It's OK to run slow AF

Martinus Evans, author of Slow AF Run Club: The Ultimate Guide for Anyone Who Wants to Run, explains why anyone who wants to run can run. He shares tips on gear, training programs and what he calls "sexy pace." This episode originally aired on June 22, 2023. Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekit https://www.instagram.com/nprlifekit/?hl=enSign up for our newsletter here. https://www.npr.org/newsletter/life-kit Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at [email protected] mailto:[email protected] Support the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekit http://plus.npr.org/lifekit See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

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• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:17Marielle Segarra?

  You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

• 0:24Marielle Segarra?

  Hey, everybody. It's Marielle. Happy Thanksgiving. Now, you know, there are those among us who wake up early on Thanksgiving Day not to pop a turkey in the oven, but to strap on their running shoes and competitively race their friends and neighbors. Yeah, I'm talking about a turkey trot. I do not participate in these things as I am not a morning person. But if you are inspired by seeing all these folks get up and go, why not get up and go yourself at normal hours? Why not start running? Fall is a great time for running. It's not too hot. There are pretty leaves to look at. Also, running is a classic form of exercise for a reason, right? It gets you from point A to point B. You don't need equipment to do it.

• 1:06Speaker 02

  You don't need a gym membership. And it's one of these exercises that just provides you with so many cardiovascular benefits.

• 1:14Marielle Segarra?

  But running gets a bad reputation. People think it's going to be all blisters and burning calf muscles and screaming lungs. What if, instead of all that, or at the very least, in addition to all that, running could feel good, even a little sexy?

• 1:29Speaker 02

  So sexy pace is the pace where most of our runs should be at.

• 1:34Marielle Segarra?

  This is Martinez Evans, by the way. He's a runner and author of the book Slow AF Run Club: The Ultimate Guide for Anyone Who Wants to Run. And he says a lot of people try to run way too fast. Sexy pace is conversational speed.

• 1:47Speaker 02

  Think about Baywatching music, right? Like, you're running slow. You got the Baywatch's music on, right? You're feeling sexy when you're doing it.

• 1:55Marielle Segarra?

  Martinez has a bachelor's in exercise science and a master's in health promotion. He runs a blog called 300Pounds and Running. And he wrote this book for anyone who's interested in running but thought it wasn't for them, because, based on your body type, you may have been told that you're not a runner.

• 2:10Speaker 02

  And what I'm here to tell people is that you can run in the body that you have now, and you can do it with just something as simple as running for 15 seconds and walking for a minute. It's really about just getting your heart rate up.

• 2:24Marielle Segarra?

  On this episode of Life Kit, how to start running in the body you have. We'll start with motivation and then go into detail on shoes, pacing, breathing, form, early workouts, cross-training, and more.

• 2:41Speaker 00

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  of $15 with insurance. So turn off the talk track that's keeping you from progress and head to rula.com. That's R U L A dot com to find a therapist the easy way.

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• 3:59Marielle Segarra?

  I want to talk about getting started with running. What are some of the things that people might do to to help their mindset as they start on this journey?

• 4:10Speaker 02

  You know, one of the things that a lot of people struggle with is their inner critic. You know, a lot of people who come to me is Martinez, I'm not a runner. And the voices in my head is telling me I'm not a runner. And I'm just afraid to, to, to move forward. So one of the things that found, that I found beneficial is to name that inner critic. Because most of the time, the inner critic in their inner voice is in your voice. So it's like you telling you that you don't deserve to do X, Y, and Z. So my inner critic's name is, is Otis. And Otis is resemblance to a drunk uncle who always are spewing random information.

• 4:54Speaker 02

  But he's always drunk. So if you take it in that sense, you know, I remember being younger and standing up to my drunk uncles and being like, "Go sit down, you're drunk." And they're like, "You're right, little man, I'm gonna go sit down." And I think that's the same thing with my critic. Like, my critic is like, "You're fat, you don't need to do this, you need to lose weight first." And I'm like, "Go sit down." Like, "This is not helpful, like, I'm out here doing it." Like, "I know you're trying to protect me in a way that you're trying to protect me, but I don't need that." So like, I think that's the first thing, right? Is giving people that opportunity to give that critic a persona. Give it a voice, give it a backstory.

• 5:35Speaker 02

  So that way, you know, once that critic start to talk, you can have, have conversations with it. And let them know that, hey, what you're telling me is, is not useful. And I'm going to go do it anyway.

• 5:49Marielle Segarra?

  And then what about affirmations? You have so many helpful ones in the book.

• 5:54Speaker 02

  You know, my favorite one is "No struggle, no progress," right? This is something that I have tattooed on my wrist. And it comes from the famous 1857 speech from Frederick Douglass. And then there's other things like "One step at a time." Stay in the mile that you are in right now. You know, we can do hard things. I think just telling yourself these mantras of just saying, "Just keep going," you know, helps you rhythmically, but it also keeps you in, in line to keep, to continue to move forward.

• 6:30Marielle Segarra?

  Yes, yeah. When do you say these things?

• 6:33Speaker 02

  Um, so I say them in the midst of hard things, right? So in the middle of a run, I think about for myself, you know, the first mile and a half is still like the hardest mile and a half for me. Cause I'm like, I'm just getting started. Um, I don't wanna do this. And then, you know, that's when, usually when I start to kick up on the mantra, it's like, alright Martinez, no struggle, no progress. Just gotta get going, gotta get moving. And then eventually, um, you don't necessarily need it cause your body has gotten over the initial suck and now you're on autopilot.

• 7:09Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. What kind of gear does somebody need before they go out to run?

• 7:16Speaker 02

  Not much. So the first thing that I always recommend new runners, it's like, hey, you know, definitely pick up a new pair of running shoes. Um, go to a running specialty store. And the word that I have in the book is called gait analysis or shoe fit, right? So if you go into one of these specialty running stores and you, and you say, hey, I need a gait analysis or hey, I need a shoe fit. And they look at you like you have three heads growing out the side of your neck. That's not the place for you. So that's the first thing that I tell people is that, hey, pick up some running shoes. Um, from there, like, you know, get some, if you have shorts laying around,

• 8:00Speaker 02

  if you have some t-shirts laying around, start there, especially for the first initial runs. And then the last thing I usually like to tell the people that I coach is don't wear cotton underwear. Or like, don't wear cotton anything. Don't wear cotton socks. You'll get blisters and you'll start to get chafe in places where it would be extremely painful.

• 8:21Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah, you're very serious about avoiding chafing.

• 8:25Speaker 02

  Chafing is a real thing and it hurts, it's painful. And for somebody who's just getting started, like, that can be a huge barrier. You know, you start running, you go on your first couple of runs, now you got a blister. And now it hurts for all of your shoes to get put on or it hurts for, to put on clothes. So like, that's a big barrier. And then, yeah, like, getting body lube is definitely a God's gift because like, that helps with some of that friction. So that you don't have to experience, you know, those blisters or chafing.

• 8:56Marielle Segarra?

  And where do you put body lube?

• 8:59Speaker 02

  Everywhere, you know, I know this is a kid friendly show, but like everywhere you can think of. I tell people wherever you have a hotspot or wherever like skin is rubbing together for a consistent period of time, lube needs to go there.

• 9:14Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, and one other thing I want to ask, if you're getting blisters on your feet when you run, does that mean you have the wrong shoes?

• 9:21Speaker 02

  It could mean that you have the wrong shoes, but it could also mean that you have the wrong socks. So cotton socks, you know, as your feet are sweating, sticks to your, sticks to your feet. And it's almost like forming another skin of like rubbing back and forth, creating that, creating that friction. So those are two of the main things that can cause blisters.

• 9:44Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, so if not cotton, what kind of fabrics do you recommend?

• 9:48Speaker 02

  Some type of synthetic fiber, polyester or bamboo fiber, wool, which is, you know, a very green type of product.

• 9:59Marielle Segarra?

  And then, once you have your gear, you go out for a jog, your first run.

• 10:07Marielle Segarra?

  If you've never really run before, what do you do? When you, do you just start jogging? Like, how long should you go for?

• 10:17Speaker 02

  So if you're going on your first run, you're gonna go walk. You're gonna walk for five minutes, just to get your body warmed up. You know, just for you can get yourself mentally together. This is where I tell people to, like, just do a full body scan. How are you feeling mentally? You know, are there parts in your body that's tight? Like, are your calves tight? Are your hamstrings tight? You know, are these things that you might need to stretch out before you go run? You know, get those things out the way. Um, how are you feeling mentally? Maybe you need to, um, readjust your, your mindset and your mental attitude, right?

• 10:58Speaker 02

  And then after those five minutes, what you're gonna do is you're gonna pick up the pace. You're gonna pick up the pace until you're, you're running at a pace where you're able to have a conversation with somebody. Um, and, and you're not breathing like, yes, I can do this. And you're gonna do that for 15 seconds. And then after 15 seconds, you're gonna stop and you're gonna walk for a minute. And you're gonna feel like, whoa.

• 11:28Speaker 02

  That wasn't hard, and I think I can do more. That's great. You're gonna continue to do those fifteen seconds of running and then walking for a minute. Do that for thirty minutes, and then you're done for today. After the thirty minutes, you're gonna do a walk to cool down. And during that time, give, give your body grace and gratitude. And then after that, you're gonna repeat that, that cycle for another two days a week. And now you're in a running program.

• 11:59Marielle Segarra?

  And then, how do you ramp it up after that?

• 12:03Speaker 02

  So, you know, every two weeks, you check in with yourself. And from there, you know, there's a couple of things that you can do, right? If you feel like the, the fifteen seconds is still hard, you know, you keep it at that pace. Um, if you feel like, um, the walking section, like you're recovering faster within that one minute, and you're like, okay, like I'm just walking and I'm not feeling the benefit. Shorten the walk, you know, move it from a minute to thirty seconds, or a minute to forty-five seconds. And try that out. You know, at this point, you know, one of the things that I'm trying to get people to, to do

• 12:44Speaker 02

  is to really have the empowerment to really check in, check in with their bodies and check in with themselves to say, okay, what's the, what's the next best step for me? A lot of people have tuned out of their bodies. They've disassociated with their body. They don't know what their body doing in space. And by practicing it this way, you're able to start to get into those habits of understanding where your body is in this space, in this world, and how you're actually feeling about your body in this space, in this world, when it comes to running.

• 13:24Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah.

• 13:27Marielle Segarra?

  I wonder how you can know when you're pushing yourself in a healthy way and when you're pushing yourself too hard.

• 13:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, so if you were doing your warm up and say your calf is tight and say after your warm up, like your calf feels good, you're good to go. So if you warm up and then there's still something lingering, or if you warm up and you start running and there's still pain, right, like tightness might be okay, but like sharp pain, dull or achy pain and a specific point that you can actually put your finger and say, oh, this part of my knee is hurting or this part of my Achilles is hurting. Um, that's typically a sign that you don't need to do that. You don't need to do that run.

• 14:19Speaker 02

  But if it's like generally in the muscle, like, oh, like my muscles are stiff, they're a little sore, you know, that's completely okay.

• 14:28Marielle Segarra?

  After the break, more on how to get into running with Martinez Evans.

• 14:36Speaker 00

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• 14:40Speaker 03

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• 15:28Marielle Segarra?

  What about form? If you've never really run before, how do you find your form?

• 15:35Speaker 02

  You know, this is a very interesting question, right? And one of the things that I try to tell people is that your natural form is gonna be something that's gonna be special to you, right? We do have general guidelines when it comes to form, right? You know, the first thing that I think about is that, you know, a lot of people, when they run, they clench their fist. So by clenching your fist, now you have tightness and like you feel like you're fighting for your life. So like hand placement, right? You wanna make sure that your hands are loosely closed. Imagine a pebble inside of your hand, and you want that pebble to move freely,

• 16:19Speaker 02

  but you don't want that pebble to fall out your hands. Another thing is, is that don't look down. You wouldn't believe how many people look down at their feet when they're running. You wanna look at the horizon, right? And you wanna look as you're scanning the horizon, anywhere between six to eight feet in front of you. Next, let's talk about breathing. So you know, you wanna do belly breathing. You wanna make sure like those breaths are getting down and you're really moving that diaphragm while you're running, right? And runnerways are one of the exercises that you can do to like test this out. It's literally just put your hand on your belly as you breathe

• 17:03Speaker 02

  and see if your belly is actually moving as you're breathing. And if it is, you're belly breathing.

• 17:10Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, we talked about how often you should be running when you're just starting out. What do you do on the days that you're not running?

• 17:20Speaker 02

  Oh, man. So, this is where the magic happens. A lot of people think you're just running and that's just it. No. So, on the days that you're not running, you wanna cross train, right? And cross training just means, you know, exercising your body in other forms that's not specific to running. So, cross training could be cycling. Cross training could be yoga. Cross training can be going to the gym. So, if you were tired on that run, you wanna make sure you're stretching it out. And then, the other thing you wanna do is you wanna make sure you're strengthening some of the weaknesses that you may have in your body.

• 18:03Speaker 02

  They may cause imbalances when you're running. So, for example, a lot of us sitting on our butts all day. And by sitting on your butts all day, your glutes don't fire as much because you are sitting on your butt. And there's a phrase or a scientific term for it that's called gluteal amnesia.

• 18:24Marielle Segarra?

  It's like a dead ass.

• 18:25Speaker 02

  A dead ass.

• 18:28Speaker 02

  Like, it just becomes dead. And dead ass, you know, shout out to the people in New York. So, one of the things you wanna do is you wanna make sure that you're doing exercises that can help waking that ass up, for lack of a better word. So, you know, you wanna do, you wanna do glute bridges, right? You wanna do banded clam shells. You wanna do some squats, right? You wanna make sure you're also doing like leg raises. These types of exercises can help so that when you start to run, your glutes start to fire while you're running, right? And this is important because your glute is like one of the largest muscles in your

• 19:13Speaker 02

  legs. Like, it get that big meaty tissue and it's useless to you if it's not firing on all cylinders when you run. Um, it's also important because when you have a dead ass, other parts of your legs start to take the brunt of those exercises. So this is where a lot of people start to have like knee issues because you have other parts of your lower leg who is taking the brunt of the exercise. When it really needs to be like those shock absorbers of like your glutes, your quads and your hamstrings, um, helping you, mainly helping you as you're running.

• 19:54Marielle Segarra?

  And then what about stretching? When? How often?

• 19:58Speaker 02

  There's two types of stretching, right? There's this dynamic stretching and there's static stretching, right? So static stretching is where you're sitting in a pose and you know, you're holding it for whatever particular moment. Uh, dynamic stretching is like stretching where you're doing it with the movement. So dynamic stretching happens before your run, static stretching happens after your run. Um, and if you're just starting out, you know, doing a beginner's session of yoga on another day when you're not running, it's awful, also helpful for you.

• 20:31Marielle Segarra?

  I know that often people will feel like the barrier to exercise is time. If you're, if you feel like you don't have enough time to do all of these things, what combination might you suggest?

• 20:50Speaker 02

  So if time is of the essence, the first thing I would say is, okay, can you do two days of running and then one day of cross training? Can we get to you there? And if we can get you there, all right, let's start there. And if time permits, can you do one more day of running or cross training? You know, one of the things that I, I urge the people that I train is to get creative with your time. What are you doing when you're watching TV? Can you go to like, you know, if you have a gym membership, can you go to the gym and watch TV at the gym while you do your run?

• 21:33Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah, or if you have kids and you you kind of can't like, you don't wanna leave them, but like to go to the gym, you know, but you could maybe do some exercises while they're next to you playing.

• 21:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, like grab a look, grab a kid, grab a toddler and do some air squats.

• 21:53Marielle Segarra?

  With them?

• 21:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, do some air squats, use them as a weight. Now you got a ten to fifteen pound weight. Hold your baby out and curl them with your biceps, kiss them. Like, that's the thing about exercise, like, all of this is killing your muscle and all of it is beneficial.

• 22:11Marielle Segarra?

  Let's say that you just started running and you've been doing it for a month. How do you decide if this is something that you like enough to stick with it? Like, if running is your thing, or maybe if you'd rather try some other form of cardio?

• 22:28Speaker 02

  After a month, I I think the thing is, is that you'll start to notice of like, oh, this is not getting as hard as it used to be as when I started running? Or, oh, I still hate it from the day, from day one. So I think that's that's one of the times of starting to reevaluate. It's just starting to get easier. It's the exercise is not, you know, it's the workouts. It's the workouts not affecting you like it it was. Like, are you not as tired? Are you not as sore? And, you know, you you're just like, mm, okay, yeah, like, I'm running. Keep going. You know, why stop then?

• 23:13Speaker 02

  Um, if it's one of the things of like, yo, I I can't do this, this is horrible. Um, every day I feel like I'm just getting worse or things that sort. You know, what what I usually tell people is, take a day off, take two off.

• 23:29Speaker 02

  And see how that makes you feel. Um, and then try it again. And if you take a day or two off and you try it again and it's still not getting better. Yeah, let's think about other sports. You know, let's think about cycling. Let's think about stand up paddle boarding. If that's, if you've got water in your neighborhood. You know, the goal with, with what I'm trying to do and the goal with my mission is to let people know that you can be active in the body that you are right now. And it doesn't have to be under the guise of weight loss. Movement and regular physical activity is so beneficial. So regular physical activity has an effect on your blood pressure.

• 24:13Speaker 02

  It has an effect on your heart rate. It has an effect on your cholesterol, your A1Cs. So all of that goes into play. And I think that for a lot of people, they see like weight losses that end all be all. And more or less how I see it is that like weight loss could, could be and a side effect of regular physical activity, just like those other things that I mentioned.

• 24:41Marielle Segarra?

  Yeah, I love that. And I love that we're talking about this on the show.

• 24:47Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 24:51Marielle Segarra?

  Okay, time for a recap. As you start running, your inner critic is going to make an appearance. Try giving it a name. Mine's called Doreen. And then talk to it. Tell it to chill out. Buy shoes at a running store that will do a free analysis of how you run and set you up with the right pair. Two ways to avoid chafing? Don't wear cotton and use body lube. For your early workouts, start with a 15 second jog, one minute walk, and then do that for half an hour. Then you can work your way up by listening to your body. Remember when you're running to take deep belly breaths and use that sexy conversational pace. Oh, and don't forget to cross train. Super important.

• 25:37Marielle Segarra?

  OK, I'm gonna have Martinez take us out with some of his favorite running affirmations.

• 25:41Speaker 02

  No struggle, no progress. I'll run if I have to run by myself. Your race, your pace. This is hard, but I can do hard things. Slow is steady, and steady is fast. Sexy, sexy, sexy pace.

• 26:01Marielle Segarra?

  Before we go, I do have a favor to ask. If you have a second, would you leave Life Kit a five-star review? If Life Kit has ever helped you save a little money, make a healthier choice, or just made you feel a little more seen, a five-star review is a great way to show your support. Thank you.

• 26:19Marielle Segarra?

  This episode of Life Kit was produced by Sylvie Douglas. Our visuals editor is Beck Harlan, and our digital editor is Malika Gharib. Megan Cain is our senior supervising editor, and Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagle, Claire Marie Schneider, and Margaret Sorino. Engineering support comes from Joshua Newell, Stu Rushfield, and Stacy Abbott. I'm Mariel Segarra. Thanks for listening.

• 26:49Speaker 00

  Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors.