Amanda Brooks Is Helping The "Everyday" Athlete Run To The Finish

Amanda Brooks is joining me on the show today for round 2, almost 400 episodes after we chatted for the first time.

Amanda is one of the original running bloggers and a lot has changed since our last conversation, including a new book.

We will have no shortage of topics to cover today as I go a few easy miles with Amanda Brooks.

Amanda Brooks

Celebrating Each Milestone

The last time Amanda was on the show was in 2017, only a few months after she had surgery on her knee.

Prior to the surgery, Amanda had been injured for almost a year before.

For Amanda, coming back to running was a struggle both physically and mentally.

The mental side surprised her because she was not expecting it.

Mentally it was hard to grasp struggling through short distances that she used to run with ease.

Amanda had to reset her outlook and made a conscious decision to celebrate each milestone and focus on post-surgery PRs.

The process was slow and Amanda learned that there is never a straight line with running and/or recovery.

Focus On What You Can Do

Being injured and going through the recovery process has given Amanda a deeper empathy for other injured runners.

Amanda has gained a better perspective on how to be useful when someone is dealing with an injury.

Her best advice for other runners going through similar things is to find what you can do and what will make you a better runner when you return.

Taking the time to perform warm-ups before running was not always a priority for Amanda before getting injured.

Now Amanda has a dynamic warm-up routine that she does before heading out for any run.

A dynamic warm-up should focus on flowing through movements while warming up the muscles.

It only takes 5 to 10 minutes a day of hip and glute work to get a massive payout in staying injury-free and improving performance.

Ahead Of The Curve

Amanda has had a passion for running for a long time and loves sharing knowledge.

Her running website/blog has been around long before having an online presence was popular.

In the early days of her website, Amanda would offer free challenges and had up to 1,500 people participating.

Amanda often found herself helping friends with training and advice and over the years she started a coaching business.

The coaching aspect was never a part of Amanda’s original goal, but over the years the progression happened naturally.

Amanda adheres to the philosophy that there is no one perfect training style for everyone.

Amanda Brooks

Finding The Right Fit

Finding the right coach is a must and what works for one runner may not work for another.

A good coach will look at lifestyle, goals, and injury history before coming up with a plan.

It is also important to understand what workouts each individual enjoys.

There are multiple different ways to get to the same end result.

The one non-negotiable that Amanda has for her athletes is that they must all do some form of strength training.

Amanda loves working with the “everyday” runners and strongly believes that they benefit the most from coaching.

New runners can have a tendency to overdo the training and it’s beneficial for any level runner to have a coach to bounce things off of.

It may also be helpful to get feedback from other athletes that the coach has worked with.

Run To The Finish

Writing a book was never in Amanda’s plans, but when the opportunity presented itself she was intrigued.

Amanda is a well-known social media figure in the running world and that fact didn’t go unnoticed.

She was approached by publishers asking if she would be interested in writing a book.

Amanda wanted to write a book that spoke to the audience she was most passionate about.

“Run To The Finish. The Everyday Runner’s Guide To Avoiding Injury, Ignoring The Clock, And Loving The Run,” was written for the middle of the pack runners.

The book was recently released and she is following it up with a 10 city book tour.

Run to the Finish by Amanda Brooks

The Best Treadmill For You

Amanda is the rare person that enjoys treadmill runs.

She was approached by a company that reviews treadmills and was asked to try them out and give her opinions.

Amanda promptly flew out to California where she was filmed testing 75 treadmills in one day.

The qualities that Amanda recommends looking for when purchasing a treadmill are:

Stability- the treadmill should feel stable and not shake while using it.
Consider the width and length of the treadmill.
The belt size shouldn’t be too narrow.
Horsepower is another factor that can be of importance depending on goals.
Know what features you will use and what you can omit as a way to save money.

Amanda’s treadmill reviews can be found at TreadmillReviews.net.

Mentioned In This Episode:

Stay connected with Amanda Brooks by visiting her blog and/or following her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Amanda Brooks Is Helping The “Everyday” Athlete Run To The Finish Click To Tweet

As Always, I’d Love to Know What Stood Out to You From this Episode! Let Me Know Your Takeaway in the Comments Below!

Want to Support the Continued Growth & Production of the Show?

Check out the support page for ideas and suggestions of ways you can help me grow the show. And remember, not all support involves money. Some of the best ways you can show your support are 100% free.

Subscribe to the Show

Never miss another episode of the Diz Runs Radio by subscribing to the show, and for my fellow Apple fans out there, it’s never been easier now that the podcast app is native on the new operating system. iPhone/iPod/iPad users click here. Android users click here. SoundCloud users click here.

Please Give Me Some Feedback!

Take the 6 question listener survey to help me shape the future of this podcast.

Register for a Free Race Training Plan

Every month, I’m giving away a FREE training plan for the race of your choice. For details/information, and to sign up, just click here.

Join The Tribe!

There’s always room for more members of the tribe! Both the Facebook group and the email group provide opportunities that can’t be found anywhere else. The Facebook group is still small, but it is a great way to connect with fellow runners and foster community amongst like-minded individuals. The email group is THE way to stay up to date about future guests on the show, as well as getting some other freebies and offers that aren’t available to anyone else. If you’ve got questions about either/both, just let me know!

Legalese:

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. This simply means that if you decide to make a purchase using one of the links, I get paid a small commission at no extra expense to you.

Amanda Brooks Is Helping The “Everyday” Athlete Run To The Finish

Celebrating Each Milestone

Focus On What You Can Do

Ahead Of The Curve

Finding The Right Fit

Run To The Finish