Ep #85: Your Questions Answered: Intervals and Motivation with Jen Lamplough

Welcome to The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. If you’re a woman who is midlife and plus sized and you want to start running but don’t know how, or if it’s even possible, you’re in the right place. Using proven strategies and real-life experience, certified running and life coach Jill Angie shares how you can learn to run in the body you have right now.

Jill: Hey rebels, you are listening to episode number 85 of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. I’m your host, Jill Angie, and I have an amazing guest – not really a guest. She’s my partner in crime on the show today and that is the one and only Jennifer Lamplough. Jen, say hi.

Jen: Hey, hey, hey rebels.

Jill: So we – Jen is kind of the assistant coach here at Not Your Average Runner and in Run Your Best Life, and so we decided it would be kind of fun if we did a joint episode like, once a month-ish, to kind of shoot the shit and talk about running and life and maybe answer some questions that we’ve been getting a lot in the Run Your Best Life Facebook group and coaching group. And so that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to just kick it off today.

So we’re going to get to that. We have a list of questions that we’ve kind of gathered from the Run Your Best Life group that they’re common questions that we get asked a lot and we thought hey, let’s just answer some of them right here on the podcast so that you all can kind of get a sense of – first of all, what the answers to those questions are, and also the kind of stuff we do in that group. But we also have – before we even get to that, we have a super fun announcement. Jen, do you want to do the honors?

Jen: Really? I get to announce it?

Jill: You do. Announce it. Tell everyone.

Jen: Oh my gosh, we’re starting a blog. Jill and I are going to be blogging every week about our training adventures. I’m going to let you tell them the name and who won the naming contest.

Jill: Alright. So, we did a naming contest in the Not Your Average Runner Facebook group and we basically said hey we’re doing this blog and if you come up with the name that we use, we’re going to send you a swag bag full of Not Your Average Runner stuff. So the name of the blog is Rebels on the Run. I am in love with this name.

Jen: Me too. I love it.

Jill: And so Jacqueline Nevaro, you are the winner of our little blog naming contest and we’re going to send you a little care package with some Not Your Average Runner swag. What you can do to claim your prize is just email support@notyouraveragerunner.com. Let them know your mailing address and that you won this prize and we’ll get that in the mail to you. Stat.

Jen: Love it.

Jill: So Jen like, let’s kind of talk a little bit about what we’re going to be doing on this blog because we’re going to talk about, what? Training and…

Jen: All the things.

Jill: Like? All the things.

Jen: Training of course because you’re training for the Philly marathon, which is amazing, and I’m training for – I have four big events this year. One I did already so I have three half marathons this year. I did the Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans already and then I have the Rock ‘n’ Roll half in Seattle in June, and the Rock ‘n’ Roll half in Savannah in November, which I’m so excited because I’ve never been to Savannah and then we’re doing the Ragnar, which for those of you who don’t know what Ragnar is, it’s a relay race with a team but we’re doing the Ragnar in Wisconsin that’s a trail race. So we’re going to be running in the woods in the dark.

Jill: And there are bears. I’ve been told there are bears.

Jen: It’s Wisconsin. There’s bears, there’s all sorts of stuff.

Jill: Who’s fucking idea was this?

Jen: I’m pretty sure it was mine. I really hate camping and I like outdoors in the daytime and when there’s no wildlife and or bugs that can get me.

Jill: So this is more than just a physical challenge for you then. This is a mental and emotional challenge.

Jen: Big challenge because I’m actually like, really afraid of the dark. Like, legit.

Jill: I am too. Isn’t that crazy?

Jen: Like, I put my hand into a room and turn on the light first before I go into a dark room.

Jill: Well, how do you think you’re going to get through – because everybody on the team, we’re going to have two teams of eight people each and every single person on the team will have to run a nighttime loop.

Jen: Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of mental work. I mean, it’s going to be physical work too to learn how to run in the dark. I mean, I have a headlamp and I have run in the dark but on flat surface and also with people. So with no bears in the vicinity, at least that I knew of. So it’s going to be real interesting.

Jill: Bears and snakes…

Jen: Potentially serial killers, I’m not really sure. And I’m not sure what lives in the woods.

Jill: You’ve seen Netflix. It seems like all the serial killers live in Wisconsin. So if you live in Wisconsin, please drop us a line and let us know what are the things we need to worry about in the woods.

Jen: How to survive the Wisconsin woods at night.

Jill: Well, so Andy’s really into camping. He loves camping, so he’s assured me that it’s going to be fine. I’m not sure if I believe him.

Jen: That’s good because my idea of roughing it is no room service, so we’ll see how this goes.

Jill: You and me both. Alright, so Ragnar and two more half marathons for you. Ragnar for me. My first Ragnar as well and then the Philly marathon in November, and there is going to be some bullshit inner mean girl shit going on, I guarantee it. So we’re going to share all of it on the blog and the goal for this blog is not for it to be like, oh my god how amazing I am, but to be more like, this is the shit I’m going through and this is how I’m dealing with it.

It’s going to be real. It’s going to be real and raw because we don’t want to sugarcoat anything. We want to make sure that everybody realizes – we want to be an example of what’s possible for our listeners but we also don’t want to pretend that everything is perfect and easy all the time because that would be a lie.

Jen: 100%. And I think it’ll give, especially our teammates in Run Your Best Life, it’ll give them an opportunity to really hear what we’re going through and either validate what they’re going through or give them the courage to ask the question and talk about it and be like, oh my god, I heard that you had this same problem as me, how did you deal with it and how can I deal with it.

Jill: Yeah. I love that because it sort of makes us more approachable I guess, because a lot of times I have people come up to me and they say, you must just run like, every single day and you must just get out of bed wearing your running clothes and I’m like, no, it’s not how it works. So we actually – we’re putting together two teams for this right now and we have – one of the teams is already full, which is crazy.

We have one team that’s got a few spots left, so if you want to join the Not Your Average Runner Ragnar relay, the inaugural Not Your Average Runner Ragnar team for the Wisconsin race, you got to be a member of Run Your Best Life. So we’ll talk to you at the end – actually, we’ll talk to you a little bit throughout the episode but that’s one of the nice perks about Run Your Best Life is that you’ve got to be a team member. You’ve got to be in that group to be able to do our Ragnar with us.

Jen: I like that you said Not Your Average Runner Ragnar relay race. I was like, okay, whoever can say that five times fast, you’re on the team.

Jill: I think we should. I think we totally should. And I mean, everybody on the team, like, Not Your Average Runner is going to be providing really cool team shirts and some team swag and stuff, so we’re going to be representing. We’re going to be sweaty and muddy and bit with mosquitoes, smelly for sure, but we will be – we’re also going to be glamping, by the way. So just FYI, if you want to roll with us, we’re getting tents with cots.

Jen: And a bathroom. They have a portapotty or a hole in the woods.

Jill: Exactly. We don’t fuck around.

Jen: And I don’t go in holes in the woods so.

Jill: I do not either. I did one time and it’s not super fun. Alright, well let’s talk about some of the – we get a ton of questions. We coach in Run Your Best Life. We actually have three coaching calls a week minimum. Sometimes there’s more, but right now because the 5K course is going on, we have one call a week just dedicated to 5K training and then we also have two other live coaching calls, one on Tuesday, one on Thursday.

And we’ve just kind of been – when new people join, they have similar questions and so we thought it would be kind of fun to maybe talk about those basic things today – and actually, I shouldn’t say basic. They’re not necessarily basic but they’re common questions, I guess.

So actually, I wrote them down over here on a piece of paper. I can barely read my own handwriting but one of the topics that you suggested that we cover today, Jen, was just intervals in general because – what intervals should you be doing, should you just stick with those intervals or should you be trying to increase the running or decreasing the walking. Let’s kind of start out with timing because I feel like that’s an easy one. So what do you use to time your intervals?

Jen: I use a Garmin. I have the Garmin 235 and you can set up training plans in it or you can just set an interval for indoor or outdoor running. And so I just put that on and it beeps but it also vibrates so if I’m in loud traffic or something or I can’t hear the beep because it’s not super loud, it also vibrates so I feel it on my arm, and so I know when to switch. So right now, I’m doing a one-one interval and so it’s kind of easy because I don’t have to be like, wait, which one am I on because I’m doing the same interval for run-walk. So just as soon as it buzzes on my arm then it’s time to switch. So easy.

Jill: I love that. And so the Garmin – there’s an app that goes along with that and it sends all your data to the app, right?

Jen: It does. So Garmin Connect. You set up the intervals on the watch actually but you can set up training plans on the app and then it tracks everything. I wear it while I sleep. It tracks my sleep. The one I have comes with a heart rate monitor. Some of them have the heart rate monitor built into the watch itself so it uses your wrist pulse. I don’t have that one, those are a little more expensive.

And then also, we use Training Peaks as our sort of coaching app and it connects to Training Peaks. It connects to me work wellness program so I get points with my health insurance and I can buy stuff with my points or my health insurance. It connects to my Walgreens app and so Walgreens, if you do wellness stuff, you get points and you get money off and stuff so it’s pretty amazing.

Jill: Oh my god, I had no idea about all that stuff. That’s really cool. Wait, and so you said it’s the Garmin 235 Forerunner?

Jen: Yeah, Forerunner.

Jill: Okay because this is kind of like, the Cadillac of timing devices is to get a Garmin, so how much – what’s the investment for that?

Jen: I think this one – you know what, they had a Groupon for it so I think I actually got it for 100 bucks. But I think they normally run around 150 or 175. The other thing too is it’s a smart watch so I have my calendar and my text messaging hooked up to it so I get my calendar phone notifications and text notifications too, which is really great. And you can actually put that on do not disturb while you’re running so the buzzing doesn’t throw you off.

Jill: I love that. Okay, so Garmin is an option, and there are other companies that make running watches, but in my opinion, Garmin is the gold standard. Their GPS seems to be the most accurate, they seem to have the most features, and then they have a wide range of options. Seriously, I talk about Garmin all the time. I feel like I should get kickbacks from them.

Jen: I agree. I actually know somebody who works for Garmin so I need to reach out.

Jill: Hook me up.

Jen: It just clicked in my head that I actually know somebody who works for Garmin.

Jill: Holy crap. I feel like I’ve sold so many Garmins for that company. I should at least get a free watch for myself.

Jen: Me too.

Jill: Exactly. Garmins for everyone. Okay, so Garmin is an option and then Apple Watch is also an option, although in my opinion, the Apple Watch does not do a great job of timing intervals unless you download a specific interval timer app. So Apple Watches, I love mine for everything but running. It’s not the greatest for running. But what you can do, if you don’t want to invest in a Garmin, or if you’re just starting out with running and you’re like, I don’t want to spend $175, there are a ton of free apps that you can download right to your phone that if you wear headphones when you run, they’ll just beep right in your ear.

And if you’re listening to music, it’ll beep – it’ll lower the music temporarily, beep, and then raise it up so you can just hear it through your ear buds or your Airpods or whatever you’ve got going on. So there’s a bunch of different free apps. My favorite is Runkeeper because Runkeeper not only does the intervals for you, it also…

Jen: It tracks, it does GPS and tracks your…

Jill: Thank you. It has GPS. So it tracks your distance, your pace, your time, your elevation and so forth. And you can get all that with the free app. And sometimes it’s a little confusing how to customize the intervals in the free app. They sort of hide it a little bit. So if you go to episode nine of the Not Your Average Runner Podcast, I actually created a PDF guide that you can print out that’ll take you through all of the – I feel like Runkeeper should be giving me kickbacks too because I’m constantly talking about them.

But Runkeeper is a great option, or there are free options as well – not free options, but really simple options that just beep intervals and don’t actually do anything else other than beep intervals in your ear. Or you could actually get a clip-on timer called a Gymboss is one of them. I think they’re 15 bucks on Amazon and they just beep out loud. They have a battery in them and you just clip them onto your shirt. So there’s a lot of different options.

Jen: You want to make it as easy as possible for yourself so that you’re not like, having to look every five seconds like is it time to switch, is it time to switch. You just want it to be…

Jill: Please don’t use your watch and just constantly be looking at your watch because you will trip and fall. I’ve been there, done that. Or try to count it in your head and say I’ll just count to 30 in my head if you’re doing 30 seconds because I promise, the longer you’re running, you’re going to be counting – it’s not going to be…

Jen: I would say the only time to use an actual watch is if you do have a timer on it like it’s a digital watch and it has a timer and your intervals are the same. You could set it on repeat to go off every minute. So I would say that would probably be the only way I would use an actual watch watch.

Jill: Yeah, so those are a bunch of different options for how you can time your intervals and we’ll have links in the show notes that you can click on and check out the ones that we recommend. But let’s talk about where you should start with intervals. So if you’re brand new to running, sometimes it’s a little confusing to know where to start. So what happens is people come into the group and they say hey, what is everybody doing for intervals?

And intervals are like shoes. What works for one person might not work for another, so Jen, you’re doing one and one intervals right now and I’m just starting back after almost six months off so my intervals are 30 seconds of running and 60 seconds of walking. And who knows where it’s going to go from there, but let me ask you this, Jen. If you were coaching a brand-new person joining Run Your Best Life, what would you coach them to start with?

Jen: I usually tell people ideally to start with 30 seconds but that might even be too long, depending on what your current fitness level is. So I mean, start with 10 seconds and see how it feels and if like, you can keep going, go to 15 and then work up from there. But I think just doing a little test run like how long can I run. I think the mistake people make usually is they’re too fast.

So they’ll do 30 seconds but they’re going all out and they’re like oh my god, I can’t breathe and this is so hard, so I always say the time is important but also how fast you’re going. You don’t have to go balls out every running interval. Just start slowly. Just go a little bit faster than you’re walking and see how you feel. So most people can start with 20 to 30 seconds of running and then let the walk interval be at least a minute, if not 90 seconds.

Jill: Yeah, that’s a great place to start. That’s exactly what I say. 20 seconds or 30 seconds of running, and when we say running, we mean like when you’re first starting out, like a jogging pace. People think that jogging is a bad word, it’s some kind of insulting word like it’s no, it’s a form of running basically that when you say jog to somebody, it means – it sort of implies a more relaxed, comfortable pace, whereas I think people, when they think running, they think sprinting. And sprinting and running are – sprinting is another form of running.

Jen: It’s a whole ‘nother sport. It’s like a whole different sport than running, sprinting is. You use totally different muscles to sprint.

Jill: Yeah, very true. And sprinting is something that for our more advanced clients, once they’ve been training for a while will throw sprint workouts into their running routine, but it’s not the way you should be running on a daily basis. So sprinting and the concept of run-walk intervals are two different things, for sure.

So let’s talk about – say it’s somebody’s very first workout. I mean, this is how I would coach somebody. They’re like, I just want to go out there and do a workout, see what it feels like. I’d say like, warm up for five minutes with a brisk walk, purposeful walk, and then do 10 rounds where you maybe run for 20 seconds, jog for 20 seconds, and then walk for a minute and then jog for 20 seconds and walk for a minute. Repeat that 20 second job 60 second walk 10 times and then cool down for maybe another five minutes of more slower walking. And what’s that? About 25 minutes?

Jen: Sounds about right.

Jill: Yeah, I think that’s a nice little taste of do I like this sport or not.

Jen: And you could even cut that. I mean, if you’re feeling like you’re nervous about that length of time, do five and see how you do. Or just do as many as you can and see how you feel and don’t beat yourself up about it because you don’t have to go out there and be able to run long, be able to run fast, be able to do – even walk fast. Just meet yourself where you’re at.

Jill: Yeah. And we actually had somebody in Run Your Best Life that – she joined the 5K course and for the first week, she went out and she walked every single day like, six days of walking and she was feeling really bad because she said I couldn’t quite bring myself to run and I feel like I’ve failed because I missed the whole week. I’m kind of like, first of all – and she said she had not worked out for months and months and months.

And so I thought that was kind of a huge win. You went out there and walked six days in the first week. That’s amazing. So next week go out and don’t even worry about how many intervals you’re doing. Just try to do one interval. Just try to run for like, 15 to 20 seconds during one of your walks and see how that feels. And then maybe the next time you try to do it twice. Meet yourself where you’re at, that’s just a great point Jen.

Jen: Thanks. Somebody really smart taught me that.

Jill: So it’s so funny. You’ll say something really amazing and I’ll be like damn, that’s really good, let me write that down. You’re like, you’re the one who said it first. I’m like, I don’t know. My mouth just says things. The next question I guess is so I’ve been doing this interval for six weeks or whatever, when do I move up? And everybody always wants to level up to the next interval. I have a ton of thoughts on that, but I would love to hear what you have to say, Jen.

Jen: My first question would be why? Why do you think you need to or why do you want to? For me, it was more about finding my sweet spot, which when I was training for the marathon was two minutes running and one minute walking. And the reason I’m back down to one and one is because I broke my foot earlier in the year and so I was off for several months of running so I wanted to start back slowly. And one and one is feeling kind of good right now, so I’m just staying there.

I would just always ask like, why? Are you intentionally wanting to either get faster or to be able to run longer? What’s the reason? Because if you find a good sweet spot and you’re happy there, I don’t know that there is any reason to change.

Jill: I totally agree. And I think one of the reasons that people think they’re supposed to “level up” is that there’s apps out there like Couch to 5K, which every week you’re running more and you’re running more, and the goal of the Couch to 5K app is for you to be running with no walk breaks, running your 5K in 30 minutes without walking by the end of six weeks, which is as we know, crazy.

Jen: It’s not crazy. It’s crazy to do it in that amount of time for a new runner. I mean, if that’s a goal you want that’s fine, then yeah, then we should start working on changing your intervals. But if you don’t have that goal, I don’t think there’s any reason to change.

Jill: And I think six weeks is way too fast to go from no running to all running. I think there are people out there that can do it, but for most people, it’s not something realistic, I think. But there’s that mindset out there and that belief – and we talked about this in the three minutes webinar that you – if you’re going to be a real runner, you have to run the entire time, and I just don’t think that’s true. I have yet to find a document anywhere that says that.

Jen: And I always laugh when people say so and so in my life said to me well, you’re not really a runner because you don’t run, and whenever they say that to me, somebody will tell me a story like that, I’ll be like, is that person who said that to you a runner? And they’re like no. I’m like, a real runner would never say that. Real runners are not judgmental and they’re so nice and so encouraging. It’s always the people who aren’t running who have all the opinions.

Jill: Exactly. It’s such a great point, which is kind of like we say a lot on this podcast other people’s opinions are none of your business, so if somebody’s going to say to you like, you’re not a real runner, you can be like, oh, it’s so interesting that you think that, next. Your opinion is noted, I’ve put it on the list and I’m going to continue on my way.

Jen: Noted and moving on.

Jill: Noted and moving on, yeah. So I think if your reason for wanting to level up to a new interval, if that reason is because I want to do it because I want to be a real runner, rest assured you can be a real runner doing whatever kind of intervals you want. If your reason is because you want to see what you’re capable of because you’re like, I just want to set a goal of running a 5K without stopping, it’s totally fine. That’s awesome. Just make sure that you like your reasons for changing your intervals.

And I mean, sometimes you might – and I’ve worked with clients before that started out doing 30 second run 60 second walk for a couple years and then one day they said you know what, this is way too easy for me. And so their body just naturally started asking for more and that’s a great time to make that switch. But I don’t think it has to be done on a schedule and I mean, there is no schedule. There is just different people’s opinions on what works for them.

Jen: And it only matters if it matters to you. If you have a good reason why then that’s your why and you work from there.

Jill: Okay, so I love that you just said that because the last question I wanted us to talk about today is just this concept. So many people ask us how do I stay motivated? I mean, you’ve done so much work on motivation yourself and I just think we’re going to have a really great conversation about it, and I think for me, motivation is an emotion that comes from a thought. So motivation isn’t something that’s like the weather. It just sort of moves in like a cold front and then moves out.

Motivation is something we create for ourselves by our thinking, and when we have a strong why, a strong reason for wanting to run, we think thoughts that create motivation. So what does that mean to you when I say like, what’s your why?

Jen: It really means what’s going to make me want to do this more than something else. So I have a choice between staying in bed at 5:30 in the morning or getting up to go running. And so if I want the result that I’m going to get from running more than I want an extra half an hour in bed, then that’s motivation to me. That’s what motivates me to get out of bed. It’s really not anything else.

And so my why for running, I have a list of reasons why I want to do these running goals and those things, I write them down every single day so that they’re always at the top of my brain and so when the alarm goes off at five o clock in the morning and I’m not all there, they more readily come to the surface as opposed to just being like, why is my alarm going off so early and shutting it off. I did actually have to – and we talked about this before but I had to download a talking alarm clock to remind myself in the beginning about why my alarm was going off so early because I wasn’t practiced at reminding myself of my why. And so my talking alarm would say hey Jen, remember, it’s time to get up and go running.

Jill: I just love that so much. We use Google home or – whatever those little Google pods are to set our alarms but I have not yet been able to figure out how to get her to wake up and say a thing to me. She’ll wake up and play music or play a podcast or something but I want her to wake up and say a thing to me. Like hey Angie, get your ass out of bed.

Jen: There’s got to be a way for Google to do that. I used an app called Talking Alarm. Literally, that’s what it was called and you just record your voice. You can record other people’s voices too. I said I was going to record your voice but then I was like, no, I’m going to motivate myself so that’s what I did.

Jill: Right. It’s just so good that you said that too because we recently had somebody in the group was talking about motivation and you asked her like, who’s the best person to motivate you and she said I know I know, Jill is. And you were like, no. It’s you.

Jen: You are the only person who can motivate you.

Jill: Right, because our brains are what creates motivation. Other people can’t motivate us unless we think a thought in response to something that they’re saying. So if I’m saying things to you about hey, wouldn’t it be fun to do this race, this Ragnar and you’ll be so proud and so forth, and you think like, yeah, I believe all of those thoughts and you start thinking those thoughts yourself, then you feel motivated. But me saying it doesn’t motivate anybody until they believe what I’m saying.

Jen: Absolutely. And what motivation really is is a commitment. It’s a commitment that you make to your training to yourself, to your habits, whatever you’re trying to change and it’s upholding your commitment. And so I think that if you can change the way you think about it because I think people often think that motivation is external, if you change that language and say am I committed to this, then you’re going to have a little bit of a different outlook.

Jill: Yes. And I think it’s so funny when you said people think that motivation is external, so many people sign up to run a race because they think the race is what motivates them and it’s really not. It’s the commitment to becoming the person that can do the training, the commitment to evolving and to doing the mind work necessary to get up three times a week in the morning out in the cold and run 10 miles.

Jen: And sometimes a fear of failing at one of those things, so when I signed up for the marathon, the motivation was like, I want to be able to finish. So the fear of not finishing was a why for me. But that was my own thing. It wasn’t like the marathon was going to put me in jail if I didn’t finish. It was my own thing of wanting to finish, but that sort of level of fear of not finishing became motivation for me.

Jill: So you were motivated by wanting to avoid something. That’s why we’re motivated to do our taxes because we want to avoid going to jail. So I mean, sometimes that’s a thought we have in our brains as well.

Jen: We talk a lot about motivation in the group because it’s a really wide subject too and people are motivated in different ways and different things internally motivate them and even understanding what motivation is and I think teaching it this way helps people to see it in a little bit different light.

Jill: Yeah, I totally agree. And we did – when did we do that webinar on finding your why? Was that just last month?

Jen: I think that was last month. Just a couple weeks ago.

Jill: I think it was. February was habits and motivation month and that was our bonus webinar that month. And then this month we taught people how to make their own training plan, which I thought was super fun.

Jen: So good.

Jill: So wait, you guys, we just talked about – we’re planning all the stuff that we’re doing for everybody in April and you can’t see, Jen is smiling right now, she’s so excited. Do you want to announce the topic that Run Your Best Life is covering in April?

Jen: Yes, because it’s very topical to this podcast too because it’s a lot of what we talk about in the group and it’s confidence.

Jill: Confidence. Like, how to get it, how to keep it, how to fake it ’til you make it, and how to keep other people from stealing your confidence. Because I think that’s one thing that happens a lot to new runners is they’re all like, full of excitement and pride and then some asshole comes along and has an opinion and they’re like, now I have no more confidence, that person took it. And so next month we’re going to teach you how to not let people take your confidence away.

Jen: And how to tell your inner mean girl to take a seat.

Jill: I think we have that on a t-shirt. Telling my inner mean girl to suck it. Yeah, if you guys want a t-shirt that says I’m telling my inner mean girl to suck it, go to nyarshop.com. And of course, it’s a tank top because we require everyone to have body confidence and wear a tank top every once in a while, damn it. Anyway, we’ve been kind of talking for a while here so I think we should maybe wrap it up a little bit. Do you have any final thoughts?

Jen: I don’t think so. I’m really excited about our blog. I hope everybody gets a lot out of it and if there’s – we’re going to be talking about what we’re going through, but if there are topics that you want us to cover…

Jill: I mean, the blog – you’ll be able to put comments on there too and ask questions and we might even answer them. So it’s just kind of one more way for our listeners to sort of stay connected with what’s going on with Not Your Average Runner and get some inspiration. So I want to just quickly talk a little bit about Run Your Best Life because I think a lot of folks – maybe this has been your experience as you’ve discussed it with people, but I think there’s a lot of people out there that are like, oh it’s just a running club.

Jen: For sure.

Jill: What would you say to that if somebody said it’s just a running club?

Jen: I tell people I’m like, you can get a training plan anywhere. You can go anywhere online and download a free training plan and you don’t need to join a group. But what it really is, using running as a mechanism to transform your life. So we don’t just talk about running and the technicalities of running and create training plans. Yes, we do do all of that, but along with that we do the mental work with running because the mental work, quite frankly, is probably 80% of it when it comes to running.

And so what we do is we teach confidence and we teach self-worth and we teach advocacy for yourself. All these things you gain and running is the tool to get there. Running is the mechanism. And quite frankly, it’s priceless. I mean, it’s changed my life so much that now I’m working for you because…

Jill: She’s like, I want to help spread the word, let’s do this.

Jen: I’ve seen what it’s done for me and others in the group and we were talking the other night with a bunch of the group members, we did – this is going to be on the podcast our round table with the badasses?

Jill: I think it’s episode 83 so by the time people are listening to this one, they’ll have already listened to the round table.

Jen: Go back and listen to that if you haven’t because everyone on there talked about how running has given them the confidence to take up space in the world and in their lives and to not hug the right side of the track and to not speak up in a meeting or to not decide to change careers because you’re not doing something you want to do and running is the tool for that. It has a ton of benefits along with it, physical, mental, all of those things, but it really is just part of Run Your Best Life. That’s why the group is called Run Your Best Life because you’re using running to transform your life.

Jill: It’s not Run Your Best Race. It’s run your best fucking life, damn it.

Jen: When we were running the New Orleans half marathon, somebody was holding up a sign and it said run to your life instead of run for your life and I took a picture of it. I’m like, that right there is the epitome of everything. Run to your life.

Jill: Oh, you’ve got to send me that picture. We need to put that on the website. That’s so good. So you guys, if you’re not in Run Your Best Life yet, first of all, Jen is there and Jen is amazing and every time I’m around her I just feel so much better about myself. She just exudes this kind of like, vibe that makes you feel really relaxed.

Jen: My husband probably does not agree with that sentiment.

Jill: Well maybe he needs to join too, but we don’t allow boys in the group. It’s just girls.

Jen: Sorry, I was just saying that to make this a love fest but ditto to you. You are the reason that I have transformed in this way and when I met you three years ago it really did change my life, and so I know that we always joke that we have a ho-mance but we kind of do.

Jill: We do.

Jen: It’s all true.

Jill: It is. It’s all true, yes. And I just wish – I’m just going to have to move to Chicago.

Jen: Please.

Jill: I keep saying that. Andy is on board. Once he finishes his nursing school, we can go places. But anyway, in the meantime just join Run Your Best Life because both of us are there. There’s everybody that was on episode 83 of the podcast is in their group and they’re very active. This is what I love about those six women is that they’re in there helping the new members acclimate and learn their way around and if somebody’s like I can’t find this file or I can’t find this recording, one of our senior members will step in and say it’s right over here or I’ll tag you in that post. So it’s like a sisterhood. It’s just fucking awesome so just go join and we’ll see you there.

Jen: It’s like a no judgment zone. So like, the things that you maybe feel self-conscious about posting on your public Facebook page you can post in the Run Your Best Life group and be like, look how awesome I am and everybody in that group will hold you up and there’s no cattiness, there’s no judgement, there’s no any of that kind of stuff. It’s all – there’s tough love, don’t get me wrong. We call each other out on stuff too on bullshit and on negative thoughts and those sorts of things and we tell each other’s mean girls to go jump in a lake. But all with good intent for all of us to keep transforming our lives.

Jill: Yeah, I agree. The goal in there is for everybody in that group to elevate their lives in whatever way they desire, to become the best version of themselves. This was fun. I can’t wait for the next one.

Jen: I know, I love it.

Jill: Right. So here’s what I think we should do. I think that if you guys have questions that you want Jen and I to answer on the podcast, you can email support@notyouraveragerunner and maybe just put podcast question in the subject line and then we’ll kind of go through them and pull some out to answer. I’m digging this. We’re going to do it again. Alright my friends, have an amazing evening and thanks everyone for listening.

Jen: Thanks everybody. Bye Jill.

Jill: Bye.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. If you liked what you heard and want more, head over to www.notyouraveragerunner.com to download your free one-week jumpstart plan and get started running today.