AJ and Erika: The Run Disney community is just a few weeks away from starting our training for Marathon Weekend as well as Winandine weekend. Even if the training for your race doesn't start for a few months, these are the things we recommend you do now so you're ready for all the miles to come. ⁓ Hey guys, welcome to episode 48. Happy Memorial Day week. Yeah. Today's goal is just having a good old fashioned chat about how we can prepare for the Run Disney training season that will be here before you know it. Yep. If you're new here, my name's AJ. This is Erica, and we just love to talk Run Disney and running. We run other stuff. And so ⁓ we literally just want you to feel confident, prepared, and all that. And so today it's kind of like a preparing to be. Doing the preparing, right? Because that's what training is, right? You're preparing for a race day, right? And so this is like the pre-pre. The pre-preparedness. That's exactly right. But but the idea there is that if you've taken some time off, yeah. Right. Or this is your first race and you're about to start the training, training really doesn't start day one. Like if you don't do some of these things to prepare, right? You can start, but it's gonna be like a Smack in the face. Like, ⁓ wow, these mornings are early. Yeah. Or ⁓ my gosh, you know, my body wasn't ready for this. Totally. So we've got 10 things. Yep. And we want we just want you to feel prepared. Yeah. Couple quick things, Erica. We like to read reviews. We talk about upcoming episodes. ⁓ let's get that stuff done. If you don't mind, if ⁓ usually you read the review. So if you don't mind reading the review, that'd be awesome. These are on Apple Podcasts. We really appreciate them. They really let us know what's going well. We like to read them on the air to say thank you. Totally. So this one comes from Jay Ogovi. It says, must listen. One more run has become one of my favorite podcasts. AJ and Erica are so genuine and I love all the tips and tricks, special guests, and fun banter between the two of them. Even if you have many Run Disney races under your belt, this podcast is well worth adding to your list. Awesome. That was very nice. Jessica. Thank you, Jessica. You know Jessica and Kevin were the first people to like really welcome us in at Marathon Weekend to the Rise and Run Meetup. Meetup. Yeah. We were standing there kind of awkwardly. Yes. You know what I mean? Because you do when you don't know anybody. Right. And we're just like, we're not quitting. We're not quitting. Like we're gonna say hi to somebody, whatever. Anyway, they she was the first one to walk right up to us and say, Hi, I think I know who you are. Right. Yeah. And ⁓ it was super fun. So thank you for listening to the show and supporting us this whole time. Yeah, thank you. We really appreciate it. The support crew, Erica, is a is a thing we launched, right? These are the people that are making the podcast happen. They're supporting us literally, and they're getting bonus content. As our thank you for that. Yes. And ⁓ they helped us design this episode. Yeah, they because I threw out the question. We actually had something else planned for this week. It fell through. That just that happens. Yep. And I threw it to the crew and said, Okay, guys, I actually need your help now. Yeah. Because now I'm a week out and I don't know what we should do. Right. And this was their idea. Yep. Right. Kind of collaboratively. A few one person said something, another person said, ⁓ yeah, I I support that. And then they kind of gave us some ideas and they said, We'd love to hear this. Yeah. And so Thank you for being a part of the crew. But that like you, we said you will help shape episodes. And so here we are. Here we are. You are shaping episodes. Another thing that we do with the support crew is that we talk about ⁓ the props on the table. And so if you're seeing of any video version of this or whatever, we've got ⁓ Memorial Day stuff. Yep. All Disney stuff and whatever here on the table that sits between us. If you're just listening, ⁓ it looks really cool. Yeah. ⁓ just have to say that. So this stuff comes from Erica's dad. He's got tons of memorabilia. You know, and ⁓ we asked him if we could feature some of it. But what we're doing is we're making that an exclusive kind of thing for the after show. So we do an after show after this. We just literally we talk like this, yeah, but it usually has no point. Like it's just fun. And so, like, we'll talk about where all this stuff came from. Right. If you care and whatever, awesome. It's just bonus content. Yeah. If you're like, nope, just give me the facts, give me the give me the 10 things I need to know. You've already thought about skipping forward to the 10 things already, then That's okay. We're glad you're here. We're glad we can be helpful. ⁓ if you want to learn more about the support crew, it's aj anderica.com/slash support crew. And those of you that jumped on early, yeah. Thank you. Thank you so so much. Yeah. ⁓ without sounding too cheesy, Erica, like my cup is full from just the overwhelming, hey, we want to support you. Yeah. I'm like, I'm sending you stuff in the mail. And they're like, Great, that's not why I signed up. I signed up to help. You know what I mean? And so that that I genuinely like my gratitude level is like. So high right now. Yeah. So anyway, that's enough about that. Erica, upcoming topics. I do want to spend a couple minutes here. Yeah. ⁓ if you're like dying for the top 10 list or whatever, don't skip this part because this this is worth the tee up for next week. Yeah. Give us the brief description, Erica, and then I'll point to the resource that that'd be helpful. Yeah, totally. So we are going to talk Enneagram. If you listen to our episode A long time ago. What number was that? I don't remember. I don't even know. Running is hard. That's what it was about. ⁓ that one? That was 18. Yeah. Okay, eighteen. We kind of talked about our Enneagram type then, which is like a a personality slash. Yeah, if you're familiar with Myers Briggs or the Disc or any of that, it's another one of those personality type typing systems. Right. Yeah. So anyway, we got together a huge group of people ⁓ in the Run Disney community, ⁓ sort of featuring every number on the Enneagram. And we are going to talk about how our Enneagram plays into our training and our running. Yep. We're going to spread this out over a series of episodes. Yeah. ⁓ so that it sounds really cool, Erica. I'm calling it a mini series. Doesn't that sound like it's ⁓ I mean you put so much work into it, like it kind of deserves to be called a mini series. Okay, we're caught on a mini series then. ⁓ we're gonna basically divide them up. We'll do three ⁓ types at a time. Yeah. And so ⁓ the first one for next week's already edited. It's so good. It's so long. In a good way. In a good way. You know, if you've got a long run coming up or whatever, you're gonna love that one. Yeah. So ⁓ any other comments before I point to a resource? No, no. Okay. ⁓ so the book, that was probably a lot of noise for the microphone. The book that we recommend, this is it. This is called The Road Back to You, not sponsored, just awesome. Like ⁓ Ian Morgan Cron is the author. We don't know them, we don't get a kickback, anything like that. But if you want to spend twelve or fifteen dollars on a book this month or whatever, this is the one. ⁓ in my in my opinion. It's it lays out in plain English all the different personality types. Totally. And if you get this on Amazon, you can get it before next week, you can at least kind of get like a framework of your number, your spouse's number, what you know, ⁓ they're numbered, by the way. Like that's why you say numbers. So like I'm a three, you're a two. Yeah. Right. And that associates with a personality type. Right. I'm an achiever, you're a giver. Anyway, this is totally worth it. ⁓ it's homework. For next week's podcast. I think it's also available on audiobook. So if you like to listen in the car on your run. Correct. Just listen to our podcast before you listen to that because ⁓ No, I'm just kidding. ⁓ yes, audiobook is is good. ⁓ so we're doing that next week ⁓ for a few weeks in our in our ⁓ world premiere of the mini series. It's gonna be good. It is gonna be good. ⁓ you ready to dive into today's topic? Totally. Okay. Cool. So here's what we're doing. We're gonna talk about the 10 things we, AJ and Erica, the non-experts, just people with microphones, ⁓ that we think you should already be doing or start doing before training begins. Right. Right. This is not like an official list. This is, I mean, this is literally just if somebody new to running or someone who took a break or even a r a regular ever you know, runner said, Hey, I got a month. What should I be doing? This is our just blh. I'm thinking, like, if you came home from dopey exhausted and you haven't run in a while. ⁓ right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Most of these things we've talked about before on the show, but they'll be good reminders as we lace up for a lot of miles. Absolutely. ⁓ the best we can, we'll talk about what we've learned through doing some of these things, like the things we did really well and the things we didn't maybe do. And that's why it's on the list is because we didn't do it. Yeah. And so we'll talk about that kind of like you know how we sometimes talk about like the good and the bad or whatever. That's kind of that version of it. The best that I can remember have a story. Right. Then we'll add it in. So let's do this. You ready? Yeah. These are the 10 things we think you should be doing now before the 2026, 2027 Run Disney season officially kicks off in a couple of weeks. Erica, you get the first one. All right. So the first thing that we highly recommend is incorporating strength training. Yep. ⁓ we did not do this in the beginning. Nope. ⁓ and it really ⁓ was evident. So when you do the strength training, you will become a better runner, a faster runner, you will have less injuries. ⁓ if you had to turn the podcast off at this point, you could. Yeah. Not that nothing else is important, but if you only got one thing, right, this would be it. Yeah. Like after we started doing strength stuff, our endurance level, right, our our just ability to fight through our injuries, like all that stuff. It just got better. And it seems so counterintuitive to do push ups. You know, to go to make my legs run faster. But that core strength really matters. Absolutely. Have you ever seen people on the course where they're just hunched over? Yeah. Right. Well now they're hunched over because their their core is weak. Right. Right. It's it's given out. Yeah. You know? And then that might might not be that they're weak, but they've run 26 miles. So like they just start hunching over whatever while that Compresses your airway and all that and your form is off, right? And now you're just everything's not right. Totally. And so, like, yeah, push-ups and sit-ups and you know, ⁓ Bulgarian split squats. Yes. It's really important. Yep, absolutely. ⁓ so you want to talk about some resources. ⁓ you know, some of these we have experience with, some of them we don't. That's right. And so, but we, you know, we realize not everything works for everybody. You might have tried one of these and you're like, okay, but what else? Or you might, you know, be a big fan. So anyway, we'll just we'll just list a few options. Yeah, totally. So one of the first ones that we want to throw out is Coach Tom at Stoked Metabolic Training. You may know him as a tutu guy. We have had him on before to talk about training and and tutu guy stuff. Yep. ⁓ another one that I love is the Dynamic Runner app. That is a fairly inexpensive app that you can download that has all different kinds of training plans, ⁓ specific for certain lengths. Also, it has, you know, like if you have an injury, a hip injury, or you want to build a specific area of your body, maybe like your glutes are weak, you can find specific exercises for that. So I love that. ⁓ another good resource is you know, our good friend Devin from Zippy D D Tees. She partners with Kristen and they have Run Fit Fab. You want to tell us a little bit about that? ⁓ we don't have experience with it, but I know that it's really popular. Yes. Right. ⁓ their podcast that they have, I think is like really designed for like those that are part of their Training programs and whatever. It's very accountability focused, you know? And so ⁓ I know that Kristen has her specialty stuff. She does even more beyond the like beyond Run Disney stuff. Yeah, world majors. Correct. And Devin, I think, ⁓ very focused on like corrective things or whatever. So ⁓ like I'm just gonna call her. Perfect. Let's see. Like I know we're mid recording here, but I'm just gonna call Devin because I there's no way I can explain it. ⁓ just because I don't have experience with it. So hold let let me call Devin. Hello. Devin, can you hear me? It's AJ. AJ and Erica. What's up? ⁓ Erica. Hey Devin. ⁓ well, the reason you can hear both of us is we're recording a podcast right now and we need your help. ⁓ my gosh, absolutely. What can we help you with? We're we're talking about strength training resources, right? Can you give us a real quick like what you guys do with Run Fit Fab and and what you do in terms of like the corrective stuff so that we can understand real clear? ⁓ yeah, absolutely. ⁓ Run Fit Fab is a program that my friend Kristen and fellow coach both of us do. We offer Online coaching and training programs designed specifically for runners who want to become stronger, healthier, and more confident athletes. ⁓ and whether they're training for their first 5K, a Disney Challenge or Marathon, we are there to help them be the best that they can be. And our new program ⁓ or our new in-summer training program, it's actually our fifth year doing it, starts June 1st and it runs for three months. And it's basically Helping athletes build a base of strength training and then working in runs to improve their mileage and progressing over time. ⁓ how do we find how do we find info if if any of our listeners want to find that? ⁓ you can either message Kristen or myself on Instagram. ⁓ I'm Fitfab Dopey and Kristen is Run Fit Mama. And together we make Run Fitfab, but you can also email her or find her online programs at runfitmama.net. And that's where you can find us and join us for the program. Heck yeah. See, I told you that was way easier just calling her. Perfect. Awesome. Hey, but since we have you, we actually have a more important question. You're zip and zipity dt's is a big deal. Can you tell us? Like we know something's coming. Can you tell us what's on the way? Yeah. So we're really excited because this. Coming global running day on June 3rd. We are dropping our newest collection of Miles of Magic, and it'll be available for pre-order. And I can't give away too much, but it will be quite the collection covering all the race distances designed specifically for Marathon Weekend at Disney World. The alert's already on my calendar. I know. I just don't know much about it. So I figured while we have her, we'll ask. Yeah. So, Devin, I've been wearing Zippa D D T stuff for a few years now, but for our friends who maybe don't know about Zippa D D, Can you tell them about Zip real quick? Yeah. We are basically Carrie and myself, she's my cousin. We are graphic artists or graphic designers and we come up with ⁓ screen printed designs for t-shirts and we do all the work ourselves, literally. We wear many hats. And this collection in particular is inspired by the Run Disney community, the the Miles, the Disney parks, the friendships that are included with it, you know, all of the fun things. And so We're really looking forward to seeing the response for this one. It's very heavily, I feel like classic themed, very similar to the theming of the marathon weekend. You know, last year, this past January was more book themed. And so I think we went a little bit more aggressively in that direction. But this one's just like subtle nods to the distances and the characters themselves. So I'm really excited. Me too. ⁓ yeah. Yeah. Erica is excited. I was texting Greg from Rise and Run ⁓ earlier. Yeah, we're literally just talking about a whole bunch of whatever, whatever's anyway. At one point, you came up and we're talking about zippity DTs. And he says, Well, I know that there are releases that next week, yada yada yada. ⁓ I think you guys are in trouble. And I was like, Yes, we are. And so even Greg recognized, he's like, Yeah, I think you'll be spending some money. And I'm like, Yes, yes, we will. I just tell Erica, Okay, that's fine. Whatever. Can you give us the details? I think you mentioned in the beginning, but just, you know. Because we're on the fly and I don't know what I've actually said. Like what are the details for the pre-order? How long does it last? Like, what do we need to know? Is this like a like a jump on it fast thing? Do we have a window? Like, what do we need to do for the pre-sale or pre-pre-order? No, that's a great question. ⁓ we do a lot of pre-orders now just because it gives people a few days to place an order with us. And typically that means we do large bulk numbers so nothing sells out like previously. We've done this for about like a year or so now, just because it's gotten more popular and we hate to have things sell out from underneath people. So ⁓ we usually so the pre-order itself will start June 3rd at 8 p.m. EST. The pre-order will run through Sunday at midnight. So you'll have a few days to get that in. This is part one of several collections. So this is all brand new, never seen before. T-shirts, but we will have plenty more drops of pre-orders. in the future. So I want to make sure you have more than ample enough time to order when you want or when you can. And so there will be other options in the future, including different styles, designs, colors, you name it. So look forward to that too. Awesome. So good. Devin, a few months ago when you were on the podcast, you gave us a discount code to use the zip shop. Any chance that code is still valid and would work for this pre-order. Absolutely. So you guys can use code OneMoreRun. No spaces, all caps at checkout for 10% off your entire order for this specific collection. Awesome. Thanks for doing that. Holy so much, Devin. I'm glad we called and asked all the all the things. This is perfect. Our listeners are going to be super excited. Thank you so much, Devin. We can't wait for the new launch. Awesome. Thanks, Devin. ⁓ we got to get back to our episode, but thanks for joining in here for a second. Thank you guys and have fun shopping, everyone. She's the best. Yeah, she is. ⁓ so sorry I derailed us there ⁓ for a second. Can we get back to talking strength resources? One of the things I want to talk about is I have ⁓ we have a Peloton subscription. We do, yes. So I ride the Peloton bike as like cross training, whatever. Anyway, they have strength training stuff in the in that. So like I already paid for it for a month. So I actually use that. Nice in their 30, 45, whatever minute classes that it plays on the Peloton, and you can use the app, but it plays on the screen on the bike. And I just do my exercises right there in the room. Yeah. You know, and so those You know, you don't have accountability with something like that. Right. But I mean, it's an option. I already'm paying for it. Yeah. Right. So yeah. I think that covered most of the most of the things. There's a million resources out there, right? These are ones that they're either provided by people we trust, even if we haven't had experience with their programs yet, or we've had experience with an app or something like that. Okay. Great. Should we move on beyond strength? Yeah. ⁓ the bottom line there is do it. That's right. The second one is a little less like ⁓ I don't have any resources for you. It's just important. We believe you need to talk with your family, your friends, your kids, your spouse, and whatever about what you're planning to do. Yeah. ⁓ don't go it alone and assume that they're like just gonna be like, okay, so you're gone on Saturday for wait, how long? Right. Like tell, like show them the plan. Yeah. ⁓ you and I obviously are both runners. So it's really easy for you. I'm like, if we're signed up for the marathon, you know what that means for me. Right. And I know what that means for you. Yeah. Very fortunate, right? Right. If if your spouse is not a runner, call a meeting. Like I'm not kidding. I'm gonna sit down. Yeah, just say, hey, and then and then emphasize on a scale of one to ten how important this is to you. Right. Hey, this is a 10 for me. I've never run a marathon. I really want to do this. And here are some things that would be really helpful for me if you if you don't mind helping cheer me on for this, right? Totally. And everyone's gonna be different. Yeah. You might want someone to like cheer you on, literally. You know what I mean? You also might want this to be your alone time. Right. Please just let me have my time alone. Yeah. Everybody's different. So, and then we all assume different things about everybody. Yeah. Any any comments on just like things to communicate? Yeah. I would say like we live in town with our extended family. And so especially as we get deeper into marathon training and our weekends are just slammed with training. ⁓ you know, it's important for us to let them know, you know, Friday nights, we're not staying out late. Saturdays are just completely out. ⁓ this sounds terrible, but you know, if you're sick, please don't come over because if we get together and we get sick, training is out potentially for a couple of weeks. Yes, you know, and so that that can be a little tricky to navigate. Yeah. But I mean, just little things like that that you wouldn't think about and they're certainly not thinking about it. So just to give them a heads up and and for them to know like how important it is to you, you know. Not just that you want to get out there and get your run in, but this is a huge goal that you're after. And so it could also be a season where something's not that important to you. It's just you're just doing it. Right. And you don't need all that the time and all that, whatever. You just, you know what, I just need to maintain my miles. But if you didn't communicate that with somebody and your family or those around you, they don't know. They might be giving you all this distance and you're like, why is everybody? Like, why won't anybody include me? Right. They might think that you're trying to do, you know, do something. So yeah. ⁓ communication is key. Right. And then I would have check-in points to be quite honest with you. If training is 18 weeks or something like that, check in once a month just to say, hey, I know I've been distant on Saturdays. Is everything okay in the in the house? Yeah. Yeah. Totally. it it sounds really cheesy and dumb, but I mean, you do it with me. Like you're like, hey, can I talk to you? Yeah. This is how I'm feeling. Here's how you could help me. Yeah. I notice that you're doing this. You know? Yeah. And it's really good. So that's that's number two is is just talk. And ⁓ if someone's gonna be impacted by it, and I wouldn't be afraid to talk to your kids. Like we've told our kids what's important to us. they are important to us. Yes, and this is important to us. Right. And so we just make sure that they understand. And it's important that they see us do hard things. Correct. Yeah. And we yeah, and we even say that to their face. Right. Hey, we are trying to set an example, right? We're creating a say a place where you feel loved. place where you feel safe and we're setting an example. Yeah. Right. And so yeah, absolutely. Totally. Communicate. Number three, if you are not running yet, definitely at least get out there and walk three to four times a week. ⁓ you know, focus on those 10,000 steps a day. like you were saying, you don't want to go from nothing to just like right into your training. Right. ⁓ that you might be in for a rude awakening. So, you know, even if we're not running, we like to get out and walk a few times a week. So 100%. This is Obviously helpful for the muscles and all that stuff, but it's also helpful for the mindset. Yeah. Of like go walk when you think you're gonna run. Right. And if you're like, ⁓ yeah, I'm I'm definitely gonna be getting up at 6 a.m. to go for my runs, and then you start walking at 6 a.m. and you're like, this stinks. I hate getting up this early. And at least you did it before you were like physically exhausted too. You know? Yeah. Okay. Maybe I'm an evening runner. Start walking in the evenings. Totally. Right. Just to see how you handle it all. Yeah. Could I could I feasibly do this during my lunch break? Yes or no? Yeah. So I think mindset wise, it just puts you in that, whatever. And how long it takes, you know, or you could figure out some distance or you know, by your house. You know what I mean? Like, okay, so even you know, if if that walk was a mile, now I know that that's a mile. Yeah. You know, you know how far stuff is. So yeah, absolutely. Get in the routine of walking. Yeah. And walking's really good for you. Like we it is. We we run and walk. We do, yes. Right. And I would say that usually our walks are not like, you know. Saunters. We're still speed walking. So we're still working a little bit. That's the curse of ⁓ being a run walker. Right, yeah. Is that like the walk is still a sixteen-minute pace or faster? Yes, yes, yes. That's funny. Great. Anything else on walking? Nope. Number four is get fitted for shoes. ⁓ even I think I would say, well, if you've never been fitted for shoes. Definitely get fitted for shoes. If you haven't been in a while or you're changing brands or your friend recommended these things or whatever, get your feet evaluated. Right. And when I say fit it, I don't mean go to the shoe carnival or whatever, you know, right. Shoes for less or whatever. And and the sixteen year old kid like measures your foot with the metal thing. That's not what I'm talking about. Do they do that for adults? ⁓ is that a kid thing? I think it's a kid thing. I don't know, maybe not. You put your foot in in a slice? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like that's for children, but maybe it's for adults too. You sit on the little bench that has the mirror on it. I think they give you a lollipop. That's right. You were a good boy today. that's not what we're talking about. Right, right. We're talking about ⁓ so our running store is called Fleet Feet, and I believe that's a nationwide thing, right? There's obviously a million other running stores. ⁓ in Atlanta, there's also the big big peach running company. And you go in, they've got this mat on the floor. You wanna explain? Yeah. I mean, they just have you like walk across the platform and ⁓ they measure sort of like where you where you're striking when you're walking or when you're running and if you're putting extra pressure in certain places. I think another thing that's important and I might be getting ahead of you, but you know, I thought, ⁓ I need really cushion-y shoes. ⁓ yeah. And then I started having all these like tendonitis problems. And my physical therapist was like, No, you need like the flattest shoes possible. Sure. And that's something that when you go to be fitted for shoes, they can tell you like based on your running style, this is the kind of shoe that we recommend. Yes. The the you walk on the mat, it shows how your pressure points and all that. And then it gives them a list of shoes that would potentially work for you. And they'll bring out five pairs of shoes. ASICs, Brooks, whatever that it recommends, you know, based off the science. And try them on. And if it doesn't feel right, don't buy those because they look cool. Right. Right. Buy the ones that feel the the most right. Yeah. And then they all these big running stores, not I'm not talking about dick's sporting goods or whatever, like the running stores. They'll give you 60 days to try those shoes. Right. And you can bring them back. And I've done it. I brought them back 30 days later going, I really gave them a good shot. Yeah. And they're dirty. I'm sorry. You know, and they're like, that's fine. You know me. What else would you like to try? Right. And so find your right shoes and then don't assume that, like, yeah, like you said, cushion is better. Right. Like it might not be for you. Right. And then once you figure out what shoe you should be wearing and you've run in it for a while, you can buy them on Amazon for I do that. You know, I bought my last three pairs on online somewhere. Yeah. So totally. Okay, great. We beat that to death. All right. Number five, we highly recommend purchase moisture wicking tops, shorts, socks, and a hat. Yeah, if it can wick the moisture. Right. We are headed into summer. It's going to be hot, likely, for most people. You do not want to be running in a hundred percent cotton. And I think we all were first time runners and didn't realize this. ⁓ yeah. And you just don't know until you wear a Moisture wicking shirt. ⁓ also you can call that a dry fit shirt. Yeah. What's the what's the material? Pol poly It's like a poly blend. Poly blend. Yeah. If it says cotton anywhere, avoid it, right? If it says a hundred percent cotton, you should avoid it. Because all that is is a sponge on your body. Right. Like like not in a good way sponge. Correct. Just thick and whatever. And I we all did it. Yeah. We first time runner. Totally. You know, and w what's crazy to me is you go to those races and they hand out cotton t shirts. I know. I'm like Why are they right? They're cheap. Yeah. But like, why are they doing that? And then a bunch of people put them on for the race. Right. And they got like pit stains, you know, on the shirt. I'm like, no. So yes. ⁓ all of the moisture wicking stuff is more expensive. Right. Yeah, no. But it's a good investment. My goodness. The number of times I've heard people say, How I didn't know about this. Right. And it changed everything. Totally. Moisture wicking underwear, guys. Seriously. I'm I'm not kidding. It'll change your life. Anything else on that? Do you have any brands you recommend? I've we've talked about that. We did a whole episode on gear we we use. I like the Brooks running shorts. I like their tops. But honestly, now if it's a moisture wicking or dry fit shirt in general, I'll wear it. I actually have come to love the Adidas ones. I know you don't because they feel a little scratchy, but yeah. Any brands you do like? You know, I buy everything off Amazon. So I don't have a specific brands. I do have shorts that I love that have a zipper pocket in the back to hold my phone. I have discovered that I like to wear a visor when I run at home. ⁓ yeah. Little plug here for folks, don't forget to wear your sunscreen when we're out on the road for hours and hours a day. Like I that's why I like to wear my my visor. Yep. I've gotten really used to wearing a hat and sprints. And sprints, yeah. Sprints are my favorite. Yeah. ⁓ they they whatever moisture, yada yada yada. Yeah. Right. But they look awesome. They do. Okay. Anything else on that? Nope. I don't we're already flying through this list. Yeah. If you want our list of recommended products, email us. Yep. Hello at AJNerica.com. Just say, hey, you've got a list of gear you use and I'll send it to you. Yep. No problem. ⁓ number six is me. Perfect. ⁓ this is kind of like the strength training. We have experience with some of these and don't have experience with others. This is choosing a running plan, right? ⁓ if you what's the phrase? If you don't have a plan, you plan to fail or something like that, whatever that phrase is. Does that sound good? Sure. That sounds very corporate. Sounds good. Legitimately you want a plan. Even if you end up getting off the plan or you have to modify the plan, you want a roadmap, right? You want a GPS that says, hey, here's your destination, here's how you get there. Yeah. You don't want to just like, well, you know what I think I'm gonna do? I think I'll run 10 miles. Yeah, no, no, don't do that. Like we highly recommend a structured plan. Right. And so here's some recommended ⁓ things that we've used and some that we have not. A great place to start, especially if you've never done Run Disney, is go to the Run Disney website. And literally click on training plan or training tab, whatever that is at the top, and it will say what race are you doing? And it will give you a PDF. And it's all run, walk, run, you know, ⁓ recommended. On this week, you should be doing this many miles. Yeah. During between those weekend runs, these are the types of runs you should be doing. Is it customized to you? No, it is not. It is a generic plan that is that takes the average of all the people. But Erica, we've trained with this. Several times. Like in the beginning, right? In the beginning for sure. You have positive, positive feedback about it. Yeah. I would say, especially if you're a new runner, it's a really easy, very manageable plan. I would say that the more that we've run, the more I've wanted to incorporate other things like speed drills and hills and things like that. Yeah. ⁓ but yes, it's a very good place to start. That's a good that's a good way to say it. New runner, start there. Yeah. Yeah. That's really good. ⁓ so one I do have experience with is Like my Garmin watch has running plans or whatever in the app on the phone that you can sync to the watch. And I really enjoyed them. Like they say, you know, you put in the distance that you are doing. If you have a time goal, you enter it in and it does all the math, right? And it recommends these types of things. It says, Yeah, do hill training on this too. And you open your watch and it says recommended for today. Right. And you just start it, you know, and it just it gives you the plan and it does all the intervals and whatever on here. It's not run, walk, run. You know, so if you're gonna if you want to do that or whatever, you're gonna have to modify for that. Yeah, you know, like in your own, in your own way. But it's free if you have a Garmin. Right. I actually have had good experience with it. Yeah. Okay. ⁓ customized training is part of the Galloway. Right. ⁓ thing. So like the Run Disney website has like the generic plan, right? If you want to take that and level it up, yes, that's customized training through the key. the the Galloway program. And Chris Twiggs leads that whole thing up. He's been on the podcast. Go back and listen to that episode if you haven't heard it. And he makes a great case for customizers. Yeah, totally. ⁓ and so yes, it's it's money, right? But if you want somebody to make your plan off of the run, walk, run method, that's your that's your option. And I know they've got community things too, Zoom calls and all that kind of stuff. ⁓ there's a couple apps that we have not used. Do you want to talk about those? Do you have any experience or any knowledge about them? I mean I love to use my ⁓ dynamic runner app. I have used that one. So that's more than just strength. ⁓ yeah. It's like you don't know that. ⁓ that's why I started using it in the first place. It was not for the strength. It was because it has these running plans incorporating things that we were just talking about, like the speed repeats and the hills and all that stuff. And so you can go in and you can put like whatever you want, 5K all the way to marathon. You can choose your distance. I mean your your time. You can choose your time and your distance. And it will not only tell you what days to run. And what kind of run to do. But then it also does incorporate the strength into that on the days that you're not running. Nice. Yes. It's very why you like it. I love it a lot. Yeah. Okay. I feel like when I'm not injured, it's a great way to like really train up well for especially a longer distance like the marathon. When you're not injured both days. When am I not injured? Yeah. ⁓ okay. ⁓ other apps that we don't have experience with is ⁓ The runner app, which I guess is all AI somehow algorithm, whatever. Yeah. It's very popular right now. I don't have experience with it. I did have a friend who like started using it and he was telling me, you know, seemed very intense. Yeah. That would be my thing. I think this might be one of those, like, if you really want to be a runner runner, you know, like it might be in the app for you. Yes. You know? ⁓ but it seems like just your first 10K. Maybe don't start with that app. I and I I can't necessarily speak to it because I've never downloaded it, never opened it, but it's very like ⁓ I shouldn't say necessarily popular. It's very available and lots of ads and lots of people talk about it. So that is a thing. We just don't have any experience with it. The Nike Run Club app is kind of the same way, is that lots of people use it. Yeah. I don't have any like success stories for you. Right, right. You know, ⁓ but if you're like in the Nike ecosystem and you love that brand and all that, it might be a good option for you. And then another place, like there's a bunch of people that do training plans, but we've had her on the podcast, Amanda from Once Upon a Marathon. ⁓ has training plans on her website that I think she updates every year maybe. And so if you're running wine and dine half marathon, she's got some training plans there. And I believe they're inexpensive where like it's a PDF. Yeah. You know what I mean? She's done the math and the whatever based off timeline and all that stuff. So it's gonna be a lot probably more like the Run Disney training plan thing where it's like low, low cost, lower cost of entry, right? But it is, you know, more than just like I'm just gonna go run. Right. ⁓ and so we love Amanda. So, like absolutely, if you're looking for something, go check it out. If it ends up being great for you, then then awesome. Good. Number seven is going to be make your running playlist before you hit the road. Why do you say it like that? There have been times where well, really it was more of a connection problem, not like a pre planning problem. But ⁓ as you go out for these runs, figure out, you know, what kind of music do you like to listen to? Yes. Sometimes I want to listen to something poppy and upbeat. And sometimes I want to listen to like hardcore rap that like keeps my mind engaged. I don't know. ⁓ I like to listen to audiobooks, but like only specific types. So, you know, like mysteries or things like that that keep me sort of hanging on. Do you like to listen to podcasts when you run? I do not, even though we have one. ⁓ I like to listen to them in the car. So kind of figure out like what do you like to listen to? ⁓ and then I like to make a couple of different playlists to kind of like change it up a little bit. So Yeah, and having them on your phone, labeled, yeah, downloaded. Yeah, downloaded. That's the key, especially for our neighborhood. Yeah, we don't have great sell service in our neighborhood. Yeah. Or you go, you're going to go run somewhere else and you're like, why isn't there any cell service here? Right. Download them. Yeah. And I'm I'm totally with you. I switch my playlist. I have AJ's perfect running playlist, but it's pretty intense. Yeah. And I can't do that on slow. Easy zone two day. Yeah. So I've got multiple things that I can listen to. And it's just available. I walk out of my house, I start the playlist, start holler hype, start my watch, and go. Not hmm, what should I listen to today? Does anybody have any podcasts? You know what I mean? Like, no. Right, right, right, right. Have it get it ready now. Yeah. I think because of my music background, I also have a hard time running like off tempo. ⁓ yeah. So I have if I it's gonna be like a slow, like, you know, zone two run day, I have a playlist. Specifically for that. That's like, you know, slower tempo. A hundred percent. Yeah. So do I. Yeah. I've got some Taylor Swift on my slower list. I do. ⁓ okay, number eight. I just said holler hype. Yes. Sign up for Holler Hype. H-O-L-L-A-R-H-Y-P-E. Holler hype. You want to download that app? Yeah. I could just finish right there and just say, just do it. But the quick description there, if you haven't heard us talk about it, we heard about it through Ryzen Run. We joined their group. We love it. It's ⁓ where someone can send you an audio message, right? Or you can send audio messages to other runners 30 seconds or less and they don't have to do anything. As long as their app is running while they're on a run, they've they've they've kind of gone live, you know, then they can just get audio messages. And the best ones are from people you don't know, which is why we love the Rise and Run group is because you get like random message from I don't know, Jill in Montana. And she's like, hey, AJ, I hope your run's going great today. It looks like you're halfway, you know, you're whatever, you're doing great. Yeah. Get out there and get it done. And I'm like, running. And I'm like, thank you, Jill. You know, ⁓ it's awesome. And then if you think that getting them is great, sending them's even better. Yes, that's right. And so ⁓ I do. I I see that hey, five people are live right now. Right. I would just go in and be super dorky. And send them some hypes. The more obnoxious the better. We've said that before. Yes. ⁓ the reason it's on the list is not necessarily say ⁓ to use Holler Hype, even though we that that's what it sounded like. It's set it up, try it. Yeah. Like get used to it. Right. You could go live and not select any groups, you know, whatever, just to see what happens when I go live. Right. Right. Like have your mom or your friend send you a hype so you know what it is. Yeah. Or send some hypes. Yeah. And the first few, whoo, they're bad. They're they're right. I love that it lets you re-record if you like totally tank. I had a ⁓ tank one today. I'm talking on the thing and I don't remember exactly what I said, but I literally said out loud, I'm like, ⁓ my gosh, this sucks. And then I was like super careful with what I clicked next. Right. I was like, does that say replay? Or does that say re-record? What does that say? What does that say? And I like really made sure I hit re-record. Right, right, right. Yes. And so my first one went to Steve. I remember it because I was like so awkward. And Steve and I are friends now. Yeah. But I remember and sent that first one and it was like, ⁓ I hope you're happy. Your run's going good. What do I say? Yeah. That's how the first one went. And so all of that wrapped up into a bundle is Download holler hype and use it, but also practice with it. Yeah. Because you you just want to hit go and run. And it it runs in the background. Yeah. But you just want to be familiar with it. Totally. So that's my recommendation. Anything else about holler hype? No. Okay. We're getting close to the end of this list. Perfect. Number nine, you should definitely start adjusting your sleep and your diet now. So making sure you're getting enough sleep. If you're gonna go out for an early run, you wanna go to bed early the night before. Making sure you're getting lots of water and good protein and things in. Right. I think if you try to adjust, that's another one of those examples. If you try to adjust that, ⁓ all right, great. We're now officially 18 weeks from marathon weekend. I'm going to start sleeping, you know, ⁓ going to bed early and and waking up early. Right. ⁓ I don't think it happens that easily. You know, you're like laying in bed at nine o'clock at night staring at the ceiling. Right. Yeah. You know, next thing you know, you're on Instagram or whatever because you can't sleep. Then the opposite problem happens. And now you were supposed to get up at 5 30 and you didn't. Or you do and you're like dead. Dead and your run goes terrible. Yeah. So and it could be incremental or slowly or whatever. But if you plan to be a morning runner, plan to run before before ⁓ work or whatever, practice getting up. Even if you don't go, practice getting up. Yeah. And ⁓ and get in that routine of it. ⁓ I know sometimes I f I'm a morning runner, but it's sometimes. I fall out of the routine of getting up early. Vacations are the worst. Yes, yes. You know? And you spend whatever, seven or ten days in vacation mode, getting up at 8 30, 9 o'clock. That's super sleeping in for me, by the way. And then you're trying to get back in the routine of getting up at 5 30 or 6 in the morning. It's hard. Right. And so if you you need you I I recommend practice that. And then the diet's a big one. Yeah. Like for sure. This if this is a health journey for you, which is awesome. Yeah. If this is a weight loss thing or whatever, ⁓ you know, it's hard. Yeah, I feel like running long distance and weight loss do not go together. They don't. People like new runners, especially think like, ⁓ I'm gonna lose weight from from running. No, not necessarily. This is not the time that you want to like skipping on your fuel and protein and all that stuff. You need the carbs before you go out for those long runs. So I would say focus more on healthy eating and not losing weight. I think that you will lose weight when you eat more healthy things. Yes. And You incorporate the running, but I don't think this is a weight loss tool. Correct. Where like I need to lose 20 pounds. Yes. I would say you'll notice more toning than weight loss. And you will notice the pounds come off. You and I've lost weight. ⁓ yeah, yeah. Right? Yeah. But I would not do it to lose weight. Right. Yeah. I believe if you're gonna do that, you need to cut your calories and run three miles at a time. Yeah. To get exercise. Yeah. Endurance running requires fuel and proteins and all that and carbs. Yeah. And I mean, when we get to the end of marathon training, I'm starting to gain weight. Right. Yeah. You know, instead of lose it. Yeah. And so if you're on a weight loss like I need to lose weight quickly. You may got a wedding in a month or whatever. Yeah. Short runs cut your calories. Yeah. Right. But you don't want to cut your c ⁓ coach Tom said that on the thing. Yes. If you're going to endurance run, don't start by cutting your calories. Right. No. We're actually probably going to increase increase. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ and so totally yes. ⁓ That all that you probably like we aren't experts in, you need, you know, somebody who like registered smart people with that. But the point of the of number nine is start adjusting that stuff now. Yeah. If you're gonna start eating more salads and whatever, doing that day one, like your whole body's gonna be in shock. Your body's gonna say, Whoa, whoa, whoa, where's my cheeseburgers? And why in the world did you take me out of the run at four in the morning? You know, and your body's gonna freak out. Start adjusting now. Yeah. Is my recommendation. Any other thoughts on that? No. Okay. Number 10, last one, find a local race. Yeah. We've said this a bunch of times before. This is this is, and and you can build them into your training, whatever, but find their local races now. And what we mean by local race is no pressure, no corrals at the beginning. You don't have to use bib boards and your super fast shoes or whatever. Right. Like find the 5k for your local charity or your kids' elementary school. Yeah. Or something. And even if it's not till the fall, register for it now. Yeah. Right. Give yourself a milestone, practice race, build the confidence. Yeah. I would say that local races have done two things for us. One, they've taken the pressure off of the Disney races because we've said before, like our first two years, we felt like we had to PR every single race and we were missing all the fun on the course. And so I personally, like if I'm in a PR, I'm gonna do it at a local race. ⁓ so that's taking the pressure off. Perform there because it's less crowded, less money. Correct. Less stress in general. Right. And so yeah. If you want to like go for performance, do it at a smaller race. The other thing that I would say, and like you sort of started to allude to is that as we get into these longer distance training runs, you know, it can be boring sometimes to run the same course by your house or whatever. And so incorporating one of these local races, you know. helps you do something a little different. Yep. For your long run on Saturday or whenever you go for your long run. Yep. Absolutely. I also love that it gives me an opportunity to practice running around other people. Yeah. That I, you know, that bob and weave thing you have to do on the Disney course. Yep. ⁓ if you've never done it, like it's a little bit intimidating and frustrating. And yeah. Do you remember our first 10 K when And I'd never experienced it before, but you had the idea of throwing your cup in the trash can after a water station. No, throwing it on the ground. Because we're like, I can't throw it on the ground. That's what I mean. I ran with the cup for like two miles. Right. Because I refuse to throw it on the ground. That's glittering. Yes. You know? And I'm like, when are they ever gonna have a trash can? And you're like, just throw it. And I'm like, I can't. And now it's too late because we're way out of the zone like acceptable zone of trash. When that happens, I try to find like if there's a group of if there's like a little clump of other Trash or goodies on the ground, then I'll wait for like that. But yeah, it's hard when you haven't done it. Yeah. Or or the whole idea of drinking out of the cup while you're running. If you're even if you're walking, you don't have to be running, you gotta squeeze it. You know what I mean? And make a little little ⁓ spigot. Yes. You know what I mean? The first time I tried to drink it like a cup, splashing all over my face. Practice that at a local race. Yep. You know, rather than at a Disney race where you're gonna you know, embarrass yourself or whatever. Yeah. Cool. And local races are great for, like you said, like performance. You know, if you want to try and do something and they're and the the pressure's off. Correct. And they're less crowded for sure. For sure. Which is which is always good. ⁓ a couple of resources to find local races would be run sign up. That's what it's called. Runsign up.com and then race roster, I believe, is another one. And then there's, you know, you can find a bunch. Like if you have a fleet feet or whatever, you know, the store, you can find local races through them or whatever. But really easy to do that through those websites. And then I I had one other thought on local races. Sometimes they're really relaxed. Yeah. Right. Right. And you know, they're just like, ⁓ so we we do one in our town where it's just like everyone's just kind of standing on the sidewalk and like they're like actually been like, all right, everybody line up. Like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Line up. Line up. We're trying to take a picture. And everyone's just kind of chilling. Right. Yeah. We had one. It was the silver comet half last year that cracked me up because ⁓ you and I were waiting out or I was waiting for you outside the bathroom and they said the race was starting. Yeah. And I'm like, ⁓ shoot. You know, like Erica's still in the restroom. And so I was like, I hadn't made it in yet. There was two stalls. There was two stalls in a line of like 15 girls. Did I text you? Did I say something or did I just go? I think I told you to just go. Okay. So that's yeah, yeah. Okay. It's coming back to me now. What I remember though was you just stayed behind. Yeah. And I just went to the start and started with everybody, right? But the the funny part about it was that like you were still in line for the bathroom, but you still started. Right. Yeah. So we were all panicking, like The gun just went off and there's still like 10 of us waiting for the bathroom. We didn't know like what the bathroom situation was gonna be, if there was gonna be porta potties in the course or what. And so this girl goes, Well, you know, the race doesn't start till we cross the start line. Like for each individual person, like your bib doesn't register till you cross the start. And we're all like, ⁓ yeah. Like we just we hadn't thought about that. Like we were just ready to go, you know? So we just took our time, waited, you went to use the bathroom, and then just started. Across the start line. It was very chill. Like it was the most chill start I've ever had. There was no one around. Yeah. There was like five of us. We just started running. And that was the race I PR'd on. So clearly. You had all the space in the world. In fact, my time had lots of space. It was great. It's a really great way to start a ⁓ or experience a race because at Disney we're all fighting to get up to the front. Yeah. Even if we're being as chill as we can be, you're still pushing to get across the start line. Yeah. And with think about it. The last person, the balloon ladies. They start like an hour and fifteen minutes after the race starts. You know? It's when you finish, not when you start. Correct. Yeah. So yeah. Do a local race. That way you can get those jitters out. Yeah. You can realize what's a big deal and not to you. Right. ⁓ do you want to carry arm sleeves? I do. I usually will start a race with them and ditch them or or carry them to the end. I just I don't want to be cold waiting. Practice that stuff at home. Yep. Local races is a great way to do that. Totally. Okay, that was our top 10. Do you have anything else that just kind of like came to mind in any of that? I don't think practice using a porta potty. I just I'm all I would say about that is getting in and out of your costume, which I don't want anyone to really go there. So we talked about that in our costume episode. Okay. Well, that's our top ten list of things you can be doing now. If you guys have any ideas or suggestions or whatever, feel free to throw those out there on our Instagram or anything like that. We're we'd we'd love any any advice or tips that you've got. ⁓ especially if we missed something. Right. ⁓ for sure. Okay, so ⁓ let's talk a couple quick things before we wrap it up and move on to our after show. ⁓ personal training update. We haven't done this in a little while because we're just not in training right now. The only thing I was gonna throw out there is I started my training for New York City Marathon two weeks ago. And ⁓ it's kind of like I'm I'm in the building my base back a little bit. I never stopped running. Right. I but I you know I would run five miles here, you know. I I still ran three to four times a week. Yes. Five miles, maybe. I went with my run club. And that was nine miles and I was exhausted because I'm in like a not running all the time thing. Have have or not running hard, not doing hill training or whatever since princess. Yeah. And so it's been a couple months. So I'm kind of like getting back. Yeah. Back in and it's starting to feel like, ⁓ yeah, I can still do this. You know, which which is a good thing. ⁓ and so I I know I'm starting early because marathon. Weekend for Disney World is in January and New York City is in November. So like my whole timeline's a little bit pushed forward. Right. I know most people won't start training for Disney races for for a couple of weeks. Yeah. That's it for me for ⁓ training update. Like ⁓ you I know are still just really trying to let your body recover right now, right? Well, I don't know if recovery is the right word. ⁓ I would say that I am starting to do some more runs, some easy runs. I'm really focused on strength right now. ⁓ Do you have like some health things maybe going on, maybe finding out why I'm always in pain. So interested to find out ⁓ some more answers. Of course, it's not going to stop me. I've been running in pain. I will continue to run in pain, but maybe have a reason why. So ⁓ so yeah. So I'm just gonna keep going. Yeah, it sounds like you're gonna keep going. I am. Nothing I could say would would would ⁓ that is correct. Encourage you to maybe take it easy. No, because ⁓ that apparently doesn't help. Taking it easy doesn't help. So it's gonna hurt either way. Correct. Got it. Yeah. So we'll see. Might as well get a medal then. We'll see what happens. Okay. That's right. All right. Well, hopefully you get some answers medically or whatever. Yeah. Before training starts. So you know what's the safe or smart thing to do. Yeah. ⁓ as it relates to training. Absolutely. Okay. That's it. Okay. You have any other comments? We got we're gonna do the after show. Yeah. ⁓ and so we're gonna go do that for our support crew members. Again, if you guys want to support the show, get some extra content. Support crew is AJ.com slash support crew. We're gonna talk about all this Memorial Day stuff. We hope you guys had an awesome Memorial Day this week. We hope that everything is good. Don't forget to get your Roadback to you copy of the book. Or you can go just research Enneagram and take some free assessments if you want to do that. ⁓ but you want to be prepared for that next week. And I think that's all I have. Do you have anything else to comment on? Nope, that's it. Awesome. Thank guys for joining us today, and we'll catch you next week for another episode. One more run. Thanks for joining us for this episode of One More Run the Podcast. If you like what we're up to, be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow us on Instagram. You can find links to all of that at ajnerica.com.