Listener Q&A December 2018

Where has 2018 gone!

It’s hard to believe that the proverbial sand is about to run out of the 2018 hourglass, but it absolutely is.

But we can’t end a month, or a year, without answering your questions!

So let’s get cracking, shall we?

Listener Q&A: December 2018

In case you’re new to these parts, let me bring you up to speed.

At the end of every month, I do an episode dedicated to you and your questions.

Want to get a question answered in future Q&A episode? Come join our FB group, watch for the post asking for Qs, and put your query in the comments.

Basically, whatever you ask I try to answer!

Sometimes, the answers aren’t worth a whole lot. But every once in a while, I like to think (or at least hope!) that I hit the nail on the head!

When it comes to free advice, there are no guarantees that you won’t get any more than what you paid for it.

That said, I promise to do my best!

And if nothing else, there are usually at least a few decent memes/GIFs to make it worth your while.

Let’s get into the questions, shall we?

I have a full marathon one weekend and a half the following weekend in January. Do you think I can go for a PR in both?

You can definitely go for the PR in both, but that definitely has a possibility of blowing up in your face.

If the bigger goal is to go for a PR in the half, then the smart choice is to run the full easy.

But if the half PR isn’t a primary goal, and you’re ok with the possibility of having thrashed legs and really struggling in the half, then you could try for back-to-back PRs.

Do you think it’s possible to go 0-26.2 in one year?

No doubt at all that you can build up to a marathon in one year.

You got this!

Any idea of races/places to run in Largo in April?

Anytime you’re traveling, for work or play, and you’re looking for races/places to run, I have a couple of suggestions.

One, check the various race aggregators (full, half, ultra) to see if there is a race at the time you’ll be visiting that you can run.

Two, if you’re looking for a shorter race, just try googling the location + race or 5k or 10k and see what comes up.

Three, contact the local running club in the area you’ll be visiting. Check out their website/FB page and see if there are some group runs that you can join or races they are hosting that fits your time frame.

What advice do you have for someone thinking about giving HR training a shot?

If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to be patient and give it time to work!

HR training isn’t an overnight fix, but it’s much more sustainable and effective over the next several years (or decades).

So if you’re able to keep the big picture in mind, which isn’t always easy to do, I’d definitely recommend HR training.

As for resources, I really committed after reading Primal Endurance.

The Primal Endurance Mastery Course proved to be an invaluable resource which really helped me deepen my understanding and increasing my knowledge on the ins and outs of HR training.

And recently, I got a copy of Phil Maffetone’s The Big Book of Endurance Training. This is a 500 page beast of a book, making it pretty much the HR training bible. If you want one book to help you understand HR training, this is your book.

Any tips for including strength training more consistently? I’m struggling with getting to the gym while also adding more miles to my plate.

This is a common issue runners face, and the solution is incredibly straightforward: keep it simple, stupid.

Nothing says you need to go to the gym in order to get stronger.

So go ahead and cancel the gym membership and start with bodyweight exercises.

Planks. Pushups. Squats. Lunges.

Then, set aside the money you have been spending on a gym membership for a few months and use that money to build out your own home gym.

Get a kettlebell or two. Some resistance bands. A physio ball. And a pull-up bar.

Do that, and you’ll easily have everything you need to start adding some more variety to your routine.

Remember, when it comes to strength training for running you don’t need to do as much as if your goals are to add muscle mass.

2-3 times per week. 15-20 minutes each time.

That’s literally all you need.

Who is your favorite (or 3 favorite) podcast interviews from this year?

Dude. You’re killing me here!

This is one of those impossible questions, but I’ll play your game!

I’m going to combine two for my first answer. Ras and Kathy Vaughan, aka Team Ultrapedestrian, are just fricking amazing. I could talk to Ras for days, and Kathy is every bit as much of a badass as he is.

My chat with Chuck Van Duzee was another good one. I love talking with people that have been racing longer than I’ve been alive and hearing stories about the “old days” of our sport.

Brian Curro was another good one, as it was officially the first time I’ve interviewed someone running for President. An ultra runner as our next president?

Honorable mention goes to my girl Suzy Slane. Suzy got really vulnerable and really raw about her struggles with mental illness as well as being married to someone that struggles with mental illness, and where running fits into her life. It was a powerful one, for sure.

I could pretty much highlight something from the other 100+ interviews from 2018, but I’ll end it here.

Seriously though, this question isn’t fair! Hehe

I’m having pain directly below my kneecap anytime I run farther than 3 miles. Any advice?

First the disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, I don’t play one on TV, and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

That said, it sounds an awful lot like patellar tendinitis.

If that’s the case, you need to stretch your quads!

If getting the knee checked out is an option, do that as diagnosing over the internet via a FB comment is sketchy at best.

But based on the location of your pain, that’s my first impression.

When are you going to announce that you’ll be running the Blue Ridge marathon this year?

If my daughter didn’t have a dance recital that weekend, I would have already made the announcement.

How do you get all your HR tech to work together?

It’s not that hard. I promise.

Connect the watch and your HR strap. Most of the transmitters work seamlessly with most watches.

If you’re not really good with tech, it can seem a bit overwhelming but I promise it’s not too tough.

Get a strap. Connect it to your watch. And you’re good to go.

I use the Wahoo transmitter and this generic replacement strap.

There we have it, folks.

Another month, another Q&A episode of the show.

As always, the answers in this post are the abridged versions. For a bit more, make sure you press play at the top of this post.

Or better yet, open up your podcast app of choice, subscribe to Diz Runs Radio, and listen to this episode (and all future episodes) on the go/at your convenience.

What Was Your Favorite Question and/or Answer this Month? Let Me Know in the Comments Below!

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