Long Run Nutrition w/ Coach Olivia Pratt

September for the Next Level Running Podcast has been all about the Long Run w/ Coach Olivia Pratt! In our full form podcast earlier this month Coach Olivia walked us through the role that the long run plays in marathon training. Here with our Instagram Live Replay and Coach Will Benitez the talk is about nutrition with the long run! This is another great conversation for those looking to jump into marathon training or implement the long run into your training!

Connect with Coach Olivia Pratt:
https://www.rundoyen.com/running-coaches/olivia-pratt/

Connect with Coach Will Benitez:
https://www.rundoyen.com/coaching-services/nutrition-coaching/

Check out RunDoyen if you are looking for a World Class Expert Run Coach to help you crush your running goals: https://www.rundoyen.com/

If you aren't quite ready for a Run Coach, check out the Doyen Dashers Program:
https://www.rundoyen.com/dashers/

Follow @RunDoyen for IG Live sessions:
https://www.instagram.com/rundoyen/

Join the Next Level Running Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nextlevelrunning

Questions for me: 
https://www.rundoyen.com/running-coaches/jacob-phillips/

Transcript

Jacob Phillips 0:17

This is the Next Level Running Podcast, brought to you by the expert coaches at Rungoy, helping runners of all levels trust their goals on race day by matching with the perfect coach for playing for. Hello and welcome back to the Next Level Running Podcast. I'm your host, Jacob Phillips, and I am here to introduce this month's Instagram live replay with Coach Will Benitez. Every month, Coach Will goes live on Instagram with some of our expert run coaches at rundoyan.com. This month, he's got uh new Run Doyan coach, Olivia Pratt. I had Olivia on earlier this month where we talked about the role of the long run uh in the marathon, training and preparing you for the marathon. For those who don't know, uh Coach Olivia, she's a three-time U.S. uh Olympic trials qualifier. She runs professionally for the Hansons Brooks. She was a tremendous guest for me. And Coach Will and Olivia take our conversation one step further today, where they talk about the nutrition of the long run. To caffeinate or not caffeinate. They just get into it. They dive into it. Coach Olivia has a wealth of experience with running long and going long and racing the marathon at a high level. And so it's really cool to have our on-staff nutritionist, Coach Will Benitez and Coach Olivia talking about that marathon or that long-run nutrition here on the IG Live replay. Before I turn it over to their conversation, I want to point you to the show notes below. As always, I will have the contact info for Coach Will and for Coach Olivia. Look, if you're looking to take your nutrition or you're running to the next level, uh those two can help you. Other than that, I want to point you to our Instagram uh account at Run Doyen. If you haven't clicked that follow button, please do so. You will be notified every time we go live, and which Coach Will does every month with our world-class expert run coaches. Also, there's a lot of uh just fun running uh material there. Like, look, if if if running is your thing, which obviously if you're listening to this podcast, it's probably your thing. That Instagram account at RunDoin, go click that follow button. If Instagram's not your thing and Facebook is, we've got the next level running community group on Facebook. It's basically just the Facebook version of what we offer there on Instagram. And so join that community. It's a little bit more interactive. Join that community and be part of the conversation there. So that's all I've got for you tonight. I'm excited for this conversation with Coach Will and Coach Olivia as they talk about the long-run nutrition and dive into their experiences and their expertise.

SPEAKER_05 3:02

Hello everyone. Welcome to this month's IG Live discussion. Gonna be talking with one of our newest coaches, Olivia Pratt. Super excited to um meet and chat with Olivia today. So we're gonna be doing this soon. I think Olivia should be probably on the way in just a moment. Alright, yeah, here we go.

SPEAKER_03 3:39

I think Olivia should be joining any moment now.

SPEAKER_05 3:48

Hi Olivia.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Hi, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_05 3:52

Good, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Pretty good.

SPEAKER_05 3:55

Awesome. And is that do you prefer my first time speaking or meeting you? Do you prefer Olivia?

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Yeah, Olivia's great.

SPEAKER_05 4:03

Awesome, cool. Um, well, welcome. Um, and also kind of welcome to the team. You're one of our newest uh coaches with us. That's exciting.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Yeah, it is. It's been a good time so far.

SPEAKER_05 4:16

Yeah. Awesome, great. Um, so for anyone who's um uh and maybe for you too, although I think I I shared this with you before, but for anyone else who's kind of new and uh maybe you're bringing in some people watching this, right, from your own followers and whatnot. Um, we do this uh Ron Doyen Instagram live about once a month. We aim for I think we've been fairly consistent with that, which is crazy because we've been doing this for about three years now. So it's it's it's many conversations here. Um and uh I'd love to have these because we just talk about a particular topic that hopefully is of interest, or at least people can kind of you know have some takeaways um on anything kind of running related. We've talked about gear, we've talked about um uh you know nutrition, uh heat training, um identity as a runner, like it's really kind of been the full spectrum. Um, and what we're here for today, which is kind of a nice juicy topic for me as a nutritionist with Ron Doyen, um, is more particular, you know, like I know it's gonna be regarding um like kind of how your take and your experience with it is, but it is like fuel and hydration, and um more specifically, I think you're gonna maybe um talk a little bit about caffeine and maybe alcohol and again in your in your experience and maybe kind of what you share, what you've learned, you know, working with other runners or you know, teammates, things like that.

SPEAKER_04 5:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:44

Um so no fancy title here for this uh for this chat, but it is that is kind of the gonna be the you know the the the um topic or or whatnot for for today. Um so uh let's just do some quick introductions. Um I'll start and then you can go and then we'll dive in with some questions that I have today. Hopefully this doesn't take up too much of your time, but uh yeah, let's let's get rolling.

SPEAKER_04 6:11

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 6:11

Cool. Well, so yeah, again, I'm Will and I am the uh nutritionist here with Ron Doyen. I've been with Ron Doyen since the beginning. Crazily, Ron Doyen's been around since the beginning of 2018, and I was on that founding team and have never left. It's a great group, uh it's it's grown. I think we're like six coaches, and including, you know, and and then myself added to that. Um and now I don't know the number, 12 plus 15s or so. Like it's a lot of coaches with us, and uh, as I mentioned, Olivia, you're one of our newest um additions to our awesome team. Um so oh and I'm in Portland, Oregon. I don't often say that, but I like to let people know I am in Portland. A lot of runners know of Portland. Um what about you, Olivia? Uh introduction and where are you tuning in from?

SPEAKER_02 7:00

Yeah, hi, I'm Olivia, as he said. Um I'm tuning in from Ferndale, Michigan, which is right outside of Detroit. I've been living in Metro Detroit for the last seven years. Um I joined Hanson's Brooks uh Distance Project right out of college. Um I ran for Butler University with their cross-country and track and field teams. Um and since college, you know, I've raced everywhere from, you know, the 5K up to the marathon. Um I'd say, you know, the last couple of years, my personal focus as an athlete has shifted to the marathon, um, which definitely carries its own kind of challenges and variables with nutrition, both in just every day like nutrition and fueling, and then actually also like training and racing. Um but yeah, you know, uh I'm a Midwest kid. I love running here. I love running in the winter here, and uh excited to chat with you.

SPEAKER_05 8:04

Cool, awesome. So already like surprised by you saying you love running in the Midwest in the winter. Most people would would say that. Is for you is it like you just love the cold and and maybe snow, or or do you tend to like move some of your runs indoor, which is also surprising that you would love that.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

But what is what what I hate running inside first off. Um, it upsets me. Uh no, I think I just love the challenge, honestly. Um, and it uh makes the rest of the year uh feel like a breeze. Sometimes we call um our winters like the poor man's altitude. Um makes you really strong. Um my team does go down to Florida in the winters to train a fair amount, um, which is like a helpful break sometimes. Uh running speedy workouts in the cold is really, really challenging. Um, but you know, I I've lived in the Midwest my entire life. So yeah, um running running through the winters to me just feels normal. It's just kind of part of the part of the grind.

SPEAKER_05 9:17

So yeah, you're used to it. It's in your blood. Yeah, and I would I would guess, and I've not done both extremes, but I would guess that it's probably easier than running in like the deep south where it's just super hot.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

And I think you're probably right.

SPEAKER_05 9:31

Yeah. And I I don't love either extreme, but I think the winter running is or the colder running is probably a little easier. Um maybe marginally, but I think that's probably true. Um okay, so let's get into some questions that I have looking down because I I I jotted them down to make sure I don't lose them. Um but it actually like something you said, like your kind of your story, made me think of a new one. Um, and I'm just curious when it comes to like um products or caffeine or like all these little hacks maybe that you've learned along the way, did did you like were you using them or were you like what was your take on them early on when you were maybe shorter distance running compared to later on in your career so far? Like maybe doing more long distance running?

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Yeah. I mean it really wasn't until I started training for the marathon that I really started thinking about fueling like during a run. So, you know, it's always been a focus of mine in training, regardless of what distance I'm running or training for, to make sure that I'm like well fueled, right? You know, like you food is fuel. You you cannot you can't run on nothing. Um, and your your training and your racing will benefit from you know, solid, like good eating habits. Um, you know, making sure you get at least like we usually run in the morning, for example, like making sure you have at least like a small breakfast or like a snack before you run rather than running on a on an empty stomach, um, has been super helpful for me. Um, and just making like sure my energy levels feel like a lot more stable throughout the day and throughout the run. But then as we got into marathon training and the miles really started stacking up, um, I started realizing like, oh, you know, even if it's just a recovery run, if it's over like an hour and a half long or even like 80 minutes, I'll start thinking about bringing, you know, a gel with me of some kind to have midway through. Because even if I don't need it, need it in the run, I will feel so much better afterwards because I feel like my blood sugar levels like stay a little bit more steady. Um, and for me, one of the bigger challenges of marathon training is when the mileage gets really, really high, you know, I just feel sometimes like so fatigued all the time. And so, you know, if that gel is gonna help me feel better even later in the day when I'm done with my running, but just trying to get about my life um and be functional, you know. Um, like I'm I'm gonna take that gel, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:16

Yep, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love that you mentioned that because I tell clients um that all the time. It's like, yeah, you might not need it, you know, for that like hour long or maybe even hour and a half long run, but it's gonna support your recovery. So why not? You know, and and it is helpful, especially with longer distance running, like it can be particularly like marathon, is it can be like a training opportunity, like you're just getting your body used to, even if you don't need it, it's just another opportunity to get used to taking that carbohydrate in and metabolizing it and you know, utilizing it. So um, yeah, I think yeah, what you've come to um not only appreciate, but like as being maybe like an actual um component in your training nowadays, um, I think is yeah, spot on and probably uh very likely helping you maybe in that run, but certainly you know, your recovery too, like you said. Um and then looking back, I'm just curious, because I have this conversation often with like 800-meter runners or 1500-meter runners that maybe are like scratching their head while I'm talking to them about fueling during workouts and you know, taking something right before a race. Is that something where you and I maybe maybe this isn't the case? I don't know if you actually did that um when you were kind of racing shorter distances, but is that something looking back, you're like, oh, I would I wish I kind of applied some of these like fueling principles in my shorter distance training in some way, shape, or form?

SPEAKER_02 13:40

I think um anytime my training has kind of bumped up in volume, you know, like when I was call in college as you know, senior, so I was running maybe 65 miles a week, and then when I came here, bumped up to about 80. Um, even though I was training for similar distances, it's just like, well, I'm you know older, I'm running professionally, it's time to run a little bit more. Um, so yeah, thinking a little bit more about fueling around training, even though I was training for 5K's and 10K's, I think could have been a really good idea. Um as I like went through that transition of you know bumping up my my volume of training, um, just because I was I was just more tired, you know. Um sometimes it just takes a little while for your body to adjust. So yeah, you know, if you've gotta take a gel in the middle of a 60-minute run to make yourself feel, you know, yeah, more recovered afterwards, um, I I'd say you should go for it. And I also, you know, coming onto this team back in 2017, I got to watch some of my more experienced teammates training for the Chicago Marathon my first fall here, and just kind of like soak up by osmosis what they were doing, even though they're training for such a longer distance, to see them, you know, practice their fueling during their workouts, during their easy runs, during their long runs, um, making sure that they're refueling after their runs as as quickly as possible was really influential to me. You know, there's there's no reason you can't take those kind of marathon fueling habits and apply them to your training, even if that's not what you're training for yet.

unknown 15:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:25

Yeah. Yeah. Couldn't agree more. And yeah, that's awesome. Like, yeah, being around it, you just kind of like like anything, you're like, you're just gonna soak it all up and like learn, maybe not apply right away, but like you come to either appreciate it or like it's not as foreign to you anymore. Uh it's kind of like what like you know, one of the benefits of like joining a running group or something, like you just kind of learn from others along the way. Um, speaking of tiredness, so let's get into some of the topics for today. That was all just like uh a warm-up, if you will. Um caffeine, right? Think of tired, you think of combating that tiredness. Caffeine usually comes to mind. So when it comes to caffeine, um how have or do you incorporate it into your own training? Um, or or maybe even race strategy. So I don't know. Maybe you just do it for training, but you don't do it for races. So you can speak to either or or both.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Yeah, um, so for myself, uh, I definitely use caffeine. I just really like coffee, that's part of it. Um, you know, I have a cup of coffee pretty much every morning before a run. That's just because that's just my routine, you know. Um a shift has been, you know, since college, definitely learning not to take caffeine like after a certain time of the day, because it does take a while to leave your system. So, you know, if you're having a cup of coffee at 4 p.m., it can totally interrupt your sleep cycle. Um, so that's that's been big for me too, just in just overall like daily habits. Um, but yeah, then in training, you know, um, or in racing a marathon, for example, um, we've kind of been taught by our coach, Kevin Hansen, Kevin Keith Hansen, um to use some caffeine probably around 18 miles into the race. Um, and part of it is just it, I mean, obviously it's caffeine, it just wakes you up, but so much of the fatigue of a long race or a long effort is just mental fatigue. You know, it's hard to stay focused doing just the same thing, running at the same pace for that long. And so sometimes having just a jolt of caffeine, it kind of like it gives you that mental boost, you know, that you need to, you know, maybe get more into race mode as the the real race um really begins. And a lot of people I think I think feel that like the real race of the marathon starts like around 18 to 20 miles, honestly. Um but yeah, uh I would say also like leading into a race, especially these like early morning road races. Um I sometimes try to avoid coffee actually because it's pretty acidic. Um and I just worry that it won't sit super well in my stomach. Um, so that's when you know maybe just a caffeinated sports drink might come into play. Like um personally, like Martin's um caffeinated drink mix is pretty nice because it really packs a punch in terms of carbohydrates as well. Um, and then also Scratch Labs has a really nice caffeinated uh sports drink that just tastes really nice. Um, and it's gonna help you get a little hydrated as well before your race.

SPEAKER_05 18:50

So cool, awesome. Yeah, I appreciate you sharing some of those details too. Um yeah, and like you know, to to to the point you you made about um kind of like using coffee, caffeine, like during um, especially like you said in a marathon, like the race kind of it gains 18, you know, to 20 miles, somewhere around there. It's that like mental alertness piece, right? It's not even so much like you're tired, or like you know, especially at your level, like you've got the stamina, you've been training for this. It's not it's not really about being tired, it's that like mental sharpness that you can get. Um so for people who particularly for like you know, people tuning in now, if you've if you've been curious, or maybe you've kind of like just maybe you know didn't think or don't don't think that you know caffeine can help, or or yeah, that you're not tired during a run that doesn't really feel like you. It's sometimes it's not that it's like you said, it's like just kind of waking you up in terms of the um just staying mentally alert, which which can really help, particularly like when you know, you we've probably all been there, it's like you're on a training run and you kind of drift off and don't really even you're not really present in that run anymore, which is which is great. That can actually really help in many ways, but sometimes you know you might not be clicking the same paces you need to be. So sometimes a little bit of whether it's carbohydrate or caffeine or both, um, might kind of help you stay like stay sharp and stay focused when it's kind of getting a little hard and your mind takes you away to kind of ease that a little bit. Um, did you use caffeinated or caffeine races? Did you use caffeine for some of those like 5K, 10k, or was it really when you started getting into marathon that you started using them?

SPEAKER_02 20:31

A lot of the time if I was using caffeine uh for 5K or 10K, it was because I'd have an evening race. You know, so my track races like are on the on the West Coast, you know, in California, um at you know 7 p.m. or later. I remember one of my first ever 5Ks on the track back in college was at 11 30 p.m. Pacific, which was 2 30 in the morning for me. So it's really just like, well, you know, I'm gonna throw all of my I'm gonna I'm gonna throw my sleep cycle out the window and I'm gonna take caffeine at what is for me like midnight so that I can feel awake and alert. Um but also just like the nerves of getting ready for a race are a great stimulant too. So um but yeah sometimes sometimes you gotta use that caffeine because your race might be at a weird time of day. Um and then yeah, I mean I think a lot of people who run 5K's and 10Ks are doing road races which are in the morning, similarly to marathons. Um so it's kind of a similar thing, you know. If you are used to training in the morning and you're used to having a bit of caffeine before you run, you know, you should you should keep that habit up for race day. You know, you don't want to shake things up too much before a race from what's normal for you. Um yeah, and you know, I I think it can be so hard to feel fully awake sometimes on a start line at seven in the morning when it's still dark out. out or whatever, which I've been in that position many times. Um and yeah, throwing some some caffeine in there. Um for me, it just makes me feel like okay, like I'm I'm more ready now. You know?

unknown 22:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:13

Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. When it comes to like products or anything, because it you mentioned like sometimes you don't do the coffee because you know more acidic. But you've relied on more of the products that have caffeine, do you tend to like or have you noticed like, yeah, I only need like 30 milligrams or I may need like 75 to 100 or have like maybe do you use certain amounts at certain times or for certain workouts? Like what's what's uh if there's any like extra thinking or strategy there, um what what is that for you?

SPEAKER_02 22:45

I feel like um okay actually so um this is more a story of uh my teammates but uh one of my teammates Megan O'Neill is taken to um when she's you know 18 to 20 miles into her marathon she she'll take uh one of the Martin caffeinated gels which um a lot of gels out there have like yeah 25 to 35 milligrams of caffeine which isn't a ton but it's like you know it's enough but the Martin one has a hundred milligrams of coffee that's like a that's like a strong drink of coffee right there. And uh she calls it ripping the big boy. Um which might be a little I don't know if that's like inappropriate or not but it makes me laugh every time she says it. Um but yeah sometimes yeah you gotta go for that like whatever's gonna pack the punch for you and gonna make an impact because I mean the fatigue like deep into a marathon is like it can be so ridiculous that you really you might need something with a lot of caffeine to kind of help knock you out of it. I think for a shorter race you know I personally don't feel like I need something I I personally don't feel like I need a whole lot of caffeine to get me um excited for 5k or 10k or help me feel focused um just because like when you're standing on the start line of a shorter race I feel like I have to be a little bit more alert and a little more focused maybe embrace those nerves a little bit more because it's such a more like such a faster um race experience you know like blink and you'll miss it. So I feel like since I'm embracing those nerves a little bit more I don't need the caffeine as much but on the start line of a marathon like personally I think like the calmer you are the better. Because you're gonna be out there for a long time. So I'm probably not gonna like go crazy with caffeine right but like before a marathon that's more of a I want to incorporate it maybe a little bit later.

SPEAKER_05 24:56

Yeah yeah so definitely you like yeah for people who you know I mean you know yourself right like if if you tend to be if you tend to get that if you're already jittery without the coffee or if you tend to get jittery or anxious or you know whatever like when you do use caffeine then maybe right before the marathon isn't what you want to be doing. Yeah. Right? Like maybe you just want to use it later when you're not going to really have those same effects it's going to be kind of utilized more you you know you're gonna be running it you know mile 15, 1618 when you're when you're taking it. So yeah I think you know the the message isn't like everyone should be because there are clear benefits that can come from it. But maybe it's you know everyone has to find like the amount that's right for them if it's right for them. And then of course um when you know when when is that timing? And I think having that conversation I mean it's safe enough where you can do that your own experimenting but certainly like if you have a coach it's a great you know um especially run doing like most of our coaches have been or are runners some pro. So you know um having that conversation with one of our coaches can be really like they'll be able to like add their own experience like like you're sharing with us now, which can be super super helpful. Awesome. So I want to pivot for you know probably the the remaining here just another like few minutes or so of your time. Let's talk about the other substance that sometimes comes into play with training and people have a lot of curiosity about um alcohol. You know from uh and I don't know exactly what angle I don't know your your story here so I haven't like framed questions based on what I already know and I'm learning as I go. But you're from your own experience like how has alcohol if you consume it um affected your recovery and performance when it comes to training for for races being in big training cycles um and again that's assuming you do and if you don't I'm curious as to that too.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

Yeah well so I I drink like you know occasionally and not very much um whether I'm in or out of the training segment. But it's just like you know you asked me you know what are some interesting like nutrition topics you might like to talk about and I I feel like alcohol is just a really interesting uh nutrition topic when it comes to athletes um because you know we when we're training for a race and we're putting so much effort and time and energy into our preparation we want to sometimes we like we want to do everything perfectly and so that means you know I I know a lot of athletes who will just straight up not drink at all during you know say a marathon training segment or you know their track season or whatever. Um and you know different things work for different people but I I just think that the um the kind of debate about like whether you should drink at all during your training um whether you should stop completely drink a little bit live life as normal is just an interesting topic because um it makes me ask the question of like how much of a perfectionist do you have to be in order to train properly um or to feel like you're doing everything you can um so for me like the answer is it's all about balance right so um I personally get nervous about walking down the road of perfectionism um I think for a lot of runners who are very very driven it's really easy to get caught up in all these uh feelings like we have to be perfect every time we have to do everything perfectly and so alcohol whether you drink it or not um it's just kind of like one element of that debate you know um so my my personal like feeling about alcohol is that sometimes I enjoy a beer with dinner or a cocktail with a friend you know um and I kind of just also feel like I have to follow the way I'm feeling sometimes when I'm in the absolute depths of marathon training and I'm just running tons and tons of miles, I just don't want alcohol because I don't want something that's gonna make me feel more tired or less recovered. And so I follow I follow that feeling you know um my body's saying no I don't want that right now you know um so yeah it's just like an interesting debate. I feel like I've seen athletes you know either go completely without alcohol and that may work for them. And I've seen alcohol athletes feel like you know I think I'm gonna just you know yeah like follow my instincts and maybe have a drink here or there.

SPEAKER_05 29:54

But yeah I don't know I've seen athletes who um will continue to drink very often as well I will say and they they are performing at a high level um not to say that like that's you know um it's not affecting them but I've just I'm adding that because I've seen that too.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:13

Um and yeah no I I really appreciate yeah your your your take on this and kind of just basically yeah how you feel what you kind of bring to I imagine that you know that applies to your coaching too and you're probably not coaching your runners to give up alcohol during their cycle but you are probably having that conversation about what um like what that balance might look like at least while they're you know chasing this goal which they maybe have hired you on for um which is where I kind of you know will come at it too with clients um particularly like runners who maybe like after you know a marathon or whatever their running event is um it's like well let's be smart or let's be smart about the alcohol consumption I'm not gonna tell you not to because I don't think you necessarily have to avoid it. If you currently I'm also not gonna tell someone who doesn't drink to start right yeah or if you if it's in your if it's in your life you probably can you know as long as you get smart about it, you know keep it in. But at least for this training cycle like like maybe let's not do it right before your big long run you know uh even though that tends to be on the weekend and maybe that tends to be when people drink like maybe that is an adjustment you know that we have to be or it's one serving versus like the two or three you may have had before you entered this training cycle. Is that something that you have also not necessarily coach people on but like when it what you said you occasionally do it but do you will you like be conscious of if you're like I've got this big workout tomorrow or if you know I've got a race tomorrow like are you are you kind of like I guess avoiding it when the next day is kind of a big day for you or maybe when that day was a big day and you want to you know stay recovered.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

Yeah I feel like some um I definitely will well it kind of depends honestly um because sometimes I had this tradition going with a teammate of mine um a while back where sometimes the night before uh a big track race, you know, and these are evening races, right? Um so this is at least 24 hours in advance but we'd have a glass of wine together and it was kind of just a way to dispel the tension because you know we've maybe traveled a really long way for this race, maybe we're super nervous for it. And it's just kind of a way to be like okay like we're still you know like we can relax, enjoy ourselves a little bit um and yeah just just calm down a little bit from this like feeling of tension because you you can't maintain that feeling of tension for that long. Um and so that was it was less about like oh let's have a drink of wine because it calms us down is like just because this it was more that this uh this kind of tradition we have calms us down I guess um but yeah if it's a morning race I typically won't drink the night before um I just it's just not my preference. I think I probably have once or twice and I don't think it makes a huge difference for me. I just generally don't do it. I one thing I have seen is sometimes people have like a really big workout and then like maybe drink a lot afterwards, you know, almost to like celebrate or something or they're like okay well now I've done the big workout and I can relax and like party a little bit. And that's something that I'm you know um I kind of caution against I guess because it's not gonna help you recover. Like that's you know that that's how I that's just how I see it really. I think you know a celebratory beer too maybe is fine but um it's all it's all about moderation to me I think when we're pushing our bodies to a high like a high level you know we got to take care of ourselves.

SPEAKER_05 34:00

So yeah yeah totally yeah I I I agree you know there's often that beer garden or whatnot that people go to after their marathon and I'm all for it if it's your first one you're you know the one you did with your parent or like you know you set a PR like I'm all for celebrating but I often tell people look if you're gonna do I'm not gonna tell you not to you're probably not gonna listen to me. Yeah but but get your water and maybe some electrolytes and some some food don't have that be the first thing you do um because that can just really wreck the rest of your day and how you're feeling and you know the next day probably you know you're not you're gonna feel pretty you know heavy or stiff or whatever like it's not helping like you said you're recording.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Yeah you can you can have a good time while also taking care of yourself.

SPEAKER_05 34:42

That's yeah yeah for sure and and to your point about like yeah like the like you know the wine tradition I was just thinking um it's like yeah like if you are someone who you know especially if you're like traveling for this race and you're staying in a hotel room and you're trying to be super clean and like you know make you do nothing wrong but then you're just getting anxious like you can't not sipping about this race and it's maybe impacting like how you're feeling maybe you're not gonna sleep well because it's just been on your mind all night. Maybe like a glass of wine you know actually can help like you said it can help calm you it can help maybe be a healthy distraction. And if you can keep it to maybe like one serving of whatever that is it's probably not going to have the biggest impact on your sleep. And let's be honest like you're probably not going to get the best sleep anyway because it's a big day tomorrow. So if that can help you kind of stay calm and just enjoy the experience and you know be somewhat more rested at least that evening it's probably not going to harm you know overall harm harm that next day's performance so I think that is a is a healthy takeaway and again that's only for people who already consume alcohol if you don't and you have a race tomorrow don't drink alcohol don't start it'll make you feel weird. Yeah don't don't start that night before a big event for sure.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

Yeah um okay Olivia any I don't know any any other any other thoughts or uh yeah as we've kind of been talking that you've thought about but we didn't get to or um yeah that you'd like to share um nothing big I mean I guess just like when it comes to fueling um you know whether you're training for a marathon or something different it's just yeah it's about balance and listening to your body and for me it's often about just making sure I'm getting enough food enough calories enough carbs so that I feel good. So yeah I just want to reinforce those points.

SPEAKER_05 36:43

That's all awesome great um well it's been great chatting and meeting with you um if if people are curious if they want to have that next chat with you see if you're maybe a good fit for their um next training cycle or a big you know chase um or just longevity of running um how can people get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_02 37:08

Well you can always send me a DM on Instagram my account is at olivia.g.pratt um and you can also send me a message through rundoyan as well you can go to my coach page and send me a message through there if you um have any goals or questions that you want to talk about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:27

Yeah awesome and unless you have different settings I think people can also kind of schedule like a preliminary call with you if they want to kind of chat on the phone or meet you know video face to face to kind of see um if again if you're if you're a good fit so if you'd like to do that as well you can do that with Olivia at our site rundoin.com pretty simple and straightforward to find your page so um awesome well thanks I look forward to um you know our next conversation that might be months away but I hope it's gonna be uh a good one as well do you have anything any races coming up or on the horizon that we can wish you good luck at or um you know unfortunately I've been struck with an injury so you wish me good luck with recovery we what we shall we definitely shall yeah speedy recovery to you we're excited to have you back out there when that you know when your body says okay yeah ready to do this um and at the moment maybe some you know runners can get extra attention from you on their on their own running journey so good for them all right Olivia well thank you so much for joining us have a great rest of your day and see you next time yeah thanks for having me yep take care bye and that does it for this month's Instagram live replay with Coach Will Benitez and his guest Coach Olivia Pratt I hope you enjoyed the conversation tonight.

Jacob Phillips 38:51

I want to thank Coach Olivia for uh basically jumping on the podcast twice this month. She was the full form guest uh earlier in the month and now she's back as our Instagram live guest uh to finish out the month so the month of September was all about the long run uh and all about coach Olivia so wanted to introduce her to the Run Doyen and the next level running uh audience out there we will be back on the 13th of October I can't believe we're already in October but we'll be back on the 13th and the 26th of October and we'll have the full form uh podcast as well as another Instagram live replay like I said in the show notes below if you haven't clicked that follow button on Instagram please do so you will be notified every time Coach Will goes live with some of our world class expert run coaches. Fun conversation I hope you enjoyed it tonight and until next time have a great run. Thank you for joining us here on the Next Level Running Podcast your source for training advice from the expert coaches at Rundoyan. If you're ready to take your training and race to the next level head over to rundoyan.com and get matched to your ideal coach who will provide you with the highly customized online training you need for crushing your goals on race day