I need to ask your opinion.

One of the pillars of my coaching is mental strength training. Along with physical training and proper nutrition, the mental side of the game is equally important.

This is why I include mental strength exercises every week for all of my athletes.

It's also why I include the Mental Strength Minute at the end of every podcast, to fortify your mind in 60 seconds or less.

I have gotten such great feedback from runners on how much the mental training has transformed their running.

Which makes me want to go further.

I want to create a program that is just as transformational for your mind as physical conditioning is for the body.

Let's call it cognitive conditioning.

Of course, it's something that will help you become a stronger athlete, but I'm thinking even bigger than that.

This is something that would reach every area of your life so you can get through the hard things with more ease.

Wouldn't it be great if:

• Hard conversations don’t rattle you?
• Big decisions don’t exhaust you?
• Setbacks don’t spiral you?
• Uncertainty doesn’t paralyze you?
• Effort doesn’t scare you?

And wouldn't it be great if this was a 30-day audio program that you could listen to for just 10 minutes every morning? Not another thing on your to-do list, but a cognitive companion that started your day off right, slowly building your mental muscle one day at a time.

Kind of like building physical fitness, right?

I've been quietly working on this for months now and it's not ready yet, but I can't keep it to myself any longer.

But before I move forward, I want to know what you think.

Could you use a little more calm confidence in your life? If so, hit the button below to let me know!

yes, I need this!

ask me anything

Q:

I am tapering for Tokyo. I have a taper tempo workout scheduled today and the weather is not cooperating (and I don't have a treadmill). Should I just add some marathon-paced miles to my last long run this weekend?

A:

That would not be my first choice.

Taper tempos are a series of marathon paced workouts in the last 3 weeks before your race. They are designed to help you practice MP, give you a dress rehearsal of your gear, and keep your body feeling like it's training (when it's actually recovering and peaking).

Each taper tempo gets progressively easier and shorter as you get closer to race day. This keeps you in touch with your race pace without stealing your speed from your race.

When you have to move your taper tempo too close to race day, you are risking "leaving your race in training."

Now, moving a taper tempo one day forward ten days before your race is unlikely to cause any issues, so that would be my first choice if that works for your schedule (and the weather). You might have to swap it with an easy day or a planned rest day, but since you are resting today instead, that generally works well.

But making your last long run harder isn't ideal.

The last long run before a marathon should be much shorter than virtually any of your runs in the build up. It's not building any more fitness for race day, but rather keeping your body going through the motions of routine.

In other words, we don't want to make it too hard or too easy.

If you must move the taper tempo to your normal long run day, swap it, but don't "add" the workout into your long run.

When in doubt, less is more during taper.

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podcast

It is normal to think, “I need to run faster to run faster.”

But that drive to run faster may actually be what’s stopping you from getting what you want.

And not to mention, when you actually try to slow down your runs, it feels awkward and unnatural.

Why is that? And how do you physically run slower when it feels so weird?

On this week's Planted Runner Podcast, we’ll dive deep into the power of running slowly to run faster.

You’ll learn:

• the scientific reasons slow running works so well
• the amount of slow running you need to improve, and
• how you make slow running feel less awkward

This concept is undoubtedly the most critical thing you can do to become a better endurance runner.

So if you are a new runner or you have been running for years with disappointing results, this is absolutely what you need to hear right now.

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inspo

“I’ve failed over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”

—Michael Jordan

Have a great run today, Coach Claire

P.S. Find your tribe! Get the accountability and support you need to crush your spring goals with the PR Team. You'll get a custom training plan, coaching from me, and all of my digital programs and products (like Find Your Flow State) for free. And oh yeah, it's also a lot of fun!

Thank you for being a part of the Planted Runner community!

My mission is to help runners just like you reach goals they never dreamed possible through science-backed training and plant-based nutrition.

Since 2016, I've helped thousands of every day runners become fitter, faster, and stronger with truly customized training and coaching.

I also love to share what I have learned from my own journey starting as a non-runner to a 2:58 marathoner at age 42, as well what I have learned coaching runners, completely FREE. I do that every week in this newsletter and on the Planted Runner Podcast.

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