51 episodes

Running has so many benefits for the mind, body, & soul. But it can be SO hard to keep going because, let’s face it, RUNNING IS HARD!

Join lifelong runner, running coach, and mother of two, Whitney Heins, as she talks with experts in areas such as nutrition, training and physical therapy to share their insider knowledge so you can run your best & BE your best in the time that you have.

If you’re an avid runner, we’re here to help you understand the science, simplify the complicated and remove hurdles so that your next run is not only fun and fulfilling, but fuels you with passion and purpose.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

The Passionate Runner Digital Authority Group, LLC

    • Health & Fitness
    • 5.0 • 11 Ratings

Running has so many benefits for the mind, body, & soul. But it can be SO hard to keep going because, let’s face it, RUNNING IS HARD!

Join lifelong runner, running coach, and mother of two, Whitney Heins, as she talks with experts in areas such as nutrition, training and physical therapy to share their insider knowledge so you can run your best & BE your best in the time that you have.

If you’re an avid runner, we’re here to help you understand the science, simplify the complicated and remove hurdles so that your next run is not only fun and fulfilling, but fuels you with passion and purpose.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

    050 Mary Johnson - Making Strength Training Less Scary and More Approachable

    050 Mary Johnson - Making Strength Training Less Scary and More Approachable

    Episode SummaryMary Johnson is a running and strength coach and Founder of Lift | Run | Perform, an organization that specializes in teaching runners how to use time in the weight room or in your own home to optimize your running performance. Mary is a USATF certified running coach, owner of Lift, Run, Perform, mother of two and she’s going after her own goals after having babies. Recurring injuries plagued Mary for years until she found strength training and it totally changed her life and training paradigm.
    Today, Mary and Whitney talk about the struggles of returning to running postpartum and what that looked like for Mary. Mary shares the origin story of her company, Lift | Run | Perform, and provides some tips and best practices for strength training. Mary and Whitney explain the Five Major Movement Patterns as well as how different workout reps spur different changes in the body. Finally, Mary talks about some of the exciting projects she’s working on, including her ‘Breaking Three’ project.
    Episode SponsorRunner Click Pro – https://pro.runnerclick.com/
    Key Takeaways01:18 – Whitney Heins introduces today’s guest, Mary Johnson, who joins the show to share her experience as a runner, running coach, mother and the work she did to overcome postpartum challenges in order to become stronger
    15:02 – Why pregnancy is so polarizing
    19:20 – The origin story of Mary’s business, Lift | Run | Perform
    22:55 – Pros and cons of strength training for runners
    26:31 – The Five Major Movement Patterns, explained
    33:36 – How different reps spur different changes in the body
    38:19 – Mary provides her thoughts on what strength training should look like when marathon training
    45:25 – Mary suggests some workout equipment options
    48:25 – Proper form and technique while working out
    50:10 – How strength training has changed Mary’s experience running
    51:48 – Mary’s ‘Breaking Three’ project
    55:32 – Whitney thanks Mary for joining the show and lets listeners know where to follow him
    Tweetable Quotes“I think having an easier delivery this time has made me aware of how significant and different every delivery can be.” (11:54)
    “We knew that the best thing that was necessary for athletes was coaching the person as a human as opposed to coaching the person focused on a time goal. And that was our mission statement.” (21:26)
    “When we’re running, we’re pounding. There’s a ton of force that’s put on our body. So, we hit the ground, it goes through our foot, to our ankle, to our knee, to our hip, to our back, and we are not stable when we hit that ground. We can absorb the shock fine but after step after step, the body doesn’t sustain that pounding very well. It needs to be strong. And that’s the simplified reason why running alone isn’t enough to keep us strong.” (23:09)
    “First, I would make sure you take a month, pre-Marathon cycle, to lift. Yeah, you could run but you’re probably going to go down in mileage anyway. And this is a great time to get yourself in the gym. If you’re sore, that’s ok because it’s not gonna affect your workouts. But you have to be intentional about it.” (38:46)
    “When you run without any aches or pains, it’s amazing.” (50:21)
    Links MentionedWhitney’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitney-heins-02ba3b5
    The Mother Runners Club – https://www.themotherrunners.com/
    Mary’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/itsamarython/
    Lift | Run | Perform Website – a...

    • 56 min
    049 Laura Norris - Predicting Marathon Time: Pacing, Training, Fueling & Focus

    049 Laura Norris - Predicting Marathon Time: Pacing, Training, Fueling & Focus

    Episode SummaryLaura Norris is a certified running coach, small business owner, writer, and content creator. She believes in a blended approach to coaching that utilizes both evidence-based methods of training and a holistic approach of coaching the runner as a person first, athlete second. Laura’s philosophy emphasizes sustainability, enjoyment, and long-term growth.
    Today, Whitney and Laura talk all about how to predict your marathon time. They discuss pacing, pickups at the end of long runs, and the different types of running calculators, including Jack Daniels’ VDOT. Finally, Laura provides tips and best practices on tapering, fueling and when to heighten your focus on your marathon goals.
    Episode SponsorRunner Click Pro – https://pro.runnerclick.com/
    Key Takeaways01:12 – Whitney Heins welcomes Laura Norris back to the show to discuss her CIM Training and how to predict your marathon time
    12:09 – Pacing and Jack Daniels’ VDOT running calculator
    20:27 – Other popular running calculators
    25:12 – Best workouts to help inform what your marathon time will be
    28:01 – How to determine your marathon pace
    30:52 – Pickups at the end of a long run
    36:12 – The Garmin Race Predictor, easy miles, and long-run pace
    43:01 – The best time to focus on your goal time and marathon tapering
    46:02 – Fueling and other best practices to implement prior to race day
    50:21 – Whitney thanks Laura for joining the show and lets listeners know where they can connect with her
    Tweetable Quotes“Picking an arbitrary goal time is a sort of reverse engineering that doesn’t work in training, because you’re not this robot who you can input, ‘I want to run a nine minute mile pace’ which is roughly what you want for a sub-four hour Marathon. Unfortunately, training doesn’t work that way. A lot of times people see these nice round numbers or there’s some sort of excitement around them, but you just can’t program a number into your body. It’s all dependent upon where your current fitness is and where your aerobic capacity is.” (10:26) (Laura)
    “For most runners, taking a 10k or longer will give them a more accurate result than taking a mile or a 5k just because those shorter distances have more anaerobic contribution. And that’s when you’re getting into differences of muscle fiber typology. So, you can have someone who really excels in the Marathon and once they get into anything above their critical speed, they aren’t as fast as the equivalent race times would predict.” (17:34) (Laura)
    “Once we get to four and a half to five hours and five and a half to six, your marathon pace is gonna have a lot of overlap with your easy pace. And, when we talk about marathon pace, it’s not always this reverse engineered X minutes per mile faster than your easy pace. It’s about the pace you can sustain for a certain duration.” (25:33) (Laura)
    “One workout that I find that is really great is to do ten minutes at threshold, thirty minutes at threshold, all those ones that push the upper end of threshold and really rely on the ability to control your pacing and then kinda add to thet.” (30:36) (Laura)
    “Where you are eight weeks out from your marathon is not where you’re gonna be in your marathon. And, if you’re reaching peak fitness eight weeks out from a marathon, you should probably be worried. You’re probably overtraining.” (43:39) (Laura)
    “Carbs are the spark that’s gonna fuel the fire of the marathon. You need that substrate. You’re putting gas in your tank. No one’s giving out medals at the end for running the marathon on the fewest carbs.” (48:19) (Laura)
    Resources MentionedWhitney’s LinkedIn – a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitney-heins-02ba3b5" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

    • 52 min
    048 Dr. Haley Perlus - Reaching Peak Performance NOW: No Opportunity Wasted

    048 Dr. Haley Perlus - Reaching Peak Performance NOW: No Opportunity Wasted

    Episode SummaryDr. Haley Perlus is a sports psychologist with knowledge and personal experience as an elite athlete, coach, fitness professional, and entrepreneur. An overall wellness enthusiast, Dr. Haley Perlus provides her clients with the necessary mental toughness tools to quickly and consistently achieve their highest level of performance. Today, Whitney and Dr. Haley talk all about how we can believe in ourselves, get and maintain confidence, and overcome our mental blocks.
    Episode SponsorRunner Click Pro – https://pro.runnerclick.com/
    Key Takeaways00:55 – Whitney Heins welcomes Dr. Haley Perlus to the show to share the remarkable story of her inspiration to pursue sports psychology
    13:07 – Your ‘Three Best Words’ and giving yourself grace
    20:57 – Best practices for moving on from a bad day
    27:08 – Quiet confidence, achieving ‘flow state,’ and pressure
    35:14 – Overcoming anxiety and mental blocks
    46:06 – Three solutions for overcoming mental blocks
    56:19 – The reality of sports
    57:50 – Whitney thanks Dr. Haley for joining the show and lets listeners know where they can connect with her
    Tweetable Quotes“Usually when athletes call me it’s because they’ve tried everything else. They’ve tried their nutrition. They’ve tried their skillset or their conditioning. They’ve tried all of these things and nothing is helping them perform better or overcome that one thing.” (10:46) (Dr. Haley)
    “You can gain the experience and the tools by doing. If you’ve been running for fifteen years without seeking out sports psychology, I guarantee you learned some mental toughness along the way. Or, you could just listen to Passionate Runner and listen to you and get educated so that you can get out on that training path and out on your run and start to utilize the tools immediately.” (11:35) (Dr. Haley)
    “If you can bring back your three best words, at least one of them, often that allows you to push through a little bit more. And then, after that, if you find yourself not having your best performance, to me that’s still a sign that you put forth your best effort. And then it’s time to give yourself some grace. There’s a big difference giving yourself some grace and letting yourself off the hook.” (16:04) (Dr. Haley)
    “Being upset tells me two things. It tells me, one, that you really care. And it actually, in my opinion, is a sign of confidence. If you’re upset, it means that you thought you could do better. And if you think you can do better, that’s a sign of confidence.” (21:57) (Dr. Haley)
    “Pressure is earned. We don’t put pressure on ourselves for things we don’t think we’re good at. We don’t put pressure on ourselves for things we don’t care about. When we do the work - when we put in the time and the effort, and develop our skills, and see the progress - we put pressure on ourselves. It’s earned. We need to embrace it.” (34:00) (Dr. Haley)
    “A mental block is also fear of success. This is huge. If you achieve a good performance, now you’ve got to keep doing it.” (45:19) (Dr. Haley)
    “Every time we have a thought, we plant a neural pathway in our brain; it’s like a seed. But it’s just a seed. It’s just a thought until we start fertilizing it and giving it tender loving care. So, you have to repeat the thoughts that you like, the thoughts that help you. Repeat them and, with frequency and repetition, that seed - that neural pathway - grows. It’s a process called myelination. It grows and grows and grows and becomes your more dominant thought.” (51:11) (Dr. Haley)
    Resources MentionedWhitney’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitney-heins-02ba3b5
    The Mother Runners Club – a...

    • 59 min
    047 Ben Reale - Small Habits, Big Results: How to Make Running a Habit

    047 Ben Reale - Small Habits, Big Results: How to Make Running a Habit

    Episode SummaryBen Reale is the Founder of the personal training group, Condition One Fitness & Nutrition. He’s a Marathon runner, licensed attorney, and a former Marine Officer who has led more than 6,000 one-on-one training sessions and 600 small group classes. He is an expert in thoroughly evaluating someone to determine their ‘movement baseline,’ incorporating individualized corrective strategies into specific training programs as needed. Today, Whitney and Ben talk about making exercise a habit and how to overcome and work around all the potential life obstacles that can get in the way of making running a habit. They touch on rewards, ‘gaming your brain,’ and everything that supports making running a habit, like good eating, good sleeping, rest days, and strength training.
    Episode SponsorRunner Click Pro – https://pro.runnerclick.com/
    Key Takeaways01:00 – Whitney Heins welcomes Ben Reale to the show who shares his unique career trajectory, including his time as a personal trainer and a Marine
    09:44 – Habit formation and making sustainable changes by taking it slow
    15:39 – The power of consistency and overcoming life obstacles
    20:35 – Finding your ‘Why,’ outcome-based goals, and behavior-based goals
    32:00 – The effectiveness of rewards and ‘gaming your brain’
    40:16 – Bright spots and other tools for making running a habit
    46:41 – Whitney thanks Ben for joining the show and lets listeners know where they can connect with him
    Tweetable Quotes“I think that the big takeaway is that if people are in that situation and they’ve come up with a Plan A and a Plan B, and they gotta get thirty minutes in, or whatever they’re trying to accomplish for a run, if it’s consistently not happening, then it’s like, ‘Hey, that’s ok. It’s just feedback that you have to change your plan because it’s not working.’ And I think that’s a powerful piece too because being able to break away and almost from a 30,000 foot view just look down on it and say, ‘Well this is not working so I need to change it’ is important.” (16:32) (Ben)
    “I think at the end of the day, if it is a priority to you, you’re gonna find a way to get it done in some way, shape or form.” (19:50) (Ben)
    “So a lot of times we’ll break things down in terms of outcome-based or behavior-based goals. And so, if your outcome is to run the NYC Marathon, that’s great. We can delve into why you want to do that, but then we also want to take into account the behavior-based goals that are gonna be required to ultimately get you to your outcome.” (24:45) (Ben)
    “I think the rewards can be the most effective when you have intention behind them and some specificity.” (32:23) (Ben)
    “Maybe you’re training for a race, maybe you’ve got a nagging injury, maybe you’re trying to institute strength training into your program. Looking at your bright spots on either a weekly or monthly basis and then picking out what went really well that’s specifically related to something that’s difficult and then asking. ‘how can I do more of that,’ is key.” (40:30) (Ben)
    “I think, generally speaking, if you’re trying to change something, whether it be lifestyle, nutrition, fitness, if you’re trying to get started with running, break things down as small as possible and think about what you can do on your worst day.” (44:28) (Ben)
    Resources MentionedWhitney’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitney-heins-02ba3b5
    The Mother Runners Club – https://www.themotherrunners.com/
    Ben’s Website – a href="https://www.coachbenreale.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

    • 46 min
    046 Amy Stephens - How Hormones Impact Our Running

    046 Amy Stephens - How Hormones Impact Our Running

    Episode SummaryAmy Stephens is a registered dietitian, certified specialist in sports nutrition, blogger, runner and food coach. She has over twenty years of experience working with amateur and high-performing Olympic level athletes to achieve their sports performance goals using the latest science- backed approaches. Today, Whitney and Amy discuss how running affects our hormones and how our hormones affect our running. Amy delves deep into the signs you should look for that may signal that you have an imbalance and strategies to keep hormones balanced through training, recovery, and how you eat.
    Episode SponsorRunner Click Pro – https://pro.runnerclick.com/
    Key Takeaways01:04 – Whitney Heins welcomes Amy Stephens to the show who shares her expertise as a registered sports dietician and the impact hormones have on running
    08:50 – Signs to look out for when monitoring your hormones and stress level
    17:15 – Low estrogen and low testosterone
    19:25 – The importance of diet and nutrition
    29:24 – Next steps for those experiencing a hormonal imbalance
    37:26 – Whitney and Amy both open up about their shared experience with hormones, having children, and how it impacted their running
    42:37 – Whitney thanks Amy for joining the show and lets listeners know where they can connect with her
    Tweetable Quotes“What does it mean to balance hormones? What does this all mean? Why is this important? Hormones kinda control everything in our bodies. They regulate all of our functions such as the menstrual cycle, bone growth, heart rate, muscle growth and repair, digestion, temperature, blood sugar, mood. They control everything.” (07:19) (Amy)
    “Exercise is great, but too much or maybe not recovering well can definitely impact performance. So, you asked about signs or how to know when your body is not recovered. So let’s start there. There’s some signs that are very clear that I usually ask someone. Do they feel rested? Sometimes people can say, ‘No, I feel tired all the time. I don’t feel like I’m recovering from the workouts.’ Another big sign is there’s no appetite. If you don’t have an appetite, it means those stress hormones might still be circulating.” (10:59) (Amy)
    “There are some initial studies, Adam Tenforde out of Boston has some great studies that show that low testosterone can have a similar impact on men, meaning that the bone reformation after a workout can be altered with low testosterone.” (18:41) (Amy)
    “Also, it’s about getting used to trying different foods. See what works for you so you know on race day what your body feels good with and what maybe it doesn’t.” (28:54) (Amy)
    “Carbs are not bad. They provide energy and help us to feel better. And that’s part of a healthy diet.” (31:35) (Amy)
    “Cortisol levels can be helpful, but again if you just worked out or if you’re feeling stressed at that moment, that cortisol is going to be high. The same goes for insulin. Insulin levels are high after a meal. That’s normal.” (35:53) (Amy)
    Resources MentionedWhitney’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/whitney-heins-02ba3b5
    The Mother Runners Club – https://www.themotherrunners.com/
    Amy’s Website – https://www.amystephensnutrition.com/
    Amy’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amystephensnutrition/?hl=en
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    Podcast Production & Marketing by a...

    • 45 min
    045 Megan Robinson - The Physiology of Fueling

    045 Megan Robinson - The Physiology of Fueling

    Episode SummaryMegan Robinson has been a competitive track and cross-country runner since high school and has competed in numerous long distance races, including the Boston Marathon. She is a Level 1 certified RRCA coach and registered dietician/nutritionist (RDN). Today, Megan joins the show to discuss why Marathon fueling can be so complicated, the physiology of fueling and the importance of hydration. Megan and Whitney discuss tips and best practices for carb loading, why there are mixed messages in the media about fueling and nutrition and what an ideal baseline nutrition plan looks like.
    Episode SponsorRunner Click Pro – https://pro.runnerclick.com/
    Key Takeaways01:08 – Whitney Heins introduces today’s guest, Megan Robinson, who joins the show to share her experience as a Level 1 certified RRCA coach and registered sports dietician
    09:21 – Why Marathon fueling can be so complicated
    11:41 – Mixed media messages about fueling and nutrition
    14:18 – The physiology of fueling
    19:08 – The importance of hydration and the role of electrolytes
    25:08 – Megan’s recommended baseline nutrition plan
    33:26 – How runners should time their gels and electrolytes
    41:49 – The dangers of dehydration and low blood sodium
    46:41 – Megan’s thoughts on taking caffeine during races
    55:41 – Tips and best practices for Carb loading
    1:02:39 – Whitney thanks Megan for joining the show and wishes her luck in her next ran in Chicago
    Tweetable Quotes“It really made such a difference and impacted my life and how I saw nutrition. Especially to a teenager - especially as a female - you get those mixed messages. You look at your body type. You have negative body image often.” (06:37)
    “I think the Marathon training is the hardest just because most of us are not used to eating on a run. Our gut is not used to taking in nutrition. So, when I start talking to the athletes I coach, who are training for Marathons, it’s really starting with the basics of getting your body used to taking in a little nutrition. So, I think it’s fear of taking in nutrition, lack of knowledge of how much your body actually needs, and understanding the physiology of why you need it.” (10:50)
    “If you don’t have Type 1 Diabetes, your body has this wonderful regulation system. So, if your liver has enough glycogen in it, then if you start to exercise and don’t eat something and your blood sugar starts to drop, your liver will make enough sugar to regulate your blood sugars.” (15:23)
    “When you’re dehydrated, your blood thickens. So, when that blood thickens, it’s increasing your heart rate, it’s increasing your blood pressure, it’s increasing your perceived effort. And it makes it a lot harder to get that oxygen to the working muscles.” (22:31)
    “Once we start getting into longer runs, like Marathon training, I usually recommend taking anywhere from four to eight ounces of fluid every fifteen minutes.” (29:36)
    “So don’t feel like you have to replace every amount of sodium that you’re sweating out. You just don’t want to get to a point where you’re diluting your blood sodium levels. And what I mean by that is that if you were on a long run, it’s a hot, humid day, and you’re only taking in water, your risk is lowering your blood sodium levels, and that can be dangerous. That’s what we call hyponatremia, which is low blood sodium.” (41:49)
    “A general way to carb load without getting too nuts and counting grams of carbohydrate and ruining your total diet is by shifting your calories to eating more carb-based foods and reducing the fat and protein in your diet.” (56:54)
    “The purpose of carb loading is to really maximize that muscle glycogen. And it’s been shown that it possibly could increase your performance by three percent. But the downside is...

    • 1 hr 4 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
11 Ratings

11 Ratings

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Love!

I LOVE listening to this podcast! It always seems to have the topics that I’m struggling with at the time! I listen to educate myself and also inspire my running. Thank you so much!

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