Podcast - 5 Best Tips on How to run without getting tired
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[00:00:00] Today on the show, I want to share with you my five best tips on how to run without getting tired. My name is Johnny Havy and I am not only an ultra runner and yoga instructor who focuses on teaching yoga classes to help strengthen and prevent injuries for runners and non runners alike. I also have had asthma since birth.
And was told when I was four years old that I should never become a runner. And if I did want to run or find myself in a place where running would be part of my life, I mean, at four years old, I was running on the playground, I would always need to take my inhaler. Talk about getting tired while running.
Throughout my life, asthma has had a huge [00:01:00] impact on my energy levels when doing any kind of exercise, especially running. And I actually hated running for years.
Welcome to the athlete with asthma show. I'm your host, Johnny Havey, an ultra runner endurance athlete. And yes, a guy who's had an inhaler prescribed since birth. Despite doctors telling me I could never play soccer, nor run a marathon, let alone 100 K ultra. I proved them all wrong. This show is where I share everything I've learned from breathing techniques to mindset shifts to help you become the athlete and the person you truly want to be.
So if you're ready to achieve your goals, despite limitations, let's get [00:02:00] started. It wasn't until 25 plus years later, after my doctor told me that I shouldn't be a runner, I shouldn't play soccer. And if I did, I would need to take my inhaler with me all the time.
That I actually became a runner and it was a slow progression over the years and that brings me to my first tip when it comes to how to be a runner, how to run without getting tired. progressive overload. So no matter if you've been running forever or if you are starting running for the first time, you need to always check in with your body on a daily basis and see how you feel.
If you have never ran a marathon before and tomorrow you decide, Hey, I'm going to run a marathon, you may get very tired. on your way to running that marathon. [00:03:00] I would also bet that even if you finished running the marathon tomorrow, you may never want to do it again. That's how I felt in 2023. When I ran my first 50 mile race, I trained for it and I used progressive overload to train for it.
And even after months and months of training, after completing my 50 mile race, I literally wrote a note, and here's what the note said. I feel extremely accomplished from my 50 mile run. I finished the race exactly how I wanted to, by sprinting the last 7 miles, and having the best significant other, parents, and friends in general there to support me.
I now would like to shift my focus to other athletic endeavors though. I have zero interest in running another 50 mile plus race, and I'm not sure how I feel about doing [00:04:00] marathons in 50Ks anymore as well. Instead, I would like to focus on yoga and other shorter athletic events slash feats. I share this with you because no matter your fitness level and your aptitude for running.
At some point, you're going to get tired. And at some point after a race, after a goal that you achieve, you're going to feel like you don't want to ever do it again. However, when you integrate progressive overload into your training, something in your mind is going to shift. It did for me. Now, Here's how it works.
Back in 2021 is when I really seriously got into running for the first time. I decided that I was going to run my first official marathon, and I scheduled that in October 2021. Now, when I set a goal, I get excited. right away about it. [00:05:00] And it was about nine months out while most marathon training programs, which are built on progressive overload are about six months or 18 weeks out from an event.
I didn't know much about running at the time. I didn't know how to train myself. 26. 2 miles seemed like an impossible feat to me, especially because I still have the voice of my doctor I talked to when I was four years old ringing around in my head saying, you're never going to be a runner. What are you thinking?
You have asthma. So what did I do? I decided to start the Peloton 18 week marathon training program early. I was like, you know what? I'll try it out. See if I like it. It seems interesting. It's 18 weeks long. Somehow I'm going to run a marathon at the end of it. Not really sure how, but I'm going to start doing it.
So I started right away. I chose the Peloton marathon training [00:06:00] program because, well, during COVID, I got addicted to using my Peloton bike. I rode almost every single day. So I had been training for a couple years on the Peloton. So when I saw that the app on my phone had a running, an outdoor running marathon training program, I'm like, let's do it.
Well, here is the basics of any marathon training program, half marathon training program, 10k or 5k training program. The goal is progressive overload. Yes, if you have never ran a marathon before and you decide you're going to run a marathon tomorrow, You're going to get tired. You're going to hit a wall.
Even with training, you're going to hit a wall sometime. But you're not only training your body, you're training your mind. And that is really the number one thing you need to do to not get tired while running. [00:07:00] Well, you have to have the cardiovascular and fitness level to run long distances, or even a 5 or 10K.
The mental component is what will keep you from tiring and to push through and actually let yourself know that you're not actually tired. David Goggins says that all of us train to about 40 percent of our full capacity. So when you think you are tired, you are actually only at 40 percent of capacity.
You have 60 percent more to go. And this is what progressive overload helps. You push through. What is progressive overload? Well, look at a training program, 18 week training program. When I first started training for my first marathon, I had never run double digit mileage. I think the longest run I'd ever done was six or seven miles.
And that seemed like a long distance to me. Well, the first week [00:08:00] Of my 18 week long training program had the long run for the week. So my Saturday or Sunday run, most people do their long runs are in Saturday or Sunday because we're all working during the week. The long run was four miles. That was the long run on the peak week of training, which is two to three weeks out from the marathon was 20 miles.
My brain could not conceptualize 20 miles, especially as an athlete with asthma. There was no way I was going to run 20 miles at that point, yet. But four miles, I could comprehend. Like, I can do four miles. So along with four miles, I had three other runs scheduled for that week, and they're much shorter runs.
Two miles here, three miles there. And then the big run was four miles. Progressive overload occurs when the next week, week two of marathon [00:09:00] training, guess how long the long run was. Six miles. So now I have added two miles to my long run. The three runs during the week were about the same, two to three miles long, but I progressively overloaded myself by increasing my mileage on my long run by two miles.
So I ran six miles. Now week three, guess how many miles the long run was? Eight miles. You kind of understand where this is going. So the mileage throughout the week was the same, two to three miles on Tuesday, two to three miles on Thursday, two miles on Friday, and then eight miles on Saturday or Sunday.
So I completed that. Now, this is really important. When you are progressively overloading yourself in training, your body needs time to adapt. So after three weeks of progressing, most [00:10:00] training programs will suggest and advise you to have something called a drop down week. What is a drop down week?
Instead of going up to 10 miles on week four, we're actually going to drop down to four miles. So we're going to drop down to what our first long run was in that four week block. Now you don't have to always hit the mileage perfectly where you get to your drop down week. You're like, Oh, I have to go down to four miles.
The point is. You need a week to recover and for your body to adapt so you can get to the next block of training. So week 4, for my long run, I did 4 miles. What did I do for week 5? I ran 8 miles as my long run. Week 6? 10 miles. Week 7? 12 miles. What did we do in week 8? Drop back down to eight [00:11:00] miles and then progressively, I ultimately got up to 20 miles and then I had a two week taper where mileage significantly drops leading up to the race.
Now, like I said, I jumped in and started my 18 weeks of training well before the Colfax marathon that I was signed up for. So what did I do? Well, I ran my first marathon as a self made marathon. What does that mean? That means that I didn't have a marked trail and I didn't have any official aid stations.
There was no crowd. It was just me. Running for 26. 2 miles now. The great thing is I live right on a park in Colorado I was training on this trail, so I knew what 26. 2 miles was going to take And I could refuel [00:12:00] at my house and at my parents house. So my lovely significant other helped me refuel at our house and my parents helped me refuel at their house.
That's how I got the fuel that I needed to complete the marathon. Well, the marathon itself was brutal. It took me over six hours and I was limping at mile 16 for about 8 miles. I talk about why that happened in other videos on my channel. But I mentally knew that I could complete the marathon and my goal was to complete it.
It wasn't to set any records to be fair. I had never ran a marathon before. So no matter what my finishing time was, it was going to be a personal best. So I put the training in, I progressively overloaded my body so that my body and my mind was ready to complete [00:13:00] this marathon. And that's how I was able to complete it.
Because when you get tired, you may only be at 40 percent of what you can truly give. Now, like I said, I am a lifelong athlete with asthma, and today I am going to share with you my best breathing technique that you can use to help you not get tired. So stay tuned. But before we get there, my second best tip for how to run without getting tired is fueling yourself with energy, with calories, with carbs.
Now, depending on who you talk to, and depending on how far you are running, you're going to get a ton of different advice. The key here, though, is when you run, you burn energy, you burn calories. And depending on how fast you run, you will burn [00:14:00] more calories. If you run slower, you will burn less calories.
Now, depending on how far you run, you will burn more calories. If you run five miles, you're going to burn less calories than if you run 10 miles. If you run a marathon, you're going to burn more calories than if you run half a marathon. If you run a 50 mile race, you're going to burn more calories than a marathon, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
But the two factors you need to keep in mind during your training and during your races is how far are you running and how fast are you running? These two things work hand in hand. Because The higher your heart rate, which is the higher your energy exertion during a run, the more calories you are going to burn.
For me, when I run a 10 minute mile, [00:15:00] I burn significantly less calories than if I run an 8 minute mile. The other day, I decided that I was going to run 12 miles. It's going to run from our house to my parents house and back. It's about six miles each way, mainly on trail. And I was like, you know what? I am really working on building my lung capacity, strengthening my lungs as an athlete with asthma.
I was focusing on my favorite breathing technique to help keep myself energized during my run, which you'll learn later in this video. And. I was pushing pace because I ultimately want to run 50ks, 50 milers, and beyond faster. So I'm like, you know what? I'm going to try and run an 8 mile pace for 12 miles.
So I'm a seasoned ultra runner at this point. I've ran a 50 mile race and I've ran a 100k race in addition to a dozen marathons and 50ks. [00:16:00] This is why I said early on, it doesn't matter how long you've been a runner. You need these tips. Anyway, I was nine miles in to my eight to eight and a half minute pace, and I hit a major wall of tiredness.
Now I've ran a hundred kilometers in 12 hours before. So mentally I knew I had more. I knew that, Hey, this is probably only my 40%. I still have 60 percent to give. With that being said, I had no energy to burn. Now, metabolically, my body was probably starting to burn fat and protein slash maybe some muscle.
I don't know what was going on internally. I'm not a doctor. I'm not a scientist, but I have a basic understanding of what happens if there's no sugar and carbohydrates in my body. And if I haven't eaten any calories, because typically at a minimum, you need to eat [00:17:00] 200 calories per hour. When doing any sort of running and most of those calories should be from carbs because carbs metabolize into sugar and sugar is our energy source as a human.
It's not the only energy source though. So if you burn through all your sugar, your carbs, now your body's going to start using protein. It's going to start using amino acids. They're going to start using muscle tissue. It's going to start using fat. As well, which can be very useful. And there are some runners out there who have trained themselves to efficiently use fat to run their system.
But if you aren't trained like that, just like I'm not used to or mentally trained to run just burning fat, it can be really hard to continue. 9 miles in, my pace went from an 8 [00:18:00] minute mile to an 11 minute mile. And really, if I hadn't had the mental training that I've had with running 50 plus mile races, I probably would have stopped.
But I knew I had more because I've ran way more than 12 miles before. I knew I could get all the way back home. The biggest mistake I made is I didn't eat anything. I was running 12 miles in less than two hours and I hadn't eaten anything. What I should have done was brought something like some chews, some gummies.
My favorite gummies are the Scratch Labs Energy Chews, which I have linked in the description below. If you're interested in checking those out. I've tried a lot of different fuel sources. The Scratch Lab Energy Chews, first of all, taste amazing. Second of all, they're very clean when it comes to nutrition.
Thanks again. And third of all, a whole package has about 160 [00:19:00] calories. The great thing is if you're taking a one hour run, really, you bring one of these with you. If you're taking a two hour run, bring two of these with you. Theoretically, you should have at least 200 calories per hour, and you can go all the way up to 400 to 500 calories per hour.
I personally try to have about 400 to 500 calories per hour when I'm running long distances. If I'm doing just a one or two hour run, then a couple of these and some electrolyte mix, liquid IV, in my CamelBak provides enough Nutrition for me was about 40 calories in one of these sticks. And I'll go into that next.
When I talk about hydration, if I had eaten one of these packs within my 12 mile run, I would have been able to keep my eight minute mile pace. The, the reality though, [00:20:00] is I have done a 12 mile run. I've done 20 mile runs. without eating before, because I also like to train to feel tired, to feel like I've completely exhausted myself.
That's the only reason why I'll do runs where I don't fuel myself, because I'm trying to get myself in a place Where I feel depleted so that when I'm doing a race, I'm ready for it. So that race day, isn't the first time that I feel tired. So that is a bonus tip is trained to feel tired. And on race day, when you're feeling yourself.
First of all, you'll have the energy that you need, and if you do get tired, it won't be the first time and you'll know what to do. So I've done this 12 mile run many times without any fuel, but I was running slower. And that's why distance is important, but also speed and heart [00:21:00] rate. Since I was pushing my pace at an eight minute mile, which isn't the normal pace for me yet, my body was burning significantly more calories.
to hold that pace than it does when I'm running a 10 minute mile. So that's why I dropped to an 11 minute mile to get the rest of the way home. Then when I got home, I ate right away. If you're running a 5k or a 10k or even a marathon, eating Shouldn't be an issue. Maybe a marathon, your stomach might start to turn off and it may be harder to eat solid foods.
I've had that happen before, but most of the time you'll be able to bring a bunch of these with you. Maybe bring some gels as well. If you're doing a official marathon, like when I did the Colfax marathon, then they're actually going to have fueling stations for you. Always stay ahead of your fueling Eat even if you don't feel hungry.
This is going to help you run without [00:22:00] getting tired. Make sure you're staying up with calories. Now, if you have aspirations to run. A marathon, a 50K, a 50 mile race, a 100K race, a 100 mile race, at some point eating is going to become very difficult. When I ran my first 50 mile race back in September, 2023, I ate the entire time.
And not only did my stomach get tired of solid foods about 35 miles in. My jaw got tired of chewing. I ate a bunch of different things during this race, and I knew at some point I wasn't going to be able to stomach much. So I brought a bunch of protein shakes with me, which I thought was a good idea. And to a degree, I do think it helped me with the recovery after, but our bodies aren't as [00:23:00] efficient at using protein as a resource.
Now the protein empowered my muscles, To have some building blocks during the race, but from a caloric standpoint and energy standpoint, it really didn't help me as much, but I did get to a point in the race where I couldn't chew pretzels anymore. I couldn't eat hummus anymore. I couldn't eat these sweet potato oatmeal cookies that my amazing significant other made me.
I couldn't eat those anymore. I was tired of chewing. I couldn't swallow. So what did I do? I kept drinking these shakes. Ultimately, I finished my 50 mile race in 13 hours and I didn't have to use my inhaler the entire time because I trained for it using progressive overload, but I felt terrible. I didn't want to run again.
I was so tired, which is why I knew that if I was going to run again, I had to fuel differently. So what I figured out a year [00:24:00] later running my 100K is I needed a way to get calories in my system without relying on solid foods. And what I discovered was Scratch Labs super high carb Powder. Okay. So gummies, amazing.
They actually taste really good for the most of a hundred K race. This at some point, I don't even know that I was drinking it. This was in my water. And what I did in my a 100K race is I had an amazing crew. My significant other was the head of my crew and she would fill up my camelbacks. With 500 calories worth of this powder.
Dissolves in water. It's 500 calories of carbs [00:25:00] in my water. I also mix that with liquid IV. Which I use as a ultra hydrator. with electrolytes and amazing vitamins and minerals like potassium to fuel me and prevent me from getting tired as well while I'm running. What this allowed me to do is if I couldn't eat anything, I was still getting about two to three hundred calories per hour in my system, the majority of such being carbs just by hydrating myself.
This caused me to not only set a personal record for my 50 mile by three and a half hours, but beat my 50 mile race total time [00:26:00] by one hour and run 12 more miles. I finished my 100k in just over 12 hours. When a year prior, I finished 50 miles in just over 13 hours. And I won first place male. And I have asthma.
I didn't take my inhaler once during the race because of progressive overload. And the breathing technique I will share with you later. Now, third best tip for how to run without getting tired is hydration. Hydration is key. Now, with hydration, you need to consider two items. Number one, how hot is it outside?
If it's hotter, you need more water. Pretty obvious. Number two, you need to make sure that you're getting the electrolytes, the [00:27:00] vitamins and minerals, including salt, that your body needs To actually hold the water. So if you're drinking more water because it's hot outside You not only need more water. You need more vitamins and minerals and electrolytes Here's what happened to me in my 100k run.
I was eating these my energy levels were great. Okay I had I had the scratch powder high carb powder in all the water. I drank I put two Liquid IVs in every single CamelBak that I drank. I have two CamelBaks, one is a one and a half liter, the other is a two liter. There were two of these in each of them.
There's a lot of electrolytes, vitamins, and minerals in these. Around mile 37, I started cramping up really bad. Now, I've always been really good at hydration, because as an athlete with asthma, [00:28:00] Hydration water actually helps with asthma. At least it has helped with my asthma over the years the more Hydrated I stay the less issues I personally have with asthma So I've always been really good at drinking a lot of water, but it was hot outside.
It was 87 degrees This is like six or seven hours into my race in the blazing heat, no shade, and I'm going to be out there for another five hours. My left hamstring started cramping up extremely bad. I wasn't even getting tired. Okay. Cause I was fueled right, progressively overloaded and training. I 37, but my body wasn't holding on to water.
I hadn't peed for five hours. I was sweating so much that I was sweating [00:29:00] all of the minerals, all the vitamins out of my body.
Hey friend, I wanted to take a moment to ask you a quick question. Are you struggling to lose weight due to your asthma? If so, I get it. I used to run marathons and still kept gaining weight. It wasn't until I learned about the three pillars of healthy living that everything changed.
So I put together a healthy living guide that you can access absolutely anywhere. free by clicking the link in the description. This guide shares these amazing three pillars of healthy living that you can easily integrate into your life [00:30:00] to start losing weight and live healthier today. Click the link in the description or go to Athlete with asthma dot com forward slash healthy dash living dash guide to grab your free copy.
Now, let's get back to the rest of the show.
I wasn't actually holding on to water. I was getting dehydrated and my muscles didn't have the salt they needed to not cramp up. So my hamstring seized up. At this point, I'm in third place.
And I'm terrified that I'm about to have all the training I did over the past six months. There's actually nine months of training, progressively overloading my training. So I didn't feel tired at this point. And all of a sudden I can't [00:31:00] walk or I can barely walk. I'm hobbling. I don't know what to do. So I call my trainer, Caitlin, over at Run Infinite.
Best ultra running training organization that I know highly recommend you check them out. I have a link in the description below. If you're listening to this, you can just search run infinite on Google and her and her husband's company will come up. So I call her up and I say, Caitlin, I'm feeling good.
My time is good. I'm eating well. I feel good. I'm not tired, but I can't walk. What do I do? And she's like, well, what's wrong? Well, my hamstring seized up and she asked me, have you been drinking enough water? I'm like, yeah, I've been drinking water like crazy. Then her followup question was when was the last time you went to the bathroom?
Like, well, it's been five hours. She's like, okay, first of all, you need to use the restroom within 30 minutes. So [00:32:00] start drinking even more water. Second of all, you need to get salt in your system immediately. And I'm like, well, I'm kind of by myself right now. I have some liquid IV in my pack. But I'm nowhere near an aid station.
I was about a mile, mile and a half out from an aid station, which doesn't sound very far, but when you can't walk, cause your hamstring has just gotten a Charlie horse in it, that seems really far. So she told me, Hey, just walk it off, kind of rub the area out. But once you get to the aid station, you need to drink pickle juice.
And get salt in your pack for the rest of the day. So thank God my hamstring after about a quarter mile loosened up enough so I could get to the next aid station. When I got to the aid station, my significant other Tatiana and my friend Shane greeted me with pickle juice and they had another pack for me [00:33:00] with extra liquid IV in it.
I chugged the pickle juice. It didn't taste great, but I got the salt back in my system. And then for the next 12 miles, I stopped at every aid station and made sure that I had more salt. So with tip number three, you could do all the training. that you need to progressively overload your body so that you don't get tired 40 miles into an ultra race.
You can fuel correctly with energy, with calories, with carbs, but if you mess up your hydration, you may not get tired. You might have another issue like cramps or an injury, or you may have happened to you what happened to one of the other participants in the 100k race where he Left the aid station, he didn't drink enough water the entire day, and he ended up passing out because of the heat.[00:34:00]
Now he's fine, I talked to him after the race, but he had to drop out of the race. His body was so tired from not getting enough water, enough electrolytes. that it shut down and he passed out. So you want to make sure that you get your hydration, right? I highly recommend using liquid IV, but also having salt with you, especially in longer runs.
I have links to liquid IV and salt that you can bring with you in the description below this video. If you're listening to this as a podcast, You can look in the show notes for this information as well. You can also just search liquid IV on Amazon and salt tablets on Amazon, but you can also just use any sort of salt pack.
Crazy enough, 40 miles into my race, liquid IV mixed with salt actually tastes really good. All right. So my fourth best tip on how to run without getting tired [00:35:00] is breath. Now, as an athlete with asthma, breath is. a superpower that you can harness to be successful at any sport. We have been told that our lungs aren't strong.
We have weak lungs. If you have asthma, that's what you've been told. You may feel like because you haven't done a lot of cardio in your life that your lungs are weak. Well, I'm here to tell you that your lungs aren't weak. You just need to unlock the full potential of your lungs. And how do you do that?
breath. Well, cardiovascular exercise plus breath. Now I have an entire podcast episode about how to relieve asthma symptoms, my three best breathing techniques, and I highly recommend you check that episode out. If you have asthma [00:36:00] or not, because these techniques will not only help you with asthma will give you more power, more energy, and ultimately make it so that you don't get tired while running.
Okay, so the number one breathing technique that I use while running to prevent myself from getting tired is focusing on the cadence of your exhale. For example.
You hear my exhale. You hear the pattern, the cadence. What is cadence? Well, if you're a runner, cadence is foot turnover. How many steps are you doing in a minute? How many breaths are you doing in a minute? Now I don't expect you to be on mile 45 of an ultra or even mile two and a half of a five K race that you're trying to win or trying to set a personal best.
I don't expect you to use [00:37:00] your brainpower to start counting. So what I recommend is that you find a song that speaks to you. My favorite song for doing this is any variation of Seven Nation Army. Seven Nation Army has an amazing beat that you can match your breath with. And it will not only help you if you have asthma, it will energize you if you have asthma or not.
And it will make your body more efficient with the energy that you're giving it. The food, the calories, the electrolytes in water. And your breath.
Now, don't worry about being loud. Be as loud as you possibly can. The louder you breathe, the more oxygen you're going to get because the more [00:38:00] CO2 you're pushing out of your system, the more CO2 you push out of your system with your diaphragm, The more room there is in your lungs to take in oxygen. If you have asthma, this is amazing for asthma management.
If you don't have asthma, this is amazing to increase your energy levels. Then either way you're going to increase your energy levels and you're not going to get tired as much. Also, I find that this puts me in flow state when I listen to a song like this and I get into my breath, my brain doesn't have the opportunity to think about how tired I am anymore.
Okay. It thinks that we're partying. We're in the club now.
Now, what if you're doing a race where you don't have access to music? That's fine. Just focus on getting as many of these exhales [00:39:00] out as possible. So it's
Or you can focus on your foot turnover and try and match it with every couple of steps. You can match it with your knee coming up. Whatever you need to do to get the breath going. Just focus on your exhale. Just push out as much air as possible on your exhale. Everything else will follow.
This breathing technique has not only helped me as a runner with asthma, it has helped me scale 14, 000 foot mountains without using my inhaler. Now, if you have asthma, you need to bring your inhaler with you at all times. And, I'm not a doctor, I'm not a health care professional, and I'm not a scientist as I've said before.
So, you need to check with your doctor before integrating any of this. And if you don't have asthma, you should check with your doctor as well. I have a disclaimer in the description below this video [00:40:00] and in the show notes. Okay. What is the fifth best tip on how to run without getting tired? Having a strategy of when to listen to music, audio books, and podcasts, and listen to nothing.
Now, some of you out there may be like, well, I'm running a race where I'm not allowed to listen to music. Well, in that case, this tip may not be very helpful for you for your race, but you can still integrate this tip while you're training, while you're building up using progressive overload, because music acts as a natural painkiller.
Music has the ability to elevate your energy. Music has the ability to to evoke emotions within you. I'm a very emotional runner. This means that when [00:41:00] I feel tired in a run or in a race, I turn music on when I'm allowed to. I have specific songs that elevate my mood. I have specific songs that I train to before the event that I do in my yoga scope class that I run to on a daily basis.
My brain knows that when this song comes on, it's on. We're finishing this race. I'm no longer tired. I'm no longer in pain, or I'm not thinking about the pain as much. 45 miles into an ultra, my feet. are so sore. I put music on if I've held out that long and I put music on immediately switches. David Goggins shares how he believes that if you are going to be a [00:42:00] true ultra endurance athlete that you need to learn how to do it without music.
There's a reason why he shares this because music is a natural painkiller. And Goggins is one of the hardest core humans on the face of the planet. So of course he doesn't want to run with music and he advises people to not. And that is where a strategy between when do you listen to music? When do you listen to podcasts and audio books?
And when do you listen to nothing comes into play? Now, if you're running a 5k or a 10 K or a half marathon, you probably don't have to worry about this as much, especially if the race that you're running allows you to listen to music, but if you're running a marathon or beyond, you need to be strategic with when you're listening to music, listening to audio books, listening to podcasts like this one.
Because [00:43:00] as far as I know, our phones or your music player has a finite battery life. In addition, if you are running with some sort of battery powered listening device, there's a battery life. And the last thing you want is to be 40 miles into your 50 mile race, be 16 miles into your marathon, And it dies.
And you've been training with music throughout your entire training cycle. This could immediately mentally throw you off and make you feel like you're tired when you still have that 60 percent left in you. So a couple of things. If you're a cyclist, you should never wear wired [00:44:00] headphones, earbuds, never.
Because if they fall out, They could go into your wheels. They can go into your pedals and throw you off the bike. Also, you should probably never wear music anyway, or only have one in because you have cars, you have other bikers. You don't want to get hit. You want to know what's going on in your surroundings.
But if you're a runner, wired headphones are a must to bring with you on your longer races, as long as you're allowed to have them. Marathons, 50Ks, 50 miles, 100Ks, 100 miles, bring wired headphones. You don't have to worry about them dying. You still have to worry about your phone dying. But now you don't have to worry about your headphones dying.
And then bring a separate pair. Bring two pairs. You don't know when you may need the music to lift you up in a low point. I've been talking a lot about music. What about [00:45:00] listening to podcasts and audiobooks? Well, for me, I find that when I'm training, I like to listen to audiobooks like Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins, Never Finished by David Goggins, Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, and countless other audiobooks.
I also really enjoy listening to podcasts like Tony Robbins show, I like listening to this show. I like listening to the Graham Cochran show, but I like listening to inspirational books and podcasts. And this can be a great way to mix in with music because the reality is if you have a handful of songs that just really elevate your mood, elevate your energy, just pump you up and you're running a marathon, even you could loop these songs all day.
But every time you listen to the song that day, it's going to have a lesser impact [00:46:00] on you. You're going to get less energy from that song. So what you want to do is mix it with other things, like a very, very inspirational or motivational book. I highly recommend if you're a runner to read Born to Run, Can't Hurt Me, and Never Finished.
I have them all linked in the show notes. And they are in the description below if you're watching on YouTube. Now, my 100k race, I was out there for 12 hours. Listening to things for 12 hours is too much for me. Some people can, some people probably have 12 hours worth of music that pumps them up and they're good to go.
That's not me. I have an 8 hour long playlist But I really, at any given time, have like five to ten songs that really pump me up. That's like one hour of music at best. [00:47:00] And I need to use that music when I need it in the run. So I'm not just going to use it throughout the 12 hour day. So what I do and what I train for is I train without listening to anything.
So what I do is the first half of the race, or as long as I can go without listening to anything, I do it. So my hundred K race, I actually got a full two laps without listening to anything. That's almost a marathon 25 miles without listening to anything. Now, how did I do this? Well, I did this because in my training, I would do multiple runs a week where I wouldn't listen to anything or for part of the run, I wouldn't listen.
And I would do that progressively. So if you're used to just listen to music all the time, when you're running, don't just go tomorrow and run five miles and not listen to anything you can [00:48:00] progressively increase the time, start with a mile, then put music on for the rest of it. Then do two miles and so forth.
Progressively increase your time, not listening to music or listening to a podcast or audio book. Then what my plan was in the race was to listen to an audio book next day. I had a couple of audio books lined up, including can't hurt me by David Goggins, third time I'd be reading it, but I needed something more 25 miles in.
It was hot. I was getting tired. I needed inspiration. I wasn't at the halfway point of my race yet. So I put on music and I listened to it for the entire next lap for two and a half hours. That brought my energy up. It got rid of my tiredness. Then I put on an audio book for the first part of lap four.
And then I had to put music on again. I started looping [00:49:00] songs. I did it because I needed it. Then lap five, my trainer was running with me, so I didn't listen as much, but I definitely listened for the last half of the final lap to really pump me up and bring me to the finish. So tip number five is strategizing how you are going to leverage music, audiobooks, podcasts, and silence in your runs.
For your energy levels and you need to practice before race day and always remember if you need it Put on that song to elevate your spirits. I looped my breathing song
Throughout my race And i'll tell you this drop pumped me up every time
Now I have a gift [00:50:00] for you to take your health wellness and fitness to the next level. It not only transformed me into an overweight marathoner running a five hour marathon at sea level to a 152 pound five nine ultra marathon winner. Of the bear chase, a hundred K first place male in 12 hours, it has completely changed my life.
and has helped me manage my asthma even better. My three pillars of healthy living are easy to integrate into your life. It just takes consistency and wanting to do it every single day. You can grab my guide linked in the description below and in the show notes or go to www. athletewithasthma. com forward slash healthy slash living [00:51:00] slash guide.
It's going to take you less than five minutes to read through the guide and start integrating these three pillars into your life. They've completely changed my life and my hope for you. My wish for you is that they change your life as well. Thanks for being here today and I'll see you in the next one.
Thanks for tuning in to the athlete with asthma show. I hope today's episode inspired you to overcome any perceived limitations you may have. Remember, your health and wellness journey isn't about perfection. It's about progress. So I invite you to take a small step right now towards your goals. And if you found something helpful here, make sure to subscribe, leave a review and share the podcast with others on a similar path.
Until next time, keep challenging yourself and redefining what's [00:52:00] possible.
