This is the Next Level Running podcast. Welcome back, everyone, and thank you for joining us here again on the Next Level Running podcast. I'm your host, Jacob Phillips, here to kick off this month's short form edition of our Instagram live running replays.
As you know, this is when we replay our Instagram live events here on the Next Level Running Podcast, and we've got it going for you today. We'll be a test talk with Coach Patrick Cuniff about establishing consistency with good habits, a good mindset, and a good routine and training, which is something all of us can strive to be better about.
Coach Cut has an extensive background of coaching at the highest of levels, including being part of two NCAA Division I national championship teams. I've included his information below in the show notes. While we're talking about the show notes, I'd like to point you to a few different links, including our Instagram page at Run Doya.
If you aren't following us there, I'd encourage you to do so. That way you'll get the notifications of when we're going live and you can join those events as they are happening. Also, our Facebook group page, Next Level Running. We'd love to have you be part of that building community there. After all, this pursuit is better together.
Now, let's jump into the conversation with Patrick Cuniff and Will Benitez as they discuss establishing consistency.
How's it going? All right. Going very well. Pleasure to meet you and be talking with you. Calling in from uh just outside of Athens, Georgia.
This is uh uh an evening call for you, more so, and for all the rest of our East Coasters. Appreciate you and the listeners or viewers uh taking some time this evening to join us for this chat.
Excellent. Yeah, happy to be here. Obviously, my first time with uh Ron Doyen. Excited to get started with you guys and and also either you know answer questions or kind of just lay out a couple general principles.
Yeah, let's start with with an intro. You kind of uh touched on it. Let's jump right into that. So um as you alluded to, uh pretty new to Rundolian, um, but not new coaching is my understanding. Care to give the the viewers and and this gets posted elsewhere later on, so the the later viewers as well. Um just a brief intro to yourself, yeah.
Yeah, uh yeah, especially not new to the sport. Yeah, I've been talking to some of my former college teammates and even looking back at coming up on you know a little bit over 42 years since I went out for middle school cross country, way back. And you know, most specifically the last 19 years, I've been a Division I cross country and track and field coach.
Uh really fortunate to work at some great places, starting off at the University of Texas, going to TCU, and then heading out your West Coast way with five full years at Long Beach State, and then the last ten at the University of Georgia, which uh happens to also be my alma mater.
And you know, it really was, and then you know, super fortunate during those 10 years, we actually won two NCA titles, uh, a women's title indoor and a men's title outdoor, and just had a amazing group of athletes to work with, and kind of over those 20 years, yeah, just got to see all sorts of different kids and different developmental stages and all that, and
then you know, kind of on the side, one year between TU and Long Beach State, uh, worked at a running store and was involved in a lot of adult training programs and that type of thing, and then have you certainly coached uh a number of post-collegiates on the side from our from our college, whether it's uh an alumni of ours or you know, somebody outside the
program.
Well, hey, coach, and and you go by Patrick or Pat. Either one, all right. Either one. Uh I again I just appreciate you you being here and and getting this opportunity to introduce yourself um to our Rondoyan community, particularly our our social media community here with Rondoyan. Um, and then to talk on these principles.
Like you said, before we do that, I'll just give a brief intro to myself. Uh everyone, my name is Will. I am the nutritionist with Ron Doyen. It's been I've been with the team since its founding. Uh very, very early 2018. Group of us um all joined this wonderful Ron Doyen team.
Um, and it's been really cool to see it grow and and to see the team grow um and to bring on fantastic coaches like yourself, Patrick. So uh again, really appreciate you taking the time to be here and for all the the people coming in and and viewing. Um, I appreciate you as well.
It's funny, I'm actually seeing some people with like their, it looks like they've got their Georgia singlets on. So it's pretty cool. You're bringing in, you're bringing in a little posse here.
Probably a lot of my Instagram followers probably all have uh a connection to to Georgia tracking field in some way or another.
Um so coach, we are here to talk about per your request, um, establishing uh consistency. Um and I'm I'm I'm really curious about this because as you as you said earlier, like you know, to talk about some principles. So um establishing consistency.
I think we we all get the gist of of what that means and how that can have benefits to our life, I think, when it comes to work productivity, when it comes to nutrition, when it comes to routines, yeah, the the body loves routine and the body loves consistency. Um but let's get specific a little bit.
And we don't have you know, we don't have to get super, super granular, but when it comes to to running, to training, um you know, when I asked you what are some topic ideas, this was this was um something you wanted to talk about. I'm curious from your perspective, establishing consistency, what does that mean to you? Why is that so important?
Yeah, you know, it's it's funny, obviously continuing the introduction of myself to to Ron Doyle, and you know, you have two very kind of different perspectives.
You know, you have the perspective of the college coach, and you know, how much you can learn from that system, and yet knowing that, hey, most of us out in the real world, you know, don't don't have everything set up the way we are, able to set things up for our you know, elite division one athletes.
And then, you know, honestly, my own perspective is 54-year-old, dad, you know, sixth grader, wife working full time, and you know, how do you make the time for your own training? How do you how do you find what you're gonna do?
And you know, I think the the key concepts, you know, first establishing that mindset that this is important to you, and that getting it done has you know that why for you. Why, why are you doing it, what's what's motivating you, and then building from there.
And then you know, I think the the one thing that has the greatest value is is how you plan and and how you set your routines. And yeah, the value of a good habit or a good routine, yeah, certainly trumps just motivation and and inspiration. And I think, you know, from there, yeah, you can dive into a lot more detail.
Yeah, let's start with with some of these concepts that you just threw out, establishing mindset. You mentioned, you know, your why um planning and setting routines. I think that's gonna be a fun one to dive into. Um, immediately though, I I can't help but be really curious.
I don't even know where this question is gonna go, to be honest, but immediately I thought about how interesting the difference is between you coaching collegiate athletes, right? And and then coaching whether it's adults or just other people not in a collegiate program.
Um uh so it could be you know same age group, but but uh just not part of a program, not not on a scholarship, not part of a team, whatever the case is.
Um, and I'm curious, again, not not exactly a full fleshed fleshed out questionnaire, but I'm curious about the differences in approaching those different types of athletes, you know, where you have your collegiate program athletes, given your extensive history, who um, you know, they they may already come kind of pre-subscribed with with with a why or with uh with a
planning routine. I mean their planning's already semi-done for them, right? They have to show up at certain times for practice, then maybe they have their afternoon session they have to do on their own, um, things like that, right? But then then you compare that to the the general runner outside of a program, and it's a completely different conversation with them.
I'm curious how you approach that that dynamic. Are you are you kind of just aware that you have to juggle coaching a bit in these different scenarios?
Yeah, I I think you know, I think one of the best things you can do as a coach for a person that's outside that program is you know kind of understanding their challenges or knowing where you know they're gonna hit hiccups and maybe giving them strategies to deal with it.
But I think you do also circle back the other way, and you know, you say, hey, in a perfect world, if we call the you know, either the post-collegiate that's in a well-supported pro program or the the college, hey, what are the things they do that kind of make this high performance?
And you know, again, we're able to set up school schedules, sometimes around practice schedule. The adult isn't going to be able to set up their work schedule around their training schedule, but hopefully they know when their work schedule is. You know, so then they have to find that block of time, or as a coach, you work with them.
What's that block of time that you can carve out? And then, hey, what can we do in that time? How can you make that time the most productive? And then again, you go into the challenges to establishing consistency. Hey, work ran late, I missed my training group. What can I do? And is it a shorter run? Is it get on the bike?
Is it go to the gym and get on the treadmill? You know, you make those adjustments. Hey, I know I'm gonna be traveling for work. And you're like, hey, does that excite you? You can go run in LA or Salt Lake or you know, break out of your routine, or is it just gonna be super tough?
We gotta figure out, you know, can you do a circuit in your hotel room? Or can we, you know, can we really make it your recovery week?
Yeah. Hey, that was that was a smooth, smooth segue into planning, uh, given given my initial question. That's perfect. Um, it makes me think of um, you know, uh interruptions can be something um that are uh that that are are known in advance, you know, like like you say with with um some people who travel for work.
Generally speaking, people know that that's coming up next month and and you have that conversation in advance with your coach if you have one.
Um but then you know there are there like you started with, there are some interruptions that happen uh because meetings ran late, or you got caught into a meeting and you lost your lunch hour, or you know, you had to pick up your sick kid or something like that. Um great example. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and you're probably all too familiar with that one.
Um but I'm curious, uh, when it comes to to planning and to and and to staying consistent, um, how do you approach those those those kind of interruptions?
Like, is that something that you actually already early on have like contingency conversations with, you know, with with your athletes like okay, here's here's the ideal plan, but when this kind of stuff happens, here's how you deviate, or is that something that you just have that conversation in the moment when it happens?
Yeah, I I think it can be. I think, you know, especially as you know, the Dan Path, who's someone who, you know, I met at Texas and a great coach, more in the the power events, and you know, just listened to a podcast that he was on, and you know, he's talking about kind of constant SWOT analysis, you know, strength, weakness, opportunities, and and threats.
And you know, I think any of us benefit from doing that. Obviously, we can't see every curveball.
And um, so it's a combination of of planning ahead and and also kind of learning to to roll with the punches, and then you know, I think that goes back to how important the mindset piece is, and you know, I think a huge, huge part of you know establishing consistency, consistency, is just the ability to not get discouraged.
I think particularly for beginning runners or even you know, higher level people, when you're further along towards your goal, when you hit that interruption, how do you react to it? Yeah, how do you you know, hey, I miss this one three mile run, appreciate you know that you've done three months of training. Right. And and keep that going.
But I think as much as you can plan ahead and give people, you know, tools in their toolbox to to adjust, yeah, you'll do well.
Yeah, yeah, that's fantastic. You know, you you mentioned mindset again, and that's a good reminder. I wanted to actually circle back to that because that was one of the earlier kind of concepts here that you that you had mentioned. Um what does that look like with with you and establishing relationships with with you know your athletes and clients?
Um is that you know, and and and you can loop in, you know, establishing your why, talking about your why or any other kind of part of establishing mindset, but um is that a conversation? You know, is it like a single conversation that takes place? Is that a is that a process?
Is it something that you start and you kind of come back to throughout your relationship and the coaching cycle or the training cycle? Um yeah, what in your mind, how does kind of establishing mindset play out?
Yeah, yeah, I think you know, I think coaching is a relationship. And you know, like any other relationship, you know, you come back to things over and over again, hopefully. And you know, the the the better that relationship gets established, the more that you have to call on.
And you know, as it relates to to consistency, you know, I think if you have that consistency of the relationship with the coach, and then um, you know, as a coach, hopefully, you know, you know the idea is is reinforcing concepts, you know, is as much a value as coming up with one good quote or one good practice, you know, again, in terms of developing that
mindset, I think it's it's part of every conversation that you have with athletes. And you know, I think if you get a workout result and and whether they represent that they were a little down or a little up, you look at, hey, what little conversation can we have to to touch on how we can do it better? Or or again, just reinforce positive things.
You know, I said interruptions and how you deal with discouragement. I think one thing all coaches can probably do better at is continuing to reinforce the positive. Yeah, really. Hey, this is a great workout. You're training well. Enjoy it, be excited, you know, look forward to whatever's coming next.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, yeah, there's so many times in training where where you are gonna be discouraged. You know, it's it's it's not meant to be easy, it's it's supposed to be a challenge. It's how you that's how you grow and adapt and and you know reach reach new levels, right?
Um, but no, it's a helpful reminder, it's to like think of the positives and be reminded of the positives. And that's what's so helpful about having a coach, right? Is because often when you're doing things solo, it's so too easy to get down extra down on yourself, right?
Or or or be in that place longer when when those um those bumps in the road come and they do come. Yeah. Um, but when you have a coach, you have that really helpful perspective, but then also just that guidance you know through that process.
A tiny bit of that you know, ability to help you hold yourself accountable, you know, because you empower that person to hold you accountable.
You know, again, on a collegiate setting, it may be you know, literally the the ability to to punish you or or keep track of you know who's on time and who's not, but you know, hopefully in the adult setting, you know, I'm not gonna come and make you clean the shed at 5 a.m. But you know, just knowing that you have another person.
And I think a lot of us, you know, I have a a new training partner. We're starting to run together and we run early in the morning, 6 a.m. And you know, last week he came out the door and he's like, Man, if you hadn't texted that you were coming, I would not be running, you know.
So and you know, but so many times we might also not agree to meet the person because we know in the back of our head we want to let ourselves off the hook.
Again, it could be just an elevated version of a a good training partner helps you get out the door, and you know once you get out the door, once you've got the run done, you feel great that you did it. You know, it's it's just that one more layer to really help you do what you ultimately really want to do, or maybe it's hard to get going.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it's it's warmer in the house, it's more comfortable in the bed.
It's yeah, I would like to see somebody do the science of why it's so hard to get out the door when we all know, yeah, especially people, and I won't say we all know, the beginning runner is still getting that feeling.
But someone who's been through a training program or is trained for their first race, or certainly somebody who's done it again, myself going on 40 years, I know if I if I get that run done, I'm gonna feel so much better after.
But I'll still still look at the phone one more time, or you know, take that phone call right when I'm supposed to be stepping out of the car.
Yep. And you know, again, teammates, having the people that surround you in your life, you know, your wife, your kids, your coworkers, kind of just subtly cheering you on is another thing that'll help you keep that consistency.
You know, this is perfect. I I wanted to to dive into to that because I'm I'm really curious, you know, you coming from like just having this wealth and and breadth of experience in the um in the in the collegiate setting where it's teams, right?
I mean, yeah, we know running is uh A lot of a lot of these um uh events kind of look at this as individual events, but but in that in the clean collegiate setting, it's very much a team. You know, you're running that team singlet and you're part of that program. You have that camaraderie, have that relationship.
Um I'm curious if you find yourself encouraging or or um yeah, I guess encouraging is probably the best word for it. Encouraging your non-program athletes, you know, the just just the solo runners, right?
Um are you often encouraging them to find, you know, running groups, training groups, training partners, uh that support system, and not not just that, you know, external support system, but maybe even a running specific, you know, support system.
And that's something that one, you find yourself encouraging, maybe just because you're used to that setting, but then two, see a lot of benefit when when athletes find themselves in that setting, establish those, you know, running buddies kind of thing.
Absolutely.
And you know, I hadn't even thought of it till you kind of were going through your question, and then it triggered, you know, a great example for us is so many of our freshmen, you know, coming in, they're excited to to take on the the knowledge of the college coach, and you know, they want training information and all of that, and it's almost invariably circle
back and be like, you know, but my high school team is getting together. Is it okay if I run with them? And I'm always like, yes. I'm like, you know, if that's just gonna, you know, I can write the perfect plan, but if it doesn't get you out the door as many days as meeting up with your high school teammates, then it doesn't have nearly as much value.
And you know, again, for for our post-collegiates, you know, we've had people, there may be a workout that you really want to do, but if that athlete has the opportunity to work with some other athletes, a lot of times you can either talk with the other coach, you know, talk to pretty high-level people, or you can say, hey, these are the kind of specific things
we want to get done. See what they're doing. If you can figure out what their workout is, and I can tell you how to use that workout, absolutely. But anything, you know, we all know any type of camaraderie in any of the the good running communities, Flagstaff, Boulder, you know, you'll see multiple groups getting, you know.
I think in every town there's you know, kind of that that spot where people meet for Saturday long run or Sunday long run, and yeah, yeah. Everybody can maybe be doing a a little bit something different specific, but getting sucked into the the group camaraderie and energy is it's worth its weight in gold. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, this is I feel like I already know the answer to this, but um uh would you say that it that it does a just a world of wonders when it comes to consistency, speaking of, and and then also which probably leads to consistency, but um like motivation and and just kind of staying inspired in the sport.
Like are all those things just basically check, check, check when it comes to joining a group or finding finding a partner to train with?
Yeah, it it's huge, you know. You could potentially, you know, be the single greatest motivation, you know.
I mean, ultimately, running's hard, especially if we're talking doing long runs or workouts, you know, and and there's plenty of room for you know negative feeling, you know, either disappointment and not hitting a standard or something like that, or just literally that it's physically hard.
And yeah, depending on where you are, you know, super cold or super windy or raining that day.
But again, if you've built a community that's gonna help you, and then again, when you've got those positive interactions, I think all of us in in every circumstance in life, you know, if we go into a situation and it's positive and we're around good people and we leave feeling good, we want to return to that. Right.
You know, a lot of the yeah, books that I've been reading over the last six months are about those habits, and you know, and it's it's always, you know, make sure you whatever you want to do, whatever you want to become a habit, make sure there's a good connotation that goes along with it.
Yeah, for the lowest level, Pavlov's dog, you know, treat, but yeah, that treat can be a good community and people that you get energy from as opposed to taking it, taking it away.
Right, right. And then and then the extra treat can be, you know, the the coffee or the the the bagel or whatever the case is after that run.
Yep.
Little cherry on top. Um, yeah, and I guess, I guess, you know, you mentioned like positive experiences, um, which makes me think that it's probably equally important to know when when that setup isn't right for you, or the the you know, dynamic for whatever reason isn't isn't right for you.
Have you run into athletes kind of talking and outside of a collegiate program or inside? Um, but but more so probably outside in terms of our audience, um, where you know they're like, Yeah, I tried that out, didn't didn't really love it, didn't really think it was for me. Um have you kind of run into bad and had those conversations with people?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you know, I think in the the adult coaching situation, the nice thing, good and bad, you know, you have a little bit more flexibility to leave situations quickly or or jump in. And also hopefully it's uh an area where people aren't afraid to try something because commitment isn't four years or or anything like that.
Um you know, I would say and I would encourage anybody in those situations, just like we do with our college athletes, you know, try to start with good communication.
Start with, hey, if it doesn't feel like it's working, try to have a conversation, you know, have a conversation on the phone or have a conversation face to face, you know, and and both sides try to articulate what they think is working, and you know, and and be willing to adjust and and be willing to go from there.
But you know, I think certainly, you know, if you look at a situation like you know Ron Doyle in, there's a variety of coaches. And you start with a coach and you're sincere, you know, and it just isn't clicking, then then maybe you can move over to a different coach and get a different perspective.
Or, you know, so and you certainly you don't want to any time in life, you know, waste's time. Now again, I think there's times when the coach has to find the right voice to say, stay with it, the payoff. You're in the trough, the payoff is coming, rest.
Right, right, yeah, and and you know, like you said, a coach and especially a good coach should be able to kind of see when those moments are, how to navigate those moments, the language to use, everything like that.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it, you know, and I think a good coach too can call on other perspectives and say, hey, you know, well, if Redo doesn't think it's going that well, I think we're doing this. I tried to tell him that, and you know, the other coach may be like, ooh, you know, you sound a little harsh when you say that.
Have you tried to tell him it in an encouraging voice? Or have you, you know, decided you know, looked at backing off the long runs for a couple weeks and see if his legs feel better? Yeah. So again, I I think you know, coaches need a community too. And it allows us to do a better job for all of our athletes.
Yep, I couldn't agree more. Coaches need coaches, coaches need that support system. You know, uh, yeah, I completely agree.
Um uh Patrick, there's one uh area that I wanted to kind of uh make sure that we got to, um, because we probably are are gonna wrap up here soon enough, but um with regard to establishing consistency, something that you had mentioned in our kind of pre-IG Live conversations um was the principle of uh or the idea of uh decision fatigue.
I generally speaking uh know what decision fatigue is is is about, you know, and and I'll just lay that out real quick for for the audience, but um I definitely want to get into in terms of like what you what you were thinking.
Um to me, of course, from a layperson's perspective, I think of you know, you've got so many things to worry about and and responsibilities throughout the day, so many decisions that you're making consciously and subconsciously, um, inevitably there is this very real fatigue that happens um but towards the end of the day, or or really at any point of the day when uh
it's you just don't have it, right? You just give in to impulses, you give in to cravings, you give in to the easy, the convenience. Um, how does that apply? What were what are you thinking when it comes to running, training, and ultimately establishing consistency?
Yeah, I I think you know, I think it shows the value if you've got a routine, you know, when you kind of run at this time and even to the point of I'm gonna run in this place and I'm gonna run with those people, you know, that makes everything go smoother. You know, I talked about you know, today's the day at training partner, and we go at 6 a.m.
If I put my shoes out and my shirt and everything I need, and it's on the couch, everything goes smooth and I'm out the door. Yep, yeah. I gotta lights and yeah, decide am I wearing this shirt or that shirt. It's amazing how much not only does time bleed away, but energy bleeds away.
You know, again, I've been really, you know, fortunate that I've had some time off since I've been coaching a lot of times or done with collegiate coaching, can work great, you know. I have flexibility in my day, but it can also be you know, by the middle of the day, I'm like, well, where do I want to run? And how far do I want to run?
And and then all my energy bleeds away, and I stay on the couch and watch another Netflix. Yep. When you've got a plan, and maybe a plan that you're committed to with another person, and you are proactive, even if it's just the night before, this run for my exercise, this is what I'm gonna do.
My lift, you take those questions out, and then you can just forward you know concentrate on moving forward. And again, I think over a full week, or if we talk about their first 5k or a marathon, over that entire training window of a training plan, man, there's millions of decisions.
If you can a bunch or put a bunch of those on your coach or your training partners, again, you'll be able to use your energy for both the run and for your family or your job or for the other things that are most important.
Right. And and just reducing that stress ultimately is gonna just make your training go a lot smoother. I didn't think about that. Just yeah, how how uh now I can see it where having that plan prepping, which is kind of part of all of that, um, can then lead to um reduced, I should say, uh decision fatigue. Um and and yeah, totally.
You know, uh as you were talking, I was thinking of, yeah, I keep I keep all my you know runny accessories right by the door, you know, that just all in one place. I know it's all there, I don't have to go looking for anything. Um if I have to charge something, I charge it, put it right back, you know.
Um really, like you said, it it it makes it the process go a lot smoother. There are definitely times when my wife is like, didn't you say you were gonna leave 20 minutes ago? Like, what are you doing? And I don't know right now, but I can't help but think, are those times when I don't have an idea of what I'm doing?
You know, I when I don't know exactly what I'm gonna run or where I'm gonna run, um, and I'm just kind of paralyzed for 20 minutes, just not really because yeah, probably because I don't know what the plan is. Um and I'm just kind of slowly processing it.
Yeah. And and and vice versa, you may know what the plan is, but it and it sounds silly, you know, the two kind of semi-famous examples, you know, Steve Jobs always wearing the same black turtleneck and Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook, you know, wearing the same t-shirt every day. You know, you look at that and you're like, they're so rich, that's absurd.
But then, you know, if you start down the rabbit hole some days, you know, all right, which shoes am I gonna grab? Where are they? Oh, I've got different t-shirts, you know. Uh is it hot? Is it cold? Do I want a long sleeve?
And you know, then you're frazzled over all these silly decisions, yeah, as you getting out and getting on the road and getting five miles down.
Yeah, yeah. And not to say don't think about those things, right? As runners, we have to, but but uh just making sure the message is clear, it's about planning that or having that the night before or you know, otherwise in advance, right? So you're like looking at the weather ahead of time, you know exactly what you're gonna need.
You pack that bag or you lay everything out. Um, that way in the moment, when you have an hour to run, you're running for an hour, you know, versus you know, because time flies as you're getting everything ready, and then you only have 40 minutes by the by the time you get out there.
And you know, the big key on that too is then you create less stress and you're allowing yourself to tip the scales a little bit towards that positive experience, yeah, as well. Yeah, because anytime we're putting ourselves in a stress situation, yeah, there's a tendency for it to feel somewhat negative.
And vice versa, if we can get something dialed in and we nail it, hey, we're gonna walk out feeling good, and that's gonna reinforce the positive. Yep, yep.
Yep.
You know what else happens? This is just a a little a personal anecdote when I don't have like an actual plan for that day, and I find myself running, running, running short on time, whether by my fault or uh something you know went over the time it was supposed to.
Um I I catch myself like running, running uh faster than I should be, because I I'm like, oh man, that was supposed to be an hour and now it's only 40 minutes. I guess it makes the most sense for me to make this a faster 20 40 minutes to make up for those, you know, other 20 minutes that I would have read. Like I gotta work myself harder.
I actually catch myself doing that probably once every few weeks at least. Um, and and it all comes down to again, whether it's my fault or not, just again, not not not being able to or not doing better at at that consistency part. Uh just deviate from that plan.
Yeah, I think it's very similar for me. You know, I'll throw it away the time where we're very fortunate. We still have a lot of rural dirt roads around here, you know, 10-15 minute drive.
If I'm got my plan nailed, I can go to one of those roads, run off surface, in a place that I enjoy running more, or you know, if I waste that time, then I gotta run from home. It's it's a tiny shoulder, you know, I'm not as inspired.
You know, planning as part of establishing consistency to establish productivity, you know, to reinforce good feeling is just so important.
Yeah, that's a great, that's a great on your end, personal kind of uh insight into and story behind uh yeah, just the benefits. I'm sure everyone can kind of apply apply that to their own life. I yeah, I think about me too.
It's like I'm further away from the Portland waterfront, but if I plan everything well and can stick to it, I can make use that time to get down there versus no, it's actually the same kind of story. It's like versus having to run around my my neighborhood, which isn't isn't exactly my favorite.
So it's actually a great motivator to be to be you know better at planning.
Uh you're in Portland, way, way back I lived, and we were just on the other side over by the Burnside Bridge, and like you know, again, and if I planned right, either I could go up to Wildwood Park or uh maybe even run up there, and then if you mess it up and you know you read one more magazine article, or yeah, then then you're you're sprinting up the
hill and you're like, I can't even make it to the park, and just gotta go right back.
Totally, totally. Oh yeah, clearly it comes down to it comes down to to you know planning, right? I mean that's that's that's why you start with it. Uh and then that will lead to consistency.
And I think just being um, at least my interpretation of it is is it can be tough in the beginning, you know, there I feel like there's a lot more energy involved in getting to a good place when it comes to being consistent.
But once you're there and you're in those rhythms, um, not to say that it's you don't have to think about it anymore, but it becomes easier. But I think there is a greater kind of energy uh expense in the beginning, uh, or input rather in the beginning to get there.
But I think uh it's worth it, clearly, all these benefits that come from it and and the ease at which things will flow later. Um, you know, it's an investment, if you will.
Um, and I think ultimately, too, is is having that accountability and that support system, whether that is a coach and or a training partner or a group, um, can just make that whole process uh a ton easier, you know, so it's not all on you.
And of course, we can we can include people's partners and roommates and and and et cetera in that in that support system. Um yeah. Um, well this one's great. Uh any any um I don't know, any any uh highlights or really important kind of principles that you don't think we we got to.
You can take a couple more minutes if if you think that there are anything that you want to mention.
And yeah, I I think I've seen them kind of covered more on other podcasts or other Instagram lives. You know, I I think the yeah, the semi catastrophic interruption in your consistency, you know, for runners, that's most often it's injury or illness. Yep. And you know, how are you gonna build back from that?
You know, again, when we talk about adults or you know, unfortunately, any of us, you know, if you have life circumstance that just, you know, a you know, for an extended period you can't get out to run, you know, then we can go into, you know, essentially a system of mitigation, you know.
And again, I've seen some of the other Instagram lives, training when you're injured and that type of thing. And I think those people should look into and and figure out what can they do, you know, and every little bit, you know, helps you keep your momentum, and and that's what consistency is, is keeping that momentum. Momentum.
Yeah, definitely. And I'm glad you mentioned that.
Yeah. Um, I mean, for for sake of time, we won't get too much into injury really, but but you did, as you mentioned, we there's definitely some other um several podcast episodes that that talk about injury, and even if injury isn't in the title, you know, if it's something about interruptions or or um if it sounds like it it you know uh injury could be part of
it, likely it is. You know, it's just a part of it's a part of running and training, unfortunately, you know, is is uh and athletics, right, is is is injury. So it really is an important um component to this whole conversation.
And and and therefore, as much as we hate those two eyes, you know, injury and illness, um, it it really does help to to uh kind of have a plan for for if and and more likely when those things happen.
Um and of course we all want a healthy training cycle, but um uh, you know, like I said, these things can happen more so maybe illness is gonna have you know be bound to happen more frequently than injury, hopefully. But um either way, it's a deviation or interruption from from training. What do you do about it? And that kind of goes back to the coach part.
I mean, accountability partner and and a training group, a little bit different, right? They're gonna be there when you get back, they're gonna be a good moral support. Um, but the coach is gonna be a really key part in that in that process in terms of okay, what now? You know, is my whole training plan shot?
How or how do I uh what do I do in the meantime? Um uh okay, it's three days, uh, what do I do? It's two weeks, you know, what does that look like? Uh I I think I to me I find one of the biggest values of of having a coach is is for when those things come up.
And if people are coming in to run door, and we see a lot of these people as you know, they're lifelong runners, right? They're they're running because this is their lifestyle. Um, for that, it's almost even more beneficial to to have a coach to kind of guide you through everything that life's gonna throw at you.
Absolutely, and yeah, keeping it the level instead of you know going into full injury, you know. So often something is better than nothing. You know, so so many of us runners are type A, and if we can't have the whole thing, we don't want anything. Right.
Yeah. So I mean if your whole travel day goes totally off and you're just lucky to get to your hotel, hey, maybe if you can do fifty push-ups or can do a mobility routine, yeah, that's still gonna keep you moving ahead, or you'll feel like you did something.
Yeah. You know, if you can't get out to run, but you can get on the bike, you know, even tiny amounts can really, especially mentally, just help you keep the momentum that like I made the effort, so the effort is still moving forward.
Right. And I I think actually that's probably the biggest, the biggest benefit is the mental benefit, right? Like you said before early on, you're like, okay, you missed the three-mile run, but you know, you've got fifth 50 solid days of training before this, you know, that three-mile run isn't gonna do anything um for you or against you, right?
It's part of the being consistent and you missed it, but it's totally, totally fine. I think really it comes down to um we can get down on ourselves, and that kind of speaks to just that mental piece, is like just do a mobility thing, you know. You you did something, you're gonna feel good, you're gonna sleep better.
Um and then of course, you know, bouncing all that off with a uh with a coach is is just uh again, back to that, just a uh wonderful dynamic to have as part of your your running career, I think. Um absolutely, yeah.
Yeah. Oh well, hopefully you have got a lot of collegiate you know runners here who are well aware now, but but you know, keep hearing that message and and and stick with having a coach beyond beyond the program and and and even more so, hopefully from from our perspective, we have some people here who maybe are are now encouraged to to find out what it can be
like to have a coach. And of course, selfishly, I would love for them to go to rundoyan.com and and check out the the coaches. Um Patrick, I'm not sure. You're you're like I said, you're relatively, but even more specifically, you're pretty brand new to Run Doyen. Is your pro is your profile up on the site yet?
I don't think it is. We've been trying to uh get a hold of some pictures and putting the books on the stuff.
Okay, so I beat I beat admin to the to the punch in terms of getting you out to the public.
I'm sure it'll be up soon. I know Jordan's working on it and you guys do a great job of that that support.
I've I have no doubt it'll be soon. So uh given that though, um, where's the best place for people to get in contact with you if they uh if they just really can't wait for you to be up on the site?
Uh yeah, obviously I'm on Instagram um on Facebook as well. Okay. And uh you don't have to put your email out there.
I wouldn't I wouldn't I wouldn't necessarily encourage you to, but um, I guess you're you're probably here somewhere on the live. People can find who I'm live with, I think. But I think it's just Patrick and I think your uh a letter and then your last name, correct?
Yeah, Patrick J. Conn, C-U-N-N-I-F-F. Perfect, perfect.
Yeah. Um so great, maybe we'll get some uh kind of direct messages or something again.
If people can't wait for your profile to go live, but when it does go live, um they'll be able to to to you know message you or or sign up for a a free chat with you just to kind of see if um uh you know how you drive together and uh if if uh y'all seem to be on the same page or want to move forward together.
So that's gonna be fantastic once all that.
Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I'm really excited to be a part of this community, and yeah, I I've told several people, you know, that that year at Luke's Locker and seeing people in their very first training program and seeing how kind of eager for the knowledge they are.
Um, yeah, it was really a very rewarding experience and yeah, something that I'm really looking forward to having to be a big part of my life going forward.
Yeah, absolutely. That's great. Hey, Patrick, real quick, uh, because this is the only one that came through today, I want to I want to see if you can speak to it in about 30 seconds or so. But this John Hayes 1967 just wrote in, How can I become a great runner?
Now I have a feeling it has something to do with consistency, but I'll let you respond to that um uh for 20 to 30 seconds. How can anyone be what are the first steps of becoming a great runner?
Uh unfortunately, John Hayes probably doesn't have much of a chance because he's one of my old broken down college teammates. But I I would say, you know, on the simplest level, honestly, you know, the person who's who's pushing themselves, the person who's setting a goal that's important to them and then working to achieve it.
And you know, if they do achieve it, that that's awesome. But you know, if they can even just get committed to the sincere effort to do it and do something that's making their life better, I think that that is a great runner. Yep.
Yeah, I love that. And I and I love, I love, yeah. You know, it begs the question, what is a great runner? But uh, you know, you've got goals and and you're working towards them. What more can you ask for? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, well, fantastic, Patrick. This is a great conversation.
It was really great to uh to meet you and to you know not introduce you to runners necessarily. Like you said, you've been around for for a bit here, but uh specifically to introduce you to at least our followers. That's as specific as I can get there.
Um, and hopefully some of them uh you know reach out, and um, I'm sure we'll we'll have you back on at some point uh for another one of these chats or some other kind of way to um uh get your face out there and eventually your athletes kind of promote it on our on our rundoing social media.
But uh again, great conversation on establishing consistency, um, just some key principles for uh for doing that, and then also the benefits of of why consistency matters and how it can uh you know improve your your running career, uh achieving those goals. I I definitely a lot of pearls from this conversation, a lot of a lot of nuggets.
So uh I appreciate the time this evening with you. Yeah, I appreciate your time.
It was great to meet you, Alfredo, and yeah, like I said, excited to be a part of this community and and just get to meet some of these awesome people.
All right, fantastic. Well, again, you have a great evening, and it's well later into your evening now on the East Coast. Thank you all for tuning in, and this will be posted uh if you called in uh you jumped in late as we posted on our on our uh IG uh feed, and then of course in our Facebook group, and uh I think it gets put on the podcast too.
So you'll be able to catch this conversation in several other places. Coach Patrick, thanks so much. Have a great evening, all, and see you next time. All right, thank you. Thank you. All right, see you.
All right, and that will wrap us up here on the next level running podcast and this month's Instagram live running replay. Thanks once again to Coaches Will Benitez and Patrick Cunniff. You can find a link to all the resources mentioned in today's podcast in the show notes.
If you enjoyed the podcast today and haven't given us a rating on your podcast platform of choice, we would appreciate you taking the time to do that today. I'll be back here on the 26th of this month with our next episode of the Next Level Running Podcast. Thanks for tagging along with us for this Instagram live replay. 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 Rundoya. If you're ready to take your training and race to the next level, head over to Rundoya.com and get back to your ideal code. We'll provide you with the highly customized online training needs to fresh your goals of the city.