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Podcast: Episode 8 – Day on a Plate

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Episode 8

This episode I dive into nutrition!

This episode is the first of a three part series on nutrition and I am talking day on a plate.

 

I talk about why you should go for more, not less and I answer some community questions like:

How do I incorporate food preparation into my routine?
What should I do for post-run recovery, especially for longer runs?
What should I do if I have a craving?

I don’t believe in diets, or running for weight loss but I do believe in living the healthiest life you can enjoy.

 

Head over to iTunes to listen (and subscribe!)

You can listen and download episodes in Itunes here.

 

Why winter running is the actual best

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Winter Running

Look what I did. I lured you in with an awesome winter running cat. But now you are here, let’s talk about running in winter. Now sure, you might say that I live somewhere without true winter, but I’m so acclimatised to heat at this point, that I might as well be in Antarctica.

But it’s cold, and I want to stay in bed.

Fair point. It is a bit harder to get moving in the morning, and I’m currently typing this in two jumpers while I’m under two doonas. But there are some absolutely fantastic things about running in winter that you are missing out on!

7 ways winter running is fantastic

1️⃣ You vaguely remember summer, right? Do you remember the heat, the humidity – catching a breeze only to find it’s just a hot wind? When you are getting up in the morning, remind yourself of that. There was a time when you were looking forward to this. Anything is better than that!

2️⃣ What about those awesome long tights that you bought? Don’t get to wear those every day. Around here I get maybe a month where I can wear winter gear, don’t want to miss my window!

3️⃣ You actually enjoy the hot shower afterwards. Those hot showers are the best showers you are going to have all year. Remember in summer when you have cold showers and you’re still sweating afterwards? So much less fun.

4️⃣ You can go running anytime you want. Forget the military precision planning to avoid middle of the day heat. You can literally go anytime you want.

5️⃣ It’s PB season! Winter is the easiest time for your body to run because there is less stress on you from heat, so you are likely to clock your fastest times or your easiest runs right now. Have you had your eye on breaking a record? There is no better time than Winter to do it!

6️⃣ Do you ever get SAD (Seasonal Affect Disorder), where you experience depressive symptoms during Winter? Well getting outdoors is a great way to help manage this.

7️⃣ There is no feeling like the numb ears and nose feeling. You will never feel more alive than you do on a crisp winter morning.

Ok, that’s great but how do I actually get out of bed.

First thing is move your alarm to where you have to actually get out of bed to switch it off. Go to bed in your running clothes if you have to. Or at the very least, get them ready the night before so you can get dressed on auto-pilot.

Keep your eye on a goal.

You know what winter running prepares you for? Awesome, fun Spring events like the Sydney Running Festival or the Melbourne Marathon Festival. If you get training now, you are going to enjoy those events so much more. A good goal will help to keep you motivated. And if you feel like you are struggling with it, then it might be time for a new goal – one that is exciting enough to get you moving in the morning.

And lastly, do it for the coffee.

Nothing tastes as good as post-winter run coffee. NOTHING.

 

3 Great Things About Starting and 5 More to Keep You Going

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Everything you need is already inside

There is magic in beginnings. And when people sign up to Learn to Run I get to be a part of the story of people’s beginning, which is a great privilege and an inspiration as well. There’s something pretty amazing in the story you haven’t written yet.

You Decide

The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.

The cool thing about the beginning is that the only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. And that thought is more powerful than you probably think it is. Every morning when you get up you get to write your story. And it doesn’t matter what happened yesterday, or last week. It’s a new story and you are writing it.

In the beginning, everything is a personal best

It doesn’t matter if you’re returning from training after a break, or it’s the first time you’ve started. If you haven’t run before, everything is pretty new. And if you have, it feels new. There’s a promise in the beginning and the promise talks to you.

You are always proving how amazing you are

When you do things that you didn’t think you could, you prove to yourself that you can do other things that you didn’t think you could. And it starts to take over other parts of your life as well. All of a sudden, so many more things seem possible.

running-capable

The beginning IS amazing. But what happens after that is even more important.

Motivation will get you started. Habits will keep you going.

You know what giving up looks like, you get to find out what happens if you keep going

The mistake of all or nothing thinking is buying into the idea that success or failure have end-points. But there is no end-point. Your health and fitness are not about finishing a program. It’s your entire life. So it doesn’t matter where you are, your only focus is to keep going. Keep going no matter what.

Fitness is a lifestyle, not an end-point.

Goals give you a framework for progress and a path forward

There might not be an end-point, but there are markers a long the way that are going to give you the drive to keep going, when it doesn’t seem easy and effortless. Goals should be specific, measurable and realistic. Don’t make goals with an idea of your ideal week where everything goes exactly to plan. Make goals based on your average week. You want to feel like you are kicking those goals, not barely struggling to hang on.

To start with work on goals for:

  • Four weeks
  • 2 Months
  • 6 Months
  • 2 Years

And review those goals every four weeks.

And remember: If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan – but don’t change the goal.

Little steps

Celebrate your achievements

Notice those small wins. Celebrate them. Did you do all of your sessions for the week? It’s not something, it’s the beginning of a big something. Don’t downplay it.

Make decisions based on your goals, not how you are feeling

It’s easy to decide not to go out for that early morning training run, if you go by how you are feeling. I usually feel like staying in bed where it’s warm at 5am. But a goal will get me out the door.

Ask yourself: is this decision going to take me closer to my goal, or further away?

Challenge yourself to get out of your own way

Your biggest hurdle is usually yourself. That inner monologue that tells you that you aren’t good enough or strong enough or worthwhile enough. That inner voice will convince you that you are just lazy. That you are never going to be able to run. It will convince you that it’s not who you are.

But you decide.

It’s ok to hear that voice. Everyone has one. But just ignore it and do what you are going to do anyway.

The biggest fear anyone has is that the inner voice was always right about them. But it isn’t. So don’t let it get under your skin like it belongs there. It’ doesn’t. And you’ve got work to do.

never too late

How we learn is key to moving forward

One of the most important things for learning is feedback. And although for most of us we don’t think we need it as much for running and fitness. But it’s exactly where we need it the most. Without there is no context for what we are doing. No way of knowing if we are doing things well or doing things poorly. And in a vacuum it is very easy to get discouraged, focus on the wrong things and miss our opportunities.

And even more than that, taking what we know and teaching others is also really important to being able to internalise our own learning. This is why we have group coaching in Learn to Run, Run Club and Far and Fast, because support and mentorship will change the way you think about yourself.

Find your tribe and you’ll always have a reason to keep going

Find your tribe. Love them hard.

All the best things in life are based on people connecting to one another and connecting to a sense of belonging. Once you find your tribe, all sorts of things that didn’t make sense before start to fall into place.

Your tribe will teach you that the reason you could never fix yourself, is because you were never broken. Your tribe will believe in you, before you believe in yourself. They will show you that you are capable of so much more than you think you are. And on a bad day, the tribe will show you more consideration and understanding than you have ever dared show yourself.

The tribe will take you wherever you want to go.  All you have to do is show up.

Podcast: Episode 6 – De-mystifying types of running training

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Episode 6 (1)

Tempos, Fartleks, Intervals! And what about low heart rate and base training?

Today we are talking about types of training. It can be hard with all of the jargon out there.

Here is a guide we put together on running jargon that might help you out too. And we also talk a bit about Run Club, which you can find more about here.

We start with some basics about low heart rate training and base training and why they are different. And we get into some specifics of what is easy, what is tempo and how to tell if you are running intervals fast enough. Most people naturally drift towards the middle and run their easy too fast and their fast too slow, so it’s all about getting the most out of your training.

And the big thing we talk about is about why speedwork, really has nothing to do with speed and everything to do with developing aerobic capacity.

Head over to iTunes to listen (and subscribe!)

You can listen and download episodes in Itunes here.