Speaker 1: Oh hello, thanks for joining us on this Body and
Speaker 1: Soul podcast, Got a Healthy Ish. I'm your host of
Speaker 1: Felicity Harley. Now, if you are a regular listener of
Speaker 1: this podcast, you will know that I just completed my
Speaker 1: first half marathon. So I thought, listeners, I want to
Speaker 1: inspire you to do the same, or perhaps you've already
Speaker 1: done one and you need to do well, you want
Speaker 1: to do another.
Speaker 2: One.
Speaker 1: Joining me today is Nike head running coach and marathona
Speaker 1: Lydia O'Donnell. Now, she did help me across the line.
Speaker 1: She wrote my training plan and she joins us today
Speaker 1: from New Zealand to break down exactly what you need
Speaker 1: to consider before signing up to a half marathon, from
Speaker 1: training plans to the best strength based exercises and of
Speaker 1: course mindset essentials. Listening to Extra Healthy Ish as well,
Speaker 1: where Lydia answers your most pressing questions about running, you
Speaker 1: can grab that wherever you get your podcasts. But yeah,
Speaker 1: let's thank you for joining us on healthy Show.
Speaker 2: Are you? I'm good, Thank you and it's an honor
Speaker 2: to be here. Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1: Now we are focusing specifically on the half marathon today.
Speaker 1: How many have you done? Do you even know?
Speaker 2: I actually don't know how many halves are run, but
Speaker 2: quite a few. I really love the half marathon distance.
Speaker 2: I find it like a really good challenging distance, but
Speaker 2: it's not so tough as the full obviously, so I
Speaker 2: really like it. But I've been running them for about
Speaker 2: fifteen years. I've run half marathons that are flat and
Speaker 2: fast on the road and some halves where they're more
Speaker 2: trail based or hillien and it's every race is different,
Speaker 2: so I've enjoyed them all.
Speaker 1: I think you know your answer there that it is
Speaker 1: a doable distance, and I, well, now having done one,
Speaker 1: I absolutely agree. So for anyone listening who thinks I
Speaker 1: don't think I can do it, or maybe I can,
Speaker 1: what are some considerations that we should lock it before
Speaker 1: we even start with anything else.
Speaker 2: Well, I think finding a distance or a race sorry
Speaker 2: that actually excites you. So finding a particular course that
Speaker 2: you get excited about. You want to feel motivated when
Speaker 2: you're signing up to that particular race, and then you know,
Speaker 2: things you really need to think about is how long
Speaker 2: you're going to have to be able to train for
Speaker 2: that distance. If you're someone who's completely new to running,
Speaker 2: you're obviously going to need longer to train towards the distance.
Speaker 2: Maybe if you're someone who's more experienced with running halves,
Speaker 2: you might not need as much time, But having the
Speaker 2: right tools to get you there is just so important.
Speaker 2: So finding a plan that really works for you to
Speaker 2: build you towards the distance in a really safe and
Speaker 2: sustainable way is crucial. And within the Nike Run Club app,
Speaker 2: you can actually get programs that will help you work
Speaker 2: towards the half marathon distance. Not only is it a
Speaker 2: specific training program that's telling you to get there, but
Speaker 2: having actual guided runs. So we have audio guided runs
Speaker 2: with a Nike Run Club that actually talk you through
Speaker 2: the different sessions that you need to do in order
Speaker 2: to build up your fitness and your endurance and your
Speaker 2: conditioning to running to be able to reach that distance.
Speaker 2: And it's just such a great way to just plug
Speaker 2: in your ears. It's almost like a podcast where you
Speaker 2: can just listen to a coach or an athlete or
Speaker 2: even a celebrity kind of just motivate you and inspire
Speaker 2: you to get through that particular run. And so, yeah,
Speaker 2: definitely finding the right training and the right tools is
Speaker 2: essential for you to get there. And then I think
Speaker 2: the last one, which I personally find super helpful when
Speaker 2: i'm training, and I know a lot of women do
Speaker 2: in particular, is having a community around you that's really
Speaker 2: like supportive and we'll be there for you through the
Speaker 2: ups and downs of training and really just yah support
Speaker 2: you to get to that start line as well. So
Speaker 2: as the FEMI co founder, I'm obviously so passionate about
Speaker 2: these safe and supportive communities for women, and I just
Speaker 2: go along to those community runs that we host around
Speaker 2: a stream earlier in New Zealand, and most of the
Speaker 2: women at these runs are training towards something. It might
Speaker 2: not necessarily be a half or a full marathon, but it's
Speaker 2: a particular goal that they've put in their calendar and
Speaker 2: they've just got this group of women around them that's
Speaker 2: getting them there. So it's so important to have the
Speaker 2: right tools and the right people.
Speaker 1: Talk to us a bit about the train you know,
Speaker 1: managing between the endurance run, the speed run, the tempo
Speaker 1: runs and recovery, because there's different types of runs that
Speaker 1: we should be doing to train for half.
Speaker 2: Yes, let's talk some running lingo.
Speaker 1: Yes, so you have to hit around that before you
Speaker 1: start training.
Speaker 2: Definitely, it's so important to understand why you need to
Speaker 2: do different runs across the week and what those different
Speaker 2: runs are and what they kind of mean. So that's
Speaker 2: why having a program is so important, because it will
Speaker 2: really structure your week so that you're pushing when you
Speaker 2: need to push, but also pulling back when you need to.
Speaker 2: And not to get too technical on you, but perodization
Speaker 2: in running training is really important. It allows you to
Speaker 2: make the most of your rest and recovery when you
Speaker 2: need it to ultimately allow your body to push when
Speaker 2: you should be pushing. And if you parodise your training
Speaker 2: not just across a week, but across an entire training block,
Speaker 2: it should allow you to peak when it really matters,
Speaker 2: which is race day. And so let's take it back
Speaker 2: to a week. Across a week, you should have a
Speaker 2: couple of tougher, harder sessions and then most your other
Speaker 2: running should be relatively easy. Those hard sessions may consist
Speaker 2: of a speed run and a long run, so for
Speaker 2: a half those are kind of the two crucial ones
Speaker 2: to get in. Within a speed run, you can do
Speaker 2: all different types of speed sessions, so yes, like you mentioned,
Speaker 2: tempo runs, interval sessions fart lik sessions fart lick is
Speaker 2: Swedish for speedplay. But ultimately there is purpose behind all
Speaker 2: of them, and understanding the purpose is really important not
Speaker 2: just to like motivate you to do it, but also
Speaker 2: to execute it as it should be planned program and
Speaker 2: so something like a tempo run is really just pushing
Speaker 2: your heart rate to a certain level and trying to
Speaker 2: sustain that over a period of time. An example that
Speaker 2: might be go and run twenty minutes at half marathon pace,
Speaker 2: and so your heart rate might set somewhere like one
Speaker 2: sixted one seventy beats per minute, whereas an interval session
Speaker 2: might be saying, go and run as not as fast
Speaker 2: as you can, but you might be reaching like five
Speaker 2: k or kink pays for like two or three minutes
Speaker 2: and then resting for a minute, and ultimately your heart
Speaker 2: will be fluctu at heart rate will flutter a weight
Speaker 2: across the entire session. So there's definitely like purpose behind
Speaker 2: all of those sessions, and it's key to like learn
Speaker 2: that and then execute on that across your training. But
Speaker 2: it's also super complicated. So that's why having a program
Speaker 2: like within the Nike Run Club app can actually provide
Speaker 2: you the specific guidance on what you should do and
Speaker 2: when you should do it.
Speaker 1: How important is strength training for building your body or
Speaker 1: getting your body ready for half.
Speaker 2: Strength can help so much it's hard to be able
Speaker 2: to manage all of the training, and so I would
Speaker 2: almost say sacrifice one of your easy rounds if you
Speaker 2: don't have the time to do both running and strength
Speaker 2: training to get your strength training in strength is not
Speaker 2: just there to build muscle and build power and build speed.
Speaker 2: It definitely does all of that, but it also helps
Speaker 2: to prevent injury. And we know that running is a
Speaker 2: high impact sport that takes a lot out of your body,
Speaker 2: and if you're not able to withstand that impact, you
Speaker 2: can get injured, and that's where we see things like
Speaker 2: ITB syndrome, or knee pains or tendon issues. So strength
Speaker 2: training can actually prevent all of that from happening. So
Speaker 2: I usually suggest athletes to do one, if not two
Speaker 2: sessions of strength training throughout the week along side they're running.
Speaker 2: But if you don't have the time, I would say
Speaker 2: at least get one in. If you need a sacrifice a.
Speaker 1: Round full body or specific focus on the legs.
Speaker 2: I'm going to sound kind of boring here, but it
Speaker 2: is monotonous. Really specific run strength training that will help
Speaker 2: you the best. So within the Nike Training Club at
Speaker 2: we actually have a bunch of different running specific strength
Speaker 2: training workouts that you can do, and those will guide
Speaker 2: you on exactly the key movements that you should do
Speaker 2: in order to help your running. If running is a priority,
Speaker 2: then you can definitely go and test a whole heap
Speaker 2: of different workouts within the act. But if running is
Speaker 2: and you want to focus on that half hour con distance,
Speaker 2: go and even just search running within Nike Training Club
Speaker 2: and a whole bunch of different strength training workouts, but
Speaker 2: also yogas like stretching in flexibility sessions are there as well.
Speaker 2: Mobility is obviously a real crucial one for runners. We're
Speaker 2: stiff and it's important to stretch to so it's nice
Speaker 2: to have that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely hip open its long live hip openers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we did. I definitely need to work on that.
Speaker 1: What's the most exciting place you've ever run? All the
Speaker 1: most exciting run around the world.
Speaker 2: Oh, that's such a good question. I have so many
Speaker 2: different races that I would answer you as an answer
Speaker 2: to this question, because I just have had such great
Speaker 2: experiences across different races, but I think the New York
Speaker 2: Marathon's pretty incredible. Oh yeah, I did that. It wasn't
Speaker 2: an eighteen and that was pretty amazing. And then I
Speaker 2: did do another. It was an ultra marathon relay race
Speaker 2: from La to Vegas. Fun. It's about five one hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty k's that's split between six people, and that
Speaker 2: was an unreal experience. But I also have to say
Speaker 2: the Nike Malviourn Marathon Festival because it was my first
Speaker 2: marathon and it was just such an amazing experience and
Speaker 2: there's nothing quite light finishing a distance for the first
Speaker 2: time ever and feeling good and proud of yourself, and
Speaker 2: so that one will definitely stick with me forever. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, of course that's my favor. It's pretty epic running
Speaker 1: into the MCG that is amazing. Yeah, Lydia, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us on Healthy Ish.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Oh come on, listeners, put it on your list for
Speaker 1: next year. You can do a half marathon. I'm going
Speaker 1: to do another one. I know I'm one of those people.
Speaker 1: But if you've never done one, if you can barely
Speaker 1: run five k or perhaps you have done one and
Speaker 1: you need a bit of motivation for another one. We
Speaker 1: can all do this together. Any hope Lydia inspired you
Speaker 1: if she did, tell us rate and review of this episode,
Speaker 1: of course, if you have any ideas for an upcoming EP,
Speaker 1: just DM me at Felicity Harley Hey to bodyansoul dot
Speaker 1: com dot you for anything else, follow us on socials,
Speaker 1: grab our print edition which is out in your local
Speaker 1: Sunday paper, and until tomorrow, stay healthy ish