The Nick Bare Podcast - 111: The Benefits Of Cross Training For Strength And Endurance

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

In this episode, I share my current personal journey and insights on the benefits of cross training for strength and endurance athletes. Currently sidelined from running due to an injury, I've incorporated various cross training methods into my routine, including cycling and strength training. I bring some updates to my injury, how I've adjusted my training, the importance of balancing in-season and off-season approaches, and the broader mental and physical benefits of cross training. CHAPTERS:00:56 Personal Injury Story04:21 The Accident and Its Aftermath10:18 Adjusting Training During Recovery18:19 Rediscovering Cycling29:04 Benefits of Cross Training38:31 In-Season vs. Off-Season Training48:17 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsBecome a BPN member FOR FREE - Unlock 20% off FOR LIFEhttps://www.bareperformancenutrition.com/pages/bpn-membership?srsltid=AfmBOorlpjVeag2kkt3eZ5UpWcFA5Bb2v5V_93lmO47Vn_Y8DRdLwDLLFOLLOW:IG: instagram.com/nickbarefitness/YT: youtube.com/@nickbarefitness

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Today we are talking the benefits of cross-training for strength and endurance athletes. And what sparked the thought for this episode is that I am currently sidelined from running. This is the first time maybe ever that I've ever been sidelined from running. can't run right now because of an injury. So I've incorporated some cross training into my routine and my programming. And I've really been enjoying it. And I've been spending more time on the bike. I've been spending more time in the gym strength training. And during these sessions, I've been thinking about just the benefits of cross training. And I want to kind of talk about

the injury that I'm experiencing right now and then we'll get into kind of how I've adjusted my training, the benefits of cross training, an in-season versus off-season approach to training goals and recovery. But what I'm dealing with right now is an injury in my left foot. And if you are a runner, if you've been a runner for any amount of time, you've probably experienced some sort of running injury. Because running is such a high repetitive mode of exercise in movement. It is the same repetitive movement over and over and over. Your foot is striking.

The impact on your ankles up into your knees, up into your hips, can create adaptation. Yes, it can create and stimulate. endurance and strength, but it can also facilitate injury. And a lot of runners get overuse injuries, whether that's shin splints or runner's knee or tendonitis or tight hips and hip flexors, all the things. When I first started running, I experienced all of the overuse injuries. And then as my body adapted to the stimulus and my biomechanics became more efficient,

I really didn't experience these small micro injuries as much as I progressed and I ran more longer distances and found my sweet spot. Now, I don't say that. To say that, I don't experience these aches and pains every so often. In every marathon prep, every ultra prep, every Iron Man prep I've ever done, something has flared up. There's been something in the background that's been bugging me, but eventually goes away, and it isn't a big issue. But this is the first time and potentially ever that the injury was severe enough to sideline me.

Right now, based off of doctor's orders, I am not running for a total of eight weeks. I'm three weeks into those eight weeks. So I probably have about five weeks left of not running. And to be honest, it's hard. It kind of sucks. I love running. I've been running consistently, almost daily, since 2018, 2018, 2019. So six, seven years of my life, these past six to seven years, a large portion that has had this daily commitment.

to go out and log miles. It's become a big part of me. It's become a part of my creative process. It's become a part of my solitude and just depth of thought for the day. It sets the foundation for everything that I do. And I can't do that thing right now. And that's where cross-training has really become beneficial. But here's what ended up happening.

I got hit by a car while running in the middle of December. As many of you know, I've shared that story. I get hit from behind. This car was going probably 60 miles per hour. It threw me from one side of the road to the other. Somehow I walked away from that accident, but it was pretty banged up. And I didn't have any serious injuries,

but when the tire hit me, it hit my left Achilles in. calf. I mean, if you see photos or the videos that I shared online, you can literally see the tire marks embedded into my leg. And I had road rash from my heel up to the bottom of my calf. It was crazy. I don't know how it didn't rip my leg off, to be honest. And it hurt to walk after that, obviously, I took about 10 days off from running. I should have taken more time off. I've jumped back into running after a big effort before too soon, like a marathon or an ultra. I've rested a few days. But as many of you runners or athletes know, it's really hard to stay away from the game.

And it's much easier to jump back into it, even if you know deep down, you should probably let your body rests a little bit more. And when I finish a marathon, I take a few days off, I start running again. There's some central nervous system fatigue. There's some muscular fatigue that eventually kind of fades away. Your body adapts and heals and recovers. I started running, I believe it was 10 days after getting hit by that car, which now as I say that out loud, sounds ridiculous. When I went for those runs after those 10 days, it was a deeper level of discomfort, hurt, and pain. It was like bone deep. And I knew it at the time, but I assumed, now knowing incorrectly, I assumed incorrectly that I did some real damage or that car did some real damage to me when it hit me. And

I started running too soon, not only running, but jumped back into marathon prep in preparation for Grandma's marathon, which was in June. We ramped up mileage pretty quickly because I had a really solid base. And the week that my leg kind of gave out, it was a 71 mile week that I had planned for. And from December when I got hit by the car, up until recently, my leg was. was bothering me. And I just assumed that it was Achilles tendonitis. I didn't even think that it was connected from getting hit by the car. Again, as I said out loud, if you see the video and photo of my leg, it's like, how did you not know? I just didn't. And I thought it was Achilles tendonitis

and that it was just going to be bothering me and eventually would go away like all my other running related injuries have in the past. Well, that compounded got worse to a point where I couldn't even walk on that leg. It was blown up. It was swollen. It was black and blue. It was a canckel. I mean, there was no ankle.

It was from my quad to my calf down to my foot. You couldn't see the ankle. It was like a log of sausage. It was a tootsie roll. That's what it looked like. A tootsie roll. No ankle. Not one piece.

And I came back from a Wednesday morning track workout and it was bothering me more than usual. The next morning, Thursday, I woke up to log my normal 11 mile easy run. It hurt when I started running. And by the time I was done running, it was killing me to the point where I couldn't walk. And that was my last run, which was just over three weeks ago. recently got an MRI of the foot and we found out that there's there's bone contusions all throughout my foot i have ligament sprains from um the the calf down into the heel of the foot and then where a lot of the issues are stemming from is the navicular bone in joint somehow

how I remember that name off the top of my head. I do not know how I remember that navicular. The navicular bone and joint is where a lot of my issues are stemming from. So what happened is I got hit by the car, the trauma created all this damage. I made it much worse by running on it. And here I am sidelined from running for the first time ever. So we have eight weeks off total from running. I'm working with Dr. Jordan Tiddle. with Helix every week, one to two times a week, doing some PT work. We're doing dry needling, shock wave therapy, just regular massage, flossing, blood flow restriction with exercises. We're doing it all. We're trying to get as healthy as possible, as fast as possible

with his treatment protocol and plan, along with just rest. and staying off it. There's really no substitute for just staying off it. And usually this would be really hard for me. And it is, but what's making it easier, one, how I've adjusted my training, which I'm about to get into. And also, just the realization that I know I want to go for some big endurance PRs in the future.

And if I don't take this recovery serious, I'm going to put myself in this, never-ending long-term battle of get healthy, get re-injured. Get healthy, not even healthy, get healthy enough, get re-injured. Get healthy enough, get re-injured. You see so many athletes and just people in general going through this cycle continuously year after year after year. So I'm going to listen to doctor.

I'm going to let my body truly heal and recover from the trauma, experience of getting hit by the car and then overloading the bones, the muscles, and the ligaments, and the joints, jumping into marathon prep too early, too fast. And then I'm going to slowly ramp volume back up so that I know when I go back into marathon prep, my body is primed, healthy, and ready to take on the volume and intensity it's required to chase these big goals. And one of those goals being a 230 marathon. But right now, God's telling me it's not the time and I'm listening to God. And I'm not going to challenge it. I'm not going to question it. I'm just going to follow the guidance, the push, the advice. And honestly, that provides me more energy,

time, bandwidth, mentally and physically and emotionally, to put into my family, to put into my faith, to put into my business. We have a lot of projects going on. We're moving into our new HQ in a few weeks, which is crazy to say out loud. A few weeks, we're moving into the new BPN HQ. I'm currently building out Bear Ranch in preparation for the Goinmore Ultra in May. So I have a few other things to keep my mind and time occupied with outside of a marathon prep right now. So that's what sparked this episode and this conversation and discussion I want to have

around the benefits of cross-training for strength and endurance. And another reason I wanted to share that is because I know so many, potentially of you, so many athletes are constantly getting injured and especially with running. I think running is probably the number one exercise that creates the most sport-specific injuries because it's an overuse-related problem for many athletes, many runners. And some of you that are listening right now might be sidelined because of an injury. or maybe in the future you will be sidelined because of injury. Maybe in the past you have been sidelined because of injury.

And I just want to tell you from one runner to another, it's all going to be okay. It's not the end of the world. Being a runner is not my identity. It is something that I do. It's something that I love to do, but it is not who I am. And I hope that you take that same approach where if something is taken away from you and you can't do it any longer, don't sulk in it. Don't let it depress you because it is everything and anything to who you are and what you do.

No, redirect that energy to something else for the time being until you can come back to it. And if you can't ever come back to it, well, view that as an opportunity. to explore and pursue something new. Maybe God's kind of trying to direct you into a new path or explore something different. Or maybe God is sidelining you because he wants you to learn something in the process. So I hope that helps someone who's listening right now. Because I know I shared it online through just, you know,

talking about this injury and what I'm going through right now. and it resonated with a lot of other people. So here's how I've adjusted my training. You know, when I was in the marathon prep, and we were only in marathon prep for, I guess, maybe four weeks before I was forced to stop running. So we had four weeks of training under the belt in that prep for grandmalls.

And whenever I go into a marathon training block, because that goal is so specific, my training becomes very specific all around running and things that will only support my running performance to achieve the goal that I established in the beginning of that training block. So I was going after a 230 marathon. That means that all of my training has to be so specific to support that goal. So one of the first things I do in a marathon training block is I reduce the volume and intensity of strength training.

Strength training is still a part of my programming, but not nearly to the extent it is in, say, an off season or if I'm not training for a marathon. So volume and intensity always decreases right away when I go into a marathon training block. So one of the first changes I made when I had to stop running was strength training became a priority again. I've increased my volume and intensity of strength training workouts. And right now I'm doing a resistance training workout. I'd say five days a week right now. I'm either doing that in the morning when I'm not cycling or I'm doing that in the afternoon

because I'm cycling in the morning and I'm doing it to a day. but I'm lifting heavy again. I'm throwing weights around, which in all honesty, I love running. I love spending time in the gym. I will always be part meathead at heart. That's where I fell in love with the fitness. I still think back to those early 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 days. when I was just figuring it out

and I was going to the Arnold Expos, I was following all the bodybuilding.com forums, getting big, getting strong. That's all I cared about back then. No matter what I'm training for, whether it's an ultra or a triathlon or a fast marathon, there will always be part of me that walks by a gym

and just gets a nice warm feeling inside. You know, like a real gym. Not like a soft gym. A real bodybuilder, power lifter, heaven type gym. It's a warm blanket just wrapped around you. If you know, you probably know. And then what I've done outside of increasing my volume and intensity around strength training is I have brought back cycling.

And a lot of people have recommended swimming. The only time I'm ever swimming, I can promise you this right now, the only time I'm ever swimming is during an Iron Man prep. And even when I'm in an Iron Man prep or a triathlon prep in general, I dread getting in that pool. I dread that swim. I just have not been able to find a love and passion behind swimming. It's just personally, I just can't.

I know some people who love swimming. And it is a great form of exercise. It's a great form of exercise, whether you're young or really old. It is low impact. It is a great, not only strength, but aerobic conditioning, movement and exercise. It is great. I wish I liked it. I wish I loved it, but I don't.

So my go-to cross-training for endurance was cycling. I haven't touched my bike more than like a random one-off workout since my last Ironman prep, which was 2021. I believe it was 2021, 2021, maybe. So it was a hot minute ago. And I will tell you, I pulled that bike, it's a canyon bike, I pulled that bike out of, it's a road bike, um, out of storage. And it was dusty.

It was dirty. I mean, that chain didn't even really move much. Luke Hopkins currently has my tri-bike. It's a Cervillo and I love that bike, but he's putting some work on it right now. and he deserves to have that bike over me right now. So the rotor bike was the go-to. I pulled that thing out of storage, and the first thing I had to do

was take it to a shop to get tuned up. I mean, that chain was like, it was solid. It was in bad, bad shape. So I pulled out the old trainer, the old Wahu kicker, got the bike out of storage, got things tuned up,

up, I re-downloaded and resubscribe to Zwift, which is an online cycling software. This is a side note, but when I trained for my first Ironman in 2019, I didn't know what Zwift was. I didn't know what an electronic trainer was. What a trainer does, it allows you to do a bike workout at your house, stationary, in your garage, wherever you want to. So you don't have to go out on the road. then you can really manipulate the workout with different power settings to get a really solid and efficient workout. My first Iron Man Prep in 2019, I had this manual trainer that you would throw the back tire on and then you crank this dial to create resistance between this bar and the wheel. I didn't know what Zwift was.

That first Iron Man Prep I ever did, it was like looking back now, I did everything. wrong, everything wrong. I was the new guy. That was one of the best ways to learn. Being the new guy in any sport, any domain, any area of life, throw yourself in there. Don't try to act like you know what you're doing. You have the answers. Ask for help. Be coached. Embrace being the new guy in all aspects of life because that's where you gain so much experience and so much knowledge. That was a side note. But, But now, after being coached the right way to do triathlon training and cycling in general, I got my Yahoo kicker set up in the garage again.

I got my bike on the trainer. I redownloaded Zwift. And I started doing these cycling workouts again. And I thought I was going to dread every one of those workouts on the trainer. I really did. I didn't expect to enjoy it. or love it again. But I will be honest,

I am loving being on the bike again. I am loving, I'm loving these workouts. I can get such an effective, inefficient workout on the trainer in 60 minutes in my garage every morning. And what I love about being on the bike, compared to running,

you know, I don't get the same mental solitude and clarity on the bike, as I do with running. I don't know if I ever will, but the workout itself is so great. And it's a different type of endurance. It is muscular endurance. And what I love about using Zwift, which is the online software,

is that you can create a workout in there, or you can use one of the workouts that are already in Zwift. And it will create, a workout based off of what you're looking to achieve, whether that's just like a zone two aerobic workout. You want to do some intervals. You want to do some sprints. You want to do some big gear work.

You want to have a really tough training session. You can create workouts or select workouts to achieve the desired outcome and a result of that workout. And all of these workouts are based off of your FTP, your functional training power. And you can find your functional training power by doing multiple different tests. One of those is a ramp test. It's a really hard, challenging test.

You do on the bike, on the trainer, and it will help you establish your FTP. My old Iron Man FTP was 300. So I'm just working off of my old Iron Man FTP right now, which is making some of these workouts harder than they should be or need to be. But I kind of enjoy it. I'm enjoying sucking a little bit in some of these bigger power workouts. But what happens is I get on the trainer. I choose a workout.

There's always a warm up. You start breaking a little bit of a sweat during that warm up. And then based off the workout that I select, it will and can get hard because you're trying to cycle through bigger power. And what bigger power feels like is resistance. you're pressing into those pedals, you're pulling on those petals, you're incorporating your hamstrings and your quads and your glutes. And when the power is larger during that set, there is more resistance. It makes it more challenging. And you're breathing heavier. You're getting a cardiovascular workout,

but all muscularly, you're also getting a great training session. So your legs are on fire. and you're just trying to make it through some of those sets and segments. That's what I love about cycling right now. And I've come to the conclusion, this is now, I think, week two that I've been cycling again on the trainer, I believe cycling should and will be part of my regular training moving forward. Even when I'm in a marathon training block, I will incorporate some cycling sessions for a few reasons.

One, it's an easy way to get more aerobic conditioning with little to no impact. Running, there's a lot of impact. You got the stimulus of the ground up into your foot, your ankles, your shins, your knees, your hips. and that impact can create problems overuse issues, overuse injuries. On the bike, you don't get that same impact. So you can double down or double dip on some of this endurance training without taxing the body like running does, for example. That's one of the reasons.

I will keep incorporating it. The second reason is that you get a really good muscular strength and endurance stimulus based off the workout in some of these cycling sessions. So I'm going to, I've found a new love for cycling again. And I'm thinking to myself, why did I ever stop doing this? This is a great workout. These are great training sessions. When I do it in the morning, in the garage,

I break a crazy sweat. My legs are on fire and pump. afterwards, you're breathing heavy. It accomplishes so much of what I want to achieve with my performance endurance training. So that's how I've adjusted my training for right now. Strength, volume and intensity is increased. Cycling is my preferred method of cardiovascular conditioning right now. And guess what?

I learned something in this process. I learned, one, that I love cycling again, and two, there's a huge benefit to keep incorporating it into my training even when I go back into, say, a marathon training block in prep. I want to take a quick break in this episode to talk to you guys about how I use our products around my endurance training and how you can as well. Now, here at BPN, we've created products to fuel your performance and optimize your recovery. But I want to talk specifically around how I use these products in my morning run. Before my morning run every morning, I'm not training fasted. I want carbohydrates and I want

electrolytes. So I consume two scoops of G1M Sport, which is our carbohydrate and electrolyte powder, and one go bar, which is our lightweight oat-based bar. With this combination, I'm getting about 800 milligrams of sodium and 76 grams of carbohydrates total. Carbohydrates for the fuel, electrolytes for the hydration. This is going to set me up to have the best run possible. Fuel and hydration. Now based off of the distance, duration, and intensity of that run, I will add in go gels during the workout. And the go gel is our simple ingredient. Endurance gel, 24 grams of carbohydrates, and each gel and 110 milligrams of sodium. We have a non-caffeinated version and a caffeinated version.

The caffeinated version has 75 milligrams of caffeine per gel. And I will have one go gel every 30 to 45 minutes or every 4 to 5 miles. And we really created the go gel for these bigger effort runs or endurance training sessions and races. They are extremely useful during races because you get a quick hit of energy from the fuel, the carbohydrates, some hydration from the electrolytes, the sodium, but they also digest very easily. So you're not going to have stomach discomfort and GI distress. And then after my run, I want to rehydrate. So I'm always adding in our electrolyte powder, one to two scoops. Each scoop has 500 milligrams of sodium, full electrolyte profile.

So I'm using our products to fuel training, enhance hydration, maintain effort intensity during training sessions with the go gel, and then rehydrating immediately after. So that's how I use our products around my early morning runs and all my endurance training and how you can as well. So go to BPNSups.com. Check out all. all of our endurance products to fuel your performance.

And now back to the episode. So let's talk about the benefits of cross-training. And I think as we go through these, it's going to be obvious that a lot of them are pretty obvious. But there's something that I want to say that lays the foundation prior to talking about some of these benefits. And I briefly mentioned this earlier on in this episode. but specific goals require specific training needs and protocols.

And if your training is less specific, meaning you're not training for a 230 marathon. You're not training for a Seb 10-hour Ironman. You're not training to be the strongest you possibly can. You're not training to be the leanest and most aesthetic you possibly can to step on a bodybuilding stage. If your goals are less specific, you have the ability to be more flexible. But the more specific your goals are, the more dialed in, the more important every training session you do is because it is trying to accomplish this very specific goal. there is less flexibility allowed as you build out your training program, your training block, your build essentially.

And when I go into like a marathon training block, the reason that I have less flexibility in the things that I can do or the ways that I can train is because that goal is so specific. I have X number of weeks to get this. much faster so that when I tow the line for this race, I can cross the finish line 26.2 miles later in this time frame that has very, very, very low room for variability. Everything has to be so dialed in. And that's why I reduce my volume and intensity of strength training.

That's why you won't see me jumping into a high rocks workout during. a marathon prep. It's why you won't see me throwing a ruck on and go rucking or doing all these different things because the amount of volume and intensity you're required to achieve the goals that I want to achieve is a lot. And that if there's any type of extras I'm doing outside of that, it has to contribute to that goal. There's less flexibility allowed.

So I wanted to lay that out there. It doesn't mean that your training needs to be specific all year long. And that's what we're going to talk about in season versus off season in this next kind of section that I'm going to dive into. And I believe that's a really important aspect of cross training. But some of the benefits that we experience from cross training is one, it reduces the risk of injury with any type of sport, any type of activity, there is going to be a type of movement pattern. And if we just do that one movement pattern over and over and over again,

that exposes us to a risk of overuse injuries. So one of the ways we reduce or mitigate the risk of overuse injuries is by doing different movement patterns. So, Cross training can be greatly beneficial to reduce risk of injury. If you're just running all the time, that's all you do, your body is moving through the same pattern. Things will get stronger, but also weaknesses will become weaker. And what cross training allows us to do is to build upon those weaknesses in other styles of sport or training. So if you're in a marathon training block, incorporating some level of strength and resistance training,

incorporating different types of cardiovascular conditioning, like cycling, like swimming, doing some mobility work. You could do some yoga or Pilates for flexibility, mobility, core strength. There's so many different ways to incorporate and integrate different styles of training into even your specific style or type of workouts to reduce risk of injury. It allows you to turn weaknesses into strength as opposed to weaknesses becoming weaker. And when weaknesses become weaker, they turn into a liability. And that liability puts you at risk of injury. I think one of the greatest aspects and benefits of cross-training is just expanding your knowledge base and experience that has crossover application to other styles of training.

That's probably my favorite part of cross-training. For me, it's one of the biggest benefits is that I get to learn different styles, different work out techniques, different principles, different principles. different principles that don't just apply to that one style of training or one sport, but can cross over from one to another. In the last couple years, I've done Iron Man triathlons, I've done marathons, I've done ultra trail races, 100-mile trail races, did a bodybuilding competition, did a high rocks competition. and then just embodied and lived a hybrid athlete training model for the last couple years now.

And every time I choose a new goal, whether that's an Iron Man, a marathon, bodybuilding competition, high rocks, I learn so much in that process. And I learn so much in that process because I go all in. what cross-training is not. It's not just dabbling in different styles of training or sports every once in a while. You know, if you just go into the gym and throw around some weights once a month every once in a while, maybe a few times a month, you're not going to get the benefit from cross-training. It has to become part of your routine, not forever, but, for a defined period of time to actually achieve the benefits of that stimulus.

So it's not dabbling. Like when I wanted to learn how to run a faster marathon, I just didn't dabble in running. I went all in. I hired a coach. I followed a training program with that coach. I learned as much as possible. I accepted the fact that I was the new guy. I didn't have the answers.

I didn't know, but I wanted to learn. And I asked all of the questions. And I learned through mistakes and failures and lack of experience. But through that process, I learned so much that then became this increase in base knowledge that was able to apply to my other styles of training in other sports. That has been one of the greatest benefits of exploring different types of training throughout the years is that it just builds your overall knowledge base. But you're not going to build an overall knowledge base by dabbling.

You have to go all in for, like I said, a specific period of time. And this kind of leads us into an off-season versus in-season approach, because it can become overwhelming when we talk about cross-training because you think you got to do all of these types of trainings, all of these things all of the time. And that's not the case. There's these in-season versus off-season approaches to training goals. And I actually started applying this before I even understood it.

It wasn't strategic. It wasn't intentional. I just did this based off of following, honestly, what I enjoy doing. You know, one of the best parts of cross-training is that it keeps you mentally engaged. It keeps training interesting. It allows that passion for health and fitness and performance to maintain because you're constantly learning new things.

You're constantly being challenged and having to apply what you're learning to the training to get better. We don't fall in love with finish lines. We fall in love with the process. And if you keep putting yourself back in the process and relearning, you're going to keep growing. You're going to keep getting better. It's going to be so much fun.

You're going to maintain that mental engagement throughout. You do not have to be a professional athlete to have an off season. What an off season is not, it's not time off completely. So when I say off-season, this is not like a winter hibernation where you finish a training block for a marathon for a high rock competition, for an ultra, whatever it is. This could be your 100th race and you are experience and you are elite or this could be after your first race and you're just getting started. You're just learning. But one of the biggest mistakes I see so many people make is, well, there's a few. One, they finish one prep, one race, one competition, and they jump right into the next right away.

And I tell you this because I've made this mistake many times in the past. I didn't allow myself to recover or rebuild in between training blocks in the past. And this is typically when I start getting some of these overuse injuries. So you don't have to go from marathon to marathon to marathon, from high rocks to high rocks to high rocks. You can take time off to rebuild or you can reshift the focus and train for something new. After a marathon, I might go into a high rocks prep. It is incorporating different muscles, it's different stimulus. I'm building upon some of these weaknesses or imbalances, reduces risk of injury,

helps me recover, helps me stay durable and strong. So an offseason might just be switching direction to a new style of sport, a new focus, a new goal. It is not going from one competition to the next, the next to the next, the next, being the same competition. That puts you at risk. An off season is also not time off like I've mentioned. It's not you do a marathon, you do really well, you're in great shape, you look good,

you feel good, you're healthy, and then for three months after that, you go on a bender. You stop running, you stop training, you stop prioritizing sleep, you stop staying hydrated, you stop eating healthy, you gain 20 pounds. And then you get ready to go back in the marathon prep for the same marathon the following year. And you're almost in a worse position than you were when you started the previous year. So I'm going to run this race every year. But I don't care about getting better. I'm going to do this prep.

I'm getting great shape. Then I'm going to lose it all. I'm going to go rebuild it next year. Why would you do that? why would you throw all of that momentum and that progress away? Let's think of this in terms of in-season versus off-season. Off-season is an opportunity to build and rebuild. And an off-season typically has a dedicated training block

with a different set of priorities and goals. An off-season allows you more flexibility, less specified training routines and protocols, allows you to experiment with some new workout styles, have some fun with it, try new things. When I'm in season for a training goal, we'll use a marathon, for example.

As I've already mentioned, if I'm in a prep, my training is very specific. My flexibility outside of that specific training is reduced. And everything I'm working towards or applying to that training must contribute to the goal of running the time that I sit down to achieve. After I put in that training block, I build, I taper, I execute. Once that marathon is over, the approach I don't like to take is jumping into another marathon right away. I want to give myself some time to recover, to rebuild, to shift the focus to rebuilding some of my weaknesses and then cross-training so I don't experience overuse injuries along the way too.

So maybe I'll take a few weeks off after that marathon or I'm just having fun with training. I'm just doing what feels right. Maybe in the morning I'll go for a run. Maybe I'll hop on the bike. Maybe I'll do a strength training session. maybe I'll go for a swim. Who knows how crazy you want to get. In the afternoon, maybe I want to do some mobility work or that's when I do my strength as

opposed to the morning. You don't have to have a very rigid routine schedule. What I like to do is just feel it out. Have fun with training. Try new things. Try new exercises. See what feels good. See what's working different muscles that you haven't worked in a lot.

long, long time. And then maybe you go into an official off season after that where you have a specific goal of what you're trying to rebuild or restructure or refocus on so that by the time you go back into your season work, you've addressed some of the issues that held you back from the previous season. Like I said, you don't have to be a professional athlete to have an in-season versus off-season strategy to your training. And it doesn't have to be complicated.

It's when you're in that prep, you're in season. It's specific. It's less flexibility. After the event of the competition or the race, you give yourself some time, should just experiment, listen to your body, recover,

and then you jump into a specific off-season plan and approach, which has more flexibility than you would when you would, when you're in season. But I do believe that that recovery time is really, really critical and important. And I share that with you because it's probably the hardest part for athletes. It's the hardest part for people who are type A, who are ambitious, like me,

when I finish a race, I finish a competition, within 24 hours after I'm done, I want to start training again. And I usually do. And it usually doesn't feel good. And I probably could have bounced back faster after that race or competition if I would have just recovered properly. So I share that with you to say that that's what I'm going to start doing from this point moving forward. When you're done with a big effort, and if you're really putting time in and you're committed and you're dedicating hours of work and output to a prep, to a build, to the execution, your body is going to feel that big effort.

It's going to feel that performance. Give yourself some grace, recover, have some flexibility in your programming, in your training for a few weeks before jumping back and do an off-season strategy. Because that not only helps you stay mentally engaged, It allows that fire to stay burning with inspiration and dedication and discipline and commitment. It also helps you reduce and mitigate risk of injury and stay healthy. So you can keep training for years and years and years to come. There's so many benefits to cross-training, not just physically, but mentally as well.

And I hope this episode kind of paints a picture of how passionate I am about cross-training. It's a way that I have approached my last seven years of training, maybe even beyond that. Where I have a goal, I go all in on that goal. I either accomplish it or I fail at it and recourse correct, work on my weaknesses and improve, get better. go re-attack it. But I've bounced around these last couple years in my training goals, and I believe that's helped me stay fresh, healthy, recovered, strong, not injured up until this point. I went from marathons to Iron Man's to ultras, to bodybuilding, to high rocks, back to marathon

and from going from one style of a sport and one modality of training to another it's allowed me to work on weaknesses and not be exposed to too many overuse injuries. So use this as a tool in your toolbox as you navigate the current state of training you are in and your fitness goals

in the future and beyond. The benefits of course, Cross training for strength and endurance are real. They're real. So we'll see you guys in the next episode.