On this episode Coach Emily, Coach Michael, and Coach Ryan discuss the role of Spring Training and how you might leverage it to assist you in your short and long term running goals. Whether you have been training through the winter or taking some time off of running, Spring Training offer many unique opportunities runners of all levels.
What makes Spring Training unique? What special opportunities does Spring present for the novice and experienced runner? Whether you have already committed to Spring Training or are still on the fence, this episode should supply a lot for you to think about.
Some of the topics covered in this episode include:
Reference: Prepping Your Mind for Running Success
On this episode Coach Emily, Coach Michael, and Coach Ryan discuss the role of Spring Training and how you might leverage it to assist you in your short and long term running goals. Whether you have been training through the winter or taking some time off of running, Spring Training offer many unique opportunities runners of all levels.
What makes Spring Training unique? What special opportunities does Spring present for the novice and experienced runner? Whether you have already committed to Spring Training or are still on the fence, this episode should supply a lot for you to think about.
Some of the topics covered in this episode include:
Reference: Prepping Your Mind for Running Success
Welcome to the Chicago Endurance Sports podcast. On this episode, we're going to talk all about Spring Training. Hopefully get you excited about this upcoming season. and Talk about how Spring Training to fit into your running and your racing goals. My name is Coach Michael and I am joined today with a couple other coaches, including,
Coach Ryan:and Coach Ryan,
Coach Michael:and we're here today to talk all about Spring Training. Some people I know are registered already, for Spring Training, but if people are on the fence or thinking about it, maybe encourage them and talk about, why they should consider Spring Training and strategies go into spring training. So maybe a good way to get started is teach. You can check in with everyone. How have your training joined or what your plans are for spring? We've just came out of the winter session and jumping into this new session. So Ryan, what's going on with you when you're training.
Coach Ryan:Yeah, this is an interesting season. As some of you know, I'm a triathlete. So the last few years, a lot of that focus has been on triathlon training. Whereas actually now I've transitioned my thought process and my goals to straight running. So marathons, half marathons, potentially ultras and things like that. Training has been okay. You know, we'll be honest I'm coming off a big year from the previous year. So getting myself back into a really solid routine, a routine that was at the same level as say the Ironman training that I was doing it's been a challenge. I think it's been a challenge. I've been hearing this from a lot of people, you know, coming off big years and going into the following year after you had such a big successful epic year, heard this from a few different people. So just trying to find my way, and we just came off the Winter Warrior season, again, Winter Warriors, winter running in Chicago is always a really big challenge, but I was happy to get in some good long miles. I think I got to 16 miles during Winter Warriors, training through my own training with the Boston group. I unfortunately had a little bit of a setback, so I did have a little bit of a muscle strain that I got from running on the snow. There's a lot of opportunities that could have happened there, but I think, you know, a lot of it was just the challenge of running on the snow and the ice. Nonetheless, I'm feeling pretty good on the mend. I actually have a race coming up this weekend in Tampa, Florida. So that'll be kind of fun. I'm looking forward to taking that race as a training run, but yeah, looking to use the Spring Training just to build a really good base in hopes to aim for a solid Fall marathon.
Coach Emily:Well, I know what you mean Ryan about coming off like a big year. I definitely know that for me, after training for a marathon, I trained for the Chicago Marathon this last year and really enjoyed my race. And I find that like the month after I just like, and so lazy, I'm just like burnt out. It usually takes till after Christmas for me to get back into my routine, I'm still running, still exercising, but it looks really different. There's no schedule at that point and I was hoping to start ultra training, but then I got COVID and it was a mild case. It wasn't super awful, but it lingers like crazy. So I've been struggling to get my miles up quite as high. I did my first temple run in like a month. So that felt really good. Like I wasn't fatigued. So I kind of put my initial, big ultra goal on hold. Hoping I can do that in the fall. I'm not going to talk about what it is live until I feel good about it. But for Spring Training, I always see that as a really great base for me. And what I'm working on right now is a lot of strength balance, and agility training. So hopefully I can translate some of that balance and that strength to the trails and enjoy that. The only race I'm signed up for right now is the Indianapolis Marathon, which is the first week in November, always. But my sister's running her first hundred miler in Colorado. I don't quite remember where, but I put the date on the calendar because the plan is that I will be her pacer for the last three when she's delirious and not going very fast, so I will be fine. So, yeah, so I, I'm really enjoying rebuilding that strong base. And I always feel so excited to go into Spring Training because it. It's like exciting after winter and I want to run even more. So yeah, that's what's going on with me.
Coach Michael:Excellent. Excellent. Well it was really, I think, early this winter, I got an email reminded me that I was registered for the Kenosha Marathon a couple of years ago that was canceled because of the pandemic. And last year I took a deferment out it because I forgot about it and I wasn't prepared for it. So this year I am training for that which is the first week in May. The last couple of weeks I've started back formally on my training plan. So I'm starting to build mileage on that. So that's my initial goal is at that marathon. And then I've got some bigger goals early in the summer. So hopefully from here out and back in a smooth path, back in good health, and hopefully the weather will hold up.
Coach Ryan:Emily you pointed out you had the feeling of coming off a big race season and Michael you've had monster races. You've had these big epic ultra races. I know I'm going to tangent, but the idea of a post race depression. It could be years, right? Like could be couple years. It could be the entire year or what, or even just a few months, but you are so dedicated to everything is all about that. Your sleep treat your weekends, the nights, the way you interact with your family and friends and things like that. It's all about that. And even your posts on social media and all of a sudden, you know, the race comes, you talk about it. You maybe wait a week later that you like, oh, flashback Friday to my race that I did a week ago. And then it comes to a screeching halt, right. Then it's like, where like the pickup after that is it, it's a very interesting process.
Coach Emily:And I think that people have like this weird guilt about it, because they don't realize that most people or a lot of people actually deal with it. And then they just feel like, oh, I'm lazy and I'm not doing anything. And then it's like, yeah, I don't know. That's what I felt from like athletes where they're like, I just like, feel so lazy and bad after you know, that realizing, oh, we're all kind of in that too. It probably like you said, it could be an interesting conversation unto itself, but it also sort of speaks to kind of what we'll get to speak to you today and start off spring. The idea of training cycles.
Coach Michael:And like I said, we just came off the winter training session. It just ended up Winter Warriors so people went through that, but some people, as you said, maybe they trained for the marathon last year or their first half marathon or, triathlon and they had this excitement they built up it was exciting for that period of time. And then, now what's right. That almost sense of loss in a way, all your drive, all kind of your whole life was revolving around this big event. It's no longer there anymore. So a lot of times we, we're training. We like to talk about it in cycles. And I think maybe we should talk a little bit about training cycles and the thought behind that and the way that works. Ryan, do you wanna talk a little bit about that?
Coach Ryan:Yeah. Yeah, in the more specific sense, I think that when people think of Training cycles or I would say, think about what coaches or, people who fully educate themselves on a cycle of training. There's the base training phase. Right, which is just kind of building, you know, the base of the house, right. You need to build this solid foundation before you start really building up an increasing mileage. Just getting out to be active, spending time on your feet, building consistency and things like that. And then you go into the second phase, which would be the preparation phase, which I feel like the big chunk of training. There's a lot of endurance work. It's like 60% under its workers. You're starting to include speed work and Strength work. You know, it's really funny we were just talking offline about this strength training. I think strength training be a big part of your base training phase, building up all the muscles that will be necessary to accomplish the goal. And then I think there's a certain degree of that that needs to be continued on into the preparation phase. I think coming from a medical standpoint, I am not a doctor by any means, but I worked within the healthcare industry. I work with a lot of different physical medicine, internal medicine, things like that. I hear all too often and off that people will drop a significant amount of their other strength training. And they can point out to where things could kind of weaker and things can go wrong with injuries and things like that. And then, you know, after the preparation phase, you know, you go through like the big buildup of training, all the speed work. Then you get into the peak training phase. We were kind of like caught sharpening the knives, right as in getting ready for tuning your, your training to race.
Coach Emily:I think that that's a good way to describe the different phases of training. I think it's interesting what you said about people, cutting back on their strength training when they are in What phase did you say that was in the base phase or the preparation phase? In the preparation phase and I get it, there was time in the day and that's, that's the tough part, right. Is like fitting it all in. I'll be guilty too, pulling off a certain workout in my whole mix of exercises and like, ah, I really want to make sure this does workout only last 45 minutes.
Coach Ryan:So I'll take away these two exercises. And sometimes those are really important ones, but I hear a lot of times people in preparation, during training, when they get injured and I'll ask them about what they're doing and like, oh yeah, I know. I definitely haven't been doing, walking lunges and my planks and things like that. Yeah. I realize that that's where potential area where injury could have happened.
Coach Emily:Yeah. I would say I, 100% agree with that. I think that the base phase in the preparation phase, runners benefit from adding and keeping strength in, because not only are you preparing your mileage base. Right. And, but you're also preparing your body to take on the brunt of the load that you're doing. And it's right after that preparation phase, I would say, or maybe in that when any injuries that you had from like 10 years ago from high school sports or something else might start showing themselves that with some really moderate exercise, you might not see it. But then as they start adding a bit of mileage, you see those weak links. So those issues pop up. And so oftentimes I think like, I agree with you. Strength training needs to be a part of that. And I think you can add it in, in a lot of really small ways, like where you were saying like, oh, I don't want this to be 45 minutes. I want to cut these two out. You could think of how you would break that up in the day to actually make it fit into your workout. That's how I get it in. Otherwise I don't.
Coach Ryan:I think I actually what can change within strength training is actually just the way you strength, train. So building up and have your weights in the base phase maybe you were stating that to a certain degree, but maybe now you go to a lower weight, higher rep just to maintain. So you're not over exhausting, your muscles and taking them to failure. I think that's actually where maybe one would want to go is, is take that all the way down to maxing out your weight and constantly building, but just maintaining, just maintain a good routine of like, yeah do few plays per day. I feel like that strength training as part of the base and into preparation doesn't have to be wild or crazy. It could be a simple 20 minute workout that you do. That's just a simple sum that you know, that you're used to, that you can sustain throughout training because certainly a lot of other factors are gonna be changing, within the preparation and peak. Michael do you concur?
Coach Michael:Yeah. Definitely. But getting back to the concept of training cycles and I think it gave a good definition from a coaching standpoint, but from a layman's term, when I talked to participants a lot of times, for example, we just of Win ter Warriors and they've, they've trained and they've reached the half marathon now we're going to start spring again and their mileage is going to start back at six miles, four miles, whatever, and people, a lot of times want to progress. So though I'm at 13 miles already. Why are you asking me to take lesser mileage? Now when I've already shown and built my body to 13 miles. So I'd like to talk a little bit about cycles in that way as well, and explain the concept of, you can't build, build, build, build, build nonstop, because at some point you're going to snap, right? Basically your body needs times for recover and build back up again. And, that's kind of the purpose of a training cycle, you take it from building that base, you know, to performance, to what'd you call sharpening. Yeah,
Coach Ryan:yeah the peak phase
Coach Michael:a lot of times it's referred to as specificity training. But then you have your test, the ultimate test is the race. Right. But at that point you just give your body a break and he's talked about recovery. And kind of start again. And you're really not starting a again you're not starting from scratch because you have, do have some more of a base there, but your body is kind of beat up and worn out from 12, 13 weeks of the previous training cycle.
Coach Ryan:Yeah, yeah, thank you for, he was on track here Michael. To the bigger point, but yeah, to build muscle, you need to recover. That's just fact that period Whenever you're building muscle, you're essentially creating micro tears within your muscle. And in order for that to, to get stronger, it needs to recover. Right. It's also why the way we build our training plan, we have cut back weeks. Going back to the very beginning of this conversation, You just built up to the peak of this race and there's a lot of emotion, there's a lot more than just physical strength that kind of goes into it. You're mentally taxed you're emotionally taxed be able to restart that training cycle from the beginning. Allows you take a breath of fresh air. Right. Everyone knows, whether you're an extrovert or introvert when you're out there and you're in a crowd of people, maybe you're a work, maybe a big party and you have to be on. And at a certain point of like, gosh, I just want to go home and get to my room and not say a word and just chill out. And then, you know, tomorrow I can get back on. It's kind of like that same idea, right? Going back to the start of the training is kinda like, getting home, going to sleep, getting a breath of fresh air the food that you want, and then okay, cool. I'm gonna, I'm going to build back up.
Coach Michael:I've got a big thing about recovery lately and really talking to participants about recovery that recovery, meaning people think to recover because they don't feel pain, not feeling pain does not mean you're recovered. If you're well-trained, you might feel some pain right after a big exertion, but you shouldn't have a chronic ache pain the absence of that doesn't mean you're recovered. There's a lot of stuff going on inside your body. And only time and rest and sleeping well, eating well and giving yourself a downtime really allows you to fully recover. But people think like, well, it doesn't hurt, so it must be recovered.
Coach Ryan:Maybe you did the marathon once. Maybe you've done it twice, maybe three times, but this is really like the optimal way to like hit your big goals, right. Is to allow yourself to just build a layer, let everything set and then building another layer on top of that. It's kind of the visual, I always go, I do always have a visual building this immense mansion or building in house.
Coach Michael:You're kind of transitioning to actually a good point. Maybe we can move into is anytime we start a new cycle, for example, if we're going into spring is the importance of setting goals. Right. Because a lot of times you think of a goal is I want to run a marathon, or I want to complete this race, but goals could be a thing from getting healthy or fully recovering or building strength, or maybe getting faster, or maybe working on transition from run, walking into continuous run, there's all different types of goals. It could be consistency. I'm going to get so many workouts in a week. So could we talk a little bit about goals for spring and how they may or may not be different than other parts of the season of the training year? I should say.
Coach Ryan:You know, the first thought that it kinda came to my head was I think a lot of us want the immediate, what's, what was the word I'm looking for? Um, satisfaction. Without having to work or build up to meet a particular goal. And I'm speaking that because I think too often we will train, oh, this is so true. Okay. We will train for the goal that we have in mind versus where we're at actually physically or we're where we're at when our actual physical fitness does that make sense? Although those other one of my big goals and I made this a point to put this out there. I think a bit at the beginning of the year, that one of my goals is to get the Boston. Right. I would love to qualify for Boston. I know it ain't going to happen this spring, or even maybe this fall, I realized where I need to go and where I'm at right now with my physical fitness, it might take me a little bit longer to get to, but I will get there and I will, I'll break up this goal in a couple of years and then break that up into a few different months and training seasons. Whereas I think a lot of people, okay, this is year one of marathoning, which was like 11 or 12 years ago. My silly thought was, I'm going to qualify for Boston this training cycle, regardless of where my physical abilities were, I'm like, okay, well, if I need to run at this pace, I have to train at this pace. And then I was trying to train at that pace. I'm like, gosh, I couldn't keep up with that pace. I was racing every single weekend. It was unreal. So that was just a false thought process. Right. And unfortunately to be the bearer of truth here I think a lot of us too often train for the goal that we have in mind versus training for where we're at and then setting the smart or the realistic and attainable goal. I get reaching for the moon and going after the big goal that's so good. That's so great but you got a mix and bounds with some reality.
Coach Michael:I'm going to put a plug in for an earlier podcast episode. I did do with Coach Kristina who's also a psychologist I think it's called prepping your mind for running. And she talked about smart goals and smart goals are a come away to a approach goals where the stands for specific measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. She walked through what those are. So when you set up these goals you're setting yourself up for success. That might be a good reference for people.
Coach Emily:Just kind of piggybacking on the idea of smart goals and off of what Ryan said about how we set our goals based off of where we want to be, as opposed to where we are at. I think one of the things that could also interfere is maybe where we have been in past seasons. I know people coming back to training this Winter Warriors and this past summer after the pandemic, it really threw people for a loop. And so they have these ideas of this is where I was before and that's where I should be now. And there's a constant measuring of those standards, but that doesn't really serve you. So I like to talk to athletes and myself in this way of like where's my present day self and are my goals aligned with that? And will hold those goals, serve future Emily, or we'll do those goals or future self. So like you're saying, Ryan, if you set your pie in the sky goals, you end up probably getting more discouraged or fatiguing or getting injured and you kind of questioned your abilities. But goals can look like. My goal today was that I woke up 10 minutes early and I did abs in the morning and I drink a whole glass of water and I got my run in. And that could be a really smart goal that you could add in that training, but starting with where you're at now. And I'm thinking like, will this serve me or also I think that some people might come to training and they might have training partners who maybe you guys work kind of at the same training pace, but it looks a little different because you're in different fitness levels right now, and that's fine. It's just where things are. And so you might want to push yourself further than you should on maybe some runs because you want to keep up. And so maybe just like being honest with yourself about that, And that's pretty important place to start.
Coach Michael:I think this is a good point because it's bringing me back to when Ryan first came up with the idea for this episode is how we can use spring, maybe to set some goals, to get us ready for our bigger goals over the long training summer into fall. Right. What maybe we could build on things we need to work on now, if we've been maybe not as active or we took some time off use spring, sort of a as a area to build on. So when we are kickoff in summer, we're not just getting off the couch and in June we already have some sort of base to start on. Right. Is that, am I speaking correctly? Right? Yeah,
Coach Ryan:absolutely. You know, the beauty of living in, the Midwest in Chicago is that we have a built in cycle. It's the, it's the seasons. Right. You know, winter, it's, it's a rough time not, everyone's gonna have a rough time in, winter time, but I think a lot of people do, right. I mean there's seasonal depression, just dealing with the lack of sunlight that's out there and things like that. Anyone living in here in Chicago understands that spring time. It's actually still winter in Chicago until about June 1st
Coach Emily:trickery. It's just, it just tricks you, you think it's going to be nice.
Coach Ryan:Yeah, no, there's be a lot more, a sprinkle of days where you can get out there. It's getting warmer out and right. You start like even actually last few days in Chicago, I've been not bundling up as much, I'm wearing my trucker hats again and not my beanies. Use that momentum right. I think you can use the spring season, knowing that once summer comes around, everybody's outside, right? The lake front sees millions of people every single year. You're going to want to get out there. It's, totally FOMO. You want to get out there and do something and, Chicago is a runner town, right? It has one of the marathon majors in it. So it's through, through a runner town. You're gonna see a lot of different races kind of popping up. So there's literally hundreds of races for anyone and everyone, you can be doing your, your first 5k, springtime has the soldier field, 10 miles now, and also the 10 K race. There's half marathons. The Shamrock Shuffle, like that's like the unofficial right kickoff and start to the season, go ahead and use that. Tons of people go out there and just simply walk that event. I think that's the start of everything. It's just getting out there and getting active and finding, that joy. And as long as you can do that and find some consistency now, kind of going back to the phases of like base training, I think one of the great things that we do with like Chicago Endurance Sports is that we typically have the 1920 week marathon training season, and while some people are like, wow, that seems like a real long time. We do build in a little bit of extra time, for those who haven't fully built in the base now it's not the most optimal. It isn't you still need to build a bigger base, before marathon training. So I'll speak to that a little bit more. And, part of the reason why we're at your having this conversation you know, Michael, you and I we've been coaching for maybe close to 10 years now, right? Emily, I know you've had a ton of experience. You're, you're getting your second level, certification. But we see too often, especially with the Chicago Marathon like, because it's such an amazing big spectacle and it's very charity driven. You can get anyone and everyone inspired, to run their race. I have three colleagues who are first-time marathoners with Aligned Modern Health. They were out there, they saw last year. Like I gotta do that. So I've been actually talking to them like, do you know what you're doing now? We like, one of them has a spouse. That's a marathoner. So he is being built up by his wife. The other two have no idea. They're both in physical medicine. So like their, their rehab or I'm sorry. Prehab is pretty good
Coach Emily:all the time. Why waste so much time being injured when you can spend the time building a strong body? So you're not so into.
Coach Ryan:Yeah. In general preventative work will save you a lot of time and money, and, heartache. Heartache for those who are training for a race, this is just the last thing you want to happen when you actually have a goal race, you know, right in front of you. And you're in that training season and you have to have it derailed by an injury you got there, you could totally prevent that.
Coach Emily:I think I'll piggyback off for you there. That's a good point. I agree with you and just like a thought about the spring. So there's people who want to train for their first marathon. They want to train further 15th marathon or you want to train for your first 10 K or you haven't ran in forever. I know my sister-in-law right now, She's texted me two, three, and five miles for the first time forever. She's got three young children. She's working back up to half marathon. I ran my first half marathon with her and it's like a whole new game for her. It's like, she's starting over. You know? So, even for those who aren't doing the marathon, this is a great time to settle in the distance for the 10 K and the half is like more manageable. You can ease into it and pay attention to like your weak links. Like, so say you get out there and you've run. And you're like, man, my hip flexors are always so sore after my friends will pay attention to that. Talk to your coaches about that. Maybe go to A ligned Modern Health and get your complimentary injury screening and get it taken care of. And there's not this high mileage pressure on what you're doing.
Coach Ryan:That's totally right. There's a lot of people that will go into and go cool. I signed up for the race I signed up for training was like training begins in June. That's when I'm going to start It's like, Ooh, you know, that first day, there's a pretty big demand in that first week of training. And a lot of people, like what, especially for first timers, when you realize like, no, we're not starting at a mile, we're starting at six miles or eight miles, for a first time marathoner it's aggressive would, you've never looked at a training plan before and you'll realize, oh, this, you know, this train is going, it's not gonna stop. It's gonna build up and you're gonna find yourself going, oh my gosh, we're building up again. And then we're gonna build up again.
Coach Emily:I remember when I trained for my first marathon, I think it was 2000. 14 I remember laying on my bed, the, in bed, like at 9:00 PM the night before our first, I think, 16 mile run and just moaning to my husband about why I signed up and being like, what, what is this? And here I am all these marathons later. So don't use that as an excuse to not sign up because obviously it was worth it, but yes, it can be daunting and having a good base really helpful.
Coach Ryan:You know, what also what Spring Training will get you into it can get you into a good routine the routines. Again, speaking too a lot of first timers or people taking some time off and forgotten how marathon training is. We all have lives, right? None of us are, we're not pro athletes. We don't, we don't have the luxury of waking up a little bit later or getting paid to do this. So training throughout the the middle of the day. So a lot of us have to take care of that training early in the morning. That runs happening at 6:00 AM, 7:00 AM, some people five AM or you're adding it on to the end of the day. Getting your, your stretching and you're cross training. You realize it right then and there, like, oh my gosh, I still have a nine to five. I still have children. And I need to take care of, I have a spouse that needs attention out of dog that needs to get walked. So finding that rhythm and routine and finding that in the springtime. Is so good and key to having a successful summer, right? Like all of a sudden summer comes around and now you're building and you're checking those workouts, but that routines there, Everything's in place. Your body's used to it. You're in this great cycle.
Coach Michael:Along with that, the more you run, the more you work out, you got to take it more food, getting enough rest in. And I think program like spring is a good chance to play around with things and see how things are gonna fit into your life.
Coach Ryan:And anytime you do something for the first time, you're like, I don't know, am I supposed to feel this way? This is good. This is bad. I don't know. When you're allowed to really play with a few different things and understand your body, I think that's the beauty of doing that base training.
Coach Michael:We're talking about reason to sign up for spring training. One thing is getting a good, solid base down, you talked about strength training, building up some possible weaknesses. We got Emily to light up as soon as prehab was mentioned, but I also, want to note it's a good time, good opportunity to have access to your coaches. Yeah. To pat ourselves on the back. Marathon season a lot is going on. There's a lot more people going to be there. Spring is a smaller program. You'll have a lot of access to the coaches and maybe that's a good time to talk to them about your goals for spring and for the longterm, whether it's summer fall qualify for Boston in three years and talking to coaches and using them to start working on strategies on how to accomplish things.
Coach Emily:I think that's a great thing to point out that you have access to us. And as you're coming up with your plan and maybe kind of honing in, on things maybe you're coming back into training and you're saying, Hey, I always run the like a 10 minute mile for my long run. And I want to run a faster, long run. You shouldn't go into marathon training doing that unless you already have the fitness to run that faster, long run pace. So coming in for a 10 K in Spring Training is a good time to talk with your coaches and figure out maybe a few things that you need to work on to help you reach those goals. But spring is the time, especially Ryan, you talked about Chicago and us being on seasons. It's like we come alive, like today has been so gorgeous. And I, I was like, we have to go outside. We must go out. It makes us come alive that makes us want to do things. And I think having a commitment and having people and somewhere to be, and someone that expects you to show up really helps. I mean, I know that for me, I need accountability. My gosh. Yeah, you have access, you can talk with us. We love talking with you guys. And I would love to chat with anybody who chats me up. Yeah. You know with coaches there's only so much information that you can kind of give in one moment, right? To be able to connect with coaches on a regular basis week to week there's just so much opportunity to fine tune and figure out like what going on with and for us to help you get to your goal. The more you open up and have that conversation starting in the spring, it'll allow us to help you better. 100%. And I feel like it can be intimidating to go up and talk to coaches. Maybe if it's your first time or you haven't really before. I know I get intimidated, even though I'm an extrovert, I'm an introvert on the inside. We love. We love setting you up to win. I guess that's the best thing to know.
Coach Ryan:It's all relationship building. Right. And the more we can work with you and understand you, we can all get to that goal together.
Coach Michael:And plus your fellow runners, I know there were some Win ter Warriors. Who signed up to seasoned had no attention to racing, but the peer pressure of there are pace groups running with every week and people race distances they never raced before I hadn't planned on, but then successfully because of the relationships they built with their fellow runners and the motivation from their fellow runners. Showing up on the days that the weather maybe wasn't as nice or they were tired from work but having the friendship and support of their fellow athletes drove them to show up.
Coach Emily:I mean Michael, you helped me show up in the morning.
Coach Michael:We're not supposed to talk about the bribery thing.
Coach Emily:No, the shame I don't want to be shamed I want to be there on time. I wouldn't be in there. No, but for real having people counting on you or expecting you is really helpful.
Coach Michael:So Spring Training offers obviously a training plan for some target races, this new half marathon that's coming up and also 10 K as well, but that doesn't need to be your only motivation or only goal for the season is we kind of talked about. It just could be a factor in it. You can race, you don't have to race. We talked about, you could focus on strength training and make that your target, make it consistency or your diet, or all the above as part of your Spring Training.
Coach Emily:I know for me a lot of people here are big racers and at some point I started just like loving the act of running more than racing. It just kind of depends. So sometimes it doesn't have to always be a race goal. It could be like you said, a consistency goal or, I just want to push myself a little bit further or I just need to get myself out the door and be consistent, or I want to work on the way I mentally think about this run or things during this. Like, there are a lot of different goals that don't have to be just a timed race goal.
Coach Michael:That reminded me. I recently read something from a coach that I thought was really interesting and they were mentioning things about racing and how racing is sort of a once in a while thing. You don't race every single day, but when race day comes up, you have that excitement and energy coming to it. It's like, why do you only give that to race day? Why don't you give that to all your runs with that same energy and excitement, that you're going to go out there and push it and enjoy it every run instead of just saving it for a few selective race days. And I thought that was a real interesting perspective on how to you kind of think about training and your runs.
Coach Ryan:The goal of Chicago Endurance Sports is to encourage you to make this into a lifestyle. Emily and, and I was absolutely in that mindset for a really long time where I just enjoyed the seasons and the process of going through these things. I love doing marathons. I love traveling to different marathons. It's the best way I think, to see a city. Like truly like the race director chamber of commerce may, or whoever's involved there wants you to see the best parts of the city. And they're gonna put on a show for you. And I think when you lock in and you have that racing mentality and I get it, you know not, everyone's gonna agree. And some people are in that mindset right now. Everything's a race. Totally cool, to each their own on the other side of things, to make this a real like lifelong thing which I would actually encourage everyone to do, I would absolutely have an argument against anyone whoever's say that like, oh, I wouldn't run my entire life. It's bad for your knees. Or like, it was something ridiculous. I'll promise when that that conversation, but I think to stay active running is the one thing that you can do always, right. You can just kind of pop out there and go for a quick little run. You don't have to, wait for a pool lane to open up or, for like the lake conditions to be good. You don't need equipment like a bike, you need a pair of shoes and if you can keep this going for awhile, I think that that's a really admirable goal. But going back to that racing once in a while, I can't remember the guy's name, but someone recently after the Tour de France, a professional racer he did the tour de France on his own a week after the tour de France racers. He was only riding his bike. He, he didn't get a chance to have like a van or a truck moving to the hotels. He was camping out all by himself, self supported the whole way through. And then it had like, obviously, like he had to like adjust on the fly, like real big adjustments. I can go on stories about this guy, but he ended up, finishing the the tour de France course and then some cause he had to go to the camp sites with just his bike, in a week, faster than than what it took the Tour de France riders to do it in. And one of his things at the end, I thought was really amazing, he was like, you know what, I wasn't racing at all. I was just out there playfully, like I'm a kid. Enjoying the ride. At the at the Hills that the people would say are the most grueling of Hills during the race is because they're racing of those Hills. It was like, they weren't like just going up then leisurely and enjoying like the views. He was like, it was my, is it those mountains that I was climbing? Where, some of the most enjoyable parts he's like, I realize not everyone's going to get a chance to slow down and like, I am, slow down, like you're on a bike or being in a vehicle and get a chance to really take in the environments around them. And they point out, he was like, yeah, he was like, look, I don't ever do the tour de France. I choose one, maybe two races a year. This is a paid athlete. Right. And he was really quick to point out I don't race all the time. He was like, I would actually rather just train and train like a professional and I'll pick out one to two races a year and I'll help my teammates train, because I just love the process. This is my lifestyle. And, and he'll choose to race or two races year. And I think that's really big. If you're racing all the time, there's no way you're going to catch the sights and the views and take everything that there is to take in for the race, if you're always racing. When I say I'm going to race a race, it's because I've already done the course before, and I know the course, so I'm going to race that course.
Coach Emily:It's funny that you say that because I know that the last Chicago Marathon, people are telling me after I ran the race, all the things that are going on, and I didn't notice any of it this last year, I was just in my mode of I have to finish this, whereas I did the Fox Valley Marathon I just enjoyed it so much. The scenery was beautiful and it was one of my most enjoyable races. It wasn't my fastest marathons, but it just was so enjoyable to see the scenery and be like, I can do this. My body does this, and that's a wonderful gift. And so I think it's funny because both of those experiences are very different for me. And both of those experiences really, are monumental in my mind for what I actually see as success and how I've trained does that make sense. So yes, I liked one of those perspectives. 100%.
Coach Ryan:Yeah. We're not trying to shame at all. Like you could, you could totally race, but you know, enjoy the journey. It's all about the. So there's one other thing I would love to talk about, that is actually discussing nutrition and dieting and things like that. And the reason why I want to bring that up is because, again too often I'll kind of bring it back to marathon training because that's when we get the most participants and we'll get the most, I would say, new people to Chicago Endurance Sports and joining training programs. There's a good amount of people who have a goal of weight loss as one of their main goals. In marathon training. And I want to explain why that's not the best of ideas. One thing you, you just don't want to be in a caloric deficit state to start, you don't want your gas tank to be fully empty when you're going out there and doing these long runs You're going to need, the calories actually helps sustain your energy throughout training. So there'll be a certain amount of pounds that do just naturally come off, but to go into it thinking I'm not going to eat as much is, a recipe for failure. I think there's a really good opportunity within spring training. If you're using it as a base building a time to like again, find the right routine, find the right diet and nutritional plan. Again, I am not into nutritionists, dietician, functional medical doctor I don't have that expertise. But I will say just from my own experience, what I do to simply clean up my diet. It's incredible how much extra weight I could just naturally peel off just from cleaning up the diet. I think that they can carry a long way.
Coach Michael:So, as you mentioned, if you're really concerned about weight loss or weight control talk to a licensed professional, a dietician or a nutritionist to get you on the right course. And a professional will ask you about your activity, your weekly activity and what you're doing and work that into how much you should be taking in.
Coach Emily:Yeah. I agree with you, Michael, about talking to a licensed nutritionist if you're concerned or you're not sure how to go about that. I know for me that, my first training cycle, I mean, I feel like for like much of my life, I was trying to lose weight. So it's just, I think that a lot of other people are, have been in that boat too. So I think that, that when you start a new training plan, especially if you've never done it before, it just seems like, oh, this is a great way for me to drop pounds. Cause you do your training running, you see, oh my gosh, I burned all those calories. That's great. And then you want to ride that out. And I know for me, at least that I was burning out during my long runs. I was fatiguing. I wasn't recovering super well cause I would just be trying to cut my calories anyways I could. So after exercise, our muscles need both protein and carbohydrates to repair them. So if we're not giving them the adequate nutrition they need, then our body can't go as far or as fast or as hard as you want. And one of the ways I like to take what I've learned from my experience and talk to our athletes about is energy in is energy out. So any energy that works spending, we need to make sure that we're replenishing and restoring. So even on the long runs, I would push it off when I would take my calories. Cause I wanted to maybe limit the number of gus I had. And that would lead to what we call bonking, which is basically when your glycogen stores are all burnt out and you just kind of feel a little fatigued and a little out of it and you feel like you can't really go that much further. And yeah, it really, it took a toll on my body. So I guess to Ryan's point if you do want to lose weight, Spring Training where the load isn't so heavy is a really good time to do that, but also to Michael's point, talk to a professional. So you can do that safely. And so that you're not actually causing more distress for your body. The course I just had on injury prevention, talked a lot about, women and what to look out for women who are in a sport where there's emphasis on being lean and how that can really affect us, because we feel like we have to do all of these things to alter our body, to get to where we want, but we're really hindering what we need. What I have found is that when I focus on whole foods and foods what my body needs protein, good fats, good carbs, and making sure I'm replenishing those. It's like my mental load is so much better. And your mental stamina, your mental load, how you carry that really affects how you run, especially if you're running distance. And I have recovered significantly faster. And then I'm able to go out and do more of what I want and perform the way I want, because I'm taking more calories in. So that's my little personal tidbit that if you come to South Loop and run with us, you can ask me more about it. I'm an open book.
Coach Ryan:So just understand food is fuel and fuel is medicine, right? So understanding those, those certain things and You know, again beforehand, before the big marathon train season or the big summer training season for whatever race or you're going into to understand your body like that and really give it the proper fuel that it needs.
Coach Michael:Once again, returning into the original thought is people coming in to marathon training, especially for weight loss, maybe not the priority, but if you follow the program, we follow the training. You're going to get healthier just by the exercise itself. Being more active you're automatically going to get better shape. You might antidote ly lose some pounds. And like you said, making good decisions on what you eat and the volume that you eat is going to contribute to that. We've covered a lot of things today. So lets go around the microphone, and give me one reason why you might want to join spring training. If you haven't, or you could also say, what to expect that as Spring Training,
Coach Emily:I think you should joined Spring Training because, you have a lot of coaches at your disposal who have experience in who care and spring is a really good time, especially in Chicago to kick off the year and training season and we all feel a little fresh.
Coach Ryan:I would say it's just the healthy choice to make, right? Isn't it the best choice to make for yourself in so many different ways? We're coming off of the winter season where a lot of us are spending a lot of times indoors eating all the junk being stuck in front of our tech or computers and TVs, I think one of the best things that we can do for ourselves, getting out there, getting active, you're getting all the endorphins. It's just better for your health. And if it's cold out and you're like, ah, I don't want to go, but then you end up going, I will guarantee you, it will always be a good feeling that you get, that you did get out there. You will go out there and like, oh, I'm so glad I did that. That was so good. I'm so glad. It's all those people in the South Loop and Lincoln Square in Old Town, Elmhurst, and I just made these awesome connections and you'll just feel so much better about yourself. So do it for you.
Coach Michael:And I'm going to finish off by saying, for those of you who've been training through the winter time. If you're doing Winter Warriors have been running on your own, it's a great opportunity to continue with that momentum to keep that momentum going. If you've been one of those people we talked about earlier who was kind of hibernating, either because of the weather or you've gotten those blues after your fall marathon or event. It's a chance to kick things off and get revved again, before you get into the, the big summer running season. And for those people who already have their big goals, maybe they're registered for their first marathon, 50 K triathlon, whatever, this is a good chance to get that base going. So when will you start that first day of training you've have a leg up already. But other than that, I want to thank Coach Ryan and Coach Emily for talking today. Any last words?
Coach Emily:Thanks for talking to me. It's great talking to you.
Coach Ryan:Yeah, I love that too. Thank you for having us on here at Coach Michael. I love this. Just the conversation. I, I truly did pick up a handful of notes from both of you, so it's always good to kind of talk things out. So thank you.
Coach Michael:All right. Great. So this has been the Chicago Endurance Sports podcast. Thank you for listening. And if you haven't already made sure you subscribe or as the kids say, smash that subscribe button. If you're one of the kids, you know, that
Coach Ryan:it gets to a million subs so we can get paid.