Kate Dugan

Plant-Powered Endurance

How to Manage The Off-Season

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kate-marathonFull definition of off–season:

a time of suspended or reduced activity; especially the time during which an athlete is not training or competing.

… we have arrived!!

The NYC marathon, 2+ weeks ago, was officially my last endurance event of 2016. Phew! As you may know, it was a less than stellar experience. This photo of me on Central Park South, about a half of a mile from the finish, sums it up pretty accurately. That, my friends, is the look of defeat.

But, on the plus side, I learned quite a bit this year and this season.

Immediately after the marathon, I ordered By Chloe for the whole family to refuel and refresh my spirits. Vegan burgers, fries and mac + cheese. It hit the spot.

And that, my friends, may have been the healthiest meal I ate until about a week ago…

These last few weeks have been interesting. Election day was just two days after the NYC marathon. I usually enjoy reading and watching election coverage, but I have to admit that I was tiring of the campaigns dominating the news. Not only was I eagerly awaiting the news of our next president, but I was also excited for it all to be over.

Until almost midnight on election day, I was completely unaware of how badly I’d take Hilary’s loss. I mean, I actually don’t agree with a lot of her ideas for policy. Rationally, I knew that Donald Trump had a chance at the presidency (against all odds, he made it this far, I figured), but had mostly written it off due to predictions from polls. As swing states started reporting, my heart sunk. Turns out, I’m a big fan of respecting humans and treating them decently regardless of their gender, sexuality, race, religion or age. For that reason and also because I thought we were on the brink of our first female president, I took the Trump victory pretty hard.

Wednesday morning I woke up, still stunned. The mood in New York City was somber. It was a grey, rainy day. The volume was low, almost as if someone had kicked us hard in the gut, knocking the wind out of us for a full 24 hours. I sat in my bosses office and tried to hold back tears as we watched Hilary’s concession speech.

“And to all of the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”

That part really got me. More than ever, I felt the presence of a seemingly impenetrable, thick glass ceiling. Still fully intact.

Then the protesting and gloating started. People who had been perfectly friendly before the election were all of a sudden bickering intensely on social media. The ugly campaigns that I was looking forward to sun setting had morphed into angry rants, hate crimes, and an air of fear and uncertainty.

For about a week, I went to bed as soon as the kids did and slept as long as I possibly could. Exercise was the last thing on my mind. And some pretty poor eating habits crept back in. And then, sort of unexpectedly, I was slammed at work and Michael was out-of-town. My hands were full and there wasn’t much time for sleeping. It was a welcome distraction.

Now, the distractions have subsided. Some of the raw emotion from the election seems more processed. Things are still uncertain, but there is less panic.

And I’m realizing that the “off-season” is for the birds! Certainly, ironman training is not sustainable year round, but in years past this has translated into a 1-2 month complete hiatus from exercise. Typically during these periods, I don’t feel good about myself, my energy is lower, and I’m not as happy.

This is why I’d never advocate for a true “off-season” from a training perspective.  Instead, I think it makes sense to periodize our training, change things up, and focus on shorter workouts.

For me, since I have my sights set on a fall marathon (sub-4 hours), I’m planning the following fitness routine:

  1. December to April: strength – I’m planning to take advantage of the chilly temperatures and bring my workouts indoors during this period. Starting when I was a young teenager lifting weights in the basement with my dad, I loved it. I felt so powerful. And, I think my body would benefit from building some lean muscle mass. I also plan to swim once a week because it is a great full body exercise, and also one that I miss post-ironman.
  2. April to July: speed – During this period, I plan to add running back into my routine. I’ll likely start by running three times a week and still doing some lifting. My runs will be a speed workout, a tempo run, and a longer easy-paced run, and they will be shorter than most runs in the next phase.
  3. July to October: endurance – In summer, I’ll drop strength training except for core and weekly hill / speed workouts. It will be more like traditional marathon training, and I’ll aim to run 5x per week.

So far, the only race on the calendar is the Chicago marathon, however, I have been doing some research and think it would be fun to do a couple of destination half marathons. 13.1 really is such a fun distance.

I would love to hear about how you approach the off-season. Do you take any time completely off? How do you change up your training? And do you love it or loathe it?

P.S. Yesterday I did my first CrossFit workout in years, which called for 150 burpees (I only made it through 135). I’m feeling sore already… I might be nearly catatonic later today.

On Running and Creating “Our Story”

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Front Porch. Totally underrated.

Front Porch of our AirBnB house. Porches are totally underrated.

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending a 2-Day fitness business retreat in Asheville, North Carolina, which I’m going to call the Portland of the east (never having been to Portland, mind you). Asheville is a great little town, though my instincts tell me I’d like the surrounding rural areas even better. During the retreat, I was surrounded by nearly 100 really fit and very motivated women, most of whom are in the midst of starting health and fitness-related business. I met personal trainers, body builders, nutritionists, stay at home moms, doctors and former food addicts.

It was so inspiring to be amongst “my people”! I feel truly blessed to have been able to attend. Thank you to Michael for holding down the fort at home (never easy).

I had some exciting insights during my time in Asheville:

Preach, Jill! <3

Preach, Jill! <3

  1. There are lots of people out there who want to help others improve their health, wellness and fitness! Yeah.
  2. Most of these helpers (aka Coaches) have struggled with the thing they’re trying to improve for their clients at some point in the past. And they’re passionate about what they’re doing for that reason.
  3. The internet is enabling us to interact in a million different ways and it is changing all of the time – it’s pretty cool to watch the way we communicate shape our behaviors (I, hater of selfies, almost took a video of myself on the way home from my run tonight for InstaStories – almost, but then I chickened out. haha. But I’m committing to doing one very soon).
  4. The stories we tell ourselves are incredibly powerful and often automatic, based on what we’ve been told until now, BUT they should be challenged.  As the creators of our own stories, we have the freedom, perhaps the obligation, to decide to tell ourselves a new story. Then, of course, we have to work our butts off to make the new story a reality. Thanks to Jade Teta, for his wisdom on this.

This last one, is especially powerful, and it’s also why running has been so great for me. It has helped prove to me that I have the ability to rewrite my story.

We develop a sense of what we are capable of (or what we should do) from our parents and our peers. This begins at birth and never really ends. Parents have certain expectations of their children and they assume certain limitations. It’s totally normal & necessary. But, at some point, the pen shifts from parent to child and we should question it all and redirect.

A few years ago, I ran by a father with his young son. They were spectating The 5th Ave mile, a one mile race down 5th Avenue in NYC that happens in early September each year. The father was tall and lanky. As the fastest runners came by, the father told his son that he and his son did not / would not have the proper build to be that fast, especially over even longer distances. I felt like a witnessed something unique and sort of abusive. I resisted the tiny urge to intervene and tell the dad to shush. The father obviously had a limiting belief, and in that moment, he may have transferred it to his son. If his son does start to believe he doesn’t have a body for running, he will likely never know if he could be a fast runner because he won’t even try it now.

My Story

If you asked me in 2007, my first flirtation with running, if I would ever run a marathon, I would have said, “not a chance” or “I could never…” and if you would have mentioned Ironman, I probably would have just laughed or said, “those people are crazy”.

In 2007 I couldn’t run a mile. I was working a desk job, sitting for most of the day. That’s when my cube-mate, Meredith and I, decided to start walking 2 miles to and from work a few days a week. We walked and talked. And I loved it. Moving felt good.

And then another colleague suggested we do a relay marathon that fall with two other co-workers. I dug in my heels – “I am not a runner! I’m really slow”, but finally I caved to peer pressure. I hadn’t run a mile since high school, which ended 7 years prior. I really hated running. But Meredith and I made a plan. We would slowly build up our mileage by running together after work. There was a 5k on 9/11 downtown that we could race before the big event as a “test” to see what a race was really like.

The woman who sat behind me was a runner. “How do you breathe?” and “what do you think about when you’re running?” were amongst the many questions I bombarded her with one afternoon. She looked at me for a minute and then told me that she never really paid much attention to any of it. Hmm, I guess I’d figure it out as I went, though I couldn’t imagine it would ever become as automatic as she made it seem.

Morning run around UNC Asheville Campus

Morning run around UNC Asheville Campus

Those days, the start of my running “career”, seem like ages ago. I love looking back at how far I’ve come. What I know now is that most of us, probably all of us, could run a marathon or complete and ironman, if we just decide to and take action towards those goals. To me, that’s the beauty of those events.

But, especially if we don’t know people who are competing in marathons and ironman triathlons, we don’t realize that we could it, too. It seems out of reach entirely. The same rule applies to many things – getting into an Ivy League college, becoming a CEO, living abroad, or starting a social revolution. We definitely have far more power than we know now. We just have to decide what we want and commit to taking action to get there

As you might imagine, I’m feeling full of energy after my time in Asheville!

And when I arrived home on Sunday, I was fortunate enough to attend a the NYC Kick-off for Team Humane League NYC, where I got to hang out with more of “my people”. It’s always wonderful to meet vegan athletes! We will be training every other Tuesday evening in Central Park. Please join us! (you don’t need to be vegetarian or vegan, just interested in helping farm animals and doing some running)

And, sign up here for weekly emails from moi about running & life.

Happy running,

Kate

On Missing Workouts

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You know the feeling. You snoozed, you overslept, you sat down, you pushed it off – however it happened, you gave yourself the tiniest bit of permission to miss your workout. And now you feel terrible. Because you didn’t really, fully give yourself permission. Instead, you sort of put yourself in workout purgatory.

I was talking to a single guy on my tri team recently – he told me he’d been 100% compliant with our workouts. “100%?” I asked him, not believing that in 6 months he’d executed every workout as instructed. “100%,” he assured me.

Naturally, and in true female / Kate form, I started to beat myself up, I hadn’t even been close to 100% compliant. Of course, he was quick to offer excuses for me – my life is complicated. I have kids. Yes, yes, yes, but still!

I sat on those negative feelings about myself for a while.

Later that weekend I completed my first 100 mile bike ride. I cycled 2 days in a row, the second on tired legs, ran a half marathon & swam 3.1 miles. Were all of those done as fast as they would have been if I was 100% compliant with the training plan? Likely not. But, my gosh, look how far I’d come. A few short months ago, I had legitimate anxiety going to swim practice (in a pool). I was just getting used to my tri bike – a 100 mile ride seemed unfathomable. I was proud of myself. I felt strong, powerful, and capable.

Those questioning feelings about my training shrunk away in the background. I was doing my absolute best given what I had on my plate.

Just this morning, I was supposed to go to swim practice at 5am. I was in bed by 10pm last night. My mind was wandering. 11pm… midnight… the hours were ticking by and I was still awake. I got a snack and moved to the couch. 1am, still awake. I decided at that moment that swimming would have to wait. I slept til 7am without interruption. I needed it. And the best part about the whole ordeal is that I didn’t beat myself up over it or tell myself I needed to sneak it in elsewhere in my training. I just let it go.

We are all doing our best. I’m going through a period where training is front and center, but sometimes, for good reason, training isn’t the first, second or third priority in our lives. I always cringe when I see moms with a newborn pressuring themselves to begin training ASAP – I cringe because on one hand, I can relate, but also, those moments are precious, too precious to be preoccupied with negative feelings about one’s body or guilt for being inactive.

Most of us expect a lot from ourselves – to be loving mothers, supportive partners, attractive, fashionable, successful in our chosen profession, keep the household running… the list varies for each of us, but it usually goes on and on. And it’s almost always too much!

The number one thing we can do, which will help us achieve all of our goals in the long-term, is to shower ourselves with love and compassion. That means that sometimes it is advisable to eat cake, sleep in or miss a workout.

All my best,
Kate

Feeling Sick? How to Decide When to Train & When to Rest

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The twins just started at daycare last week so I have been expecting a wave of illness to sweep through our house at any moment. Sure enough, Sunday evening post-workout I felt a tickle in my throat and by Tuesday morning Callen awoke with a seal bark. Poor guy.

Despite feeling a little off on Monday, I fully planned on going to my evening swim workout after work. I had 2 hours at home with the kids after work and before swim (8:30pm). During that time, I felt progressively worse – sore throat, really swollen glands and increasingly tired.

By the time Michael got home for the kiddo handoff, I’d made up my mind. I just needed to sleep. I felt like some rest now might stave off the cold entirely. I was torn, though, because skipping a planned workout feels weak. And I don’t want Ironman training to get infused with weakness and lack of commitment, especially this early on.

Ultimately, my yearning to sleep overpowered my will to train. I went to bed at 9pm and woke at 7am on Tuesday morning. It was glorious.

Unfortunately, my scratchy throat was still present on Tuesday. I took some ibuprofen and got on with my life. These types of illnesses almost always seem more dire in the early mornings and late evenings, don’t they?

Anyway, I realized there was a time not that long ago when I would have either berated myself about not working out OR (rewind a few years further) I wouldn’t have been caught dead training unless conditions were absolutely optimal.

It’s interesting how we evolve over time as athletes, isn’t it?

So, what to do if you’re an otherwise healthy athlete who starts feeling sick?

In my option, there’s a mental and a physical element to all of this:

I believe your decision should hinge on what phase of training you’re in and what you’re training for, obviously. But beyond that, what matters is how sick you are and your current mental ‘need’ to train (meaning: is one rest day going to undermine the rest of your training program or can you take it in stride?).

Let’s assume that you’re training for a long endurance event like Ironman or a marathon, in which case missing one or two workouts is not going to undermine your efforts. In fact, staying healthy should be a priority for you.

In terms of how sick you are, if you have a flu-like symptoms or a cold with a fever, rest. Your body needs to focus all energy on getting better. If you are an otherwise healthy person battling a head cold, like I am this week, you can definitely train. You should just ensure that the duration of exercise is shorter than usual and the intensity is much lower. Any benefit you would get usually from a high intensity training session, if you can make it through one, will be offset by the excess strain you put on your body.

A few caveats: If, in your gut, you’re at the start of a cold, and you feel like resting will help reduce its severity, by all means, do it. That’s what I did this week. Even though I still have a sore throat, my cold hasn’t progressed AND I’m really well-rested. How often can us moms say that?

If you’re experiencing coughing fits that won’t subside through OTC treatment, you might want to replace running with biking or core. And if your head is full of mucus, avoid the pool!

Now, your mental need to keep moving. There’s a lot of momentum that builds in training programs. If you compare the difficulty of starting an exercise program to continuing an exercise program, there’s no question that for most people starting is substantially harder than maintaining. An object in motion stays in motion, right?

So, if you’re one of those people who absolutely must execute every workout on your plan no matter what, I get it. You’re going to have to make a judgment call. If you’re really sick (fever), you need to rest. Period. Do your best to come to terms with missing the workout and move on. Don’t dwell. Just because it happened once, does not mean it will happen again. If you have a head cold and you feel you absolutely must get in your 5 mile /45 min speed run, go for a 35-40 min run, but keep the intensity low (zone 1 or 2).

Whatever you do, don’t try to make up for lost workouts later in the week or in future weeks. That’s a really good way to get injured.

Finally, if you are sick, you may be contagious. In that case, it is courteous to keep your germs away from others and out of the gym so keep that in mind when deciding if / how to train.

Training Type Depends on Intensity of Illness and Athlete’s Mental Need to TrainTraining While Sick 2x2During training, our immune systems can become compromised. We are purposefully stressing the body so that it gets faster, stronger and, for endurance athletes, can go longer. We really need to limit our exposure to sick people and practice basic preventative hygiene like frequent hand washing.

One of the Ironman books that I have even suggests limiting contact socially for a few weeks leading up to your race to ensure you don’t catch a bug! If any healthy person wants to come take care of my germ monster kids for me in July, just shout.

Here’s hoping that you don’t need to reference this article at all this season. Happy Training!

2016: New Year, New You?

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There’s been a lot of backlash to what I call the, ‘New Year, New You’ mentality. I understand why – the people advocating slogans like these are usually attempting to make you feel crappy about yourself so that you buy something, which is not cool.

In the process, however, resolutions and goals have been demonized.

Call me cliché, but I still love the feeling of potential and anticipation of what’s to come that accompanies the start of a new year. An avid goal-setter myself, I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to evaluate the last year and define my aspirations for the next.

Let me caveat this…

Sure, I have experienced some pitfalls in my goal setting over the years. There were definitely moments where I focused more on the destination than the journey. There were times when I failed and struggled not to take it personally (failing and being a failure are very different). And other times when I set goals in an effort to transform myself when I really should have been cultivating love and appreciation for what is uniquely me.

At this point, I can usually decipher between a sexy goal tempting me (e.g., competing in a bikini contest), and one that is worth my time and energy. At the moment, I am generally able to accept what is & enjoy my journey while also maintaining a healthy appetite to improve, grow and develop. I guess you could say I have evolved into a mindful goal-setter. If you aren’t there yet, my suggestion is to focus first on cultivating a sense of love and appreciation for yourself. This is an incredibly worthwhile endeavor that will benefit you and everyone around you.

In case the goals topic excites you, here’s an interesting conversation between Tim Ferris and Leo Babauta debating the benefit of goals (or not).

You’ll find lots of articles that cite a failure rate of 92% when it comes to New Years Resolutions. For a while, I thought that sounded about right. After all, found myself cringing often hearing people talk about losing the same 15 pounds they attempted to lose last year and the year before that. It makes me sad that they are perpetually down on themselves because I’ve been there, too. And it’s no fun. See above… The first step is to love thyself… even the fat bits.

Last week while I was pedaling away on my bike on the trainer, I realized 92% of resolutions fail… that means that 8% succeed! That’s actually not so bad. Let me offer some perspective that may make you realize that being in the 8% is both desirable and attainable.

Categories you might not want to be in:

  • 68% of Americans frequently worry about their financial situation (Harris Poll)
  • 47% of Americans aren’t saving any of their income (The Daily Beast)
  • 35% of Americans are on welfare (2014, Census Bureau)
  • Only 33% of Americans are very happy (Harris Poll)

Stats that resonated with me:

  • 8% of Americans have a Master’s Degree
  • 7% of High School girls listed something other than shopping as their favorite pastime (Affluenza)
  • 5% of Americans travel overseas each year (Huffington Post)
  • 3% of American births are twins (yeah!)
  • 0.5% of Americans have run a marathon
  • 0.5% of Americans are vegan

In short – 8% doesn’t scare me. I’m used to spending time in the minority and I like it there. It shouldn’t scare you either. There are a few easy steps you can take to make sure your resolution is compelling enough to be successful.

  1. Start with something that really gets you going. It has to be emotionally charged. If your goal is something you could or should do, I can almost guarantee that you won’t be successful. Your goal should excite you. You probably feel nervous, but the nerves are accompanied by an array of positive emotions, too. When you imagine achieving your goal, you might feel teary or shaky. You might feel a smile creeping casually across your face. That’s the type of thing we’re looking for here.
  2. Write it down (the right way). This is important, not just because writing something down ingrains it in our brains, but it’s also because of how you willl write it. Make your goal a present tense statement. Make sure it’s SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic & time-bound). Here’s an example:IMG_4337
  3. Consider the daily actions required to get there. Now, let’s get into the details because any destination is really all about consistent behavior change on a daily basis, and this is HARD. So, what is required in order to achieve your goal? Can you make this fun, enjoyable or rewarding? How will you create accountability for yourself? What obstacles will you encounter? How will you manage them? How will you engage yourself when your energy is low? How will you feel on this journey?
  4. Re-write. If the actions above don’t seem do-able or desirable, re-evaluate your resulultion. Take some time. Don’t be afraid to tweak it or shift your focus entirely.

Finally, as you decide where you’ll aim your focus in 2016, consider your relationships and how your resolution will impact the people closest to you, directly or indirectly. Check out this TED talk on What Makes Life Good. Hint: it’s the people!

Happy New Year! If you’ve set goals for 2016 or decided on a resolution, please share.

And check out Statistic Bran for more info about New Years Resolutions.

Disclaimer

I am not a licensed medical professional. All views expressed on this website are based on my own personal research and experiences. Please consult your doctor with any medical issues, or before beginning a training program.

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