WEBVTT - Make time for your athletic dreams

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is about how to find time to get faster.

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<v Speaker 1>Lots of people have athletic goals that involve pushing past

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<v Speaker 1>their current limits. Finding time to do that in a

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<v Speaker 1>busy life can be challenging, but it is not impossible.

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<v Speaker 1>I believe that even people with jobs and families can

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<v Speaker 1>decide to get in what is perhaps the best shape

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<v Speaker 1>of their lives. Today's episode was inspired in part by

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<v Speaker 1>my co host on my other podcast, Best of Both Worlds.

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<v Speaker 1>Sarah Hartunger, a practicing physician mom of three, has long

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<v Speaker 1>been a committed recreational runner. However, like many people in

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<v Speaker 1>the busy years, she hadn't been training particularly seriously. A

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<v Speaker 1>few years ago, she ran a five k at about

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<v Speaker 1>a nine minute mile pace. For many of us, that

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<v Speaker 1>would be perfectly fine, but Sarah had a long time

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<v Speaker 1>goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. For any non

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<v Speaker 1>runners listening to this, the Boston Marathon famously requires people

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<v Speaker 1>to get a fast enough time in another marathon in

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<v Speaker 1>order to participate. For women in their early forties, this

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<v Speaker 1>time is three hours and forty minutes for twenty six

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<v Speaker 1>point two miles, which works out to about an eight

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<v Speaker 1>minute and twenty three second mile. In other words, Sarah

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<v Speaker 1>was going to have to get significantly faster than her

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<v Speaker 1>nine minute mile pace and be able to sustain that

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<v Speaker 1>pace for many more miles than she was doing. It

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<v Speaker 1>sounds daunting, but she decided to try. She hired a

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<v Speaker 1>coach to help her plan out her workouts. Then she

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<v Speaker 1>did them mostly in the morning before going to work.

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<v Speaker 1>By being out the door by about five thirty am.

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<v Speaker 1>On any given day, she could run until six forty

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<v Speaker 1>five am and be back in time to help get

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<v Speaker 1>her three kids ready for school and get herself to

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<v Speaker 1>the office to start seeing patients. On Saturdays, she would

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<v Speaker 1>often run from five thirty am to eight am or

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<v Speaker 1>so in order to do her long runs. Sundays were

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<v Speaker 1>generally off from running. On some level. This is a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of running. In seventy five minutes on a weekday morning,

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<v Speaker 1>she could run eight to nine miles, depending on the pace.

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<v Speaker 1>On a weekend long run, she could run fifteen to

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<v Speaker 1>twenty miles, depending on what the coach asks for. If

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<v Speaker 1>she was doing about eight miles on five weekdays and

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen to twenty on weekends. That is fifty five to

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<v Speaker 1>sixty miles per week. On the other hand, it's not

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<v Speaker 1>that much time either. Seventy five minutes times five is

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<v Speaker 1>six hours and fifteen minutes during the work week. Add

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<v Speaker 1>another two point five hours for a long run, and

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<v Speaker 1>we are still under nine hours for the week. According

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<v Speaker 1>to the annual American Time Use Survey, the average American

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<v Speaker 1>spends two point seven nine hours per day watching television,

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<v Speaker 1>which comes out to more than nineteen hours per week.

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<v Speaker 1>Shift less than half of that over into the running category,

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<v Speaker 1>and serious training to get faster becomes a possibility. Now

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<v Speaker 1>it's not quite that simple, of course, people tend not

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<v Speaker 1>to watch TV at the same time when they would

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<v Speaker 1>be running, but time can be malleable with some planning.

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<v Speaker 1>Rather than watching TV at night, Sarah would go to

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<v Speaker 1>betterly like by about nine thirty or nine forty five

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<v Speaker 1>pm most nights in order to be up on time

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<v Speaker 1>to run. Shift time around a bit, and passive evening

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<v Speaker 1>leisure time turns into active morning leisure time. Some days

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<v Speaker 1>Sarah couldn't run because of travel or illness, but mostly

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<v Speaker 1>she did, and as she increased her mileage and did

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<v Speaker 1>the speed work her coach prescribed. She did start to

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<v Speaker 1>get faster. Over the course of a year or so,

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<v Speaker 1>those nine minute miles became her leisurely pace. She built

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<v Speaker 1>up her endurance. Then in May she ran the Bayshore

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<v Speaker 1>Marathon in Michigan in about three hours and thirty five minutes,

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<v Speaker 1>five minutes under the Boston qualifying time, and at a

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<v Speaker 1>pace of approximately eight minutes and twelve seconds per mile.

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<v Speaker 1>All this was while taking care of her patients, running

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<v Speaker 1>her family, and of course co hosting a podcast with me.

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<v Speaker 1>I find this very inspiring. We often think of exercise

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<v Speaker 1>as a good thing to do for health or stress relief.

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<v Speaker 1>People train seriously when they are young, or if they're

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<v Speaker 1>doing some sort of competitive sports. We don't train seriously

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<v Speaker 1>as middle aged people with a lot of responsibilities, but

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<v Speaker 1>we can. I am not personally aiming to qualify for Boston,

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<v Speaker 1>but I do think with some work I could get

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<v Speaker 1>significantly stronger and significantly faster than I am now. Indeed,

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<v Speaker 1>if we devote nine hours to anything in life each

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<v Speaker 1>week with a desire to get better, we probably will.

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<v Speaker 1>It's always easier not to, but it is always a possibility.

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<v Speaker 1>We all have twenty four hours in a day. It's

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<v Speaker 1>just a matter of what we do with them in

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<v Speaker 1>the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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<v Speaker 1>to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening

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<v Speaker 1>to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,

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<v Speaker 1>you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts

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<v Speaker 1>from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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<v Speaker 1>wherever you listen to your favorite show. Yes