With October being the busiest month of the year for marathons and half marathons, I will address some things to consider before, during, and after to set yourself for more of a positive experience. But first, I wanted to share about our new upcoming program!
NEW Winter Program – Here’s information about our upcoming Winter Program. It starts November 9 and will go through January 18. It’s hard to believe that we will be starting our 28th year. Save $20 off the regular registration fee if you sign up by the October 26 early bird deadline! Here’s the online registration link.
You know how much harder it is to get back in shape when you stop running so keep investing in your physical, mental, and social health with us while actually having fun doing so!
Training Tip – It’s ALWAYS better to line up on race day healthy and slightly under trained vs. trained and slightly unhealthy.
Runners, who tend to be very driven compared to the rest of society (I mean, the very definition of ‘driven’ is someone who gets up at dark thirty in the morning to get in their 1-2 hour run while still working their full time job like the masses!), need to walk a fine line in pushing themselves to achieve great things while not biting off more than their mind and body can chew.
Often, this can lead to unhealthy thinking such as FOMO and feeling like they must complete every workout regardless of how their mind and body are dealing with all of that.
I’m here to tell you that someone who lines up at the start line 10% under trained but healthy will ALWAYS have a more positive race experience than someone who is 1% over trained and unhealthy.
By unhealthy, I don’t just mean the obvious of a physical injury. I’m also talking about being mentally worn down from juggling too much running on top of the everyday stress of their lives. In many ways, mental burnout is far more dangerous and harder to overcome than an injury.
What was supposed to be a fun and exciting adventure with its built in challenge has morphed into something more akin to all work and no play with relief superceding any joy from crossing that finish line. This is NOT good at all, both for the short term and especially the long term (i.e. you won’t last as a runner).
If dealing with an injury with your race coming up in a few weeks, your NUMBER 1 goal is to avoid further aggravating the injury while also doing what it takes to get as close to 100% healthy as quickly as possible. This can mean cross training more while scaling back your running as needed to maintain most of your fitness. In the meantime, see a health professional who can perform their treatments while asking them to show you ANY self rehab you can do to help speed up the healing process.
This is what helps our group stand out from most other groups. Often, we meet at a health professional clinic for our Saturday morning group runs with complimentary evaluations that lead to appointments. Combining that with my hard earned experience in treating a vast array of running injuries through muscle and micro flossing, our runners actually do recover and freshen up during the taper phase of their training to salvage a good enough race experience.
We embody the ‘hope for the best while preparing for the worst’ balancing act! Of course, this also involves coming up with a ‘B’ and ‘C’ race goal plan to be more flexible and adaptable to whatever happens on race day. All or nothing thinking is a high risk endeavor even as people focus on the high reward aspect of it. Better to balance it out with a ‘something is better than nothing’ strategy.
To sum it all up – only follow your schedule IF you feel good (enough) physically and mentally. If this is not the case, adjust, adjust, adjust (both your training and race day expectations). DO what it takes to make it to the start line as healthy as you can (both physically as well as mentally) so that you really are excited and looking forward to your chosen adventure even as it will also be challenging.
Remember, ANY schedule that you follow is simply an educated guess on what MAY work for you. It cannot predict how your mind and body will respond on top of also needing to balance out your other obligations. EXPECT the unexpected of tweaking the schedule as needed to line up on race day mentally and physically as healthy as possible. YOU are an experiment of one. TREAT yourself as such and come up with your OWN version of whatever schedule you choose to follow.
Ordinary People Achieving the Extra Ordinary – It’s pretty exciting to see people get inspired by other people who are highlighted in this section and complete the same adventurous challenge! Kate Hintz did such a thing after reading about Kristin Hancock’s account. Here is her reflection about it!
Please provide the name of your epic adventure and provide a few basics of what it entailed
In August of this year, I participated in the Transrockies Run which is a 6 day stage race that covers over 120 miles and 20,000+ feet elevation gain. The event started in Buena Vista, CO and over the course of 6 days finished in Beaver Creek, CO.
Roughly how many people participated in this?
There were approximately 400 runners and 100+ volunteers.
Why did you decide to take this on?
I turn 40 this year and wanted to do something memorable for my milestone birthday. My family, running and Colorado are a few of my biggest loves in life so when an event like this popped up on my radar, I immediately coerced/highly encouraged my husband, sister, sister in law, and brother in law into joining.
Are you glad you did it? Why or why not?
I am incredibly glad to have completed this event. At the outset, running over 100 miles, on trails, at elevation, while camping each night just seemed nearly impossible. I had never done one of those things individually, let alone smashed them all together into one event. However, my family and I are not strangers to hard work so we embraced the challenge and spent 8 months preparing. I followed a great training plan from Eladio that kept me delightfully undertrained and healthy and researched all kinds of fun trail running and camping gear. I even “had” to go to Colorado several times this summer in order to prepare for the altitude and trail conditions. The accomplishment of completing such a challenging event with my family will be one for the memory books for sure.
Now for the fun part, take us through the highlights of each day!
Each day participants would: wake up in their tent, eat a hot catered breakfast, load their luggage bag onto a truck, run/hike the course (typically 14-25 miles ending at our next campsite), shower in shower trucks, hang out/recover with other athletes in Chillville (a community area in the tent city), eat a huge and delicious catered dinner, attend a race day recap and safety prep meeting for next day, and then tuck back into their tents for a night’s sleep.
Highlights outside of everyday activities were:
– the AMAZING people: diverse population with people traveling from all over the world (I believe 17 different countries were represented), highly supportive community, all talent levels (from the elite athlete to the people waking up several hours early in order to get more time to complete the course)
– the food: bountiful aid stations with all kinds of real food and athletic nutrition provided, high quality catered buffets for breakfast and dinner at campsite, well stocked cold beverages and snacks in Chillville
– the weather: little to no humidity with highs in the low 70s. Perfect running conditions when comparing to my hot humid training runs in KC.
How did you handle food & water for each day? Describe the race aid stations – what they offered and how spaced out they were.
Each day to start, I filled my hydration pack with a 1.5L bladder full of water, 2 soft flasks (500ml each) with electrolytes, and 1-2 small snacks. Then I’d replenish my stash throughout the day at the fabulous aid stations. Aid stations were always manned and located typically every 5-8miles throughout the course. Heavily stocked with real food and athletic nutrition products. I never once was hungry or thirsty on my runs.
How about lodging?
Most participants opted to sleep in tents provided and set up by the race company; however there were a handful of people that chose to obtain hotel rooms. Camping in tents near other fellow participants really made the event motto “Summer camp for big kids” ring true. Being in such close proximity for sleeping, eating, showering, and playing created such a fun community feel. While I woke up mildly stiff each morning on my camping pad, I would never have traded the camaraderie created by camping for the comfort of a hotel mattress.
What was the weather like?
Gorgeous and quite different from our August weather in hometown KC.
Typically highs in low 70s, lows in low 40s. Great for running and camping.
We did have a few afternoon thunderstorms typical for summer time in Colorado; however they were no big deal since everyone was off the course and hunkering down in their tents resting.
How about the views?
The views made all the hard work of ascending thousands of feet worth it. Picture The Sound of Music! We could often gaze for miles upon miles seeing huge mountain peaks, alpine lakes, and circuitous mountain roads. The wildflowers were also phenomenal coming into Vail and Beaver Creek.
Describe the surface and terrain of what you completed each day on
The majority of our running was completed on single/double track trails or 4WD roads. It was typically a dry harder packed surface with the sprinkling of rocks and roots thrown in. We did have a few stream crossings where the cold mountain stream water felt refreshing on our tired hot feet and legs.
What were the most challenging aspects?
One challenging aspect was planning for the event as a flatlander. We had to figure out how to train for altitude and trail running while continuing our full time lives in KC as parents and working professionals. We had to determine what gear was needed for this multi-faceted (trail running and camping sans laundry services) adventure. We also had to decide on how to get us and all of our gear to Colorado. While the logistics seemed daunting, we found the planning process quite “fun,” and it was often the topic of conversation at family gatherings.
The other challenging aspect on trail was trying to stay mentally in the moment and not let the remaining days and miles wear on you. I had never completed a multi-day event before so this was new territory for me. I found that if I looked at the big picture too often, I felt overwhelmed by how much work was left; however if I just stayed moving and focused on the present, I had a more enjoyable and successful time.
What advice would you give someone who wants to tackle this adventure?
If you are at all interested in a supported stage race through the mountains, this is definitely one to consider! As a newbie, I learned this was the “glamping” version of a multi-day camping stage race. We had our tents set up, gear transported, and meals provided. Plus a supportive and spunky community!
I also would encourage people to not let distance, elevation gain, or altitude deter them. I did 95% of my training here in KC and was super successful (not podium but crossing the finish line each day with a smile and without injury).
What did you learn about yourself from taking on this epic adventure?
I can do hard things, and that I actually REALLY enjoy doing hard things. I am proud of myself for setting a challenging goal, working hard in prep for over half a year, and completing my goal while healthy and smile.
Streaker Update – Congratulations to Karen Hayse (1,002 days) for making it to the ‘comma’ day!
Great job to the following people for keeping their daily exercise streaks going: Michael Andersen (69 days), Laura May (149 days), Scotty Todd (512 days), Megan Hamilton (635 days), Ryan Kimbrell (776 days), Sarah Johnson & Sylvia Davison (1,214 days), Eric Leigel (1,448 days), Greg Schultz (1,587 days), Kenny Miller (1,588 days) Amanda Bradford (1,610 days), Kallie Flexman (1,611 days), John Pitzel (1,625 days), Rebecca Kandt (1,637 days), Dawña Garza (1,651 days), Chau Smith (1,654 days), Micah Jacobsen (2,203 days), Stephanie Michaelis (2,703 days), Tomi Duffett (2,874 days), Ken Skrien (3,080 days), Emily Lott Viebrock (3,224 days), John Crum (3,230 days), Cheryl Lentz (3,681 days), Ben Chan (4,203 days)!
We invite you to consider crafting any type of streak that helps you release stress while boosting your health and joining us for positive accountability but keeping it simple with trusting in the ‘honor system’. I’m happy to add you to our list!
Have a great week!
Eladio Valdez III