Mojo for Running

Sensible Training, Satisfying Results

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MFR 125: When You Lose Your Mojo

By Debbie Voiles

What to Do If You Lose Your Running MojoAt any given time, a percentage of runners will be suffering from a not so uncommon running malady, loss of their running mojo, the state of being without motivation, of feeling more like sitting than running. This is serious but not uncommon.

I’ll tell you this:  As a longtime coach, I’ve seen this many times. The good news is that it’s never ever fatal, but the bad news is that it can go on for weeks or months, and if it goes untreated, it can be permanent. Yep. Some people never return; they actually cease to be runners. This is tragic, but not to worry. I’ve got twenty recommendations, and if one doesn’t work, you’ve got 19 more. Seriously, that’s like 20 different medications. 

If you’re having motivation problems, start with #1 and go down the list.

 

http://media.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/p/content.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/MFR_125_When_You_Lose_Your_Running_Mojo.mp3

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Filed Under: mfr-podcast, Motivation Tagged With: running malady, running mojo

MFR 124: Half Marathon Magic

By Debbie Voiles

Unless you live in a very remote area, you likely can choose from several half marathon options every month because with every passing year, we see more halves, and that’s not surprising because they are, I think the ideal race distance.

In this episode, I explain all the reasons why this race distance continues to be the most popular.

http://media.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/p/content.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/MFR_124_Half_Marathons.mp3

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Filed Under: mfr-podcast Tagged With: half marathon

MFR 123: Thoughts on Knee Surgery

By Debbie Voiles

This episode is about knee surgery for runners, the considerations, topics for thought. It will not tell you when you need surgery. I’m not a doctor. It doesn’t bash knee surgery, not at all, but it is food for thought, things to consider, if knee surgery may be in your future, or if a medical professional is recommending it for you.

First, I need to cover some critical points.

For as long as running has been a popular sport, some people have believed that running is bad for your knees. Let me put that rumor to rest. Running is NOT bad for most people’s knees. Some people believe it will ruin your knees. This has been studied and evaluated and researched and disproven.

Now, some people do have problems with their knees, especially women, because of the way our bodies are made. My point is that a blanket statement that running ruins your knees is entirely wrong. 

That said, I’ve worked with many runners with knee problems. As I mention in this episode, the great majority had injured their knees in some way, years ago, usually playing sports in high school or college. In those cases, there’s not much I can do. In most cases, though, I’ve found that when people do two things, the pain is either largely alleviated or goes away, completely. Those two things are:

  1. Strengthening all the other muscles. The muscles around the knee, stabilize it; if they’re weak, then the knee is at risk. Other times, though, strengthening the hips or core muscles is what makes the difference.
  2. Correcting form. Almost always when I get these people to run with smaller steps, making sure their body, their center of gravity is over their foot when it hits the ground, there is no more problem.

Let’s say this didn’t work for you, then you may be one of many runners looking at knee surgery. In this episode, I relate the experiences of some of my friends as well as my own experience and provide some insight that I think will be helpful.

 

http://media.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/p/media.blubrry.com/bfr/p/content.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/MFR_123_Knee_Surgery.mp3

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Filed Under: mfr-podcast, Running injuries and prevention Tagged With: injured their knees, knee surgery, knee surgery for runners, runners with knee problems, running is bad for your knees

MFR 122: Run Off Road and On the Trails

By Debbie Voiles

Run Off Road and On TrailsIf you haven’t run off road – or on trails – I hope this episode will convince you to give it a try. I explain the many of excellent reasons why you should run trails, and I explain how to get started.

I’ve said it many times, I live an hour from Disney World and Universal and 30 minutes from Busch Gardens, but even if I had to pay the same amount, I’d rather go for a trail run in the woods. Listen in and find out why I believe everyone should go run trails, specifically, single track trails. 

Sadly, most adults, most people, go years without every spending time in the woods. Trust me, besides all the fitness benefits, the mental benefits of running trails are even more significant.

http://media.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/p/media.blubrry.com/brv/p/content.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/MFR_122_Go_Off_Road.mp3

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Filed Under: mfr-podcast Tagged With: run in the woods, run trails, single track trails, trail run, trail running

MFR 121: Three Key changes to Help You Run Faster

By Debbie Voiles

Most runners want to get faster. Not everyone can afford to hire a coach, and not everyone has time to train for a marathon, but most runners hope to set new PR’s on a regular basis. This is absolutely possible, but you need to know how to direct your time. Most people have full-time jobs. You probably do, or you’re a full-time parent. Your time is limited; so, you need to know the best most efficient way to spend your running training time. 

In this episode, I explain three things that virtually every runner at every level can do to run faster.

http://media.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/p/media.blubrry.com/brv/p/content.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/MFR_121_3_Ways_to_Get_Faster.mp3

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Filed Under: mfr-podcast, Running Faster, Training Tagged With: new PR, run faster, runners

MFR 120: One Foot at a Time

By Debbie Voiles

It’s the little things that often have the greatest impact, and so it is with the concept of focusing on the fact that when running, you are always, 100 percent of the time, putting the full weight of your body on just one foot or the other. Oddly, you don’t hear much about this, and if you go to the gym, you’ll notice that most people are doing exercises with both feet firmly planted on the floor. 

Think about it. Doesn’t it make more sense to stand on just one leg at a time, imitating, or more closely imitating, the running stride? 

Keep this simple concept top of mind, all the time, when cross training, and you’ll be able to make minor changes, choose different exercises, or different ways to perform exercises, different activities, or different ways to perform the activities you perform regularly. It won’t require major changes, but it will pay major benefits.

In this episode, I discuss all the elements that come into play and how to change your activities to improve muscle balance, decrease injuries, and benefit your running performance. Perhaps most significant is that you’ll feel better, more even, more stable, and stronger, when you run because your running form will, naturally, be improved, increasing your comfort level.

http://media.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/p/media.blubrry.com/brv/p/content.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/MFR_120_One_Foot.mp3

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Filed Under: cross training, injury prevention, mfr-podcast Tagged With: muscle balance, running performance, running stride

MFR 119: Five Pillars of Intelligent Running

By Debbie Voiles

Five Pillars of Intelligent RunningWe all think of ourselves as intelligent runners, of course, but even the most experienced, veteran runners sometimes lose sight of the wise and effective path to their goals. Why does this happen? I think because we get caught up in the here and now, the ‘today,’ instead of keeping our eyes on the long term goal, not just our long term running goals but sometimes even our life goals. Yes, running can sometimes distract us from our most far-reaching life goals. That’s bad, but on the flip side, running can make us into the person we need to be to achieve those goals, right?

After all, at the most basic level, we want running to keep us alive and healthy, but beyond that, we set running goals for the purpose of making us into stronger people, finding out what we are, who we are, how much we can handle and overcome.

With this episode, I want to take you back to square one to evaluate whether you’re doing the most basic things to facilitate your trip toward both your short term goals and your most distant goals. I break it down into just five pillars. There is a big difference between an intelligent runner, training with wisdom, and just focusing on the next five miles. 

Don’t get me wrong, to some extent, that’s just what you need to do, focus on this run, absolutely, but I just mean that it’s a mistake to become so focused on those next miles that we forget where we want those miles to carry us, the reward we’re working toward. 

I hope this podcast will facilitate your running journey and that that will help you reach the destination of your life journey.

http://media.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/p/media.blubrry.com/brv/p/content.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/Mojo_119_Pillars.mp3

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Filed Under: mfr-podcast, Training Tagged With: intelligent runners, running, running goals, running journey

MFR 118: What to Wear for Running in Cold Weather

By Debbie Voiles

How to Dress for Cold-Weather RunningIf, where you live, it gets cold in the winter – and I mean cold – then you’re probably just coming into the time of year when you need to make accommodations to be able to run outside, safely and comfortably.

No matter how cold it gets, in most cases, if you’re healthy, you can dress in a way that will keep you adequately warm. 

Cold weather need not be a problem, and the answer is not to run on the treadmill, either. Most runners I know would say they’d rather run outside, even when it’s brutally cold, than run on a treadmill. Well, if you utilize all the options, you can almost always still run outside.

In this episode, I discuss how to dress for different levels of cold, i.e., below 40, below 30, and so on. There are plenty of options. If you do it right, cold weather will almost never be an obstacle.

http://media.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/p/media.blubrry.com/brv/p/content.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/MFR-118-Cold.mp3

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The Human Race Documentary

Filed Under: mfr-podcast, Running Gear Tagged With: cold weather, run outside

MFR 117: Accountability Hacks

By Debbie Voiles

Accountability Hacks

No matter who you are and no matter how long you’ve been running, you have days when you need a reason to get out and run, a reason beyond the fact that you are a runner, you believe in running, you love to run and you know you shoud run. [Read more…]

http://media.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/p/media.blubrry.com/brv/p/content.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/MFR-117-Accountability.mp3

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Filed Under: mfr-podcast, Motivation Tagged With: accountability hacks, accountability hacks for runners, believe in running, love to run, running, you are a runner

MFR 116: Hydration for Long Runs and The Goldilocks Principle

By Debbie Voiles

Hydrations for Long RunsIf you’re running a 5k on up to a half marathon, hydration matters, but it’s not terribly tricky. The focus should be on making sure you consume enough fluids to prevent dehydration,but if you’re out there for several hours – or a lot more – you need to be even more concerned about avoiding over hydration, also known as hyponatremia. Hence the Goldilocks Principle. [Read more…]

http://media.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/p/media.blubrry.com/brv/p/content.blubrry.com/beginnerrunner/mfr-116-goldilocks-hydration.mp3

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Filed Under: mfr-podcast, Training Tagged With: avoiding over hydration, consume enough fluids, dehydration, goldilocks principle, hydration long runs, hyponatremia

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Coach Debbie Voiles

Coach Debbie Voiles

Whether you want to build endurance, score a PR, or improve your health, I hope my programs, podcasts and blog posts … more

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