The Wrinkled Runner
The Wrinkled Runner
Kickoff to Season Nine: Revisiting Top Episodes From 2024
Battling pneumonia has been a challenge, but it’s brought a fresh perspective to my running journey and this season of the Wrinkled Runner podcast. This episode kicks off season nine by taking a look back at the top five episodes from the past year. We'll explore topics ranging from setting realistic running goals to the benefits of track workouts for beginners. I also highlight the importance of base building and introduce the Conqueror Challenges—a fantastic motivational tool for those who want to track their mileage and earn beautiful medals without the need to race. These challenges keep you motivated, especially during those cold, winter months when hitting the pavement might feel like the last thing you want to do.
Resources from the Episode:
The Wrinkled Runner Website:
Running ABC'S- How to Structure Your Running Goals
5 Nutrients We Need as We Age
The Wrinkled Runner YouTube Channel:
The Pro's and Con's of S.M.A.R.T Goals
The Wrinkled Runner Podcast:
Art of Setting Goals
Stay in Your Lane: Using a Track for Beginners
Building a Solid Foundation: Base Building for Runners
Sustaining Your Stride: Nutrients the Older Runner Needs
Step by Step: Overcoming Running Hurdles
Conqueror Challenges- I highly recommend this cool motivator, even if you don't race! Check out the website, take a challenge and get a medal!
If you are looking for a coach to help you reach your running goals, even if it's just to start to run, take a look at my Coaching Services page on the website. I do virtual, in-person (Buffalo, NY area) and also offer single zoom sessions for those would just like to chat with a coach one time.
Find my additional outlets over at the YouTube channel and at wrinkledrunner.com. Sign up over on the blog for the once-a-month newsletter! If you would like information on utilizing a running coach, check out what I can do for you here.
If you have any running-related questions, please send an email to sherry@wrinkledrunner.com…I answer every one.
Hello and welcome back to the Wrinkled Runner podcast. We are going to be starting season nine today, and if you're a regular listener, you can probably hear in my voice that I am getting over a respiratory illness. I actually had pneumonia, so my running has been really bad lately. But because in the podcasting world or YouTube world or whatever, the easiest thing for those of us who create content to do is to have a, you know, top five, top ten of whatever content from the past year in January, and that's something that I do as well, and it's a way to kind of be a little lazy when you're first starting back up after the holidays. And so today is an easy one for me, just getting back, and we're going to be getting into some other things throughout this season, but today is going to be the top five episodes of the podcast from the past year. Today is like probably the first day I can talk, even somewhat normally, so I have not been running at all the past few weeks and I'm supposed to be starting marathon training, so that just adds an extra layer of loveliness to being so sick that I could barely get up the stairs. But we're getting back, we're getting better, we've had all the antibiotics and steroids and inhalers and other things that I am just not used to. But we are on the road to recovery and I should be getting back to running soon.
Speaker 1:The one thing I wanted to say before I started that is one thing that I like to do before I start marathon training, which I wasn't able to do. But I want to give a shout out to Conqueror Challenges. I think I did a podcast episode on this a couple of seasons ago and if I did, I'll put that in the show notes as well. But Conqueror Challenges is for anybody who, even if you don't want to race, if you have a way that you track your miles and you can even do this manually. But if you're biking or swimming or running, you can do one of these Conqueror Challenges. I like to be at about 30 miles a week before I start my marathon training, which is tanked right now. So that's great. You can sign up for a challenge and you can base it on mileage. So what I did was for kind of my before marathon training buildup, I picked a challenge that was about 124 miles, which was going to get me about 30 miles a week for four weeks before I started training and what they do is all these places around the world you can pick, kind of like you're running it. So for this I did the ring of Kerry, which is in Ireland, and at the end, after you complete the challenge and they have all your stats, they send you a medal and this is completely legit.
Speaker 1:The medals are absolutely gorgeous and it's just something that you can do. Even if you don't race you can get a medal for, and it's kind of motivating, especially for those of us who are in the dead of winter right now, to get us out the door sometimes and you can set a date for when you want that challenge to be done. It's not set in stone. My challenge was supposed to be done on January 6th not even close to it, so that doesn't really matter, but you can put in a date that you'd like to be finished and these medals come really, really fast. I was quite impressed with less than a week. In less than a week, once I hit that challenge level, I get my medal and it's only I want to say $35 to do the medal. You can also do one where you get a t-shirt as well. That's more, and I don't know how much. I don't remember how that much that is because I don't do that one. If you need some motivation right now, go to the conqueror challenges. It'll explain everything probably a lot better than my fuzzy brain is explaining it but it's something that you can do. Get a medal at the end of it and log your miles as well. So I highly recommend it. I'm not sponsored by them. They don't know I exist, but it is just a cool thing that I wish a lot of runners knew more about. So I will link to the website in the show notes for that.
Speaker 1:But let's get into our top five podcast episodes from 2024. So at number five, we have the art of setting achievable running goals. So this episode is all about creating realistic goals to keep you motivated and progressing, kind of like I was just talking about, and I shared how to break your goals into smaller, manageable pieces and also emphasized the importance of flexibility, which I am having to teach myself right now, so that you're not derailed by setbacks. So if you're someone who's ever set a goal that felt too big or struggled to stick with one, then this episode maybe can help you build a framework for success. So at number four we have stay in your lane using a track for beginners. So I know the track can feel intimidating, especially if you're new to running, but this episode is a guide to make it work for you. So I talk about track etiquette, which is a big thing, especially if there are other runners using the track, so you want to be aware of what these are before you get there. Just so that you don't, you know, annoy anybody. Just so that you don't, you know, annoy anybody. It's a great tool, though, for improving speed, building confidence. I give you a beginner-friendly workout to try, and if you've ever been hesitant or have not even thought about using a track in your training, this episode will hopefully encourage you to make it a part of your routine. So even if you're not chasing fast times, the track can help you improve your running and break up the monotony of road or treadmill running.
Speaker 1:So number three on our list is building a solid foundation, base building for runners, which again I talked about the Conqueror Challenges in the beginning of this. I sort of use that as a base building motivator for myself. Instead of putting together like, okay, let's run 30 miles each week building up to when we're going to do marathon training. I do it this way, where I pick a mileage that I want to be at and I get a medal at the end of this base building phase. So the episode itself focuses on the importance of base training, which is the foundation of any successful running plan. Hence why I'm so frustrated that I was not able to run over the past few weeks, because now I'm going to have to jump into marathon training but build up slower still, kind of have a base phase. Anyway, I won't get into my whole frustration about about all that, but it is a foundation. Base training is a foundation of a successful running plan, and I broke down how to increase your mileage safely, why consistency matters more than speed during this phase, and how to listen to your body to avoid overtraining. So base building itself doesn't sound very glamorous, but it is crucial. It prepares your body for the harder workouts and, if you race, for the races that are to come. So if you're in the off season or you're just getting back into running or you're just starting running, this episode will help you build a strong and sustainable foundation for your running future. So coming in at number two is an episode that really struck a chord with many of you, which was sustaining your stride.
Speaker 1:Nutrients for the older generation runner. As we age, our nutritional needs change and this episode dives into how we can adapt, as we get older, to those changes and kind of change our mindset a little bit about what we might need, what we might want to back off on those kinds of things. We covered everything from protein for muscle recovery to the importance of calcium and vitamin D for bone health. Now, a lot of times when we think about working out or running or any of those things, we are more focused on muscles and we don't think about our bones very much. But our bones carry our whole body and the amount of force that we are putting on our skeletal system when we're running is phenomenal, and so we have to keep those bones healthy. I also talked about hydration and how to fuel for longer runs so that you can keep going strong no matter what your age is. So I loved sharing practical meal and snack ideas in this episode and I know many of you appreciated the tips for keeping energy levels up. Nutrition is such a game changer for any kind of runner Once you dial in nutrition and you understand the things that are going into your body and what happens when they get in there. You really can't ignore how important nutrition is.
Speaker 1:And finally, your favorite episode of 2024 was step-by-step overcoming running hurdles, and this is always a big one. It's always the number one question I get from clients and other runners how to overcome the hurdles that happen in real life. Because, because, let's face it, we are not elite. I don't pretend to think any elite runners are listening to my podcast. We are recreational runners, so our life tends to get in the way. You know we don't. We're not living on some campus where we're running twice a day and we have, you know, at our disposal all the coaches and all the nutritionists and all the trainers and the strength and conditioning coaches and all the people that are helping us to, you know, get to the Olympics or win prize money. We're trying to get through life and incorporate running into that.
Speaker 1:So for us, a lot of times, there are hurdles that we have to get over and we have to face these challenges and think about them as well and think about how we're going to overcome them or get over them and work out in our lives what they are, think about what they are and then how we're going to work through those challenges, because if we don't sit down and and think about it, then you know sometimes days or weeks will go by and we haven't gotten a run in and it's because life has overtaken us and we're not really thinking about are there ways that we can get over some of these hurdles? So there can be mental barriers, injuries, time constraints. So I shared strategies for some of these and how to keep on running. So running is full of ups and downs, but the key is to keep moving forward, one step at a time and have a plan for doing that. So I think this episode resonated with so many of you because we all face setbacks. It's part of the journey and so, as part of the journey, having a plan to keep going forward is going to do wonders for our running.
Speaker 1:So there you have it top five episodes of the Wrinkled Runner podcast. If you're new here, I encourage you to check out those episodes and if you've been with me for a while, I hope this list reminds you of why you started running in the first place. So I'd love to hear your thoughts. What's your favorite episode? Why Is there a topic you'd like me to cover in the future.
Speaker 1:You can email me. You can leave a comment on my website, you can. There's a section on the website page for the podcast, for they call it fan mail, and I think if you just go to the website page you should be able to find a link to that. I'd love to have your ideas on what to cover in the future. That is the best way that I have for putting out content. A lot of what I put out there stems from questions that either my running clients have or people that email me. People email me with questions all the time. That is the best way that I have to put content out there, and the added benefit of that is that you get to have a personal email from me where I do answer your question in a specific way for you.