Podcast - 5 Biggest Mistakes Runners Make and How to Avoid Them (smaller)
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the athlete with asthma show today, I'm going to share with you the five biggest mistakes runners make and how to avoid them. Now as an ultra runner as an ultra runner with asthma, I have had a lot of different challenges over the years, going from never liking to run, and only running about six miles tops as my longest run ever to running a hundred k race and winning it.
So the first most common mistake that runners make is purchasing the wrong shoes. Now everyone out there has a different opinion on what type of shoes you should buy. Some people say, Hey, you should go for a lot of cushion. [00:01:00] One of my favorite books of all time called born to run talks all about this question
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.
back in 2020.
I was not an ultra runner. But I was told by many people that this is the book to read if you're interested in getting into ultra running. So I decided, you know what, I'm going to run and listen to this book at the same time. At the time, I had never run double digit mileage. And I was learning all about, okay, well, what type of shoes should I wear?
Should it be thick? Should it be thin? I didn't really know. I kind of just went to the local running store, ran on the treadmill, they watched my gate and then they gave me options. All right. And what I actually found is What felt the best in store felt terrible on trail on road. I actually, when I was getting into it, I was like, you know what, everyone talks about there being tons of injuries for runners.
And the shoe companies [00:03:00] have compiled data to support you spending more money on shoes. And one of the things that they do is they actually charge you more for more cushion. Well, born to run talks about how there is this amazing tribe in Mexico called the taru Amara. Born to Run follows the author himself, Christopher McDougall, travel into the canyons of the Tarahumara runners in Mexico.
And he does this because he's having similar issues that you and me have. Injuries, foot pain, doctors telling him that he shouldn't run anymore, doctors telling him that running is bad for him. Well, what he uncovers is that running is why humans even exist in the first place. It is why we exist. Running is why we are two [00:04:00] legged creatures, two legged beings that stand upright.
We were born to run and we're born to run barefoot. Okay, so does that mean that you should just not buy any shoes? and just start running barefoot. No. The book continues talking about how shoe companies have put tons and tons of money into research to prove to you that you need to buy more expensive shoes.
Well, Christopher McDougall did a lot of his own research and brought some studies together that that not only show a direct correlation between the amount of money you spend on a shoe versus the amount of injuries that the shoes create. It also shows that the best runners in the world. only wear a small piece of leather on the bottom of their feet to protect it from the environment, but the foot itself is allowed to move naturally.
[00:05:00] Okay, so what does this mean for you? What does this mean for me? Well, everyone's foot is different. What works for me may not work for you. What works for you may not work for me. Christopher McDougal wore running shoes to run his 50 mile race in Born to Run. Barefoot Ted, another character in Born to Run, liked to run barefoot.
Caballo Blanco, another character in Born to Run, ran in the sandals. Scott Uric, another character in Born to Run, and one of the best, if not the best, ultra runner of all time, has his own type of shoes that he likes to wear. So really what you need to explore is how does your foot feel When I went to a running store for the first time, I thought, Hey, these shoes are 250.
I want to run my first marathon. I don't want to get injured. I bought the pair of shoes. It felt good in [00:06:00] store. Then literally later that day, I was two miles into a run. I was wearing those shoes and my feet were on fire. And I was like, well, Everyone says that you need time to break shoes in. So I was like, okay, I'll just keep running.
So I kept running for another couple miles, my feet got worse. So I was just like, you know what, I'm gonna go home. Maybe tomorrow it'll be better. So I put the shoes on the next day. And before I even started running, my feet were in pain. At this point, I'm just like, How long is it supposed to take to break these shoes in?
And hey, you may be feeling the same way. I'll tell you this. Once you find a pair of running shoes that works for you, you're It doesn't take any time to break it in. I know this because this past year I ran my first 100k race. I trained my butt off for it, put a lot of time in. As an athlete [00:07:00] with asthma, I really have to focus on building my lungs up, building my lung capacity to carry me through these long distance races.
Well, three days before the race, I realized that my shoes had holes in them. And the second pair of shoes that I bought, just in case this would happen, also had holes in them. I was freaked out. I'm like, what? This just ruined my race. I'm three days out. How am I supposed to break in a pair of shoes before my race?
So what I did is I went to the running store. I bought the same pair of shoes, the Topo athletic fly light five men's. I bought a pair. And then I was talking to the gentleman helping me out and asked, Hey, I've been running in these all year. My race is a trail race. I have some trail shoes, but I don't like them.
They don't fit my feet like these do. Is there a topo athletic pair of shoes that is exactly like this pair, but a [00:08:00] trail pair of shoes? He's like, yeah, the mountain racer threes. We have one more in stock. Like fantastic. Give me those. I tried them on. I tried both pairs of shoes on. They fit great. I was still worried.
I'm like, I have three days and I have to break these in before the race. I took a run in the flat pair, the fly light fives. Later that day, my feet felt amazing because I've been running in this pair of shoes forever. This was just a newer pair. When you find a pair of shoes that works for your feet, it should not take time to break them in.
Your feet should not hurt. Yes, they still have to adjust, but your feet should not hurt. If your feet hurt and you're running shoes, it is the wrong pair of shoes. Don't let anyone tell you, Oh, well, yeah, it's going to break in after a couple of days. If they hurt. Don't buy them. Now, the mountain racers, I had never [00:09:00] wore this pair of shoes before.
The next day I decided to take my first run in those. This is literally 48 hours before my 100k race. I put them on. I ran three miles in them. Didn't hurt at all. They actually felt amazing. I felt like I had the grip I needed. And I ultimately decided to wear those for my 100k race. I had only put about five miles on this new pair of shoes before my 100k race.
Not only was it a new pair of shoes, it was a new model of shoe. I had never worn this type of shoe before. But when you find the right shoe for you, it won't hurt and you should be able to run in it immediately. Best practice is to run your race in a pair of shoes that you have actually trained in. So don't go out there and be like, Oh, Johnny just told me I can buy a brand new pair of shoes before race day.
Best practices to not do that. I'm just telling you that if you run into a [00:10:00] situation like me. You can make it happen as long as you know which shoes are right for you. So that's the first biggest mistake runners make when they get into running. Tons of information out there. There's science technically supporting both sides of it.
The running shoe companies have their science supporting to have thicker shoes. And then there's all the science showing that we are the running people. We can run barefoot. So you need to figure out what's best for you. For me, I like Very little padding in my shoes. Ever since I've gone to very little padding, the Flylite 5s and the Mountain Racer 3s by Topo work.
perfectly for me. Now, these types of shoes from Topo, you can find at all sorts of other brands as well. They have their version of it. I just personally prefer the Topo athletic shoes as of recording this video and [00:11:00] episode. Number two, running too far or too fast. too soon. So when I was four years old, I was told by multiple doctors that I could never be a runner.
I didn't care. I cared about being able to play soccer and they told me I couldn't play soccer either. Fast forward 25 years and I started getting into running. This is about four years ago. I didn't all of a sudden run 50 miles. I didn't even all of a sudden run 10. At the time I had never run more than five or six miles all at once.
And I was running maybe an 11 minute, 11 and a half minute mile. But I read the book, Born to Run. I also read David Goggins book, Can't Hurt Me. And got a dog. Remembered that someone told me when I was four that I shouldn't be a [00:12:00] runner. And I was like, you know what? I'm going to be a runner because you told me that I can't.
When someone tells me I can't do something and I really care about that thing, I'm going to make it happen. I was told I couldn't play soccer. I played soccer. I played multiple games in a day. Never used my inhaler and was extremely good at soccer. Same thing with running. So when I started running, I made so many mistakes related to running.
Let's see how far I can run today. I feel great. I haven't ever ran 15 miles before, but I'm going to try and do it. I remember the first time I tried to run 10 miles. I never run more than five or six. I got to mile eight and I was dead. I went out too fast. And I ran too long, and I paid for it. I felt terrible for weeks.
Have you ever had that happen to you? Where you're just, you get excited, you [00:13:00] sign up for that marathon, you start the training, you're like, you know what, I'm just going to run 10 miles today. Let's do it. You try and bite off the entire marathon in that one day. It's easy to do. We get excited. I still do it to this day with training.
But. What actually works is incrementally increasing your mileage and incrementally increasing your pace. Now, biologically, it takes longer to train for endurance, which means the amount of time on your feet, the amount of miles, that marathon, that 50 miler, that hundred miler than it does to train for speed.
So training for endurance for these long runs can take years, while training for speed can take months. So if your goal right now is I want to run a 50 mile race, and [00:14:00] you've never ran a 50k, you've never ran a marathon, heck, you've never run a half marathon. Heck, you just ran your first 5k. Does that mean you can't run 50 miles?
No, you can definitely run 50 miles. Just know that it takes years to get to the point where you run 50 and you feel good after it. Okay, you can run 50 you can run 50 this year, you can go from zero to 50 in one year by incrementally increasing your mileage. So if you've never ran more than a 5k. Don't go out there and just run 15 miles.
What you want to do is use progressive overload in your training. How do we do that? Well, what you want to do is follow some sort of program where you have a long run, Or two long runs every week. So if you're really shooting to do a 50 mile race, you're going to have to work up to having two to three long runs every week, [00:15:00] but here's how it looks incrementally.
If you have the first milestone being a half or a full marathon, what you want to do is run three to five times per week. Eventually you're probably going to want to run up to six times. And one of those runs we call a long run. Well, let's say that you've never ran more than three miles before. That means your first long run is going to be three or four miles.
Then the next week, your second long run is going to be five or six miles. Then the next week, your third long run is going to be seven or eight miles. Then guess what? That fourth week, you're going to drop back down To that three to four mile mark to give your body a break. And then you just incrementally climb up from there.
Now, if you're looking to run a 50 mile race, you're eventually going to get to the point where you're running 15 miles one day, 20 miles the next day, or 20 miles one day, 30 miles the next day. But we [00:16:00] incrementally get there. Now I'm a huge David Goggins fan. And he ran his first hundred mile race with very little training, like literally no training, and he finished it.
His body also shut down, and now his body usually shuts down after any of these long runs because of different health challenges he has. But that first race, he felt terrible. So that doesn't mean you can't go out there and run 50 miles. If you're listening to this right now and you're like, this guy just told me I can't do it, Use that as fuel and go do it.
I want you to do it just as much as I wanted to do it. The first time I did it, the point is the first time I ran 50 miles, this is about two to three years into my running journey. I wanted to give up after I didn't want to run again. I finished it. I finished the race. I had the mental capacity to do it.
I did the training and I finished the race. That was my goal. I literally wrote a note after it saying I [00:17:00] never want to run again. I'm not doing ultras. I'm not doing marathons. I'm not going to run period. A couple months later, all that changed. I ended up running 100k, which is 62 miles just this past year.
And I felt amazing after and I won the event. Well, how did this happen? Well, I had a whole Another year, which is about 2500 miles of training on top of what I had already done up until that point in my life, I'd already experienced a 50 mile race for the first time. So I was ready, I was even more ready this time.
And that's one of the biggest tips I can give you, the more you do this, the easier it will get a progressive overload, the more you do it, and you consistently get better. it gets easier. It's okay if your first ultra, your first marathon, your first 5k, your first 10k is hard. Your next 10k will be easier.
It will be if you stick to it, it [00:18:00] will be easier. Just don't run too far too soon. Now the second part of this is don't run too fast too soon. Like I said, I just completed a hundred K race this past year and I won it. I was not in first place the whole time. I actually started at the bottom of the field and I controlled my pace throughout the day until this run.
I couldn't really conceptualize why this was so important, but I found out 25 miles into the race that the individual who was in first place. They ran a significant faster 25 miles than I did. They were literally 45 minutes ahead of me, but then they couldn't continue. They went out too fast, and I still really couldn't conceptualize this 'cause I have never been a runner that has gone out too fast.
I have asthma. Asthma usually constrains me from [00:19:00] going out too fast. I know that without the proper training, it is harder for me to compete based on speed with other runners. Now I've proven to myself throughout my life and to others, that asthma doesn't have to be a limiting factor. But up until this point speed, I'd never really thought of myself as all I'm going to run this as hard as I can.
No, I had a plan. I'm like, I'm going to finish this race in 12 hours. If I finish it in 12 hours, that means based on previous years, I will top three. Okay. That was hotter on race day than typically it was hotter, but I trained all year. in a hoodie midday in the summer, 95 degrees running in a hoodie, 100 degrees running in a hoodie.
So I was ready for this and I went out slow. I was running about a 10, 10, 15 mile while this individual was [00:20:00] running more of like an eight. minute mile, maybe a sub eight minute mile. And it sounds great, right? I have all these miles to do. I may as well do them faster. I'll be on my feet less time. Half true to a point.
It is easier to be on your feet for a shorter amount of time. However, based on how our bodies metabolize our energy and use it to push us forward is affected dramatically by our pace. And if you are not used to, if your body is not used to running long distances at a fast pace or even short distances, even half a mile at a fast pace, your body is going to send a signal to your brain to tell you to give up.
So just like you have to train for endurance [00:21:00] for length of time and do that incrementally. you need to train for speed incrementally as well. And one of the best ways to do this is interval training. So on a five mile run, you can run at the faster pace you're going for, for intervals throughout it. So for one minute, run that seven minute mile pace, Then run your 1011 minute mile pace for three minutes and keep doing that.
And then you can shorten the rest intervals. That is how we train up our speed. You can also do specific runs that are faster than others. So maybe three or four of your runs in a given week, you're doing your typical pace. And then one run that week, you do your warmup, then you push.
You push at that harder pace and then you do your cool off. Now, even after hearing that this racer [00:22:00] had a dropout after 25 miles in the race, I got a lot of confidence after winning this race. 100k I want it. And my new goal that I'm working towards is running faster.
It's like Johnny, well, we all want to run faster. Well, I've learned and I've built up endurance over the past four years, I went from not running more than five or six miles at a given time to running 62 and a half miles in 12 hours. And that is pretty fast. But the course record is eight and a half hours.
So there's a lot of room to grow for what is humanly possible for us. Okay, so my goal is to get faster. So what did I do a week after the race? I was like, you know what, I'm gonna run 12 miles, and I'm gonna run them as fast as I can. And the [00:23:00] great thing is, our house is right on a park, and my parents house is on the other side of the park.
And running about 90 percent trail, I can get from our house to my parents house in 6 miles. Just 6 miles. So I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna run to my parents house. I'm gonna run back. I'm gonna run as fast as I can. Now I did a warm up the first mile. I took it a little easier and then I cranked out an eight to an eight and a half minute mile pace for the rest of the run.
Well, I made another mistake here, which is biggest mistake number three, along with pushing extremely hard, harder than I ever have for a 12 mile run on trail. I didn't fuel myself. I didn't eat. I had just ran 100 kilometers the previous week, which I ate constantly, or at least took [00:24:00] in a high calorie, high carb drink throughout the entire race.
And I was like, you know what, I did that. I won first place. I'm going to run 12 miles. I'm going to be fine. So I didn't eat at all. I didn't eat much before and I didn't eat anything during. And I went to my parents house. They offered me food. They offered me electrolytes. I didn't take any. I'm like, nah, I don't, I'm just gonna, I'm just saying hi.
And then I'm run home. Huge mistake. First I was running faster than I ever have for a 12. mile run second. I didn't need anything. So what happened? Well, at mile nine, I realized why this guy had a dropout of the a hundred K
I'm at mile nine. I just ran a hundred kilometers. And I hit the biggest wall. I've never hit a wall this hard this early in a run. I don't think I hit a wall like this when I first started training because I was like, well, I hear that you have to eat. [00:25:00] And I actually gained 30 or 40 pounds when I first became a marathon runner.
Cause I'm like, everyone says you have to eat all the time. I'm going to eat all the time. That's what I did. And you do need to eat, but you also need to manage what you're doing. And that's why I've created my three pillars of healthy living guide.
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 [00:26:00] the link in the description. This guide shares these amazing three pillars of healthy living that you can easily integrate into your life 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.
So I hit mile nine. I remember I was going uphill, and I had zero energy left. I felt terrible. I checked my pace. I'm like, Wow, I've been doing about an eight 815 minute mile for nine miles. And I can't do this anymore. [00:27:00] Now I'm an ultra runner, so running three more miles mentally, I can wrap my head around it.
I was also three miles from my house. So it was, I had to get home somehow. And that's one of the things I do at training is I force myself to at least walk the rest of whatever I'm doing. Like I guess someone could pick me up somewhere, but I'm also on trail. It's not easy to pick me up. I have to get home somehow.
So I know I'm going to get home. Okay, I felt terrible the rest of the run, my pace dropped from an 8, 8 and a half minute mile all the way to an 11 to 12 minute mile. I don't usually run 11 to 12 minute mile. My entire 100k race, my average was like an 11 and a half minute mile with breaks. So this was odd.
But I burned all my energy and I didn't have any energy with me. Typically I will bring something just in case this happens. And this is how you can remedy this mistake. First of all, when you're running, technically you should be [00:28:00] eating minimum 200 calories per hour.
Now, when I did my a hundred K race, I was eating more like four or 500 calories per hour, and at some point my stomach. could not eat anymore. I could not chew anymore. I couldn't actually get the food in. So what I did is I had a high carb, high calorie drink called the scratch labs high carb powder. And I put it in my pack because I knew at some point, I wasn't going to want to eat anymore. But I needed the energy. Well, I didn't do this on this 12 mile run. And I didn't bring my scratch lab energy choose with me, which I also highly recommend both of these are linked in the show notes.
And in the description if you're watching this on YouTube. So what you can do is if you don't want to eat the 200 to 300 calories per hour, because you're taking a shorter run, maybe you're just doing a couple miles, and you're like, you know, I'm trying to lose weight. So I'm not trying to like eat everything that I'm losing in my training run.
I get it. That's how I train. If I'm running three to five miles, I'm not going to eat [00:29:00] while doing it. But best practice is to bring something with just in case, especially if you're doing speed work. Because what happens is when I was running, My 10 to 11 minute mile pace, my heart rate stays somewhere around 130 to 140 beats per minute.
When I was running at an eight and a half, eight to eight and a half mile pace. Guess what happens? My heart rate went all the way up to like 160, 170 beats per minute. That is significant. That means that my heart is working significantly harder to bring oxygen to my body to bring energy to my body. So what happens?
you burn it faster, you run out of your energy stores faster. And ultimately, if you're not trained for it, going to [00:30:00] bow out of the race. Okay, now you may have the mental training, you can burn out and still finish the race. If you have the mental training, you don't have the mental training, the physiological occurrence of not having enough energy.
is crushing. I still finished. I went home. I checked my pace. I'm like, Oh, I did an 11 minute mile on the way home. That's pretty good after burning everything. And even, and then my last mile or last half mile to a mile, I got it back down to a 10 minute mile. I was like, this is great. This is what I usually run.
So ultimately it was a successful run. I just learned a lot about energy and how just running a minute and a half to two minutes faster per mile crushed my energy.
So I highly recommend that when you push pace, you always have something with you to eat, especially if you're pushing pace for a longer run. I was basically running a half marathon and I didn't have any fueling and I was running [00:31:00] it faster than I ever had. So what I like to bring is my scratch lab energy chews with me.
So I have them with me. It's about 160 calories in a pack and I can just pop them in and that'll give me the energy boost I need to finish the race. I was actually craving these shoes at this point. I was just like, Oh, I wish I had them. I got to get home.
The fourth biggest mistake that runners make is not taking a rest day may sound obvious, but when I train, because I've done this where I've done a training cycle and I don't take a rest day. First of all, I plateau. Second of all, I get to a point where my body tells me, why haven't you taken a rest day?
You need to take a rest day. Everything hurts. And when I take that rest day, the little signs that my body's showing me that, Hey, maybe, um, [00:32:00] you know, your knees hurting a little bit here. What are you doing? We don't want to get injured. I take that rest day and the pain goes away. It's crazy. So I'm very interesting when I am training.
I always take one day off per week, no matter what, because I know that if I miss it, it's going to ruin my training when I'm not training, I'm really bad at taking rest days and I'll give you an example. Okay. This has happened in the past two weeks. I'm not training right now.
I'm messing around with my speed. You know, I'm doing these faster runs longer. A couple of days ago, I did a nine mile run.
And three of the miles that I ran were seven minutes long. I was really pushing and I felt amazing. Well, the next day, my left heel. Was miserable. And what did I do? I decided to run again. I'm just like, you know what? I'm going to run again. I'm not training. I'm going to run again. It's gonna be okay.
Ultimately [00:33:00] I hadn't taken a rest day for about a week and a half, almost two weeks. And yesterday I was like, you know what? It's time to take a rest day. I know I'm not training. I don't have like a structured training regimen, but I need to take a rest day. I took the rest day yesterday. I didn't like taking it, but today.
Heels back to normal. Everything feels great. My knee was starting to hurt a little bit. back to normal. So when you're training, you need a rest day. Now some people may say, Oh, you know, you don't need a rest day. I'll tell you this, David Goggins takes rest days. And he's one of the hardest core endurance and just all around athletes that there is.
He takes rest days. He actually stretches for hours upon end. Rest days are important. You need it. All the best ultra runners that I know take rest days. And that's why I do too. If the best are doing it, it's good enough for me. So pick a day For your rest day and it's [00:34:00] good if it's the same day every week But hey when you're not training and you don't have a structured training routine, just take a day off That's what I do and I'm not training.
I don't really stick to one day this past week It was a Wednesday next week. Maybe it'll be a Thursday the following week. Maybe it's a Sunday. But when I'm training, at least for my last few events, I take every Monday off.
And it works really well for me.
Now earlier in the show, I talked about when you're progressively overloading and you're training for that event that you probably need to run three to five times a week. Ultimately, what I have found is running six days a week works best for me, and I've gotten the best results from it.
And it's because I'm taking the mileage that I'm running in a given week. So if I'm doing a 50 mile a week, I'm breaking it up over more days. If I'm doing a 70 mile a week, I'm breaking it up over more days, 100 mile a week, I'm breaking it up over more days. So it's easier to conceptualize running [00:35:00] the amount of miles that you need to in a given week.
And it really is what I have found is the amount of miles you run in a week is extremely important when you're training for an event. So taking that rest day gives you six other days to put your miles into. Now, depending on what you're training for, you're going to have longer days, you're gonna have shorter days, but that's okay.
I highly recommend running as many of those six days that aren't your rest days you possibly can so you spread the miles out and you get your miles in that you need to hit in order to be successful in your race.
Now, there's tons of mistakes that we can talk about hydration and talk about warming up and cooling down cross training. These are all mistakes that people make not drinking enough water, not getting enough electrolytes cramping up because we're not getting salt having injuries caused because we're not cross training, we're not engaging the right muscles, not engaging our glutes while we're running to protect our knees, not warming up or cooling down.
So just [00:36:00] As we talked about before, running a seven minute mile, if you're not used to running seven minute miles without warming up, could hurt you really bad. Same thing when you finish that run, you need to slow it down at the end. Bring your heart rate back down.
Let your body come back into homeostasis so that you can rest. I have hurt myself multiple times. sprinting up this hill right by our place, the end of my run, and then going from a full out sprint and a full out sprint for me is somewhere in the six to seven minute mile range to stopping. And I've literally injured myself by doing that instead of going from six to seven minute mile to eight to nine to 10, 11, 12, and then walking, warming up and cooling down is very important.
So there's tons of mistakes people make. But the fifth mistake that I want to share with you today Is one that is less obvious, but extremely important and it came into play with the first marathon I ever ran. [00:37:00] Okay, first marathon I ever ran, August 1st, 2021. It was not an official marathon, but that's who I am.
I'm not an official marathon kind of guy. I said I wanted to run 26. 2 miles. I didn't see a marathon on the calendar that I wanted to do. I started the program I was six months out and in my progressive overload program going from running five to six miles as the top run I've ever done all the way to running 20 miles as my peak training run in the cycle and then ultimately finishing a 26.
2 mile marathon. Well, I knew very little about running at this time. And something that no one had ever told me before, because yeah, you know, you've heard hydration, eat, stretch, warm up, cool down. You've heard all these things. One thing that no one had ever told me is it is important what you are training on.
So this is the fifth biggest [00:38:00] mistake that people make. is the event that they're going to run. Maybe it's a trail marathon. Maybe it's a trail half marathon. Maybe it's a road 5k. If you're training for a road 5k, you should train on the road. If you're training for a trail 10k, You need to train on trail.
Now at the lower distances, it doesn't come into play as much the five and 10 K, even though the best practice is still to train on that surface. You will start running into issues, pun intended. When you hit your half marathon, your marathon and beyond mileage. Think about it this way. Let's say you live in Chicago and there aren't really many trails around in Chicago.
One of my favorite places to run in Chicago is right on Lake Shore Drive, right on Lake Michigan. Just running up and down the lake is [00:39:00] amazing. It's beautiful seeing the city, seeing the lake. It's amazing.
I don't care how hard you try to make it a trail run by running on the little patch of grass or the grass that has died because people are trying to make it a trail. You are going to do most of your miles on a hard surface. Now, if you're really dedicated, you really could, I guess, running the grass the whole time.
And you could get a lot of your miles on a softer surface, but I don't know about you. I don't want to have to do that every single run. So if you run most of your miles on concrete, or even when you get to the higher mileage, even the difference between running on concrete and asphalt is important.
Concrete is harder than asphalt. Concrete is harder than asphalt in the summer. Hot asphalt. Has a lot more give than hot concrete. Dirt has a lot more give. Snow has a lot more give. Snow is actually [00:40:00] my favorite thing to run in. Fresh snow powder is my favorite thing. I'm so excited for winter.
It's amazing. I love running in the snow. Our dog loves running in the snow. She doesn't overheat. Like I said early on in this show, We are the running people. We are meant for long distance running. It's how we're built. It's how our lungs are built, how our heat system is built, releasing heat from our body.
We release it through sweat. Dogs don't sweat. Anyway, the point is what you run on is important. Here's what happened to me. My first marathon, August 1st, 2021. Training was going great. Four weeks out from my marathon, I was traveling to Chicago, and I was hitting all of my training miles.
I was hitting the miles I needed to for that week. Some runs I would miss or not get as many miles, but the total [00:41:00] miles I needed to run in any given week I was hitting. While I was in Chicago, I was in Chicago for most of the week. I typically, I live in Colorado, very different Chicago and Colorado.
I have a lot of family in Chicago. I love Chicago. Anyway, I do most of my training on trails and the marathon I was planning on running August 1st was on trails. I had done little to no mileage on concrete or asphalt.
And the long run for this week when I was in Chicago was a 16 mile run. You might kind of know where this is going. I had done zero training on asphalt and concrete. And this whole week I had to do all my miles. Not just the long run, but all of my shorter runs I had to do on concrete, the shorter runs didn't bother me.
Okay. But when I went out on my 16 mile run on Lakeshore Drive, this was a first for me. I had never run double [00:42:00] digit mileage on road or sidewalk. This goes back to what we talked about earlier on. Same thing with progressive overload. It's not just getting the miles in.
It's not just getting the speed work in. It's where you're doing it. I had done the miles on trail. Trail is much more comfy. Forgiving on the feet. Forgiving from a impact perspective. Remember we were talking about shoes? One of the reasons why thicker shoes hurt my feet so much is my feet are pushing extra hard through the padding to feel the earth.
Just how my feet work. It's how a lot of people's feet work. It's pushing so hard through the padding, even though we're trying to have less impact because we have the padding, we're actually having more impact. It's counterintuitive. More padding, more impact, not less impact.
Same thing here. I'm running on trails. [00:43:00] for all my training and trails. When I hit the ground, it gives. Okay, so my feet, it gives. My joints are happy. My hips are happy. My lower back's happy because when I hit the ground, it gives. There's some give and because I'm wearing thinner shoes. My feet are able to feel the ground.
It feels it's like, okay Okay. All right. We're here. We're here. We don't need to push any harder. Let's go to step. Well 10 miles in to my 16 mile run my hip my left hip seized up real bad I was so confused. I was like, I've done the training. I've ran 16 miles before. This is my second 16 mile run because I was on my ramp up to 2016 was the top mileage in my previous four week training block. I had ran 12, 14, 16 and dropped back down to 12. I just had a rest week. I just had a drop down week. [00:44:00] Now I'm running 16 miles. How the heck did this happen? Well, my body wasn't used to the impact. So now we go from, you know, having the give right, my foot hits it too.
It's hard. It's literally as hard as a rock. Now my feet are pressing harder, sending a vibration up through my entire leg, both legs all the way through my body. Okay, my feet were doing their best to manage the impact, but The amount of pressure that they were hitting on the earth and they were not used to my body was not used to running this amount of mileage on such a hard surface.
So ultimately what ended up happening is I got injured four weeks out from my marathon Well, like I said, I'm a big David Goggins fan. I'm a big mental training fan and I I knew [00:45:00] that I was gonna complete this thing. No matter what I told myself I'm completing this marathon I don't care if I have to walk half of that, I don't care if I have to walk the whole thing, I'm going to do it.
So I took a little bit of time, but I still had miles to hit. And I did, I had to hit my miles, I had to hit these mile markers to ultimately finish my marathon. Well, what ended up happening is marathon day, I get to mile 16. And I can't run anymore. My hip was in so much pain.
Actually, my entire left leg from top to bottom, from heel to hip was an excruciating pain, sharp pain radiating throughout, and that was mile 16. And I told myself, I'm never running in Chicago again. I'm just kidding. I'm never, I'm just kidding. I told myself, [00:46:00] I'm finishing this and I know what not to do next time in training.
What did I do? I literally walked 90 percent of the next nine miles. I walked I was limping. It took me a long time. But I told myself I pushed today. I pushed through the hard today for the ease tomorrow, and I'm so glad I did. I ended up getting through the last mile of that marathon.
I was limping. I was limping the whole time. Something turned on in my brain for that last mile. I sprinted. the last mile of that marathon. And that is a common thing that I do at the end of all of my races is somewhere I find energy. My brain says, okay, we're not worried about conserving energy anymore to outrun the saber tooth tiger.
I can give you enough energy to sprint this last bit. That's what I did. I ran the fastest mile of my marathon and then I broke down crying 'cause I had never run that far before and I was in so much pain. It took me six and a half hours [00:47:00] to run that first marathon. Well, I learned an important lesson during that training block.
Train on what you are racing on and are going to run on other surfaces. Be really careful with mileage. 'cause if you're not used to running that kind of mileage with that kind of pressure. Can really hurt yourself. Same thing. If you are not used to running 12 miles on an eight and a half minute pace, and you've never even ran five miles at an eight and a half minute pace, at least recently, bring some food, be prepared. I appreciate you being on the show today. I have my healthy. living guide, my three healthy living guide. It is my gift to you to help you live a healthier life.
These pillars have changed my life from being an overweight weighing about 200 pounds at five nine, I'm five foot nine inches to being a competitive professional ultra athlete. I'll see you the next [00:48:00] show.
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 possible.
