Inspired to run after the Austin Marathon? Former UT track athlete, Olympic trial qualifier shares 4 easy tips
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin has a big running community, and if you feel inspired to lace up your shoes – KXAN invited Mark Pinales for some insight on how to get started.
Pinales is a former University to Texas track athlete, Olympic marathon trial qualifier and winner of the 2017 3M Half Marathon, now known as the Austin International Half. Today Pinales runs his own online coaching business, Vertis Coaching, for people who are looking to improve or start their run and strength journey.
Read an edited transcription of the conversation below or use the video player to watch.
Question: Can anyone run a 5K, half or full marathon?
Pinales: Anyone can do these races. And there are four things you really need to consider when you’re getting into a series training block.
The first thing is: Pick a race. You don’t have to spend six months of easy running and base building to do these big races. You can do them incrementally and just for fun.
The second thing is: Make sure that you challenge yourself. This can be pushing the pace at the end of an easy run or a structured track workout.
The third thing is: Make sure that you do the little things right, eating well, sleeping a little bit better, rolling out, stretching and doing proper strength work can make a big difference short term and long term.
Fourth, nutrition is very important for your training, but there’s no one specific plan that works best for everyone. If you’re struggling with your diet, cutting out one to two things you know you shouldn’t eat or replace them with something slightly healthier can make a big difference. At the end of the day, what you do long-term matters significantly more than one meal. So, if you feel like you want to treat enjoy yourself, but the biggest thing you need to make sure you’re doing is you feel fuel during your workouts. You’re feeling well after your workouts, and you’re hydrating well with water and electrolytes.
Question: What should I consider before signing up for a race?
Pinales: If you’re trying to pick your ideal race, and you’ve never run before, I would start with the 5k then work up to the 10k, then half, then a marathon.
If you’ve done some type of sports in the past, or if you’re naturally athletic, you can jump straight to the half marathon or marathon within a four to six-month time frame.
When choosing a race, it’s very important to understand the course. If it’s a little bit hilly, you’re gonna have to back off your pace as a tiny bit. And if it’s flat and fast, then it gives you the opportunity to open up.
But being in Austin, Texas, it could be hot, windy, cold, raining, snowing, you name it – so make sure that you adjust accordingly for race day. At the end of the day with any race that you run, the first half of it should be fairly controlled. The next 25% should be a little bit challenging, and require a little more focus, but you shouldn’t be pushing all out. And then if you feel good, then you can really start to work hard. The last 20, 10, 5% of the race.
Question: What can people expect if they want to work with you?
Pinales: I created Vertis Coaching to fill a gap that I saw in the virtual coaching space. We focus on making sure that we work in your nutrition, recovery, running, strength training, and everything. The goal with this is not to push one or two things aggressively, like mileage or hard workouts, but to make sure we can improve in a lot of small things, like your eating, sleeping, foam rolling, stretching, and recovery. If we can get all of that a little bit higher, then the rising tide raises all ships. You end up being a much better athlete all around and having to work a little less harder than you would have otherwise, along with structure, a training plan, and consistent communication. The biggest thing that you’ll notice with us is that we’re very adaptable to your lifestyle. We specialize in difficult situations. So, whether you’re a busy mom, you’re a firefighter, you got 24-hour shifts as a doctor, you have four or five kids, we’ve worked with it all. We want to make sure that we get you to your goals in a fraction of the time.
