Latest / The People Run Podcast / #52 How Far Can We Push Our Potential? | Stefanie Corgel

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#52 How Far Can We Push Our Potential? | Stefanie Corgel · The People Run Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_02: What is a point that is not worth it?
0:03
SPEAKER_02: Your relationships, your own personal wellness, like those are all things that I think can be lost when you're too focused on the goal.
0:18
SPEAKER_04: You've done a lot.
0:25
SPEAKER_04: You're building a brand business, you're online.
0:28
SPEAKER_04: Where are you at right now?
0:30
SPEAKER_04: How do you see yourself in the whole fitness space?
0:32
SPEAKER_04: I'll put it that way.
0:34
SPEAKER_02: What a fun question to start with.
0:37
SPEAKER_02: So I would say, like, if you were to look at my Instagram just for 30 seconds, you would see a lot of strength training and running.
0:45
SPEAKER_02: The whole, I guess, story behind that was I grew up as a multi-sport athlete playing basketball, soccer, softball, and surfing and lifeguarding over the summer in Southern California.
0:59
SPEAKER_02: And I was a part of a family that really stressed just like getting outside and moving your body, which I'm infinitely grateful for.
1:07
SPEAKER_02: Thanks, mom and dad.
1:09
SPEAKER_02: But every every after-school affair was something active, whether it was soccer practice or softball, going to the World League World, uh Little League World Series, all these uh team sports, and I became um really fascinated with the tie into hey, if I move my body, I get all these benefits, whether it's like I'm not breathing as heavy when I'm going up and down a set of stairs, or I'm making all these friends, and like now I have all these relationships as a result of sport.
1:45
SPEAKER_02: So being obsessed with movement that early in my life led me to studying movement kinesiology in college, and then you know, automatically um for my my uh senior college project, my thesis was actually becoming a strength and conditioning coach.
2:04
SPEAKER_02: They allowed us to take um the CSCS certified strength and conditioning coach exam and therefore like launch automatically right into your career.
2:15
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I can uh I can honestly say I've taken such a wild spin on what strength training, uh what I thought it would be versus what it became.
2:26
SPEAKER_02: I I always wanted to be a division one strength and conditioning coach for a really successful program.
2:33
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it didn't matter what sport, and it didn't matter men's or women's, I just wanted to be a strength coach at the college level and beyond.
2:43
SPEAKER_02: And then I realized that that's not actually how I like to spend my day-to-day.
2:48
SPEAKER_02: I like to have breaks to go outside.
2:50
SPEAKER_02: I don't like someone to uh dictate my schedule and have this like rigid program for myself all the time.
2:58
SPEAKER_02: So it's kind of around uh the era when online fitness became a big thing.
3:05
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I began to program workouts for apps.
3:10
SPEAKER_02: I was always part-time in some sort of like high-intensity modality in a studio, and I had an online training program myself.
3:19
SPEAKER_02: So I took it online, and I think that's uh how I've had any longevity in my career right now.
3:28
SPEAKER_04: I love the movement part and talking about being able to lift for like daily stuff, you just touched on a little bit.
3:34
SPEAKER_04: Uh, something I saw you posted that I often think about like almost every day, is being able to move at 70.
3:42
SPEAKER_04: I often fast-forward myself into 70 and picking up groceries or picking up a kid or something.
3:47
SPEAKER_04: And uh, you share that message often, like as far as lifting.
3:51
SPEAKER_04: Like, what's your thought process behind lifting now versus like you mentioned that you've gone through different waves of different fitness?
3:57
SPEAKER_04: How do you center your training around that?
4:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um I can honestly say, and I would ask whoever's listening to reflect upon the various chapters they've had with fitness, health, and movement.
4:11
SPEAKER_02: So maybe when I was younger, the most meaningful thing for me to get out of movement was friendships and community, versus as I got a little bit older and my heart was set on getting a college basketball scholarship.
4:26
SPEAKER_02: That's all I wanted.
4:27
SPEAKER_02: Maybe I was moving just to be able to perform on the basketball court so that I could get a scholarship later down the line.
4:36
SPEAKER_02: Movement and health became a little bit rocky because my why behind movement became more eating disordered, more obsessed with thinness.
4:50
SPEAKER_02: Um thinness equaled health and thinness equaled performance.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: And granted, we just we didn't have enough information around health and nutrition for sport back then.
5:04
SPEAKER_02: Uh it wasn't really common knowledge amongst us folks, unless you studied it.
5:10
SPEAKER_02: And then coming out of that, um, and getting into my college basketball career and refocusing on wellness and movement for performance was my delightful moment for me.
5:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, what really struck me and and stayed with me ever since then.
5:28
SPEAKER_02: So now I'm at this point of yeah, I love running.
5:32
SPEAKER_02: Um, I love lots of different fitness modalities, and I've preached to my audience that they should be very versatile in the kinds of movements they do and the planes they move in.
5:46
SPEAKER_02: Um that's why I have a lot of my runners do multi-planar um exercises, lateral movements, core strengthening exercises.
5:57
SPEAKER_02: Because I think if we get so tunnel-visioned into one set of Y's, we can lose sight of the entire picture, and that is picking up your grandchild and tossing them in the air when you're 60, 70, 80, being independent enough to go to the grocery store, drive to the grocery store, get in and out of your truck, and pick up groceries.
6:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's the least sexy thing for me to preach as an online strength and conditioning coach and as a fitness influencer, but um I I think people will find it pretty darn sexy when they're that 70-year-old and still able-bodied and self-sufficient.
6:41
SPEAKER_04: No, for sure.
6:42
SPEAKER_04: And in that vision I always shared, I have at 70.
6:45
SPEAKER_04: I'm also shredded.
6:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
6:48
SPEAKER_04: At 70, and they're like, hey, is that grandpa?
6:50
SPEAKER_04: Like, what the hell?
6:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
6:53
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
6:54
SPEAKER_02: That's part of it too, right?
6:55
SPEAKER_02: You want to be a role model for generations to come.
6:59
SPEAKER_02: And man, I I don't know about your friends, but I definitely surround myself with many inspiring people uh in terms of what they study, but also in terms of their their daily habits and their fitness habits.
7:14
SPEAKER_02: So um yeah, who you choose to surround yourself with is important.
7:19
SPEAKER_02: And to note that when you're speaking or acting in a certain way, the younger generation is copy-pasting that.
7:28
SPEAKER_04: Steph, how has your training changed from the basketball days when you were you know shooting hoops to now, like running and lifting and all planes of field lifting?
7:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, uh goodness, so much has changed.
7:42
SPEAKER_02: I actually, when I watch the Lakers now, I I feel a general disconnect between like my own coordination when what I see on the TV.
7:50
SPEAKER_02: It's so funny because I uh sometimes once in a while I'll still dream in basketball.
7:57
SPEAKER_02: So reflex-wise, I'll be dead asleep, but I'll like catch something and then I'll feel myself pivot in my sleep, like jab step.
8:06
SPEAKER_02: And man, it blows my mind how uh I don't know, the brain plasticity just is set in one way.
8:14
SPEAKER_02: Um, my training has changed a lot from being uh an athlete in a fast twitch, slow twitch uh combination sport like basketball and a very uh I would say teamwork-oriented and um IQ, EQ kind of sport.
8:37
SPEAKER_02: Yes, you still have to have some of those things for running, especially in the behind-the-scenes programming of a successful endurance program.
8:47
SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, uh going from a team sport to an individual sport was pretty jarring to me at first.
8:54
SPEAKER_02: Of course, like a new sport and picking up something that you feel some early success in does fill the void of like this identity crisis you might have had in college or uh or beyond.
9:07
SPEAKER_02: But nowadays I structure my training completely around endurance running.
9:14
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I'll do let's see, what am I at right now?
9:19
SPEAKER_02: Off season.
9:20
SPEAKER_02: I'm keeping a 50-mile base that's spread over five to six days.
9:26
SPEAKER_02: I'm taking one day off entirely, um, and that's usually Sundays.
9:31
SPEAKER_02: I'm strength training two to three times a week, one of those days being very heavy.
9:38
SPEAKER_02: And I suppose where I will need to get my act together if I want to get actually faster is not overtraining with sticking yoga and Pilates and all these smaller activities there.
9:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you feel me?
9:53
SPEAKER_02: Like sometimes uh we don't understand time on feet is the overall like energy expenditure from walking the dog to grabbing groceries to yeah, just being on your feet coaching a class.
10:08
SPEAKER_02: So sometimes I find myself skirting into the over-training area just based upon the fact that like my my career is also in fitness and I train at the same time.
10:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:21
SPEAKER_04: Speaking my language there.
10:25
SPEAKER_04: It's like darts.
10:29
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I I I find myself doing I'm like, I'm gonna do this, this, and then I just sneak in high rocks here.
10:36
SPEAKER_04: Oh, I want to lift heavy again, like the wrong phase, wrong time.
10:40
SPEAKER_02: We'll have to talk high rocks after this.
10:43
SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm interested.
10:45
SPEAKER_02: I'm curious.
10:46
SPEAKER_02: I'm not I'm not there yet, but I'm curious.
10:49
SPEAKER_04: What?
10:50
SPEAKER_04: Uh first off, I find you because of strength.
10:52
SPEAKER_04: So you told badass in strength already.
10:55
SPEAKER_04: Like, and you run, and you're fast.
10:58
SPEAKER_02: I I've felt a lot of peer pressure.
11:00
SPEAKER_02: I'll put it that way.
11:01
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
11:02
SPEAKER_02: I'm a little it's it's like that um, I don't know, when when I got a puppy, I was so hesitant to to put too much atten pour too much attention into this thing because I was afraid that once I did, oh, I I'm gonna love it.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: And if I love something, this is with love or with anything, but if you love something, you obsess over it and it becomes your focus, and oh, it can break your heart if it doesn't go well.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: So I feel that way about high rocks.
11:35
SPEAKER_04: Okay, we'll we'll talk about it.
11:37
SPEAKER_04: I feel like I'm on the cusp of that, but not the heartbreak part.
11:42
SPEAKER_04: The cusp of like, okay, I do want to get faster marathon, but this thing is starting to become addicting in high rocks.
11:48
SPEAKER_04: It's like, okay, how do I do my brain immediately goes to nah?
11:52
SPEAKER_04: I can't give up either.
11:53
SPEAKER_04: How do I do both?
11:54
SPEAKER_04: Which is not a great idea.
11:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:58
SPEAKER_02: If you want to be good at one, you get you have to focus on one.
12:01
SPEAKER_02: Uh learning that too.
12:03
SPEAKER_02: I think that's actually my biggest training weakness is that I I need to be fit for my clients in a certain way to demo to teach classes in one way.
12:13
SPEAKER_02: Um, in the summers, I'm an ocean lifeguard, so I need to be, you know, boot camp ready and also uh 600-meter ocean swim ready at all times, as well as marathon ready, as well as sprint ready, and um also muscular enough to lift weights.
12:31
SPEAKER_02: So I'm seeing that if you want to be sub-elite or elite at something, then you really need to focus.
12:40
SPEAKER_02: And I'm curious uh what I can do by pivoting and really getting specific with my own training into the marathon for the next, say, like two years and then picking something else.
12:55
SPEAKER_02: Come back.
12:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
12:57
SPEAKER_02: I'm glad we can see eye to eye on that.
13:00
SPEAKER_02: Doing too much is the biggest problem.
13:04
SPEAKER_04: What's uh you mentioned that like, hey, I want to get faster.
13:07
SPEAKER_04: What does that look like for you in in the marathon?
13:10
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
13:10
SPEAKER_02: Right now, I getting faster simply is not getting hurt for a full block.
13:19
SPEAKER_02: I hate to put it that way, but I've had back-to-back blocks of lower leg injuries, and I have done the blood work and the DEXA scans and analyzed my shoes and what has happened uh negatively in training.
13:33
SPEAKER_02: And uh I'm very prone to overuse injuries, as we just spoke about.
13:39
SPEAKER_02: Shocker.
13:40
SPEAKER_02: Um I know the key to me getting fitter and faster at an already pretty fit level is to piece together successful black back-to-back blocks without injury.
13:55
SPEAKER_02: Because man, I I lose it.
13:57
SPEAKER_02: I you can go look at my Strava, it's like so consistent, and then equally so consistent where I have to spend you know six weeks in a pool or on the bike, and it's just not the same as running.
14:11
SPEAKER_04: Is it more more of a mental like overuse or like physically the body, you gotta slow down some things?
14:20
SPEAKER_02: Uh it's neuromuscular, it's uh overuse of the body.
14:26
SPEAKER_02: So I take it back.
14:28
SPEAKER_02: There's so many connections and stories that need to be told from your uh childhood sport and the way you've trained for the 20 years before someone like me picks up running in their 30s.
14:43
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I have always had flat feet, arch issues, and a dominant foot.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: We gotta meet up, we gotta meet up and talk about our hands.
14:58
SPEAKER_02: Um, like I said, in that basketball dreaming situation, uh basketball, right hand dominant, right foot uh pivot dominant, you're always pressing off of one side, and therefore, um after many, many miles that your body needs to take years and years to get accustomed to.
15:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the the post-tib injury stuff and um chin splints, and I've torn my soleus, I've had Achilles tendonitis.
15:26
SPEAKER_02: Um these are all minor things in the grand scheme of things, right?
15:30
SPEAKER_02: You you hear so many gnarly running injuries, but I would love to see.
15:34
SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm just infinitely curious what happens if I get through too successful training box.
15:40
SPEAKER_02: Um, where's the ceiling after that?
15:44
SPEAKER_04: No, that's cool.
15:44
SPEAKER_04: I uh sorry about the injuries because those hurt.
15:47
SPEAKER_04: I've injured my soleist, I've not torn it.
15:49
SPEAKER_04: Soleus, I wish that on no one.
15:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
15:52
SPEAKER_02: Tough stuff.
15:54
SPEAKER_02: But you you learn so much from the injury and from the uh forced patients.
16:00
SPEAKER_02: I think we uh I don't know about you, but I I have been seeing time and time again, and maybe it's my algorithm because I had a post-tib um bone stress injury six months ago?
16:13
SPEAKER_02: Five months ago?
16:14
SPEAKER_02: I have no concept of time.
16:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay.
16:17
SPEAKER_02: Recently.
16:19
SPEAKER_02: My algorithm plays time and time again, all these running influencers and runners who are talking about a post-tib injury and bone stress and how they've got a stress fracture and it's taken them out for six to eight to twelve weeks.
16:34
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's it's incredible that you know we all have this commonality with the same darn injury, and it always plays to overuse or red-s, um, you know, not not getting the nutrients you need, even though you you are feeling full and all that.
16:54
SPEAKER_02: There's just nothing to imitate the rigors and the stresses of long runs all the time.
17:03
SPEAKER_02: It's just it's different.
17:07
SPEAKER_04: Um, my post-tib was actually I want to say because now I don't have a I think this is just rubbing off concept of time.
17:14
SPEAKER_04: Indie last year.
17:15
SPEAKER_04: So somewhere pre in my indie build for last year, I had a post-tib.
17:19
SPEAKER_04: And similar to you, the minute you Google something, the algorithm just goes, here you go.
17:24
SPEAKER_04: Uh but uh I I'm mostly good on that one.
17:28
SPEAKER_04: It flares up here and there, but I'm mostly good.
17:31
SPEAKER_02: Maybe I saw you at Indy last year, then.
17:33
SPEAKER_02: Was it last year?
17:35
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I did it.
17:36
SPEAKER_04: I did mine last year.
17:38
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I must have seen you race.
17:40
SPEAKER_02: I was out there cheering for my friends.
17:42
SPEAKER_04: No way.
17:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I have this really awesome group of unlikely friends that I've met through running in the past two years, and man, I would do anything for them.
17:54
SPEAKER_02: And it's so funny, we're all different ages.
17:57
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I mean, most of them are guys, and like I'm this 35-year-old woman who's engaged and like obsessed with my partner, and he totally loves that I now have this pocket of guy friends that are just so nerdy and um like real teammates toward me.
18:17
SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, they raced Indy, and you guys had a very fast race.
18:22
SPEAKER_02: I I would be inclined to do that in the future.
18:25
SPEAKER_02: We'll see.
18:26
SPEAKER_04: That's cool as hell.
18:27
SPEAKER_04: Um, yeah, Indy was uh to make it short, kind of good for me.
18:31
SPEAKER_04: Uh I didn't hit my A-go, but I hit my B-go, and it was a PR, so no complaints there.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: Congratulations.
18:37
SPEAKER_04: Solo for like piece 12-ish plus.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm horrified.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm so horrified for you.
18:47
SPEAKER_04: I'm one of those crazy people that's okay with it because I train solo a lot.
18:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:52
SPEAKER_04: Um, so I don't feel that bad.
18:54
SPEAKER_04: It's just as long as the crowd is good, which is okay.
18:57
SPEAKER_04: Um, I've yet to run it with a pack to see what that feels like.
19:00
SPEAKER_04: And I I've had so many people share they love with a pack, and I'm like, I gotta try that.
19:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, let me know how that goes because I have yet to experience that too.
19:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, life in no man's land.
19:14
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
19:15
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, all the majors, there will be people around, and I usually pick one or two guys as a rabbit, and I just sit on their heels until they get annoyed with me.
19:25
SPEAKER_02: They like look back a couple times and like, what the heck?
19:27
SPEAKER_02: Like, why is she all up on me?
19:29
SPEAKER_02: And then I have to pick a new one and go with that.
19:31
SPEAKER_02: But I've never been able to find the person or or start with a friend that's running my pace.
19:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, same.
19:39
SPEAKER_02: And would how beneficial would that be in the future?
19:42
SPEAKER_02: Like, is that a minute off our time?
19:44
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
19:45
SPEAKER_04: I think we just discovered a possible new app.
19:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
19:50
unknown: Yeah.
19:50
SPEAKER_02: Pay a pace.
19:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
19:53
SPEAKER_04: Pay the pa uh my head went to Japan.
19:56
SPEAKER_04: You can pay for almost anything in Japan.
19:58
SPEAKER_04: Uh yeah, right.
20:01
SPEAKER_04: Um have you done Tokyo?
20:04
SPEAKER_04: Huh?
20:04
SPEAKER_01: Have you done Tokyo?
20:06
SPEAKER_04: I have not yet done.
20:07
SPEAKER_04: Um, so when I moved to Colorado, I was in Tokyo.
20:11
SPEAKER_04: Like lotteries first try, and I was like, no way.
20:15
SPEAKER_04: I had just moved from Seattle to Colorado.
20:18
SPEAKER_04: The altitude destroyed me.
20:20
SPEAKER_04: I couldn't train, so I had to sit out.
20:23
SPEAKER_04: Since then, I cannot get into Tokyo.
20:26
SPEAKER_02: It's so hard.
20:27
SPEAKER_02: It is oh man.
20:29
SPEAKER_02: I signed up for is it one Tokyo, the like the admin.
20:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:34
SPEAKER_04: I was told to do that.
20:36
SPEAKER_02: I did that after not getting in one year, and then I have no idea how I got in the next year.
20:43
SPEAKER_02: Um lucky through through like the faster women's times.
20:48
SPEAKER_02: But I went in with that same time the year before and didn't get in.
20:52
SPEAKER_02: So I wonder if it has something to do with world champs being in Japan and then people not wanting to go back that soon.
20:58
SPEAKER_02: So, anyways, I hope you get lucky this next year.
21:01
SPEAKER_04: I'll have to give that a shot with the uh the one foundation something is called, but I've concluded that similar to you.
21:07
SPEAKER_04: It sounds like we're in a similar running space right now.
21:09
SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna lock in for the next two years.
21:11
SPEAKER_04: I've had some friends that are helping me lock in who are way faster than me, like by a long shot.
21:18
SPEAKER_02: You gotta train with people who are faster and scarier than you.
21:22
SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
21:22
SPEAKER_04: That's the plan.
21:24
SPEAKER_04: Lock in and just I don't have to worry about no lotteries, is the long-term plan for the next two years.
21:29
SPEAKER_02: That's that's such a great motivator, right there.
21:32
SPEAKER_02: I didn't actually think of that.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: Because then once once you're a certain level of fast, you're just in everything.
21:40
SPEAKER_02: You just pretty much in everything.
21:42
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's what happened to some of these friends, and I'm like, all right, I I guess this is the easier way.
21:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
21:49
SPEAKER_02: The biggest running hack can be a fast age grouper.
21:52
SPEAKER_04: It I mean, we just had some crazy records this this past weekend, and then even the weekend before that in Boston.
21:58
SPEAKER_04: Uh, well, I saw you were at Boston.
22:00
SPEAKER_04: How was Boston's?
22:01
SPEAKER_04: You had a whole bunch of group of people spectating and and it sound it looked like you had a blast.
22:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Boston is a vibe.
22:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, when I ran it two years ago, I'd never seen a city so invested in the marathon.
22:16
SPEAKER_02: Like you've got New York, you've got Tokyo, all of the majors, but I still feel like in New York City, you could go about your day in West Village and not know the marathons going on.
22:28
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, 100%.
22:29
SPEAKER_02: LA, you certainly, if you're not into running or you don't watch a single bit of news, you wouldn't know that there's a marathon.
22:36
SPEAKER_02: You just wonder why everything's closed.
22:39
SPEAKER_02: Um, Boston is that city where everything is based upon this beautiful event.
22:46
SPEAKER_02: The shopping, the pop-ups, the uh opening ceremonies for the Red Sox, which is another great uh tourist attraction, if you will.
22:57
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, we have a we had such a blast.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: Whether you're running Boston or just going to cheer and spectate, you're going to have a Super Bowl-like experience that weekend.
23:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, it is so cool, and it's a good uh I'll I'll bite my words here.
23:11
SPEAKER_02: I think Chicago is a good spectator race.
23:14
SPEAKER_02: Boston is an easy spectator race in that you can go straight shot anywhere along the course, like right along the green line, and watch your people come through.
23:24
SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah, it there's just nothing as inspiring as Boston.
23:30
SPEAKER_02: You know that all these people above all the other marathons have really set their sights on this BQ thing that I had no idea existed until a couple of years ago.
23:42
SPEAKER_02: Um, and to have watched uh I'll go ahead and call them teammates of mine just grind it out for many, many months to be there and for that to be a victory lap, it like gives me chills.
23:56
SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, yeah, Boston is a very uh cool uh kind of like energy rumbling under the ground at all times.
24:06
SPEAKER_02: Um and the fact that it's a race day on a Monday feels like a vacation.
24:11
SPEAKER_02: So have you run Boston yet?
24:13
SPEAKER_04: No, not yet.
24:14
SPEAKER_04: That one is um this is self-induced, but I don't want to do it until I qualify for it.
24:21
SPEAKER_04: Uh is is my like site, and that's how I want to do it.
24:26
SPEAKER_04: Um for some reason I kind of have a mantra for almost every major.
24:30
SPEAKER_04: So New York was my first, and I had already left New York, but I was like, if I'm gonna do a marathon, I had no idea similar to you.
24:37
SPEAKER_04: What the hell is a BQ?
24:38
SPEAKER_04: What was a major, nothing.
24:40
SPEAKER_04: I was like, I want to- What is this?
24:44
SPEAKER_01: Why is there a BQ and why is there not a BQ for or the Q for all these other ones?
24:50
SPEAKER_01: Like, what's so good about this one?
24:52
SPEAKER_01: But now I understand.
24:53
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, now we understand because we're all immersed in the running space and whatnot.
24:57
SPEAKER_04: But when you first start out, you have no idea.
24:59
SPEAKER_04: You think you could just pay a ticket, show up like a train or something.
25:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, why not?
25:04
SPEAKER_04: Mind you, I lived in New York majority of my life and had no idea.
25:08
SPEAKER_04: Similar to like you said, you described it perfectly.
25:10
SPEAKER_04: You could be living your own life and don't drive that way because the traffic sucks for a few hours today.
25:15
SPEAKER_04: It's all you know.
25:17
SPEAKER_04: But uh, I told myself it was gonna, there was two things.
25:20
SPEAKER_04: I really haven't shared this one, but one, I told myself I want to come back home and do the first marathon.
25:26
SPEAKER_04: It had to be home for some reason because my family's still out there.
25:30
SPEAKER_04: Uh my dad had passed away the year I got into running, and I told him I was gonna do it.
25:37
SPEAKER_04: So when that happened, I was like, it's gotta be New York, no matter what.
25:42
SPEAKER_04: So I sat out for two years until I got in.
25:46
SPEAKER_02: Wow, wow, that's beautiful.
25:49
SPEAKER_02: Make you rest in peace.
25:50
SPEAKER_02: Oh man, I know before the pod, before we started recording, we were talking about, you know, are there any off-limit topics?
25:58
SPEAKER_02: And I told you, I told you that uh I'd heard uh if you can't speak about it, then you're not healed from it.
26:06
SPEAKER_02: And the fact that you just brought up your why behind running New York at that time for your dad means that you've really dealt with it and you sit within, and he seems like a very special human.
26:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, for sure.
26:20
SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
26:21
SPEAKER_02: No, that's that's deeply meaningful and beautiful, and um, I think there is something too, you know, dedicating a race to someone, you always perform better because you do just feel whatever your God is, right?
26:34
SPEAKER_02: Like whatever that up in the sky spirit is for you.
26:39
SPEAKER_02: Um marathoning can be physical to a certain extent, and then you just have to let your heart guide you and take you.
26:46
SPEAKER_02: And if you have that extra oomph of like, ooh, I'm doing it for dad, like, okay, that's 10 more hard steps that I can make in a race.
26:55
SPEAKER_04: No, for sure.
26:56
SPEAKER_04: Uh I crashed on that course when I knew I was gonna finish.
27:00
SPEAKER_04: Uh so that was a big part of that.
27:02
SPEAKER_04: Um, you ran New York yourself.
27:05
SPEAKER_04: I saw how you described it, and I was like, I gotta ask for this because this is like perfect.
27:09
SPEAKER_04: But then it makes sense because you played basketball.
27:11
SPEAKER_04: So I guess I found this out before I found out basketball.
27:13
SPEAKER_04: Uh you described it as game seven.
27:15
SPEAKER_04: I was like, oh, wait a minute.
27:18
SPEAKER_04: What made New York Game 7 uh a marathon, if you will?
27:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, uh New York is very special to me because it is both a race that it's the second marathon I ever ran.
27:34
SPEAKER_02: I ran New York or I ran LA here in 2019 and then met my partner in 2022.
27:41
SPEAKER_02: I'd already said after LA, like I don't like this sport, it was way too painful.
27:46
SPEAKER_02: My body went through a level of needing recovery that I never anticipated.
27:51
SPEAKER_02: Like, for anyone who thinks marathoning is glorious, like after that first marathon, I lost my period for several months.
27:59
SPEAKER_02: I um gained belly weight in a weird way, like hormonal imbalances.
28:05
SPEAKER_02: I was exhausted for three months, not like two weeks.
28:10
SPEAKER_02: I hadn't properly trained for how fast I was gonna run that first race.
28:14
SPEAKER_02: I had no idea.
28:16
SPEAKER_02: Uh so that goes along with it.
28:19
SPEAKER_02: But having said that, I never wanted to do a marathon again, check it off the list, moving on.
28:25
SPEAKER_02: And then boyfriend at the time, now fiance, says, if we're still together in six months, let's run New York for charity.
28:36
SPEAKER_02: He had lived in New York for 10 years.
28:39
SPEAKER_02: He's kind of like you in a way where he's run New York twice now, and he won't run any other marathon ever.
28:45
SPEAKER_02: Like, that's the only thing.
28:46
SPEAKER_02: Wow, okay.
28:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he'll do it a third and fourth time, maybe, but like no other marathon is appealing to him.
28:52
SPEAKER_04: Gotcha.
28:53
SPEAKER_02: Shout out Pat, uh, tried and true to New York.
28:57
SPEAKER_02: Um, so we ran 2022 uh for charity, and that was like the hot year.
29:05
SPEAKER_02: Got up to like 80 degrees at the end.
29:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh and I BQ'd and I didn't know what a BQ was, had no idea.
29:15
SPEAKER_02: Um come 2024, I think.
29:21
SPEAKER_02: I then uh panicked and decided like okay, I I think I will sign up for the Boston Marathon.
29:30
SPEAKER_02: I think this is something I'm supposed to do.
29:34
SPEAKER_02: Uh cool, and then really trained hard for that one and understood then using group training and starting this like Tuesday speed, Thursday tempo, Saturday long run routine, like actually marathon training.
29:51
SPEAKER_02: Um I ran Boston pretty fast and that was really eye-opening, and it's kind of like you know, the when when basketball went away for me, and I was just a trainer and focusing on my clients, there was now a new itch in me to kind of strive to be great athletically at something again.
30:16
SPEAKER_02: So a couple marathons after Boston, uh feeling that success.
30:21
SPEAKER_02: I had an injury, I did a round of egg freezing, I did a lot of things or a lot of things happened that set me back, set me back, and New York the second time around was interesting because I came off of a very quick, thrown-together by myself six-week training block after being on the bike all summer from a torn folius.
30:46
SPEAKER_02: And just in six weeks, smashed the hills just relentlessly, was out in um five minutes from my house doing this hill called Rose Crayons, repeats, repeats, repeats, and then resting adequately, fueling extremely well, just like really dialing in in a very small amount of time.
31:10
SPEAKER_02: And uh when I got to mile 22 of that race, I was like, damn, I still have pop in my step.
31:17
SPEAKER_02: There's something very familiar and basketball-like about this, where I dealt with all the pressure leading up to this time, and now I just get to roll out the ball and play.
31:33
SPEAKER_02: Like, let's shoot and dive all the way to the finish line, and I I understand the power of my body and the resilience, and if I treat it right, fueling, resting, and really giving it that stimulus, even in a short amount of time, the body will remember um to be that assassin that it is.
31:55
SPEAKER_02: And when I finished that race, it was very emotional.
31:58
SPEAKER_02: Um such a cool feeling, yeah.
32:02
SPEAKER_03: I love it.
32:03
SPEAKER_02: If anyone hasn't run a marathon and they're gonna run one marathon in their life, it's not gonna be an easy one, but none of them are easy.
32:10
SPEAKER_02: But you gotta run New York, you gotta run New York.
32:14
SPEAKER_01: Real talk.
32:15
SPEAKER_04: That's been uh ongoing I won't say debate, but like if you look at all majors, I've asked a few people, and even amongst my friends, it's like New York is special for everything you describe.
32:26
SPEAKER_04: You got the crowd.
32:27
SPEAKER_04: Um, shout out to Fiance who understands, fellow New Yorker.
32:30
SPEAKER_04: I appreciate you already.
32:32
SPEAKER_04: So hello to you.
32:33
SPEAKER_02: Pat's the best.
32:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you get a better he's okay with me calling him a cheerleader.
32:38
SPEAKER_02: He's been to London, he'll go to Berlin, like he's been to Tokyo.
32:43
SPEAKER_02: He's just flying out there to to cheer for me.
32:47
SPEAKER_02: And it's um that's awesome.
32:48
SPEAKER_02: You know, not your typical uh it's a gender role reversal.
32:54
SPEAKER_02: Well, I I don't want to put it that way, but you know, I I expected myself to be a cheerleader for someone else all the time.
33:03
SPEAKER_02: And the fact that the guy shows up with a sign and a smile and does his workout bright and early before the race, so he can just give me 150%.
33:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's I'm like, people exist like this, and he's mine, like I'll let you guys.
33:22
SPEAKER_02: New York.
33:23
SPEAKER_04: No, you good.
33:24
SPEAKER_04: Uh touching on that, special shout out to him again.
33:27
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I totally uh understand that and respect that.
33:31
SPEAKER_04: Like, you know, it is one thing to give everyone um you know your time in a marathon.
33:36
SPEAKER_04: Like most marathons, like I think you describe boss perfectly, you can see each other, but New York, I think my people saw me like once.
33:44
SPEAKER_04: Uh it's hard for you to show up for someone a marathon and be all in signs and screaming, their voice is gone.
33:50
SPEAKER_04: No fueling, it's cold, it's raining, depending on what marathon you're in.
33:53
SPEAKER_04: So like But yeah, New York is a hilly one.
33:56
SPEAKER_04: They say it's tough, and everyone wants the flat one, but like it teaches you something.
34:00
SPEAKER_04: You can run a flat course and be fine and you'll learn some pain.
34:03
SPEAKER_04: But I'm I'm glad I did New York, I'll put it that way.
34:06
SPEAKER_04: All them hills and crashing.
34:07
SPEAKER_04: I want to do it again, just like him.
34:09
SPEAKER_04: I will go back.
34:11
SPEAKER_04: You've done a few.
34:12
SPEAKER_04: How was uh I I saw you did Tokyo most recently.
34:14
SPEAKER_04: Correct me if I'm wrong.
34:16
SPEAKER_02: So I have done New York, Chicago, Boston, Tokyo, London.
34:23
SPEAKER_02: Next up will be Berlin.
34:25
SPEAKER_02: Okay, and then hopefully Sydney.
34:27
SPEAKER_02: We're just getting through all the majors.
34:29
SPEAKER_02: The goal is all the majors sub-three, and they're just gonna keep adding majors, adding majors.
34:35
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we got Cape Cape Town coming, very likely.
34:38
SPEAKER_04: Uh China coming, very likely.
34:40
SPEAKER_04: I'm looking forward to that one.
34:41
SPEAKER_02: Beijing Beijing in China.
34:44
SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, there's it's a very lucrative sport for brands right now, so yeah, they might as well just keep adding them on, and I'll keep tailoring my vacations around these races.
34:56
SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
34:57
unknown: Yeah.
34:58
SPEAKER_04: I already had a uh Beijing in China trip that's now postponed.
35:02
SPEAKER_04: Just give me the the major so I can sign up.
35:07
SPEAKER_02: Perfect, perfect.
35:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Tokyo is most recently.
35:11
SPEAKER_02: Um, what I've been telling all my friends to to have gone in this ordered New York marathon in November to Tokyo in March.
35:23
SPEAKER_02: It's a little bit tough when you've got the most electric crowds in the whole universe.
35:29
SPEAKER_02: You run, everyone is so polite, bowing and clapping as you come by.
35:34
SPEAKER_02: It's not completely silent, and yes, the streets are packed.
35:38
SPEAKER_02: Uh, it had more of a Chicago look to me, where you're running through the downtown.
35:44
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I hate to put it this way, it was not an interesting course, it's quite a boring course.
35:50
SPEAKER_02: Uh, halfway through, there's a shrine.
35:53
SPEAKER_02: You see some people pulling the Japanese turn, so that's kind of fun.
35:58
SPEAKER_02: But it's like running through downtown, beautiful buildings, but buildings nonetheless, and it's a wind funnel.
36:06
SPEAKER_02: However, it is extremely well organized.
36:10
SPEAKER_02: I found it to be starting staying in a hotel by the start line, very low stress situation, getting to your corrals.
36:19
SPEAKER_02: Um, and the just the richness of the vacation and the culture around the entire marathon can create the best vacation and the best carb load of your life.
36:34
SPEAKER_04: I I I will agree to the carb load.
36:36
SPEAKER_04: One thing when I was in Japan that I found was underrated, sorry, undershared is what I want to say online, is the bakeries.
36:46
SPEAKER_04: The baked goods in Japan is next level and not showing often.
36:53
SPEAKER_04: Oof, the bakery stuff is so good.
36:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they they do French puff pastries better than the French.
37:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I kind of felt that way too.
37:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
37:06
SPEAKER_02: Bread is never really the focus of the Japanese, but you're absolutely right.
37:11
SPEAKER_02: If you're there for a carbload or just want some familiarity, they just do the lightest, fluffiest everything.
37:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
37:21
SPEAKER_02: Danish to like a matcha mochi situation.
37:25
SPEAKER_04: I love their Danish and anything custard.
37:28
SPEAKER_04: You know how like custard is cheese in America, but out there it's like sweet.
37:33
SPEAKER_04: That was like the little fish thing, I forget what they call it, uh, that you get at the confections.
37:37
SPEAKER_01: Oh, so good.
37:38
SPEAKER_02: I know it's pretty much like stuff.
37:42
SPEAKER_02: Uh they use a lot of like okinao and sweet potato to some things.
37:47
SPEAKER_02: I noticed.
37:48
SPEAKER_02: See?
37:49
SPEAKER_02: Great carb load.
37:52
SPEAKER_04: During all these races, you know, like what have you what keeps you coming back to the marathon, if you will?
37:57
SPEAKER_04: You know, obviously you come from a basketball background, you do a lot of strength training, but like you're all in, and we just spoke about it, going all in for the next few years in marathons.
38:06
SPEAKER_02: What interests me most at this time in life, based upon my past really, of being so tunnel-visioned and focused on basketball and that level of performance for so many years, to then um I guess maturing into the what is the maximum capacity my body can take?
38:32
SPEAKER_02: What can be done with, let's say, like these two years before my partner and I start family planning, and you know, pregnancy does change a lot.
38:42
SPEAKER_02: It's it's a beautiful mystery what will happen athletically after um I have a child, but what can we do in these next couple years to just crank and uh be gritty and super dedicated to the sport in conjunction with the technology is getting better.
39:04
SPEAKER_02: The shoes are insane now, right?
39:06
SPEAKER_02: I've got my plastic plate trainers to go with my easy running shoes, to go with my carbon plated racial shoes, and I have the the best gels that we've produced and the knowledge behind carbloading and how to keep a balanced diet and enough energy.
39:22
SPEAKER_02: Like, if if you're gonna do something remarkable for your body that God gave you right now, the time is now.
39:30
SPEAKER_02: We have all the tools.
39:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
39:32
SPEAKER_02: That's kind of what is the battery in my back, as well as uh finding like-minded individuals, like I mentioned before, unlikely friends that really challenge you and and FOMO you into showing up for yourself when you you don't even want to.
39:51
SPEAKER_02: So uh it's a beautiful thing, it's a sport, it's a friendship, and we say running is in fact a team sport when uh seems very individual.
40:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, you may run individual, but it takes a team to get you to that line.
40:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I would ask you the same question back though.
40:10
SPEAKER_02: What what keeps you coming back for training and and marathon training and high rocks training?
40:16
SPEAKER_02: Like, what's the battery in your back?
40:18
SPEAKER_02: What's your motivation?
40:19
SPEAKER_02: What's your why right now?
40:21
SPEAKER_04: It's it's multiple things.
40:23
SPEAKER_04: One you touched on.
40:25
SPEAKER_04: I want to see how far I could push the envelope in my body.
40:29
SPEAKER_04: Like, all in, what happens when you take all the noise, all the nonsense, everything that doesn't matter away, and you're left with just all in focus.
40:40
SPEAKER_04: What can I achieve?
40:41
SPEAKER_04: Um, the second part to that though, maybe it's the own chip on my shoulder I have, is because everything is gravy to me at this point in life.
40:51
SPEAKER_04: I used to be a 300 plus pound guy.
40:54
SPEAKER_04: That's all I weight.
40:55
SPEAKER_04: I got into bodybuilding, was never a runner.
40:58
SPEAKER_04: Then I kind of felt too big and muscular, so I started running and COVID and like I just to get nimble again.
41:04
SPEAKER_04: Uh my family, you know, there's a lot of like conditions and stuff.
41:07
SPEAKER_04: So, like for me, everything's gravy.
41:09
SPEAKER_04: The fact that I've no one in my family's ever run a marathon.
41:12
SPEAKER_04: Uh like a good friend of mine who was on the pod before um shared this with me, and we always joke on this all the time.
41:20
SPEAKER_04: Like, we came from like the bottom of Brooklyn, like very rough area.
41:26
SPEAKER_04: Used to love reminding me of that.
41:28
SPEAKER_04: But we're talking about China right now.
41:30
SPEAKER_04: Like, I'm Dominican.
41:31
SPEAKER_04: What?
41:32
SPEAKER_04: China, what you know, so that drives me a lot, and then vacations, of course, like it's also fun that I get to go to these countries.
41:40
SPEAKER_04: I never these were just books growing up, like, oh, there's a spot over there somewhere in the globe, travel, and uh so it's a combination of that.
41:48
SPEAKER_04: I want to see where I can go and also just kind of erase some barriers that I might have maybe put on myself, like going all in, what can happen, and just like show and prove that, like, look, there's genetics, but like I personally don't care.
42:00
SPEAKER_04: I put the work in, let's go.
42:02
SPEAKER_04: Like you said, surround yourself with some good friends, great running.
42:05
SPEAKER_04: I'm loving the experience, meeting people and running.
42:07
SPEAKER_04: Like, the running community is so freaking amazing.
42:10
SPEAKER_04: Like, for us to be on this podcast right now, probably wouldn't happen without running, right?
42:14
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so all that encompassing drives the hell out of me, and like, yeah, like I'm hella excited for the next two years and on, and being some badass runners toe on the line and us talking about hell, you just shared, and I'll pivot to that.
42:28
SPEAKER_04: Why sub three for all your majors?
42:33
SPEAKER_00: Well, man, let's let's back backtrack a second.
42:36
SPEAKER_00: What you just said about the chip on your shoulder.
42:38
SPEAKER_02: Um, man, that is a cool way to think about it.
42:43
SPEAKER_02: And the fact that you have multiple reasons and multiple whys, like as something as innocent as uh lovely vacations and the chip on your shoulder.
42:52
SPEAKER_02: It's a nice juxtaposition that will really keep the fire burning.
42:55
SPEAKER_02: So that's cool.
42:55
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for sharing that.
42:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
42:58
SPEAKER_02: Why sub three for all the majors?
43:01
SPEAKER_02: It's it's an arbitrary number, it's a number that I heard was challenging when I started seriously training for the marathon, and um I can comfortably say I can run all the marathon sub three if I'm uh well-tapered and well trained for it.
43:17
SPEAKER_02: Um, even off of injury for Tokyo, I was able to pull it off.
43:21
SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm comfortable with that.
43:24
SPEAKER_02: I am keeping it there as the goal.
43:26
SPEAKER_02: Um, I was dabbling in the thoughts uh last year, beginning of last year, before all the injuries and kind of backtracking that I was intrigued by this women's OTQ time.
43:41
SPEAKER_02: Uh my PR is in Chicago, 246 low.
43:45
SPEAKER_02: And I had when I first started marathoning, the Boston and Chicago games were just, you know, beginner's success.
43:56
SPEAKER_02: You see so much time drop off of what you've previously done.
43:59
unknown: So
44:00
SPEAKER_02: So an experience that I had, it was a very scary experience in London for that marathon.
44:07
SPEAKER_02: I had heat exhaustion, a heat stroke almost, where I did blackout at mile 22, shuffled into the medical tent, came to, and then for some reason they let me get out and walk again 45 minutes later, and I finished the race.
44:24
SPEAKER_02: But what went down in me going into the medical tent and not having any recollection of what has happened in the last minute, running without my phone because I thought it was extra weight to carry, and I'm in this foreign country, and my parents were there but couldn't get a hold of me.
44:44
SPEAKER_02: That was uh, in my opinion, not worth it.
44:49
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, as I'm going for a sub-245, that race, and knowing that it's very, very hot outside and not having too much ego to change my time goal and still going for it, anyways, there's a level of insanity that I'm no longer willing to cross unless it's in safer conditions.
45:12
SPEAKER_02: And so that's why sub three will be my cushion.
45:16
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't need to be this Olympic qualifying time, doesn't need to be anything uh I'll I'll be careful.
45:25
SPEAKER_02: I I do want to push myself, I don't need to push myself too near death and dicey situation, so we'll keep it there for now.
45:35
SPEAKER_04: You touched on it perfectly already.
45:37
SPEAKER_04: Like, hey, this is kind of a goal, but I'm gonna work the next two years and get healthy and stack back to back, and then then we'll talk again.
45:45
unknown: Right.
45:45
SPEAKER_01: I get what you're doing.
45:46
SPEAKER_02: At the end of the day, like I have to realize in you know, the world that I live in with all the focus on marginal gains and being surrounded by people who are very high achieving.
46:01
SPEAKER_02: What is a point that is not worth it to reach and stretch for these things?
46:07
SPEAKER_02: You know, your relationships, your own personal wellness, um obsessions with things so that you don't understand um the beauty that's around you day to day.
46:21
SPEAKER_02: Like those are all things that uh I think can be lost when you're too focused on a goal.
46:28
SPEAKER_04: No, I agree with you.
46:29
SPEAKER_04: Um I'd add fun in there too.
46:31
SPEAKER_04: Like at what point do we go too far?
46:32
SPEAKER_04: And everyone does it.
46:33
SPEAKER_04: We all do it one build or another.
46:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
46:38
SPEAKER_02: My friend has a term called run hole when I first started taking this stuff seriously.
46:42
SPEAKER_02: He's like, oh, Steph's in her run hole area.
46:45
SPEAKER_02: He's a he's a great like past ultra marathoner, has run all the marathons, done all the things.
46:51
SPEAKER_02: He's um he's in his mid-40s now, but it's like, oh, welcome to your run hole area, uh, era.
46:57
SPEAKER_02: It's uh you you're an asshole, but you're a runner.
47:02
SPEAKER_04: I love that.
47:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
47:04
SPEAKER_04: Stephanie, you think you have a leg up in like you're passing basketball, dancing, like understanding your body and what is capable in strength training at a very early age, and now that helps you now in marathoning?
47:17
SPEAKER_04: You know, because that's something that takes time for you to try and invest, but you've technically without the running, you've trained for so long in other uh arenas, if you will.
47:26
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
47:27
SPEAKER_02: Short answer, bold answer, yes.
47:30
SPEAKER_02: Strength training, and I think people are still learning this in the running community, but it is extremely valuable in keeping you uh injury-free or preventing further injury.
47:43
SPEAKER_02: It can help you with hills, it helps your body composition, it's going to help you structurally, muscles and bones, and your longevity.
47:52
SPEAKER_02: Um really building muscle helps with everything.
47:59
SPEAKER_02: And there's an extent to where, yeah, you don't need to look like a bodybuilder, and you don't necessarily need to lift a ton of um upper body as a runner, you want to focus in on the muscles and micromcles that are supporting your stride and every step on uneven surfaces.
48:18
SPEAKER_02: Um but yeah, strength training will definitely aid any runner, and I'm so lucky to have that background.
48:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it does come very naturally, and in the same vein, I can take a running uh program that someone's written for me, and I can tweak it in ways that feel comfortable.
48:44
SPEAKER_02: Uh, because I know I have a very familiar relationship with pain, good pain and bad pain, and what a sensation should feel like when you're building muscle or gaining speed or um just maintaining, versus if you're tearing muscles apart in a in a very detrimental way.
49:07
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, with with being a strength coach, I also feel like it's funny that uh like physical therapists will always tell you they're the worst patients to deal with.
49:20
SPEAKER_02: If they get hurt, they still try to like, ooh, how far can I go?
49:24
SPEAKER_02: How far can I push?
49:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, same way as a strength coach, it's do as I say, not as I do a lot of the time where I will personally go over train, but I'll tell everyone, easy, easy, like stick to the plan, stick to the reps, like take take these days off, but you know, do as I say, not as I do.
49:42
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I'll just I want to drag myself into the ground because I think for some delusional reason that it's gonna make me stronger, better, faster.
49:50
SPEAKER_02: So uh yeah, it it keeps strength training in running, keeps me feeling accountable uh to my own word and what I preach as a trainer.
50:01
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
50:03
SPEAKER_04: Talking on strength training, like say someone has to do two, three times a week, which is kind of good if you're a runner.
50:10
SPEAKER_04: What should they focus on?
50:11
SPEAKER_04: Obviously, everyone it's starting to get out there.
50:13
SPEAKER_04: I think it's more work needs to be done on you need to strength train, but what should they be working on?
50:18
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
50:20
SPEAKER_02: I have found that if I'm strength training, let's say twice a week, okay, and I'm doing my speed work running-wise, speed work Tuesday morning.
50:31
SPEAKER_02: I like to hit a heavy lower body lift in the late afternoon on the same day.
50:38
SPEAKER_02: Uh, late afternoon or evening because it's given you enough time to sort of recover from your run.
50:45
SPEAKER_02: But I love the concept of hard days hard.
50:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
50:49
SPEAKER_02: And you have uh a little bit more flexibility the rest of the week to see how you feel and to get a couple easy days in before you hit a tempo or a long run.
50:58
SPEAKER_02: Um, so having said that, strength training, I would do a heavy legs day early in the week with some core, and then later on in the week, you'd hit a total body lift, not quite as heavy.
51:16
SPEAKER_02: Um, that could be Thursday or Friday.
51:19
SPEAKER_02: And I found that in a marathon block that allows for enough recovery time in between your hard sessions, um, and also provides just like the necessary stability and uh you know hypertrophy, like poppy feeling, polimetric feeling that you get um in a single stride off the ground.
51:43
SPEAKER_02: Specific movements.
51:45
SPEAKER_02: Um I'd focus first and foremost on posterior chains.
51:50
SPEAKER_02: So your your heavy deadlifts, trap bar deadlifts, um say reverse lunges, split squats, uh, Bulgarian split squats with one leg up, 90 degree knee bend, and an upright chest.
52:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh, your glute bridges, and ladies and gentlemen, not not light glute bridges.
52:11
SPEAKER_02: Use the band and use the heaviest weight you can find in your in your quiver.
52:15
SPEAKER_02: Like put it on your hips and you're not going to injure yourself.
52:19
SPEAKER_02: Like load up your backside, it is meant to work.
52:23
SPEAKER_02: Uh, then you've got your what I would call more like PT exercises, so tibia exercises, plyometric work, just a lot of calf raises.
52:33
SPEAKER_02: Um then say add after core work.
52:38
SPEAKER_02: So your side planks balancing with your legs, kind of like this.
52:43
SPEAKER_02: Anything that keeps your hips in position is going to be really important for when you're running long distances and getting fatigued or running trail on uneven surfaces.
52:56
SPEAKER_03: Gotcha.
52:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was a lot.
52:59
SPEAKER_01: No, don't ask me about exercises.
53:01
SPEAKER_01: I get so excited.
53:02
SPEAKER_04: I got them all down, and the listeners probably like, oh, she said the magic word and tough word at the same time.
53:07
SPEAKER_04: Bulgarians is like either love or hate, depending on what side you're on.
53:12
SPEAKER_02: There's so many variations to all these exercises, and you can make uh you can you use the concept of progressive overload, so slowly lifting heavier weights each and every week, building strength.
53:27
SPEAKER_02: Um, you can do this by adding weight with dumbbells or kettlebell.
53:32
SPEAKER_02: You can also do this by adding a band or adding um a pulse or adding a tempo to certain kinds of lifts.
53:41
SPEAKER_02: So there are a lot of ways to uh increase the stimulus and and trick the body into that extra uh I guess burn to use a faux power word.
53:54
SPEAKER_04: Good pain.
53:56
SPEAKER_04: Some of the workouts you post.
53:58
SPEAKER_04: Some of them look tough.
54:01
SPEAKER_02: You know, 400s.
54:03
SPEAKER_04: Funny enough, that's what I'm working on now.
54:05
SPEAKER_04: But some of these workouts I've been following, I'm like, oof, they're not joking around over there.
54:10
SPEAKER_04: Um talk to me about good pain and how that started and like the workouts and whatnot.
54:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, all credit to my buddies Griffin and Isaiah in Austin, Texas.
54:22
SPEAKER_02: I ran the Speed Project uh for two consecutive years with the same group of guys and girls.
54:30
SPEAKER_02: Shout out to Bree Cope in Kauai.
54:33
SPEAKER_02: Um, but when you run the Speed Project, you get really close with these people.
54:39
SPEAKER_02: And all of a sudden I'm flying to Austin, Texas for work.
54:42
SPEAKER_02: And you know, someone sees that I'm there.
54:45
SPEAKER_02: Griffin hits me up.
54:46
SPEAKER_02: He says we have a 6 a.m.
54:48
SPEAKER_02: workout that we run at the Yellow Jacket Track in Austin, and uh I'll see you there the next morning, right?
54:56
SPEAKER_02: And you know, I'm out drinking wine with friends, like it's my typical word.
55:00
SPEAKER_02: It I think good pain has rewired my brain.
55:04
SPEAKER_02: I uh wanted to bring this to LA, and Griffin and Isaiah reached out after they've created this massive community.
55:12
SPEAKER_02: It's gotta be like 150 or more people in Austin who show up now at one of their parks and just let it rip at 6:30 every Tuesday morning.
55:21
SPEAKER_02: But we've started that in LA, so we're good pain LA.
55:25
SPEAKER_02: Uh really strong and excited to be a female founder of a performance running group.
55:34
SPEAKER_02: Uh our motto is both too easy, and too easy is used for whenever it's freaking hard.
55:43
SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
55:44
SPEAKER_02: Get up, run it back.
55:46
SPEAKER_02: Like you don't get to monku, you don't get to complain.
55:49
SPEAKER_02: I just threw in a Japanese word.
55:51
SPEAKER_02: You don't get to complain.
55:53
SPEAKER_02: Just uh be where your feet are and focus on the task at hand, and you know, the excuses will melt away.
56:01
SPEAKER_02: So we're we're doing Tuesday morning hard track workouts, nothing specific yet.
56:07
SPEAKER_02: We'll get more specific when we get closer to the fall marathon builds, so Chicago and Berlin.
56:14
SPEAKER_02: But for now, we're just doing hard track running for general fitness and base building.
56:22
SPEAKER_02: The the people that you attract for a 6 a.m.
56:25
SPEAKER_02: workout that they know is going to be their hardest one of the week is a very special kind of individual, and it really uh caters to a lot of former pro and college athletes who are looking for that sense of like cohesiveness and and people that understand what it is to like sacrifice in order to get the gains and then want to lift each other up doing it.
56:54
SPEAKER_02: So I'm excited.
56:55
SPEAKER_02: We're just at the very beginning, we're throwing a recovery event in a couple weeks, and then it's liftoff into summer training.
57:03
SPEAKER_02: I think we're gonna be a group to reckon with.
57:12
SPEAKER_02: I was training with a group that trained at night uh for the past couple years, and something about it it was like a wonderful group and helped me to understand marathoning and running, period.
57:27
SPEAKER_02: And I owe them so much and a great community.
57:31
SPEAKER_02: The night workouts took a toll on my recovery.
57:35
SPEAKER_02: You noticed uh it also made me really anxious the entire day when I would be waiting around to do this tough workout at 7 o'clock, eight o'clock at night.
57:46
SPEAKER_02: Then I wouldn't eat till late, I wouldn't go to bed till you know two in the morning.
57:50
SPEAKER_02: So um just being able to start my week and know that people are gonna show up at the crack of dawn to do this physical task that's then going to allow my body to deeply relax and recover, knowing that the hardest thing was done with like-minded, tough individuals.
58:10
SPEAKER_02: And then I have just so much agency over the rest of my day and the rest of my week.
58:16
SPEAKER_02: Um, it really sets me up for success in um a way that if I wanted to, I could schedule nothing for all of my day.
58:28
SPEAKER_02: Like I could uh I could sketch, I am always the master of my own schedule, except for a couple events here and there.
58:37
SPEAKER_02: And having some more structure within my week and knowing that I have these difficult things at the top of the week or difficult classes, difficult meetings.
58:46
SPEAKER_02: I usually stack them all on one day.
58:49
SPEAKER_02: Just uh it helps me to actually wind down the rest of the week if that makes sense.
58:55
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, for sure.
58:56
SPEAKER_04: You have to tell us one out, like there's a there's a kind of pressure release, if you will, when that's done.
59:01
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, you know it.
59:03
SPEAKER_02: You definitely know it.
59:05
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it can run easy the rest of the week, maybe except for the long run, you know, or tempo, whatever, and and obviously work-wise and all that, like the fatiguing part is done.
59:14
SPEAKER_04: So I I get it.
59:16
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
59:18
SPEAKER_04: Steph, when you look at everything you're doing right now, training, building, uh, getting back up to speed, building blocks together, like um, where do you feel like you're evolving the most?
59:31
SPEAKER_02: I am evolving the most in my my leadership.
59:38
SPEAKER_02: Maybe an interesting response here.
59:42
SPEAKER_02: I feel that the past five marathons I've run are just informational treasure troves to understand myself, to understand the sport, to understand motivation, and really just how to celebrate wins and how not to sulk.
1:00:03
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's all these marathons and these races and the process of training for them have taught me so much about community and the sport.
1:00:14
SPEAKER_02: So now I think where where I'm getting to evolve is into instead of just an athlete and a fan of running to to kind of a liaison and a leader and someone that has more of a maternal feel and can take people under their wing and mentor people a little bit better.
1:00:39
SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't call myself a running coach by any means.
1:00:42
SPEAKER_02: Like I'm curious about that.
1:00:44
SPEAKER_02: But um I do feel empowered to have people come to me and not necessarily dish out all these answers, but to talk about my experience and to listen to um what they think they need to do.
1:01:00
SPEAKER_02: I think I can be uh a calming force for a lot of people that are going into this very difficult sport and um and understanding the uh the beautiful benefits you receive from it.
1:01:15
SPEAKER_04: I love that, especially about the the lessons from those past marathons and now it turning to leadership.
1:01:22
SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, it's kind of how we improve doing it over and over and over.
1:01:32
SPEAKER_01: Such a journey, I would say.
1:01:35
SPEAKER_01: That's it's uh every time you finish a marathon, it's like surely I'll never do that again.
1:01:40
SPEAKER_00: And then 24 hours later, not even like what do we what's next?
1:01:46
SPEAKER_00: What do we got next?
1:01:48
SPEAKER_04: Feel that.
1:01:50
unknown: Yeah, yeah.
1:01:51
SPEAKER_04: Steph, thank you for coming on.
1:01:53
SPEAKER_04: I appreciate this.
1:01:54
SPEAKER_04: It's been an awesome, amazing conversation.
1:01:56
SPEAKER_04: Thoroughly enjoyed.
1:01:57
SPEAKER_04: Look forward to what you got coming next and and this build that we were just talking about here for the next month on months on months, but that we're looking forward to.
1:02:07
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for having me on, Fitz.
1:02:10
SPEAKER_02: And uh, I know this conversation will keep both of us accountable to be doing our strength training and to stay healthy.