The Wellness Scoop - Marathon Training 101

Episode Date: March 5, 2019

With Matt’s marathon training in full swing, this week Matt and Ella talk to Nutritionist Rosemary Ferguson and Digital Editor of Women’s Health Amy Lane about the do’s and don’ts of marathon training. From carb loading to foam rolling, what to eat and when to eat it, hydration, coping with chaffing, understanding fatigue, the importance of recovery and strength training and how intense impact can impact on your body, this episodes covers it all.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to the Deliciously Ella podcast with me, Ella Mills, and my husband and business partner, Matthew Mills. Hi, everyone, and welcome. So today we have two very special guests, Amy Lane from Women's Health and Rosemary Ferguson, a nutritionist. As some of you may know, I am signed up for the marathon. My dear wife was signed up too, but has the very good excuse that she's pregnant so can't now do it. I'm secretly so happy. But we were having a meeting with the brain tumor charity which the charity is very close to our hearts we got involved in it when

my mum was very ill and we became ambassadors for it we're having a meeting with them I guess in kind of October or so last year and they said that they happen to have two spots open for the marathon and so we looked at each other laughed shook our heads and and realized as we absolutely had to do it but as Ella's not doing it I'm running it with one of my best friends whose mum also happened to die of a brain tumor five years ago and so I'm super motivated for it I'm looking to raise lots of money for such a great cause and we have two experts here today who are gonna help I think not just about marathon training, but just I think about training in general and how to start a training program, how to fuel your body

and whether that be for a specific event you're training for or whether that's for just to get in better shape. Hopefully we're going to be able to shine some light on that today. So welcome to both of you. Thank you. Thanks for having us the mills so there's lots of you know you hear different things i've certainly felt it in my body too but is running actually good for the body or is it where do you sit on that so i think it all comes down to why you run yeah so i think everything in life you need to kind of have a why so if you run for headspace and it gives you that headspace

and you make sure that actually you deal with any aches and pains which come up along the way then yes I do think it's good for the body if you were running to lose weight for instance but yet along the way you're like this is really hurting my knees and you don't actually stop to figure out why then no it's not good for the body if that makes sense I think all exercise does have a place in the week it just depends on how you do it and actually kind of the strength training that goes alongside of it I think because a lot of marathon plans because I looked at some marathon plans they're really running focused you know you're running five times a week or so is doing strength training or kind of more sort of pilates and yoga where you're focusing on kind of building strength and a bit of flexibility do you feel like everything

together is more powerful i would say so i mean i do a bit of everything and my my yoga teacher is always like you're running again aren't you because you can see it the effect it has so it's much you know to counterbalance it with a bit of yoga yeah i was talking to someone the other day and they're saying it's three times the load when you run yeah of normal and it does my joints just like my knees and my my feet like my big toe is just really swollen and it's just like it's just little things like that it just feels like just gets super inflamed but i think it's because if you think about running there is no kind of barriers to entry with running so like if you own a pair of trainers and you have somewhere to run you can run right but you don't actually spend enough time getting yourself educated in

running if you go to the gym and you pick up a weight you learn how to pick up a weight but actually do any of us stop and learn about running we don't really and that's when injury comes into play because like you've said every time you run you're shifting your weight from one leg to the other and you're propelling it forward so for somebody like me that's like you know what like near 60 kilos so I'm expecting my body to shift that from my left leg to my right leg and move me forward and absorb the impact at the same time and when you do that repeatedly I think in the marathon you take something like 40,000 steps or something so you're you constantly doing that. That's why you get injury. But if you kind of take a step back,

excuse the pun, and you think about it and you're like, right, actually, I've been on a long run. I need to put enough recovery in. But also you need to be strong enough to run. So people run to get fit, but you also need to get fit to run, if that makes sense.

So I think with it is just maybe we don't give ourselves enough education around running we don't stop to learn and also like a lot of the running plans which are kind of circulating online really old school like if you do a bit of a google search and you're like best marathon plan a lot of them which come up haven't been updated in like five years or something online and the science has all changed and strength training there's been so many studies which have come out which obviously strength training benefits so many things but it definitely benefits running and potentially these websites haven't updated their plans are you here all the

time people i've decided to do 10k run yeah and it's like in three weeks time and you get when i started running i hated i hated it i used to shout and say my body hates i felt like i was going to collapse doing one kilometer and i started on one kilometer then i did two kilometers and this was way before i'd ever thought about doing 10 kilometers or a half marathon but i think people do they think okay that's like you say you've got a pair of trainers there's a little challenge everybody seems to be doing it let's go out and run that far and then they end up injured and you know and i think you're right you have to you have to learn how to run especially that far and Rosemary do you think that's the same with the way we feel

are running because again now sure I'm sure if you go for like a one kilometer run yeah it's probably a little bit different but if you're saying I'm going to go out and I'm going to run for an hour I'm going to run for an hour and a half but not actually change anything about the way you're looking after your body again it feels to me like you're potentially a probably not optimizing it but be potentially not allowing your body to function in the best possible way yeah i mean people you really especially for a marathon you have to the fueling is really key because you won't get round unless you get it right what is the best and when does your fueling start how long before the runs does your fueling really start well scientifically you've got enough glycogen in your muscles to keep you running for about an hour and a half, probably.

So around 90 minutes and then the glycogen stores in your muscles and then you have to start making it or you have to take it in. So you have to either take it from fat. So you either start making energy from fat or you have to be taking carbohydrate. But I would say for an hour's run, your biggest thing, if you've just started running just started running is hydration you know and everybody's sweat glands are different so some people sweat more some sweat less but hydration and electrolytes are the you know really a big thing so you know taking some water which has got some crystal salt in it and a bit of I don't know you know you could put some stevia in there or something like that and then just to keep your electrolytes going so you stay hydrated but after about 90 minutes you will need to start thinking about what you're going to fuel with definitely start testing

it on your longer run so now around half marathon lengths you should be trying because you will be needing you should you know especially some really elite marathon runners can do without because they've tried it and their their bodies are very highly tuned but if you're doing a recreational marathon or half marathon you probably need to start testing what you're going to take in then you need to make sure hydration is up the day before you you know the day before you need to make you're drinking for the next day you're drinking for the next day exactly and you need to start carb loading the day before so can i just jump in there with carb loading so i kept hearing the word carb loading thrown around when we were doing our half marathon I was like amazing

I'm going to make nine ten pancakes for breakfast and then I would do that maybe wait a little bit probably wasn't I didn't know I was very uneducated so I don't know whether I was waiting long enough and I'd go to run

and I'd actually feel really quite sort of sluggish and heavy probably I don't know whether pancakes were the answer or it's too many pancakes or the timing but how would you define carb loading and the best possible way to carb load I don't know whether pancakes were the answer or it's too many pancakes or the timing, but how would you define carb loading and the best possible way to carb load without then feeling a bit sluggish? So you would really want to carb load the day before because carb loading is to do with making sure you've got the glycogen,

which is the energy in your muscles. That's what carb loading means is they're trying. It's trying to make sure you've got as much glycogen ready to go as possible. So you would do that the day before the night before you'd have your big bowl of pasta you could have nine pancakes then in the morning this is something you have to work out it's very individual so i prefer to run on an empty stomach but for the marathon you don't you it doesn't it's not really a good idea so you know i have a bowl most people have a bowl of porridge and then they have a three hour wait till they start the marathon because actually by the time you've eaten gone to the marathon got to the race thing started the race it probably is around three hours it takes um and that's probably enough time for it to have

been digested be useful to you rather than make you feel heavy and like so you don't want to be running on a full tummy basically most people it doesn't work for because you've got all your blood doing the digesting and you need your blood in your legs one question that kept coming up was do you need to change how you're eating in general so say you're training for like four months you know hard for whatever it is that you're doing or you're just really intense of having your exercise schedule in general would you change the way you were eating in terms of more protein you know more fat more carbs or do you just increase everything by the kind of total calorie intake but you're not specifically increasing any one of the groups so there's lots of different schools of thoughts

around this but for me as a nutritionist I would increase just increase a very well-balanced meal I think you definitely need the protein to rebuild muscle muscle and to help it stay in good shape. You need the carbohydrate for the energy that you're expending because you're expending a lot more energy. And then you need all the fruit and vegetables and all the micronutrients that you can get to help with any damage that's going on in the body. You create a lot of free radicals running

because you're doing something really hard. What's a free radical? Free radicals are the things that come along and cause damage to tissue, basically. They're basically molecules that have lost an electron if you want to be really scientific and they rattle around the body causing damage and that's what antioxidants are for so an antioxidant like vitamin E has got a spare electron which it gives to the free radical and creates it and keeps it calm so that's what but basically when you're running it's stress you're putting a lot of stress on your body so you're creating a damage basically and so you need to have low a really well balanced really high nutrient

diet you could go down the high fat low carb you know high carb low you could do all of that but I would just keep it really well balanced it's funny you should say that because I think the first time around I did the marathon I got really really hung up on like trying to like count my macros and increase this and everything and it was just all so complicated and during a time when you're trying to wrap your head around long runs interval runs like the right food before running and like water and stuff and it all just became too much and then when I kind of stripped it back and I was like actually I just need to go back to eating a balanced plate I just felt like I naturally started eating enough because I just ate until I was full

yeah and then that was it and it was all fine yeah exactly and actually you're right because if you start mucking around with it too much especially with you know this is the thing is when you start doing these runs it's a stress and then you end up not enjoying it and actually it's the healthiest way to eat is just a bit of everything yeah does it impact on your immune system for example because some people say and i think this is probably not specific to long runs but probably just kind of i like maybe hit training kind of more intense um training in general does that impact on your immune system for example or you know your gut and also because everyone always needs to poo when

they go on long runs like what's the science there is it just is your gut and also because everyone always needs to poo when they go on long runs like what's the science there is it just is your gut just working harder well so the science behind needing a poo when you go running it's actually it's just if you think about the motion you're doing you're bouncing bouncing so actually it's just gravity they think it's just gravity supporting the motility in the bowel okay that's what they think it is unless it's stress so we know some people in the marathon because it's stress they think it is unless it's stress so we know some people in the marathon because it's stress and also to do with gels and carbohydrate high carbohydrate can cause that so you need to be careful oh really but as for HIIT training on

your immune system if you're run down and you're asking your body to do stuff that it does not have the energy or capability to do then it will impact on your immune system if you're fighting fit health and you're feeling strong and you've got the energy i mean i think most people these days are depleted of energy they're tired they're stressed and then they're asking their bodies to do these extreme things make it's common sense but some people will say if you're low on energy you should do something like that which will give you energy so you're saying that that doesn't work i think there's a difference between feeling sluggish and doing a HIIT class and then you feel like ready to go but if you're actually if your adrenal glands are actually telling you that they're tired a bit of stimulation can help but actually

overdoing it can your body can find it very difficult and then it just is exhausted okay interesting and so amy you touched on and and working at women's health um you'll see a lot of the new trends fadsads, programs that are coming. What are some of the best that you've seen? And if you are training for something where maybe it's an endurance thing or maybe you're looking to create kind of more, you know, at Delicious Yellow, a lot we talk about really trying to create change over a really long period of time. But if you are looking to do something maybe over just a kind of four to five, six month period of time, and you're looking to getting in great shape in that time, what do you think are the most effective programs out there? So I think there's two really interesting things happening at the moment. When you're talking about trends, I think number one, the amount of women getting into triathlons is really, really

interesting. And I think a triathlon training program, even though it is super intense, because it's so much cross training, it can actually be a really great challenge to train for, because you get all your cardio in with swimming, you then do low impact on a bike, and then you do a bit of running. And I think it's also you see so many women doing it outside as well. And I think getting out in the big open spaces is really really great so I think triathlons are a really really good one I don't know whether it's because actually if you look at kind of the past five years in the UK there's been a lot more of an uptake within running races and now people are looking for a new challenge like we obviously had there was some big kind of half marathons in london about five years ago and

i think people kind of challenged themselves and now they're kind of like what's next yeah and then i think the other thing which is really interesting is going back to strength training for women before i think we're used to or a lot of fitness content and exercise content was based around losing something so that's what all of the plans were designed for. They were designed for weight loss or they were designed for fat loss. And now suddenly in the past couple of years, we've actually wised up to the fact that that isn't the most positive way to train and the healthiest way to train. And actually we should be looking at what we can gain and that is strength and skills. So there's been a lot more plans around like learn how to deadlift or beginner's guide to strength training for 12 weeks.

And when you look into it, it's really, really important because women in their 30s actually start to lose muscle mass. How depressing is that? It's really depressing. You should try being in your 40s. But it starts to decline from in your 30s you need muscle mass for a healthy body and for your hormones and just to kind of for injury prevention there is that feeling for women isn't that that muscle weight um you know strength training make builds muscle and you end up getting but there's been that misconception for years massive misconception and people are like

i've started i've strength training and i've put on weight or I've got bulky but actually a lot of the time it comes down to the fact that a women aren't used to having a baby a bit of a different physique or be their calories calories in and calories out or maybe aren't balanced so that leads really nicely actually onto next question which is because again coming back to the food but it's it's confusing I think in terms of what you need to be doing so in terms of pre-run and post-run or pre-workout and post-workout what should you be eating I know we touched on kind of pre in terms of carbs but is that just carbs like do you want a really simple bowl like of porridge for example that it's pretty much just oats and then in terms of afterwards what do you need but also how quickly do you need that so before i would say carbs would be your focus because you need those to get you

round yeah and would you limit proteins and fats i wouldn't limit and definitely not fats because but it depends because fats take a bit longer to digest so you don't want to have that heavy feeling that you said so again it's try and testing. But I personally would recommend a bowl of porridge. It's an old favourite and it does its job. It's kind of kind to the gut as well. It's not going to irritate it. So I would probably have some fruit for the antioxidants and I'd have some porridge. So have some porridge with some blueberries or something.

Or you could have a nice bit of toast. You could have actually nut butter is quite a nice thing because that's a bit of protein, a bit of fat. It's not too heavy with some banana on top some for some sugars you could do that that would be a quite a nice start but again make sure you have it enough time for your body to digest it and so the fuel's ready to use rather than it's sitting in the stomach and then you're like going to go now we're going to run body and we need your blood there and we need it here and it needs what kind of two to three hours to fully digest it depends yeah it should clear it should be through the gut um in two to three hours yeah it should be out of the stomach by then and that's how you're going to get the most efficiency from the way you're

eating because then it's through your gut and it's in your muscles ready to actually help you and well it's passed so the blood has done it you know because if you it's just blood distribution so it's been very busy in your in. And then it's sort of done. And how about once you finish? So once you finish, you should have protein within an hour of your run. Because you have done a lot. Your muscles have done a lot. And they need to have the amino acids.

The amino acids are the building protein. They're the building blocks of everything actually in your body. But for your muscles that have just done a really good service to you, you need to have the protein going back in. and i would say half an hour to an hour after your run they need that needs to go in and you also need carbohydrate to replace all the carbohydrates and on top of that i mean it's quite good after a while yeah you need it and you need it for the next few days actually especially after marathon you need to be conscious that you're getting enough fruits and veg just all of it you need to have a bit of everything but trying i mean the thing is this is what people

talk about after they've done a heavy workout or something and they talk about the power hour where you should load up on protein is but is it actually within that hour that it's most effective if you're trying to build muscles it's important to put it back in the hour because that's when they need to they need the amino acids to help them rebuild because after that then you start using things like fats and you start using so i'd say within the hour but i mean you know if you're like an hour and a half i just i wouldn't worry too i don't want to stress everybody out it's not but there is it is true the science says that within half an hour to an hour you need to start because it helps the muscles start repairing you don't want the damp muscles to be damaged So you could even make a smoothie with protein powder or something in,

which would take two minutes. Yeah, and actually it would be quite a kind thing to do for your gut. I think a protein shake with some nice antioxidants, like some spinach and some nut butter, would be a really nice thing to do. Okay, there you go. That'll make that for you. There you go.

Can I just say, is Austin running the marathon too basically is he doing all the training he actually came with me on my run on a couple of days ago and ella's come out on a couple of runs with me where she gets a boris bike and so she cycles along and i have austin and it's pretty cool actually we love it but a couple of days ago, I went out with Austin on a long run and Ella wasn't with me. But he just trots along. And it shows you actually how fit dogs are. Because, I mean, I am absolutely destroyed at the end of a run. And he's just like trotting along like it's absolutely nothing. Well, they basically do HIIT training all the time.

Because normally they go to the park and then they sprint off, don don't they and then they come back and they recover and then they sprint off again yeah yeah I know the first time they went I expected them to come back and Austin to be like in a heap on the floor and I was like this is perfect he's gonna be exhausted the whole day and he was Matt was in a heap on the floor and Austin was literally like, what's next? No, he just kind of trots along like it's absolutely nothing. Yeah, so he needs to go a bit farther. Okay, so thinking about that heap on the floor and trying not to be the heap on the floor or to be an energized heap on the floor when it comes to recovery.

So food is obviously really key. But then there's a lot of other stuff that you see around and about about like um foam rolling um obviously stretching but then other things like magnesium salt baths and ice baths I actually saw you having an ice bath on your Instagram stories the other day it looked I thought you were a very brave woman and it was right before your wedding as well and I was like she is so committed so in terms of kind of just general recovery because you run a lot you must have spent a lot of time researching and trialing so I don't think there's like one thing which is like if everyone does this it's going to be the best thing for your body because we're all unique and we all deal with exercise and stress in a really

different way but I a few years ago five years ago I decided that it was a really clever thing to do to go out and run five 10ks in a week wow races and they were on pavement and so I did the first one and I was like I'm fine I'm flying did the second one midway through first one and I was like, I'm fine. I'm flying. Did the second one midway through the week. And I was like, my legs hurt a little bit. And then by the time I ran the third one, I was actually on a trip in Sweden. I literally hobbled over the line and I'd basically given myself really bad shin splints. And it was obviously shin splints for inflammation. And so for the next year and a half, the only thing I could do to get rid of it was to ice.

Yeah. And so for me, ice and a half, the only thing I could do to get rid of it was to ice. Yeah. And so for me, ice just really, really works. And it just take it feels like it just takes away the inflammation. And I'm now really nervous of doing quite a lot of like a long run and not doing it. And there is quite a lot of research behind it to say that ice therapy does work and like cryotherapy as well. And so for me, for me, that works. works I come home I make a cup of tea I put a hat on I get in a bath freezing water and ice for like two minutes and I mean I don't sit in there all day everyone in my house thinks I'm mental but then the other thing I do is I foam roll before a run oh interesting it's really

helped me I've really found that my quads and my glutes get super super tight and so just rolling rolling is rolling has really has helped a lot um but i do it before because i'm a really busy person and i find that i go for a lot of the time in my life i go from one thing to the next like one task to the next without actually taking a moment to pause in between and i think it's really important with workouts to actually not go into them stressed and to be like aware of what's going on and aware of what you're going to do because otherwise it's too easy to like to rush into a gym jump straight on a treadmill but your mind is still on work or like some kind of argument we've had you've had with somebody on a tube

platform or whatever and so I got into the habit of foam rolling before a workout or before a run and it's kind of just five minutes to like get me connecting with my body and how I feel. And also it just means I do mobility before every single workout. Whereas if I leave it to the end, the likelihood is I'll be in a rush and I'll be rushing off somewhere else. So that's why I do it before. There's science to say both do it before and after. I don't think one's better. And magnesium salts, again, there are studies to say that they do help with inflammation. But I also think it's just lying in a bath. Feels good. Yeah, feels good.

Like after you've been on a long run or you've done something taxing to actually take that moment, whether it's five minutes or 15, but just to lie there and allow yourself to kind of like de-stress and deal with what's just happened, I think is a good thing. So I just think it's about finding the time to do something which is a bit more yin and a bit less yang in your body. And what's the evidence on treadmill running versus road running? Is it much less effective or is it much easier on your body or what's so i wouldn't i i don't think one's less effective than the other because there's ways to train on both i think if you are going out and you are just running on roads that is really impactful on the body there's there's no doubt about it it's a really heavy surface and you are

you're pushing your weight forward again and your body's got to soak up and the impact i think and treadmills these days are really clever like you've got to look at like the woodways and the woodway curves with the belts so they're much softer on your knees so i think i don't think one's better than another because actually if you're going to run a marathon you probably want to be training a bit like how you're going to run that marathon so if you're used to only running on a treadmill yeah and then suddenly you get put outside and you haven't been doing any incline work on a treadmill they're not the same things if you're going to train for a marathon train as much as you can on the surfaces so that your body's used to it yeah I find I find

um treadmills really hard i can't i think also it's very personal preference whenever you can get the distance whatever you can do however you can do the distance but i can't run on a treadmill i'm literally i've done five minutes and i'm i just get but i get pretty bored on treadmills whereas when you run outside i've actually since we started doing this podcast too i've got really into podcasts and how it is an amazing podcast and uh that really really helps and just running in London as well you realize how it's just how lucky we are to live here as well it's such an amazing city and when you run and you see things in in slow

motion you typically see them if you're just driving down the road it's it's a nice way to spend time I'm with you on that yeah and it's just so nice like the human interaction i love with running so a lot of the time we're trying to get somewhere so we probably don't stop to smile at people as we go but i find that when you're on a long run yeah you sometimes will make eye contact with another runner and you're both just smile yeah and you're just like you've got this yeah yeah i run in the country because I live in the middle of nowhere. And when I was in London, I'd love it. I was like, oh, it's so great.

You have to dodge people and you have to skip over pavement. But it's true. It's really, really special. I love it. I love running in London. There's a real sense of community you do. You kind of feel it with other runners. And now at this time of year, whenever I see runners,

I'm like, they're running the marathon. They're running the marathon. I know. Because, you know, I just assume anybody out running at this time of year, whenever I see runners, I'm like, they're running the marathon. They're running the marathon. I know. Because, you know, I just assume anybody out running at this time of year is doing the marathon. And so I would say to anyone listening in, just smile at someone. Because running can be quite solitary. But in that moment, you then have that human connection. I just think it's really nice.

I totally agree. That's what I do when I'm on my bike. I'm like, you can do this. It's really fun. Okay, so we had quite a lot of readers questions where do you start if you don't exercise you know so someone said oh i want to start running but i can't run more than five minutes without being out of breath someone's saying i want to start running i've never run before or you know i just want to start being active what's you start one

kilometer literally you just i mean that's what i and I'm not an expert. Amy probably is better for this one. But for me, it was literally one kilometre. I wanted to do it because there was something free about being able to run wherever you are, whenever you want to. And I really found it hard, but it was in my head. I wanted to do it and I ran one kilometre. And then I ran it again one kilometre. And for me, I also like the stats. So I got an app, app you know like a Nike app

or whatever or you know whatever measurement you want and so you could see your progress that's what kept me going. So I'd say the really boring caveat on it all is which has been around for forever since PT school started but it's that you should never increase exercise by more than 10% a week because it's a stress on the body. So if you are going to increase your distance, only ever run an extra 10% every week. That's really good. I've never heard that. That's really interesting. Yeah.

It's been around for forever. It's in total miles? Total miles. Yeah. So only ever increase your total mileage by 10%. Or if you're in the gym, only ever increase the total weight which you lift by 10%. But then the other thing is, is if you're going to get started, get started and be on your own journey. There's social media is this amazing world and it can be so inspiring and motivating.

But it can also be really demoralizing and demotivating in that instant, because I think when you're starting out, you can look to other people and you can be like, I'm not as fit as them, or they're going this many miles this week, and you just give up. So I think decide what your starting point is, decide where you want to get to and build yourself a plan so that every week you're increasing it by 10% and you stick on your plan and you don't worry about what anyone else is doing. So just be on your own journey and make sure you get some gym work in there. Yeah, yeah.

And then Rosemary, so someone said, which actually I've definitely felt before, you know, I've run two miles, I've run three miles and I'm not out of breath and no one can keep running, but my body is so tired. Do you think that taps back into lifestyle so fuel in the run but also potentially kind of sleep just general well-being what advice would you give there? I think if you're running two or three miles and

you're still tired I think that's probably a sign that you're pretty tired actually because because generally two or three miles is a fair distance but if you're not out of breath but your feels tired, that means that your muscles haven't got enough oomph in them to do it. So it's probably just back off a little bit. Make sure you're eating properly. Make sure you're hydrated. Dehydration is really, really a big problem if you don't, if you're not hydrated enough. And then I'd back off again. Because you shouldn't, I mean, it's going to be hard.

It's going to be challenging. But if you're feeling like you're dragging your legs it's because there's not enough energy in them and do you find that people are nervous of upping their calorie intake because they don't want to put on weight and as a result their bodies just don't have the adequate fuel to do you know what is quite a big task that you're asking of them yeah I mean I just think calories should be thrown out the window I really it drives me mad well no actually i can say that because it depends what calories you're taking in but if you're running and you're running consistently then you should be eating a well-balanced you know moderate i mean i'm not talking about going and eating pizza

and ice cream every night and you know but if you're eating a well-balanced moderate diet then the idea of counting calories and but you will need more calories if you're running consistently and you're running higher miles yeah um so i think it's just also you know it's funny isn't it people don't listen to their body and go okay i'm full now you know when did we stop listening to ourselves going oh we're full you know we eat past that point um so yeah calories drive me mad because people get the the people I see, get their knickers in such a twist about them. Okay, but so listening to your body and if you're tired,

readdressing why you're tired, you need sleep, you need rest, you maybe need more fuel, more carbohydrates, not to be scared of that. Not to be scared, especially if you're running. Like, if you're running and you're running consistently, then, yeah, you need the carbohydrate. And you just need, you know, if you're going to run once a week a week then this doesn't apply but if you're doing like a marathon plan then you need to be eating really sensibly and i think if you're tired just back off a little bit see how you know and try and change things up a little bit and see if you because you shouldn't be you

shouldn't like i say you shouldn't be dragging yourself that doesn't sound right to me so that's all been so interesting and thank you for sharing that um are you feeling inspired i sure am i feel knowledgeable and i feel inspired yeah um so do you have final two tips that that you might offer to anyone who's who's listening today okay well for me for nutrition marathon running you make sure you've tried and tested it before you get to race day. That's all I can say and I can't say it enough. And then for general, just enjoy it. If you're not enjoying it, find something else to do for training. You should be enjoying it and I feel really strongly about that. Cool. So my one would be chafe happens to all of us.

And it doesn't matter what your shape or size chafe is just a problem and so there's a product which i use um called body glide not sponsored and it just really really helps and then the other one would be is to it's a bit like nutrition it's to wear your kit train in your kit that you're gonna wear on any kind of race or challenge that doesn't matter whether you're doing a 5k or a marathon there's this real temptation to get caught up in the I need new kit for race day or challenge day and I actually I did it last year on the London marathon which is ridiculous because we've written so many features about it at Women's Health but I did and I came a bit of a cropper so train in what you're going to wear and get used to it and then you know if it doesn't work

because again nobody wants to be wearing shorts which go up their bum or socks which sit down or you know it's hard enough getting around that getting around that race or course and then finally the way we end each episode is just to ask each guest a practice, a mantra, a saying, a routine, something that they do every day. Well, so I try and do something before I do anything every day, if that makes sense. So at the moment, because it's nice, I try and go for a walk in the morning before anything, you know, so I get up and I go and do or it could be yoga. But I try and do so. My day starts with three kids who actually quite grown up now. But, you know, before the craziness of my day starts, I try and do some my day starts with three kids who actually quite grown up now but you know before the craziness of my day starts I try and have 20 minutes before so I wake up earlier and

earlier it seems to do that and actually it sets me up for the day and I try to I'm not great at meditating but I'm working on it but at that same time I listen to um like a calm meditation app or insight timer and I try and do that at the same time and actually getting out and walking is probably my favorite thing to do cool how about you Amy so my big thing is I do work in quite a stressful environment and I'm always in a rush and so one of the things I try and do is I just take a breath before I respond I found that in life I was reacting to a lot of situations and wasn't giving myself enough time to process so now people do look at me a bit funny in the office because sometimes I'll just stand there and I'll close my eyes I'll just take a big deep breath but within that moment it means that I can actually just respond to what's going on rather than react so that's my that's my thing I do every

day yeah I love that yeah very nice well thank you both so much for coming on today thank you for having me guys well i am feeling a little bit guilty about not running the marathon but inspired about how i may or may not be able to do it in the future and thank you all so much for listening um if you think it's helpful please do share it with any friends and otherwise i hope you can tune in for our next episode and definitely subscribe um there'll be a new episode coming out for you every tuesday thanks so much, everyone. Canada. Reach great Canadian listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre-produced ad like this one across thousands of shows to reach your target audience with Libsyn Ads. Email bob

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