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You're listening to episode 261 
of the Marathon Running Podcast.

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In this episode, we're going to 
learn about race day strategies.

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This is the Marathon Running 
podcast with Letty and Ryan. 

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Join us for weekly content on 
all things running and let us 

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take you from the starting line 
to the finish line and beyond. 

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Hey runners and welcome to 
episode 261. 

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My name is Letty, my name is 
Ryan, and we are back with 

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another wonderful episode. 
And this week you guys are going

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to learn something. 
We always try to provide you 

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guys with a mixture of 
interviews, interesting 

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conversations, race recap, and 
of course stuff to learn. 

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And for that reason, today we 
asked a coach to come on and 

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talk to us about racy 
strategies. 

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But before we hop into that, 
Ryan, how are you doing today? 

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I'm. 
Doing well. 

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Thank you. 
How about you? 

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I'm doing pretty well as well. 
Well as well all well as well. 

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All well as well, all good as 
good. 

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And you guys might wonder why 
we're doing a race day strategy 

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podcast so late after all of 
these major spring marathons 

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have already passed. 
But guess what? 

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There's still quite a few 
happening, including grandma's 

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marathon, etcetera. 
And I also feel like hearing 

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from a coach such as Coach Todd 
is always a good idea because 

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maybe he vibes with you and 
maybe you want to up your game 

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and consider hiring a running 
coach and ultimately better your

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time. 
It'll be interesting to see his 

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approach. 
So where did you meet him? 

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So Coach Todd actually started 
coaching my personal friend 

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Patty, and I actually looked 
over her shoulder when she was 

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reading over her race strategy 
prior to running the London 

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Marathon. 
And I kind of liked his 

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approach. 
It was very detailed about what 

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she should and should not be 
doing. 

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And I feel like the vibe of his 
message kind of just puts you in

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a good headspace for that race. 
So I talked to her about him a 

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little bit more and learned what
his coaching is all about and 

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his coaching philosophy. 
And I figured this person sounds

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like he would be a very good 
guest for this podcast. 

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And then when I did interview 
him, he comes from a really 

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great background. 
He's not just, you know, one of 

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the online certified coaches. 
He actually studied this subject

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and all that has to do with 
coaching in school and then 

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later on ended up implementing 
it. 

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So what kind of education does 
he have in coaching? 

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So he went to college and 
studied what he was interested 

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in, which is exercise 
Physiology, nutritional science 

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and human development. 
And then after he graduated, he 

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implemented that when he was 
working as a director of health.

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And then eventually, he ended up
becoming a running coach. 

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It's good to have somebody with 
some formal education in 

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exercise science. 
It's nice. 

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Yeah. 
And on top of that, I also felt 

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like with him while I was 
talking to him, that he really 

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takes the time to get feedback 
from his clients. 

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I feel like so often now we see 
coaches that just give you a 

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training plan and you just 
follow it on your own or they 

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charge you extra for every 
communication that you have with

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them. 
I feel like he really encourages

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that and then he implements that
into his plan when he comes to 

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the paces they have to run and 
really have everything feedback 

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driven. 
So those goals that he 

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establishes for his clients are 
going to be more attainable. 

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Yeah, I think it's always good 
to get that feedback. 

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I think it's good for the 
teacher and for the learner to 

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get feedback so that they know 
if they're, you know, directing 

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them correctly and also if 
everyone's working well 

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together. 
Yeah, no, exactly. 

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So you want to get into it? 
Sure. 

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So without any further ado, 
we're now going to do our 

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conversation with Coach Todd. 
All right, so I'm on here with 

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Coach Todd. 
Todd, thank you so much for 

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joining me today. 
You're welcome. 

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Great to be here. 
Yes, and we're very glad that 

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you're here. 
And we wanted to talk to you 

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about something called racy 
strategy that you are very 

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obviously familiar with as a 
coach and this being a topic 

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that you kind of wanted to talk 
about. 

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But before we do that, let's 
talk a little bit about you, 

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your journey and how you end up 
being a run coach. 

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Yeah, well, great to be here, 
you know, interesting. 

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I, I have a interesting pathway 
to being a run coach, probably 

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not traditional compared to many
of the other run coaches out 

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there that probably have had 
real successful running careers 

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and, and that were running, you 
know, from early on and, and 

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successful throughout the 
running career. 

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I started back. 
I'm a, you know, you can take a 

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look. 
I'm, I'm a lifter. 

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I'm a, I'm a, a bodybuilder. 
I'm a weight lifter. 

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I started lifting at at age 10. 
That was my passion. 

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Just get big muscles and look 
good and pose in the mirror. 

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And so that carried on, you 
know, even through high school, 

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I was interested in nutrition 
and lifting. 

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And ultimately that led to my 
career in college, you know, 

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exercise Physiology degree, 
nutrition degree. 

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And then we started working at 
A, at a gym as a fitness 

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director and doing a lot of 
personal training and still 

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continuing my, my lifting and 
how much can I bench press and 

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getting big and taking all the 
supplements and protein. 

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But in the gym atmosphere, you 
know, we're kind of forced to 

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teach aerobic classes and, and 
get into the aerobic part And, 

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and I look the part, you know, 
physically fit from a muscular 

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standpoint, but really wasn't in
into the, the running, the 

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cardiovascular type exercise, 
but that was part of the gig. 

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So I was forced to get in shape,
you know, teach some classes and

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then just it kind of evolved 
from there where, you know, the 

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people participating in in your 
exercise classes, you know, want

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you to do the local event, the 
5K, the 10K. 

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So I gradually got involved, you
know, in running in into my 20s 

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it but nothing too serious to 
show up and, and run and 

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basically the fitness that 
you've developed from teaching 

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the various exercise classes. 
And then I left the fitness 

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career after about 14 years, got
into orthopedic medical device 

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sales and I continue to run in a
more leisurely, you know, not 

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really seriously, but, you know,
competed, you know, actually did

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a lot of races. 
I love the, the competition part

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of the sport. 
So I'd race, you know, at least 

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10/12/15 times a year, various 5
KS, 10 KS and, and then, you 

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know, just kind of evolved from 
there. 

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More interest. 
Actually hired a coach that was 

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probably about 20 years ago 
because I'm like, what can I, 

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you know, I want to see if I can
get a little bit better. 

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I do have some limitations 
physically that that have 

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challenged me over the years or 
the inability to build miles. 

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And we can get into that if, if 
you like. 

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But so hired A hired a coach who
made really immediate impact. 

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And I think that's what started 
it all. 

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Tom Schwartz, Tin man, you know,
very famous coach, you know, 

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he's got a presence out there in
the world of, of running even 

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currently. 
And his approach just resonated 

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like, Hey, this is, you know, a 
little different than how I've 

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been training and, and 
immediate, you know, age 3940, 

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I'm PR in five KS, 10 KS, half 
marathons, essentially on the 

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same miles per week. 
And like, what is, you know, 

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this is interesting. 
So I think from there the the 

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whole run coaching running 
intrigued me back in 2017, I 

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started to, you know, play 
around, do some coaching with 

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friends back in in my medical 
device career, you know, the, 

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the people would know I run and 
I, you know, the receptionist 

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and the nurses, you know, Hey, 
can you set me up on a program 

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or a plan for the local half 
marathon? 

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And then in 2019, I got on 
involved in a Facebook group 

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called I Love to run. 
It's a it's a running community,

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very large. 
I just joined the community, 

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started chiming in answering 
people's questions, given my 

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advice. 
And the owners of the site are 

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kind of like, hey, you know your
stuff. 

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Do you want to get more involved
in the site? 

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Do you want to, you know, write 
a couple articles that we can 

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give to the the new members? 
And I'm like, yeah, let's do it.

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So I think from there it 
evolved. 

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I gave advice. 
I got my first one or two 

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running clients. 
They said, hey, are you 

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interested in coaching? 
Like, yeah, so that was 2019 and

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here we are. 
It's kind of just grown 

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basically through word of mouth,
you know, being tagged on 

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various posts throughout social 
media and to the point where 

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beginning of 2000, 23, I quit 
corporate and became a full time

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run coach and smart approach 
training. 

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Here we are. 
Huge congratulations. 

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I love it when anyone that loves
running can kind of end up 

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making that into their real 
career because that's just so 

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beautiful, right? 
They always tell us you have a 

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hobby and then you have what 
makes you money. 

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But if you can somehow manage to
intermix them, and I mean, kudos

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to you, you are able to quit 
your corporate job. 

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So that's really wonderful. 
Yeah, yeah, it's awesome. 

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I mean, it's it's things have 
kind of gone full circle, you 

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know, back in the day in the 
fitness industry. 

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I just love the one-on-one 
interaction with as a personal 

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trainer working at all fitness 
levels from, you know, a guy 

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that's a, a hockey player and 
the junior team locally to 

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someone who's just getting into 
fitness and overweight and 

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trying to help take them along 
on their journey to become 

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healthier and more fit. 
And it transfers over 

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beautifully to kind of the 
passion that I have working with

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with individuals, athletes 
one-on-one to essentially 

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transform them into something 
that they're cannot currently 

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at. 
So. 

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That's awesome, super rewarding,
and you are coaching a friend of

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mine who's very happy with your 
coaching. 

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And for that reason this is what
we're talking. 

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And when we started talking, I 
asked you what was the topic of 

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your choice. 
What is something that you feel 

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like you are really passionate 
about? 

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And so you were talking about 
your race strategy and how that 

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is something we can talk about. 
But before we do that, let's 

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talk about the overreaching 
philosophy. 

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Every coach has a philosophy. 
What is yours? 

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Yeah, you know, when I started 
my business and even before 

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officially starting a business, 
you know, I had a had a mindset 

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of, you know what? 
I wanted to, I wanted a brand, 

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you know, I wanted to promote a 
brand. 

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And just being out there in the 
marketplace on the, you know, 

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the social media sites, you just
see so much, how do I say it? 

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Just many runners just aren't 
training correctly. 

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They're not training smart. 
So, you know, the bells went off

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and, you know, how can we turn 
this into a brand? 

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And and obviously, if you ask 
any runner, do you want to train

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smarter? 
Well, yeah, I want to train 

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smarter. 
So that that's kind of how it 

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kind of evolved into, hey, 
people just need to train 

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smarter if they want to get to 
where they want to go. 

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And sometimes it's not all 
about, you know, Boston 

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qualifying and sometimes 
training smarter just means 

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staying injury free, enjoying 
running more and seeing where 

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that takes you. 
So, so then I came up with the 

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brand smart approach. 
I also have a little bit of a 

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recovery coaching business too. 
Smart, SMART approach recovery, 

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smart approach training. 
And I developed an acronym for 

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SMART structured marathon 
adaptive recovery training. 

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And you know, there's a meaning 
to each of those, those letters 

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to, to come up with smart. 
But I mean, looking at the broad

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scheme of things, it's about 
educating, getting people to run

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smarter, race smarter. 
It really carries over into, you

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know, all, all facets of run 
coaching, you know, eat smarter,

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feel smarter, recover smarter. 
So it's, I think it's just a 

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really good fit and I'm real 
happy with, you know, how it's 

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kind of turned out as we go 
along. 

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Yeah, no, absolutely. 
And then from your perspective, 

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who is your ideal coaching 
client? 

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Because obviously we know that 
not everybody trains the same 

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way. 
You and I earlier talked about 

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people that you know, do the 
heart rate approach, there's 

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high volume approach, who is 
smart approach a good fit for or

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do you vary your training 
depending on who the person is? 

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Yeah, absolutely. 
I mean, I, I think the smart 

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approach, I mean, caters to 
really any level of athlete. 

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What motivates me as a coach is 
to develop a runner, you know, 

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to take a runner from wherever 
they're at. 

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00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:38,600
And some people I work with are 
more advanced and they need 

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tweaking and coddling and, and 
monitoring and confidence 

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building, you know, into 
strategies, you know, just 

234
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working on some of the smaller 
things to get them to go to the 

235
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next level. 
But I'm also motivated by the, 

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the newcomer in, in, in the, the
running world. 

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Like I said, it doesn't matter 
the type of athlete for, but for

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me, the motivation is 
developing. 

239
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You know, that's where my 
passion is to take someone from 

240
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here and move them up the scale 
wherever that some people are 

241
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going to move way up here. 
Some people it's going from here

242
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just a little bit. 
And that's what motivates me. 

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So, you know, when, when looking
at a specific athlete, really 

244
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anybody is a candidate, you 
know, I've certain requirements 

245
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when we do, you know, the 
discovery calls are basically 

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the first time I meet a runner. 
You know, we'll just, you know, 

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they'll fill out a, you know, 
running questionnaire that's 

248
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pretty extensive. 
And then we'll just have a 

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conversation like this. 
And it's about, you know, 

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developing a connection early on
because essentially they're 

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00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:41,640
interviewing me. 
And I always encourage, you 

252
00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:44,680
know, potential run clients to 
interview me and interview a 

253
00:13:44,680 --> 00:13:48,080
couple other coaches. 
I want the right fit for you. 

254
00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:52,440
And maybe that's not me. 
So I care enough about each 

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00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:55,840
runner that they find the right 
coach that works for them. 

256
00:13:56,080 --> 00:14:00,640
And my requirements are I need 
someone that's motivated, 

257
00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:04,680
committed. 
That's a priority for me because

258
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I get less motivated if I'm 
getting coming through Final 

259
00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:11,240
Surge, you know, the app that I 
work with, if I see I skipped 

260
00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:14,400
the run, I was tired, I had a 
headache, and that happens. 

261
00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,400
But if it's happening on a 
regular basis, you know, that 

262
00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:20,440
doesn't motivate me as a coach. 
You're not into your craft. 

263
00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:24,400
So I need motivation. 
I also need the individual 

264
00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:26,680
runner to hear me out. 
You know, this is my approach. 

265
00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:29,640
This is what I believe in. 
This is probably how I'm going 

266
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to work with you. 
So are you in? 

267
00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:35,520
Do you trust my process? 
And if you trust me, then trust 

268
00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:39,640
me and don't do things like you 
used to do back in the day. 

269
00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:43,120
You're here for a transformation
and let me work with you. 

270
00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:45,400
Trust me and and we're going to 
take you to where you want to 

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go. 
I'm sure that has got to be the 

272
00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:49,560
most frustrating part as well, 
right? 

273
00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:52,960
Because you have sometimes, I 
mean, I do that in my real line 

274
00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:56,440
of work, I'm an attorney too, 
where you are hired to do your 

275
00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:58,760
job. 
But sometimes there is 

276
00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:01,120
resistance and it doesn't come 
from a bad place. 

277
00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:04,080
It just comes from that, from a 
place of a little bit of 

278
00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:07,840
knowledge. 
And then that kind of is a 

279
00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,200
little bit frustrating, right? 
Because you have to be able to 

280
00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:12,480
trust your coach because 
otherwise why did you hire your 

281
00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:14,480
coach? 
Yeah, it really is. 

282
00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:18,320
I mean, there's frustration, but
I, I expected just about and 

283
00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:21,520
anybody I work with because, you
know, they're essentially 

284
00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:24,880
interviewing me or other coach 
because they're, they kind of 

285
00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:26,600
think they're not doing things 
the right way. 

286
00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:30,040
Or perhaps they're, they're 
constantly injured or they've 

287
00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:32,640
stagnated or their fitness has 
gone down or they're just 

288
00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:36,400
haven't gone anywhere. 
You know, they see other people,

289
00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:38,560
maybe their friends are growing 
and, and they're not. 

290
00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:43,040
So I kind of expect, you know, 
when I interview a perspective 

291
00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:47,160
client, I almost, I'm ready for 
their story. 

292
00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:50,920
I know what it's going to, you 
know, well, I'm trained hard. 

293
00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:55,000
I run every, all my pacing is at
the same pace and, and it's 

294
00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:59,120
really immediately it's like, 
hey, I can make impact with this

295
00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:01,200
athlete. 
By just, I mean, the starting 

296
00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:05,920
point is just polarization. 
Let's build structure into your 

297
00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:09,200
plan and it's going to make a 
huge difference. 

298
00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:12,600
And a big part of that is 
slowing people down. 

299
00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:15,720
It's, you know, the biggest 
abuse out there in the running 

300
00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:17,720
community is everybody. 
I shouldn't say everybody. 

301
00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:20,360
Many runners are just running 
too fast too often. 

302
00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:25,640
It's on the I love to Run site. 
You know, probably the community

303
00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:29,800
is like, jeez, Coach T, you 
know, you constantly promote 

304
00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:32,680
slow, slow, slow, slower, easy, 
easy, easy, easy. 

305
00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:36,440
And for 95% of the runners, it 
applies. 

306
00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:39,160
We're just running too fast too 
often. 

307
00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:43,440
So, yeah, so, so that's the 
biggest first step I take with 

308
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:45,920
many runners to slow them down. 
And sometimes it's like, well, 

309
00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:47,840
that just doesn't make any 
sense. 

310
00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:50,760
You know, if you want me to run 
this pace, why am I running way 

311
00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:54,920
slower than my 5K or 10K pace 
through education? 

312
00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:59,120
You know, we we get them there. 
Yeah, I see that on Strava too. 

313
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:02,840
I'm a huge proponent of running 
really slow on my easy and 

314
00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:04,760
recovery runs. 
And then I, you know, every once

315
00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:07,960
in a while hop on Strava and I 
see a lot of people that I know 

316
00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:11,000
are struggling with their 
marathon time and I see that 

317
00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:15,520
they do their easy run and 
something in the eights and that

318
00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:19,079
should not be there. 
But it's almost like, it's like 

319
00:17:19,319 --> 00:17:22,920
we beat this topic so much that 
we hear it all the time, but 

320
00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:25,400
nobody really applies it to 
their running, unfortunately. 

321
00:17:26,319 --> 00:17:30,200
Yeah, I don't, I don't, it takes
some time to believe it. 

322
00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,040
And, and again, that that comes 
with the trust thing. 

323
00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:35,560
And that's something I reiterate
to, to the those that I work 

324
00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:39,520
with and I just just trust me. 
It it's going to, it's going to 

325
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:41,760
happen. 
And what happens is, you know, 

326
00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:43,920
there's a muscle memory thing, 
you know, many runners just 

327
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:46,680
like, wow, when I try to run 
slower, it just doesn't feel 

328
00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:48,240
right. 
And it's actually harder. 

329
00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:50,760
It's like you just have because 
you haven't done it. 

330
00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:54,640
You just have to practice it and
it will become more natural. 

331
00:17:55,360 --> 00:17:58,960
But the magic occurs, you know, 
not in one week, in two weeks, 

332
00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:01,520
in three weeks. 
So what happens is and many of 

333
00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,600
my runners that I coach now, you
know, even to this day that it's

334
00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:09,080
like, I cannot believe this is 
who I was the 20 to 25 mile a 

335
00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,880
week runner kind of struggling, 
aches and pains. 

336
00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:16,440
Everyone was kind of a grind. 
And now they're running 5060 

337
00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:20,040
miles a week feeling fantastic. 
Coach. 

338
00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,840
I ran 16 miles yesterday and I 
feel this morning, I feel like 

339
00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:27,880
it was like a five mile run. 
So that's the process of 

340
00:18:28,360 --> 00:18:33,040
structure polarization. 
Keep your easy, easy. 

341
00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:37,120
Mix in strategic stamina, speed,
work, and then it just all comes

342
00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:40,080
together gradually. 
You know, there has to be 

343
00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:42,240
patience and I think many 
runners are. 

344
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:45,200
I've a race in three weeks, I've
a race in six weeks, 12 weeks. 

345
00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:48,440
Get me there fast, fast, fast. 
It's not how the body works. 

346
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:51,480
Yeah, 100%. 
I love this. 

347
00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:52,600
I love this. 
And this. 

348
00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:54,560
Side note, slow running feels so
good. 

349
00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,560
For those of you listeners that 
haven't tried it, just try it's,

350
00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:02,120
you know, so, so little pressure
on your body and yourself to 

351
00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:04,920
perform. 
But you know, I think the hidden

352
00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:08,960
secret to that is just to not 
look at your Strava and just let

353
00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:11,520
that go. 
There's a comparison game. 

354
00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:16,200
It's all athletes are looking at
their friends and competing and 

355
00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:19,560
also when they post on social 
media their runs, it's they 

356
00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:22,800
don't want their friends or 
acquaintances to see that they 

357
00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,480
ran 10 minutes or 11 minutes for
an easy run. 

358
00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:28,800
They want to say, hey, I can run
8 minute easy run. 

359
00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:32,520
That makes me fast and I think 
through, you know, obviously 

360
00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:35,160
education on that. 
I love to run site and obviously

361
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:38,680
with my runners it's like what? 
What's the end goal here? 

362
00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:43,200
Is it to just impress your 
friends in a training run, or 

363
00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:48,560
would you rather impress them on
race day So, you know, constant 

364
00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:51,080
communication? 
Yep, there is that social media 

365
00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:53,240
again. 
Anyway, so today we're going to 

366
00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:56,680
hop into, like we said, the race
day strategies and I'm going to 

367
00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:59,240
give you the floor for that. 
And hopefully we'll hop into 

368
00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:02,920
pacing, mental strategies, race 
routines and all that. 

369
00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:07,160
Yeah, I think, you know, we'll, 
we'll stick more with the 

370
00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,920
marathon, but some of these 
principles apply really to all 

371
00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:14,600
distances. 
But I think one of the biggest 

372
00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:20,680
issues out there is, you know, 
marathoning is so huge and it 

373
00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:23,960
excites us to choose an event, 
you know, a year from now, six 

374
00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:26,600
months from now, 12 weeks from 
now, 16 weeks from now. 

375
00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:30,040
And you know, runners get 
excited about being in marathon 

376
00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:33,120
training, you know, coach when, 
when do I officially start 

377
00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:36,360
marathon training? 
And my philosophy is really 

378
00:20:36,360 --> 00:20:40,000
training is 365 days a year 
because when you're not in 

379
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:44,680
official training, you're still 
working on developing, you know,

380
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,280
all facets of your fitness from 
fueling to nutrition. 

381
00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:49,920
And perhaps we're working on 
weaknesses or perhaps we're 

382
00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:52,440
trying to heal the, the niggles 
or so forth. 

383
00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:58,160
So I value 365 days out of the 
year, not just the 14/16/20 week

384
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:03,080
marathon training block. 
But first and foremost, I think 

385
00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:07,520
many athletes have a goal in 
mind or a time in mind. 

386
00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:12,000
And 1st timers, you know, 
obviously we, we encourage 

387
00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:14,360
having a great experience 
finishing. 

388
00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:16,720
Don't focus on any type of a 
time. 

389
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:18,960
Just enjoy it. 
And then from there we build. 

390
00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:22,840
But for for those who have done,
you know, multiple marathons, 

391
00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:27,560
it's yeah, well, I ran a a 430 
and I want to shoot for four 

392
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:33,200
hours in my next marathon. 
So as a coach, first of all, I 

393
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:37,840
struggle with choosing a time 
and I'm going to go for this 

394
00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,120
time. 
So as a coach, I evaluate who 

395
00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:44,200
you are in the moment. 
So we're going to train based 

396
00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,680
off your current fitness, not 
your goal or wish fitness. 

397
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:51,080
So I think often times when when
runners may go find a plan 

398
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,000
online and you plug in a a goal 
time. 

399
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,800
So maybe this 4/30 marathon 
plugs in four hours. 

400
00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,440
I think I can improve in 16 
weeks. 

401
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,480
So then that training plan, you 
know, probably has paces geared 

402
00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:07,000
toward training paces to, to hit
that 4 hour time. 

403
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,720
But this athlete is not in 4 
hour shape. 

404
00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:14,680
So they're deviating from their 
current fitness and training 

405
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:18,280
toward a level of fitness that 
they may not be ready for. 

406
00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:22,240
So that's first and foremost, I 
try to set my athletes straight 

407
00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:25,040
that we're not, we're not going 
for something that you're not 

408
00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:30,440
capable of. 
We're not focused on an outcome.

409
00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,640
We're going to train based on 
who you are. 

410
00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:36,360
We're going to build your 
fitness week to week to week. 

411
00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:39,760
I'm going to evaluate you on a 
day-to-day basis, week to week 

412
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,640
basis, and then throughout the 
whole training block. 

413
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:47,040
I'm going to get a pretty good 
read on what your potential is. 

414
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:49,280
And then that's your marathon 
pace. 

415
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,040
I kind of do things a little 
outside the box sometimes. 

416
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,320
For example, I don't use 
marathon pace in my train 

417
00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:01,440
training terminology, never. 
The only only time that may come

418
00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:03,840
up, obviously the more 
experienced, you know, 

419
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:07,200
marathoners who've, you know, 
maybe 4 races in a row, they've 

420
00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:11,600
ran 405-4024 hours. 
Of course we can say marathon 

421
00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:13,760
paces, 9 minute pace, give or 
take. 

422
00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:16,800
But you know, a lot of the 
athletes that I'm developing, 

423
00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:19,240
you know, they're evolving or 
they're not even sure where 

424
00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:22,400
they're at. 
And as a coach, that's what I'm 

425
00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:27,600
here for, is to evaluate and 
build your fitness and then 

426
00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:30,240
determine what your capability 
is on race day. 

427
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:36,240
So that's the foundation of race
strategy is building fitness and

428
00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,520
then determining what you're 
capable of on race day. 

429
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:42,880
So that's that's the starting 
point. 

430
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:48,040
Then we can get into, obviously 
as we go along where we show up 

431
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:52,640
on race day, you know how we're 
going to strategize to perform 

432
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,400
our best as well. 
And I think that's a really good

433
00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:59,520
topic to talk about just in 
general on its own, because 

434
00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:03,960
whether you are signed up with 
Rana, the app, or you're using 

435
00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:06,920
Hal Higdon from online, a lot of
people just have that. 

436
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,640
And then they have the one 
sentence that tells you, OK, 

437
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,840
this is what you do on race day.
But I've seen through my friend 

438
00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:18,640
Patty, who you're coaching, how 
much you put into having this 

439
00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:21,720
race day strategy. 
Unfortunately, I only saw it on 

440
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,480
the day of, so we couldn't 
really discuss it a lot but but 

441
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:26,760
I thought that was really 
interesting and so maybe we can 

442
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:30,160
talk about all these things that
you put thought into for your 

443
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:33,040
runner to perform the best that 
they can during race day. 

444
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,000
Yeah. 
So as you know, you know, being 

445
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:41,000
a marathoner, it's I think the 
running community and the 

446
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,960
average person just going online
looking for a plan is they put 

447
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:49,040
so much into the plan. 
If I just follow this plan, I'm 

448
00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:51,240
good to go. 
I'm upset. 

449
00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:52,760
I'm going to go through the 
training cycle. 

450
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:54,200
Boom, I'm going to show up, kill
it. 

451
00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:59,360
So obviously the plan is 
important, the process is 

452
00:24:59,360 --> 00:25:03,720
important, but I don't think 
there's enough thought process 

453
00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:07,080
into the actual race. 
You show up and it's like, OK, 

454
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:09,800
I, I guess I trained for four 
hours. 

455
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,080
I'm just going to kind of, I 
guess I'll just start off a 9 

456
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:13,320
minute pace and see what 
happens. 

457
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:17,320
And that's where things often 
times fall apart because you can

458
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:22,640
maybe run 9 minute pace for 14 
miles, 16 miles, 18 coach. 

459
00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:25,520
I got the mile 20 and I'm 
suddenly running 11 minute pace 

460
00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:29,480
and I just crashed. 
I mean, I hear that constantly 

461
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:33,000
where the training runs went OK,
I worked hard, it was tough, 

462
00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:37,160
then I crashed. 
So then we look at what's the 

463
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:39,120
rationale or why did that 
happen? 

464
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,880
So whether it be with Patty or 
other runners, we, we go back 

465
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:46,960
and try to figure out why this 
is happening. 

466
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:50,360
You know, the, the basic 
criteria of going into a 

467
00:25:50,360 --> 00:25:52,160
marathon is being fit. 
OK. 

468
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:57,200
If you're trying to even partake
in a training plan with 0 

469
00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:01,160
fitness and trying to expect to 
perform extremely well 16 weeks 

470
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:02,680
later, it just doesn't work that
way. 

471
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:04,920
You know, one of the 
requirements that I typically 

472
00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,240
have for my athletes is, you 
know, before we go through a 

473
00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:11,040
marathon training block, I mean,
I want you to be fit. 

474
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,480
You have to have some proof or 
fitness that you can actually 

475
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:18,680
get through 1620 weeks of 
training because it doesn't do 

476
00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,320
either one of us any good if 
we're if we're building up and 

477
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:22,920
you're, oh God, my knees start 
and hurt. 

478
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:27,160
That's not how you train. 
So you need to have some sense 

479
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,000
of fitness before you go into a 
training block where you're 

480
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,280
building, your long runs are 
greater, your miles are 

481
00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,040
increasing, there's intensity 
increases. 

482
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:37,480
So first and foremost, we want 
that. 

483
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:41,600
But let's assume you know, an 
athlete is, you know, fit. 

484
00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:46,520
So on race day, from a strategy 
standpoint, what frustrates me 

485
00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:50,280
is to see runners, you know, go 
through the training process and

486
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:55,680
some for many, it's a grind. 
I don't I don't teach grind. 

487
00:26:56,360 --> 00:26:59,520
I don't like that mindset. 
I teach, hey, we're going to 

488
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:01,160
work hard, but we're going to 
have fun. 

489
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,040
We're going to grow. 
We're not going to be miserable 

490
00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:06,200
through training. 
You know, this is the culture I 

491
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:08,920
teach is enjoyment. 
Let's make running part of your 

492
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,840
lifestyle happiness, add 
happiness to your life. 

493
00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:15,280
So I try to get that culture 
ingrained into athletes. 

494
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:17,680
Like we're going to make this 
fun versus the grind. 

495
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:24,120
I hate this type mentality. 
So I want the athlete to feel 

496
00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:26,520
confident. 
So throughout the whole training

497
00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:28,400
block, we're building 
confidence. 

498
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,560
So then when they're lined up on
race day, they're 100% 

499
00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:34,760
confident. 
I'm evaluating throughout the 

500
00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:38,440
whole process and and give them 
a game plan. 

501
00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:42,600
So that's where it starts. 
I give them a game plan. 

502
00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:45,840
Depending on the level of 
athlete, it could be these are 

503
00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:50,000
the paces I want you to run 
based on your fitness for X 

504
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,560
amount of miles the first half. 
And then the other part that I 

505
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:58,400
really bring into my coaching is
the field component. 

506
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:00,960
I often think this gets 
neglected. 

507
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:05,960
We're so fixated on the 
analytics, the the numbers and 

508
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,560
we lose track of what paces feel
like. 

509
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,640
So, you know, I, I teach that in
my athletes and training, like 

510
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:15,920
let's go out and run 5 miles at 
what feels like marathon pace or

511
00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:17,920
I don't call it that, but feels 
like steady pace. 

512
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,400
They're like, well, tell me what
pace to run in. 

513
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:25,480
But no, this is a feel run. 
Envision being between miles 5 

514
00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:28,080
and 10 in the marathon, what you
want to feel like. 

515
00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:30,320
And it should feel like 
cruising, you know, you 

516
00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:33,280
shouldn't be struggling, you 
know, in miles five through 10 

517
00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:35,080
in a marathon. 
So you shouldn't in this 

518
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:39,360
training run as well. 
So we're developing kind of 

519
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:43,960
resiliency and confidence before
they actually go into the race 

520
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:48,160
so that when they show up, they 
have the plan in place and they 

521
00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:50,640
kind of know what it's going to 
feel like throughout. 

522
00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:54,360
So for a marathon and you've, 
you've been there, you've 

523
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,840
probably had some, you know, 
perfectly executed marathons and

524
00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:01,120
you've probably had some that 
are like, what what did I just 

525
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:03,120
do? 
Why did I go out fast and 

526
00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:06,440
struggle? 
And so for me as a coach, it's 

527
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:10,280
about I want the athlete to have
the absolute best experience 

528
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:14,200
possible. 
And that may or may not be the 

529
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,040
best time possible. 
I think we're also fixated on 

530
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:24,000
shooting for a time. 
And what if you show up race day

531
00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:28,480
and it's 75° and you trained in 
40s and 50s? 

532
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:32,200
So we need to adapt. 
So the week before I'll meet 

533
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:38,040
with my athletes, I said, hey, 
Bob, you know, I know what 

534
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:42,600
you're capable of. 
But on Sunday that's not in your

535
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:45,280
wheelhouse because of the heat. 
And we haven't done a lot of 

536
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:48,800
training in the heat. 
We're going to have to adapt and

537
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:54,080
make some changes with your 
strategy, pacing, feel, perhaps 

538
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:58,120
fueling, hydration. 
So then it's like this athlete 

539
00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:00,160
might say, well now, now I'm not
going to hit 4 hours. 

540
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:01,560
What the heck? 
That was my goal. 

541
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:04,560
So what happens with the average
athlete is they're still fixated

542
00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:07,920
on 4 hours even with the heat. 
So they still just go out at 

543
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:11,000
that 9 minute pace. 
And then again, it really falls 

544
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,800
apart because they didn't take 
into account the heat factor. 

545
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:17,240
So, so when I'm working out a 
race strategy for my athletes, 

546
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:22,600
it's knowing what they're 
capable on race day in the 

547
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:26,080
conditions that they're running 
in, whether it be heat, 

548
00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:32,200
humidity, wind, coarse terrain, 
all that factors in for the game

549
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:35,600
day strategy. 
I love this. 

550
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,960
I want you to keep talking. 
So basically, OK, well, we're 

551
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:43,720
talking about pacing, right? 
So we've now learned that there 

552
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:47,720
goes a ton of stuff into what 
goes into pacing before you even

553
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,120
get to the starting line. 
But what are your 

554
00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:54,000
recommendations for establishing
and sticking to a race pace? 

555
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:58,080
How do you figure out what such 
race pace should be? 

556
00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:01,440
And we can stick with the four 
hour marathon or 9 minute 

557
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:02,080
Miller. 
Yeah. 

558
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:06,240
So throughout the train training
process, you know what I'm 

559
00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:11,320
focusing on building fitness and
what I do in my, my, my, the 

560
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,080
athletes that I coach is I'm 
always evaluating. 

561
00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:18,040
So I have what's called 
indicator workouts or races. 

562
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:22,080
So on any given day, I may give 
them a workout that, you know, 

563
00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:26,240
at least in my mind is like, I 
want to test their fitness at 

564
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:32,160
certain paces and then get their
feedback on that because I'm 

565
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:36,200
tying and pacing with effort and
I use various efforts in my 

566
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:38,760
training. 
Typically, you know, there's 

567
00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:42,880
recovery, there's easy, there's 
some challenge, challenge, semi 

568
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,960
hard, hard. 
It's kind of my little block of 

569
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:49,080
terms. 
And, and actually I should, 

570
00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:51,160
there's actually one more term 
cruising. 

571
00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:55,160
Cruising is what I often use 
because I I want marathon pace 

572
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:58,920
to be cruising and cruising is 
kind of like, Hey, I'm, I'm out 

573
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:01,920
here running, I'm cruising, I'm 
enjoying things. 

574
00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:06,240
At no point do I feel like I'm 
in, you know, digging or blowing

575
00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:11,000
at some point in a race, you 
know, that may factor in. 

576
00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:14,800
But so I'm trying to get 
feedback in these indicator 

577
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:19,680
workouts of Hey, what does I may
say, Hey, go do you know 830 

578
00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:23,520
pace for two by three miles? 
What did that feel like? 

579
00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:26,800
They're like, oh man, I'm I was 
dying and I'll look at the 

580
00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:30,120
weather. 
But if they say, hey, 830 pace, 

581
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:32,080
I felt pretty good. 
That was, you know, some 

582
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:36,720
challenge, not bad. 
That tells me that, OK, 9 minute

583
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,320
pace is going to probably feel 
easier and maybe they're 

584
00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:45,560
evolving from two months ago. 
So and I focus on paces that I 

585
00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:49,160
don't do a lot of steady. 
What I call essentially I call 

586
00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:51,280
marathon pace steady in my 
terminology. 

587
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:56,560
In the early phases of the 
marathon training block, my 

588
00:32:56,560 --> 00:33:01,680
focus is on building fitness 
versus locking into that quote, 

589
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:04,640
marathon pace or steady pace 
because I feel you get more bang

590
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:07,720
for your buck physiologically. 
You know, the goal is to build 

591
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:11,760
fitness, not just work at a pace
that's, you know, marathon pace 

592
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:18,120
is kind of in that Gray zone. 
It's too hard to be easy, too 

593
00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:21,520
easy to be hard. 
So I don't think that pace is 

594
00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:26,360
the best for developing the 
Physiology of building fitness. 

595
00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:30,320
So I don't target that pace 
until a little bit later in the 

596
00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:33,880
training block, especially with 
athletes that are a little less 

597
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,960
experienced because you do have 
to develop muscle memory. 

598
00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:41,480
My more experienced athletes, I 
don't do a whole lot of marathon

599
00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:43,560
pace because they're experienced
Pacers. 

600
00:33:43,560 --> 00:33:45,880
They know what it feels like. 
I'd rather just keep working on 

601
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,680
building fitness, doing the 
stamina work, the critical 

602
00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:52,360
velocity, the, the, the 
threshold work and not slowing 

603
00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:55,520
down to the marathon pace. 
You know, we do, we do lock into

604
00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:59,040
it later on. 
But so, yeah, so it's, it's 

605
00:33:59,040 --> 00:34:01,880
about developing fitness first 
indicator workouts. 

606
00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:06,200
I love throwing in some races 
of, you know, half marathon race

607
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,000
sometime in the training block 
and it was six weeks before, 4 

608
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,280
weeks before. 
That's a good indicator workout.

609
00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:19,120
That tells me a lot. 5 KS and 10
KS are also very valuable. 5 KS 

610
00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:21,440
and 10 KS. 
I love a 5K race. 

611
00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:23,679
You know, my athletes know it's 
my favorite distance. 

612
00:34:24,639 --> 00:34:28,239
They kind of make fun of me 
because it's like, why it's a 

613
00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:31,320
waste of time to show up to to 
do 3 miles. 

614
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:37,159
And I disagree. 
I think a 5K has a lot of value.

615
00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:41,040
But yeah, indicator workouts 
racing to help me determine what

616
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:43,920
they're capable of on race day. 
Perfect. 

617
00:34:44,159 --> 00:34:47,040
OK, So then you as a coach, you 
sit on the other side, you get 

618
00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:49,800
the uploaded data and then like 
you mentioned, you know, 

619
00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:51,400
obviously you're going to see 
the heart rate, you're going to 

620
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:53,560
see whether or not that person 
hit those paces at all. 

621
00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:57,280
And then you have perception of 
effort by this athletes. 

622
00:34:57,320 --> 00:34:58,960
How much weight do you give 
that? 

623
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:01,600
Also taking into consideration 
that some athletes that are 

624
00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:06,920
newer probably are not as tough 
as say an ultra runner. 

625
00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:12,840
Yeah, I mean there there's, I 
try to as a coach, you know, 

626
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,160
when I develop a connection with
an athlete and I think this is 

627
00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:17,680
very important. 
You know, I think there's a lot 

628
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:20,080
of great coaches out there, but 
I think there are also coaches 

629
00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:22,520
out there that stick to here's 
your plan. 

630
00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:25,400
Let me know if you have 
questions that type of because I

631
00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:28,280
I hear it when I interview, it's
like, well, my coach kind of 

632
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:31,000
gave me this and I always said, 
you know, if you have questions,

633
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:33,320
let me know. 
And I don't think there's a 

634
00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:35,360
healthy communication in some 
instances. 

635
00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:40,720
So I try to get in the the head 
of my athletes, you know, what 

636
00:35:40,720 --> 00:35:43,760
are they feeling? 
You get to know them over a 

637
00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:46,600
period of, you know, days, 
weeks, months, years. 

638
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:50,800
You know, how tough are they? 
Because all that factors into 

639
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:55,880
how you can perform on race day.
I don't, you know, I take, I'm 

640
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:59,480
kind of a common sense coach. 
I look at analytics as a tool 

641
00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:02,480
versus relying on them. 
I don't coach by zones. 

642
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:06,400
I don't coach by heart rates. 
I'm, you know, kind of pace 

643
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:10,960
effort coach because we get 
obsessed with got to slow down, 

644
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:12,720
got to speed up on my heart 
rate's too high, my heart rate's

645
00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:15,600
too low. 
That takes away a lot of the fun

646
00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:18,640
out of training, in my opinion. 
Now, maybe if you're an elite or

647
00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,680
the advanced of the advanced, we
dig into the numbers a little 

648
00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:23,240
bit more because that makes more
sense. 

649
00:36:23,240 --> 00:36:27,440
But you know, you know, I coach,
you know, and most of the market

650
00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:31,040
out there, 95% plus are people 
trying to get better and, and 

651
00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,840
don't need to be so locked into 
these numbers. 

652
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:35,880
Oh, I ran up the hill. 
I got to slow down my hair. 

653
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:40,040
Now I focus more on feel, more 
on effort. 

654
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:43,480
So on race day, you know, 
dealing with each individual 

655
00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:47,040
athlete, there are situations on
a race day strategy where I 

656
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:49,320
don't even put down paces at 
all. 

657
00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:51,280
I said, we're going to run this 
race by feel. 

658
00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:54,720
This is what I want you to feel 
from this, this mile to this 

659
00:36:54,720 --> 00:36:57,560
mile. 
This is what I want you to feel 

660
00:36:57,560 --> 00:36:59,520
here. 
And then get them ready for OK. 

661
00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:02,960
When you hit mile 18, that 
cruising pace is going to 

662
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:05,400
change. 
It just is physiologically, you 

663
00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:09,440
know, you're dehydrating, your 
glycogen is depleting, your body

664
00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:12,320
temperature is up. 
I said at some point we have to 

665
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:17,360
go from cruising and challenging
to now we have to show up and 

666
00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:18,160
bring it. 
Race. 

667
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:22,640
Race time starts at 18, mile 20.
Then we have to go to a 

668
00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:27,000
different place mentally. 
So I prepare them for the mental

669
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:32,480
game and I want them confident 
going into the event. 

670
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:34,680
And then you show up and you 
bring it. 

671
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:36,760
You know, it's race day, you're 
all in. 

672
00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:40,680
You have to understand that. 
Do all the right things. 

673
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:43,160
You know, we talked about the 
process of training and doing 

674
00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:47,480
all the right things in training
that has to carry over to race 

675
00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:51,880
day because why'd you train? 
You train to maximize your 

676
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:55,200
performance on race day. 
And I think that gets neglected 

677
00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:58,640
too often. 
I think we're so focused on the 

678
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:03,720
plan and some people blow it on 
race day. 

679
00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:06,960
You know, it's all this time and
effort to going into training to

680
00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:12,400
perform on the big day and we 
just kind of show up and go for 

681
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:15,640
it when we may not be capable of
going for it so. 

682
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:19,000
Yeah, that's a sad reality with 
the marathon, right? 

683
00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:21,800
Because you spend so many months
training for this one single 

684
00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:24,440
event and then afterwards it's 
not like you can run one the 

685
00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:26,960
next week unless you dropped out
of the race. 

686
00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:32,720
Yeah, it it's, it's just so much
more rewarding and feels so much

687
00:38:32,720 --> 00:38:35,840
better when you can finish a 
marathon on your terms with 

688
00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:38,680
control. 
I tell my athletes quite often 

689
00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:41,960
when you get the mile 20, I want
you to be the boss. 

690
00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:45,440
You are in control of the next 
6.2 miles. 

691
00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:48,880
What the foolishness that you 
may have done the first half of 

692
00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:51,200
the marathon. 
You don't want that to control 

693
00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:53,280
what's going to happen the last 
6.2 miles. 

694
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:57,360
So don't be foolish. 
You know, pace smarter, race 

695
00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:01,240
smarter. 
Put yourself in a position so 

696
00:39:01,240 --> 00:39:04,800
that the next 6 to 8 miles you 
go for your best time. 

697
00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:08,440
This is when you go for it, put 
yourself in a position to go for

698
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:12,760
it late, not from mile 1234. 
And then you get the mile 13 and

699
00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,240
you're blowing and your pace 
starts slowing and then you're 

700
00:39:15,240 --> 00:39:17,680
in survival mode. 
You get to the finish line. 

701
00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:20,320
You feel accomplished at the 
finish because I finished. 

702
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:22,760
But God I wish I would have felt
better. 

703
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:27,200
Yeah, and I mean, that's again 
another sad reality about 

704
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:30,240
training for a marathon because 
I don't know how far you have 

705
00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:33,360
your athletes run in their 
longest training runs, but a lot

706
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:38,520
of the prep ends at 1820 just to
avoid injury and, you know, 

707
00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:42,000
recovery. 
Yeah, you know, there there's, 

708
00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:45,160
you know, again, if you're 
following a plan, you know, the 

709
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:48,360
old got to do my 20 mile, I got 
to do my 22 mile. 

710
00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:52,320
They're in. 
I've had athletes PR with a Max 

711
00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:55,360
13 mile long run. 
I had a lady in Chicago last 

712
00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:58,920
year because of knee issues. 
I think we maxed out 11 miles. 

713
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:02,520
She PR Ed from her last marathon
where she went through a full 

714
00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:06,400
training block doing a 20 mile, 
but she didn't race it correctly

715
00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:10,440
because she went out too fast, 
crashed, slowed down. 

716
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:13,760
She maxed out 1120 mile, 11 or 
12 mile long run. 

717
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:18,160
But I had her doing a walk run 
strategy in control, proper 

718
00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:19,840
fuelling. 
She helped pace. 

719
00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:24,680
Beautifully throughout negative 
split PR with 11 mile Max long 

720
00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:28,480
run. 
So that's a testament of coming 

721
00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:32,000
going in with a with a good run 
strategy or race strategy based 

722
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:35,760
on the fitness that you're in, 
not where you want to be. 

723
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:38,480
You know, I think for her 
without a coach, she probably 

724
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:42,320
would have looked at that last 
strategy and say, well, I'm 

725
00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:45,360
going to go for it and see what 
happens and probably would have 

726
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:50,440
had a similar result. 
So, but yeah, I'm not there's no

727
00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:52,560
set. 
You don't have to do a 20 mile. 

728
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:54,160
You don't have to do a 22 mile 
there. 

729
00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:58,480
I it depends on the level, the 
fitness level of the person. 

730
00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:02,680
I'm any to any long run more 
than 2 1/2 hours really doesn't 

731
00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:08,720
give you any more physiological 
benefit. 3 hours, yeah, I'm OK 

732
00:41:08,720 --> 00:41:11,960
with depending on on the on the 
athlete, but to go out and run 

733
00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:15,160
four or five hour long runs, I 
mean, it's completely 

734
00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:17,640
ridiculous. 
I mean that athlete is going to 

735
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:23,160
in most cases going to be broken
down going into the run and 

736
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:26,520
they're not gaining anything 
physiologically other than more 

737
00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:31,720
breakdown, more metabolic 
breakdown and just not how I 

738
00:41:31,720 --> 00:41:34,200
teach. 
There are some athletes, some 

739
00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:36,720
coaches that do believe in doing
the four or five hour long runs 

740
00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:42,120
and and that's OK, just not 
where I come from with the 

741
00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:44,920
Physiology and my exercise 
Physiology background and 

742
00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:46,960
knowing how the body reacts to 
stress. 

743
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:51,360
And I'm a recovery based coach. 
You know, recovery takes 

744
00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:55,760
priority. 
I'd rather you walk then push 

745
00:41:55,760 --> 00:41:59,960
through soreness because you 
can't build fitness when you're 

746
00:41:59,960 --> 00:42:02,760
beat down. 
So recovery always has to be a 

747
00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:04,880
focus. 
That's awesome, Yeah. 

748
00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:09,480
And, and obviously, you know, 
the even the fastest athletes do

749
00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:12,520
the negative splits by going out
conservative. 

750
00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:15,480
I was talking to the winner of 
the Boston Marathon, John 

751
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:18,400
Carrier, and I asked him because
he had told me before the race 

752
00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:21,400
he was going to just cruise 
until 20. 

753
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:25,000
And then, you know, you saw if 
anyone's watched the Boston 

754
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:28,240
Marathon the last 6 miles, his 
splits were amazingly fast. 

755
00:42:28,240 --> 00:42:30,480
So I asked him. 
I said you were running with 

756
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:33,120
this pack of people going fast 
and dying off. 

757
00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:36,640
So was that really, did that 
feel like you're going easier 

758
00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:38,040
and it kind of like a cruise for
you? 

759
00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:41,280
And you said, yes, it was, he 
was at that level of fitness 

760
00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:46,360
where it did feel like he was OK
and he was ready to really run 

761
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:49,840
hard after mile 20, which, you 
know, just goes to show a lot of

762
00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:53,400
times, definitely including 
myself, I positive split more 

763
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:56,040
marathons than a negative split 
just because you're impatient 

764
00:42:56,040 --> 00:42:59,400
with yourself and you think, OK,
I'm just going to run as fast as

765
00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:00,960
I can and then hang on for dear 
life. 

766
00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:04,040
And you can still do OK with it.
But like you said it, it kind of

767
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:07,200
the experience goes down. 
Yeah, I think we can learn a lot

768
00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:10,600
from, you know, obviously we 
can't relate, you know, from the

769
00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:14,000
talent level of the elite 
athletes, but we can learn from 

770
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:18,160
their race strategy, you know, 
are are, are they performing 

771
00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:20,080
their best? 
If they fly out of the gate and,

772
00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:23,120
and slowly, you know, no, 
they're going to fall off and 

773
00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:26,640
finish back of the pack. 
So, you know, often times you'll

774
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:28,880
hear the commentators say, oh, 
they're just out there warming 

775
00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:31,800
up these first 2-3 miles. 
And now granted, they're running

776
00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:35,560
still 5 minute pace, but you 
know, we, we can't relate. 

777
00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:36,600
Like, well, that's not a warm 
up. 

778
00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:39,200
I can't even Sprint that, you 
know, you know, that's where the

779
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:42,120
disconnect is sometimes where 
they look like they're running 

780
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:45,680
fast, But physiologically, you 
know, they're not. 

781
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:48,720
They're in, you know, complete 
cruise control. 

782
00:43:48,720 --> 00:43:52,400
And then at the halfway point, 
you know, watch them, you know, 

783
00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:54,760
do they look like they're 
blowing and struggling and 

784
00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:57,640
grimacing? 
It's like, no, if they're not, 

785
00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:00,440
you know, why should we be 
struggling at mile 13? 

786
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:04,480
And even if they were struggling
at mile 13, they have the, the, 

787
00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:10,160
the huge base of fitness to slow
down a little bit and still be 

788
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:11,720
able to finish strong and do 
well. 

789
00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:16,440
Us mortals don't have that 
capability of, you know, of 

790
00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:18,720
cranking it for 13. 
And then I'm going to slow down 

791
00:44:18,720 --> 00:44:22,160
a mile and and just finished. 
No, you the damage is already 

792
00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:25,680
done. 
So that's why there has to be 

793
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:29,480
more time on race strategy and 
and preparing and planning and 

794
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,360
dialing that in. 
And obviously that's what a 

795
00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:37,200
coach is for when you're doing 
it on your own, you know, unless

796
00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:41,440
you're really in tune with your 
body and learn from your 

797
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:45,000
mistakes and you know, it's a 
challenge. 

798
00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:47,840
It really is. 
And I think that's what keeps me

799
00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:50,720
in business. 
And I think we struggle out 

800
00:44:50,720 --> 00:44:55,240
there to to figure it out. 
And I'm here to help you figure 

801
00:44:55,240 --> 00:44:57,600
it out. 
No, very true. 

802
00:44:57,600 --> 00:45:00,440
And I guess, you know, you 
obviously wear more than one hat

803
00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:03,240
because the two things we have 
not talked about yet besides 

804
00:45:03,240 --> 00:45:07,320
pacing is 1 fueling and the 
other one is we've touched on a 

805
00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:11,240
little bit mental toughness. 
So as a coach, just strictly 

806
00:45:11,240 --> 00:45:14,000
speaking about race day, I know 
you probably have your athletes 

807
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:18,320
prepare for both of these. 
How do you make sure everything 

808
00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:20,720
goes well for them or what do 
you put in their pacing plan? 

809
00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:23,880
From a fueling standpoint. 
Yes. 

810
00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:28,800
Yeah, interesting because I I 
just did AI do smart Academy 

811
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:32,680
zoom calls for my team and the 
one I just did last Thursday 

812
00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:35,560
evening and yesterday morning 
was on race day fuelling. 

813
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:39,880
That was the the topic how to, 
you know, feel your best, how to

814
00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:43,840
come up with a game plan that's 
customized for you as an 

815
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:47,280
athlete. 
And it doesn't happen in, you 

816
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:50,800
know, one marathon. 
Often times it's a process of, 

817
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:54,320
of experimenting and learning as
you go along. 

818
00:45:54,800 --> 00:45:58,240
And so each individual athlete 
is unique. 

819
00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:04,200
You know, fundamentally we, we 
have to emphasize the importance

820
00:46:04,200 --> 00:46:06,280
of, of feeling. 
I think the majority of 

821
00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:10,040
marathoners are under fueling, 
under hydrating when they show 

822
00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:13,120
up or they just say, I, I feel I
felt fine in training. 

823
00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:16,960
So I'll just, you know, take a 
gel here and there and, or drink

824
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:20,640
when I'm thirsty. 
And, and that's part of the 

825
00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:25,160
issue at mile 18, mile 20, mile 
22 is improper planning. 

826
00:46:25,480 --> 00:46:28,120
I'm just so huge on planning and
practicing. 

827
00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:31,000
So it is customized for each 
individual athlete. 

828
00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:34,720
You know, when we talk about 
analytics and I'm sure you've 

829
00:46:34,840 --> 00:46:38,200
had nutritionists and dietitians
on and, and there's certain 

830
00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:41,240
formulas to follow. 
And, and like I said, I'm a 

831
00:46:41,240 --> 00:46:45,920
little bit more common sense in 
my approach, you know, you know,

832
00:46:45,960 --> 00:46:49,520
for example, there, you know, 
carb loading, it's like ungodly 

833
00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:52,280
amounts, you know, if you follow
the formulas and, and it's like,

834
00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:57,160
I'm not going to ask my, you 
know, 190 LB man to eat 800 

835
00:46:57,160 --> 00:47:02,720
grams of carbs for three 
straight days or race morning. 

836
00:47:02,720 --> 00:47:06,720
It's like, oh, it consume, you 
know, 1600 calories and 200 

837
00:47:06,720 --> 00:47:11,000
grams of carbs the morning of. 
And some of this based on 

838
00:47:11,040 --> 00:47:15,040
potentially science, you know, 
has some of has some proven 

839
00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:19,760
benefits, but the common sense 
says, hey, I'm probably not 

840
00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:22,480
going there with my athletes and
my athletes are probably 

841
00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:26,480
receptive to that. 
However, doesn't mean we can't 

842
00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:30,000
take strides or make 
improvements from race to race 

843
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:33,320
and maybe strive to maybe get to
those levels at some point. 

844
00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:39,360
So I focus on improvement and we
can use even Patty as an 

845
00:47:39,360 --> 00:47:42,600
example. 
Patty, who you know, doesn't 

846
00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:47,400
fuel when she wakes up and does 
a marathon, she showed up at 

847
00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:50,560
London and I had her on a 
specific fueling plan in the 

848
00:47:50,560 --> 00:47:55,720
morning of and throughout the 
race and boom, major, major, you

849
00:47:55,720 --> 00:47:57,640
know, progress over her last 
marathons. 

850
00:47:58,720 --> 00:48:01,320
You know, she didn't have any 
fitness improvements in the the 

851
00:48:01,360 --> 00:48:02,680
six weeks I was working with 
her. 

852
00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:07,360
It was performance improvement 
based on a fueling plan that 

853
00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:10,760
worked for her and kept her fuel
in addition to the pacing. 

854
00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:15,000
So each of an individual athlete
is different, you know, we work 

855
00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:17,760
with, you know, the different 
gels and, and formulas out 

856
00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:19,160
there. 
And, and part of the call was 

857
00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:22,520
educating on what is in gels 
and, you know, glucose, fructose

858
00:48:22,520 --> 00:48:25,520
ratios and some of the other 
ingredients and how caffeine 

859
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:30,040
plays into it and, you know, 
consuming fluids and salt. 

860
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:32,400
I'm big on on salting and salt 
loading. 

861
00:48:32,400 --> 00:48:34,920
You know, that could be a topic 
for another day. 

862
00:48:35,920 --> 00:48:39,320
And again, part of my approach 
in general, doing things a 

863
00:48:39,320 --> 00:48:42,960
little bit outside the box, 
don't. 

864
00:48:42,960 --> 00:48:45,520
You don't hear coaches talk 
about salt loading often. 

865
00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:50,360
I do with my athletes. 
I am careful to promote it on 

866
00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:53,880
social media because of the 
stigma around salt and how bad 

867
00:48:53,880 --> 00:48:56,520
it is for you and bloat to you 
and so forth, so forth. 

868
00:48:56,520 --> 00:48:58,880
But that's insider info with my 
athletes. 

869
00:48:59,560 --> 00:49:04,800
But yeah, we come up with a game
plan for, you know, carb intake,

870
00:49:04,920 --> 00:49:08,600
hydration and salt and used on a
regular basis, you know, 

871
00:49:08,600 --> 00:49:11,960
throughout the race and being 
consistent with it. 

872
00:49:12,120 --> 00:49:14,560
And you also have to practice it
in training. 

873
00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:17,720
You have to. 
That's part of showing up race 

874
00:49:17,720 --> 00:49:22,480
day, being confident in your 
strategy, your pacing and your 

875
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:24,360
fueling. 
I love this. 

876
00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:27,440
I love this, love this. 
So I guess my last question is 

877
00:49:27,440 --> 00:49:31,480
going to be about teaching or 
making sure your athletes, as 

878
00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:34,880
you've mentioned, show up at the
starting nine confident but with

879
00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:36,920
the mental game that they need 
to have. 

880
00:49:38,120 --> 00:49:42,040
Yeah, I mean, part of the mental
game is obviously you want to 

881
00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:45,560
show up confident. 
I think most runners and racers,

882
00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:47,720
you know, there's the 
anticipation of race day and 

883
00:49:47,720 --> 00:49:50,600
there's nerves even throughout 
the whole training block. 

884
00:49:50,600 --> 00:49:53,360
You're kind of nervous and 
anticipating the race day. 

885
00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:56,600
And then obviously as it gets 
closer, you know, the 

886
00:49:56,600 --> 00:49:59,080
butterflies and the nerves start
creeping in. 

887
00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:02,800
And I think there's a fear, 
there's excitement, there's 

888
00:50:02,800 --> 00:50:05,840
anticipation, there's fear. 
And I think that the greatest 

889
00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:09,520
fear is showing up and, you 
know, crashing. 

890
00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:11,000
And I think there's a fear of 
failure. 

891
00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:14,080
I think that's a big part of it,
in addition to just being around

892
00:50:14,080 --> 00:50:18,640
the crowds and, and fun. 
But the mental game is huge. 

893
00:50:18,760 --> 00:50:22,720
I think through training, I want
an athlete, you know, we'll have

894
00:50:22,720 --> 00:50:25,080
a healthy connection and 
they'll, they'll get a sense of 

895
00:50:25,920 --> 00:50:29,840
what their potential is just 
through the paces that I, I give

896
00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:32,400
them in training and, and how I 
encourage them. 

897
00:50:32,840 --> 00:50:35,440
And we'll talk depending on the 
the athlete, you know, what 

898
00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:39,240
they're, what they're looking at
and, and I made came them from 

899
00:50:39,240 --> 00:50:43,480
their goals and, and educate 
them as to, you know, what we're

900
00:50:43,480 --> 00:50:46,200
trying to accomplish from a 
performance standpoint, not 

901
00:50:46,200 --> 00:50:48,000
necessarily from a time 
standpoint. 

902
00:50:48,720 --> 00:50:52,880
So lining up on race day, 
definitely you want to be 

903
00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:56,280
confident And, and I kind of 
encourage that throughout the 

904
00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:58,720
whole training block. 
You know, we're hitting paces, 

905
00:50:58,840 --> 00:51:01,360
They're feeling confident. 
I'm I said good job. 

906
00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:02,720
You know, you did great at this 
pace. 

907
00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:05,920
Do you feel like you could hold 
that pace for five miles? 

908
00:51:05,920 --> 00:51:07,840
Do you feel like if you had to 
hold that for 10? 

909
00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:12,200
And I'm just getting this 
feedback and I want them to show

910
00:51:12,200 --> 00:51:14,560
up. 
You know, when we we meet the 

911
00:51:14,560 --> 00:51:17,880
week before, I'll give them the 
game plan and I'll flat out ask 

912
00:51:17,880 --> 00:51:22,240
him, how do you feel about this?
Feel like you're in feel like 

913
00:51:22,240 --> 00:51:24,400
you can accomplish this. 
Can you, can you handle this 

914
00:51:24,400 --> 00:51:27,520
feeling strategy, this hydration
salting strategy? 

915
00:51:27,880 --> 00:51:32,040
Do these paces feel in line with
with what you're comfortable 

916
00:51:32,040 --> 00:51:35,360
with? 
And they're like, yeah, So 

917
00:51:35,440 --> 00:51:38,320
lining up, I want them. 
I always kid them. 

918
00:51:38,320 --> 00:51:40,240
I said when you're lined up at 
the start line, I want you to 

919
00:51:40,240 --> 00:51:44,640
grunt, give me some grunts and 
say, hey, I'm bad ass, I got 

920
00:51:44,640 --> 00:51:48,960
this, and then it's go time. 
I love it. 

921
00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:49,760
I love it. 
I love it. 

922
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:51,960
Thank you so much, Todd. 
There's so much more. 

923
00:51:51,960 --> 00:51:54,760
And hopefully we're gonna be 
able to get you on future 

924
00:51:54,760 --> 00:51:57,360
episodes about other specific 
training topics. 

925
00:51:57,360 --> 00:52:01,520
Yeah, it's really great. 
And I want you to let the 

926
00:52:01,520 --> 00:52:03,560
listeners know where they can 
find you. 

927
00:52:04,800 --> 00:52:09,880
Yeah, I'm on Instagram at at run
coach Todd and Facebook smart 

928
00:52:09,880 --> 00:52:12,200
approach training. 
And then I also do have a 

929
00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:15,360
website 
ofsmartapproachtraining.com. 

930
00:52:16,080 --> 00:52:19,200
You can reach me really any of 
those three areas. 

931
00:52:19,840 --> 00:52:24,160
And yeah, if any questions or 
feedback or comments after 

932
00:52:24,160 --> 00:52:26,440
today, I'm happy to. 
You know, I love, I love 

933
00:52:26,440 --> 00:52:30,360
chatting about running and, and 
all topics related to running. 

934
00:52:30,360 --> 00:52:33,960
You know, it's kind of kind of 
how I'm wired up my passion. 

935
00:52:33,960 --> 00:52:37,120
And so, yeah, I look forward to 
hearing from some of you and 

936
00:52:38,320 --> 00:52:41,680
excited to keep this journey 
moving forward. 

937
00:52:42,240 --> 00:52:43,880
Perfect. 
Thank you so much. 

938
00:52:44,440 --> 00:52:45,680
You're welcome. 
Great to be here. 

939
00:52:45,680 --> 00:52:51,320
Thanks. 
Thank you Todd for speaking with

940
00:52:51,320 --> 00:52:55,360
me and for your in depth 
explanation and knowledge and 

941
00:52:55,360 --> 00:52:58,640
hopefully we can have you back 
on the podcast again on some 

942
00:52:58,640 --> 00:53:00,200
other topic. 
I really enjoyed this 

943
00:53:00,200 --> 00:53:04,360
conversation. 
Bloody how does his approach to 

944
00:53:04,920 --> 00:53:06,840
pre race planning compare with 
yours? 

945
00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:12,000
Well, he plans, I don't, but I 
feel like even when I'm taking 

946
00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:15,880
things serious, I think having 
someone like him on your side 

947
00:53:15,880 --> 00:53:20,640
can not just help you with how 
to approach it and have a reason

948
00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:22,960
why doing things. 
I think having him as a coach 

949
00:53:22,960 --> 00:53:27,040
also makes people maybe stronger
mentally because you know, 

950
00:53:27,040 --> 00:53:31,240
whatever you done, your fitness 
that you have is gonna come out 

951
00:53:31,240 --> 00:53:34,400
as your result unless something 
crazy happens, crazy weather or 

952
00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:36,120
whatever. 
But even with that, I feel like 

953
00:53:36,240 --> 00:53:41,280
you'll be a confident runner and
also have a goal that is 

954
00:53:41,280 --> 00:53:43,520
achievable. 
Even if that means you know it's

955
00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:46,200
a hot day, you have to scale 
back a little bit and that, in 

956
00:53:46,200 --> 00:53:48,240
the end, makes the whole 
experience a little bit more 

957
00:53:48,240 --> 00:53:49,680
pleasant. 
All right, well, hopefully the 

958
00:53:49,680 --> 00:53:52,600
listeners find something useful 
that they can use with their 

959
00:53:52,600 --> 00:53:54,360
next race. 
Yes, exactly. 

960
00:53:54,440 --> 00:53:57,240
So stay tuned for next week, 
because next week, guess what? 

961
00:53:57,720 --> 00:54:00,640
What? 
It's our 4th or 5th podcast 

962
00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:04,360
anniversary and we're going to 
celebrate that. 

963
00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:06,040
You haven't figured it out yet. 
No. 

964
00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:08,040
And for all of you listeners 
that don't know what we're 

965
00:54:08,040 --> 00:54:10,680
talking about right now, I have 
a really hard time with 

966
00:54:10,680 --> 00:54:13,360
determining anniversaries 
because it's not like a baby 

967
00:54:13,360 --> 00:54:16,960
that was born and it's year zero
and then year one with the 

968
00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:19,000
podcast, it's like the first 
year, second year. 

969
00:54:19,360 --> 00:54:22,640
So I'm trying to figure out what
our anniversary actually is. 

970
00:54:22,720 --> 00:54:24,000
We'll have to get the calendar 
out. 

971
00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:26,200
So Ryan, what do you think we 
should talk about in our 

972
00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:28,400
anniversary anniversary episode?
Is it a surprise? 

973
00:54:28,680 --> 00:54:30,000
Should we keep it a surprise 
you? 

974
00:54:30,040 --> 00:54:32,320
Usually come up with the topics.
What do you have in store for 

975
00:54:32,320 --> 00:54:33,240
us? 
I don't know yet. 

976
00:54:33,240 --> 00:54:34,880
I'm actually going to pick your 
brain for that one. 

977
00:54:35,200 --> 00:54:37,240
Just like our regular 
anniversary, so. 

978
00:54:37,240 --> 00:54:38,720
It'll be a surprise all. 
Right. 

979
00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:41,040
So stay tuned for that. 
And with that. 

980
00:54:41,160 --> 00:54:46,800
Have a good weekend running. 
Thanks for tuning in. 

981
00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:51,800
For more information, go to 
www.marathonrunningpodcast.com 

982
00:54:52,080 --> 00:54:54,120
or check us out on all channels.