AUDIO ONLY - 316: What If I Never PR Again?
===
[00:00:00] This is the real life runners podcast, episode number 315. What if I never PR again?
[00:00:08] Angie: What if I never PR again? Yes, I nailed it. I mean, I think that at some point in every runner's life, this question is going to come up at some point in time. What if I can never PR again? Is that as fast as I will ever go?
[00:00:49] Kevin: Yeah. I mean, that's, that's the big one is, is that as fast as it gets, and sometimes it comes like.
Pretty close after the race happened.
[00:00:56] Angie: Well, and this is the interesting thing is like when does this question actually [00:01:00] hit, right? Because I think at some point it does, and for some people it does hit directly after the race. Right. Especially as we start to get into the later decades of our life. Yeah. If we're still.
Hitting prs if we started running maybe later in life. Yep. Maybe we didn't start running until we were already in our thirties and forties and then we're like, great. We're improving. We're improving, we're improving. But at what point do those numbers stop dropping?
[00:01:25] Kevin: Yeah. Like I, when I hit my mile pr, I didn't, I did not immediately think to myself, what if that's as fast as I go.
Right. Cuz you were what? 19 As I come up on my 25th year anniversary of my mile pr. Oh yeah, that might, that might have be it actually. How old were you? 18, 19.
[00:01:40] Angie: I was 17. 17, yeah. Yeah. But, and that's really interesting, right? Because you started running at a young age. Yep. So Kevin and I joke a lot about, you know, when you realize that maybe some of those prs are behind you, you just start going longer instead.
Right. So that you're hitting different types of [00:02:00] prs, um, and there's. All different ways that we can look at this, but this is a question that's come up with, you know, some of our coaching clients with people that we've talked to with, you know, I think, like we said, everyone kind of has this at some point in time, we think, when is that last pr, you know, when is, is, is that gonna be the fastest that I ever go again?
And it's a very interesting thing to. Kind of think about and it can lead to some levels of disappointment or depression or frustration in some people. I think the, the
[00:02:34] Kevin: spectrum of emotions Yeah, that can come up is, is across the board it's sadness, pretty sadness. Wide spectrum. Yes. Sadness, anger, just confusion.
Confusion, yeah. I think is a big one that when I was like, what are the different emotions that can hit. Confusion occurred to me. I'm like, oh yeah, because you're suddenly, you, you've lost maybe this aspect of, of why you were running. Mm-hmm. Which is one of the angles that we're gonna talk about as we, we keep going here.
[00:02:56] Angie: Yeah. And I think that the way that we handle this [00:03:00] question is often connected to how we have connected to. Times during our running journey, what meaning have we put on those times and those prs and our ability to hit those different prs,
[00:03:15] Kevin: which I think also really is, is kind of rooted in when did you get into running?
Mm-hmm. How did you get into running? I got into running in high school. It was a, there was a huge focus on times because you know, could you break five in the mile? Could you break two in the half mile? Like, numbers were always part of it. There was a good push towards, you know, as the season progressed and we got into like the championship side of the season, our coach would sit us down and he goes, no one cares how fast you can run.
We just care if you can run faster than that kid. Yeah. And
[00:03:46] Angie: so he had a really, yeah, the time doesn't matter. Your place does,
[00:03:49] Kevin: right? Yeah. So as the season changed, it was, It was very good early in my running career. Mm-hmm. But there was two very interesting reasons to go into a race. One, how fast can you go?
But two, [00:04:00] doesn't matter how fast you can go, as long as you can go faster than that guy in the other uniform, you're going fast enough.
[00:04:07] Angie: Yeah. Which is. A way that you grew up and running. Yeah. Whereas if you get into running at a later age, you're often not racing against other people. Some, some people still are for some people are.
Right. Like if you are someone that loves to place in your age group or even place in the race, if you are a fast enough runner that you are competing in local races or even bigger races, that's fantastic. Right? You might still have that spirit of competition where maybe you don't care as much about the number on the clock.
You just care about what place you come in. Mm-hmm. But that's still a number that you're relating your success to. It's still a number, but
[00:04:41] Kevin: I mean, some people are able to like be competitive and then take like a good break in their life. Yep. Have a few kids raise a family, then get back into competitive racing, and then travel to Australia and set a new American record and half marathon.
Yeah. You know, Kara damato like sometimes that could happen also.
[00:04:56] Angie: It could, right. But a lot of us do get into [00:05:00] running later in life and. We are often racing against the clock in,
[00:05:04] Kevin: in
[00:05:04] Angie: multiple ways, in more ways than one, right? Like we are racing against the clock because it's not that we're trying to place in those races, we're just trying to beat.
The version of ourselves from yesterday. Yes. Right. We're trying to beat ourselves, or maybe we're trying to beat someone else in our running group. Maybe we do compare ourselves. Sure. As much as we tell people, you know, not to compare yourself. That comparison is one of those things that just naturally comes up for a lot of
[00:05:27] Kevin: people because there's a clock at the end of every finish line.
Right. Like there just, there is a clock that comes with crossing a finish line. There's a big one next to it in most
cases.
[00:05:36] Angie: Yeah. And so what we wanna talk about today is, To first acknowledge that there will be a time when your PRS are behind you, and that time is different for every single runner, but that does not need to be the end to your running journey.
It does not need to extinguish your competitive spirit. I'm gonna read it directly from your outline. Thank you, Aaron. [00:06:00] Thank you. Right, because I, I like the way you phrased that. Um, It does not need to take away the competition aspect of running. It does not need to take away your excitement from running races or from training for races.
All of those things can still be a part of your running story, even if your days of PRS are behind you. And we did an episode, I think it was last year, about PR versus pb.
[00:06:23] Kevin: I looked
back, I couldn't even find it on last year's stuff. No. Was it 2021? I think it might have been 2021. Okay. Well, we, I, I only looked one
year back.
[00:06:30] Angie: So we've done a, an episode in the past called PR versus PB or something to that effect. So I will try to find it and maybe link it here in the show notes for you guys to listen to. And what we're gonna talk about today is kind of similar to that, right? Because. A pr, the way that we kind of defined it in that episode was the number on the clock.
Yeah. Versus like, which is your personal record versus a pb, which is personal best, which a lot of people think are synonymous. Where, you know, my personal best is the best time I've ever run, but we [00:07:00] kind of looked at it. From a different lens of a, another way that you can define pb, um, depending in, in other ways.
And so I think we're gonna kind of get into some similar concepts there, but if you liked the topic that we're talking about today, I would suggest going back and trying to find that episode as well.
[00:07:15] Kevin: Yeah,
that, that was a good one. Um, and then some people think that PB and PR are basically the same thing, right?
It's just a matter of which side of the ocean you're on exactly when you say it, or whether you put it u when you spell color, right?
[00:07:25] Angie: So, Knowing that there is this point in time where our numbers, the time on the clock will no longer be decreasing, the way that we might want it to can lead to some of the things that we were talking about before.
Some frustration, some sadness, some anger, maybe stripping some joy away. Mm-hmm. And if that happens, it's often because, You are connecting your sense of identity to a list of distances or corresponding times, and you are making those numbers mean something about who [00:08:00] you are as a runner, and that can be a dangerous place to put yourself.
Now, if you know anything about us and if you've listened to this podcast, if you've joined any of our free trainings in the past, you know that we believe that your sense of identity as a runner. Is a very important aspect of your running journey. We believe that you need to say, I am a runner, in order for you to get all the results that you want to have in your running, including a very high level of satisfaction, but understanding that a runner.
Does not equal a runner that PRs in every single race that they run. Right. Those are two separate
things.
[00:08:41] Kevin: And a runner doesn't even have to have a PR attached to them. Right. Like you don't ever need to run a race
[00:08:47] Angie: True.
[00:08:47] Kevin: To consider yourself a runner.
[00:08:49] Angie: That's very true.
[00:08:49] Kevin: You and I are both runners and our list of distances and times are very different numbers.
[00:08:54] Angie: Yep.
[00:08:54] Kevin: But both of us are still fully identified as runners. Mm-hmm. I think the issue is when you [00:09:00] start really making your personal identification, not just runner, but runner. And the numbers that come with it. Mm-hmm. And then if those numbers seem to be slipping away that you can't chip away at those numbers anymore, then are you losing a piece of yourself, of your own personal identity?
It's when you, you cling too tightly to the. The number side of runner identity.
[00:09:21] Angie: Right. Because
there are some people that do de define themselves as a three hour marathoner. Yep. Or a two 30 marathoner. Sure. Or a four hour marathoner. Right. Like that's, it's not just marathoner. Mm-hmm. It's a number and the title
marathoner.
[00:09:36] Kevin: Yeah. A Boston qualifying marathoner. Right. Like the, there's there's a number implied in
there.
[00:09:40] Angie: Yes, exactly. And so the first thing we really wanna talk about is, That prs are not the only reason to train. So if you are someone that has ever had this thought of, what if I never PR again? And you're starting to feel a lot of that sadness or anger or confusion or disappointment or just [00:10:00] feeling lost, I think mm-hmm.
Is a, is another good one. Yep. Um, I shouldn't say good one, but that's another way that I think a lot of people would feel good. One, because they're like, because it's, it's. For someone that has been chasing the number on the clock and has been chasing that shiny PR and then realizing, okay, I've now run, you know, 3, 5, 10, 10 Ks and I haven't PE PRD in over a year.
Yep. I haven't PRD in two years. Right. Like, Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to change my training or are my days of PRS behind me?
[00:10:30] Kevin: Right. Yeah. I mean, this, this thing hit me on at multiple times throughout my life. Yeah. Like I had this revelation somewhere in my junior year of college when I stopped running on the team.
Yeah. I was like, oh, does that mean that I'm not ever actually going to hit those PRS again? Like, does that mean that I'm not going to push myself because I just, I stopped running like I was so. Done with running that. I just took a break and then when I came back I'm like, Ooh, am I ever actually gonna be that fast again?
Mm-hmm. [00:11:00] And does it, does it matter? Yeah. Like that was, that was the big question of when I came back is does it matter if I'm ever that fast again? How'd you answer that? I stopped running the mile.
[00:11:11] Angie: Yeah, you just started going
different distances.
[00:11:14] Kevin: I mean, that's the thing is once, once you're out of like the, the scholastic environment, it's difficult to find like a mile a 3,200.
Mm-hmm. Like you can find a track 5k depending on like where it is that you live. But your track 5K and a road 5K across country, 5k, these are very different situations to run in. So I just kind of was like, well, this are gonna be new runs that I have. Any PRS that I have after this are all gonna be based off of like road races.
So it kind of is a whole new lineup of PRS
for me.
[00:11:45] Angie: Yeah, because if you are someone that. When you ask yourself that question of, you know, what if I never PR again? And you're feeling very upset about it, if you're feeling, um, lost, if you're feeling disappointed because you're not achieving your goal of [00:12:00] setting a new p pr, or when you do like find that pr, then it quickly goes away because you think to yourself, what if that's my last one?
Yeah, right. That fleeting satisfaction, um, or that loss of meaning. Oftentimes you are assuming that that PR is going to bring that level of satisfaction to you, like you connect your identity as a runner to being able to achieve that goal. And so the idea of that being taken away often leads to those f that feeling of lost or.
Being upset about
everything.
[00:12:33] Kevin: Right. But if you really just take a step back and you're like, but does the number on the clock actually bring me satisfaction? Yeah. It, it might not. Mm-hmm. Like if you really take a, a step back from it and think about the last time you hit a pr, was it crossing the finish line and seeing the number that brought such joy?
Or when you really reflected on it? Mm-hmm. Maybe. As you cross the finish line, sure. Seeing the clock brought the joy, but when you sit back and you're, you're sore the next day from racing so [00:13:00] hard, you think back over the months that went into it. Yeah. And you're like, okay. I was so satisfied crossing line because I really pushed myself.
Yeah. I feel like I was able to actually express my potential mm-hmm. On that day. And that's, I think, so much of what mm-hmm. What we're going for when we're trying to chase prs is I wanna see what my body's physically able to
do.
[00:13:22] Angie: Yeah. I know that, like when I have hit those prs in the past, one of the thoughts that that comes to me is, oh heck yeah, I just did that.
Right. And it's not, Oh my gosh, that number is so important. But it's, I just did that. Right? And, and it, the number is just representative of all of the effort that I put through that day and in the months leading
[00:13:47] Kevin: up. Yeah. And the buildup of months, months and months going
into it.
[00:13:49] Angie: And for me it was a lot, you know, I've talked before about how I never used to think of myself as a runner and.
When I am [00:14:00] able to hit those types of times and do things that I didn't think were possible, it's almost proof and evidence that in fact, I am and, and I have to be careful because that can be a slippery slope. Yeah. Right. And so I think that this is the. The interesting thing here is like when you think back on those races, like yes, you might remember the number on the clock, but I always find it interesting.
There's a lot of people that don't know their prs, they, they don't like when I ask them, what's your best time? They're like, oh, I'm not really sure. I'd have to look back and check. Yep. So for them, maybe it's not as numbers
based.
[00:14:35] Kevin: Yeah. I mean, if you asked me what any of my prs from college are, I know my, my 3,200, because I did it in a workout.
Mm-hmm. And I, the fact that I had like three miles of workout left to do was the crazy part of it. Yeah. That's the only race number that I remember. Mm-hmm. Because cross country races are so weird because they're all on different terrains, so you can never really know exactly what the PR means. Mm-hmm.
Because it's across grass and ups and downs and whatnot. Yeah. Um, but [00:15:00] when you talk to runners, About even, even races that they run a P in and you get them to start telling you about the race. Yeah. They may mention a number, but there's a whole story involved that is the story of the race, the story of the buildup going into the race, and you can see how excited people get to share that story more than just, and then I hit this number on a clock.
Yeah. Like the story isn't just, and then I cross the line in two hours and 59 minutes. The end, like there's a whole story involved. Yeah. That's usually a, a whole lot more interesting than the number. Yeah.
[00:15:34] Angie: Because we as humans connect to stories. Yeah. And stories are how we remember things. They're how we pass on information to other generations.
Like stories play a huge role in who we are as humans and our level of satisfaction that we have with our life. Yeah.
[00:15:50] Kevin: I mean, I, I was listening to, I forget what podcast the other day, but the question that they posed was, if you asked a group of Olympic medalists, would they [00:16:00] trade their Olympic medal for a current world record?
They were talking about like shoe technology and training technology, and how many records are, are dropping all the time. Yeah. Like, would you trade your, your medal for a world record? And they're like, no one would do that because no one can ever take your medal away. Mm. You were the best on that day.
Yeah. Of what it was on, on the most level playing field possible outside of performance, enhancing drugs and whatnot. But on that day, everybody in the world who, who was able to show up that day, showed up and you walked away as the best, and no one can ever take that away. Yeah. Whereas world records can fall.
True. So even the best in the world where ultimately they're more about what did I have against the people around me? Was I able to bring up my full potential on that day? Mm-hmm. Rather than dwell on what the time on the clock was. Yeah. Because why Olympic races are never that fast,
obviously.
[00:16:55] Angie: Yeah. And I think that that's something that we as real life runners, non [00:17:00] Olympians, most of us, um, need to take away from it.
As well is. Mm-hmm. When we do achieve those prs, what is it that we are the most proud of? Like, what else about that race, besides just the time, are you the most proud of? Do you feel like you raced really well? Were you able to push yourself to a level that you didn't really believe was possible? Right.
Do you, were you able to fully. Reach your level of potential on that day? Like did you go to the, well, did you, did you go to the, well, did you, were you able to leave it all out on the
course?
[00:17:33] Kevin: Yeah. And, and if you did, Does the clock matter all that much? Mm-hmm. Like maybe it wasn't a pr, but afterwards and reflecting with friends afterwards, if you talk about how exciting that race was and how you didn't think you had it, but you pushed so hard a, and you were able to find this extra gear at the end.
Maybe it wasn't a pr, but it was still a big successful race for you. You know, I mean, I, I can think back to so many races [00:18:00] that I've, I've watched on television and, you know, even when I was like little, I used to, I used to love the Ironman, Hawaii. Mm-hmm. Watch that year after year, every time it would come up.
And I vividly remember one of the races, which I had to look up their, their names. It was the dual between Wendy Ingraham and Cyan Welch in the 97 World Championship Ironman. In my head, this was for the female winner overall. Turns out it was fourth versus fifth. Both of them collapsed to the ground.
Yeah, like. 15 meters from the finish line. Tried to stand back up, couldn't do it. Like their legs were just giving out underneath them. Oh, wow. And one of them, it occurred to her to start crawling first, and so she ended up getting fourth and the other one crawled after. She was like, oh, I don't have to stand up.
I can crawl. And they're both crawling across the finish line. That to me, was so exciting. I thought that was for the win. I went back and looked it up. That was for fourth place. Mm-hmm. But how exciting of a finish was that, regardless of what the clock was, regardless of what the place was. Yeah, for
sure.[00:19:00]
[00:19:00] Angie: Yeah. And I think it was, so that's so interesting that that's what you have in your memory, right? Mm-hmm. Because it wasn't, you probably didn't even know what the time on the clock was. There's no idea, right? Yeah. I, I wonder what they remember about that race. I rem I wonder if they remember the time on the clock.
They, they may or may not, right? Um, depending on just kind of if they're a numbers person or not, right? But the fact that that's how you remember it and. Just seeing an athlete do that. Yeah. And, and, and put themselves through that type of experience, um, in order to, it wasn't even like they were fighting for the podium.
Nope. Like it's fourth and fifth. Like, you're, you're done. Like, you, you're not really, you're not, it's not you're that you're done, but you're not being recognized by the, the race, you know, the, the people that are there. It's, how can I. Can I beat this person so that I can make myself as proud as
possible?
[00:19:57] Kevin: Yeah. Because neither one of them were willing to quit on [00:20:00] that day. Yeah. Both of 'em were trying to see how much could they possibly get out of themselves. The neither one of them was like, well, I'm laying on the ground. Yeah. So I guess I'll just have medical assistants come over and help me off, like No, no, no.
The finish line's there. Mm-hmm. And I'm gonna find some way of getting off, getting across the finish line and then I will be fine. Yeah. It reminds me of my own, um, First marathon, post 2017 when I had like a slew of seizures getting to the starting line, healthy, getting to the finish line, healthy. That was the big win for me.
Mm-hmm. Like I didn't hit a pr. Yeah. I was ch I was chasing one. Like I'm always, I'm always chasing now. I put in a lot of good work. There was the chance for it to happen that day. Yeah. It just, it didn't come through on that particular day, but I was going for it. But this, this huge success was getting to the starting line and then putting up such a great performance where I felt like I was pretty close to my [00:21:00] full potential in the day.
I don't think I. Fully hit it. But that was the goal was how much of my full potential can I, can I express on that
day?
[00:21:07] Angie: I mean, I think that a lot of your satisfaction that day also just came from the process of doing it. Oh yeah. Right. Like being able to. Def quote unquote defy medical advice. Right? Not that you got any specific advice that said stop doing what you're doing.
Um, but there was one doctor that suggested that your training could have possibly had an impact on or an effect on these
seizures,
[00:21:34] Kevin: which I heard him as saying, you're not allowed to run,
[00:21:36] Angie: which is
not what he said at all. Right? Well, good thing you were in the room. I was in the room. In the room where it happened.
Um, but when. The goal is, let's see what I can do. Mm-hmm. Let's see how good I can get. And yes, you did have a time in your mind for that day. Right. The pr, like you said it was, [00:22:00] is always kind of there. I had an angle. Oh, you had what? I had an egg goal. An angle. Yeah, for sure. But so much of it was just the win of getting to that starting line.
Yep. And then the win of getting to that finish line and. The process that led you from lying in a hospital bed mm-hmm. To finishing that race, that was what you were celebrating that day. It was the process and the journey of you getting there. Right.
[00:22:27] Kevin: So I mean, that kind of goes way beyond a pr. Yeah. Like that was, that was a much bigger picture of.
Focusing on all the, like the small steps along the way. Mm-hmm. And saying, look, by focusing on the day-to-day steps and enjoying all of the little things that can help me get towards possibly achieving the goal, then the goal becomes less and less critical. Mm-hmm. Because I was at least able to pursue it fully.
That's, that's what I thought. And it really, that that race [00:23:00] transformed the way that I trained, that that race transformed the way that I trained myself. It transformed how I train other people. That whole experience was massively transformational. I. And it's because the clock mattered, but not as much as just every day, making sure that I put in appropriate good work to gimme a chance at a pr.
Yeah.
[00:23:22] Angie: Uh, I'm gonna read a couple of the things that you wrote here in the outline because I think that this would make a good discussion point. So you wrote, when the goal is striving for potential, we often feel like there is more left. Yeah. And that's interesting, right? Because we, we've talked about.
Just trying to reach our potential as if our potential is a point that we can ever reach. Yes. Or, or is a point that we could ever fully define. Yeah. Right. Because how do you define potential? Like, and, and the easy way to define it is a time on a clock, And I think that that's why so many of us default to a time [00:24:00] on a clock.
Mm-hmm. Because it's so tangible, it's so easy to define that.
[00:24:04] Kevin: And then you either reach the potential or you don't. Right. And it's a clear cut. It's a checkbox.
[00:24:08] Angie: Right. So, But how do you know that you even had that potential? RIGHT Because potential is, is completely nebulous. It's just Right. You made a number.
It's, it's a guess. Yep. Right. Like if we say, oh, I have the potential to do X, Y, this thing to hit this number, like because of my workouts and the fancy little watch that I have on my wrist, my
[00:24:26] Kevin: watch tells me that my, my. Marathon PR should be. Yeah.
[00:24:30] Angie: Or what, what do they call it? The
race predictor, right?
Yeah, the race predictor. Mm-hmm. That's what I should be able to accomplish. That is what my potential is. Right. Um, we get so caught up in that number, then we're like, oh, well I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. And it constantly leaves us with that sense of wanting, which can be a good thing because it keeps us pushing.
Right. So, Or it can be a bad thing depending on how the feeling that it leaves you with. Like if you're constantly wanting and striving for more and that leads to a sense [00:25:00] of emptiness, maybe that's not a very helpful thing for you to be doing. But if that striving and wanting more like leaves you feeling challenged and in alive and fulfilled.
Mm-hmm. Then maybe that is a good thing for you. It's, it's how is that
making you feel?
[00:25:16] Kevin: Yeah. If you find fulfillment in the striving yes, then you're always going to enjoy striving, whether you reach a, a number on a clock or not.
[00:25:25] Angie: But
if you find. Fulfillment in striving. That's really the process. Yes. Right.
It's the process of striving. It's not actually reaching that potential. It's striving to see what your potential actually is.
[00:25:40] Kevin: Well, it's like the, the dopamine hit. Mm-hmm. Like, you never, like, dopamine is the, the, the, the happy chemical that hits your brain. Yeah. When you want to thing. But you stop getting the chemical hit when you get the thing, you get the biggest hit as you're almost there, right?
[00:25:55] Angie: In pursuit of, in the pursuit
of it's, it's when you're thinking about the thing. Yes. Yeah. The, that's, that that [00:26:00] first initial dopamine hit is when you first start thinking about, or working towards
[00:26:04] Kevin: getting that thing right. And, and like as you see that you have a shot at it, that you can get this like feeling of, ooh, this is, this is fantastic.
But the goal itself, the actual attainment of the thing does not give you the same level of, uh,
[00:26:16] Angie: Which is why I think a lot of people like talking about the races that they're going to do. Right? Yeah, that's true. Or the businesses that, that they're going to start or the whatever goal that they want to pursue.
That's cuz
[00:26:29] Kevin: it's an easy dopamine hit because you don't have to do anything. You can just talk about it. And your, your brain says, Ooh, that feels good.
[00:26:35] Angie: Right? And like there's a term out there called mental masturbation Yep. That a lot of people do. Like when you are constantly reading about the things and researching the things, it's like, think about when you plan a vacation.
The fun of the vacation. Yeah. The vacation itself is fun. But it's the, also the anticipation leading up to that vacation. When you're thinking about the vacation, when you're looking up information about the place, where you're going, when you're thinking [00:27:00] about the activities that you're going to do and how it's going to feel when you're there.
Mm-hmm. That feels really, really good. Like, yes, being in the actual vacation is good, but it's the lead up that gives you a lot of satisfaction as well.
[00:27:14] Kevin: Well, yeah. And in your, like, in your planning ahead of time, everything always works out perfect. Yeah. There's never any flaws in the, in the lead up planning stage of it.
Yeah, in the in real life experience of it. There's always small things that can come up. Sometimes big things that can come up. Yeah. But. Things don't often go perfectly smoothly in vacation land, but they always go perfectly smooth in the planning
process.
[00:27:36] Angie: In the planning process. Yeah. Like when we went to Mountains of Georgia back in 2020.
Mm-hmm. We didn't expect our youngest daughter was gonna lose her balance on the mountain. Oh Lord. And tumbled down the side of the mountain and scraped like, I mean, she scraped up her neck really bad and just thinking about what could have possibly happened in that scenario, just. Freaked me out, right?
Yeah. But those are the things that we don't [00:28:00] talk about, um, or that we don't think about ahead of time. Like we didn't think about not being able to run while we were there. We thought about all the wonderful trails we were gonna get run
on.
[00:28:09] Kevin: Oh yeah. I was stoked for
the trails
[00:28:10] Angie: and I thought about all the amazing hours and hours of hiking we were gonna do with the family, not, you know, kids complaining that once we were 30 minutes into
[00:28:17] Kevin: like, can I get another granola bar?
[00:28:20] Angie: My
god, the number of granola bars. Right. Um, so yeah, so. Prs are not the only reason to train, right? You're more than a list of pr. What else about running lights you up inside? What else makes you happy about running? Can you be satisfied by the process, by the day-to-day? By going out there and knowing that every single day you are.
Getting stronger or maintaining your strength. Right. And I think that a lot of us want to see that number decreasing as proof and evidence that we are in fact getting stronger, that [00:29:00] we are in fact getting better. But there's a lot of other things outside of PRS that we can look to. As evidence for improvement.
How did you feel getting out of bed this morning? How did you feel getting, um, off the floor after you sat down and played with your grandkids? Yep. Right? Like, these are the things that a lot of people don't think about. That's why, I mean, I still remember one of my favorite things that one of our clients, um, posted in our Facebook group, and this was years ago, was that he was, Getting Christmas ornaments down from the attic, and he noticed how much stronger and more balanced he felt getting the Christmas ornaments down from the attic.
And I'm like, that's awesome. Right? That's huge win. Like, because that's life, right? Yeah. When you're out there running, when you're out there trying to strive for prs, fantastic, great. It's all good, but how does that actually translate to the rest of your life, like when you're able to run around the park with your kids or with your grandkids?
That's why we're doing all of this, isn't [00:30:00] it? Yeah. Like it's not really for a number on the clock
[00:30:02] Kevin: You got the Christmas decorations down. The house is probably set up before the family came over. Yeah. I, I don't remember exactly which client this was. You've got the member clear. It was guy. Hi guy. If you're still listening.
Oh. So you got multi, you get generations of family coming into that one and he was able to do that. Whether or not he prd in the Jingle jog that that Christmas was less relevant than, look, I was able to set up Christmas for the family. Yeah.
[00:30:24] Angie: But I mean, he ran the New York City marathon. That was his goal.
Yeah. Like did, did he have, uh, a specific time in his head? I don't remember specifically. I think everybody kind of ha has that, everybody always has a time head, like whatever it might be. But that was a huge goal for him and, and he hid it and it was like, Being able to achieve that goal, but then also realizing how the strength training, how the running is benefiting you in the other areas of your life.
Isn't that why we're doing this in the first place? Like are we only doing this for the prs? I would argue no. Like, I mean, not long-term, no. I mean, [00:31:00] when you, when you talk to professional runners or when you talk to, you know, people that had very decorated collegiate careers, I think it's an interesting, it's, it's very different.
Versus those of us that get into running as recreational runners that are doing this for our health. Okay. Because some of the books and things that I've read from, you know, past Olympians and past elite runners that are now retired, like some of them when they finish their career are so glad to be done and don't wanna run again.
Mm-hmm. Because of the negative experiences that they had because of the politics around it and like the. Some of the scandals, you know, that they were exposed to and a lot of, and then some of them just still love running. For, because of what it is, because they love running. They love the process. They love being out on the roads or in the trails, right?
Mm-hmm. They love waking up and connecting with their body in the earth every single day. In that way,
[00:31:58] Kevin: you get some track runners, some road [00:32:00] racers who transition over mm-hmm. And just start enjoying running in, in the woods. Yes. In on trails and stuff that they didn't used to be able to do. Mm-hmm. Because heaven forbid, you've got track races coming up and you're trying to just enjoy the trail run.
Right. But if you twist an ankle, now you're, your time trail coming up now, the, the track workout coming around the weekend, that thing shot. So you might just have some more enjoyment available to you. Yeah. Because you're, you're. Running in a, a bit of a less stressful environment, and it'll be okay if you twist your ankle and have to take the
weekend off.
[00:32:31] Angie: Yeah. So if you find yourself asking this question of, what if I never PR again, go there, like, I would suggest that you go there. A lot of us don't wanna go there. A lot of us are like, no, no, no, like that, that I'm probably not there yet. You know, like, but I would invite you to go, go to that place. What if you never PR again?
Then what? Do you wanna give up running? Do you wanna just be done? You wanna hang up your shoes and just never run again because it's not worth it anymore? Or is [00:33:00] there a level of satisfaction that comes inherently with your running journey? Or is there something else that you're running? Is. Providing for you in your life, right?
Maybe it's the mental strength, maybe it's just the physical strength. Maybe it's that you don't feel winded when you're hiking with your family. Maybe it's that you take the stairs at work and you don't feel winded. Like there are so many reasons and so many benefits that running gives us in our life, in our health, outside of just chasing pr.
So I would suggest that like if you have time, it'd be a fun journaling exercise for you, like. What if I never PR again? What else do I love about running? What else or what are the other reasons why I do want to continue running?
[00:33:44] Kevin: Yeah, I mean to, to go back to your idea of the people who race for so long.
Yeah. Who race for a living, trying to chase down numbers on a clock and other people on the race. Very often if you see them race anymore, they do it with friends. Yeah. Because [00:34:00] if they're gonna do it with a group of other people, they can't race. Mm-hmm. Like, I'm just gonna go with this person. I'll run.
Yes. Have that, that person's thick, competitive spirit. It's, it's unlikely that you don't have a massive competitive spirit if you've taken yourself to an Olympic caliber runner. Mm-hmm. And so, If they're, if they want to do literally like the Thanksgiving, Turkey trot, the Christmas jingle jog, and all these different things, they're gonna do it with a group of people so that they don't go out and just try to race the thing the whole time.
Yeah. Because that way they can enjoy the whole
[00:34:29] Angie: experience. Yeah. All right. Let's move on to the next thing we wanted to talk about with this idea of, what if I never PR again? Yeah. Right. So the first thing is that you're more than just prs. Certainly more than prs, and running is definitely more than just chasing after the clock.
[00:34:44] Kevin: And the second aspect is, what if you don't have to give up on a pr? Just cuz it seems impossible. What if the question is, what if I never PR again is wrong? Like, what if you can, what if you just need to adjust [00:35:00] things a little bit because there are more prs left
[00:35:03] Angie: inside of you. Yeah. So if you think to yourself, what if I never PR again?
And then just assume like, oh, yep, I guess that's probably my last one. Mm-hmm. What
[00:35:11] Kevin: if you're wrong? Yeah. What if you're wrong? Okay. Like there's ways that you can do this because one of the big mistakes that that's been out there for a long time is once you hit a certain age, you just naturally start to slow.
And this is true if you're like an elite a hundred meter runner, like you don't often see the, the Olympic caliber sprinters past a certain age because it's just, it's hard to maintain the, the, the muscle mass in order to do it. Yeah. But to achieve a PR in a 5K is very different than to achieve a PR in a hundred.
[00:35:39] Angie: Well, also because, The muscle fibers that are most affected with aging related changes are our type two muscle
fibers.
[00:35:47] Kevin: Right. Literally, as you age, you convert more muscle fibers to slow twitch fibers. I the terminology's off on me. You'll have to help me on that one. Type two to type one. Thank you. Yep.
But you literally get better at being an endurance runner [00:36:00] is essentially the, the takeaway from that one if I, if I've got it
[00:36:02] Angie: right. Yeah. I mean, well, Kind of like
[00:36:06] Kevin: muscularly wise with training, with
[00:36:07] Angie: appropriate training, with appropriate training. It's not just like, you're okay, we're all gonna be endurance runners now.
But um, yeah, I think a lot of people do kind of blame aging for a lot of things. Mm-hmm. And just assume like, oh, well now I'm 40, so I'm probably not gonna get faster. Or now I'm 50, or now I'm 60, whatever age it is that you arbitrarily decide, well, I guess there's probably no more PRS after this age. Yeah.
I hope it's not 42. And the funny thing is, is that we all choose different numbers. Mm-hmm. Right? Like, and so it's completely arbitrary. We just at some point assume we have reached our limits because maybe, like I had mentioned before, maybe you have run five races and you're, you haven't hit your pr. Yup.
Maybe you haven't hit that PR in a year or maybe two years, or maybe three years, and you've decided, oh, well that probably just means. That I'm done
[00:36:55] Kevin: having prs if the prs are done right. Yeah. I mean, especially if there was like a big life change in there. Mm-hmm. Like [00:37:00] having a child or you know, 2020. Yeah.
Like there's a lot of things that could go on that really may have thrown your training for a loop. Mm-hmm. And now you may have gone a little bit of time without hitting a pr. Are you gonna look back at that and be like, Ooh, they, they might be gone. Yeah. At this point in time. And that's gonna lead to, you know, the frustration, the confusion, fear, I guess, could be a thing in there.
Like there's a lot of things that could come up the, the same issues that we, we covered before of. Do I need to stop chasing after a pr? Mm-hmm. And, and the answer is no. You, you probably don't. There might actually be more PRS in there if you're open to what would be required to go chase them down. Well,
[00:37:38] Angie: and I think that's the point right there.
Yep. Is are you willing to continue to put in the effort mm-hmm. Thinking that maybe one is possible, maybe a PR could be possible. Like because are you just. Taking yourself outta the game ahead of time. Yeah. Right. Like, are you just on a plateau? Maybe like [00:38:00] you could just be on a plateau that's totally exhaust.
And if, and if you're being completely honest with yourself, how hard are you actually training to try to get off that plateau? Right. Because I think that a lot of times we can get stuck in the same routine over and over and over again. Mm-hmm. Where. Hey, well, when I did this and when I trained this way a couple of years ago, I kept hitting prs and I'm still doing the same thing.
Why am I not hitting PRS anymore? And it could be that you've exhausted the benefits of that training style or of that training plan or of, you know, the, the way that you have your training plan structured and that if you changed it up a little bit, maybe your body would adapt and you might have more inside of you.
But are you willing to put in the work to find.
To experiment. Yeah, because say you did A, B, and C and you hit a 25 minute 5k. Yeah. So you can do A, B, and C again and hope that you hit a pr. What if A, B and C just gets you a 25 minute 5k? Like you need to [00:39:00] try something new and different. You have to push things a little bit more.
Sometimes sticking with it until you've really like fully pulled all the potential out of those particular workouts mm-hmm. Is key. But sometimes you have to start mixing things up a little bit. You know, there's more, uh, studies coming out, some more recent things coming out that suggest that. That strength and speed loss is not necessarily as directly connected to aging as previously thought.
Mm-hmm. That a lot of the actual loss in speed, the loss in strength, the loss in muscle mass is actually connected to changes in training. That people stopped training as hard and therefore they were not as fast. It's not that they're not as fast because they got older. It's that they got older. They said, oh, I'm going to be slower, so I don't, I shouldn't train like that anymore.
And therefore they got slower. Yeah.
They take themselves outta the game before actually losing the physical ability. Exactly. They take themselves out of it [00:40:00] mentally. Yep. And this goes to point out the importance of the mental side of our running right here is that. If we believe that we don't have any PRS left in us, then we are not going to be willing to do the work necessary to actually his hit those prs physically.
Yep. Like we mentally take ourselves even out of the running right in, in the ability to try to get them. If you
[00:40:22] Kevin: take yourself out of it, then you're not gonna do the training. And if you don't do the training, then no, you have no chance of hitting another pr.
Yeah.
[00:40:29] Angie: And I think that, Part of the, the research and stuff that's coming out as well, because there, there's a, a term called sarcopenia, which is age related muscle loss.
Mm-hmm. Which says that, you know, basically after we turn 30 or 35, we start losing lean muscle mass. And the caveat that most people don't like to talk about is if you stop using it, right, like it's, we start using losing lean muscle mass. If we don't do anything to combat it, and it's not that we can't build muscle mass.
There's, there's [00:41:00] lies out on the internet that says, oh, you can't build muscle after a certain age. Not true. Okay? You can build muscle, you can get stronger if you are training in a way that allows for muscle hypertrophy, which is. Making your muscles grow, making your, allowing your muscles to actually get bigger and stronger because E, either you use it or you lose it.
That is a principle that applies here. If you don't use your muscles, you are going to lose muscle mass. If you aren't challenging them in this same way, your body is going to adapt because like we've talked about so many times, We stress our bodies. We place a load on our bodies and during our workouts we break the body down and it is during recovery that our body builds back stronger than it was before to try to meet that demand so that when we.
Encounter that same load the next time, we're not gonna break down as much. So if we stop placing heavier loads on ourselves, and when I say load that I don't just mean weightlifting, that can mean [00:42:00] speed training, it can mean mileage. The, the training load is just the, um, what you're asking your body to do.
Yeah. Right. So if we, if we start asking our body of less, it's going to perform less because it's like, oh, well I only have to build myself up to here now. Yeah. Like, it's just going to like your, your ceiling is going to lower.
[00:42:20] Kevin: Yeah.
If, if you, if you lower the challenging bar, then your body will reduce itself to meet the demand.
Right. Like that's the, and so you're gonna get weaker. Yeah. Like, Your body will naturally start to get weaker unless you try and do something about it. Mm-hmm. And the thing is, is that once you reach a certain age, it is true that the declines are going to start coming faster.
[00:42:38] Angie: Right. Which
means you're gonna have to work harder
to maintain them.
[00:42:41] Kevin: Yeah. You have to work harder to maintain them, and it's gonna be trickier to build back. Mm-hmm. So if you start taking extended periods off, then the declines are gonna come and then you're gonna try and get back into it and be like, oh, see, I just, I got all slow and it's a tricky, lengthy process to build the speed back, to build the strength back.
It's a whole [00:43:00] heck of a lot easier to not lose it in the first place. Yeah. But you can build it back. You can build it. Mm-hmm. You just have to keep. Working the system and it, it might
require more effort.
[00:43:10] Angie: Yeah, and that's where I think a lot of people have to start to get really, really honest with themselves and really start to question, are you not getting faster?
Because. You can't, or because you are not willing to put in the effort to do it, are you not willing to be patient enough to put in the effort for long enough to actually see the PA payoff and the benefit?
[00:43:35] Kevin: Yeah, I mean, like you said, like when you run fast, when you lift heavy weights, it's going to lead to soreness.
Yeah. Because you are breaking your body down. Right. And at some point, You know, if you've been working out for years upon years, you have to ask yourself, do I want to do this workout and be sore a a little bit sore the next day? You don't have to crush yourself and be like, barely able to get outta bed the next day.
No. Like that's not required. And it's also [00:44:00] not sustainable.
[00:44:00] Angie: No, it's not sustainable. It's not a good idea for us to be training that way when we're in our forties, fifties and beyond. It's just not. But you still
have to push yourself.
[00:44:08] Kevin: A little bit. Right. And that's, that's the key is finding that balance that is a sustainable push.
Mm-hmm.
[00:44:14] Angie: Well, and that's where intelligent programming comes in. Yes. Because you have to know, okay, if I apply this load, I will improve, but I won't be so sore that I have to take three days off. Yes. Because that's not gonna do anybody any good. Like if you're do doing something that's so hard that you have to take multiple days off to recover.
You're not actually gaining a benefit from that workout. You're just breaking yourself down so much, and then by taking an, or needing to take an extended period of time off, then you're missing out on useful training time that could be moving you forward. Yeah. So if you don't do that hard of a workout, if you just do.
A workout that's a little bit harder but doesn't require as much recovery. It can have more of a compounding effect in the right direction. Yeah.
[00:44:59] Kevin: And I mean, [00:45:00] to, to tap into higher end speed does not require a huge amount of higher end speed. Right. Like, that's the other thing is people are like, oh, if I, if I want to get faster, I have to do, I have to get to the track and run lap after lap at super high speed.
If I want to build muscle, I gotta be in the gym for a couple of hours. No, you don't. Like that's likely to be this massive, heroic effort that let then puts you sideline physically, mentally for a week or so, and then in order to try and come back, you're like, oh, I have to do another Herculean effort. No, you don't.
You have to come up with something that is just challenging enough that you can continue to do it on a regular basis. Right,
[00:45:35] Angie: and I think that another thing that kind of comes up here is, you know, when we think about. Runners that are not running as fast, is it because they can't or is it because they won't?
A lot of people have this underlying question that they may or may not even be aware of, of is it worth the risk? Okay. Right. So last time I did speed work, I hurt myself. So I just won't do speed work [00:46:00] anymore. I just won't push hard anymore because I don't wanna get hurt. Yeah, right. And so if you're not gonna do speed work, then.
How can you expect to get faster? Right? Speed work is required for you to get faster, not high levels of it. Like Kevin said, you don't have to do a ton of speed work, but you have to do some. And it like, I thought of this ridiculous example that's like saying, you know, when I was 16, my boyfriend broke up with me and it felt awful.
So I guess I'm just not gonna be in another relationship ever again. Ever, ever. You know, like. Oh, last time I did speed work this happened, or last time I trained for a marathon this happened. Or last time I trained for a half marathon, I hurt myself. So I guess I'm just not able to do that anymore. Mm-hmm.
Again, we take ourselves out of it. For faulty reasons. We use faulty logic and make and
[00:46:49] Kevin: 16 year old boy reasoning.
[00:46:51] Angie: Right. We make a connection that doesn't belong. Right. Like it, it's, it's a faulty connection between two things. It's like we're trying to say, oh, this caused [00:47:00] this. They just correlated. They could have just been correlated.
Right? And also just because A equals B in that situation doesn't mean it always. It doesn't always have
[00:47:11] Kevin: to equal B. Right? Speed work could have got you hurt. Maybe it was too much. Maybe.
[00:47:14] Angie: Maybe it was because of the training cycle you were in and everything else, and maybe you were really stressed out.
Yep. And you had a new baby and you weren't getting any sleep and or you know, like it was too many things on top of each other, like going back to your seizures. Like it was too many things. That's what the doctor had actually said. He didn't tell you that you're running. Marathons caused your seizures. I swear he did.
He didn't. But he, what, what he explained was that you had all of these stresses in your life and you know, maybe your body or your brain could take five, but when you added that sixth one on, it pushed you over that
[00:47:46] Kevin: threshold. Yeah, I know. That's actually what he said, and that fits perfectly in this, but I think he was a cyclist.
[00:47:52] Angie: So he was just, he was just anti runner.
[00:47:54] Kevin: Yeah, I'm pretty sure, pretty sure. That's my main takeaway out of that. I'm like, what is he, was he actually, do you know that? [00:48:00] No. Oh, totally making that up. Okay. He's a Peloton guy. Um, one of the other things here, um, in, in the idea of pushing yourself is focusing on the recovery.
It is true that when you push yourself, you're gonna get sore. So you really need to key in on all of your recovery. Yeah. And you don't have to do crazy things. You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on the weird, like boots that you can put yourself into and live in a cryogenic chamber, but, Focus on some mobility, drink enough water, solid levels of nutrition, not just when you're working out, but nutrition day in and day out, sleeping enough like your basics of recovery need to be on point so that you can actually recover and then continue to work out.
Yeah,
[00:48:43] Angie: and I think that this is it. This becomes increasingly important as we get older too, because when you are. 18 and you're in college, you can go out and you can party all night long and drink a ton of alcohol and then still show up at 8:00 AM your 8:00 AM class the next [00:49:00] day and be, be a little tired, but essentially be fine.
Yeah, right. You can party like crazy. You can party to that level when you're 40 years old, like your body does not recover the same way. And so same things here. Like obviously we're not talking about partying, we're talking about working out here. But if you are going to train at a certain level where you want to train, the aspects that are supporting your training become even more important.
You can't do this level of training anymore on five hours of sleep. You probably need to be getting. Eight hours of sleep you need to be drinking more water. Like Kevin said, like having a more holistic approach to your training plan is so much more important in our forties, fifties and beyond. Yeah.
There
[00:49:45] Kevin: was a lot more wiggle room available when we were in our twenties. Mm-hmm. You could get away with nutrition that wasn't spot on. Yeah. Like I could,
[00:49:52] Angie: like when you ordered pizza at midnight Yeah. In your dorm with. The rest of the guy friends that you were hanging out with?
[00:49:57] Kevin: Yeah. After I'd been drinking for a few hours and then still made it to [00:50:00] practice the next morning.
Right. And knocked out a 15 mile run a few hours later. Yeah. Like I knocked out a 15 mile run hungover fueled on Papa John's from the night before. That is not ideal training. No. And there is no way I could pull that off right now. No, but, but I did, and I did it for a while and I don't know how successful it was.
I don't remember what any of those prs were, but. I, I trying to attempt it now seems like proving that that one doctor correct, that that style of training is not going to be
[00:50:29] Angie: sustainable. Not sustainable, right. And so that's why that the holistic training plan and and training program for you is so, so important as you start to get older.
Cuz all of us hopefully are getting older every single day, right? Like we don't want the alternative to there. We want to be getting older and so, It, getting older is fantastic. It does not mean that your days of prs are automatically behind you just because you're another year older. It just means that you might have to start training a [00:51:00] little differently if you wanna still continue to chase those numbers on the clock and.
There's nothing wrong with that. You know, I don't want you guys to think like, oh, like I shouldn't be cha chasing those numbers on the clock. Cuz if it, if you have a level of satisfaction from the number, fantastic. Go ahead, chase it. You know, like, just understand the meaning that you're placing on it, but there's no reason for you not to, if that.
Is something that you think is fun?
[00:51:23] Kevin: Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, a, a couple other things to, to think about and in the idea of chasing a PR as we age a little bit, focusing on strength mm-hmm. Rather than focusing on making sure that you're hitting all of these really high end speed workouts. Yep. Focus on strength as a base in order to build speed off of, focus on mobility so that you can actually physically move your body through a range of motion that allows you to express strength.
In a way that looks like speed, not strength, in a way that looks super uncoordinated and wasting your energy, right?
[00:51:56] Angie: And this, when you focus on strength training and [00:52:00] building strength, that's also going to help you prevent those overuse errors, not errors, um, injuries, the overuse injuries that a lot of runners start to experience as they get older, right?
Because they're, they don't have the strength or they're not doing the things that are trying to build or maintain the strength, and they're still. Trying to run at the same level that they were running before. Like it doesn't work that way. We have to build a very stable base so that when we attempt speed work, or when we incorporate speed work, our body is able to handle it.
And it's not just taking, you know, our bodies from zero to 60 in two and a half
[00:52:37] Kevin: seconds. Right. And I mean, the thing with speed work, especially if you've done it for an extended period of time, is you don't need much in order to sustain it. It's the same as you don't need to go to the gym and lift for two hours in order to sustain strength.
Right. You can. You can do it in a more efficient process.
[00:52:53] Angie: Well, you have to build for a while, right? Yeah. There's gonna be a a time in your life where you're building, but most of [00:53:00] our life, In most areas, we live in maintenance mode. That's true, right? Like we live in maintenance. And that's not saying that we don't wanna get better, but we can live in maintenance for a while.
Like we should not always be in a build cycle. We shouldn't always be training for races because our bodies need recovery cycles. Also, our bodies need time at maintenance. This is the same reason why you should not be on a diet all the time. Yep. Your body can't sustain it. You know, there are people that, um, do bodybuilding, competitions, or care a lot about their body composition.
You talk to them, they do phases. Mm-hmm. They have a phase where they're in a cut, where they're trying to lose weight and trying to lose body fat. And then they have a phase where they're building, where they're trying to build muscle. Right. And they're increasing their calorie count. And most of their time is, is spent in maintenance.
Yeah. Because that's where most of us should be living the majority of our lives, especially with our weight, but also with our running. Then we have this kind of maintenance, like our base that we have our base of mileage, our base of strength, [00:54:00] and then we can do a phase where we're building strength because maybe we have, we want to, um, Build up to a longer race.
Yep. Or we want to try to chase after a pr, maybe we won another shot at a PR in a distance that we've already done before. So we decide, okay, well my next phase is gonna be building strength so that I can prepare my muscles to. Be ready for the increased training load that I'm about to put on them
[00:54:24] Kevin: will still sustaining, will still maintaining your endurance and speed.
Yep. Like here's the thing is you, you can't ever just disregard one
[00:54:31] Angie: aspect of it. Right, right, right. So I'm gonna maintain my mileage right now, and then I'm gonna build my strength and then after that cycle. Then I'm gonna go into race training where I've got my strength base now, so I'm gonna maintain my strength base.
Yep. And then I'm gonna work on my speed.
[00:54:46] Kevin: Right. And here's the thing with speed. It doesn't all need to be this super fast. High-end just crank it out. Speed. You, you don't have to be worrying about like getting to the tracking cranking out 400 repeats until you're passing out. [00:55:00] Especially, depending on what your distance is that you're racing. If you're running a half marathon, a marathon, and you're, you're thinking, I need to make sure I work on my speed so that I can try to aim for a PR in this distance. That's fine, but a lot of your speed can be really like a moderate effort, a much more sustainable effort.
That isn't going to beat up your body day in and day out. But it is still important to tap into some of that high end speed. Like that's not what you need to be doing every time you do speed work. So when we say speed work, it doesn't mean you need to go out and be doing sprints all the time. You can incorporate speed, work into your plan in a lot of different ways.
Right. And I think that I don't want to pass over this at all, because sometimes you do need to tap into that higher end speed. Right? There's this like brain muscle connection that you have to make sure that it's still firing with some level of consistency. Right. And part of what higher end speed work does also is it helps us to train our type two muscle fibers, which are our fast Twitch muscle fibers.
[00:56:00] And those are the types of muscle fibers that tend to kind of waste away. Shall we say, as we. I get older, like it's a use it or lose it type of principle.
when we tap into higher effort levels and higher end speed, we increase our muscle recruitment. So that means that with every step, you're not only recruiting more muscle fibers, but you're recruiting the type two fast Twitch muscle fibers. right?
And it's a way to essentially with every step, take the strength that you've been building and convert that strength into power that helps you go faster. So every step is, is generating more power to propel you forward.
One of the great ways to tap into higher end speeds is simply through strides. You can do them 15 to 20 seconds if you're like, oh, I really feel like I should be pushing on my higher end speed. Stretched up to like 30 seconds. It's going to be enough of a speed workout that you're making those good connections that you're tapping into enough of your higher end speed. But it's not going to exhaust you so much that you need like [00:57:00] three days to recover from it.
Right. And if you're someone that has more of a tendency toward injury and. You especially if you've been injured, doing high end speed work before. And when we say high end we're we're meaning like level eight to 10 out of 10 on the RPE scale. Yes.
If you, if that kind of scares you, or if you've been injured doing that before, another way that you can get in kind of the benefit of speed work without having to go at as fast of a pace is running uphill, doing hill work, because when you run uphill, And that actually reduces the impact on the body.
But maximizes muscle recruitment, which is the, one of the goals that we're going for with speed work. So you don't actually tap into the same pace, but you're tapping into the same effort level. So you're getting the maximum muscle recruitment out of that. And you're still. Um, stimulating those fast Twitch muscle fibers without having to put yourself in like at.
Um, more [00:58:00] of a risk for injury, right? Running fast up a hill is a great workout and you don't need to do much of it to feel like you've really got a lot out of it. No, you can do that for like 10 seconds. And. Okay, I'm done. I feel good and you repeat it six to eight times and you've got a great workout in, and that is going to be an excellent workout for higher end speed.
Alright. If the last thing kind of to wrap this all up and bring it together, if you're chasing a PR. And in your head chasing a PR simply means I want to test. My physical limits. I'm not sure that you ever really need to say I'm done chasing PRS. I think that you could continuously. Always as long as you're running, say I'm going to test my personal limits and see what those limits are.
So if you in your head, say my limits are not fixed my limits change as my life changes, then you shouldn't have a fixed mindset about your limit. It's not that's my PR and I'll never get it again. A PR is simply, I'm trying to see what my limit is at this point in my life. Yeah. [00:59:00] Do you really want to decide ahead of time? Like, well, I guess I'm done with PRS now. No.
I that's. My thing is if you decide ahead of time, then you're automatically done right then that's it. Now I'm done. That is definitely going to be the fastest that you've ever run. And you're, you're never going to put the effort forth into trying to chase it again. Right. And I think trying to chase it is.
It's gotta be at least as satisfying as hitting it probably more. So it's gotta be like, like when you see chocolate cake in front of you, you start salivating. Well, that's like anything. The anticipation is often more satisfying than the actual thing itself. If you're planning a vacation, the. Weeks and months leading up to that vacation where you're thinking about it and you're dreaming about it. And you're deciding what you want to do there. Or like you said, the chocolate cake, when you're making the cake in your.
You smell it in the oven, baking the cake. And like, maybe that first bite tastes really good, but does the second piece of cake tastes as good as that first bite? Right. Like, it's kind of like what, at what point is that that dopamine kind of start to decrease [01:00:00] and for it's different for all of us, right.
But for a lot of people, it's really, it starts to decrease pretty rapidly after the first bite. The anticipation is, is more, which is why I think running in a way that you can run sustainably and enjoyably for as much of your life as possible is super helpful because then you can keep chasing and you get the dopamine hit from chasing and not just having to have a PR.
Right. And I think that the PR is really a simple way for you to just put a label on your current fitness level. Like right now I'm a Boston qualifier, blah, blah, blah. Or I'm a. Uh, 25 minute 5k runner. Like it's a way that people like to label themselves and you know, me, I'm not very much into labels, you know? So why don't we just kind of take that out of the equation? I think that it's totally good to try to chase a PR if a PR is the way that you really like to challenge yourself, there's nothing wrong with that, but there's so many other reasons to run.
And there's also so many ways that you can look at running and the way that running fits into your life. And. [01:01:00] It's role in your life in that is going to change as we get older too. And I think that that's not a bad thing. I think some people are, are thinking of this as a really bad thing. Like, oh my God, what if I never PR again?
I guess my running journey is, is different. Yeah. But how cool is that right? Like, what is this next phase of your running look like? Maybe you had a phase that was about PRS is seeing a, how fast can I go at all of these various distances? Or maybe. You've only chased a PR in a 5k. Okay. What about a 10 K now maybe you chase a PR in a 10 K for a while, then maybe you move on to a half marathon. Maybe you get a little bit longer. Maybe you kind of pick different random race distances out there that like are not as common, like 10 milers or eight Ks.
There's a lot of different distances out there and you chase something different or you say, okay, maybe the PR Faiza by running is over. What's the next phase look like. Yeah. I mean, I think this goes back to the episode we had on PR versus PV. I think that that next phase you can. I don't know if I'm ever going to be [01:02:00] stopped chasing. I just think that the it's less of a number on a clock and more of a personal best.
What is my personal best look like, and I'm going to put myself through training to be as in as best of a position as possible. When I get to the starting line, whatever the race, whatever the distance, whatever it is, I want to be able to give my best on that day. And it's possible if I train really, really hard that my personal best on that day may also happen to be an all-time personal record.
But the joy comes from trying to chase down to me. To me, the joy comes from trying to chase down a personal best for the day. Yeah. Which is cool. For me, it's not really about peer as anymore right now at the phase that I'm in right now. And I'm not saying it's never going to be that again. Like I did have that phase. I had a kind of a, let me see how fast I can get phased right now. I really just like the way that running makes me feel. I love feeling strong and I love all the other benefits in my life that running gives to me. Like, that's what I'm focused on right now. And maybe [01:03:00] the next phase will be kind of more number focused again.
I don't know. So I think that we can go through these different phases and just because you might never hit that exact time again, that definitely doesn't mean your running journey is over and it definitely doesn't mean that you can't still love and appreciate. Running for all the ways that it adds to your life. Yeah. And even if you're chasing a clock, you can still appreciate other ways that running ads to your life. And exactly. So.
If you never PR again, we hope you still keep running is kind of what it comes down to this podcast. Kind of what it comes down to. Um, so as always guys, thank you so much for joining us. If you haven't yet, please leave us a review on apple podcasts so that more runners can find the podcast and we can help more people like you to run their life. This has been the real life learners podcast, episode number 316.
Now get out there and run your life.
