Struggling to stay motivated in winter? This episode breaks down how simple consistency and community keep runners strong year-round.

The conversation today centers on the vital theme of winter workouts, emphasizing the necessity for consistency and creativity in maintaining an active lifestyle during the colder months. Dr. Jared Bugaj shares his insights on the importance of simply getting out the door, even for brief runs, as a means to cultivate a habit that fosters long-term fitness. He suggests that runners should seek out safe, well-maintained routes for training, advocating for the use of fartlek workouts to add variety and enjoyment to the regimen. Furthermore, both Dr. Bugaj and I stress the psychological benefits of community engagement in running, highlighting the value of camaraderie during the winter season. Ultimately, this episode serves as a guide to navigating the challenges of winter training while remaining motivated and connected to the running community. The dialogue between Dr. Leo Kormanik and Dr. Jared Bugaj serves as an insightful guide for runners navigating the challenges of winter training. Dr. Bugaj, who is currently in exceptional shape, articulates the necessity of endurance and consistency in maintaining a training regimen during the colder months. He stresses that the mere act of stepping outside to run, regardless of the distance, can yield significant improvements in fitness over time, likening it to a steady investment that reaps rewards as one continues to engage with the sport. Throughout the episode, the hosts explore various strategies to make winter workouts both effective and enjoyable. Dr. Bugaj offers practical advice on finding safe and consistently cleared routes for running, suggesting that runners establish a familiar loop to enhance their winter experience. He introduces the concept of fartlek workouts as a way to incorporate variety and spontaneity into training, urging listeners to embrace the freedom of altering pace during runs. This not only keeps the workouts engaging but also allows for adaptability in the face of unpredictable weather conditions. In addition to the physical aspects of winter training, the hosts delve into the social dynamics of running during this season. They highlight the importance of community and how joining group runs can alleviate the mental burden of training alone in inclement weather. The shared experiences foster camaraderie, making the challenges of winter training feel more achievable. Ultimately, the discussion encapsulates the notion that winter workouts, though demanding, can be transformed into an opportunity for personal growth and connection within the running community.

Takeaways:

1. Consistency in winter workouts is paramount; even short runs are beneficial for maintaining fitness levels.
2. Finding safe and well-maintained paths greatly enhances the winter running experience, making it more enjoyable.
3. Incorporating varied workouts such as fartlek can break the monotony and improve running performance during winter.
4. Engaging in community runs fosters camaraderie and motivation, making winter training more enjoyable and less isolating.

Foreign.

Yo, yo, everybody.

Here's another episode of the Mind Body marathon.

On today's show, we got Dr. Jared Begay with us and we'll be going over winter workouts.

So that's kind of been the theme.

Last week we did a treadmill versus outside running.

And then this week we're going to kind of give you some ideas on how to kind of make winter training a little bit more exciting and some, some options for training and things like that.

Um, so Jared, back in.

So you're still kind of, you're training at a decent level, right?

So you're probably the fittest you might have ever been right about now.

Yeah, we're getting there.

So what are some of your secrets to get through the winter?

Yeah, so I mean, just literally getting out the door and you know, if it's a day like today, you guys can't see it because.

But it's snowing like crazy outside and you know, just getting out the door, even if it's like two or three miles, just gutting it out, you know, an easy run is better than no run.

And you know, that consistency over time just keeps compounding and you know, it's like putting money in a bank.

And you know, the more you can keep that investment going, the longer, you know, the more it's going to grow.

Yeah.

And you know, this time of year it's hard because, you know, there's not good accessibility to trails, the tracks are covered.

You know, it's hard to get into an indoor.

So.

Yeah.

What are some of your options?

Like, like what do you do to make it fun and unique?

So like around this area, Sagamore park, it's they, they salt it, they plow it.

So find it.

Find a road that's consistently salted and.

Plows and, and just doing like fart licks, you know, it keeps your mind active, it keeps things a little bit interesting, you know, you're not, you know, standing for any long period of time, you know, so.

Yeah, so I think like one of the big things to really help get you through winter training is finding a consistent roads that are safe to run on because the traffic isn't too high and two that are consistently plowed and salted.

And then when that's the case, kind of make that your home course, if you will.

You might be running that same route over and over a lot of different times.

I know for me, when I was living at different areas throughout my life and training in Ohio, I would find like a mile to a two mile loop, typically about A mile and a half or so loop.

And I just would like literally do that loop a ton.

And I, I was inspired to do that because of the Japanese.

That's kind of a lot how they train because they all run for different large companies in Tokyo, like all the great Japanese runners and they compete in icons and stuff like that.

So what they end up doing, they all train in training grounds in Tokyo.

But if you've ever looked at a map of Tokyo, it's not great with parks.

It's not like New York City, it's not like Cleveland, you know, it's not like, you know, some of these cities that have beautiful parks all around.

You can hit lots of trails.

That's not Tokyo.

So what they do is they find these small little community parks and they run like a K loop.

And they'll do that for like 200k a week.

Just insane, like bonkers volume on the same loop.

And it's just like extremely repetitive and extremely like you could see some of the great Japanese runners if you went to Tokyo right now and just go to a park and you can see them literally running every day, training full tilt, like doing all workouts and easy runs and everything there.

So just, you know, bite your tongue, bite your lip, just get through the winter.

Like Jared was saying, just like, just deal with it, but also like kind of find your home.

Tur he mentioned for us at Sagamore park.

That's a big one.

It's just under a mile loop and in the winter it's where a lot of people walk their dogs.

It's just basically a road that's the perimeter of the park.

And we know the city plows it and salts it very frequently.

So you're pretty much safe to kind of have that be an open chamber of running.

The best part about it is, is that it's not a full mile.

So you don't know exactly where the mile mark, where, like where your watch will hit the mile mark.

Because it's like 0.85.

Yeah.

So it, it's different each time.

So you're like not always in an exact, a precise, it's not, you know, it's not precision.

So that, that's another thing to keep in mind is like, you know, if you live out in the country where it's like perfect 1 mile incremental blocks, like you're gonna hit the mile mark on the exact same spot.

But if you, if you have some variation in there, like a 0.73, you know, mile loop, like, that's actually really Good mentally.

Because you.

You don't, you know, you're not like, I gotta get to that point.

I gotta get to that point.

Like, you're.

You're not ready for it.

And then all of a sudden, boom, you hit the mile mark and.

Or, you know, you.

You'll hit, you know, 2K and you'll be like, wow, I. I'm already, you know, a mile and a half through.

Yeah.

And it keeps you, like, mentally a little bit more alert versus just kind of staying asleep and stuff like that.

But Jared also mentioned something really important.

The word fartlick or speed play.

Yeah, Swedish for speed play.

And what that really just means is that instead of going to the track and doing like a formal interval, you're basically going to at times run fast and at times run slow.

It's just that simple.

So it might look like you run easy for a mile.

Then you do, you know, three minutes on, two minutes off.

So you run hard for three minutes.

Hard, just generally hard, no particular pace.

Just make it a little bit difficult and then run easy for two minutes.

Or it can be any variation of that.

It can be run hard for 90 seconds, run easy for 30 seconds.

It could be run hard for a minute, run easy for a minute, you can break it up.

And that's kind of the fun thing about it.

It's play.

Like, some days you run harder, like for five minutes.

Some days you run shorter for like a minute.

And the play aspect of it is really fun because if you are feeling good, sometimes you'll go out there and you're like, I'm just going to run hard for a couple, couple minutes and run for easy for a minute, and then just kind of do a cycle of that.

And you get out there and you're like, I actually feel really good.

Then you push a little farther, you know, you run harder, maybe for like five, seven, eight minutes, something like that.

So you know that that way it just breaks it up and then, you know, it creates some variety.

And the other thing that I like to do, that's a slight variation of a true fart lick, is running hard up hills.

So, like, if I have a typical route.

So in the summer, I have a 5k route in the morning that I do.

In the winter I have a 5k route that I do because obviously the.

There's some roads that are more easily paved and salted in the winter, and so the route is different.

Well, my winter route is very hilly.

So, like, for instance, this morning I ran a 5K, and every time I Hit one of those hills, I just sprint up it.

And then, you know, on the downhills I just jog, and the flats I just jog.

But I know I have like five or six solid hills and I just don't even think about it.

I hit the bottom of the hill and I just sprint up it.

And that's just the way it goes.

And there's some decent climbs and it makes it fun, but it's definitely one of those things where that playing aspect kind of creates a lot of fitness and a lot of it just locks you into winter training.

You get something you look forward to and it's something that kind of mix things up.

And I think also, you know, with doing fartlets and workouts like that, you know, you're not tied again to a specific distance.

You know, you run for, you know, three minutes and then, you know, you jog for two.

It's like you, how far do you get in three minutes?

You know, it's roughly about a kilometer, but you know, you probably won't get there unless you're running, you know, 15 minute, 5K pace.

But like that in itself too, it's, it's like you're not hitting a specific distance and so it makes it a lot easier and accessible to do these types of workouts where, you know, you maybe aren't able to get on a track for that precision.

So yeah, you know, and you have a lot of creativity with the, you know, the fartle.

You can design ladder workouts, reverse ladders, you know, the.

So explain that.

Yeah, you know, so if you're doing a, a ladder, you're going up.

So you know, start off with, you run hard for a minute, you rest your jog, rest for half, 30 seconds.

Then the next one you do two minutes and then your jog is one minute.

So it's like every interval, then your rest is, you know, half of that time.

So one of my favorite sessions, and we did this one a lot when I was at Walsh in the winter, would go 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 with half jog rest and on the 1 minute, 2 minute segments, like you can really, you know, you can really start to get moving there.

You know, you get into that four or five minute range, like, yeah, you're working it down more to like your threshold, you know, to, you know, 10k threshold pace, even, even marathon pace I think is what my coach would always have us do.

But you know, and then on the way down, you know, the hope would be to, you know, start Increasing that, that pace through, through the, the intervals.

And you know, hey, if you're, if you're doing them, you know, training for a marathon, like you can repeat that twice.

And I would, one of my favorite things to do on the treadmill even would be to do that 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 21 times 2.

And it would just make a 18 mile long run go by so easy.

And you're like, you know, because you're always like looking forward to that next minute, you know, you get done and it's like you're at 40, you know, 41 minutes and you're like, oh crap, I got, you know, I got my, you know, next minute and a half off.

So, you know, and by the time you get to an hour, you know, you're only like half done and it's like it just goes by.

I know it's kind of like we mentioned last week in the episode with Dr. Matt about treadmill running and things like that and just creating some variety on, on pacing and all that.

And obviously when you get, you know, part of winter workouts would be we would have to include treadmill running.

And one of the components of that would be basically just creating some variety of movement and pacing and also incline.

So you're not just running the same thing over and over.

Which if you kind of like think about what we were just saying about finding a safe loop to run outside, well, then you would be doing the same thing over and over.

So it might behoove you to find an indoor track occasionally or find or get on, on a treadmill to just break up the forces a little bit.

But I wouldn't stick with any just one thing all the time.

As, as we consistently mentioned on this podcast, variety is key.

Yeah.

You know, some things to think about too is, you know, don't always run the same way.

If you're happen to be on an indoor track, do your warm up and cool down in reverse of the direction that you normally turn.

So usually we're making left hand turns, like warm up and cool down, let's make right hand turns.

So you're using the, you know, the opposite hip to stabilize a little.

Yeah, and a lot of like tracks that are at like rec centers will force you to have different directions and things like that.

So that's something to consider as well.

They, they automatically buy that in there so that you don't have to think about it.

And they do that for that very reason.

So you don't load the same hip and knee and, and, and Create some it band or some, you know, stress it stress kind of injury based on the same loading patterns of the turning, but.

But also kind of, you know, ask your local running shoe store if there's any, you know, indoor tracks that are available to the community.

I know here locally in Northeast Ohio, we have down in Canton, Second Soul.

They have a partnership with the new indoor track that was built in downtown Canton, and they go there, you know, every Tuesday night.

And so it's open to the community.

So if you want to go do an indoor workout and be a part of a community and just, you know, peel off the layers and get inside and move and laugh and have fun with people and just kind of like a group run like you would do in the summer, well, that's a great environment to do that, you know, because we all know that not only is it difficult to run outside in the winter, it's difficult to have the community aspect.

You know, there's less BSing that happens after a run.

Everybody's rushing to their car.

There's less, like, jiving and kind of messing around because everybody's just kind of wanting to get it done and getting out.

And so, you know, when you can get part of a community like that, I think that's also another big thing.

And a lot of times, if you hit, you know, there are going to be some races that you want to check out, too, because a lot of times when these races run in the winter, they'll.

They'll often have an area where people can congregate indoors.

And so that's still the fun community aspect of running.

So even though the.

The race itself might be miserable, afterwards, you get some hot cocoa inside and.

And you get to feel like a real runner again, like.

Like it does in the.

In the warmer months.

Well, some other.

You kind of touched on a point there with, you know, with racing.

This next week, I'm actually doing an impromptu downhill mile.

So, you know, just like, breaking up.

It's.

It's a tradition that a couple friends and I, we will do, like, you know, on Christmas Eve.

And, you know, it's.

But, you know, for our listeners, it's like, you know, maybe one day, you know, you're not really feeling a workout.

You know, you're not feeling like you want to do a threshold session.

It's like, well, then, you know, find a stretch of road or, you know, find your loop and be like, all right, we're just going to lace it up for a mile, and we're just going to go after it.

Like those types of things, you know, they get your mind out of the, you know, the monotony of, oh, I have to go do this session.

Like you get to, you know.

Yeah.

Break it up a little bit.

Yeah.

Camaraderie, you know, is an important thing there too.

It's like there's a badge of honor that feels good about meeting with people and dealing with the same stress together.

So, you know, maybe.

Maybe you're a little bit more of a solo runner.

That's fine.

I tend to be that way a lot.

But.

But also other people are probably looking for other people to run with as well.

So maybe you can start a group run that go through the winter to kind of just get through the misery of it all and just kind of, you know, just create some pride in that and just.

Yeah, because I think like, anything we can do to just kind of comfortably get through these couple months is important.

Yeah.

I mean, sharing those, the mental burden.

Like Saturday mornings, our run club at Lock 29.

It's like I'm always happy when at least one other person shows up because those 10 miles, it's a long time out and back on the trail by yourself.

And you know, it's.

It's different because, you know, the, the tow path, you know, once that first layer of ice forms, you know, and then the snow falls on top of it, it's actually not bad.

You know, you.

You can run on that and be pretty stable.

It's.

Yeah.

I mean, it's a little slippy, but it's, it's not like you're really going to have any potential for falling.

Yeah, and I think that's, That's a good point too, because, like, a lot of things that you might be worried about, like, nor your normal routes or bike paths or something like that, like, maybe just tinker with it.

It might actually not be as bad of a footing as you might think.

Yeah.

You know, for easy runs, you're just trying to plot along and get through it.

But you know, if you're really looking to run hard, then, you know, maybe trying to find a plowed and salted surface, you know, that would be.

That would be ideal.

So, I mean, you don't need much.

Like we were saying, you know, if you're.

You have a hill session or, you know, you have a longer continuous workout, like, you know, just finding a hill that's open and just doing repeats up and down, like run it at a consistent pace, like that's going to get you pretty far and that's going to Build some resilience.

And you know, you're.

You're going to get that heart rate up, and, you know you're going to get the same benefits from that workout that you would if you had, you know, repeat K's or repeat miles or something like that.

So.

So when I was in.

It's my favorite place on this planet to run.

I'm just.

I've run thousands of miles of this park.

Well, I got obsessed with this park at that time, and I pretty much did every single run there.

And I just created an insane amount of variety of trails and loops and combinations of things.

It was ridiculous.

And I did it because at the time, Hendrik Ramala was a world record holder in the marathon.

And I had read a story in Running Times that.

Which is no longer a magazine, that he ran exclusively on grass.

And I was like, oh, cool.

I live near a big grass field.

I'm going to run exclusively on grass.

I'm going to be really good because of this.

And I got ridiculously strong.

But here's why this matters.

I was so weird with it.

And I.

And I probably did.

I probably only did that like, three or four times a week, but I still did it.

Like, the vast majority of the winter, I ran in this grass field in the snow with cross country spikes.

That's pretty impressive.

I was.

But I can't.

I cannot tell you how strong I was.

Like, I mean, like, I could hit any upgrade in a road race or in a cross country race.

Like, all the footing, like, my ankles were bulletproof.

Like, my hips were super strong.

Like, it was just unreal.

Like, all the ancillary muscles I was cranking on doing that.

Yeah.

But I became, like a super obsessed doing that.

It was like running and.

And even in the fall, it was crazy with all the rain and.

And mud and everything.

I just.

I just did it.

I just dealt with it.

What length of spike did you use?

I don't even remember, but I had all sorts of variety.

I remember I was like, the only person buying spikes at running through your stores at the time.

I was like, what are you buying spikes for?

Like, I was like, I don't know, dude, I just, I just got a thing going on.

Gotta get my easy run in.

Gotta get my easy run.

It's like really snowy out there.

Oh, my gosh.

Well, thank you guys.

You got any other final points for, for our listeners?

I think that that pretty well covers it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So just have fun with it.

Create some variety, Add in some speed play or fart licks.

You know, sprint up hills, you know, find an indoor track, be a part of community.

Still enjoy some road racing.

You know, there's lots of fun stuff out there to get you through the winter months in this episode of Winter Workouts.

So again, thank you for listening.

Thank you.

Dr. Leo here.

Be sure to check out my new book, Faster Without Fail, your guide to overcoming injuries and running faster than ever.

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Appreciate it.

Dr. Leo here.

If you want to catch me in another setting, be sure to check out my YouTube page, Running Rehab, where you will find exercises on how to stay healthy with running, how to improve your running form, and a bunch of other tips and tricks on how to get over common injury.