With Coach Sarah FIRMLY enjoying the final hours of her vacation, Coach MK flies solo in a short-but-worth it episode that ends with a sweet question from a passerby on Twitch. Topics this week include: the purpose of the long run, Concerta and heart rate, smart watches and confusing directions, and how to ask a girl out (I KNOW, RIGHT?). It's never about the running, and the magic is always in the meandering. 

(Re)Build

1. I have been in re-build since the program started. I consistently do 3-4 runs per week (and, I am totally happy with that). With the current flow of life it's not often possible for me to do the long runs on the weekends. So, the question, should I do a long run during the week, or just keep doing the weekly runs and not worry about the long run? I am super happy in ReBuild, I have no aspirations to do any more races or train for anything, I am just interested in continuing to build my endurance wearing a heart rate strap. Thank you!!

2. I know you have addressed this before in some fashion but bear with me. I have always had an unexpectedly high heart rate (paired with very very low blood pressure). I am now on methylphenidate (Concerta). I wondered if taking a medication that tends to increase HR changes the way the training works? To be clear, I am 100% not interested in changing the speed limits. I’m more curious academically and from an expectation management perspective. Thank you!!

Maintain

1. My question is about warm up. It seems like my heart rate wants to go from 80 to 140 in about 2 minutes when I start with a light jog (about 15 min/mile pace), even after Silly Toes. Is it more beneficial for me to warm up my heart rate more slowly with a walk, then a speedier Walk, then a shuffle, etc? It seems like my heart rate comes DOWN really easily as well during the cooldown, or any walking break I take, so I’m taking that as a good sign.

2. Thanks, coaches, for giving me the gift of running and the lens of seeing myself and my running SO FUNDAMENTALLY differently than before! It’s taken me three years to truly get to this pretty awesome place with my relationship to running, to food, to my body—so thanks for being my guide! I try to help my running buddies to start thinking about their running and bodies and eating and “self talk” in a different way (because I completely see my old harmful, dysfunctional perspectives alive and well in them) but it is SO frustrating, because #1 I’m not great with expressing myself with words, and #2 because they are so stubborn, haha! I don’t fault them for it, but it makes me sad. So that’s a long way of saying—THANK YOU for sticking with it and being patient with me on this journey of really having new eyes to see myself and my life. How in the world did you it?!I now realize how frustrating that truly is! I keep inviting them to FPP, if only they would! Anyway, sorry for that long preamble: finally the question: I’m on week 6 of the Tenacious plan, and tomorrow (Labor Day) I signed myself and my 9-year-old daughter for a really small local 5k (fundraiser for the HS XC team). She’s been begging to do a race with me, and we’ve done this one before, but she’s only done the 1-mile. I want to let her kind of be in charge of running/walking as she needs, but foresee it being a sprint/walk fest, lol. Any advice on how to view this within the context of where I am in my training, as well as how to help her last for 3 miles,heh? Thank you , love, Meg

3, Can you talk a little bit about the recovery window that comes up on the watch after a workout? Do you know if the calculations for this window are the similiar between Polar and Garmin? Should we be keeping this window in mind if we have to juggle workouts during the week?

4. Is there a way to arrange the week with a long run on Saturday, a run on Sunday, and no run on Monday?