"I don't really want to run the day before the long run, Coach."

This is a comment I get fairly often. This time it was from a new marathoner who was coming back for her second marathon training plan.

To be clear, there is no magic formula for marathon training. You can still train for a marathon and not run the day before the long run.

(there's also people on the internet "raw dogging" marathons straight off the couch, but that's another story.)

But there's a very specific reason I highly encourage it:

Because it's like a cheat code.

Pre-fatiguing your legs with a shorter steady run the day before is a way to simulate a longer long run without all the risks, recovery, and draw backs.

When you run a 6 mile (10k) long run the day before a 18 miler (29k), you're getting the benefits of running 24 miles (38k), just with a break for sleep, food, and adaptation (instead of more break down).

Want even more details on how to do this in your training? Click below.

long run cheat code

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from the team

"I actually looked forward to my treadmill run today. WHO AM I?"

That's the message Blake posted in the PR Team, and it was a big deal.

For years, the treadmill was something Blake tolerated because her kids' schedule left her no other option. Early mornings before school drop off, evenings after practice, whatever window she could find, it usually meant four walls and a belt instead of open road.

She dreaded it every time. Runs got cut short. Motivation was hard to find when the only view was her own reflection in a dark window.

Then she started noticing how many other members on the team were treadmill runners too. Not as a last resort, but as a real part of their training.

People started sharing ideas to make the miles fly by, and eventually the conversation turned to what everyone was watching to get through longer runs. Someone posted a Netflix recommendation. Someone else replied with three more. Blake found herself building a queue.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, the dread started to lift. She wasn't just surviving the treadmill anymore.

She was starting to like it.

That's what the PR Team does. It turns something you do alone into something you do alongside other runners, even when you're in different time zones.

Join us and come find your people.

welcome home

*team names changed for privacy

planted practice

Each week, I'd like to challenge you to one small action that I'm calling your Planted Practice.

You don't change the way you think by reading something cool in a newsletter. You change with small, daily work, just like training your body.

Each Planted Practice is deceptively simple, but might just be more powerful than you think.

this week's challenge: smile when it's tough

Next time a run gets hard, smile. Hold it for as long as you need to, then let your face go back to normal. Repeat it any time the effort spikes.

Eliud Kipchoge is famous for smiling during his hardest races. He has said smiling can trigger the mind to not feel your legs.

A study out of Ulster University backs him up: runners who smiled deliberately during hard efforts ran roughly 2 percent more efficiently, a gain in the same range as months of strength training.

Your brain reads your face as data. Give it a signal of ease and your body starts looking for ways to make that true.

*share how it went on social and tag me!

#plantedpractice

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podcast

Pain and the brain have a nuanced relationship. Pain can stem from biological, behavioral, and social situations that we are not even aware of.

And what’s even more fascinating, especially if you have chronic pain, is that pain can be eliminated and pain tolerance can be trained.

Yep, even pain from your lingering running injuries.

In this conversation with Dr Eric Anderson, a neurologist at Lin Health, we go into how everyone, especially runners can change their relationship with pain and even eliminate chronic pain.

We go over:

• Why chronic and acute pain are different in the brain
• How to train your pain tolerance and eliminate triggers, and
• How your nervous system is directly connected to the amount of pain you feel

listen here

And if you’d like to experience one way of brain training for when running gets hard, I’ve made something just for you. It’s called the Readiness Reset and you can get it for free right now. It's a 7-minute audio that combines guided visualization with cognitive conditioning, designed to train the exact response you need when running gets hard. Head to theplantedrunner.com/reset​

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inspo

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face."

—Eleanor Roosevelt

Have a great run today, Coach Claire

P.S. If you missed it, grab the Readiness Reset, a FREE seven minute audio training. Use it before hard workouts, long runs, and race day to stay calm and focused.

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.

I'm so glad you're here and my inbox is always open. Feel free to reply with questions or feedback!

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