Ep #108: How to Have a Stress-Free 5K Training Period and Race Day

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.

Hey rebels, you are listening to episode 108 of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. I’m your host, Jill Angie, and you guys, it is September already. The fuck happened to summer? Seems like just a month ago I was complaining about how hot it was and Andy will back me up. I was complaining a lot about the heat. And then somebody flipped the switch. Now it’s almost fall and actually, fall is my favorite season of the year.

I love summer. Summer is awesome and I don’t want to rush it away but like, fall is my jam. It’s pumpkin spice season, it’s pumpkin pie season, and maybe that makes me basic as fuck but that is just who I am. So it’s time for pumpkin pie, it’s time for pumpkin spice lattes and corn mazes and sweaters and jeans and boots. And my hair not being a frizzy curly mess all the time and actually going for a run when it is not 90% humidity. I’m just so stoked for this.

Now, I know there are those of you who will fight me on this but fall, you guys, fall is the best season. Full stop. Spring is cool. Spring is probably a close second. Flowers are coming out and you’re sort of emerging from winter and there’s more sunlight and it feels really awesome to run on that first really warm day, but y’all, fall is where it’s at.

Now, the cooler temperatures are part of it. I’m not a huge fan of the heat, but really, I think what it is is I love the feeling of a new beginning for myself. And January never really does it for me. It’s cold outside, it’s snowy, it’s miserable. The holidays are over. You’re like, I got to go back to work. There’s nothing fun and exciting about that.

So I’m pretty sure that New Year’s resolutions were made up just to make January less obnoxious. But you guys, here’s the deal. September is the new January. It’s back to school time and for me, that always represents sort of a chance for reinvention. You can totally come back to school after a summer away as a totally different person and don’t tell me that you didn’t try to do that between ninth and 10^th grade, or between 11^th grade and your senior year.

You’re like, this is going to be the best year ever. Going to rock it out this summer, I’m going to be one of the cool kids. You can’t do that in January. You only got four weeks off or two weeks I guess if you’re in high school. So January is bullshit. I’m pretty sure the reason I went back to graduate school as an adult was just so I could have that official school is starting feeling again for a few years, and you don’t get that in January.

And so I’m speaking – I don’t have kids but if you have kids going back to school, suddenly it’s like there’s structure, there’s space in your schedule. Well, unless you’re a teacher in which case all the parents are like, here you go, here’s my kids. They’re your problem now.

But seriously, for the rest of y’all, I know that you look forward to back to school because now that the kids are sort of back into some sort of structure and not running around like little maniacs all summer, you know you can get some control back over your life.

So here we are. It’s the first week in September and technically, it is not autumn for another two weeks, I guess. Here are the seasons according to Jill. Fall starts on US Labor Day. Winter starts on Thanksgiving. Spring is still actually on the vernal equinox. I guess that’s like, roughly March 21^st. But summer starts on United States Memorial Day.

So there you have it. That is my seasonal calendar. I think everyone should adopt it. It gives us a much longer summer but we also get to start fall a little bit earlier. I think it’s perfect. Anyway, I kind of got off topic there.

So for all the reasons that we just talked about, September is a really popular time to start running or to restart it or to train for your first 5K, or maybe train for a personal record on a 5K, whatever it is. Because you can start right after the kids go back to school and then still have enough time to train for one and run it before the holiday season gets into full swing.

It’s like this nice little two-month pocket of time where there’s no distraction. You can just put your head down and get to work. So today, what I want to do is help you make the most of that time by avoiding some of the mistakes that people make that either derail their training or make race day a disaster because they haven’t thought it through ahead of time.

Because two months is a great amount of time to train, but it’s not really a luxurious amount. It’s not like oh, my race is in six months so I have plenty of time to fuck around and experiment and fall off the wagon and rally and start again. Two months is like okay, I have exactly the right amount of time  so let’s get busy and make it happen.

And the thing is if you make a bunch of mistakes during that time, you might miss your window, your race day won’t be super fun, your training, you’re going to have to restart it or there’s all kinds of things that can go wrong. So if you make those mistakes during that two-month window, your race day won’t go as expected.

So today what we’re going to do, we’re going to eliminate those problems so that you have a stress-free, easy training period and race day. So I’ve got five things that I want to cover. The first one is your training program itself.

And the biggest mistake that I think new runners or relatively new runners use, or even runners who maybe used to run 10 years ago and they haven’t been doing it for a while and now they’re coming back to it is sort of using a training program that’s too advanced for them.

And sometimes it’s like well, I used to run 10 years ago so I should be able to do exactly the same thing now as I could 10 years ago. Actually, that’s not how it works. And I’ve had a few clients recently who have said like well, I used to do half marathons 10 years ago, I haven’t been running, but I decided in April that I’m going to start doing them again and so three months later, they expect to be where they were 10 years ago without doing 10 years’ worth of training in between.

And that’s a recipe for injury and not having a really good race. So when you use a training program that’s too advanced for you, either because you don’t know what you’re capable of or because you expect to be measuring up to a standard from 10 years ago or maybe even when you were in high school, you’re not going to be well trained for your race.

So here’s the deal. When you Google how to start running, when you Google how to train for a 5K, very close to the top of the list is this thing called Couch to 5K. And that sounds super appealing. I know. The plan is supposed to take you from not running, just being on the couch, and I think the one that comes up at the top of the list in the app store is Couch Potato to 5K, which I’m like, stop. That’s not cool. Don’t call people couch potatoes.

But anyway, the plan takes you from not running to being able to run three miles at an easy jog without walking in like, 30 minutes. This sounds amazing, right? Of course I can do that in two months. That’s what the expectation is.

Now, I don’t want to diss this program because I actually know a little bit about the history of it. It was created in 1996 by Josh Clark after he started running. And he was so excited by how much joy and fitness and just how awesome his life was after he started running that he wanted everyone to do it.

He created it for his mom and it just sort of took off from there, and the idea of it really is awesome because the intention is to help the average person become a runner without getting hurt, without feeling frustrated, and to do it in a time frame that doesn’t feel like oh man, it’s going to take me a year to do this. It gives you a pretty short time frame.

And I do love this idea so much. Josh Clark is responsible for getting millions of people up and running. The program has been around for 23 years, is that right? Is my math right? And so it’s a big deal. It’s made a huge impact on the world of running. It’s responsible for quite a few people starting to run that never thought they could. They would have thought it’s not for me.

And I’ve used the Couch to 5K program myself many years ago when I was trying to figure out how to run. So I think it’s an amazing accomplishment. I think the app was a beautiful first step. Frankly, he doesn’t get the kudos he deserves especially because I’ve complained about his app a lot. So Josh Clark, if you’re listening, I’m sorry for all the complaining but I am going to talk about my issues with the program in a moment and why I have issues with it.

But really, Couch to 5K is pretty much a household word at this point. Everybody uses the term when they talk about 5K training. It’s like saying Kleenex instead of tissue or Band-Aid instead of self-adhesive bandage. But nobody knows about the guy who created it. So if you Google him sometime, he’s actually a pretty cool dude.

But there is an issue with this program. I love the concept of this program, but you’ve heard me talk about it before. If you area somebody who’s plus size or you’re truly a beginner, you’re somebody who has been just running for maybe a couple weeks, rather than somebody who’s been running for several months, or if you’ve taken five or 10 years off from running and you’re just getting back to it, Couch to 5K as it’s written is really too advanced of a program.

First of all, it starts you out with 60 seconds of jogging at a time. And I use the terms jogging and running interchangeable. The Couch to 5K program actually uses the term jogging so I’m going to stick with that for the most part. But that 60 seconds is too much for a lot of people. Maybe you can do it once, then you’re like, laying in the grass, you want to throw up.

But to keep it up for the 20 minutes that’s in the plan on week one, workout one is a lot for some people. So right there, it’s kind of eliminating a fair amount of the population who are just not able to even do the first workout. But even if you can do the first workout, two weeks after that, you’re supposed to be jogging for three minutes at a time, and the total workout time is now up to 28 minutes.

So we’ve increased the amount of time you’re supposed to be running by three, from going from one minute to three minutes at a time, and you’ve also increased the length of your workout by 50%, by going from 20 minutes to 28 minutes. And then two weeks after that, so it’s week five, you’re supposed to be going for five minutes at a time and then by week six, the app literally says jog a mile.

And then in parenthesis, it says or 10 minutes. Now, I know most of you are not doing a 10-minute mile and you’ve been running for a long time. So imagine what this feels like to a beginner. To that 52-year-old woman who weighs maybe 220 pounds and she’s just like, fuck, I can’t do this, this is bullshit. I thought this was supposed to be easy, I thought I was supposed to go from Couch to 5K in eight weeks and what I’ve gone is from couch to failure.

So the app in theory is awesome but the way it’s written is too much off the bat for so many people. And so many of my clients really, they come to me and they say well, I tried Couch to 5K and I failed. Obviously, I’m not meant to be a runner. But I heard that maybe you can help me. And so I have had that conversation with so many women.

And it is such a bummer because they start off all excited, they think I can really do this, they get to week three, and it’s way too much of a jump. They push through, they’re like, I’ll try it a couple times, see if I can make it through. But then eventually they’re like, obviously I’ll never be a runner because I can’t do this one program.

So the first thing, the first mistake you need to avoid when you decide you’re going to train for a 5K, and if you are 300 pounds, you can still train for a 5K. It’s just that you need to pick the right training plan. So what I want you to do is go outside and see how far you can run without stopping. Without feeling like you’re going to throw up. Is it 30 seconds or less? Couch to 5K isn’t right for you.

If you can go a minute but it feels really hard, Couch to 5K still probably isn’t right for you because it goes through – by the end of eight weeks, you’re supposed to be running for 30 minutes, three miles. Three 10-minute miles in a row. That’s just not how it works. So whichever plan you choose, make sure the entire plan makes sense. It’s not just week one that you need to be able to do. You need to look ahead and say like, is it realistic that I’m going to be able to get to where this plan says I should be in eight weeks?

And I know it sounds awesome because the first week of Couch to 5K you’re running 60 seconds and you’re walking 90 seconds and you’re only doing it for 20 minutes. Boom. You’re like, I can do that. But then by week three, you’re like, what just happened? Did it switch plans on me?

It’s not enough time to make that leap. So you get injured or you get discouraged and you quit. So I want you to make sure you’re doing your research when you’re picking a training plan because it is the foundation for your training. In my training programs, the ones that I run, we actually help you figure out how much to run and how much to walk instead of doing it as this sort of one size fits all, everybody does the same intervals.

So we tell you like, this is the length of your workout and this is the distance that – sometimes we do it by length of workout, like time. Sometimes we do it by distance. We never tell you you have to run a certain amount of time in a certain distance. Sorry, certain distance in a certain amount of time. And we never tell you exactly what intervals are right for you. We help you figure that out for yourself.

I don’t like the one size fits all thing because first of all, if you’re a plus sized person, you know when you go to the store and it says one size fits all, it ain’t going to fit you, and I think the same thing goes with running plans. So the reason we do it like that is because some of our students come to us and they can already run two minutes without stopping. And that’s awesome. And some of our students come to us and they can only run for 20 seconds without stopping, also awesome.

But each of them needs a slightly different approach and a different type of coaching, and so that is what we do in our classes. We give you our training plans as a guideline and then we help you modify it so it works for you. So you can train for that 5K in two months. So I want you to look for a program like that, whether it’s an app or something else, or whether you join one of our classes, that’s the kind of setup you should be looking for.

Okay, the second mistake that people make, and this is a race day mistake, but also applies to your training runs. But in general, when you show up to the start line of your first race, or maybe your 10^th race if you’ve been doing it for a while, when you show up to the start line, it’s exciting. There’s this sort of like – you can feel it in the air. It’s like oh my god, the gun’s going to go off soon, we’re going to start, I wonder how I’ll do, I wonder how I’ll feel during this race. You’re nervous.

And it can get super tempting when you cross over the starting line to just run and run as fast as you can. You’re excited, you have lots of energy because you’ve taken good care of yourself, you’ve done your training. Everyone else is doing the same thing. And a lot of times, we teach a lot of our runners to do their entire race with run-walk intervals, and what they do is they’re like, I’m just going to run through the first few intervals because I don’t want other people to see me walking right up in the beginning. That feels like giving up.

What you’re really doing is kind of screwing yourself over because if you don’t run your race the way you’ve trained, which is – if you’ve trained by running through the first five minutes of intervals and then run-walking the rest of it, if that’s the way your training was then do that for your race.

But if you’ve trained by doing run-walk intervals and then you try to run for the first five minutes of your race because you’re afraid of what other people are thinking or because – sometimes people have this flawed logic of I should use up the energy while I have it and I’ll figure out how to get across the finish line later. But right now I have lots of energy.

You will have a hard time crossing the finish line. I like to think of the amount of energy I have available in my body for a race like my monthly budget. So on the first of the month for example, I have a certain amount of money. If your paycheck comes on September 1^st, you have a certain amount of money to make you through to the end of the month.

And what do you do when you have all that money in your bank account? Do you go and say woo-hoo, I got all this, I should spend it while I’ve got it? No, you say okay, well on September 1^st I have to pay my rent, on September 10^th I have to pay my cellphone bill, on September 15^th I have to pay the electric bill, on September 20^th I have to pay my car payment.

You know that throughout the month you’re going to have a bunch of payments to make. You don’t say like, alright, well I’m just going to spend all the money here while it’s in my bank account and I’ll just figure out how to pay the car payment at the end of the month. We don’t do that.

And if you do, you probably have a very stressful month. So I want you to think of your race energy the same way. Just because you’ve got a lot of energy at the beginning of the race doesn’t mean you should be using it all at the beginning of the race. So you’re going to want to slow yourself down, make sure you do those run-walk intervals right from the second you cross that start line, and yeah, there may be people who are like, wait, why are you giving up? Don’t walk so early.

And you can just look at them and say this is my strategy. This is how I take care of myself. This is how I make sure that the me finishing the race is going to feel as good as the me starting the race. So it’s a really common mistake of starting out too fast on races and it breaks my heart every time because then people get to the finish line and they’re like, I can barely finish, and I’m like, let me guess, you ran through your first five intervals in the beginning.

And they’re like yeah, how’d you know? I’m like, because that’s what happens when you overdo it in the beginning. So keep yourself slow. Hold it back. Allow yourself to warm up and ramp up slowly so that you can sprint across the finish line. Save that energy and enthusiasm for the end of the race. You can sprint across looking and feeling strong. You’ll be able to raise your hands up in the air, maybe do a jump in the air for the photo and that’s your race strategy right there.

So don’t start out too fast. That is your race tip. Okay, the third tip I have for you, and this again is a race day tip is don’t do anything new. Don’t try new foods, don’t try new hydration solutions, don’t wear a bunch of new gear. Don’t wear new shoes. Don’t wear your race t-shirt. If you have not trained with it, you are not going to race with it, and this applies to any race, whether it’s a 5K or an ultramarathon.

You have not trained with it. Don’t use it on race day. Because if it’s gear, you don’t know if it’s going to cause blisters or if it’s going to chafe in a weird spot, or if it’s going to screw up your running some other way. You don’t know that if you haven’t trained with it. So wearing the race shirt that you got, I mean, I get it. People are like I got this race shirt, of course I should wear it for the race.

No, don’t. It’s brand new. You don’t know how you’re going to be able to run in it, how it’s going to feel when you run. Save it. Put it on at the end of the race. That’s awesome. I love this. But I would not run it on race day because it’s brand new and you don’t know what effect it’s going to have on your training.

The same goes for shoes. For sure, do not wear brand new shoes on that race day because you do not want to find out that they cause blisters at mile two of your 5K and you’re like, shit, I still got a mile to go. Hats, same thing. Don’t try a new hat on race day. Don’t try a new – a lot of people wear those armbands for their phones, which are awesome, but again, you don’t want to find out that that thing chafes you on your race day.

So make sure that whatever you’re doing during your 5K, you have already trained with it at least twice. You want to know how it’s going to work for you on the day, and that goes for what you eat. Like, the night before is not the night to find out whether or not you like sushi. Save that for another time. The morning of the race, if you have not been training by eating before your race, you don’t want to eat before your race.

If you’ve not been training by eating before your training runs, you don’t want to eat before your race. And conversely, if you had a snack before every single training run, you don’t want to not have that snack on race day. You want your body to just recognize like okay, this is what we do when we go out for a run. So whatever you’ve trained with, food, fluids too.

You don’t want to be trying some kind of – don’t try Gatorade on race day halfway through, only to find out that it doesn’t agree with your stomach. So you’ve got to use the gear and the food and the hydration that you have trained with throughout your training period. Don’t use anything new on race day. I promise, you will thank me.

Okay, so this next one is this is like, both during your training and during your race, and that is this mistake that people make is that they worry about finishing last. And they worry about it for weeks ahead of the race. They’ve pre-experienced the embarrassment of finishing last for weeks ahead.

And so they’re taking all of this time and energy of their thinking and putting that towards like, oh my god, what if I finish last? What if I finish last? Instead of actually using that energy to training and doing the mind work to like, hey, you know what, doesn’t fucking matter if I finish last.

Because here’s the deal. Somebody always finishes last. There’s always going to be one last place finisher, and there’s always one first place finisher. So last is just a place. Like 17^th. Means you finished the race. And somebody has to finish last. Are you so special that it can’t be you?

So being last is only embarrassing if you make it mean something terrible about yourself. But also, last means you finishes, means you showed up for yourself, and I think that is something to be really, really proud of. Because so many people don’t even try. They’re like, why would I sign up for a 5K? I’ll probably just come in last.

So they’re afraid of failure so they don’t even show up. So if you show up for a race, you run your race, you come in last, that means you took a risk, you did a thing, you showed up for yourself. Who fucking cares if you came in last? Stop the drama over that.

Worrying about it ahead of time takes a lot of energy away from preparing for your big day too. So allow yourself to focus on the things that you can do to have an awesome race, like getting a good night’s sleep, fueling yourself well, showing up on time, doing all your training runs. Starting out slow and steady like we talked about before, so you can really slay that finish line sprint.

So before you show up for your race, basically throughout your entire training, you want to be looking at your thoughts about being last and understand why it’s such a problem for you. And for most people, it’s because you think other people – and we know other people’s opinions aren’t any of our business, but we’re like other people are going to think I’m a failure, they think I shouldn’t be running. Some other bullshit, like they’re going to make fun of me. I’m going to cross the finish line and everybody’s going to be pointing and laughing.

Here’s the thing. There’s always going to be somebody that has a negative opinion about you. I promise, you are not so special that everybody in the world loves you. There are people out there who do not like Oprah. I’m confused by this because I love her, but there are people out there who do not like Oprah.

What is that? So people – there’s always going to be somebody that has negative opinions about you that think you’re a jerk, that thinks you suck, that thinks you have no business doing whatever you’re doing. People have negative opinions about me all the time.

Do I spend my energy worrying about it? No. Because if I did, I wouldn’t show up here podcasting and helping you. I’d be sitting in a corner going people don’t like me, people think I shouldn’t be a runner, people think I’m too fat to do it. Stop that.

So when you’re worrying about being last, you’re basically saying that other people’s opinions about you, you’re putting strangers in charge of how you feel about yourself. Those people are not qualified to manage your emotions. You are the only one that’s qualified to do that. So stop the drama about that. Get out of your head about it.

And honestly, it really is not a big deal. It happens to a lot of runners. There’s always one runner per race that’s going to be last, and again, why are you so special that it can’t be you? But really, it means nothing about you, aside from that you finished the race and you did the same distance as the first place finisher.

It’s not sad and pathetic so stop the pity party about it. It’s turned into a little bit of a rant, but for real, this is some tough love that you need to hear. If you’re saying I shouldn’t be doing a 5K or I’m worried about coming in last, just stop it. Not helpful way for you to think about anything. And in fact, it’s slowing you down.

And by the way, the chances of you actually coming in last are pretty slim. For real, there are going to be a lot of people at your race. I’ve been in two races recently where I was pretty sure I was dead last and then damn, if I didn’t turn around as I crossed the finish line and there was somebody behind me. Way, way behind me.

And I’m thinking, you know what, I can’t catch a break. I’m trying to be last and I still can’t be last. I have tried to be last, y’all, and I still can’t make it happen. So there’s going to be a lot of people at your race. The chances of you actually coming in last are pretty slim. But do the work on yourself ahead of time so that even if it does happen, it’s not a big deal. Decide what you want to make it mean.

Okay, the last mistake that 5K trainers, people training for a 5K make, and again, this is during your training and during your race is trying to keep pace with your really fast friend. So we’ve all got that one friend – in my case, it is my boyfriend Andy, that runs a lot faster than you.

But they’re like, oh, we should do this together, I want to do this together, it’ll be so much fun. So you sign up together for a race and then suddenly you feel really guilty because you’re like, if we actually do run the race together, I’m holding her back.

So most of the time, if a faster runner wants to run their own pace, let them. But if they say they want to run with you, believe them. Don’t say she feels sorry for me, she’s going to be pissed the whole time. She’s going to be miserable because she’s going to want to go faster. She is in charge of her own emotions.

So if she wants to run faster, I mean, you can say hey, I know we said we’re going to run this together but I’m cool if you want to finish it on your own, I’ll see you at the finish line. And if she says no, I want to stay with you, believe her. Let her manage her own emotions. When you feel guilty because you’re “holding” somebody back, again, you’re trying to do things to make other people feel a certain way.

You’re trying to manipulate her emotions by your actions. So just stop doing that. So run your own race and if somebody else wants to run your race with you, that’s awesome, but don’t try to run their race. Because first of all, if you spend the entire race agonizing because this person is faster than you and they’re like, going to be miserable because you’re holding them back, then you’re going to be miserable for the whole race and you’re not going to have fun.

Or alternatively, if this person is faster than you and you’re like, trying to run above your ability for your entire race because you want to make sure that they don’t feel bad, again, you’re going to be miserable for your entire race. And I’m not talking like, if you have a friend who runs a 30-second faster per mile pace than you, by all means, try to keep up with that person. I think that’s fine.

But if she’s somebody – if you run a 17-minute mile and she runs a 12-minute mile, don’t try to keep pace with her for three miles. You haven’t trained that way. Don’t injure yourself just so somebody else won’t be annoyed. Let her manage her own emotions.

So trying to keep up with your super-fast friend means you’re going to be running above your ability, above your training, it can result in injury, it can result in not finishing, it can result in feeling defeated. Maybe not coming back to running. So make a pact with your buddy before the race.

If she wants to run with you, awesome. These are the intervals I’m going to do, I’ve got the timer, I’ll keep us on track, and if you want to run ahead at any time, go ahead. So you can make that pact with her, or you can say hey, let’s start together, let’s each run the race at our own pace, and then we’ll meet up at the finish line for a high five.

This is what I do with Andy. We start together, we wave, he runs off, and then I see him at the finish line. It’s awesome. I get to run my race, he gets to run his race, and we both get to like, see each other in the beginning and at the end. And a lot of times, if it’s an out and back, I get to high five him halfway through the race.

So don’t worry about what other people are doing. Run your own race. Run the race you’ve trained for, not the one you think somebody else wants you to do. So important.

Okay, so now that you know all of the pitfalls to avoid, I want to let you know that my next 5K training class starts on September 9^th. I’m going to talk about it real quick and then after that, I’m going to tell you all about my obsession for the week, which is going to make you laugh. It’s a super fun obsession.

I’m just going to tell you really quick about the 5K training class. It starts September 9^th. If you are looking for the perfect plan and the perfect set of online running friends to cheer you on, this is the class for you. We’re going to get you 5K ready, feeling confident, excited, and proud. We’re going to help you stay motivated and focused, and when your inner mean girl starts up with her shit saying what if I’m last, we’re going to help you knock her right back into place.

So this is not like a simple app that tells you when and how far to run, which again, they have their place. But what we do is we teach you everything you need to know to run a 5K from the technical side of training to all of the mind management that keeps you motivated and sticking to your training plan.

If you enjoy this podcast, if you enjoy the stuff we talk about in this podcast, you are going to love my training programs. So the class, it’s coming up, it’s $78. It runs for two months. It will get you ready for a 5K at the end of October or early November. And if you have a race in mind that’s not quite in that time frame, we will help you figure out a game plan to get ready for it.

So again, it’s not a one size fits all kind of situation. So in addition to the training class, you also get two months of full membership of Run Your Best Life during the class. That means you get access to all of the same coaching that our members get with me and with coach Jen and all the extra webinars that we do and all that good stuff.

So go sign up at notyouraveragerunner.com, just go right to my website. The link to join is right at the very top, and I really hope to see you there because this is an amazing program. And you know what I might do, in the show notes for this podcast, I’m actually going to link to a little panel discussion that I did a few weeks ago where I talked to some of our members and just sort of asked them like, what did they love about running, what challenges have they overcome, what have they accomplished with running.

And they actually talk a little bit in there about their experience with our training program. So I’m going to go ahead and link to that in the show notes so that you can watch it. Okay rebels, now, if what I have been teaching you today is making sense to you and you want to run a 5K, you need to join the eight-week training program. Go to notyouraveragerunner.com and just sign up.

So this week’s obsession is going to make you laugh. It made me laugh. So right now, because I’ve been half marathon training, I’m like, looking for the perfect anti-chafe product. And Body Glide is great but I’ve just been experimenting with a few different things. And the most recent one that I’ve tried that I’m in love with is called Anti Monkey Butt Powder.

It is so funny. The name makes me laugh. But really, it’s some good stuff. I decided to try it because I thought the name was funny. But it turns out that it’s actually pretty awesome and especially under my bra line, which I get super sweaty there and y’all know I wear Enell, which is a lot of coverage, and it certainly keeps my boobs completely under control, but also like, they get a little bit sweaty.

So this stuff, Anti Monkey Butt Powder is amazing. It comes in a bunch of varieties. It comes in women’s, men’s, and babies for diaper rash. So I’ve been using the women’s version, which contains calamine powder and corn starch and that’s really helpful with soaking up sweat. It kind of keeps you from – just sort of keeps the moisture under control so that you’re not chafing as much.

And it smells nice, and it’s talc-free. And here’s the best part. Unlike regular baby powder, which I have tried to use for chafing, it just doesn’t work that well and I think it’s because it doesn’t soak up the moisture as much. But regular baby powder, like maybe I’m just not very skilled with the usage, but I swear, whenever I use it, the entire bathroom is covered with baby powder.

But the Monkey Butt stuff is somehow much more controllable. I don’t know if it’s the formulation or what, but it doesn’t get everywhere. It also – for six bucks on Amazon, you get a huge container of it. So I’m pretty much probably going to have this container for a year for six bucks. Way cheaper than Body Glide.

So we’re going to have the link in the show notes for you, so you can click on over to that. But to be clear, I actually still have to use a little piece of KT tape or moleskin right under the front clasp of my bra because there’s a hook there and I don’t know if it’s the way my body is made but it sort of digs into my skin a little bit. And if I go out for a 10-mile training run, I come back and like, it’s very, very irritated.

So I just put a little piece of KT tape under there but anywhere else I get sweaty, I’ve been using the Monkey Butt and it’s amazing. So I’m actually bringing a huge container of it to Ragnar with me for sure because we will shower on Thursday morning and we won’t get another shower until Saturday night, and during that time, we each have to go out and do three running legs.

So yeah, we’re all going to be pretty much full of the stank by the end. So I’m hoping the Monkey Butt Powder will help with that. So that is it for this week, rebels. Don’t forget to sign up for the 5K program. It’s at notyouraveragerunner.com. The link is right at the top of the page and I will see you next week.

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.