456: Do It Before You're Ready?

In this episode, we’re unpacking the paradox behind the advice of “Just do it before you’re ready”. Because yes—taking action before you feel fully ready can be powerful. It helps you move through hesitation, build momentum, and start building the confidence you’ve been waiting for. Whether it’s getting back into running, starting strength training, signing up for a race, or making a big life decision… sometimes you do just need to go.

But here’s where we see people get tripped up—and honestly, where a lot of runners end up frustrated or hurt.

Doing it before you’re ready doesn’t mean skipping the process.

It doesn’t mean jumping into advanced training without a base, rushing your timeline, or expecting your body to perform at a level it hasn’t been prepared for yet. That’s where burnout, disappointment, and injury start creeping in.

And a lot of this is fueled by what you see online—highlight reels, fast transformations, and people who seem to “just do it” successfully… without seeing the years of foundation, support, or advantages behind the scenes.

So in this episode, we’re inviting you to zoom out.

Respect the process. Give your body the time it needs—especially if you’re over 40. Be honest about your starting point. And most importantly, get clear on why you’re doing this in the first place.

Is this about growth? Or are you just trying to check a box?

Because those are two very different paths—and they require two very different approaches.

02:20 Readiness Mindset

06:05 Marathon Excuse Loop

06:42 Two Truths Paradox

07:27 Start Versus Skip

08:03 Timeline And Motivation

09:35 Fail For Experience

11:03 Starting Energy Wins

13:12 Action Creates Motivation

21:54 Where Transformation Happens

29:59 Over 40 Recovery And Resilience

31:52 Mental Vs Physical Readiness

39:09 Box Checking Vs Growth

Join the 30 Day Running Reset and get a plan that will help you build a strong and injury-proof body by combining running and strength training in a way that actually works for runners like you.

Gain access to my new secret podcast, Unbreakable: The Runner's Guide To Injury-Proofing Your Body After 40. Click here: https://www.realliferunners.com/secret

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Don't forget: The information on this website is not intended to treat or diagnose any medical condition or to provide medical advice. It is intended for general education in the areas of health and wellness. All information contained in this site is intended to be educational in nature. Nothing should be considered medical advice for your specific situation.

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

So maybe you've heard the advice before. Just do it before you're ready. And while that can be helpful, sometimes that's exactly what you need. Sometimes when it's like starting a business, signing up for a race, going after a goal, we can get in our own heads and we can hold ourselves back and stop. Ourselves from taking action. So doing it before you're ready sounds like great advice, but sometimes that advice can get you into trouble. So that's what we're gonna talk about today.'cause there's a paradox and there's two truths that are present in this statement. And today we're gonna explore that. So should we do it before we're ready or should we wait? Stay tuned. All right. Welcome back to the show Runners. This is episode 456 of the Real Life Runners Podcast, and Kevin and I are hanging out tonight about to. Talk about some more nuance and paradox.

Speaker 2 1:14

Yeah, the nuance is always a fun one.

Speaker 1:16

I love paradoxes.

Speaker 2 1:17

You were asking me where I came up with this idea and I don't have a specific thing that I can think back to where I came up with, do it before you're ready. You just, it's something that you see online so often. Yeah. Especially among like fitness influencers are, there's a big push'cause there's this whole contingent. Especially as we're moving to racing season more of. the run influencers who are like, ah, I haven't trained, I haven't run in, in six months and I'm doing a marathon this weekend. Do it before you're ready. It's that's not necessarily the best scenario of how that's gonna play out. And then sometimes they do it, and then you get to compare yourself to somebody who trained, who didn't train at all and then ran a marathon. Or they do it and they get hurt and they're like, oh, but look at me. I'm so tough. I still made it to the finish line. Which also seems like a terrible idea.

Speaker 2:02

Yeah. But there. There is definitely a place where this advice is a good idea because so many of us hold ourselves back and wait until we feel ready to start, and I think this is one of my. Favorite pieces of things to say to people that are newly married or people that are, waiting or wondering when they're ready to have kids?

Speaker 2 2:25

Yes,

Speaker 2:25

because the answer that I always, the thing that I always tell them is, you're never actually ready. Like you just have to decide.

Speaker 2 2:32

Yeah. no.

Speaker 2:32

cause readiness genuinely is a state of mind for a lot of things, but not for everything. And that's what we're talking about today because. There are really two truths here, and they both matter. So the first one is if you wait until you feel ready, sometimes you'll never start because we can always justify reasons that we're not ready for things. we need more information. We need more motivation. We, the time isn't right. I need to do this first. there's so many things that we give ourselves. So many reasons we give ourselves of when I'll feel ready or once I do this, then I'll be ready. Like we put all these different contingencies on things and So many times it can prevent us from starting the thing.

Speaker 2 3:15

Yeah. I think you hit the two biggest ones there of I don't have enough information to feel ready and I want to do these things first. In the kid analogy of oh, there's, I wanna get to this point in my career, or We should take this vacation before we have kids, and then it's gonna be different with kids and, but there's always another thing that you could put Yeah. In front of the having kids.

Speaker 3:36

And I do think that some of those things are very good reasons and very justifiable reasons. Like traveling I think is a big one. if you are someone that really loves travel and there are certain things that you would like to go see and do before you have children, I think that's a very valid reason to. Put off starting a family.

Speaker 2 3:54

Sure. But there's an infinite amount of places you could travel to.

Speaker 3:56

100%.

Speaker 2 3:57

And so at some point, if you want to have the kids, you have to be like, all right, I've seen a lot of places, I've done a lot of traveling. Yeah. Now we're gonna have kids, and then we're gonna travel with kids.

Speaker 4:07

Yeah. and that can definitely be done. I know people that do it and are very good with it. It just changes things a lot. But I think that it also,

Speaker 2 4:15

I get anxiety thinking about it.

Speaker 4:18

That's why we don't usually do a lot of traveling with our kids. But I can also think that people that say those things or use readiness as a reason to not do something, might actually not want to do that thing. And so they're just pushing that, kicking that can down the road. Like maybe those people don't actually want, kids or UN are unsure of whether or not they want kids or not. And so they're gonna be like, oh, I have to do all these things first and then maybe. I'll want that. Maybe I'll be ready for them. But the answer might also be you just are a person that doesn't want kids and that's okay.

Speaker 2 4:52

Yeah. But you don't wanna actually say that out loud.

Speaker 4:54

Yeah.

Speaker 2 4:55

And so you just keep putting up things That you have to knock off first. Yeah. Like the checklist of things you have to do beforehand just keeps getting longer and longer.

Speaker 5:02

that was like very apparent on the love is blind of this season. there was that one girl and Love is blind. So those of you that like trashy tv like I do sometimes, love is blind, is one of the. The shows that I tend to watch. I didn't watch the beginning. I just started maybe two or three seasons ago, but it can be, it can, that thing can suck you in. But there was this one girl on there who had always said she didn't want kids, and then all of a sudden she met the guy and the guy, that was like a non-negotiable for him is that he knew he wanted kids for sure, but she kept waffling back and forth of oh, maybe. And then, spoiler alert, if you don't. Wanna know what actually happens, just like skip forward 10 seconds here. But ultimately they decided not to get married because she couldn't guarantee that she wanted kids and that she was ready to have kids.

Speaker 2 5:50

Because she, she didn't, yeah, she

Speaker 5:54

didn't want to have them. She didn't, but she didn't wanna let go of him.

Speaker 2 5:56

But you,

Speaker 5:56

she wanted him and she wanted the relationship, but she didn't want the kids. So there's sometimes there are things that we want two different things that we want that can actually compete with each other.

Speaker 2 6:07

So you throw this into people who want to train for a marathon?

Speaker 6:10

Yeah.

Speaker 2 6:10

They're like, oh, I've gotta accomplish these things. Yeah. Before I train for a marathon. And they just keep coming up with new things and you're like, oh, okay. It makes sense that you'd want to accomplish A, B, and C.

Speaker 6:21

Are you pointing at me right now?

Speaker 2 6:22

I am not. It makes sense that you don't want to accomplish A, B, and C, but then suddenly those things get accomplished and they're like, oh, but also I have DE and F. Maybe they don't want to run a marathon.

Speaker 6:31

Yeah. And that's okay.

Speaker 2 6:32

Which is completely fine, but they don't wanna say out loud.

Speaker 6:35

Yeah.

Speaker 2 6:35

They don't wanna run a marathon because. Whatever reason. People around the are gonna judge them. no one cares if you wanna run a marathon. They really don't.

Speaker 6:41

So we have to look at both of these truths. So the first one, like I just said, are that if you wait until you feel ready, a lot of times you're never going to start because we can always keep coming up with reasons that we're not ready. And then on the other hand, if you start. Without respecting the process, a lot of times it is gonna lead you to get hurt, burnt out or stuck, especially when it comes to running. So starting, so that's where the words here matter, right? Because we started the episode with Do it Before You're ready and yeah. And that's where Kevin and I start started our discussion. when he brought this idea up.'cause do it before you're ready maybe. But in running or like in the marathon or the half marathon, is that really the best idea? But starting before you're ready, I think that can be powerful. So I think there's a difference between starting and then doing, which is just word, that's just wording.'cause. I guess you would, you could say that starting is actually doing it, but skipping the buildup and skipping the process, that's when things can fall apart

Speaker 2 7:45

and that's where I'm gonna do a marathon next weekend. Yeah. is a silly thing. Like I, I'm going to start training for a marathon. I'm going to sign up for a marathon. And then I'm going to put in all of the work required to have a successful run at the marathons.

Speaker 7:58

I would. Argue that you should probably start running before you sign up for a marathon, because there are people that do that too. There are people that decide that they need a goal in order for them to start doing the thing, so they sign up for the marathon thinking that's gonna give them motivation to start running.

Speaker 2 8:14

and it works for some people. Some people need the race motivation.

Speaker 8:18

Yeah. But some people give themselves too short of a timeline.

Speaker 2 8:20

Very much. Some people give themselves too short of a timeline, and I'd argue it's a much safer path to sign up for a half.

Speaker 8:25

or a marathon in a year.

Speaker 2 8:27

Yes. Sign up for

Speaker 8:28

the timeline matters here.

Speaker 2 8:29

The time. Definitely matters. Yeah, and the thing is that there are people out there like we, we opened with who are like, I haven't run in a year and I'm running a marathon this weekend. And they get to the finish line, but they get to the finish line just to check off a box and prove they did. And you can use that as a learning tool. I think the lesson is. I should have trained for the marathon. I think it's really the big takeaway that you're gonna get off of that. But you can say no. I just wanted to see how tough I was. I wanted to see if I could do it. If that's all you want to get out of it, then sure, go try and run a marathon this weekend.

Speaker 9:03

because then if they get hurt in the big scheme of things, it doesn't matter as much,

Speaker 2 9:08

right?

Speaker 9:08

Because. The human body is amazing and you're going to heal most likely from whatever injury it is. And then if you don't really care about running again after that, then it doesn't really matter that much because you got your pictures and videos for your Instagram reel.

Speaker 2 9:22

And if that's all you're going for, that's fine.

Speaker 9:24

Yeah.

Speaker 2 9:24

Like you, you go bigger. I don't know if I was quote unquote ready before I ran my first a hundred mile. I did not make it to the finish line either. Yeah. But I'm not sure. What it was that I was going to need to do to be ready. So at some point I had to be willing to toe the line.

Speaker 9:41

Yeah.

Speaker 2 9:42

Fully willing to not make it to the finish line. And it was super disappointing to not make it to the finish line, but I learned a lot off of that.

Speaker 9:50

Yeah.

Speaker 2 9:51

And if you're willing to just blatantly fail in the attempt,'cause I was almost 40 miles from the finish line. Like that. I made it two thirds. But I learned

Speaker 10:01

35.

Speaker 2 10:03

Sure. You

Speaker 10:03

made it to 65.

Speaker 2 10:04

I made it two thirds ish. and if you're really willing to gain all these lessons and not worry about what the number on a clock says Yeah. or the DNF says Then there's something to be said about even doing Yeah. Before you're ready.

Speaker 10:19

Yeah. And I think that is a time that it can be helpful when you're going into it. As experience instead of looking just at the results. And I think that this is one of the times that, where do it before you're ready is helpful when this is good advice. Like the biggest thing that comes to mind of when this is good and like let's look at this both ways, right? Of like, when is this good advice? When is this helpful advice? And where does it go wrong? when is this not when we wanna be using this advice? So I think. The first example of like when this is good advice is starting energy, right? Like whenever you're starting something. So maybe it is signing up for your first race or beginning strength training or getting back into running after a break. So doing it before you're ready. Is great to get you over that hump, because a lot of times the biggest wall, the biggest obstacle is just doing the thing just to start. Taking that first step can be the biggest hurdle for so many people, and that's one of the reasons that we often say if you're not feeling it on any given day, and this could be even just for one of your normal runs, if you're not feeling it, just go out for five minutes, commit to five minutes, because a lot of times just. Starting is going to be enough of getting over that hump of starting is going to be enough so that you'll just keep going. And that can be on one individual run or that can be starting a new training goal or training cycle.

Speaker 2 11:41

Yeah, I like that you added getting back into running after a break.

Speaker 11:44

Yeah.

Speaker 2 11:44

Because people are like, oh, I. I took a month off. It's gonna be so hard to get back into it, so I am not going to Yeah. And suddenly now you've taken two months off. That's not gonna make it easier. To get back into it. and I was talking with somebody who used to be on our cross country team, who, got away from it and was, spending a lot of time in the gym but hadn't been running in a long time. And they started back up and they were like, oh, that first run was so bad. I'm like, yeah. And you have about two more weeks of them. And she looked at me, she's really? I'm like, not every run, there are definitely going to be runs during the next two weeks that you're like, oh my word, I'm back. And it felt amazing. But then the next day's probably gonna be terrible, and you've got about two weeks when you get back into it after an extended break, or if you start up from nothing where. Every day is really just rolling the dice on whether that's gonna feel good or not.

Speaker 12:32

Yeah.

Speaker 2 12:32

And once you're through those two weeks, you are going to much more consistently have good days, but still, every once in a while you go out there for a run and it's just like, all right, my body doesn't function today.

Speaker 12:43

Yeah.

Speaker 2 12:43

It's weird, but it, getting back into it or starting back up, you've got this window. Where it doesn't feel great. And you still have to keep going.

Speaker 12:51

Yeah. And that's a good time to just do it right. Just do it before you feel ready, because there's a lot of people that think they need confidence to start or they need motivation to start, and those things are complete lies. You just need to start. And they've actually done research that shows that you get more motivation from. Doing the thing after you take action. Like action creates motivation, not the other way around. People think that they need motivation to take action, and that is just a lie that you're telling yourself. You just have to be willing to start to go do the thing. And sometimes that requires overcoming a fear. A lot of times that actually overcome it is a. It has to do with overcoming a fear that we might not even be aware of. Whether it's a fear of getting hurt, a fear of looking dumb, a fear of not being successful. there's lots of silly little fears that live in our subconscious that hold us back from doing things.

Speaker 2 13:44

Yeah, no, there's fears all over the place. Yeah. I think of this one of trying to come back off of hernia surgery and I kept running and after a few minutes it hurt and so then I would take a walking break and then I'd try and run and after a few minutes. It would hurt. And so I'd take a walking break and at some point, like I was getting really frustrated, annoyed, and getting down on myself. And you were like, try just running through the pain. what if it's uncomfortable, but you run anyway. And it was like, okay. I'll give it a shot. Your doctor. Let's see how this goes, because what was the worst that was gonna happen? And that's, I think what I asked you is what's the worst that could actually happen if I do this? Like, how bad is this going to be? And you were like, you're not going to re hernia yourself. I think you used actual appropriate medical terms. But essentially that was my worry is I'm gonna go off for a run this, this pain that I have is literally just going to rip holes in my body and I'm gonna be back where I was. And you were like, no, you can just actually keep running. And I did. I pushed through the uncomfortableness and two minutes later my form was better and the pain was gone and I was running again.

Speaker 14:53

Yeah.'cause sometimes that first mile is a liar, right? Like we've used that one before as well. So there are times that. Just starting. Just doing the thing is a good idea, and I think that the other example that you used of. Just signing up for that race. Is a very good example because you had never done an ultra marathon before. You had never done a hundred miles before. One could argue or one could offer this suggestion that like you could have tried a 50 K first or a 50. I did a

Speaker 2 15:23

50 K

Speaker 15:23

around

Speaker 2 15:24

our

Speaker 15:24

neighborhood. 50 mile. Okay. A 50 miler. First 50.

Speaker 2 15:26

I did 43 miles around our greater neighborhood.

Speaker 15:30

Fair enough. Fair enough. But that was in training for the a hundred mile after you had already signed up for the a hundred mile.

Speaker 2 15:36

Yes. But that's part of the respect, the timeline. Yeah. Is I was like, okay. This race is all the way out in here in the future. I have a time window that I could get in these big runs in training, and I thought that was going to be sufficient, helpful. I don't know. it was helpful but not sufficient, I think is ultimately what that kind of came down to.

Speaker 15:56

Yeah, and I think that ultimately. It's gonna be hard for you to ever know if you're ready to do something until you do it in a lot of ways, especially something like an ultra or a hundred miles like

Speaker 2 16:06

or kids,

Speaker 16:07

or Yes, or kids or a marathon. Because in a marathon, you don't run a marathon in training for a marathon. So there's a lot of people that if you're only going up to 18 to 20 miles, they really question and doubt whether or not they're gonna be able to make it to 26. And when you are training for a hundred miles, the longest you went was like somewhere between 40 and 50 miles. There's gotta be a lot of doubt in your mind. Of am I actually able to run a hundred miles because your training didn't even come close to that. So there's gotta be that question of am I actually ready? And so I do think that is another time where you have to trust the process enough and trust that you have done enough training.'cause it's not like you went into that without training. You followed. Good advice and good training plans, and you did a lot of research, you had a lot of information, and then there becomes a time where once you do all of those things and you know that you have put in the work to prepare, sometimes you have to just jump and you have to do the thing to test it.

Speaker 2 17:05

Yes. Once you know that you've put in good work, then. Then it's okay to jump in and be like, all right, I'm as ready as I'm gonna get. I don't necessarily feel ready, but I'm not sure what else I would do to feel more ready. I think is, that's the thing. It's I did it before I knew I was, I could do it. But I did it once. I had put in enough work to feel like I could probably do it.

Speaker 17:28

Because there's not a, there's never a 100% guarantee in anything. No. even if you've done it before, there's a chance you might not finish. think about how many, especially ultra marathoners.

Speaker 2 17:38

I think that's the most interesting thing about running a hundred.

Speaker 17:40

Yeah.

Speaker 2 17:41

Is the next one I do. I might DNF.

Speaker 17:44

Yeah,

Speaker 2 17:44

that's the most intriguing part of every time I sign up, I'm not gonna

Speaker 17:48

intriguing, insane either way.

Speaker 2 17:50

the odds of my DN Fing, a local 5K are so small. But the odds of my DN Fing a hundred. Are definitely measurable.

Speaker 17:59

Yeah.

Speaker 2 17:59

there is a good percentage that I just don't make it to that finish line.

Speaker 18:03

Even if you've done it before.

Speaker 2 18:04

Yes.

Speaker 18:04

Which is crazy.

Speaker 2 18:05

Which is, yeah. So weird.

Speaker 18:06

Yeah. But that's part of it, right? So that, those I think would be some good examples. Or, like we said, kids again, Also kids. Also kids because there's, you're just never going to be ready because you genuinely have no idea what you're even getting yourself into. So there's no way to tell. If you're ready for it, because there's just no way to know.

Speaker 2 18:27

Also, you're not

Speaker 18:28

also ultra marathon, also, you're not, yeah. you're both ready and not ready all at the same time.

Speaker 2 18:34

You're definitely, you're not ready. And then at some point in time that, like that adorable baby, which is also like a gross pooping machine, is gonna grow up and become a teenager. And you're not ready for that either.

Speaker 18:45

It means you're not ready for any of the stages, but yet you are ready. all of the stages. no. We're not barking. All of the stages that we've gone through in parenthood have prepared us for parenting. A teenager. That's why they don't just hand you a teenager. Because like they've given us a warmup.

Speaker 2 19:04

Excellent.

Speaker 19:05

Alright. Dynamic mobility, warmup in parenting.

Speaker 2 19:09

As the toddler years is our dynamic mobility,

Speaker 19:11

toddler years.

Speaker 2 19:13

there's a lot of jungle gyms. I feel like it's related to dynamic mobility.

Speaker 19:16

Oh, goodness. Yeah.

Speaker 2 19:16

All right, so let's move into where, just start before you're ready can go terribly wrong. Yeah.

Speaker 19:23

Okay,

Speaker 2 19:23

and this is really where you skip all the foundation and you just try and jump into a thing. This is doing the marathon with absolutely no base training. This is speed workout multiple times a week. When you are just getting into running, this is high level strength training where. You have no foundational movement things. This is strength training. Without changing what you're doing in your running. There are so many things that can show up where you miss the foundational pieces and you're just like, I'm gonna do this because this part looks cooler and I don't want. To do steps one through 12. I just want to be at the finish line because the finish line looks cooler. This is climbing a mountain, but you're not actually climbing a mountain. You're just taking like a helicopter ride and it's dropping you on top of the mountain because then you can get the cool picture, but you didn't put in any of the work. So it's not really fulfilling and it's possible that you get hurt, falling out of a helicopter.

Speaker 20:21

Yes. Falling out of a helicopter.

Speaker 2 20:23

when it takes you to the top of the mountain,

Speaker 20:25

Uhhuh, why would you fall out? Why wouldn't it like drop you off? And

Speaker 2 20:28

I was trying to highlight the danger of it

Speaker 20:30

day.

Speaker 2 20:30

Oh, the danger. So in my metaphor, you have to fall out of the helicopter.

Speaker 20:32

But I think this ties into what you were saying before about like people on social media that just decide they're gonna run a marathon because they're an influencer and they're being paid to run this marathon, but then they don't actually put in. The training for it, and they just decide they're gonna run a marathon one day because it'd be fun. Get ready with me. It's time for a marathon.

Speaker 2 20:52

Yeah. But then they don't actually respect the process of the marathon. Yeah. They don't appreciate the process of the marathon. They

Speaker 20:57

don't even understand it.

Speaker 2 20:58

So then anybody that's following them. Is now also guided to not respect the process of training for a marathon. Yeah. Now it looks like it's just this like cool, quick thing that you can do. And it's not that I'd argue that they miss the whole good part Yeah. Of the marathon. That, that they thought that the best part of the marathon. Who's getting the finisher's medal around their

Speaker 21:19

neck. Ooh, I like

Speaker 2 21:20

that. But that's not, that's just this neat, shiny thing you get at the end. But the best part are the miles and miles that you put in, like the best part.

Speaker 21:29

that's where the transformation actually happens.

Speaker 2 21:31

Yes. The transformation, I'm gonna butcher the quote from one of my favorite books, but the transformation happens one molecule of rubber removed from the sole of your shoes at a time.

Speaker 21:41

Oh wow. Is that once a runner?

Speaker 2 21:42

Yes, it is.

Speaker 21:42

I knew it.

Speaker 2 21:44

But that's where the real transformation comes from. The transformation comes in from the miles spent on trails and roads and the early mornings and the time in the weight room. It's not because you cross the finish line and somebody put a shiny thing around your neck. It's not because. You put a bib on your chest and then put a GoPro on a stick and filmed yourself Here I am mile one here. I am mile two. Here. I am mile. Mile three. Yeah, enjoy the people around you and look in Ultras. There's some people that actually do a really good job with GoPro on a stick. Yeah, but maybe not at your local 5K, maybe not at the expense of those around you.

Speaker 22:22

not at the expense of those around you. I think that. I think we could get into a whole different rant about the need for people to film themselves doing everything nowadays. And I think that, people could argue that I'm one of those people too, like I do when I'm out on a run, like I get 15 seconds of footage of me running because I wanna make a video that's going to then be posted on TikTok or Instagram to, for the point of helping other people. that's one thing is I'm not just doing it to just. Just brag about my running. I'm using that as B-roll to then put in tips and things about running. But even so there's a whole different thing that we could talk about there, about needing to document everything and, but I think that. Highlights the influencer trap, which would, is what we're trying to talk about here with social media, because a lot of times you'll see something on social media and people will be like, run a marathon with me without any training and or run a marathon with me in going from zero running ever to running my first marathon in eight weeks. But a lot of times. Those people that you see are 20 something year old people doing those kinds of things

Speaker 2 23:28

or from zero running, but they skim over the fact that they've been a competitive cyclist for the last decade.

Speaker 23:34

or swimmer, right? Like they have a ridiculous cardio base. yes, you might be new to running, but you are very athletic and you have a huge athletic background.

Speaker 2 23:44

Former professional soccer player. Let's see how I do at the local 10 K. Yeah, I bet you do pretty well.

Speaker 23:49

Exactly, and I think that's a lot of times what people will gloss over. They can. They see other people doing some ridiculous thing and they think that means that it's okay for them to do it that way also. And I am all about. Using people for inspiration for sure. If you see somebody out there doing something inspirational, Oprah was one of these people for so many people that brought people into marathon running. People saw Oprah run a marathon and thought, oh my gosh, if Oprah can do it, I can do it. And I think that's a beautiful thing. I think that people can use other people's stories as inspiration. Perfect. But you don't have to do it the same way that those other people did it. And there's really no way that you can do it the exact same way. let's just continue with the Oprah example. Oprah is a billionaire. when she ran the marathon, she wasn't, I don't think, a billionaire with a b. But she was a multimillionaire with lots of resources and personal trainers and chefs and time to recover and massage therapy and physical therapy like she had so many people in her entourage that were helping her body. Be as prepared as it could be for that race and to recover as, as best as possible from all the things that she was doing.

Speaker 2 25:05

She looked a little bit like Kipchoge breaking two. She had all the coaches and she literally had, she

Speaker 25:10

had multiple people running with her in the marathon.

Speaker 2 25:12

She had a pacing her. She had a group of six that like looped her as a pacer. Now they didn't. Form like a perfect aerodynamic security and

Speaker 25:18

pacing

Speaker 2 25:19

aerodynamic V in front of her. But there was her group of Pacers that went through and did the whole thing with her. And yes, there was definitely security that had to make sure that they could hold that pace too.

Speaker 25:28

But that's the thing that we oftentimes tend to either gloss over or that we aren't even aware of. we don't always see the background or the person's age or their recovery capacity. If they've done similar things like this in the past, like Kevin has said, if they were into cycling or swimming or some other like ridiculous aerobic base or what happened after, right? a lot of them won't show you what happened after that either. They'll show you the highlight reel because social media. Is a highlight reel, so they'll get whatever B roll of them running and they'll put inspirational music and they'll show themselves crossing the line and getting the medal and all of that is incredible. I'm not trying to downplay anyone else's accomplishments. Just be aware and be careful what you use to base your training off of. Use whatever you want for inspiration. If someone inspires you to do something fantastic that is. Awesome. I love that. But just remember, be, just because something is possible for someone else does not mean that's the best way for you to do it. And that's what we have to really look at.

Speaker 2 26:31

I, it's related to the trap of the Olympics.

Speaker 26:33

Yeah.

Speaker 2 26:34

Is you see these people and you're like, these are just people. And you go through and you get their stories and they're like, they've overcome all of these challenges. And it's yes, they have overcome all these challenges and they have it in these things, but they're also genetic. Freaks.

Speaker 26:48

Yeah.

Speaker 2 26:48

And to be able to be like, if I just worked as hard as them. No, probably not.

Speaker 26:52

Yeah. how many people watched curling and thought to themselves, I could totally do this.

Speaker 2 26:56

the group of us majority guys who then became professional curlers and meddled four years ago,

Speaker 27:03

did that actually happen?

Speaker 2 27:04

Yes.

Speaker 27:04

That's awesome.

Speaker 2 27:05

That's actually what happened.

Speaker 27:06

but there's so many times that you do, you watch these Olympic events and you go one of two ways. One is, oh my God, that's incredible. I could never do something like that. When you watch the people flying through the air and twisting and turning their bodies in a million different directions before landing on two skis, which is Yep. Is so crazy. And then the other way of you look at it, you're like, yeah, I can, I think I could probably do something like that.

Speaker 2 27:27

Which is why they should always, before any Olympic event, just have a select a random person outta the audience. Yeah. And have them. Try it.

Speaker 27:37

Perfect. Oh, that would be fun.

Speaker 2 27:39

Just give it a shot.

Speaker 27:39

I'm down for

Speaker 2 27:40

this. Just so we can see what the base level should look like. And then bring out, and I don't mean this in a negative way, but these people are genetic outliers. If you look on a bell curve, they're not even on it. They're so far to the right of the bell curve that you can't. See them anymore. And a lot of people look at the Olympics. They're like, oh, that's inspiring. If I worked hard, I could do that. And you probably can't unless you're also a genetic freak. Yeah. And you just don't, haven't realized it yet.

Speaker 28:03

The Olympians require both, right? Yes. Like it requires you to be so like far superior, genetically, you have to have a certain setup and then work. Super hard on top of that.

Speaker 2 28:14

Yes.

Speaker 28:15

Because there are genetic freaks of nature that don't work as hard, don't work hard, and then they're not gonna get those results. And then there are normal people that work really freaking hard, but could never make it to the Olympics.

Speaker 2 28:24

Yes, exactly. and I think that sometimes you're going to just buy odds. Yeah. You're going to get people who are somewhat genetic outliers That fall into this influencer trap of oh, I trained for. A month and a half in ran a marathon. It's if you have some athletic background and you're a bit of a genetic freak, you could probably pull that off.

Speaker 28:42

And so people like that can start and before they're ready, they can probably do things before they're ready or before anyone else would be ready because they have the genetics to back themselves up. Or they have the age or the recovery capacity or the lifestyle to get away with some of those things.

Speaker 2 28:58

They probably don't have teenagers.

Speaker 28:59

They or they have nannies.

Speaker 2 29:03

Oh, yes.

Speaker 29:03

but I think that this is really what we, especially those of us that are over 40, really need to keep in mind of doing things before you're ready and being very careful because after 40, our body does go through changes and we have less resilience. It takes longer to recover. We have hormonal changes that sh that. change how our body adapts to training and to stress. We have just more life stress, like those teenagers and jobs and responsibilities. And so sometimes in your twenties you can get away with doing things on less training. You can get away with. Being able to accomplish things and not really going through the entire process. But in your forties, your body keeps score more.

Speaker 2 29:49

Yeah. Like it always keeps score. Just it does it correctly now.

Speaker 29:53

Yeah.

Speaker 2 29:53

Sometimes it was fudging the numbers a little

Speaker 29:55

bit. It would, we just had more, we had we more of a backup system. Like we had more empty storage on our computer.

Speaker 2 30:01

Like we could make so many more little mistakes. Yeah. In our twenties and our body was like, don't worry. I see what you're,

Speaker 30:06

I got you.

Speaker 2 30:06

I see what you're aiming for. Yeah. Here's the adaptation.

Speaker 30:09

I got you. You're good.

Speaker 2 30:10

Like I've,

Speaker 30:11

it's like kids too, like even when you're young, like when kids fall and they hurt themselves and then they're back out playing like two minutes later.

Speaker 2 30:18

Yes.

Speaker 30:19

They're so resilient. They can just bounce back so quickly. Whereas if you're 45 and you fall, it takes you two weeks to recover from. Nothing.

Speaker 2 30:28

yeah. No, it's, the comeback is brutal and nothing quite moves as fast. Nothing adapts as fast

Speaker 30:33

because your body's different

Speaker 2 30:34

because the recovery takes longer, and so it takes longer before you can put the next adaptation setup. Like you can't stress yourself again because the recovery's taking longer. Yeah. the longer recovery, the hormonal changes. Not a fan of it.

Speaker 30:45

Yeah.

Speaker 2 30:45

It's given me way slower results in a weight room than I remember in my teens.

Speaker 30:49

In your teens, yeah. and I think that this is really what it all comes down to, which is the missing piece of all of it, of doing things before you're ready. The missing piece is the timeline and the real issue isn't starting before you're ready.'cause it's a good thing to oftentimes to start before. You are mentally ready for something because we become mentally ready for things by actually starting, and we gain confidence by actually doing the thing. But the problem is when we're not physically ready for things and we're trying to jump into those things and it's expecting results before you give your body enough time to adapt. So a lot of times maybe that's a good distinction to make too, right? Is doing things before you're ready. Mentally versus doing things before you're ready physically. there's a line there I think that we can talk about also.

Speaker 2 31:39

A hundred percent. And then that gets you to the issue of it's not that you're starting before you're ready. It's that you're expecting the results as though you've gone through the whole process. Yeah. It's expecting that starting. Is the same thing as successfully. Accomplishing and starting is a great thing when you're not totally ready, as long as you're prepared for all possible outcomes. And those could be some negative outcomes. that's where the timeline comes in. That's where I suggested that even racing and ultra marathon is gonna be okay.'cause you're not ready for it, but you've got a lot of learning to do. And this is a place where it's like. Except all possible outcomes, and I was so well aware that DNF was a possible outcome.

Speaker 32:22

Yeah.

Speaker 2 32:23

that's part of the, it's okay, I'm gonna learn from it.

Speaker 32:26

Yeah. Because if you're willing to accept all possible outcomes, then I think that you could argue you are actually ready for the thing.

Speaker 2 32:34

Yeah.

Speaker 32:34

Because you're not delusional,

Speaker 2 32:35

then you're always ready.

Speaker 32:36

Yeah. Then you're always ready because readiness and what is readiness, right? is it a feeling or is it more something that you build? are you. Just, is it just a decision, right? Like I think that it can be all of these things. I think that it can be a feeling. I think it can be just a decision of deciding I am ready for that thing. And I think that you can also build readiness over time, because when you build strength, when you build mobility, when you build that aerobic base in your endurance, when you build your nervous system capacity, you then have more confidence that you're gonna be able to do the thing, which will then help you feel quote unquote ready.

Speaker 2 33:14

You also have the tools, the physical tools to be more ready Yeah. Than without those, like you need a certain level of strength, you need a certain level of mobility and aerobic base. And with, if those things are all set at zero, you're not ready at all. You're not gonna feel ready. You're definitely not physically ready. I could have gone oh, couch to ultra marathon. I would not have DNF at mile 65 ish. I would've DNF at mile five ish. And Sure. You could say, you, you learned something. Yeah. I learned

Speaker 33:42

that. At least you started.

Speaker 2 33:43

Yeah. Yeah. I learned that my aerobic base is nowhere near where it needed to be. Yeah. I would not have learned much. I would've learned, I can't just go off of absolutely nothing.

Speaker 33:52

But I think this was like one of the. Your main takeaways after your last a hundred too, is you realize the importance of strength training and that you were not actually, or you are not currently ready to take on the Western States 100 in the body that you're currently in.

Speaker 2 34:08

I know. I'm still gonna enjoy watching it in June though. It's probably a good thing. That I did not get in off the lottery.

Speaker 34:13

It was a very good thing because your body is not ready for it.

Speaker 2 34:17

Yeah. So

Speaker 34:18

like climbing a mountain like you running a hundred miles on flat Florida land is much different than running a hundred miles through a mountain.

Speaker 2 34:26

I think I could handle all of the ups. I think that I would literally break into pieces on all of the downs. I think that's the issue.

Speaker 34:33

we might have to remind you of what literally actually means here.

Speaker 2 34:36

no. Even on California carpet trails, it's literally break in half. That's

Speaker 34:40

what I'm

Speaker 2 34:41

going with.

Speaker 34:41

There you go. So when we talk about doing it before you're ready again, there's always a caveat. There's always nuance. Sometimes it is good for you to do it before you're ready. I think it's a very good thing to start before you're ready or to do things. And like Kevin said, be willing to accept all possible outcomes that tells you that mentally you are ready. And then. Allow yourself, make sure that you are giving your body enough time physically to have the best chance of success. I would say, would be a good way to look at it.

Speaker 2 35:16

I think that's the thing is are you physically most likely capable of being able to do the thing? Yeah. then go for it. Like it's not just hop in and do it and I don't know, maybe it's gonna go terrible. Put yourself in a position that you are most likely going to be very successful. And it has to do with all the things. Put yourself in a position. we started with having kids and we're like, oh, if you really want to travel, then take that big trip that you want to take. But don't take all of them, take one of the big trips and then say, all right, now I've done that. I've put myself in a position where I feel like I'm now. Capable of doing this.

Speaker 35:52

Yeah. So here are some questions that you might want to think about when you're deciding whether or not you should just do it before you're ready. So the first thing to think about is, am I starting something new? I am. I just waiting to, to feel ready before I start something that's a good time to go for it, right? To at least take the first step. Get started on whatever it is.'cause maybe mentally you're just holding yourself back. The second thing to think about is are you expecting your body? To perform at a level that it's not ready for, that you haven't trained for. That's a red flag, right? if you are thinking to yourself, I can run a marathon and qualify for Boston, but the longest you've ever run is 10 miles and you're not even close to the Boston qualifying pace, then the likelihood of you actually achieving that goal is very low based on the training that you've put in. So that's, something that, that you gotta look at.

Speaker 2 36:44

it's nice to have that goal out there though. Sure. I wanna. I want to run a Boston qualifying marathon.

Speaker 36:50

Wonderful. Give yourself a better timeline.

Speaker 2 36:51

Sure. As it gets closer and closer to the race you're gonna use for your Boston qualifier, and you're like, I'm nowhere near the pace on my five mile training run, then you've gotta adjust what your expectations are out of that goal.

Speaker 37:05

So I think it's very important for us to be honest with ourselves and. Really start to see where might we be rushing something that your body hasn't had time to build yet, right? are we trying to rush the timeline because we really want to achieve that goal and we're trying to just do it before we're ready because we wanna just check that box, we wanna get that goal accomplished so that we can move on to the next one. Or are we actually. Enjoying the process. Are we actually allowing ourselves to go through the process to build the right foundation to make sure that we are actually integrating these things into our life, into our philosophy?'cause I think that's a big question of why are we doing this whole thing in the first place? Like that thing that you are waiting to be ready for? Why do you wanna accomplish that thing? Why do you wanna do that thing? Do you wanna just do it so that you can check a box and get it over with? Or do you wanna do it? In a way that is going to help you grow and evolve and become a stronger version of yourself.

Speaker 2 38:08

I think that is the key question is are you box checking? Because if you're box checking, your body can overcome a lot of things. Yeah. and

Speaker 38:16

if you're just box checking too, then you can give yourself a lot of recovery time.

Speaker 2 38:20

All sorts of recovery time. Yeah. If this is something that you would like to improve and get better at, if this is something that you think can improve you over a longer term horizon. parenting not ready for it, but I think that being a parent has improved me as a human.

Speaker 38:35

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 38:35

Like I think that it has made it

Speaker 38:36

the best growth opportunity ever.

Speaker 2 38:38

It's, oh yeah. It's fantastic. And I was not ready when we started and every day there's new things coming up and I'm like, Huh? I wasn't ready for that.

Speaker 38:46

I know. And that's why we have coaches. that's why I have a life coach, because that my life coach helps me to see things differently because I am not ready for some of these things.

Speaker 2 38:55

But if you appreciate that this is going to be a longer term growth. Process.

Speaker 39:01

Yes.

Speaker 2 39:01

Then you appreciate the steps along the way. You appreciate the journey and you're not just rushing to try to get to the finish line. there's not a finish line in parenting and I As much as there are finish lines in running. It's not that you cross when you be like, now I've finished running like I, I won at running. Even people who win gold medals in the Olympics, they're not like, all right, I did that thing, now let's move on. these are, it's a lifelong thing that you can continue to do and see how it changes as your body evolves, as your relationship with running evolves. it's something that can continuously change and update and evolve and that's the fascinating part, rushing to the end. Starting before you're ready is great. Just doing the thing without trying to enjoy the process is a whole nother ball game. And I think that is the trap that doing before you're ready can sometimes let people fall into

Speaker 39:54

Yeah, because I think that a lot of people do it for. The wrong reasons. I shouldn't say the wrong reasons, but maybe questionable reasons. are you just doing it so you can post something on social media so that you can tell your family member or your friend that told you that this was a dumb idea, you could prove them wrong. there's so many different reasons why we're doing things, and so I would just invite you to think about why you want to achieve any of the goals that you have for yourself and make sure you have a good reason for it. To be a good reason would be wanting to grow, wanting to test and see what you're made of. Wanting to challenge yourself, like all of these things are great reasons, but doing it so that you can post something on social media, is that really why you wanna do the thing? I don't know. I'm not gonna say that's a bad reason by any means, because everybody's got lots of different. perspectives on things, but I do think it's a good time to examine it. So yes, start before you're ready. Do some things before you're ready, but also make sure that you're giving yourself a good timeline and honoring the process. If you found this episode helpful, please do us a favor and leave a review, share it with a friend, share it on social media, help us reach more runners and help more runners to train with intention and feel better in running and in life. Thanks so much for joining us today. This has been The Real Life Runners podcast, episode number 456. Now, get out there and run your life.