Run4PR‪s‬ Run4PRs

Nutrition, Yoga, Sleep, Foam Rolling: all the little things

Running takes up a lot of time! I know just running 30-40 miles per week can often take 6-10 hours a week depending on how fast you run. That time alone is a hug commitment and can sometimes feel like a partime job! When we start to throw in recommendations for nutrition, yoga, foam rolling, strength training, cross training, etc it can all start to feel a little overwhelming! There is only so much time we each have to devote to this hobby and our health, so how do we know where to spend our time? Are all the little things worth it? We are going to do a deep dive into the various activities and what we recommend for optimal performance!

What is the most important part of training when it comes to runners?

How do you know how many miles you should be running?

How many hours per week should you be sleeping?

Why is sleep important?

Running and sleeping are the two most important things, so what is the next important thing?

How often should you strength train?

Why does strength training make you a better runner?

How often should you stretch or do yoga?

What are the benefits to yoga or stretching?

How often should you foam roll, message, ice, epsom salt bath?

Should you just do as you feel or is it important to do regularly?

Do these things drastically improve your recovery or is it more of a placebo?

Do you think doing all the little things gives you an extra edge?

How many hours per week do you think it takes to do all of these things regularly?

Should you compromise running miles to do any of these activities?

Ever finish a hard interval during a workout or a race and have to catch your breath? When you run up a hill do you notice your breathing is labored? We often get asked how to breathe while running and how to improve your fitness to the point where breathing becomes easier while you run.

Have you ever felt like you cannot breathe while you are running?

What physiologically is making it feel like you cannot breathe while you run?

Humidity, altitude, extreme cold/shivering, being sick, being dehydrated, running too fast

Is there a sort of rhythmic breathing you should be doing like in swimming?

Should you just breathe whatever is natural and as much as possible?

Do you ever get panicked when you breathe heavy during a run and it causes you to breathe even heavier?

Can meditation or breathing exercises help runners learn how to relax?

I notice when I am more relaxed, my breathing comes more natural when I am running but when I focus on it too much, it feels harder

Do you think the bottom line is that people who can’t breathe while running are just going too fast?

How can you figure out how fast to be running?

How do you talk while running?

How to start training hard again after offseason

This is the time of year when most people are getting stared thinking about training again for spring races. It’s been a long winter and after the holidays, maybe you took more time off than you thought you would! Maybe you are not sure where to start in getting back. We want to do a deep dive into getting back into training again after your offseason and tips for having a long successful season. Often people do too much too soon and burn out within a few months or worse, a few weeks.

How long of an offseason is typical?

What do you typically do during the offseason?

How should you start back adding volume?

Should you continue cross training?

How much mileage can you add per week?

What if you have not been running AT ALL but you were running a TON back in November?

When should your first race be of the season?

When can you expect to be back into the same shape you were this fall?

How will it feel the first few weeks back?

How to set goals/mileage targets/paces for workouts?

What variable should you add first?

What should be the first type of workouts?

How long of long runs should you start with?

Polarized training may sound like a fancy word, but it is the way we should all be training to reach our potential in the sport of distance running. Have you ever heard of the 80/20 principle? We want to keep 80% of your weekly mileage EASY then the remaining 20% should be reserved for harder efforts. This principle of keeping the hard days HARD and the easy days easy stems from the growth formula of stress + rest = growth. If you are not able to fully recover from the hard running workouts with nice rest/easy running days, you will not be able to grow or improve as a runner. We want to train smart & get the most out of our daily effort. This is why it is important to make sure our training is really polarized. Polarized means making sure we keep the hard days HARD and keeping the easy days truly easy. It is like the ying and yang. You need to have to rest to offset the stress.

When was the first time you were introduced to easy running vs harder running efforts?

How do distance runners get caught up in the gray zone?

What exactly is the gray zone for paces? What is YOUR gray zone?

Is there a such thing as going too slow?

Should you be able to tell by someones pace weather it was a workout day vs an easy day?

Workout day pace vs easy day pace

Workout day HR vs easy day HR

Easy running for everyone? Should some people cross train? What if your HR is always too high on easy days?

What if I am not doing workouts? Can I go faster on my easy days?

How do you get people to buy into this methodology?

Will this look different for everyone? IE- your easy pace looks like most people’s hard paceS?

Do you think as you get faster, you cannot get away with doing non-polarized training?

90. How to find the perfect pair of running shoes! One of the most common questions we get is ‘what is the best type of running shoe’. It is so crazy how many brands and models of shoes there are on the market today. We want to remove some of the confusion and help make recommendations on how you find your perfect pair of running shoes. You may not like the same type of shoes we like, and in fact, you probably won't but we will be giving tips for how to find the perfect shoe for YOU and practical tips on how to find those perfect shoes.What are all the different shoes you have loved and used over your 20 year running career?Why have you used so many different type of shoes? Do you think your preferences change?Do you think it is 100% needed to rotate through different shoes like tempo shoes vs long run shoes?How do you find your shoes personally NOW?What are the key things you look for when you go into the store?Have you ever gotten a gait analysis? Do you think it’s worth it?What if you want to try a new type of shoe but want to be able to return it if you don’t like it?What is the benefit to trying shoes on in person vs buying online?Should you ask questions on the shoe rep? What questions do you ask?Neutral, pronate, etc.What is the shoe drop?Do  you typically drift towards shoes that are similar to each other?Is it more about the brand or the model?Do most brands have different models that resemble different models in other brands?Are there really that many choices?Do you think the 250$ shoes are worth it?

89. Should you run based on effort, pace or HR There are many ways you can gauge effort on a run. With all the gadgets around now, it seems like the data is endless. Should we look at HR, Cadence, pace, stride length or should we just go based off effort? What is the most important variable? How come sometimes when I run easy, my HR is sky high? We are going to do a deep dive into the different variable at play when you are running and which to look at for the data you need to assess. Don’t get lose in the noise of too much data.-What was the one thing you started training with for the first 10 years of your running?-When was the first time you wore a GPS watch?-Looking back did the GPS help or hurt you? In what ways was it helpful?-What are some of the downsides to running based off pace?-When did you start to track your HR on runs?-Do you find that HR data to follow a pattern and be accurate?-Are you ever confused by a high or low HR reading?-How much do you look to HR as a guide?- How can you improve your HR when running at a fast pace?-How do you know what paces to run?-Do some days feel harder than others at the same pace?