1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,600 This episode has been sponsored by a generation. 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:05,640 You can more about our sponsor later on in the show. 3 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,720 You're listening to episode 201 of the Marathon Running Podcast 4 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:11,720 in this episode. We're going to talk about 5 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:21,960 tapering. This is the Marathon Running 6 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:24,520 podcast by Letty and Ryan from We Got The Runs. 7 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:27,840 Join us in our running community for weekly content that is 8 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:31,680 motivational, educational, and inspirational, and that the 9 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:34,480 Marathon Running Podcast take you from the starting line to 10 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:43,360 the finish line and beyond. Hey, runners. 11 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:46,640 And welcome back to another episode of the marathon running 12 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:48,240 podcast. My Name is Letty. 13 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:50,360 My name is Ryan. And we are your weekly. 14 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:53,320 Hosts. Thank you for tuning in again. 15 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:56,640 If you're watching us on YouTube by now, at this point, we've 16 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:58,760 probably had three or four episodes dropping. 17 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:01,360 Or if you're just listening, welcome back. 18 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:03,840 And three or four watchers. Three or four watchers? 19 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:08,320 No, we have more than that. Maybe 5 anyway. 20 00:01:08,320 --> 00:01:10,160 How are you doing today, Ryan? I'm. 21 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:11,160 Doing well. How about you? 22 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:13,000 I'm doing great. Yeah, I'm. 23 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,520 Excited to. Wrap up yet another partial 24 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,360 training cycle because Boston and the other spring marathons 25 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:23,520 are on the horizon. So I thought maybe tapering 26 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:25,720 would be a good episode to talk about again. 27 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,440 I know we've talked about it on the past, but it's always kind 28 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,880 of nice to have some fresh information from a different 29 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:34,240 coach. Everything will resonate 30 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:35,480 differently with different people. 31 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:38,800 Yes. And so we have actually asked 32 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,760 head coach Nicole from the Marathon Training Academy to 33 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:46,200 come on and be our guest. The Marathon Training Academy 34 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,120 has a podcast, and that was one of the first podcast I've 35 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:51,960 listened to ever since I knew what a podcast was. 36 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:55,600 The very first one was Serial, which was the story of Adnan 37 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,800 Saeed, where you know, it's about a wrongful conviction. 38 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:03,480 And I listened to the entire podcast series while I was 39 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:07,320 driving from California to Florida in 2016, and shortly 40 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:10,400 after that I found the Marathon Training Academy and have been a 41 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,080 loyal listener since. So super excited. 42 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:18,480 They've had Coach Nicole on a couple of times before and when 43 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:20,720 they said that she could come on and talk to me, I was very 44 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:23,800 happy. Yeah, that's great that they 45 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,440 give us some of their time and expertise. 46 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:28,840 Yeah. What's one of your favorite 47 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:31,760 episodes of theirs? I personally love their race 48 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:34,280 recaps. The race recap You are a race 49 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:36,000 recap person I. Don't know it just. 50 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:39,000 Kind of puts you. If they paint the picture right, 51 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,840 I feel like it puts you in the moment with them and you don't 52 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,520 even have to watch it on YouTube being just like literally feel 53 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,840 like you're there with them. And that goes, you know, 54 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,440 literally to any race recaps. That's what I'm trying to do 55 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:54,720 with my race recaps and hopefully do do so, yeah, but I 56 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,520 I really like those. So anyone who doesn't know them 57 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,640 should look them up and maybe check out a race recap to see if 58 00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:02,440 they like them. Yes, absolutely. 59 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:06,160 So Ryan, talking about podcasts, what's one of your favorite 60 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,560 podcasts to listen to while you're running, since you've 61 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,720 been running more lately? Progression project. 62 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:14,840 What is that? Foiling. 63 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:19,360 Oh, OK. Well, I mean, you asked, yeah. 64 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:21,280 True. So Ryan likes to do water 65 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:23,800 sports, so it's a water sport related one. 66 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:26,280 But I mean, I guess I don't have any room to talk. 67 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:29,520 I'm sitting here talking about true crimes and murders and 68 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,960 Dateline NBC and all that stuff. Yeah, everything's fun. 69 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:35,120 I mean, especially when you're running, you know, keeping your 70 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:39,320 mind off of, you know, maybe a distance or so. 71 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,080 It will go by without you even noticing. 72 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:44,560 Whatever, Whatever entertains you. 73 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:47,480 I don't have to listen to our podcast 'cause I hear him. 74 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,000 I never listen to ours, but I'm always looking for some. 75 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,920 So if you listeners have any suggestions, they don't have to 76 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,680 be running podcasts, you know, anything you listen to, let us 77 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,640 know, shared in the comments or send us a message via Instagram. 78 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:04,720 We're super interested in hearing, you know, anything to 79 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:07,720 get Ryan away. And I mean anything to get. 80 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,960 Ryan, what are you trying to do? That sounded wrong. 81 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:15,600 Anything to kind of broaden our horizon when it comes to, you 82 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,519 know, listening to new stuff to keep our runs entertaining. 83 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:21,800 Yes, for sure. We should maybe do an episode on 84 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:27,280 that at some point of like the top types of podcasts or types 85 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:28,520 of things to listen to while you're running. 86 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:31,520 Yeah, it'd be great, I mean. To find an expert. 87 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:36,680 I listen to music when I have workouts, when I'm trying to run 88 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,160 faster, I like that beat. But if I'm just going easy, it 89 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:41,160 helps me to just listen to people speak. 90 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:48,520 And obviously the majority of our running is done at a, you 91 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:53,520 know, 80% slow. And so that's what we do. 92 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:55,600 Yeah, I don't. I have to. 93 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:57,560 I haven't really. A lot of times I just run 94 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:00,120 without anything. But I mean, I should. 95 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,480 I should do some. Like, I like your idea of 96 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,600 podcast or books, audiobooks or things like that. 97 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:11,840 A lot of that just kind of can entertain you and distract you 98 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:14,920 from the running, which is not always like running isn't always 99 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,400 bad, but it's kind of nice if you're distracted sometimes. 100 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:22,240 Yeah, absolutely. So anyhow, so Are you ready to 101 00:05:22,280 --> 00:05:25,040 hop into today's episode? Let's do it. 102 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:26,840 All right. So without any further ado, 103 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:30,680 we're now going to play our episode with Coach Nicole. 104 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:33,000 Nicole, thank you so much for joining me. 105 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:37,560 Absolutely, my pleasure. Yeah, so to start out. 106 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,960 With let's talk a little bit about you and your background. 107 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:43,080 You are a coach at the Marathon training Academy. 108 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,840 And maybe tell us how you got into run coaching and how you 109 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:48,720 ended up at the marathon training Academy. 110 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:55,320 Well, I in a previous occupation, I was a nurse and I 111 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:59,920 did that for several years and then I started getting really 112 00:05:59,920 --> 00:06:05,880 into fitness and running and just just really jumped right 113 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:09,160 into it and got really almost obsessed with it and learning 114 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:13,440 everything about running and Physiology and just everything 115 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,880 to do with that. So I made a career change and I 116 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:20,400 decided to become a personal trainer and a run coach and that 117 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:24,960 was about 12 years ago. I started doing that and you 118 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:29,320 know, I was kind of working at a gym and then I even worked as an 119 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:33,640 assistant coach at a college for track and cross country, really 120 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:36,680 like that. And then just because of 121 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:41,000 scheduling and wanting more of a flexible schedule, I've just 122 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:44,080 decided to do more coaching on my own. 123 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:48,720 And then I got hired by Marathon Training Academy and luckily 124 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:51,440 they're they're a great company that they find your clients for 125 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:56,120 you and your runners and they handle all the all the money and 126 00:06:56,120 --> 00:07:00,640 all the the stuff that you coaches don't like to do and 127 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:06,000 worked for them for a few years. And then Trevor and Angie asked 128 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:12,440 me to come on as their head coach, which means that I kind 129 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:14,800 of managed the rest of the coaches and all the coaching 130 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:17,840 clients that come to us. And it's been a really good 131 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:22,760 transition to have a head coach on our team because now we can, 132 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:25,160 you know, schedule coaching, consultation calls. 133 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:27,440 So if people are interested in coaching, they can have a 134 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,720 conversation with me before they even sign up and we can find out 135 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:32,760 a little bit more about them, what their goals are. 136 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,920 And then when they do sign up, I know the perfect coach for them 137 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:40,120 already because we have like 14 coaches on our team and they all 138 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:44,120 have really different specialties and different 139 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:47,080 clients that are best for them. So I'm able to kind of be the 140 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:50,320 matchmaker and put them with a coach that I think is best for 141 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:52,480 them. And it's been a really great 142 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:57,160 transition for Marathon Training Academy that we have this that 143 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:00,840 you know Trevor and Angie can focus more on the podcast and I 144 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:04,680 can focus on getting their coach and clients set up and happy. 145 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:07,720 I like that. And, you know, that's basically 146 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:08,600 half the battle. Right. 147 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,160 It's always hard to. Find a good coach that matches 148 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:13,240 you because there's a ton. Of great coaches out there. 149 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:15,600 That doesn't mean necessarily that they're a good coach for 150 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:17,920 you. So what kind of criteria do you 151 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:21,280 usually look at when you have a person that's looking for a 152 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,040 coach? What makes somebody match well 153 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:28,280 with a coach? I always ask them, you know, 154 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:30,880 sort of like what the background is with running. 155 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:34,400 I find that some people who have been runners for a long time, 156 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:37,919 they have some preconceived notions sometimes about how they 157 00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:41,320 should be training. And so they bring a lot that 158 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:44,760 into the coaching relationship and that can be a little 159 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:47,040 difficult to navigate. So when I talk to them on the 160 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:51,960 phone, I do introduce the concept of trusting the process 161 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:54,800 and trusting your coach. And they come to us because they 162 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:58,560 probably reached a point where they're in some type of plateau 163 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:01,800 or they they have a goal that they haven't been able to reach. 164 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:06,160 So by trusting their coach and giving their training over to 165 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:10,080 their coach, they become more of a a better coaching client and 166 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:13,800 they are more chance of success. So that'll be a specific coach 167 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:17,400 that I'll put person like that maybe, you know, a coach that 168 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:19,680 just works with that kind of client better. 169 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:22,400 And then I love when we get people that are new to running. 170 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:24,680 Those are the favorite people to work with, right? 171 00:09:24,680 --> 00:09:27,760 Because I talked to them and they don't know a lot about, you 172 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:31,760 know, you know, how much fueling they should have and what they 173 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,080 should be eating and how many miles they should run per week 174 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:36,360 and how to do a speed workout. They don't know any of that. 175 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:39,120 And that's wonderful because then I can put them with a coach 176 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,680 that works great with beginners and can really explain 177 00:09:42,680 --> 00:09:45,040 everything to them and they're going to trust their coach 178 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:47,640 completely because they don't have all those other ideas. 179 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:49,760 So, you know, it depends on their goals. 180 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:53,680 It depends on sometimes it depends on the speed obviously 181 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:56,720 that they run. So if I have someone that comes 182 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:59,960 to us, you know, who wants to run a sub three hour marathon, 183 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:03,520 that's going to be a different coach than someone who runs a 5 184 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:06,160 hour marathon. So you know, and then I have a 185 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:10,560 lot of people that come to us that are injury prone or maybe 186 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:13,160 are coming back to running after being off for a long time. 187 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,040 And I'll put them with one of my coaches that have a more of a 188 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:19,160 background in personal training or something like that, that 189 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:22,240 they can really structure a good strength program as well as a 190 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:23,680 running program for them as well. 191 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:27,280 I love it Sounds like a match made in heaven. 192 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,960 And with that, I want to hop into today's topic. 193 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:32,600 Today we're going to talk about tapering. 194 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:36,720 Obviously tapering, you know, it's not one-size-fits-all. 195 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:39,440 There's a lot of variables. To tapering. 196 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:43,960 But in general, how long should a tapered period be for marathon 197 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:46,840 runners, and what could influence that duration of such 198 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:50,720 taper? So generally it's between two 199 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:52,640 and three weeks before your event. 200 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:58,000 So it's it starts after your last longest run. 201 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,160 So for a lot of people in marathon training, that is 202 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:05,320 anywhere from, you know, 18 to 22 miles depending on what 203 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:07,600 program you're doing. If you're working with a coach, 204 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:10,400 they might have a specific mileage they want you to do for 205 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:14,040 that last long run. So that's most programs. 206 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:16,400 It is 3 weeks, and that's usually a good amount of time. 207 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:21,240 So 21 days before your event, that's when the taper begins and 208 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,200 your body is very depleted at that point because you've done 209 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:26,360 all these long runs. You've been working really hard 210 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:29,760 over sometimes 16 weeks of really hard training. 211 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,080 And so that's the time to back off. 212 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:34,720 Now, if you're a more experienced runner and you've 213 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:37,280 done a lot of marathons, sometimes you can get away with 214 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:40,960 two weeks. But I prefer as a coach to, you 215 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:42,480 know, extend it to the three weeks. 216 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,840 That gives a lot more time for your body to really recover from 217 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:48,720 that hard training. And it's not only your body, 218 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:50,960 honestly. You have a mental fatigue 219 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,880 sometimes after you've been training for 16 weeks. 220 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:57,640 And it's good to kind of take a step back and kind of, you know, 221 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:01,440 have less runs on your schedule, less mileage and you can kind 222 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:04,440 of, you know, just regroup and get ready for your event and be 223 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,720 mentally ready as well as well as physically. 224 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:10,120 OK, perfect. And so then, for the fearful 225 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,520 souls listening to this podcast, let's talk about how long it 226 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:17,120 takes to lose fitness and why two to three weeks is still, you 227 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:20,920 know, falling within that where you can run a good marathon. 228 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:23,160 Yeah. So you're not going to lose 229 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:25,520 fitness because you're not going to stop running completely, 230 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:27,120 right? So we're going to still have you 231 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:28,840 do some running. We don't want you to stop 232 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:31,320 completely. We just want you to do a good 233 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:32,880 back off of what you've been doing. 234 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:37,120 So usually you know if you're doing 3 weeks, then two weeks 235 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:40,720 before your race, you're gonna back off your mileage, probably 236 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,720 a decrease, about 25% of the total mileage. 237 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:46,520 Your long run is going to be less for sure. 238 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:50,480 So if you've done a 20 mile run three weeks before, 2 weeks 239 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:54,680 before, often you'll do somewhere between 12 and 14 240 00:12:54,680 --> 00:12:58,480 miles for that long run. And that's quite a big decrease. 241 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:01,920 And then the week before your marathon, you may run maybe 8 242 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:04,640 miles, you know, for that long run, so everything's going to be 243 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:06,760 decreased. You're not going to stop running 244 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:08,720 because we don't want that to happen either. 245 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,520 We still want you to your body to stay sharp. 246 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:14,160 We still want your body to know how to run. 247 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,640 Because after you know, you can lose fitness, probably after two 248 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:21,480 weeks of no running or no activity, right? 249 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:23,280 That's when you really start to lose your fitness. 250 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:28,960 But by just backing off, you're actually really and making the 251 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:33,080 chance of you reaching your goals so much higher because you 252 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:36,200 are letting your body really absorb all that hard training 253 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:39,320 and recover and be ready to go on that day. 254 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:43,960 And by not backing off, your body's not going to be ready for 255 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:44,920 it. You're going to just you're 256 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:48,720 going to be overdone. And I would rather that you are 257 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:52,200 under trained and over trained going into that marathon, you 258 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:54,200 know, so everything is healed up nicely. 259 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:57,160 All those little muscle tears that have happened over those 260 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:01,120 long runs, those are all repaired and recovered and 261 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:03,000 you're ready to go. Yeah. 262 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:04,480 So thanks for elaborating on that. 263 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:08,200 So it's the muscles that repair themselves that's what we're 264 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:10,640 looking for, the muscle tissue repairing itself and then the 265 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:12,840 mental fatigue. Is there anything else that like 266 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,840 physiologically happens within our body when we are in that 267 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:20,880 taper phase? We're also, you know, your 268 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:23,040 enzymes, your hormones, everything's going to kind of 269 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:25,680 stabilize everything that's been kind of disrupted through your 270 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:29,160 hard training as well as you're also building your glycogen 271 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:32,800 stores within your body because that's what we use for marathon 272 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:35,640 running and for any endurance long events, you need those 273 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:40,640 glycogen like glycogen stores in your body to burn during your 274 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:43,040 marathon. So you know, you're not only 275 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:47,000 paying attention to backing off from your running mileage, 276 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,800 you're also really taking care of your body and always. 277 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:53,360 So you're really looking at your nutrition. 278 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,280 You're making sure that you're still eating regularly. 279 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:59,080 You may not be as hungry, so you may not think that you have to 280 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:02,000 eat as much, but you really want to keep on eating all that 281 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,680 quality food, quality carbohydrates, You know, those 282 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,120 complex carbohydrates that you've been eating during your 283 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:11,840 training, hopefully. And you're really taking care of 284 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,640 all that and just prepping your body for a good performance. 285 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:19,800 You're also, I really focus with my clients to make sure that 286 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:23,200 they're thinking about not only nutrition, but they're thinking 287 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:25,880 about their sleep. They're thinking about really 288 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:28,240 good rest. And those couple weeks before, 289 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:31,680 you don't want to have like a big work project or go on 290 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:35,080 vacation with your family at Disneyland or anything like 291 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:37,760 that, you know, right before a race because you're just going 292 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:41,160 to tire yourself out. So, you know, it's really a time 293 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:45,920 to almost get into a little cocoon and get ready to go, you 294 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:47,600 know, and just focus on yourself. 295 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:52,720 OK, So the purpose of your taper is to re energize you physically 296 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:54,520 and mentally. So you're going to take that 297 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:59,440 time to really take a step back and be ready for your event and 298 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:02,200 try not to jeopardize that by putting too much on your 299 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:03,800 schedule. You're going to have a lot of 300 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:06,760 extra energy because you're not running as much and you're going 301 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:09,880 to be tempted to maybe put too much on your schedule. 302 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:13,920 You know to stay up too late at night to start cleaning your 303 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:15,640 house too much. Those kind of things. 304 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:19,480 Just take a step back and remember the purpose of your 305 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:21,760 taper. It is really just to rest and 306 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:24,600 recover and be ready. OK, perfect. 307 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:26,360 Thanks for talking about all that. 308 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:29,560 And I'm gonna love to jump into nutrition and sleep here in a 309 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:31,840 little bit. But before we talk about that, 310 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:34,560 we talked about a reduction of mileage and you were saying 311 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:37,760 approximately 25% for the first week. 312 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,360 And then what about the intensity of the mileage and how 313 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:44,280 would you treat the second week? Right. 314 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:47,400 So that second week, you're going to probably decrease it by 315 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:51,400 another 25%. So a total of 50% from when you 316 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:53,840 were doing that last long run of runs. 317 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:56,680 Of course, it's going to vary for every person, right? 318 00:16:56,680 --> 00:17:01,200 So if you are injury prone, maybe you've got little niggles, 319 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,200 something's happening that maybe you don't feel 100%. 320 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:06,240 You may want to even back off more. 321 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:09,119 And that is OK because you're not, like I said, you're not 322 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:12,400 going to lose your fitness completely and that might be 323 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,319 what you need. Sometimes when I've had clients 324 00:17:15,319 --> 00:17:18,800 that maybe they're not 100%, when they've done that last long 325 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:21,839 run, they've maybe finished and they're really hurting or 326 00:17:21,839 --> 00:17:24,839 there's something going on, you know, I'll just incorporate some 327 00:17:24,839 --> 00:17:27,920 cross training in their running the in their schedule for the 328 00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:31,520 last couple weeks just to make sure that we're not gonna, you 329 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:36,360 know, make a potential injury actually materialize. 330 00:17:36,360 --> 00:17:38,040 So we're gonna be really careful with that. 331 00:17:38,360 --> 00:17:41,840 So it's really gonna vary depending on the person, but you 332 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:44,720 know by the time you get to that second week, you're decreasing 333 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:48,960 your mileage about by about 50% and then that last week, the 334 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:52,280 marathon week, that is gonna be a pretty light week, the day in 335 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:54,160 the days leading up to the marathon, right. 336 00:17:54,160 --> 00:18:01,120 So you may do, you know, say if you normally do a Six Mile run 337 00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:05,040 on Monday, you may do a a four mile run, that kind of thing. 338 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:08,640 And I know when I make schedules for people, I still like to give 339 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:12,240 them a little bit. Not necessarily speed work, but 340 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:15,680 something that is a little faster than just easy pace. 341 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:20,160 So that Monday or Tuesday I often give the person the 342 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:25,360 workout of a four mile run with the 2 miles in the middle as 343 00:18:25,360 --> 00:18:29,080 marathon pace. So dial in that marathon pace 344 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:31,880 that you're planning for your race on the weekend, just to see 345 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:34,360 how that feels. It should feel really easy by 346 00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:36,480 that week because you've done all that tapering. 347 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:39,720 You're feeling really good. And then when you're ready to 348 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:42,040 run your race, you know what that pace is gonna feel like. 349 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:46,640 Exactly right. And then, you know, then maybe 350 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:50,200 another week day that you run, you'll do another easy run and 351 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,640 sometimes, you know, maybe do a few strides at the end just to 352 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,920 kind of give a little pep in your in your step just to kind 353 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,520 of do a little turnover with your legs that might feel good. 354 00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:02,000 But the rest of the week, you know, you're just going to be 355 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:05,680 keeping it pretty easy at home. You're going to be making sure 356 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,760 that you're eating regularly, hydrating regularly. 357 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:11,560 And then a lot of people have to travel to a race, right? 358 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:15,080 So if you've got a race on a Sunday, you may be traveling on 359 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:18,080 Friday. So that is the day that, you 360 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:19,840 know, you're not going to probably do any kind of workout 361 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:22,000 on that Friday. It's going to be a day of rest. 362 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,360 You may be on an airplane. You may be in a car. 363 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:25,760 You know, all those kind of things. 364 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:29,480 You just want to be making sure that you're still moving and, 365 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:32,720 you know your legs still get a little bit of movement 'cause 366 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:35,840 you don't want to get too sore from sitting on sitting too too 367 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,080 much. And then the day before the 368 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:42,600 marathon, sometimes I will tell people to do a shake out run, 369 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:45,640 but it really depends on the person if I feel like they need 370 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:49,800 it. So you know, if you've travelled 371 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,480 the day before, sometimes it is good to get out for like a 20 372 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:55,960 minute, you know, easy jog the day before a race and then do a 373 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,120 couple strides at the end and then you feel like you're ready, 374 00:19:58,120 --> 00:19:59,960 right? And then go back to your hotel 375 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:02,600 room, put your feet up and be ready to run the race. 376 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:04,680 Interesting. Yeah. 377 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:08,160 It's it's interesting to see you know who who would you gauge is 378 00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:11,240 in need of a shake out run versus who doesn't need one and 379 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:13,000 what does that shake out run really for. 380 00:20:14,360 --> 00:20:17,520 Often it's people that do have a big goal. 381 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:20,080 They're going to be running maybe a faster pace during the 382 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:21,520 race. I really want to make sure that 383 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:27,640 their legs don't get with the lack of a better word, stale or 384 00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:33,400 you just still want to have some movement there, right? 385 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:39,720 Some blood moving. And so I know for me, if I have 386 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:43,760 a big race and I want to do well in the race, I do like to do 387 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:45,960 something the day before. I just feel better. 388 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:47,480 I feel like I need to move my body. 389 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,880 I need to be outside sometimes just in fresh air too. 390 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:53,880 I think that helps kind of get those little nerves out too. 391 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,720 Can be helpful. If I'm someone that it's their 392 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:01,000 first marathon and you know they've struggled a little bit 393 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:05,080 in the last few weeks, you know they're feeling a bit tired. 394 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:06,800 They're you're not sure about this. 395 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:08,680 I won't. I won't have them run. 396 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:12,920 I will maybe say, you know what, go for a walk, you know, But 397 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:15,000 then the rest of the day I just want you resting. 398 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,000 They don't really need that if they're not going for a big 399 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,760 goal, they just want to finish the race. 400 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:23,600 That's a whole different way of looking at the race itself and I 401 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:25,440 want them to rest as much as possible. 402 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:31,720 At this time we want to thank our sponsor You can Are you 403 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:35,520 tired of a spike in crash and GI distress that comes with the 404 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:39,480 sugar based sports nutrition? 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To claim this offer and get your 428 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:51,680 free samples, if you are already using you can and you want that 429 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:56,640 20% discount, you can just go to youcan.co and save those 20 430 00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:01,600 percents with code MRP. We're also having all this 431 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:03,440 LinkedIn, our show notes, and now. 432 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:08,760 Back to the show. OK, perfect. 433 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,280 Thanks for explaining that. And let's talk a little bit 434 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:13,120 about strength training. For those runners that you 435 00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:15,560 recommended strength training to and that have been doing it, 436 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:18,520 when at what point do you tell them to stop doing strength 437 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,360 training? So when you were starting your 438 00:23:21,360 --> 00:23:23,800 taper, you're definitely going to back off on your strength 439 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:25,440 training. I'm OK with that. 440 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:29,600 You know that two weeks before, if you do some strength 441 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:31,520 training, maybe not as heavy as you've been lifting. 442 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:34,160 If you've been doing heavy lifting, you know, back off a 443 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:38,560 bit on that and then the, you know, the week before, I just 444 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:41,880 say no more strength training. Let's just back off from that. 445 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:46,880 If you wanna do anything at all, I will incorporate some mobility 446 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:51,520 exercises, some core, just that kind of thing that may be 447 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,240 helpful. But there's no heavy lifting. 448 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,680 There's no picking up any big barbells or dumbbells or 449 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:00,280 anything like that. You're not gonna gain anything 450 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:02,320 by building muscle at that point. 451 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:04,920 You're really, like I said, trying to get those muscles to 452 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:07,440 be recovered. So you don't want to, you know, 453 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,280 be pushing it with the strength training at that at that stage? 454 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:14,480 OK, perfect. So now let's hop into nutrition 455 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:16,800 a little bit more. Obviously, we all know nutrition 456 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,200 is important. We do our best as we train for 457 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,080 the marathon and then taper time comes. 458 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:25,480 Our appetite is probably still at a high level if we've been 459 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:29,240 running a lot of miles, but then we're obviously not burning as 460 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,360 many calories. Can you talk about nutrition 461 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:35,000 during taper a little bit and also potential weight gain 462 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,000 during that time? Right. 463 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,560 So you're still going to feel a bit hungry, especially right 464 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:43,840 after that long run, that 20 mile run for a couple days. 465 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:47,040 I know my engine's still burning and I feel like I could eat 466 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:48,560 everything that I have in my house. 467 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:51,520 Go ahead. Just your body needs that. 468 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,520 Your body is asking for that. So just go ahead. 469 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,800 As long as you're eating healthy foods, I don't want you to go 470 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:02,560 out and you know, eat, eat a bag of chips and you know, and drink 471 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:06,200 soda and those types of things. But you know, eat some healthy 472 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:09,400 foods, eat some good quality foods. 473 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:12,200 Nutrition. Your body is asking for it. 474 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:16,520 Don't back off too much on on your calories, on your 475 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:18,680 carbohydrates, all of that kind of thing. 476 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:23,600 Really be focused on that last couple weeks on fueling your 477 00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:27,280 body even with less running. And it can be hard because you 478 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,520 will gain a little bit of weight, but we want you to gain 479 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:31,400 a little bit of weight. We want you to have a little bit 480 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:35,520 of reserve there in in your body and don't even get on the scale, 481 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:38,000 just stay away from the scale. I think that's that's a good 482 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,560 lesson right there. There's no point in looking at 483 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:42,520 the scale in those last two weeks, right. 484 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:46,440 It's OK if you gain a little bit of weight, it's not going to 485 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:48,520 stay there forever. Your body needs it. 486 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:52,320 Your body is is asking for it. So you know, as long as you're 487 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,960 eating quality foods, it's all good. 488 00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:59,600 I always tell people in that last week, especially when 489 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:02,760 you're looking at what you're eating, I don't really believe 490 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:06,600 necessarily in carb loading, but I believe in really having a 491 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:10,760 focus on good carbs in the last few days before your marathon. 492 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:14,560 You do want to have some type of carb load inside your body 493 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,160 because that's what we fuel our bodies with in endurance events, 494 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,200 right? So you know, when you're looking 495 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:23,440 at your plate, you really wanna see that there's some good 496 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:26,240 carbohydrates in every meal that you're eating. 497 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:29,240 And that doesn't mean necessarily pasta. 498 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,160 It doesn't necessarily mean a lot of bread. 499 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:33,720 It means, you know, complex carbohydrates. 500 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,080 It could be, you know, lots of plants and vegetables. 501 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:40,720 Those are good too. And then usually, you know, the 502 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:46,520 day before a marathon, I really encourage people to stay away 503 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:49,640 from foods with a lot of fiber. I, you know, so you don't want 504 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:52,400 to have like a big salad the day before necessarily. 505 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:56,080 Or, you know, any food that you know maybe will go through your 506 00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:59,280 system a little too quick because our stomachs get a 507 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,160 little nervous sometimes before a marathon as well. 508 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,720 And you don't want to be stuck in the porta potty before your 509 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:09,680 race and during the race. So, you know, still eating some 510 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,680 good quality foods, but maybe stay away from that fiber. 511 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:14,920 OK, perfect. Great. 512 00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:18,160 So with that, let's talk about the importance of sleep. 513 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:20,880 Why is sleep so much more important during the taper 514 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:22,840 phase? Right. 515 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:25,040 So it's just all about recovery, right. 516 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:29,880 So, you know, you are tired and your body needs to have that 517 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:33,640 reserve. And people, because they're not 518 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:36,440 running as much, sometimes they don't feel as tired. 519 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:38,680 So they may think, you know what, I don't have to get up 520 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:41,360 early tomorrow morning to do a run because, you know, I don't 521 00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:43,400 have to this week. So I'm just going to stay up 522 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,160 late and I'm going to watch TV and, you know, I'm going to go 523 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:47,760 out with friends and I'm going to stay up late. 524 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,640 Well, that's the the worst thing you can do, right? 525 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:53,760 Stay on the routine, stay on the schedule, make sure that you're 526 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:56,800 very well rested going into that marathon. 527 00:27:57,120 --> 00:28:01,400 Most of us, when we're going to a race for the day or two before 528 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:05,160 we're starting to get nervous, we're anxious we don't sleep as 529 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:08,240 well. So you may, you know, that might 530 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:12,720 be a difficult time and you know as long as you going into it the 531 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:15,000 few days before you're getting good sleep, you'll be fine. 532 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,560 Don't worry about the night before marathon, nobody sleeps 533 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:20,920 well, you'll be good, right? But if you've gone into that 534 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:22,800 well rested going into that, you'll be fine. 535 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:27,720 So it's just all about recovery. Yes, Recovery's so so. 536 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:29,720 Important. And obviously we're not supposed 537 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:33,200 to substitute those nights that we have skipped going out and 538 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,280 suddenly start taking on that whole new routine and use that 539 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:38,400 time to rest. That's better. 540 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:41,560 So let's talk about phantom paints. 541 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:45,640 What are they? Whom do they happen to and what 542 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,000 do we do with them? Right. 543 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,080 So this is really common that people, you know, in that last 544 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:54,360 couple weeks before marathon, they'll all of a sudden think, 545 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:56,960 oh wow, my knee's really hurting, my ankle hurts. 546 00:28:57,120 --> 00:28:58,600 What is going on? I'm injured. 547 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:00,480 Oh no, I'm not gonna be able to run my marathon. 548 00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:04,120 It just goes completely off the rails mentally and you start 549 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,640 freaking out and it happens to so many people. 550 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:12,560 And you know, I'm not saying it never an injury, it's never a 551 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:15,640 problem, but most often it's nothing. 552 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:19,520 It's something that, you know, maybe your body, just through 553 00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:24,000 that recovery process, it starts feeling a little different and 554 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,440 you go out for your run and you know, your foot starts hurting a 555 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:29,280 little bit. You're like, huh, that's never 556 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:32,640 happened before. The best thing you can do is, 557 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:35,880 you know, relax, but also, you know, maybe back off a little 558 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,120 bit. Maybe if you know you're going 559 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:42,440 out for an easy Six Mile run that last week and your foot 560 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:44,920 starts hurting. You know what Why don't you just 561 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:47,120 walk at home and just you know rest for the rest of the day. 562 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:48,920 It's not gonna like you're not gonna lose any fitness. 563 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:52,920 It's all good just to you know make sure that nothing is going 564 00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:54,680 on. If you have a coach you're 565 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,080 probably gonna be well off because you can talk to your 566 00:29:57,080 --> 00:29:59,800 coach about it. You can say, hey listen this is 567 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:02,000 what I felt today like what should I do about it. 568 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:04,920 And usually the coach will say you know what you're probably 569 00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:06,560 fine. But let's, you know, take it 570 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:10,840 easy for the rest of the day. Maybe, you know, have a warm 571 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:15,640 bath or you know, or if you're you know your quad starts 572 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:17,920 hurting, Well, how about doing some foam rolling today? 573 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:19,840 Let's see if we can work that out a little bit. 574 00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:23,520 But it's usually a phantom pain. It's usually something, and 575 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:25,840 nobody really knows why this happens to people. 576 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,320 It's just something that's really common, especially during 577 00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:31,960 the taper, and people really tend to freak out. 578 00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:34,880 Yeah, I can see that. I can see that being a good 579 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:37,480 reason to freak out, right? If suddenly something starts 580 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:39,720 hurting. And then it's just in your mind. 581 00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:44,520 So with that, what can runners do to maintain a mental focus 582 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:47,280 and the mental confidence during their taper? 583 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:50,640 Because you know when you're going from running 20 miles on a 584 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,160 weekend to suddenly you're only running eight and then you have 585 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:56,920 that overbearing thought of, OK, there's 26.2 miles I have to 586 00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:58,760 run. How do they best? 587 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:02,200 Manage that to stay mentally in a good place. 588 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:05,040 Right. So that's really common as well. 589 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:07,160 We start thinking, did I do enough? 590 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:09,800 Am I really ready for this challenge? 591 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:11,080 Can I do this? I don't. 592 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:13,240 I can't do this. Oh no, I'm freaking out. 593 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:19,800 So, you know, I usually tell people to maybe look back on 594 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:22,120 their running, maybe they've logged their fit and their 595 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:24,600 running somewhere. Like if we are, I'm coaching 596 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:26,840 them and we've had like a spreadsheet that they've had 597 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:30,120 their workouts in and and go back and look at that and see 598 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:32,200 all those quality workouts you did. 599 00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:36,000 Look at all those things that you did that helped you think 600 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,760 about, you know, when you had, you know, good fueling during a 601 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,360 certain long run. But that worked out really well. 602 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:45,520 I'm going to do that on race day, come up with a race plan. 603 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:49,080 I think that really helps in that last week, so that you're 604 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:53,400 going into your race with all it planned out and a race plan 605 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:57,160 could include things even two or three days before, you know, 606 00:31:57,160 --> 00:32:00,920 like I'm going to do, I'm going to pack my suitcase on this day. 607 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,560 I'm going to make sure that I've gone to my running store and 608 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:06,120 picked up all the gels that I need for my race. 609 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:10,120 I'm going to, you know, pick up my outfit, have my shoes ready, 610 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:14,040 you know, and even two or three days before and then you know, 611 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:17,200 for the race itself, let's come up with a great plan for that 612 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:19,440 morning. You know, I'm gonna have this 613 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:22,160 for breakfast. You know, if you're traveling, 614 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:25,520 sometimes you can even bring something with you, you know, 615 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:28,080 like you can bring some oatmeal with you to make in your hotel 616 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:31,480 room, that type of thing. So this planning and coming up 617 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,760 with a plan, not only for the logistical things but the 618 00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:40,040 pasting and and mental preparation can really calm you 619 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:45,240 to be ready to go into the week. And I'm a planner, so that 620 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:49,360 really helps me to really write everything down, you know, and 621 00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:52,360 have everything planned out and that makes me calm down. 622 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:57,640 So that helps most people. I would say start thinking you 623 00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:02,720 know how you're gonna feel that day and how to cope with when 624 00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:06,760 you start feeling, you know, maybe some negative feelings 625 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:10,040 during the race or your confidence is lagging because 626 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:14,040 that happens to everybody that happens to, you know, us mere 627 00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:16,920 mortals or recreational runners. It also happens to 628 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:18,640 professionals. When they're running a race, 629 00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:21,840 they have those dark moments where they think, I can't do 630 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:24,600 this, I can't hold this pace. How are you going to deal with 631 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:27,040 that? Let's prepare yourself for that. 632 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:31,080 Let's start thinking about when I start feeling badly, what am I 633 00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:33,520 going to do? Maybe you came up with a a 634 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:38,160 mantra that helps you. I am strong, I can do this, that 635 00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:41,920 type of thing. You know, maybe you're you're 636 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:44,760 planning to, you know when I start feeling badly, I'm going 637 00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:46,880 to take some more sugar, I'm going to take another gel. 638 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:49,800 I'm going to let fuel my brain and it's going to feel better. 639 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:55,320 So by planning all this out in that week before, it should calm 640 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,240 you down, right? Looking at the training you've 641 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:02,280 done, look at your preparation, planning it out, being ready to 642 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:07,040 go, you know, and if you're someone that does well with, you 643 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:11,360 know, meditation, breathing, that type of thing, do that, 644 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:13,480 that last week. That's not gonna hurt, right? 645 00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:17,480 If you can go to I go to a restorative yoga class that I 646 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:19,880 really like on on Fridays usually. 647 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:22,960 And it's really not a strenuous yoga. 648 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:28,199 It's really just laying down and breathing sometimes and it is 649 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:31,360 really restorative. So if you can have that, 650 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:33,880 something like that on that last week, that could be helpful as 651 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:36,960 well, you know, just breathing and relaxing. 652 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:39,080 That's awesome. Thank you for that. 653 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,639 And yeah, so mental tips. Do you have any other additional 654 00:34:42,639 --> 00:34:46,239 tips that could make or break a taper for runners? 655 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:50,880 So another part of tapering and and the benefits of tapering is 656 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,880 that your immune system is probably depleted from all this 657 00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:56,040 hard training. A lot of people, you know will 658 00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:00,080 get sick and that kind of thing. So you know by tapering you're 659 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:03,200 going to let that immune system really restore itself as well. 660 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:06,600 And you know, that's really important because you don't want 661 00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:09,160 to get sick right before you're. That's really important that 662 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:12,160 you're taking care of yourself. So, OK, perfect. 663 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:15,880 So perhaps you can share your favorite mantra with our 664 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:18,360 runners. Right. 665 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:22,120 So you know, it's going to be very individual for what works 666 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:27,920 for you and what motivates you. For me, I had a race when I my 667 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,920 goal was to get a Boston qualifying time and it was a big 668 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:34,120 goal for me and I had worked really hard and I actually hired 669 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:37,920 a coach to coach me for that training cycle and I felt really 670 00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:41,080 ready to go. But one of the things that I had 671 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:45,600 found in my previous marathons when I wasn't able to achieve 672 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:50,360 that goal and I got so close, was that I just gave up and I 673 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,960 slowed down and cause your body is gonna tell you stop you can't 674 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:56,920 do this. So and I always regretted that 675 00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:01,240 at the end of a race. So for me I wrote on my hand, I 676 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:06,400 wrote no regrets and for me that was the ultimate goal. 677 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:10,360 So when I started feeling, you know, my confidence was lagging 678 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,360 during the race itself. I would just look down on my 679 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:15,960 hand and I I how do you wanna feel at the end of this race? 680 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:19,240 How do you, you know, you don't want to have to do this again. 681 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:20,920 Like, that's part of it too, right? 682 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:24,240 You've worked so hard and you want to reach your goal. 683 00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:26,800 So whatever you know, motivates you. 684 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:28,560 For me, that's what it was. No regrets. 685 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,240 I want to walk away from this knowing that I did everything I 686 00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:35,440 could for other people. It might be, you know, I am 687 00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:40,400 strong, I am brave. I can do this. 688 00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:44,400 Some people talk about talking in a third person where like, 689 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:48,000 you're talking to yourself. So for me, you know Nicole, you 690 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,960 can do this. Nicole, you're strong by putting 691 00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:54,360 yourself outside of yourself. Sometimes it's like someone's 692 00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:56,840 cheering you on and that could be helpful as well. 693 00:36:56,840 --> 00:36:59,240 So whatever works for you. Everyone's gonna have a 694 00:36:59,240 --> 00:37:01,000 different mantra that works for them. 695 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:04,840 I love it. Reminds me to put that on my 696 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:07,320 notes and on my list of things to pack. 697 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:09,720 Bring a Sharpie. There you go. 698 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:11,600 All. Right. 699 00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:13,920 Well, thank you, Nicole. And then for our listeners that 700 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:16,600 want to reach out to you and maybe be coached by you, how can 701 00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:20,360 they best do that? Right, so we have a website 702 00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:25,920 ofcourseitsmarathontrainingacademy.com. There's also a podcast if you're 703 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:28,800 interested in listening and hearing more about marathon 704 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:32,360 training from Trevor and Angie Spencer in Marathon Training 705 00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:35,200 Academy Podcast. You can find it wherever your 706 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:40,000 podcasts are and if you go to our website, we have a coaching 707 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:43,680 section there and you can sign up for a free consultation. 708 00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:47,320 Call with me and I would. You know, you pick us on my 709 00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:49,960 schedule, you pick a time that works for you and I will talk to 710 00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:52,400 you about your goals and how coaching can help you. 711 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:54,440 Perfect. Thank you so much. 712 00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:57,000 Absolutely. It's my pleasure. 713 00:38:01,240 --> 00:38:03,640 Thank you, Nicole for. Speaking with us, I really 714 00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:07,120 appreciate your time and I learned a lot, so that was 715 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:07,920 great. Thank you. 716 00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:12,320 And we have information in our show notes that's pertinent to 717 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:18,040 our podcast and this episode. So you know you can find those 718 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:21,800 in the show notes. And we're gonna go eat dinner. 719 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:23,720 So with that. So with that, I'm going to 720 00:38:23,720 --> 00:38:27,160 reveal you guys to you guys. I'm going to reveal to you guys 721 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:29,360 what we're going to be talking about next week. 722 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:32,040 Next week we're going to have another awesome interview with 723 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:35,920 another running coach. And she is a Masters running 724 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:40,600 coach that at age 49 managed to run a sub three marathon after 725 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:45,080 having run competitively for 20 years and more. 726 00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:48,040 So super exciting tune back. In Thank you for listening. 727 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:50,760 And with that? Have a good weekend running. 728 00:38:55,240 --> 00:38:57,760 Thanks for tuning in. For more information Ant 729 00:38:57,760 --> 00:38:59,720 Marathon running news, please head to 730 00:38:59,720 --> 00:39:05,040 www.marathonrunningpodcast.com and we'll be back next week.