Posts by Agnieszka | Applied Agnieszkology

6 years of running – what I learned

6. March 20196. March 2019
by Agnieszka

Exactly 6 years ago I went for a run for the first time in my grownup life. I probably don’t need to tell you – but it was a terrible, excruciating experience. I managed to do one round in the nearest park, all together 4,42 km. My average pace was 07:29 min/km. I didn’t wear a heart rate monitor, but I’m pretty sure my heart rate was at about 170 bmp or something like this.

After this run I was exhausted and frustrated. But it didn’t make me quit. Just the opposite was true. I didn’t have any marathons or triathlons in mind (I thought people doing it were crazy) – I just wanted to be able to run for an hour and not be miserable 😉

I didn’t really have a plan. I had no idea why I should use a heart rate monitor – so I didn’t, never heard of heart rate zones, had old worn-up shoes (I’m not sure if they were even proper running shoes) and obviously I didn’t have any coach or not even a training plan. Long story short – that’s definitely not the optimal way to start running, if you don’t want to quit right away 😉 But I didn’t quit. My strategy was to run a little longer every time. 2,5 months later I ran 10 kilometers for the first time in my life and 4 months after that, the first 10 kilometers within an hour

The biggest challenge for me came in April, just about a month after I did my first run. I had to go to Brussels for a consulting project – which meant 3-4 nights a week in a hotel, for several months. Goodbye healthy routines, goodbye good habits.

Wait, but why actually? Does Brussels not have streets and parks? Are there no hotels with a gym? Does running gear really takes so much space in the suitcase, that I really cannot take it with me? Of course it’s more difficult to keep the training routine, when you’re not in your regular environment – but it doesn’t mean it’s impossible (check out my post “Triathlete on business trip”.

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Running in Brussels

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Agnieszka Walorska (@agamw) am Sep 16, 2013 um 10:46 PDT

I kept my running routine and at some point I really started enjoying it so much, that I decided to sign up for my first olympic distance triathlon in 2014 and shortly after for the first middle distance. But it wasn’t until I hired a coach to help me with preparation for my first IronMan distance, that I actually started training properly.

But what does it actually mean to train properly?

Many beginners guides recommend to pick a race date or to even sign up for a race. I personally don’t think it’s necessary. My goal was to be able to run for an hour without dying ;). Racing is not everyones “thing”. The important thing is to set realistic goals. If you never ran, signing up for a marathon that takes place in 3 months is a bad idea 😉
Get yourself a HR monitor and proper shoes. I didn’t have either and I consider it a mistake. I ran all my runs to the point of total exhaustion and it resulted in pain and frustration. It’s better and more sustainable to get used to it slowly. When it comes to shoes – it doesn’t mean that you need to spend a fortune. But it’s important that they give you the support you need and that you actually enjoy wearing them 🙂 My first proper shoes were the ASICS Gel Noosa Tri, but they are discontinued now. Currently I run ASICS DynaFlyte, Saucony Ride 10 and Brooks Adrenaline GTS 19

ASICS DynaFlyte
Saucony Ride 10
Brooks Adrenaline GTS 19

Ladies only, especially these with large bust. You will need a proper sports bra, otherwise it can get pretty uncomfortable (so I heard).
Get a training plan. It doesn’t mean that you need a personal trainer. Meanwhile there are so many apps that will give you a beginners training plan. Runtastic has nice, easy to follow training plans from beginners to marathon (and you can perfectly combine them with Runtastic Results for some bodyweight training). There are also a couple “Coach to 5K” apps, and you can find tons of training plans online. It’s important to have one for many reasons: it helps you with the discipline but also makes the training more variable. Running all out all the time is just not the good strategy. Most of the beginners need to start with alternating walking and running. That seams boring and unproductive at the beginning but it makes perfect sense.
About boring – the first thing my coach did was to lower the intensity of my training. Doing runs in zone 2 (check out what training zones mean), that are the basis for endurance training is necessary but it is not very exciting, especially if you repeatedly run on the same route. Some people enjoy them, focusing on themselves, some listen to music. I use the time to listen to podcasts and audiobooks. My favorite podcasts: NPR Hidden Brain ,TED Radio Hour, HBR IdeaCast, More or Less: Behind The Stats, WSJ’s The Future of Everything.
Find a training partner who is about as fast as you are, so you can motivate each other. I don’t enjoy running with other people 😉 but somehow most of us do. Do whatever you need to enjoy the experience as much you can.
Hydrate – I always have something to drink when I run for an hour or longer
Be disciplined, but don’t set yourself under too much of pressure. Don’t forget that you’re doing it to feel better, not to impress anyone. If you are slower today then you were yesterday – don’t worry, maybe you’re tired, maybe you didn’t sleep well, didn’t eat enough or ate too much, the weather is shitty. But don’t stop just because you think you’re not progressing fast enough.
Smile – if you’re having fun, it’s easy. But try to smile even if the fun factor is not at it’s highest – you’ll see that it will help you to feel better!

First race of the season & review Saucony Ride…

18. February 201918. February 2019
by Agnieszka

First race of the year 2019 was Plänterwaldlauf again. Last year I ran 10k, this year my coach decided that 15k would be a better option for me. It’s not a „real“ race of course – I did it after a normal 12 hours training week, so I didn’t expect extraordinary performance 😉 I like running a small race early in the year though, as it usually gives me a little kick for my further training. I also like the course of the race: through the forest and along the river. Very enjoyable when the wether is somehow nice.

When signing up for a race in Februar in Berlin, one of course cannot really expect nice weather. Last year it was snowy and freezing, not sunny, but still OK, this year it was a disaster. The rain was pouring, at some point turning into hail, creating countless puddles that turned into one big swamp by the time I was running the last of my three rounds. By the time I crossed the finish line I was soaking wet – as did every other athlete…

via GIPHY

I didn’t feel 100% fit during the race. I didn’t sleep well and was only semi-motivated, the weather was annoying. I just wanted to get back to bed – that was probably the only reason why I got faster and faster during the last round :D. After I crossed the finish line I just wanted to put on some dry clothes and get to a sauna as fast as possible. But then I heard my name (properly spelled to my surprise). I mean, I don’t really run to win (I’m also rather realistic about my talent ;)), so it was quite a nice surprise to learn that I finished as a second woman and won my age group. It was the first AG win and first podium since I started training and competing. Of course, it’s not the IronMan, it’s a small and cozy local race, but I’m like this anyway:

via GIPHY

It was also my first race with other shoes than ASICS Noosa Tri which I have been running for the previous 5 years. As they have been discontinued, I have bin experimenting with other models and brands recently (a separate post on this topic is coming). The difficulty – my feet are very long (European size 42) and very narrow, so my choices are quite limited. Fortunately ASICS has DynaFlyte, which is very narrow and DS Trainer, which fits me as well, but why not try a different brand as well. Saucony Ride 10 got some pretty good reviews when it comes to endurance runners with narrow feet.

So why not try (especially as it was on sale and very affordable at that time). They don’t look particularly good, which is a minus point. During the first runs they felt a little too soft as I was used to rather stiffer shoes, but getting used to it, I actually started to like how they feel. That’s why I decided to try them during the race and I didn’t regret it. They felt so comfortable, that I basically forget that I have shoes on – my feet didn’t hurt, my knees didn’t hurt, I had the impression, that the shoes support my natural way of moving. I have to lace them very tide to fit my narrow feet, but when I did this, my feet felt stable, not moving around like in some other shoes. Of course 15 km is not a long distance, so I’ll definitely have to test them on a half-marathon and marathon distance to form my formal opinion. But for now, they are in the game 😉

Triathlete on business trip

27. January 201927. January 2019
by Agnieszka

There are times in my job requiring significant amount of travel. While I generally don’t mind, especially when I travel to beautiful cities like Zürich or Hamburg, it always requires little more effort to keep up with the training routine.

Packing

The difficulties usually start with packing. I try to travel with cabin bag only whenever possible. It means that I have to fit running and swimming gear along some decent semi-business cloths. In winter the difficulty is the need of warm cloths that usually take space, in summer I usually get some space issues when I want to swim open water and have the wetsuit with me. Luckily for me, my job doesn’t require wearing formal suits, so for 4 nights I just take 4 blouses, 4 underwear changes and 4 pairs of socks and that’s basically it 😉 I still have plenty of space for my sports gear and some healthy snacks.

Food

Eating properly can also be tricky on a trip. One problem are the business lunches and dinners, but the bigger one might actually be the unstructured days with no proper food with a lot of temptations to eat fast food or unhealthy snacks. Why I don’t stick to any particular dietary “religion”, I still try to eat reasonably healthy. That’s why to avoid temptation I try to always have some nutritious snacks (pre-training carb snacks, post-training protein snacks, nuts etc). For people following a vegan, low carb and especially gluten free diet this might be even more essential than for a relatively relaxed flexitarian 😉

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A post shared by Agnieszka Walorska (@agamw) on Nov 15, 2017 at 4:27am PST

Training plan

I always discuss a trip (especially a longer one) with my coach and try to plan accordingly. When I’m away for a week with a quite tensed schedule, there is no point of having an strenuous training planned for this week.

When I don’t have to take a plane or a train at 6 or 7, I try to fit a training in the morning before (I usually opt for cycling, as this is the most difficult thing to to on a trip). I always plan my running routes and check opening hours of public swimming pools or a distance to the lake in advance. Running is the easiest thing to do while travelling – you can run everywhere. When travelling in winter, I book a hotel with a proper gym, whenever possible – just in case the weather is really not inviting for an outside run. When travelling in summer – especially to Zürich – I try to book a hotel close to the lake, which is both great for running and swimming 🙂

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A post shared by Agnieszka Walorska (@agamw) on Jun 20, 2018 at 1:04pm PDT

Flight and hotel

That might not be true for everyone, but for me flying (even short-haul) and sleeping in hotels (and interacting with more people than usual) are always negatively impacting my training performance. Nothing dramatic about it – but it’s just good to know it and not to overdramatize 😉 It’s just normal. But it’s still important to keep the training routine – not only because of the progress towards the training goals, but also to neutralize the additional amount of stress that an intense business trip might cause for some of us 🙂

Is this the future of running shoes?

19. January 201919. January 2019
by Agnieszka

For someone who loves both sports and technology – this was the new of the week. Nike announced Adapt BB – a connected, self-lacing shoe. Kind of like in Back To The Future 2 😉

Using a lacing technology called FitAdapt, you can adjust to find the perfect fit using the mobile app or buttons on the shoe. You can also program preferred settings in advance. The first Adapt shoe is made for basketball – in this case the player can input different settings depending on different moments of a game. According to Jayson Tatum, one of the first players to test Adapt BB “it fits l like a glove. It’s better than laces. There’s no movement in there and it’s very secure”.

For now, the biggest issue with these shoes is that you still need to program a preset or press the button do tighten or loosen the shoes, but the ultimate goal of Nike is to create shoes that will adjust to the athletes needs automatically, in real time.

That’s when it becomes interesting for runners and triathletes (especially these with very narrow feet, like myself, who have troubles finding shoes that fit really well…). Our feet change during a marathon, they often swell and the shoes become too tight, but lacing them looser means, obviously, loosing time. Even if most triathletes are doing quite well with elastic laces, the tightness doesn’t alway feel optimal.

Also I imagine, that Nike will not end with just automatically adjusting the fit of the shoes. With the data they collect, they could also identify your running style, speed, surface, temperature and adjust to it, following the dream of Nike’s VP Design John Hoke, who hopes “your shoes will become symbiotic to your own body, always reacting to your state, and making sure you take every stride with strength”.

F… New Year’s resolutions!

4. January 20195. January 2019
by Agnieszka

You can see them in the park, you can see them in the swimming pool, you can see them in the gym and in yoga classes. The New Year’s Resolutions. At no time in the year these places are so overcrowded as in the first week of January. The swimming pool is so full, that it’s barely possible to have a somehow normal training. It’s rather a combination of an obstacle course and martial arts in the water. But every time I get annoyed about this – I take a deep breath and just look forward to January 15th when it all be normal again.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

(This quote, by the way, is by and large credited to Einstein, however there is no proof that he has ever used this expression). It doesn’t really matter here though as it perfectly serves the purpose of describing the insanity of New Year’s resolutions. If you didn’t keep your exercise routine (or any other resolution you made) longer than for the first 2 weeks of the year in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 18, what makes you think that 2019 will be so different? Let me tell you – it will not. New Year’s resolutions just don’t work for many reasons.

We don’t really want them

The main problem with the New Year’s resolutions is – they’re not about what we really want, but what the society expects us to want. Quit smoking, do more sports, stop eating meat, save more money. Of course – these are very desirable outcomes. But do we really want this change or do we just think that we have to change it? Where do these resolutions come from? Is it the peer pressure, the spouse/partner or our super-ego (check out Freud if you don’t know this one ;)) or do we really want it= If we feel that we have to, without wanting it, it will just feel like an annoying obligation and we will be relieved to give them up.

Our goals are not SMART

In business I always recommend my clients to set SMART goals. What does it mean? SMART goals are smart because they are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound. Even if I really have this intrinsic motivation to get fit again – „getting fit“ is not really SMART – it might be realistic and achievable, but it’s not specific, measurable, and time bound. A SMART goal would be for example to run 3 times a week: Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday for 30 minutes in the next 2 months. Going to the theatre once a week for half a year might be specific, measurable and time bound, but for me it’s not realistic and achievable as I know that I will have just other priorities.

We get disappointed

The result of having goals that are not SMART or sometimes even having goals that are SMART but we just didn’t manage to achieve them is that we get disappointed. And getting disappointed usually directly leads to quitting. Once I have set myself a goal to become six-pack abs. The problem is – even if I only have 15% body fat – basically all these 15% are in my belly. It has always been like that. I could maybe could have reached it anyway, but for that I’d have to give up all the things I like (like wine and nice food) and do ridiculous amounts of abs training. As I didn’t see the expected results after two months, I was totally disappointed and gave up the training. What I decided not to see was, that I was fitter, my core got stronger and my body looked better. But – I didn’t have six-pack abs… Next time I decided to try a different approach and started focusing on small habit changes and small achievements, focusing on successes and not disappointments.

The best time to start is now

And by now – I don’t mean the beginning of the year. I mean now – whenever it is. If you have an deep motivation to change and you set yourself SMART goals – why the hell do you need to wait until January 1st? Why not start on March 3rd or August 25th or December 27th? Why have this socially acceptable procrastination method called „New Year’s resolutions“ stop you from starting the change the moment you decide to do so?

F… New Year’s resolutions!