December IG Live Replay: Navigating Winter Training w/ Coach Will Benitez

In this month's Instagram Live replay w/ Coach Will Benitez he talks through how he navigates winter training. The winter can be tough -- cold weather, travel, etc. so Coach Will gives his thoughts on how he combats that in this month's episode! Coach Will is our on-site nutrition coach with RunDoyen and happens to run our monthly Instagram Live chats! Will is a professional Nutritionist who has worked with Olympic runners and he's ready to help you fine tune your diet for optimized energy, recovery and general health throughout training. 

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 Run Doyle, helping runners of all levels trust their goals on racing by matching you with the perfect coach for training plan. Hello and welcome back to Next Level Running Podcast. I'm your host, Jacob Phillips, and this is our last podcast of 2024. I hope that you've had a great year and I've taken your running to the next level. This month, Coach Will Benitez chats about navigating winter training on our Instagram live replay. But before I get into that, I want to point you to the show notes below and give you a rundown of what Coach Will does here with us at Run Doyen. In the show notes, you'll see links to RunDoyan.com. Look, if you want to take your running to the next level, then look no further than Rundoyan.com. We've got a roster full of world-class expert run coaches who can help you crush your running goals. Whether you're a beginner looking to start running for the first time or a seasoned veteran, our coaches work extremely hard to help get you ready to run faster, longer, and injury-free through personalized online training. If you aren't quite ready for a full-time running coach, then check out the Doyen Dashers program. For only$39 a month, you'll get a personalized self-serve training program designed by our expert run coaches here at Run Doyen. You'll get unlimited access to our calculated training programs from 5K to the marathon, and unlimited access to our exclusive library of videos, which include strength training, core exercises, injury prevention, you name it. I tried out the Doyen Dashers in the spring and loved it. It wasn't rigid, and the flexibility was awesome for my busy travel schedule. I got fitter, I got faster, and I didn't stress about having to follow the plan to a T. I highly recommend training uh with the Doyen Dashers if you aren't sure just yet about making the jump to a running coach. Now look, I want to introduce you to Coach Will Benitez. He's gonna be our guest this month on the IG Live replay. Coach Will is our on-site nutritionist who serves as our nutrition coach here at Run Doyen. He's a professional nutritionist who's worked with Olympic runners, and he's ready to help you fine-tune your diet for optimize energy, recovery, and general health throughout training. I'll have Coach Will's contact info in the show notes below. But look, this might be a great Christmas gift uh for someone or a great way for you to start off the new year. Prioritizing your health, prioritizing your fitness. Like it's just a great way to start off this year. But hey, check that out in the show notes below. And without further ado, here's Coach Will Benitez talking about how he navigates winter training.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Welcome I'm excited about this conversation because winter training is a challenge, not one of my favorites. It's actually the reason I I hardly train for any uh spring uh events, early spring events, uh, because the winter training I just was not able to stay super consistent with, just with holidays and the and the uh the weather, although you know it's not as bad up here as it is for a lot of other folks. But I know it can lead to inconsistent training, low motivation. So I know it's a challenge for a lot of runners, and unfortunately, a lot of runners get inspired in the fall, right? Um with all the marathons going on and uh a lot of uh coverage and social media on on the busy fall season, and then you know you get inspired to sign up for a for a race, for a spring race, maybe, and then lo and behold, you that means you have to train in the winter time and for a new runner, that can pose many challenges, even for a seasoned runner. Uh it can pose challenges. So this topic is um is again one that I love talking with coaches about for that very reason. I know so many runners are in that boat. Um hopefully we can get that conversation happening soon. I'm not sure. Um I'm not sure, Jeff. What's going on here? We're running into that issue. Data podcast said, uh, Coach Jeff, this is one of your uh clients. Make sure Coach Jeff is on his cell phone and not a computer. Okay, good call. I think you were on your cell phone, uh, Jeff. But if if you weren't, if you if we did kind of do our video call before this on your on your on your computer or laptop, if you want to switch over to your phone, it looks like that might be the trick. Or yeah, we can hold.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Thanks for that tip. Alright, still waiting to see.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

You know, what what if any, what might be some uh barriers or were if you've overcome them, that's great. For winter training for you. What what do you kind of deal with or what do you have to psych yourself up to get past? Um or you know, what's your favorite uh winter gear item, apparel item that that you can't live without during the winter time that kind of really helps you um stay comfortable out there in the cold or the rain or snow, curious, uh and and you know, happy to read some of your comments out loud, maybe speak to them. Share in the chat. Yeah, cold weather. Can't stand running in the cold. You know, as they say, right? They say there's no such thing as cold uh weather. What is what is it? Or bad weather, just just bad gear. I think that's the phrase. Uh I'll talk, I'll speak to that in a moment there. Sorry, can't say for this, I'm at work. But a hello to Coach Jeff, a former client. Awesome, helped this person achieve uh marathon finish time goal two years ago. Awesome. Thank you for being here. Totally understand. You can't make it. Just want to thank you for this message and for joining for a brief period of time. I'm sure Coach is still here listening to me and reading your comments. So uh he's here, just not live with me. But yeah, cold weather, yeah. Uh can't stand running in the cold. I mean, there's some truth to that comment, right? You know, uh there's no such thing as as bad weather, just bad, just bad gear. Um, I know it's it's funny and it's kind of you know poking fun, but uh again, there's some truth there. If if you can uh uh gear up appropriately, and sometimes that means you know, shelling out some dollars for for some uh some good quality stuff, uh, but the better quality, and usually it lasts a long time. Uh that's gonna be really helpful. Um, not much more to do other than take your runs indoors, right? And a lot of runners uh aren't able to do that, a lot of runners don't want to do that or like to do that. Um so of course, sometimes it does mean braving the cold uh the snow and making sure you have the proper gear. So data podcast, what what what gear do you uh make sure you have ready to go uh for your your cold winter running? Or anyone else? I'll pose that question to to anyone else. What gear do you swear by? For me, um it's my gloves. I I when it when it drops below uh I guess 40. I can probably wait to bust out the gloves until it drops below 35. But if especially if it's a windy or or wet uh sub-40 degree run, um I need to bring out the gloves. My hands just always get cold uh in general. So they're the first you know part of my body to get cold. So I need to make sure I have my gloves or else it's pretty painful. Um, I've been on too many runs, uh, luckily not anytime recently because I've learned, but too many runs were you know midway through and definitely even for like an hour after my hands are just in pain because they're just so cold. So it's probably a circulation issue. It's anything I need to look into, but um, yeah, I need to make sure I have my my gloves to keep me nice and warm. Yeah, okay, so data podcast, gloves, beanie, thick hoodie for sure. Yep, uh I do a headband. You know, sometimes I'll I'll put it I'll put a beanie on, but um uh yeah, a headband's good for me. I mean, I I do all this stuff. Again, my the gloves are the things that I if I had to choose, I I choose the gloves. But uh yeah, beanie for sure, or or or a headband, a thick thermal headband, uh thick hoodie, probably a base layer underneath that thick hoodie to keep you uh warm while you know wicking the the moisture, the sweat away. Um I'll sometimes do that, just a base layer, and then if I'm going cotton, it might just be uh like a cotton hoodie on top of that or something like that. Um but uh yeah, always kind of uh have that base layer on first. Right. Anyone else want to share any uh any any challenges to winter training or anything that kind of uh helps you get through winter training and outside of gear too, maybe it's having a race on the calendar, you know, for so many people who don't want to train in the winter uh uh or have very little low motivation, right? There's so many things that can help. Um, so I'm kind of getting into some of this, and of course, if we do get Coach Jeff on here, we'll we'll loop back and get some of his thoughts. But um uh let me just send another invite to Coach Jeff. It might just be me here uh for another five or ten minutes, but um motivation. So signing up for a race might be the thing, right? I just talked about some people do that uh after the you know the inspiration, the the the high motivation of fall training, fall, fall, sorry, not fall training, fall marathons. Um, and they get really inspired. They want to, you know, they want to start running or they want to do their first marathon, they sign up for a spring uh race and then they realize oh, I gotta train in the winter time. That can be challenging in that situation. But some people, you're like, I I want to continue running in the winter, but I hate it. So what's gonna help me kind of stay consistent with at least you know three days or or four days? And for that, maybe you do register for an event because you're like, oh, well, I paid out, you know, I paid the money for it, maybe I have to travel for it, or maybe you know, I just stick to what what I committed to. Um, and you actually intentionally sign up for a spring race to stay consistent in uh in the winter months, right? That can be uh a strategy that you employ, can be pretty effective too, right? If you paid a hundred plus dollars for a half marathon or marathon, chances are you're gonna stay decently trained for it to make sure you at least get there healthy and can complete the race. So that's that's a potential strategy. Um, you can get the gear, right? If if you're new to running or just know you don't have good winter gear, you know, you all you did last year was complain during this time. Hey, Christmas is around the corner for some folks who celebrate. Maybe you ask, you know, some folks for a couple items, maybe you treat yourself to a couple items. Um, so getting the right gear can be really helpful. You don't have to, you know, get everything all at once, but get the things that really um matter the most, right? Keep you the most warm. Again, a good base layer, um, whether it be some gloves or a beanie, you know, you know yourself. So even if it's just two items that can really make a difference, that's two items more that you didn't have. Um, and then getting smart about your training, right? So, what can you take indoors if you have access to a treadmill, whether it be at a gym or or your home? Um, or uh yeah, just you know, what what can you do inside? What what do you maybe that's nothing? Maybe you have to do everything outside. So that's just making sure you are setting yourself up for success, right, with the winter gear, um, with the routes, right? Making sure that you are choosing safe routes given the you know potential uh challenging inclement weather. Um the darkness, right, for some folks, it's it's just making sure that they are uh running in the daylight. Uh so just being kind of extra thoughtful in the winter time when you are up against a lot of these barriers, and and just uh making sure you are uh cognizant of all of that in your whole plan, what you're wearing, when you're running, where you're running, all of that. Uh and then another uh strategy that can be really motivating is signing up for a coach. And I'm not just saying that because Run Boyne is a running coaching program, nutrition too. Here I am. Um, but uh it really can be helpful, right? If this has already been something that you've been thinking about, you know, signing up for a running coach, and you know motivation is low in the spring, but you do want to stay healthy, you do want to get started on your training. Why wait until March or April? Um, then signing up for a uh a running coach can be that motivating factor, right? Again, it's that commitment, that financial commitment, like signing up for a racist. So you could um sign up for a running coach, you've put out the money, you've committed, and not just that, but you've got the accountability, right? You have someone who's gonna be holding you accountable, someone who's writing up your training plan, someone who you're checking in with. That can be hugely motivating, right? So I think that can help a lot of folks. Um, then you have similarly, you've got you know, running groups or accountability partners, you know, whether it be a friend uh or someone that you've met locally in your community that you can run with, uh, that can be really helpful too. Not everyone has that, but everyone surely has um not financial access, but you know, access to a running coach. Um so both of those can be helpful strategies for staying, uh, if not motivated, uh accountable, right? For you may still not want to, but you've put the money out, so you're gonna do it. Or you've um you've signed up for the coach, they're holding you accountable. Uh you they still might be tired or you hate running in the dark, but you're more accountable to staying consistent. I think that goes a long way. Uh hello everyone, for those of you who have just joined. Uh, this is uh navigating winter training. Uh, it was gonna be with Coach Jeff. We are uh we've been unable to get Coach Jeff. I am not optimistic, unfortunately, that we'll be able to get Coach Jeff. Uh he's here, I think he might even be in the comments, but um he just has not been able to log. There's been a technical issue with him getting him on live um that we have not been able to overcome. So our apologies, but I've just been kind of bantering on on this subject, navigating winter training. If you have thoughts, questions, uh stuff that's worked for you, whether it be about gear or changing up your training um or questions on anything when winter training related, I'll do my best to answer. So by all means, get your comment or question in the in the comment. Um I will be uh probably just doing this for another few minutes or so unless you know the comments come uh flooding in. We'll see. Uh otherwise I'll wrap up in a few minutes. But yeah, if you have anything, any thoughts or questions about winter training, by all means put them in the comment. I'd love to speak to it, uh speak to them. We've been talking about gear so far, um uh motivation, you know, strategies to kind of stay motivated and accountable through winter training. Um I think that might have been all we've been discussing so far. Obviously, staying safe. I think we talked about um just briefly, I mentioned uh how the time of day that you might do your winter training can be like to you know, put some thought into that so that way you are safe. And I think similarly, um visibility, again, thinking of the darkness, is something that is uh is is good to keep on your radar too. So whether that is you know running with some sort of reflective gear or or light, uh that can be whether it's something that's on your shoes or something you're holding or something you're wearing. They have so much out there now that you can find um, you know, put people running with headlamps, so something to keep you uh visible and safe, particularly if you're um, well, even if you are in the trails, I was gonna say particularly if you're on the roads, but definitely if you're on the trails too, why not? Right? Of course you got to see, so you're likely gonna be running with the light anyway. But um you want to make sure you're visible uh from you know all angles as much as possible. So uh if you're new to running, that's definitely a tip um that you may not have been thinking about, but get some visit, you know, uh visibility gear, uh again, reflective vests or shirts with some like reflective things, plenty of you know, uh pullovers or whatnot with like reflective just elements on various parts of the clothing, shorts, same thing. Um tights, I know my Nike. Uh um running leggings, you know, they've they've got or the running tights, they have like reflective gear around the ankles and stuff. So uh stay safe out there. But I also at times, depending on my route, we'll run with a light. Um, I don't typically run at night anymore or in the dark, I should say, uh, just with my schedule. Now that I have a toddler, it's a little bit different, my schedule. So I typically am running during during the day time, day daytime. But when I used to run at night, yeah, depending on the route, I take a light with me. Um and I'm fine with things in my hand, but some people they they want to run uh without anything, uh, you know, without holding anything, and I totally understand that. So then that's where you're gonna be relying on the reflective reflective wear. All right. I think that's gonna be without any questions coming in or comments. Um that's gonna be it from me. Um, again, uh my apologies for not being able to. I mean, Coach Jeff has uh been here, he's been in the comments. I know he's been trying to figure out how to get in here, but we've been uh unsuccessful in in uh making that work. So maybe some sort of uh block to not allow uh Coach Jeff into this live, maybe on his uh Wi-Fi connection or something. Who knows? Um, but thank you for your patience. Thank you for for being here with me and for hearing me talk about some things that have helped me uh navigate winter training. Uh, if you have any questions or you are interested in signing up for a coach, um head to rundling.com. We have a coaching matching feature that you can use to match you up with a coach. Of course, you can choose outside of that, but it is helpful, just some questions you can answer, and then uh our uh that tool does its best to kind of match you with one of our coaches. Of course, you can browse coaches, you can message them or set up uh initial free, you know, complimentary calls to see if you um connect with a coach. You can do the same thing with me for nutrition. Um, so head to rondoing.com, check it out. We'd love to hear from you. Uh check out Coach Jeff. You know, we had a couple clients here who came in just to hear Coach Jeff talk and to say hi and thank you for helping them um uh with their marathon time. So uh that that bodes well, right? That says a lot that that we've got some uh a client, a former client here to hear uh to see and hear Coach Jeff. So uh check him out. See, you know, set up a free call or message him and uh connect with Coach Jeff that way. Again, that's rundoin.com. It's pretty straightforward to find everything you're looking for. With that, uh, I'll leave you all to it. I hope you all have a great uh rest of your day, evening, uh holiday season. If this is a holiday season for you, stay safe out there if you're running in the dark. Um enjoy it. You know, stay warm. Ask any questions you may have to one of the coaches that or myself, arrowinggoing.com, if you want to follow up here, or uh message us, right? You can send us an Instagram message and uh someone will get back to you. Um, all right, folks, that's gonna be it. I'll wrap up. You all have a good one. See you next time.

Jacob Phillips 21:27

That does it for this month's Instagram live replay edition of the Next Level Running Podcast. Thanks so much to Coach Will Benitez. Uh I know that uh you know there's a little technical difficulties at the beginning, but uh he was able to walk us through how he navigates the winter training. Look, Christmas is coming. Uh, if you're looking to uh find a gift for someone, uh look no further than rundoyen.com. Whether you're looking for a training program for them or a nutrition program for you for them, we've got you covered. Um also, this is the last podcast of 2024. I've had a blast doing this the past couple weeks. Years. I'm looking forward to 2025. I would encourage you, uh the holidays, there's a lot of travel, there's a lot of time, maybe in headphones. Go back through our old episodes. There are a ton uh of great podcast episodes, whether you're trying to integrate some speed into your marathon training or you want to hear what professional runners do. We have several professional runners on our coaching staff here at Rundoyan. There are some great podcast listens to help you take your running to the next level. Look, it's been fun. It's been a great year. I hope you guys have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 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 racing 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.