Episode 54: Running with Friends Series- Spring Running Recap & Tips for Summer Running
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Welcome to Chasing Life podcast, where we talk about fitness, running, career, and life tips to inspire you to live your best life. I'm your host, Sarah Kane, and I hope you enjoy today's episode. All right, welcome to another episode of Chasing Life. We are back with our Running With Friends episode. So today's guest is Leti. Welcome back, Leti.

Hi Sarah, thank you so much for having me back on. I'm so excited to catch up with you and what's been happening in our running journeys over the last six months. I know, I can't wait to hear. So last we talked, you had the Paris Marathon on your radar, so why don't you kind of catch us up on how your training for that went and your experience there and what you've been doing since.

Wow, I can't believe it's been that long. But yeah, I remember we talked in December and that was on my radar. I did sign up and I did the training and I did the trip and it was quite amazing. The training went really well. I kept my mileage close to the 55 miles rather than the 80 miles, which we both know just gets me injured. And the goal had been to run a sub 320 marathon, which

You know, the day we went to Paris, there was actually a snowstorm. So this is April and the weather was windy and very cold. Luckily, on the day of the marathon, there was no more snow. And but, you know, it was still cold. It was in the lower 30s at the starting line. So needless to say, I was wearing what was kind of funny. I was wearing clothing that I could throw away or rather trash bags.

I, as you know, I am from Europe, I've been there plenty of times, but I realized how much I've Americanized because being over there the day before the marathon realizing how cold it was, I was unable to find any target type of store where I could buy something I could just discard of the next day so you know hence all the trash bags.

So the race was great. It was cold, like I said, but I warm up pretty quickly. It felt comfortable. It was in the 30s and I believe 40s. Paris is flat, but I come from Florida. So I felt like there were a few inclines and not sure what happened. Starting mile 16 or so, I died off. I didn't die off very hard. I died off just a little bit. I had started the race yesterday.

a little bit slower, hoping that I would be able to have more in the bank and that didn't happen. So instead of getting a sub 320, my finishing time was a 321.02.

Which is not too far off, but you know, I don't know. I mean, I can't blame it on the weather. I can't blame it on the course. It was just, you know, something with my training, I'm sure. But all in all, great experience. We had about 20 people from LA, Florida and different parts of the world that came together after the race. We got together with a few of us for a couple of beers that we could immediately feel. And it was just a fun time. Yeah.

That's great. So the big question is, would you do it again?

I would absolutely do Paris again, but I feel like life is so short and there's so many bucket list marathons, which I think we should, by the way, do a bucket list marathon episode sometime. There's just so many of them that are on my radar, including Stockholm next June. So, you know, I wish I had this unlimited supply of money as we all do. So I could just, you know, cruise to every marathon, but I think I will do Paris again eventually.

But, you know, even if it were my favorite race, I wouldn't be doing it frequently after one another. Well, that's great to hear. I'm glad that you had a generally positive experience. It's crazy that it was snowing in April in Paris. Like you try to

I don't know, even in the US if it snows in April. So I'm, as you know, I'm from New York Northeast it's not unheard of for us to get snow in April but it's not like we like it. And when it comes in April so to fly from Florida to Paris in April and get snow there, definitely unheard of.

unexpected. It was super unexpected, but you know, the week beforehand, I saw images or pictures on Instagram of people posting in Paris because I was checking out the weather and people were sunbathing. It was 80 degrees, but you know, there's this thing they say in Europe about, you

April that April is really unpredictable. Um, in retrospect, I do prefer going to Europe when it's in the warmer months, I'm a person that likes warm weather. And so I don't think I will be traveling for marathons unless I, you know, unless it's like Boston. Um,

if it's not summertime, just because I want to have that pleasant experience. You know, when you think about Paris, you think about all the outdoor cafes and the music and none of that was possible. We were all cooped up in our hotel rooms because it was just really gray and cold. Oh yeah. That's a bummer. Did you see any of the sites while you're in Paris?

I've been there before. So I just walked up to Sacré-Cœur up on the hill, which was a hike, which I regretted because, again, I'm from Florida. It's pancake flat here. I was a little bit sore from that the next day. But, you know, I saw a little bit and the course is beautiful, too. It goes by a lot of sites. So definitely recommendable marathon, you know, and then, you know, again, the weather is a hit and miss, I guess, just like Boston. Yeah.

Yeah, that's true. Now, did you run Boston in April? You just ran it in the fall. So did you turn around and run it again? I did not. I had been traveling way too much for work and I...

hadn't signed up for it. I'm hoping to do it again next year. But yeah, it was just too much Boston for such a short period of time. But you know, when I did see everyone online, you know, doing Boston, and I was watching my newsfeed on Facebook, I had, you know, big, big FOMO. And so I'm definitely going to start doing Boston more frequently.

So this is actually a perfect segue to kind of recap. Cause we talked about how I was hoping to run a Boston qualifier time this spring. You hadn't, we hadn't talked in a while. So let's hear about what happened with you, your endeavor of having this Boston qualifying race. And then I know that you got injured. So why don't you tell us about that? Yeah. So like two weeks after the last time we talked, I,

ended up having some pain, discomfort that was causing my gait to be affected. And it turns out I got diagnosed with hip flexor tendinosis, which is basically an overuse injury. I can't exactly pinpoint what triggered it. It's just something that sometimes happens when you're running. My mileage had been

like pretty consistently 30 miles a week for almost two months. So I don't know if it was just like that it was

I needed a cutback week thrown in there. Maybe I was running too many hills. You know, it's unclear to say exactly. But as a result of that, I barely ran in January and February. So training for a marathon at the end of the end of May Memorial Day weekend became out of the question. And so I was registered to run the Buffalo Marathon.

And after not being able to run for two months, I knew that I couldn't properly train to run a marathon. Basically, in three months, it just wasn't sufficient after having to stop running for until my hip got stronger again. So I dropped down to the half marathon.

I was able to start doing some run walking like late February and then eventually built back up to running the half marathon, which I did do. And I finished in my goal was to finish under 150, which I did do. I felt really good at the beginning of the race. I started conservatively and then I kept progressing down in my miles and

But then by mile eight, I started to feel it. And so I wasn't in as good of a shape as I thought I was, or at least I kind of at least hit the wall of like, okay, I guess this is my current fitness level right now. Um, but I felt really, really good, like through half the race. And, uh, and then, then I kind of hit the wall, even walking through mile 10 water station, just to make sure that I was getting some water and just taking a second to kind of recover and at least, um,

By that point, I was just like, all right, I just got to finish the race regardless of what my mile pace is at this point. So it was a little humbling, but at the same time, like I really had only been running for like three months. And so it gave me at least a gauge to, all right, well, I guess this is where I am now. And the weather was pretty good. And the Buffalo course is also pretty flat and it runs through,

like or it runs along the Buffalo Harbor which is on Lake Erie and so that was kind of pretty to see and I was glad I only had to do the half that day though because it did get it was a really nice day. It was kind of warm at the start so I was glad to only have to log 13 miles that day.

But I would recommend the Buffalo marathon, whether it's the half marathon or the marathon. They did a really nice job organizing at the start. They had really big area for the runners to gather with a warmup area and it's all dated off. So it was like runners only. And then they had the corrals like with flags really well labeled so that people could line up accordingly and the national anthem, they had fireworks. So it was a really good experience.

Again, like you, you know, there's other races that I want to do. So, you know, I don't know how soon I would go back to the Buffalo Marathon, but I at least would recommend that for anybody who's maybe looking for a race. That sounds awesome. I mean, I've heard a lot about that marathon, but it's really cool to hear you talk about it. And I'm your...

Injury. Is that injury completely gone now or do you still have a little bit of residue? So it kind of depends on the day. I would say in like last week or even two weeks ago, it was kind of still kind of bothering me.

I'm continuing to rehab it. So I'm doing like hip flexor, basically PT. And because the thing with tendinosis is like complete rest won't fix it. You have to slowly add the right amount of stress. It's basically you have to re-strengthen it. And so I've just been continuing to strengthen it and stretch it. And really I'm like trying to be conscious of it.

So for example, like if it, if one, if I run a hard workout and the next day I'm like really feeling it and maybe I'm scheduled to run instead, I'll do cross training. And so I'm just trying to listen to my body and be aware of like, okay, maybe you wouldn't be like, don't try to over push it. I do have another marathon scheduled for this fall. I'm going to run the wine glass marathon again. So that's about, about 11 weeks out at this point.

So my goal for that, I would love, love to get under 335, which would be a Boston qualifying time. But at this point, I'm trying not to like get ahead of myself. And I'm just focusing on like, okay, let me just get through a marathon training cycle healthy and get to the start line. And then after that I do, and I'm also registered for the Mesa marathon in February of 2023. So if all kind of goes well through this fall, I'm,

training cycle than when I trained for the Mesa marathon. Maybe I'll go for a BQ there. So, uh, kind of playing it by ear, listening to my body, but yeah, I still am kind of working through the tendinosis, but it's definitely improved. So wait, Mesa marathon, February, you know what date it is? Yes. February 4th. So that sounds kind of cool. Um, it sounds like something that I might be able to join you with. Um,

I've heard a lot about that marathon and I don't have anything on the schedule as of now. Do you know your details yet? Were you staying and all that? Or we should talk about that off air and figure it out. Yeah. I would love to talk to you about it more. I do have some friends in Arizona, so the plans right now are to stay with them. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to you having a

trip to nice weather in the middle of winter here in the northeast. And yeah, just visiting friends and having that kind of on my radar will be fun because I, as we've kind of talked about, I don't do a lot of destination races. So that will be a fun experience for me.

Yeah, absolutely. So speaking about weather. So here we are both training for a fall marathon. And I know everyone in the world knows Florida is hot. It's super hot right now. It's, you know, your index on your phone tells you feels on the hundreds and the humidity is high, especially in the mornings. And I know where you live gets pretty toasty as well.

So maybe we should talk about some hacks that we have that we both use for heat running. So real quick, you mentioned you're training for a marathon, but we didn't cover which one you're training for this fall.

Oh, big bear. It's a marathon. So I have a mental block about breaking that three 18. I know I can, but it just hasn't happened. And I've run five times three 18, three 18, three 19, three 21, three 20. And so I'm going to just, you know, take advantage of gravity for once, let it play in our favor and break that barrier and then go back to, you know, having real training again, but I'm hoping that the downhill will help.

Nice, nice. So yes, running in the heat tips. So though New York weather doesn't get as high, we do get the humidity. So that's definitely impacts summer running where I am. So my first tip is to avoid dehydration.

So you can lose between 6 and 12 ounces of fluid for every 20 minutes of running, especially when it's hot. So it's really important to pre-hydrate. So drinking anywhere from 10 to 15 ounces of water, 10 to 15 minutes before you leave, and then drink water every 20 to 30 minutes during your run.

That's a great tip. Obviously, we both came up with 10 tips and mine includes hydration as well, you know, to plan your route close to a water stop unless you want to carry water. I know a lot of us don't like to carry water. So then that's just something we have to keep in mind.

So my number one tip is to run early before the sun comes up because your chances that the weather might be a little bit cooler still is higher. And, you know, you won't have the sun beating down on you. So that I find always very helpful because it's one thing to deal with the humidity. But then if you have the sun on top of it, that's hard. Absolutely. And

From what I've found, I've definitely started the morning running. And even though evening running might seem like it makes sense, like there's kind of a general rule of running either before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. But 8 p.m. could sometimes have a problem too, because even if the sun is down, there's residual heat from the day. So it's definitely a lot warmer later in the day, even if the sun isn't beating on you. So just definitely something to be aware of.

Yeah. And it also depends on you as a person, right? Are you a morning runner versus an evening runner? I can make all the plans in the world to run in the evening. It probably won't happen because then I'm just thinking, oh, you know, let's just let it be a wash. I'll just run in the morning. So it depends on what your preferences are, but that's a great tip of having that, you know, window of not running when it's super hot.

Definitely. And so with that in mind too is to understand heat index danger. So this might sound very technical but avoid running outside if the heat is above 98.6 degrees and the humidity is also above 70 to 80%. So how would you know if the humidity is above 80% like there's two things I check I have the weather channel app on my phone and that'll tell you the humidity outside, or I also have a little, like,

thermometer and it has an indoor outdoor reader and that tells me the humidity too. And so I kind of find that interesting and like as runners we're data driven. So just provide that extra data available so you can make that judgment. And if the humidity, because

The humidity is kind of the struggle too because if the humidity in the air is so high that it prevents the evaporation of the sweat from your skin, then you can quickly overheat and that creates an elevated body temperature which could lead to some medical dangers.

Mary too. So basically, if you live in Florida, don't run all summer long. It's hard for us to find times where the humidity is lower than that. But at the same time, you know, you got to know your limits. I know that when I moved to the state first, I was trying to run during the day one time and I got dizzy. So pay attention to this all that your body and there's something to be said about us getting certain temperatures obvious than cold weather.

on the gear and you acclimate to it a little bit better. So if you've lived in a hot temperature or if it's the middle of the summer, you've been running all spring and early summer, you probably can endure a little bit more than if you were brand new at this.

Definitely. I actually read somewhere that it takes like running in the heat, your body like five times to start to acclimate to the heat. So when you go from, I know like for me running in the Northeast winters, and then the temperatures start to rise. Like I find that my body actually sweats quicker during those first few like warmer days because my body's not acclimated. But then as you know, I kind of continue through the spring training, my body has adjusted.

and I'm not like dripping sweat within the first minute, even if it's only 50 degrees outside. So it's definitely kind of something to keep in mind. That's great information. Thank you. Yeah. So what is your next tip? So my next tip is to dress for the weather. So wearing light colored, breathable, moisture wicking fabrics, avoiding long sleeves and long pants,

Obviously never wear a sweatsuit in the high heat because that's some people might choose to do that thinking like, oh, I'm going to like wear extra layers that's going to help me like lose weight because I'll sweat more like that is like super dangerous. So don't do that. Wear like tank tops, sports bras, shorts, like

less kind of, how does this sound like, less clothing because then your body can wick away the sweat. So that sounds like really awkward, but it's kind of the truth.

That's so funny because my tip number two is the same one. My tip number two, I phrased it, wear as little clothing as possible to take advantage of your body's natural cooling mechanism. Well, there you go. Our skin is amazing. And I'm not, you know, obviously we got to pay attention to the sun too, right? We got to wear the sunscreen and sometimes it's good to wear the, you know, the cooling long sleeves and stuff, but our bodies, you know, when we put the layer of sweat on, it is to cool ourselves off. And so, um,

I feel like, especially when it's dark, I run in my sports bra and shorts and I'm drenched in sweat and I feel cooler than if I were to wear a shirt because not only does that not let your skin breathe, but also it soaks up full of sweat. Even, I mean, you can tell me anything, even if it's a breathable fabric, it still gets heavy. It still gets full of sweat. And so my preference also is to wear as little clothing as possible.

Yeah, definitely like don't wear cotton, because the cotton will just hold on to that sweat and it's not breathable, it becomes heavy and so if your skin can't breathe, then it can't evaporate the sweat and so that's just bad news so definitely avoid cotton.

100% true. Yeah, I think it's a certain type of polyester blend that is the best because even if you have some of the 100% polyester, they're not all the same. Some of them don't let your body breathe. So I know that Nike has a bunch of shirts they came out with air wickering or whatever that is called is better and it dries really quickly and that stuff actually works. Yeah, it's definitely nice when they have this really

good technology and clothing to assist in that. So that's a good tip. So my next tip, it kind of, you mentioned this a little bit about applying sunscreen. And so I just kind of wanted to touch on that a little bit more, which is that SPF 15 or more can help protect your skin from sunburns. And of course, having sunburns doubles your risk for melanoma, which is skin cancer. And with the amount of time that runners spend outdoors,

We want to make sure that we're protecting our skin. I know that I'm not always great about applying sunscreen. So I try to keep it out on my bathroom counter so that way I'm getting ready for a run. It's kind of right in front of me and it's a reminder to put it on.

Yeah, that's a great tip. And I just want to add to that, that also, you know, visors can help. Visors are probably better than hats because hats trap the heat, whereas visors don't. And then also protect our eyes wearing sunglasses. There's a ton of, you know, the knock around sunglasses or the, what are they called? The gooders. Gooders make good sunglasses that don't slip off your face. They have,

the texture that kind of gets stuck versus there is the plain plastic ones that can just fall off your head. So just be conscious of that. And, you know, just make sure that you do protect yourself from the sun because sun damage is cumulative. Yes. So another tip I had kind of related to hydration, but also like the cooling effect on your body. This is something I learned because I did suffer heat stroke once in a race, the Boilermaker.

The quickest way to cool down your body is to dump water on your wrists and the back of your neck. So don't like, you got to be careful, like not to like shock your body by say dumping ice cold water on those spots, but starting with like,

room temperature water, and then you can start to like bring your body temperature down. But that's something I always try to remember is like starting with your wrists and your neck, the back of your neck to just help bring you down. So that way, if you're starting to feel, first of all, if you're feeling dizzy when you're running or nauseous, like those are signs of heat illness. So stop running immediately, get yourself in shade or indoors and air conditioning, drink water and cool your body down.

I like that tip and I've read something very similar to that about the have our arteries on

I think it's the radial artery that we have on our wrist and it's pretty exposed. And I guess that's the reason why we put the water on there because it'll help the blood cool off as it distributes through your body. So that's a great tip. And mine kind of ties along with that in an odd way because I don't run with water and I plan my running routes accordingly.

I have a few water stops where I know I can go in every time I go there, I cool off my wrists. Now I'm going to do the neck too, because that really probably helps. But yeah, so my next tip is that, plan your running routes,

You know what time of the day you're going to run. You know where the shade is, those sort of things. Just kind of, if you're running in the streets, don't go to the streets where there's black asphalt because that just radiates back to you. Plan to run somewhere where, you know, trails are great, concrete, where there's trees, where there's plenty of water stops. Absolutely. I know in the summer,

I am kind of lucky there's this paved trail. It's like a river trail that it's almost 90% shaded. And so that makes it,

a preferred location because it does have so much shade that even if it's it and it makes a huge difference when the sun is out you know it could feel like 10 degrees warmer when the sun is beating on you the whole time versus when you're in the shade so definitely try to you know run in as much shade as possible or run again as we've talked about when the sun isn't as high.

Running by the river, I mean, that sounds like you potentially, I guess, depending on where the river is, there might be a nice breeze to it. So I'm hoping that's the case for you. It's definitely something that does occur on occasion, but also like running in Florida, I had imagined that if you're near a beach, you can get the ocean breeze too.

Yes, and that definitely helps alleviate the heat. But again, you know, I guess we can't plan for when the wind comes and how much of it will be held up by that, but by that humidity that we both have to deal with. But you know what, I'm not complaining because I will take a hot day anytime over what people have to deal with up north. I know we always talk about how I'm like, oh, it was like perfect degrees, 30 degrees or 40 degrees. And you're like, no, no, no, let's go for me. That's perfect up here.

Yeah, no, I mean, I think that's one of the things for me. I really embrace this weather and I wish I could do that same with a cold. But I mean, I guess that's why I live here, right? We have to pick our places. And I guess that's one of my tips. You can't move. Just try to really embrace it and try to see the silver lining. I feel like there's a lot to it because they say even for mental training, whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. So yeah,

go out and run on those days, even if it's hot, you know, obviously stay safe, but do those things because they'll make you stronger because guess what? The race that you pick for yourself very likely has weather that you're going to enjoy. And then the fact that you did train in conditions that weren't ideal is only going to help your, your, what is it called? The RPE or P P R P rate of perceived effort.

That one, yes, exactly. Rate of perceived effort. And so that'll probably just help you deal with it. So suck it up, buttercup. Yeah, exactly. No, I mean, that's something I've reminded myself. I've trained for three fall marathons. This is my fourth fall marathon now. And on the really tough summer days, I have to remind myself, like summer heat makes fall PRs.

So, yeah, that could be one of those training mottos that you can write on your arm. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and because it comes down to the same thing, what will feel hard, a pace that might feel hard in the summer because of heat and your body's, you know, the higher temperature,

that pace will feel a lot easier when the temperatures start dropping. So it's all, it is mental training definitely, because when you train for those hard, through those hard conditions, it'll make it a lot easier when the conditions are better. Or even if for some reason you get bad race conditions, you have at least spent time building that mental capacity to handle those.

Yes, I love that. Those are great tips. Yes. I do want to kind of go back just a little bit about the wind and the breeze is if you're in an area where it is breezy to start your run with the wind to your back. And then that way, when you're turning around, which your body will be warmer by then, then you'll have the wind in your face and that will help to cool you down. Oh, that's a nice one. Yes. Yeah, that makes sense.

I did have another tip, which was to adjust your expectations. So we were just kind of talking about rate of perceived effort. And typically you probably most runners maybe have a good idea of like, okay, this is like my easy pace. And so that rate of perceived effort should be like, say a three or four, but when it's warmer out,

then you'll need to adjust that speed so that you keep the rate of perceived effort the same even if your speed and your pace drops. So I found this really kind of helpful metric, which is for every five degrees

above 60 degrees, you need to slow your pace by 20 to 30 seconds. And so that could be a mental battle that runners struggle with. They're like, no, I have to hit these X paces, but if it's really hot out, just slow down and check your ego at the door.

I like that. No, I mean, and that goes for us here down in Florida, as well as for people running in the cold, wearing a lot of clothing. It's you just got to make sure that you run by feel a lot more than we probably already do. I'm really good at running by feel because it's just whatever I'm comfortable with, because otherwise I won't do it. I have a harder time actually doing the speed work.

And so I think for some of us, it comes harder for some of us that really about the benefit of running slow and the fact that if you run eight minute miles the entire week, rather than letting your body recover through some of your runs. If you don't know about that, then obviously that's why you wouldn't want to run a little bit slower. But yeah, no, I completely agree. I think it's really important to run by effort a lot of the time.

Yeah, definitely. Did you have any more tips you wanted to share? Well, no, this is kind of a piece of advice for a few people. If you're doing a group run and it's hot outside, for God's sake, wear some deodorant because you're only doing a favor to the group. And, you know, when it's hot, then we really can't avoid our bodily function. So just be conscious of that because it's

Yes, I'm sure not only is it a great tip for yourself, and I'm sure your running buddies will appreciate that as well.

My, my last tip is regarding electrolytes now we've covered hydration, hopefully we've kind of drilled that to people's mind of drink water before, during and after your run, but also electrolytes are an important component of that too so making sure, especially on runs longer than 60 minutes that you're adding in electrolyte component, it could be.

know any kind of sports drink whatever sits well with your stomach there's a variety of flavors and products and so i'm not gonna touch on that but just make sure that you're replenishing your electrolytes because your body with all the sweating it's gonna lose sweat and you're gonna feel much more drained afterwards if you don't replenish those electrolytes and have carbs and just

just refuel your body. And also in addition to electrolytes, your body also loses salt through sweat. So once you're done with a run and you're all sweaty and you have like that white crusty stuff all over your skin, that's salt from your body. And so you need to replenish that. So either through electrolytes or even like salty foods like pretzels, chips, jams,

that is, those things are okay to help your body recover after a run. So that's my kind of last tip with the summer running. That's a great tip. Yeah. I read about that. It's really important to replenish electrolytes and not just hydrate yourself with just water. Cause, uh, you obviously your body loses a lot of salt. So it's important to do that. And, um,

Yeah, I mean, that's it. Obviously, there's a ton of little tiny tips and tweaks that we have to heat give. So obviously, we encourage everyone to reach out to us with your questions and we'll try to help or point you into the right directions if we can. Absolutely. Yeah, we would both be happy to help. We have a lot of experience under our belt. We appreciate your listening and hopefully you found these tips helpful.

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