigger your group is, the more clear the communication needs to be.
Yes, and the more flexible you need to be that not everybody involved in your group needs to be involved with every plan. Yes, true. If, if your group is double digits, It's possible that on some days you're gonna break into sections. Mm-hmm. And that's gonna be okay. Also, I think flexibility is, is super key.
Like you want some, mm-hmm. You want planning and flexibility, but I think that the way to get flexibility is to plan ahead
[00:21:34] Angie: of time. I completely agree. So speaking of plans, that sounds
[00:21:37] Kevin: like you said that that is not my kind of statement. That is a hundred percent your words, which is like,
[00:21:42] Angie: I completely agree.
[00:21:44] Kevin: Oh goodness. I think we got that recorded.
[00:21:48] Angie: That I agree with
[00:21:48] Kevin: you or that you say that I'm just, that I actually said that the way to create flexibility is to increase your structure. That's what I'm going with. Structure
[00:21:57] Angie: is extremely important. Like, and that's the [00:22:00] thing that I think that people often miss, is that they think that having structure and having a training plan is going to limit their freedom, and it's the.
Exact opposite. Yep. Like having structure and having a plan actually gives you more freedom because hey, you don't have to figure out what the heck you're doing. Yep. You just have to figure out where to fit it in. Yep. Right. And G, kind of going back to this flexibility and having this training plan, just because you have a training plan doesn't mean you have to rigidly follow that training plan every single day.
True. So you have to decide, again, going back to these conscious decisions that you have to make. Are you going to stick with your schedule? Or maybe like you can adjust the timing, right? Like are you gonna try to do everything on your training plan, depending on, again, who you're with, what your plans are, what is available to you, all of those things.
Right? Are you gonna try to stick to that schedule or are you going to adjust your schedule to try to fit the vacation?
[00:22:56] Kevin: Yes. Yes. Which one is, is the priority? And I think [00:23:00] this really depends, and that's why we started with, mm-hmm. You need a clear goal for your vacation. Yes. If the goal is consistency, Then you might wanna adjust the schedule towards the vacation and be like, look, I'm gonna maintain some general consistency over the course of vacation.
That's great. If you have a race three weeks after your vacation, you might wanna stick with some consist some actual like rigidity to your schedule. Yeah. Or. Take away the goal time, the goal result of the race. Mm-hmm. And be like, I'm gonna enjoy that race. Yes. Because this vacation is three weeks before it, and I, there's no way I'm sticking to a schedule.
That's just
[00:23:37] Angie: not going to happen. Right. Because if you decide that you want to kind of be more flexible and be more freeform on vacation and not stick to that training plan, then. If you do that and kind of like get in what you can on vacation Yep. And you know, are kind of whatever about it, but then you're mad that you don't hit your [00:24:00] goal time at that race.
Well, there's a good reason for it. Yep. Right. Like there's a good reason that if you miss a, an entire week of training or get in very little training. A couple of weeks before your race, there's probably a reason that your race didn't go that well. Right.
[00:24:14] Kevin: Especially you're training at like a fairly high level and then you pull back drastically like three to four weeks ahead.
It's completely throwing off how your body's trying to taper for that race because it thinks that you did taper and then you're back up and then you're trying to reaper. Yeah. It's just an awkward way to try and work the whole thing. It's, it's trying to race with multiple race goals over a short time period.
Right. It's tricky and it needs. It needs some clear scheduling and, and what the plan is. Yeah. And so if you're going to aim for the vacation, it's best if the goal is something like my overall fitness, some general consistency, or it's a shorter vacation. Mm-hmm. And you're like, all right, I'm just not gonna run over these two days.
And then I'll get back into it when I get back into it.
[00:24:55] Angie: And also, when we talk about scheduling and trying to do things consciously, Planning a [00:25:00] week vacation two weeks before your race where you know it's gonna be hard for you to stick to your schedule might not be a great idea, right? Like schedule that vacation with that race in mind.
If that race is important to you, if the race isn't that important to you, if you're just kind of going out and having fun and you don't care about your time. Then you can do whatever you
[00:25:19] Kevin: want. Right? If it's a fun race, yeah. I just wanna feel great. I want to enjoy the experience, you can totally do that.
Right? Because you can keep your general fitness up mm-hmm. Through vacation. Yep.
[00:25:29] Angie: But we also talk about knowing what you wanna sacrifice because of your priorities. Right? So if your priority is to hit a. Boston qualifying time or a PR in an upcoming race. There are times that you're going to have to sacrifice other areas of your life for that goal, and you shouldn't have to sacrifice everything, and you shouldn't have to sacrifice at all times.
But sometimes temporary sacrifices are necessary. For you to hit a goal that is very important to you. Yeah. No, that's, [00:26:00] and, and, and that goes in everything in li like any kind of goal you have, right? It we're not just talking about running, like there are sometimes if you have goals in other areas of your life, you're gonna have to sacrifice in, you know, areas that are not that every area in other areas, right?
Like, so. Um, that's sometimes that's just what goals require,
[00:26:19] Kevin: right. And sometimes it requires some sacrifice of other people within your family. Mm-hmm. And that's why the communication Yep. Of this is what I'd like to accomplish fitness-wise, right. During the vacation. Needs to be clear across the board if you've got multiple people in the group that are all looking to accomplish different fitness goals mm-hmm.
Everybody needs to be on, on the same page. Maybe like say you and I Yeah. Go on vacation together. If your plan is, I'm going to fit in what I can and prioritize the vacation. Yeah. And my plan is, I'm hitting this schedule and we'll deal with the vacation as best as possible. Mm-hmm. That might not work.
[00:26:56] Angie: Right. And I think that that's a part of why I thought [00:27:00] you were lying when we were in Georgia because I was still planning on running. Yeah. And I was still trying to figure out how I was going to get some of my runs in. Yeah. I hadn't completely accepted that my. Running plan was kind of out the window.
Yes. I was still trying to figure it out, so I was like, well, clearly you're gonna feel the same way. Right. But in, in this instance, it wasn't that way. Even though I decided I was going to adjust my running, I was gonna run less than I was normally go planning on running. Yep. Because we were gonna be hiking on top of it.
Yes, that's true. But again, going back to that open communication, I expected to go on like seven mile hikes and the family. Wasn't necessarily on board with that because I didn't communicate that ahead of time.
[00:27:43] Kevin: Yeah, those were some good hikes. You're like, no, no, no. If we around this turn, there's a waterfall.
I believe that was the theme of that vacation. You should find the waterfalls, but the waterfall was four miles from the trailhead and it was in a lot, not a loop. Right. It was an out and back. So if you got to the waterfall, you would [00:28:00] hiked four miles. Yeah. And we had, um, well it was 2020, so the old one was, oh, the older one was 10.
[00:28:06] Angie: Yeah, and so, so the younger one was
[00:28:08] Kevin: seven. Yeah. So an eight mile hike seemed a bit
[00:28:10] Angie: ambitious, but to me it was walking, right? Like I think me as a Floridian, I don't understand how intense hikes are. I don't, right. Like, so I'm just like, well, it's just walking, like the girls can walk for a couple
[00:28:23] Kevin: of hours and, and to the seven year old, it was not walking, it's not, it was a death march and it was not okay.
That, that
[00:28:32] Angie: one trail that, I think that was the first one, right? That where we were on that more narrow path and it was a pretty steep incline. For the first like half a mile.
[00:28:40] Kevin: There were a couple of hikes. Yeah. That that were, the first one was, was poorly planned. I thought it was super fun. I think it was.
I think we recovered after that. Found places where it's like, all right, we could hike for a little bit, and then here's a spot where we are literally designed to stop and then we can picnic and. It was, it was fine.
[00:28:57] Angie: Right. But again, this goes back to my expectations. [00:29:00] I didn't clearly communicate because if I, if I would've communicated that you I'm sure would've been like an that's not a no, that's not a good idea.
And I'm like, no, it's be fine. Like, I just thought we were gonna go hike for a few hours every day because what else are we gonna do? Yeah. Like, so that was just like, in my mind, that was what was gonna happen. It didn't matter how long it took, it didn't matter if we needed to stop and take breaks. Yeah.
But the girls were just, um, especially the little ones, she was like, Uhuh. This is not, well, her
[00:29:25] Kevin: plan was to play board games for a couple of hours. That's true. Your plan was to hike for a couple of hours. Right? You can't do those simultaneously. But neither of you had communicated directly to the We did not.
[00:29:34] Angie: We did not. So, and we figured it out, you know, like,
[00:29:37] Kevin: and we made it work and it was a great vacation. Here's the thing, all of us, it's still an
[00:29:40] Angie: amazing vacation. All of us still talk about that vacation of how awesome it was and how much fun we had, and it was just, So great just to be a family. The four of us like spending so much great time
[00:29:50] Kevin: together and looking back on it, it's comical and it's where so many of these tips come from of I know man, communication seems vital because it, looking back, it's hysterical, but [00:30:00] it would've had such less issues throughout the whole thing if we just talked.
Yep. We just talked and we were in the car for hours. We all could have talked. 10 and a
[00:30:09] Angie: half. Yes. 10 and a half hours drive. Yeah, many hours. So it was fun though, but. Okay, so that's a little bit about. Understanding that you are probably going to have a change of plans in some respect, right? Yep. Even that maybe you stick to your training plan.
Exactly. Even so, the location might change. That location change might lead to a change in weather, so you might need. Last week's episode where we talk about how to run in the heat and humidity, because if you're coming from a northern state going to a southern state and you're trying to get in the same runs at the same pace, that is not going to work.
Oh, yeah.
[00:30:45] Kevin: No family Disney vacation. Oh my, my gosh. Completely changes your plans. Yep. Because suddenly you're, I mean, Andrew wanted to go hike in the mountains for two to three hours a day. If you're doing Disney World, you're literally walking 10 to 12 miles a day. [00:31:00] Yeah. And standing in lines and eating.
Probably not the food that you're used to eating. Right. And paying $45 for a hamburger that shaped like Mickey's head, but which is fine and glorious, but trying to then increase your training load on top of that. Right. To maintain your training load on top of that
[00:31:18] Angie: or to not realize what effect that has on your training.
Exactly. Right. Like to, to just say, oh yeah, yeah, I'll just get in my run and then I'll also go do Disney or. We'll do Disney and then I'll get in my run afterwards. Good luck with that. Yeah, no. Especially if you're holding kids for fireworks at 9:00 PM at night as ice cream drips on your head and you don't know anything about that, do you?
Not at all. So.
[00:31:38] Kevin: All right. Um, all right. So this, that's changing plans. Yes. Sometimes it's completely fine to just take a break from running Yes. For your vacation. Did
[00:31:49] Angie: you hear that from running coaches? Yes. You did. Yeah. You just heard us say, Sometimes when you go on vacation, it's completely fine for you not to run.[00:32:00]
Is that a pause for
[00:32:01] Kevin: emphasis? Yeah, pause for emphasis. When you take like a full week off, you cannot come back the next week as though nothing happens. Right. But it does not take you as long to come back as you might think. You could probably come back, depending on your volume, you could probably come back at like 50 to 75%.
For like a week. Mm-hmm. Be it like halfway for a week, and then you can basically be back at normal. You have like your vacation week, a down week, and then roughly back to normal listening to your body every day. Right. Maybe it takes two weeks to come back, so you don't
[00:32:35] Angie: wanna just jump right back into your plan.
No. Right. That's the key. Like if you choose, I'm gonna take this week off. I'm not gonna work out If I get something in, great. If not, whatever. I'm just gonna take the week off. Don't then come home and jump right back into your training plan exactly where it
[00:32:49] Kevin: is. Right. But you could jump back in.
Essentially two weeks later. Mm-hmm. So let's say that you're doing 30 miles a week, round number, 30 miles a week. [00:33:00] You come back, you, you on vacation, you hit 30 miles a week, you hit zero miles a week. You come back, you're gonna be somewhere between 15 and 20. Mm-hmm. And then the week after that, you could be back at 30 and your body is gonna be like, oh yeah, okay.
This is fine. Right. Like the first longer run might be like, who they, we are out here for a while. Mm-hmm. But, You're gonna be fine. You're probably more mentally gonna be like, wow, this is taking a long time than physically actually uncomfortable and not able to handle it.
[00:33:24] Angie: Right. And like we said before, if you're stressing about the time off, that is not going to help you get in shape any faster or make your vacation more enjoyable.
Mm-hmm. Make that choice consciously. If you're gonna take the time off, take the time off. Don't sit and stew. Right? Yep. Don't be mad at yourself. Don't be mad at your family or your friends or whoever you're with. Just decide, okay, you know what? I'm gonna take this week off. I'm gonna adjust my plan next week.
Everything is gonna be fine. I have plenty of time until my race. Yep. I have plenty of time to make this up. Nothing is going to be bad here unless, again, if your, [00:34:00] your goal race is two weeks after your vacation, that might not be what exactly you wanna do there. But even so stressing about it is not gonna help you in any way.
Right. Say you are planning on. Taking that week and you are gonna stick to your fitness schedule and then life happens. You hurt your back because you did too many darn kettlebell swings with a heavy weight uhhuh, and you end up, even though you were planning on getting in your workouts, you end up not working out at all.
If you are there getting mad at yourself, if I would've just. And, and, and you know, I'm saying this in retrospect, I was mad at myself. I was annoyed because I'm like, gosh darn it Angie, like, seriously? Yep. Like, I was like, I can't believe I did that. Like, that's
[00:34:39] Kevin: actually how mad she was. She actually said, gosh darn it, she came over to me, I'm trucking along in the treadmill.
And she goes, gosh darn it, I hurt myself doing kettlebell swings. And I said, well, G Wilker's ang.
[00:34:54] Angie: And we're back in the fifties. So, but. Adding that extra stress, [00:35:00] you're not even sure where to go with that and, and annoyance right? Isn't gonna help you in any way. It's, again, being aware of what happened.
Accepting it for what it is and then deciding how you wanna move forward consciously.
[00:35:13] Kevin: Yeah. Adding stress is not gonna fix anything. Right? Like adding stress literally does not help anything. It's just going to make the process worse. Yeah. If anything, stressing about being out of shape is going to slow down the ability to get back into shape because it will slow
[00:35:27] Angie: down your recovery.
Right, right. Because like we said, stress is stress. So if you are putting mental stress on yourself, thinking about how out of shape you are, it's actually going to take you longer to recover. Yep. And like you probably know from this podcast, if you've been listening for any length of time during workouts, you break your body down during rest and recovery, you build your body back up.
So if you increase the mental stress during your rest and recovery, you're not building back up as. Strong as you could be if you just decide, okay, you know what? I'm gonna accept it. I'm gonna go to sleep. I'm not [00:36:00] gonna try to fit in extra workouts. I'm not gonna try to quote unquote, make these things up.
Right? That's, oh, that's a good one. Do not, if you miss a week of training, do not try to make that up the following week. Like we're telling you, come in at less than. What you were doing. Right. And there are some people that make that mistake of like, well now I gotta, I have five runs I have to make up.
I'm gonna try
[00:36:21] Kevin: to fit 'em in. Yeah. I'm in the middle of a marathon plan. I missed my 10 mile long run, so I'll just don't do it. I'll divvy up that 10 mile run. Yes. Over my Yes. Talk about that. Right. Like, I miss, talk about that. I missed my long run. Mm-hmm. So if I just add like two to three miles on each of my runs next week, that's like the same thing, right?
No. One, it's not a long run in the first place. And two, you've massively increased the length of every run, right? If you're used to doing like a three or four mile and now some, or even a five or six, sure. Okay, so it's a five mile. Now all of your fives have turned into eights. That is nowhere near a huge different increase [00:37:00] in volume.
That's a safe increase for like. Two days, and then to pull back and have an entire recovery week. So that shouldn't be your week of trying to come back from a vacation. Mm-hmm. Like that's a, that's a dangerous plan. Stick with, come back gentle and then get back to normal and then progress from there. And, Within.
So what, it's a three weeks before you can be progressing. You've got your vacation week, pullback week, normal week, and you're, you're back to increasing
[00:37:27] Angie: volume. Yeah, exactly. All right. Now we wanna talk about schedule changes that are connected to school kids. So if you have kids that are still in school, That still go to traditional school that is, you know, eight to three or whatever it is, and all of a sudden it's summertime things are going to change because maybe your kids are in camp.
Even if they're in camp, those hours are probably going to be different than normal school hours. Yep. So you might be running later than normal. Mm-hmm. Maybe you decide like I [00:38:00] do. Yay. My kids don't have to start so early, I'm gonna sleep in a little bit longer. Yeah. And that's great because I'm getting more sleeps when, which is going to improve my recovery.
That's fantastic. However, I know that I can't run too late because it just gets too darn hot.
[00:38:17] Kevin: Yeah. So in theory, your extra sleep suggests that you could in fact, increase your training load over the summer, right? Because you're able to get more sleep, right? Because you're sleeping a little bit later. But if you sleep later, it's just gonna be hotter.
Mm-hmm. Which means you might have to actually. Decrease your training load or if you are increasing, be very gentle and gradual about increasing your
[00:38:36] Angie: training load. Right. Or if you are increasing your load, well say, you know, when we talk about load, we talk about both distance and intensity. That's kind of what makes up load.
So if I'm going, if I want to increase my mileage and my distance, I need to decrease my intensity. So maybe I need to take more walking breaks. Sure. In order to make sure that that intensity doesn't go up, because the heat is automatically going to increase the intensity of my workouts. Yes. [00:39:00] So to make sure that my training load doesn't get too high, if I wanna ramp up my mileage, like say you are someone that's training for the Chicago Marathon in October, you're gonna have to start doing some long runs during the summer, like July, August.
I know in my running group down here in South Florida, The Chicago people that train for the Chicago Marathon always curse themselves in like August.
[00:39:21] Kevin: You had one year that you had so many friends. Oh my gosh. In Chicago, gosh, I know. The, the long run group just hated
[00:39:26] Angie: themselves. They hated themselves.
They're like, why did I ever think this was a good idea? How did I not realize that I was gonna be doing my 20 miler in September? Yep. You know, in South Florida it was just brutal for them. But, Again, then they went to Chicago. Kind of like we talked about, um, last week about the adaptations. Oh, yeah. That their body made.
They were heat adapted for that day. They were. So they actually had made so many good adaptations when they went to Chicago that year. It was like perfect. It was like 50 or 60 degrees. Yeah. They crushed it. Yeah. You know, like they did awesome in the
[00:39:56] Kevin: marathon. Yeah. Which is fine as long as you take into account the changes in weather.
Yeah, [00:40:00] that's the thing. Take into account the changes in weather. Don't ignore the changes in the world around you. Oh, that
[00:40:05] Angie: just made me think of the Jimmy Buffett song like, Changes in attitude changes. Changes in latitude, in attitude. Right? And which is exactly appropriate for this, this episode? Maybe I should sing again.
As long
[00:40:16] Kevin: as we're singing as much as possible. I know that song much better than I know the songs of anything. Because
[00:40:21] Angie: when you take a vacation you, you might be going somewhere. Changes in latitude. Yes. So you need to change your attitude. Around your fitness and you're running. Excellent. You're welcome.
Now you have another song stuck in your head. All right.
[00:40:32] Kevin: Other possible schedule changes connected to school kids. Maybe you take a similar approach as we do over the summer. It's summer vacation. Let's let the kids stay up just a little bit later. It'll be fine because they can sleep in.
[00:40:45] Angie: This is the worst idea.
Like who thinks that this is a good idea? I know you did. I know. I know. Because our kids, were at the age now, our kids are 10 and 13. And so they're at the age where they wanna stay up later and Okay. And then
[00:40:57] Kevin: there's actually stuff on TV that's not super inappropriate for [00:41:00] them to still be watching.
Right. And
[00:41:01] Angie: the problem that Kevin and I are running into is that we like to go to bed now before them Yeah. Before our children. Like, we're like, we like to try to get in bed like 9 30, 10 o'clock, 10 o'clock is really 10 o'clock. What we try to set for ourselves, but we're, we're starting to get ready around nine 30.
Sure. We have have to take the dog for a walk. We have to kind of lock the house up and do all the things that we do every night. And. It's like if we're letting the kids stay up till nine 30 or the older one till 10
[00:41:26] Kevin: o'clock. Yeah. When you told the older one she could stay up till 10. I, I almost, I almost threw something.
I'm not gonna lie,
[00:41:33] Angie: as long as it wasn't at me,
[00:41:35] Kevin: there was, there was not necessarily clear communication before that was
[00:41:39] Angie: expressed. Angie, did you not think about that? And I was like, clearly no. Sometimes I. Speak before. I think things through. All right,
[00:41:46] Kevin: so here's the thing. Here's how it directly connects to your running.
If you're staying up later, it's the opposite of sleeping in. You might actually be reducing your sleep, right? Maybe you have a dog that doesn't realize the difference between [00:42:00] normal school and summer vacation, so the dog wakes up at normal time. If you're staying up later, you've now just shrunk down your sleeping window.
Yep. So this is one you're staying up later. It's throwing off your sleep schedule. And maybe you're actually just sleeping less. Both of these are going to make the, the ability to make physical adaptations more difficult, right? So anything that you're doing that is adjusting your schedule towards the negative, keep that in mind.
The one that I did not even realize, it's not even on the outline here, cuz it didn't occur to me until after I wrote this. I used to run my normal schedule. I would eat lunch at 1120 because that's lunch at my school. Yeah. But now I'm completely in control of my own lunch with my summer school. So lunch is around noon.
Well, that 45 minute difference means I. If I'm running after school, if I'm running, when I get home, I need to push back my run further. Yeah. Or I'm super physically uncomfortable in my stomach. Like I got GI issues on my first run out during summer school, and I'm like, why is the, like, this is when I would normally run.
It's [00:43:00] kind of hot, but I don't think that's the issue. And then I'm like, oh. I haven't digested lunch fully, which is
[00:43:05] Angie: actually good training for
[00:43:06] Kevin: your ultra. I know. That's what I told myself the entire time. Mm-hmm. As I was like slogging along, grabbing up my side, being like, this is super uncomfortable.
Maybe I could use that porta-potty at the construction site. Well, and which is also a good question. There you go. Can you use a porta-potty at a construction site? It's a very good question. I think we both have decided the answer is yes.
[00:43:24] Angie: I think the answer is yes, but, You have to make sure that there's toilet paper in.
Well, maybe not. Maybe you don't care about that kind of thing. But here's another question then talking about making choices consciously. Sure. You just said that you were fully in control of when you take lunch. Yes. So instead of choosing to have lunch at 12, could you just choose to have lunch at 1120 when you
[00:43:42] Kevin: normally have it?
Yes, I could. There you go. Yes, I could. I can completely problem solve. Yes, I can move the schedule up, but, okay. This is, this is a trick that I learned when I was one of my first jobs. I was still in college. I was working the bookstore over Christmas vacation. We were allowed a [00:44:00] lunch break and another break.
And we learned, because I was working with my sister at the time, um, we learned that the later in the day you take that second break. Mm-hmm. Like if I take a break and then I only have to come back and work for like 45 more minutes. Yes. I can glide into the end of the day. And so I take lunch at noon because when we come back from lunch, there's just not that much time left before the end of
[00:44:22] Angie: the day.
Then you have less on the back end than you did on
[00:44:24] Kevin: the front end. Yeah. And the kids are. Fried by that
[00:44:26] Angie: time. So it's like mile 10 of a half marathon. Yes. Or mile 20 something of a
[00:44:31] Kevin: fall. Yes. Yes. So for the sake of the kids being able to keep their focus, I, I put lunch when I think it's works best for their mental capacity.
Yeah. And mine. Yeah. So, so that's a good point. Yeah. Right. I mean, it, it, but that's, that's, again, that's putting priorities. I prioritize the kids being able to actually learn some geometry. And all of us not going insane over the course of these five weeks.
[00:44:53] Angie: Again, priorities and conscious choice. Yep. Right.
And so we hope that this episode has just. [00:45:00] Have you thinking about things, because that's the whole point, right? We want you to think about, okay, how is summer break or a summer vacation, or whatever's happening this summer, how is that going to affect my running? How do I want it to affect my running?
What am I okay with? What am I not okay with? And just again, put that intention into your training. Make those decisions ahead of time as much as possible. Right? We, there's, we share them with those around you as much as possible. Yes. And understand things might come up. It's going to be okay. You are not going to lose all of your fitness.
If you miss some training. Everything is not lost. You are not in worse shape. If your VO two max decreases over the summer, it's gonna be okay. Mm-hmm. Everything is going to be fine, okay? But when you train with intention and with purpose, it just makes things a lot more enjoyable and a lot less stressful in general.
So go out there and train with intention this summer. And if you found this episode helpful, feel free to [00:46:00] share it with a friend or share it on social media. You can take a screenshot of your phone right now, whatever you're listening to this on, and then post that up on your social media story on Instagram.
Um, that's where we're the most active, and if you tag us in that post, we will re-share and say thank you because we re really appreciate all of you guys. Sharing this podcast with your friends so that we can help more runners to be physically and mentally stronger and to go out there and run their lives.
So as always, thank you so much for your time, and thank you for joining us. This has been The Real Life Runners podcast, episode number 311. Now, get out there and run your life.
