The Serial Route Runner's Guide to Mixing Things Up

What if your running routine could bring joy instead of just ticking off miles? That's precisely what we explore as we adopt the Dogs Per Mile mindset, moving away from the clutches of traditional stats. Drawing from my personal experience of breaking free from monotonous runs and anxiety, I uncover how subtle changes, like reversing your route, can rekindle the excitement of your runs. Whether you've just laced up your first pair of running shoes or you're a marathon veteran, this episode offers practical insights to transform your running journey into a joyful adventure, keeping things fresh and challenging for your brain.

Prepare to reinvigorate your marathon training and find joy in every stride as we dive into creative strategies for big city races in New York and Chicago. From rating holiday lights to inventing backstories for neighborhood houses, we'll explore a treasure trove of fun ideas to spice up your runs and engage with your surroundings. Plus, discover how to shake up the social dynamics of your run club by switching route leaders and fostering a vibrant community spirit. With these engaging tips, you’ll be inspired to see running as more than just exercise—it's a celebration of each step and the stories along the way.

Takeaways

• Many runners get stuck in routine ruts, limiting their growth.
• Changing the direction of a run can provide a fresh perspective.
• Engaging with seasonal decorations can make runs more enjoyable.
• Running at different times of the day can enhance training.
• Social aspects of running can introduce new routes and experiences.
• Using tools like Garmin can help explore new routes without stress.
• Creating games or challenges can add fun to routine runs.
• Observing changes in the environment can keep runs interesting.
• Incorporating variety can improve mental strength and resilience.
• Runners should embrace the opportunity to explore and discover new paths.

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Transcript

Refreshing Your Running Routine

Speaker 1 0:08

Hey runners , welcome to the Dogs Per Mile podcast , your weekly dose of running reality . Here we count dogs instead of minutes and turn running stats upside down . I'm Bridget , your host , certified running coach and creator of the Dogs Per Mile mindset . Here's the thing 13 years ago , I started my running journey , like many of you , watching the stats on my garment and getting discouraged when they didn't match what they should be saying . That's when I discovered the magic of counting dogs in my run , because sometimes the best running stat isn't your pace or distance . Now , with over 50 half marathons , two marathons and countless training runs under my belt , I'm here to share a different approach to running , one that breaks down mental barriers , eases those pre-run anxieties and yes , includes a weekly update of my personal dogs per mile count . Whether you're lacing up for the first time , getting back into running after a break , struggling your training with group fitness classes or chasing your next PR , you've found your people . This is where we take the pressure off and put the joy back in running , because every runner has a place here and every dog site is worth celebrating . Hey runners , welcome back to the Dogs Per Mile podcast . I am your host , bridget . Thank you for joining me If you're new here , welcome If you're a listener from previous episodes . Thanks for coming back . I am very excited today just to do a quick little episode , something that is really helpful for either new or experienced runners that can help you stop burning out from your roots or just create a little bit of variety . This is especially great if you are it's around the holidays or you are just trying to find doing the spice of your root without changing too much because you have a lot happening , because school doesn't right now .

Speaker 1 2:02

I know that I am a notorious and serial routine runner . I will run the same route , the same direction . I know every crack , I know every little hill , I know every part of the sidewalk where I have to jump this way . I know every bit of my run like at the back of my hand . And sometimes we go with convenience over variety . But there's ways to spice up your run while keeping the route the same and make it a little bit more engaging and exciting . There's also ways that we can change it around and make it a little bit more unique , different , and it also will help us become better runners in the long run .

Speaker 1 2:43

We're going to kind of talk about why we first get stuck in these running ruts . Like I mentioned before , many runners and myself I am the queen of this is I get in my routine ruts and it's really just being stuck in my comfort zone and my little safety blanket of my route . I know exactly where the bathrooms are . I know what time every coffee shop opens . I know what time every gas station opens . I know where they are , I know what entrance is best . That is just you know . It's essential runner knowledge and so many of us plan our routes around where the bathrooms because it's just you never know or stops for water , gatorade , snacks , things like that . So it's you know , we know what is happening .

Speaker 1 3:30

I also plan mine around knowing what streets are well lit in the early mornings or night , even though my mom hates that I run early in the morning when it's dark , even though I'm well lit . She absolutely hates it . So I know what roads have good overhead lighting and I know which ones are like running in a cave . And one other thing that makes it comfortable is you know which ones are busy , which ones people are more likely to stop . Crossing patterns traffic it just becomes , especially if you're running at the same time and the same route . You know how many cars you're going to see at each time . So it's really helpful . And also for me , I know which houses have dogs . I know which dogs they are , which ones are my favorites , so that definitely doesn't hurt .

Speaker 1 4:13

Planning my run and you also the biggest thing is knowing how long a loop takes , especially if you're doing most of your runs at an easy or consistent pace , which most of you know . 80% of training is typically at that easy pace . So you know that that loop takes you exactly 45 minutes , which is the perfect amount of time that you can fit right into a morning workout , Right into before you have to get the kids up , or you got to get the dogs to camp , or you got to get to work , or you have to do this . And so we pick these routes because we know how long they take and we know that we can fit it in . But the problem is they become a security blanket and we never change from them , which means , yes , we are growing as runners , because we may do speed workout or we're running at different days and different weather , but by not switching up the route , you're not varying your terrain and varying the area that you're running in . So there's some ways that we can kind of flip these things around , so it's more like you're hitting shuffle on your playlist versus running through it .

Speaker 1 5:23

Let's start with these simple root refreshers , the super easy item and the easiest tip that you will see everywhere , which is just change the direction of your route . So if you always turn left at a certain location , so you start your house and you get out of your house and you always turn left , this time go the opposite direction of your starting route this basically kind of does a lot of psychology to your brain , so different landmarks might hit you at different times . So what you're used to seeing at mile one is now maybe what you were seeing at mile four , and so that can just really hit you in a different direction . I know for me , anytime I do this , without a doubt , if I'm heading in the direction where I would normally be finishing my run and it's a start of my run my body naturally feels like it's more fatigued . I can't explain it . I only can think that my brain says well , this is typically when you're done with your run . This is typically when you're tired . You are now tired , even if it's only a mile in . So that is just something that , psychologically , you'll see your brain doing , and it forces you to run on tired legs without actually running on tired legs .

Speaker 1 6:35

You also be running up a hill that typically maybe is a downhill and vice versa , and so that'll help you train a different way . You'll maybe get the hill sooner . So my run always starts straight up a hill . So if I were to go in the other direction , I may go down the hill first and then go up the hill at the end . So it allows you kind of to switch your route around based on what is available . And then always there's different dogs at different times . So if you run in the other direction , maybe you will see a different dog and who doesn't want that .

Speaker 1 7:03

Another way that you can simply refresh the route , even if you want to go in the same direction . You're hell-bent on going that way . That's me . I can't . I can admit it . Maybe you just go on the other side of the road .

Speaker 1 7:15

So I run a lot of times in Kansas City on Ward Parkway and I always go on . One certain side of the road is what I'm used to , what I'm comfortable . But a simple way would be to run the same direction just on the other side of the road , and this is exceptionally helpful for me in regards to this route . So one of my favorite races of all time is Rock the Parkway in Kansas City and this route goes upward parkway around Loose Park and then back down . And if I do all of my training but I am always only going one direction on Ward Parkway , I'm never training going the other way . I'm never training that side of the road , which means the downhills turn into uphills and in order to be better prepared for race day I need to run on both sides . So if I do some of my training by just going to the other side of the , it's that simple . It's that simple of changing it up and you'll see different houses , different signs , different everything . There's so much more to look at that'll help your brain have a little bit of fun while you're doing the runs .

Speaker 1 8:17

Another couple fun games that you can do that are really easy refreshers is kind of right left at every intersection , so this works really well to if you want to stay in your comfort zone . You know that you have two parallel roads . You kind of turn left and you can almost like zipper motion around a neighborhood . It's a really easy way to kind of switch it up . If you're really , really adventurous , you can just turn left and right at every other intersection and slowly make your way the way you want . Another thing you could do is you can create new loops within familiar areas . So maybe basically picking a couple different roads and running down them that are parallel , or using Garmin is fantastic at this .

Speaker 1 9:00

It's one of my favorite tools is you can , if you're like me and you want to try a new route , you don't want to get lost and then suddenly you're out of time and you're stressed . So one thing on Garmin you can do is look at your normal route and you can go into Route Builder in the app and build yourself a route that syncs to your watch and then your watch will buzz at you , turn left , turn right , and if you get off course it lets you know . So that way you can try new routes without being stressed out that you're going to get lost and then run out of time , and then that's not what we need at this time of year . We only got so much , and another kind of weird game but fun game you could always do is kind of follow another runner , see where they go for a little bit , and if they're going down a road that you haven't tried before , see how that works . So some other variations that we can do on that are not just directional . So these are other ways that , again , if you're hellbent on , you know that this route is five miles .

Speaker 1 9:54

It's the perfect amount of time you can change your runs based on time . So for me , I am a morning runner through and through . I always have been . Well , I wasn't when I was in grad school . A lot of times I would do after work runs , or I wasn't when I was in grad school . A lot of times I would do after work runs , or . But my preference is has always been morning . So even if you shift , especially if it's the holidays , if you shift your run from 6 am to 9 am , you're going to get different sun . You're going to get different temperature , different wind speeds , which all help your train ready . You also might see more or less dogs , more or less people which is always fun more exciting , different traffic patterns . So you may need to work your brain to pay attention a little bit more . Maybe there's more rush hour and there also could be more neighborhood activities If it's during the summertime , there could be block parties to watch at . It could be just different things to see . Maybe you're running to and from a farmer's market we have so many of them here and you could always . If it's a different time of the day , maybe you actually can run to the farmer's market or do your lap and , at the farmer's market , get something , and you know head home Just a variety of different ways to switch it up , just by changing the time of day in which you're doing that run . And all of these can benefit you , make you a better runner by running at different

Enhancing Your Running Experience

Speaker 1 11:09

temperatures .

Speaker 1 11:09

If you are a really seasoned runner and you're training for and a marathon , especially if you're training for one of the world majors , one of the elite ones , if you're , you know you're a fast runner or you are doing the lottery or whatever , however you got into . So suppose you are running in New York City or Chicago . The way those waves work is sometimes you're not starting your wave until 10 , 11 in the morning , which , if you do all of your runs before work or early in the morning , your body is never going to be used to running at that time . So this really helps to train your stomach to run at those specific times and it really helps you become better . And it also just makes your brain have to think a little bit differently and forces you to work a little bit harder . And also you may be running a little bit more fatigued If you're running . You'd always run in the morning . Maybe you're running after work . This time You're now running on a body that's eating more meals , so your stomach is a little bit different . Your legs may be tired from either being on your feet or being at work . You may have more things going on in your brain . You may be processing a stressful work day , work week there's a variety of things . So these all help you build up that mental strength , without you even realizing it , by just simply changing the time of day that you're going for a run .

Speaker 1 12:26

Here's something that kind of blew my mind Running your usual route backwards isn't about going in the other direction . Suddenly , the hill that you always finish on becomes a starter . It just hits different If you are expecting to end your run going downhill and you're ending it going on an uphill . It really changes the way you think about it and plus , you have the chance to notice more things about houses or streets that you did before . Maybe you actually are reading the street sign names and finding funny street names . It's just really fun to do .

Speaker 1 13:02

Let's kind of expand on some seasonal engagement ideas to kind of especially , you know , we're on the holidays , we're getting lights out on houses , there's a lot going on , plus it's dark and cold , for at least for most people , especially where I live . It's starting to get cold violently . So how can we kind of throw some more engagement into our runs , assuming maybe we're not changing the route or maybe we are Some holiday-specific ones ? We can do is you can rate light displays . We have a lot of houses or streets here that do light competitions and you can kind of rate the houses on a scale of one to ten . Suppose you choose one house or one road and pick your favorite .

Speaker 1 13:40

One thing that I'm going to implement myself is the counting inflatables . I think this is a really fun way to kind of it's a fun take on dogs per mile , because I have been seeing that stat dropping , because most people don't have their dogs out that early and it's really , really sad . By counting the number of inflatables I can either turn that into inflatables per mile , not as fun . But the way I see that I can , that you could use it , is counting the number of inflatables and say you saw 25 . If you run the same route , you're probably going to see the same 25 , maybe one more . But it encourages me to run a different route to be like , okay , fuck , I'm going to beat that run and see if I can see 30 inflatables , or maybe I run longer . Maybe I was originally going to only run this part of this loop and I wasn't going to add on this extra street where I go by a big neighborhood , so maybe you run longer than you expected , which tricks you into getting more miles on your feet .

Speaker 1 14:37

And then another thing that I am going to do is creating kind of like a holiday decorating bingo , maybe a bingo card that has okay , I saw an elf themed decoration , I saw something on someone's roof and a house that is lit up like Christmas vacation . I saw . I mean , we have a lot of really fun , unique ones here . So kind of making a little bingo card that helps you , keeps your mind occupied but also brings a little bit more fun into it , and then some other weird things that you can do that are more year round is creating backstories for houses . This is something that I absolutely would do . If I have friends around or if I'm , you know , running with a group , we would see a house and kind of maybe create a backstory on why it's painted that color or why is it this way , and that's always a really fun thing . You can start to try to guess the names or name the dogs that you see in the neighborhood and then just tracking neighborhood changes who's doing what their house is ? I know this is definitely something my mom does when she takes her walks around her neighborhood is which house is doing what renovation ? Who's building a garage ? Who's painting this ? Who's doing that ? Just turning your regular route and kind of like a real-time hgtv show you can kind of say because I know we have so many houses here that are being flipped , we just had one on the couple streets up that paint . It was painted once when one person bought it and then they sold it and it got painted again , and so just it's wild to see , and just I always also love seeing the different streets that are competing in holiday decorations . You can see what houses you think maybe are competing and see if they start putting up more decorations . It's always a little bit . A little bit fun .

Speaker 1 16:19

Let's also go with uh , you're running social , you're running with a group of people , you either run with a friend or you run with a run club . Let's go into like social aspects or social elements to switching up your run . If you're on a run club or you run with other people , how can we expand our routes , which sometimes maybe we don't have control over them ? One thing that I definitely enjoy doing is changing who's leading the routes , showing other people the route that they like to run . I like to do Ward Parkway , for example , but I always go down the trolley trail with my runners . Maybe we swap that up or we go down one street over just to see more things , and also it lets another person . You get to be able to see a running route from another person's perspective , another person's eyes , and you might discover a new way . I know it has shown me different routes that I have in my area . Kiera , my old running buddy , showed me going down a certain street and that really helped give me more options in case I just get stuck in a rut , and also we can find more dogs . Who doesn't love that ?

Speaker 1 17:20

Another thing that's kind of fun for to make a running route more social is using social media and posting different photos . Maybe you are posting your weekly progress shots . I love doing that . I've been doing that since I started running . I was known on my small little Instagram for my little Nike run shots of just my shoes back in the 2012s . It's always fun to post those . I think that's always fun . You can post seasonal comparison photos if you always run by the same park or anything like that how the trees will change over seasons here's trees in November and they're starting to fall or they have fallen , and then if snow's on the ground and just kind of how it changes throughout the season . That's really kind of enjoyable and kind of fun . What spots are most fun for running that you're going to see dogs ? I truly don't believe that if you go for a run by a dog park , it's cheating for dogs per mile . You can do that if you want . That's perfectly legal in the rule book from all the Bridges and yeah , I think taking photos of your run that you can show or you can remember is also just a really fun way to break up a run and give you a couple minutes to maybe breathe or relax . So that's always great . Remember , the roots may stay the same , but there's always something new to see if you're looking for it .

Speaker 1 18:41

Sometimes the most familiar paths give us the best stories . I love making up fun stories when I've run with my husband about what's going on with the dogs that I see , and I'd love to know what things you do to spice up your normal runs . Do you switch around your route ? Are you brave and you just get in the car and go to a different location ? How are you changing up your runs to not pull your hair out or not go crazy ? Seeing everything the same , I would love to know how you change them . I'd love to see your neighborhood's best holiday decorations and I want to know what the strangest things you saw on your run . Thank you so much for enjoying this little episode with me talking about how we can spice up our run by just changing the direction , just changing the side of the road , ping-ponging between different streets and even just running at a different time Some super simple things and also making some fun games out of while you're running . I hope , wherever you are , you have a fantastic run on your next one and until next time , keep running . Thanks for sharing another mile with me today .

Speaker 1 20:06

Before you cool down , here are three quick ways to stay connected with our running community . First hit subscribe . Wherever you're listening to this right now , it's the best way to make sure you never miss an episode . Second , if today's show helped you or inspired you , please leave a review . Your words help other runners find their way to our community . Lastly , want more running adventures ? Follow at Dogs Per Mile Pod on Instagram , where I share daily motivation , behind the scenes moments and plenty of pictures of my two running coaches , yogi and Maple . Be sure to tag me in your run photos and use hashtag Dogs Per Mile to share your own dog spotting stats . I love celebrating your victories , big and small , and thank you for being a part of this journey . Until our next run together , remember every step forward is progress and every dog you see is bonus motivation . Keep running , keep smiling and keep counting those dogs .