Disney Dish: My Advice to Runners

Here's one mom's take on balancing running and life


I had the pleasure last weekend of attending Run Disney's Princess Half Marathon in Orlando, Florida. It was great to see and speak to a slew of awesome women runners. During my time there (when I wasn't running the 10K or Half Marathon), I gave a talk on how to balance life and running. 

I'm still working on this myself. Some days I'm better at it than others. Some days the scales are tipped wildly one way or another. 

With that caveat out of the way, here are my tips for how to work toward a balanced work/personal/running life. There are no wrong answers; there is only what makes you feel happy, safe, strong, and productive. 

My tips are based on acroynms I've stored in my head. I came up with them on a long, rainy Boston Marathon training run and they have just stuck. In no particular order, here they are: 

Acknowledge your MPG:I'm not referring to "miles per gallon." Instead, MPG in my life stands for "marathon parent guilt." I've written about MMG before here on Zelle (marathon mom guilt) but clearly, marathon parent guilt can–and does–extend to fathers, too. Instead of feeling like you have to do everything–train for a race, pack the lunches, attend social gatherings, line up playdates, check the homework, cook, clean or whatever is on your list of a million things to do–just acknowledge you feel overwhelmed or guilty. Admitting you feel strung out or worn thin will help you separate the wheat from the chaff and decide what the absolute nonnegotioable items are for you. And they may change on a daily, hourly, or minute-to-minute basis. That is okay as long as you are checking in with yourself and keeping your MPG in check. 

ABT: Always Be Training. I've written about this as well. Something about knowing you have a big race coming up helps get you out the door on the days you'd rather stay curled up in bed, doesn't it? When I am training for something, I am at my best and most effiecent because I am forced to create some kind of plan (even if it is as simple as just get out the door for a mile!) Even when I don't have a big race coming up, I set a training goal for myself. The joke with my running buddies is that I'm always in training for something. The reason this is funny is because it's true. After my last marathon I needed a few weeks to recover and rest, but I still crafted a training plan that outlined cross training, rest days, and easy run days. I function best under deadline pressure, so ABT keeps me focused and gives me the illusion that I always have a deadline without the stress of an actual deadline. 

Fuel, It's What's For Dinner: It's taken me years to realize that proper fueling is a key part of strong running. Fuel to me for a long time simply meant what I was bringing with me to consume during a long run. But fuel is so much more than that. Planning meals makes me a happier person because I can come home from work and not have to think about what I'm eating or serving my family. All I have to do is simply reach into the fridge and grab something I've preplanned. And when I don't preplan, I fall back on ingredients I always have in the house that I know are healthy to pinch hit. I'm not saying to pre-plan you have to spend an entire weekend day prepping out meals and cutting veggies (if you want to, more power to you!). I'm saying you can create some fail-safe easy options for  those times you're feeling beaten up after a long run, or are just plain exhausted from your work day. Create patterns in your daily life the same way you do in your running life–you probably like a certain flavor of energy gel, or sport bean–you can apply the same idea to actual meals. Make Monday a healthy taco night. Tuesday can be breakfast for dinner. You get the idea. That brand of gel you like? You'll probably still try a new flavor every now and again and see how it works out. Apply the same strategy here: Breakfast for dinner night can mean anything from an egg-spinach-chicken scramble to fresh-cut fruit served next to a veggie burger on an English muffin. 

PACE matters: Sure, pace usually means what tempo you are running at and how hard you are working, but in my little world it actually stands for "practice and consistency everyday." No matter what you're trying to balance in life, applying the same standard as you would to your running is what will serve you best. How do you ensure you're ready to tackle more mileage? Pratice and consistency. You can't wake up one day and simply decide to run a marathon without first having given your body and mind at least some preparation for how that will feel. Life is the same way. You can't expect to juggle a million things or want to take on more until you've practiced accomplishing the goals you set for yourself. Chances are good you'll fail from time to time. 

Just remember to breathe and run the mile you are in instead of the ones you still have ahead of you. You'll always figure out a way to get through.


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