Curious Conversations: A Podcast for Kids by Kids
Emma and Xavier are 14 year old twins who wanted to create a podcast for kids, by kids. On Curious Conversations, Emma and Xavier are excited to have conversations with adults and kids from all walks of life to learn about their passions and what inspires them. Ever wondered what drives an artist's creativity or fuels an entrepreneur's ambition? Well, wonder no more! We'll be chatting with the best of the best, from entrepreneurs to educators, athletes to artists, and beyond. What qualifies them to host a podcast? Well, first, Emma and Xavier love to ask questions! They also have over a decade of experience being kids and having a point of view on many topics. Emma and Xavier hope you will join them on their journey because when you're curious, every conversation is an adventure!
Curious Conversations: A Podcast for Kids by Kids
From a Broken Leg to Olympic Dreams: A Marathon Journey of Grit, Resilience and the Love of Running
Today, we have an insanely cool guest Krista DuChene, aka Canada’s Marathon Mom! She’s a Canadian Olympian, a nutritionist, and one of the toughest runners out there.
And when we say tough, we mean it. She once finished a race with a broken leg. Yeah, you read that right! We had to hear the full story—what happened, why she kept running, and how she bounced back to crush even bigger goals (like making it to the Olympics!).
We also got into what it takes to train for a marathon, the best pre-race snacks (spoiler: bagels are involved 🥯), and why fueling your body the right way is so important. Plus, Krista tells us how she went from playing university hockey to becoming one of Canada’s best long-distance runners.
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to push through pain, keep going when things get tough, or just want to know what marathon runners actually eat mid-race, this episode is for you!
Enjoy another curious conversation for teens by teens!
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Enjoy another curious conversation for teens by teens!
When you're doing these long training runs, where you're doing marathon pace, you have to get used to working through those patches where you don't feel good and then you feel better after. So when you get into that difficult part of the race, I would always think, okay, I did this in my training, I got through it, and then you get through it each time. But when that happens early in the race, that can be the most difficult part, because then it gets in your head and then you can start to kind of doubt yourself and so much of the marathon is like. You have to have mental strength to keep going when you're not feeling good.
Xavier:Hi, welcome to Curious Conversations, a podcast for kids, by kids. I'm one of your hosts, xavier.
Emma:And I'm your other host, emma, and we're so excited to bring you another season of interesting discussions with people from all walks of life, to learn about their passions and what inspires them.
Xavier:We are still as curious as ever and we hope you will join us on our journey.
Emma:Today we have an insanely cool guest, krista Duchesne, also known as Canada's Marathon Mom. She's a Canadian Olympian, a nutritionist and one of the toughest runners out there, and when we say tough, we mean it. I play hockey with Krista's daughter Leah and heard about how her mom finished a race with a broken leg, so we had to hear the full story. We also talked about what it takes to train for a marathon, the best pre-race snacks spoiler bagels are involved and why fueling your body the right way is so important. Now that she's retired, one of her jobs is a commentator for CBC Sports. She even covered the marathon at the last Olympics, giving expert insights into what goes on behind the scenes of the world's biggest race. We asked her what it's like to go from running marathons to calling the action and breaking down strategies for millions of viewers.
Emma:If you've ever wondered what it takes to push through the pain, keep going when things get tough, or just want to know what marathon runners actually mid-race, this episode is for you. Hi, how are you? I'm good, how are you Good? Just so our listeners know how we know you. I play hockey with your daughter Leah on the Cambridge U15 AA team and I think you learned a new skill this year because you've been helping out with our timekeeping yes, you're right, that's a new um added stress level of my life.
Krista:But I, I I'm okay as long as there's not multiple penalties that are over two minutes oh yeah, you know what?
Emma:I see you struggling.
Krista:Sometimes I'm like sitting right next to the box yeah, and as long as you're writing down, then I know when to let people out of the box.
Emma:So it's always a pretty busy box without the music natural timekeeper, it's a lot.
Krista:It's fun, though I like being at that level I can see like the expression on the faces and stuff that no one else can see, oh yeah.
Emma:Front row Girls get mad.
Xavier:Front row.
Emma:Girls getting out of the box. Oh my God.
Krista:Yes, we get some attitude from the other team sometimes, but we can deal with it.
Xavier:Oh yeah, you got it Front row seat to all the action.
Krista:Yeah, that's right.
Xavier:So you are a marathon runner and have raced all over the world and you've had the chance to race for Canada in the Olympics and we do want to talk about all of that. But I've been wanting to ask you one question about the time that you ran and finished a race on a broken leg.
Krista:Yes, so that was in 2014 and I was doing a half marathon and I was actually defending my title as Canadian champion because I had won the year before, and that week I had this pain in my leg. I didn't know what it was and saw my physiotherapist and you know, ultimately the decision was up to me whether or not I run. So it felt okay until, like you know, kilometer 15, 16 out of 21 kilometers in the race, which the legs started to feel a bit off. But I was in first place, kept my lead and then, like near to the end of the race, like the last one or two kilometers, it was really hurting. So I got passed by two women, still ended up third, but I had to hop on my good leg to finish the race. So then the race director like scooped me up in his arms, took me to the medical tent and then, I don't know, fast forward, like eight or 10 hours later, I had to have emergency surgery to get a screw put in my leg to replace or to help repair a fracture. So, basically, I started out the race with an undiagnosed stress fracture, which is a tiny little break, and then, throughout the race, it just got bigger and bigger and it was almost completely through. So I had to stay in Montreal and have the surgery and then I wasn't able to go home for a couple of days because the extent of the surgery and that kind of thing.
Krista:So yeah, that's what happened and it was because of something called relative energy deficiency in sport. So basically I was under fueling for the training that I was putting my body through. So it's it's something that we've learned a lot about in the last 10 years and you know, basically I wasn't feeling enough for what I was doing with the training and racing, and when you do that, that can affect your reproductive health, your energy, your immunity and your bone health, and that's what happened to me. So pretty, pretty terrible. The video is actually on YouTube. You can see me finish the race and it's to the music of Eye of the Tiger. So every time I hear that song I I kind of cringe. But yeah, that's what happened and, uh, I I highly uh recommend that people don't do that. But you know, we learned that's insane, wow, that's yeah.
Emma:Well, you know, at least you have a fun story to tell.
Krista:And you know that's true. Like I remember when I was in the hospital and you know, at that point I was, you know, still hoping to make it to the Olympics and, um, I was talking to some of the surgeons and they're like, oh yeah, my friend, he cycles. He had the same thing happened to me, to him, in a bike crash, and he recovered. And so I remember, after the surgery, the next day I was like, okay, I'm still going to get the standard in two years, I'll give myself two years. And then two days after the surgery, I'm like I'm doing this in one year and it was 11 and a half months after that I got my Olympic standard after that break.
Krista:So recovery went well, everything just was healing, you know perfectly, and I still had that motivation to go back and finish what I wanted to do. But I never had that complete confidence because I wasn't sure if I would feel the screw in my leg because and I still have it it's pretty big and and I never feel it. So I've run, like I don't know, 10 marathons or more since then. So, yeah, it's. It is a pretty interesting story. So when I was in the hospital, I remember thinking I will be telling this as a story someday and, and yeah, laughing thinking I will be telling this as a story someday and, and, yeah, laughing, well that's.
Emma:That's kind of interesting. But the that's pretty common in other sports.
Krista:I mean, obviously nutrition's been a big, a big thing in the next, in the last like 10 years, but that just that's crazy you see it in a lot of sports that are kind of dependent on look and weight, so things like figure skating, where they want them to look a certain way, and endurance sports like marathon and cycling, as well as sports where you have frequent weigh-ins, because you know wrestlers who have to hit a certain weight category to compete.
Krista:You know it can kind of get in your head about your weight and what you should look like and that kind of thing. So in my case I think it was like leaner is better and I'm a marathon runner. But again, we've learned a lot since then and you know, even though I was running fast times, I still had injuries after that because of that, that time period where I was under fueling. And it was also complicated because at the time Leah was like, uh, only like a year or two old, so I had been pregnant or breastfeeding for so many years, so it was kind of difficult to know what my body was doing.
Emma:You know what? I think that like going through things like that it's important in life because, like now aren't you're a nutritionist, right? So now it's kind of your job to like teach other people about how to properly feel their body.
Krista:Exactly.
Emma:So let's talk about running and just training in general. So you played university hockey before getting into running, but how did you transition from hockey which that was a high level hockey to long distance running?
Krista:So when I was young, in elementary school I did every sport. And then in high school running and hockey were kind of like my favorite sports that I specialized in and started to kind of narrow my focus. And then at the end of high school I kind of had to pick between hockey and running. And at that time I picked hockey, played at the University of Guelph and loved it. So running kind of was like on the back burner. I still kept running, but not training and competing like I did when I went to office a few times and that kind of thing. So they called me the track star when we did dry land for hockey, because I was this person no one knew and they're just like who's this runner? Like playing on the hockey team. And then, you know, obviously hockey turned out to be, you know, pretty successful.
Krista:But I, just when I retired from hockey, I just got back into running because I kind of felt like, you know, there's there's more to it and I think that I still have stuff that I can do. And so I remember like back in the day before we had watches that could tell us our pace and our distance. I went out and I ran. I think it was about 18k, so like we would drive where we ran to know how far it was. And so I was like, okay, 18k, a marathon's 42. Like, hey, why not? So I just did my first marathon for fun, kind of like, hey, let's try a marathon. And then, you know, when I was doing my first one, like many people running a marathon, I was like why am I doing this? This is so hard. And then as soon as I crossed the line, I was like, oh, I want to do that all over again.
Xavier:So I just kept doing marathon after marathon and just kind of getting faster each time and falling in love with it like more and more each time I did it.
Krista:So that first marathon, when did you stop playing hockey and then went into running? What year was that? Remember I did my internship to be a dietitian in there and that's kind of when I got back into running, like kind of higher mileage compared to what I was doing when I played hockey.
Xavier:So when you are about to do a race? Do you have like a routine or any superstitions that you did before the race to like get yourself ready?
Krista:Like not superstitions, but I think for the 20 something years that I did all of my marathons, I always had a bagel with honey for breakfast and coffee. So I don't think that ever changed. Like maybe it was toast a few times, but that was like my go-to, because when I'm traveling, like especially overseas and other countries, and you're not sure if you can get the food that you're used to, I would just pack that bagel in my carry on and make sure that I had it with like little packets of honey. The only thing is, in a hotel, like, you don't have a toaster, so you're basically eating like this dry bagel. So it was much nicer when I was in hotels where breakfast was provided and there's toasters and everything else. But yeah, not really any superstitious kind of rituals or routines, just that. That's the thing that I know I did like time after time so every game you'd have a bagel.
Emma:But like what would you do? I'd say, like maybe a day before to start fueling for your race, and did you eat during your marathons, or no?
Krista:yeah, yeah so, basically, like a couple days before I start carb loading, so, um, I'm cutting back on like some of the protein and fiber and then increasing, like rice bread, pasta. You want to like top up your glycogen stores so that, um, when you're running, you can, you know, dig deep in terms of using the energy and the form of carbohydrates, but you still have to take in carbohydrates when you're running because you just can't have enough for, like that, that endurance event. So, when you're running, you take in carbohydrates in the form of like gels and you can take it in your drinks. So what I often did was, like, for professionals, we have tables where we can put in your drinks. So what I often did was, like for professionals, we have tables where we can put our own drinks and so we make up our own kind of concoction of what we're used to training with that settles well in our stomach and does well for our performance.
Krista:So my bottles are always on these tables and labeled, and I would have a gel on the bottle. So I would grab it, put the gel on my bra top, take the drink and get hydrated and some carbohydrates, and then wait a little bit and take the gel. And so I would. I would do that every five kilometers. So there's eight aid stations for a 42 kilometer event. Right up until 40 kilometers is your last station, where you grab your bottle, get your gel and and finish the race.
Emma:Is gel like exactly what it sounds like Just like gel.
Krista:Yeah, yeah, pretty much Like. It's like, um, it's like not as thick as toothpaste maybe, but kind of like that texture. So you really have to practice it because it's not like enjoyable. It's not like, oh, I'm having a burger at the first aid station, it's going to taste so good. It's like like, oh, I'm having a burger at the first aid station, it's going to taste so good. It's like you need to learn to swallow it when you're running fast, open the package and then you want to make sure that you don't like drop it and that you know it digests well with your stomach. But, yeah, it's. It's kind of like honey or maple syrup, kind of consistency and, um, yeah, it's just kind of a necessary part of the sport.
Emma:So what's the hardest part of a race?
Krista:So you can have times where, like you're tired, you get cramping in your legs or your stomach or you're just it just seems like it's so long You'll go through patches, like it's a two and a half hour event. Well, for me anyways, and it's not always going to feel great, it's actually going to feel more, not great. And it's not always going to feel great, it's actually going to feel more, not great, than it feels good. So that makes sense. So you have to learn to go through those patches where you're like, oh my goodness, this is really feeling hard and you have to get through that.
Krista:So the good thing is, when you're doing all of your training, you practice that, because when you're doing these long training runs where you're doing marathon pace, you have to get used to working through those patches where you don't feel good, and then you feel better after. So when you get into that difficult part of the race, I would always think, okay, I did this in my training, I got through it, and then you get through it each time. But when that happens early in the race, that's that can be the most difficult part, because then it gets in your head and then you can start to kind of doubt yourself and so much of the marathon is like you have to have mental strength to keep going when you're not feeling good, because for the most part we say you want to be comfortably uncomfortable, so that's a long time to to be running when you know it's not just you're out for a jog, that's fine.
Xavier:It's not just you're out for a jog, that's fun. So you talked about the patches of the struggles of the race, and those parts are hard. Are there certain parts of the race that you found like slightly easier or like enjoyable, I guess?
Krista:Well, I mean, you're having fun and you're enjoying it like you've worked to do that, but the actual race itself can be just so difficult. Um, but, like I said, you know as soon as you finish it, you want to do it all over again. So the key is you can't have any regrets, because if you don't push and perform to the level you know you're capable of, and then you cross the line, you start to regret and I mean you can't just do it all over again the next day. Right, you have to wait like another six months to do a marathon, but I will say my last marathon before I retired, which was in Tokyo in 2023, when I got my sixth star, that was like the best race I have ever executed. It's the first time I ran like even split between the two so often, at least for me. My second half is usually a little bit slower, so that's the first time that I had the even pacing and I think I was motivated by the fact that I knew that I was going to like retire after that and, um, my training went well.
Krista:It was Leah's birthday, and so I had written on my hands, like her, her birthday. She was, I think, turning 12. So I remember I was like, okay, when it starts to get difficult, the gloves are going to come off and I'm going to see Leah 12 on my hand, and that I never had to take the glove off. I just kept waiting and waiting. I'm like, no, keep it on until it feels really bad. And I ended up, I think, finishing with one glove on my hand and one glove off. So I think that's where I had fun and I wouldn say it was easy, but it was the best experience of all of the marathons I had done.
Emma:You talked about Tokyo. You've obviously been all around the world for a marathon running. What has been the favorite city you visited to be on a marathon?
Krista:Tokyo is at the top. I had been there once before for another race. It's just I love Japan, just the people and the organization and the like, the professionalism of it. But you know, I've I've been to New York, boston, chicago, a bunch of American cities and that's fun. But I've also loved being in in like the different European races, so Berlin and Rotterdam and London, and and then even for training I went to Kenya and even though it wasn't a big city, I got to like live in Africa for a month. So that was an amazing experience. And, um, yeah, I've kind of been all over the world and saw a lot of different places and I've been to every continent except for Antarctica and Australia. So maybe I'll get there someday.
Emma:I don't know about Antarctica or Antarctica, antarctica would be a tough place to run a race.
Krista:Yes, they have races there. Believe it or not, they have races there. Yeah, I mean, you're going slow and you're all like bundled up and stuff, but there's, you know, I, there's the six world majors that I did. They actually have another major now which is in Australia, but just you know, I've got one kid in university and other two will be going. It's kind of hard to justify spending that amount of money now that I'm retired to just do it for fun. But we'll see.
Xavier:So obviously you have to do a lot of running while you're training and just doing the marathons. So how long do running shoes last before you need to replace them?
Krista:So for like a typical running shoe, it's about 500 to 600 kilometers like a training shoe that you would just go out and just do like an easy paced run. But then we now have these shoes called like super shoes, which came out in about 2017 ish and you can't get nearly the mileage you can. They have like the carbon fiber plate and the foam and that's about like half the mileage. So they're a really expensive shoe. I've been sponsored by Saucony, so you know it's. It's been an advantage for me to be able to try out these different shoes. But that would be maybe 200 to 300. And it really depends to on kind of the type of runner you are, if you're having shoes and the surface that you're running on. Uh, but I've I've been through a lot of shoes over the years.
Emma:For marathons. Do you like train with the same shoe or do you, uh, not obviously in a brand new shoe, but how new are your shoes when you run your marathon?
Krista:Yeah, when I run they're pretty new, so I might only go do like a quick 5k and maybe like a workout like with like an hour of running before I race in the shoe. Like you just want to make sure that you're not like breaking them in right out of the box, but you do want them to feel fresh and foamy and there's even like a mental, like psychological benefit to like new shoes are going to be fast and they're still shiny and clean. So, yeah, they're pretty new when I when I race did you have a favorite type of shoe?
Krista:So I've been sponsored by Saucony for like I don't know 16 years or so and I've been able to try every shoe that they've had and I've never been picky. And actually it's kind of bad because I often don't even know the shoe I'm wearing. So I'll be out with other people and they're like oh Krista, what shoe is that? And I have a friend, mitch, who will always be able to answer for me. He's like I don't know. And I looked at he's like, oh, it's the Canvara, whatever, or it's the Triumph, whatever. So I've just always been pretty flexible in terms of trying and enjoying a bunch of different shoes without any certain preference.
Emma:So you're talking about how in Tokyo you had your first, like you were even split. So what is considered a good marathon time and what do you consider a good marathon time like personally?
Krista:It's kind of hard to answer because it depends Like if you're a new runner and you haven't really been active most of your life, like just to finish a marathon is is an incredible accomplishment. But like, if you look at a lot of people would use, like, the Boston qualifying times. So for age 18 to 34, for a man you'd have to run three hours and for a woman you'd have to run 330. But then if you look at, like the qualifying times, when I went to the Olympics in 2016, a man had to run 212. And we had to run 229. So, yeah, I think it kind of depends on who you ask, like the average person would have no idea what a fast time would be. And like if you look like the average person would have no idea, um, what a fast time would be. And like if you look at the world records, like I'm nowhere near them but, um, it's. I think you know. Some people might even say four hours is a great finishing time. Um, for a marathon, what's your personal best?
Krista:228, 32 nice yeah, and that was before super shoes. So, like in the last you know 10 years, marathon times all across the board, all over the world have significantly gotten faster with the technology of the super shoes, because you, you are about I don't know, maybe two to six minutes faster. So back in my peak, when we didn't have the super shoe, my, my, you can't really compare that time to the times. Today we are always advancing, like technology with sport and that kind of thing.
Emma:Technology is always advancing. Every sport, right yeah.
Xavier:So, going back to the Olympics, what was it like to compete at the Olympics for Team Canada?
Krista:Probably one of the most exciting things was getting the Olympic standard and qualifying. Like that's where, like, like the relief is is kind of gone. The weight's off your back when you've checked that box. You're named the team and you know you're going, and then you start to get all the like like this outfit here, right, you get to your stuff shipped to the house and you're opening it up and everything says team Canada, but you still have to keep training and like, um, you know kind of stay calm and get ready to have this like big performance of your life.
Krista:So, uh, for me I had two great things happen. One, my experience was good in that, um, I stayed in Olympic village with all of the other athletes. I slept well, the food was good, travel, all those things. So, like going into the race, I was well prepared with my training. And also, just like my experience was good in the village. Some people go, they don't sleep well and you know by the time they compete they just aren't feeling good at all. And then the other thing was my race went well. So some people have a great experience, like with their living and everything, and then come time for their competition it doesn't go so well. So for me it went well. I prepared in the heat and humidity and, um, it was hot there and so I started in about like I don't know, like maybe 70th place and just worked my way up further into the group and went finished like 35th. So that's a great feeling when you're passing people and you're not getting passed by other people.
Emma:35th insane, how do you remember how many people? When you're right people and you're not getting passed by other people, 35th is insane. Do you remember how many people were in your race?
Krista:Yeah, there was about 140 people, yeah. And I remember, like you know, leo was there and she was like five years old, and then her two brothers, who were like eight and 10. And when I came down like the final stretch where all the people were, because, like in a marathon, because it's 42 kilometers, like you pretty much have to stay in one spot, unless it's a loop course, in order to see like people finish and that kind of thing, so they were in this, the, the big um stadium or the big um uh area at the end. And I remember, like I came down and I kind of puffed my fist because I was like I'm an Olympian. I did it like you only have like 100 meters to go, and like the crowd went wild and they were cheering. And then I was like, oh, that's for me. And then I kind of pumped my fist on the other side, just like celebrating, and that side went crazy and they're cheering. So I was neat, so I'm like they're cheering for me.
Krista:And then when I crossed the line, I looked over and my family were wearing all these red T-shirts and I just saw this big wave of red and I got to run over to them and hug them. And you know we're crying and we're celebrating in the Canadian flag and you know it just all came together perfectly and the photographers even got a picture of that moment where we're celebrating. Because in a lot of events, like you know, at the super bowl and all these big professional events, like you, there's nowhere no way that you can get to like your family and friends like seconds after you've competed, because you know you just have to keep security so high. But in rio it just was a bit more relaxed. I think it's been tighter security since. But, um, you know, to capture that moment was pretty incredible.
Emma:That's. That is incredible. Wow. How far was the race into that? I think it's two weeks. Were you near the end? Did you get to kind of stay?
Krista:and watch other Olympic races, or was it at the beginning? Oh yeah, so every it depends on the event that you're doing. Swimming starts early, so a lot of those athletes are there early. I know the summer sports more than the winter Olympic ones, but for us, like, we couldn't even get into the Olympic village until after the opening ceremony. So I watched the opening ceremony from home and people were texting me like, oh, are you there? I'm like no, I'm still at home. Then you can pretty much stay as long as you want after until the Olympic games are over, and then you have like a day or two that you have to, you know, head home.
Krista:So I spent some time with you know, with um, with my family, and then came back and watched a whole bunch of different events. You can just get different tickets to different events and, um, we watched like table tennis and I watched a lot of the track events, the race walking. You're seeing Usain Bolt, simone Biles All these people are in the dining room where you are. Everyone's just walking around. Yeah, it was pretty cool. Do you have a favorite event that you watched at the time?
Krista:Depending on where the Olympics are held, some events are like completely in other cities that like would take like hours to drive to. You know I would be game to see anything, but I just kind of had to see what fit my schedule. And I think you know the track events, you know, appealed to me because those were like my teammates that I could cheer for, and my roommate, natasha Wodak, who's actually the Canadian Marathon record holder. It was cool to cheer her on. Well, I cheered from the room because my event was right after hers. It's pretty neat to see them. And then we had Melissa Bishop, who was competing in the 800 and got fourth place, almost got a medal, and you know, you're we're with some of your own teammates which are, you know, some of the best athletes in the world, which is pretty neat some of your own teammates, which are, you know, some of the best athletes in the world, which is pretty neat.
Emma:So the past summer you did, uh, was it this summer?
Krista:the olympics.
Emma:Uh, yes, yes, in paris, yeah, so this past summer, um what was your favorite event to watch on tv?
Krista:still track yeah, like just because I know so much about it. But I I still love to watch, like gymnastics and swimming, and I mean I'll watch anything like that's the time of year where, like the TV is constantly on, but like I definitely have to pay most attention to the marathon just because I do the broadcast for CBC. So but you know, whatever's on, I will watch and love it.
Xavier:So, going back to watching the olympics, you are a commentator for the cbc, like you said, for the marathon runners, and it said that you aren't actually there. So what is it like to commentate a race while you're not actually there watching in person?
Krista:yeah, surprisingly a lot of events are done in that way. So the first time I did the Olympics was during the pandemic and that was like really unique, but I didn't know anything else. I'd done broadcasting for like the Toronto Marathon in Ottawa and a few others, which is, you know, definitely not as high level as the Olympics. But that year we were in like these booths, right, because we had to have like we couldn't be near people and masks and everything. So my co-broadcast person was like there's plastic between us so we would have to like use sign language and point and that kind of thing.
Krista:But for the most part, like you're watching the screen, watching the event live, and you've got all your notes taped. Now, a lot of it I just know because it's my sport. But like some of the stuff, like I just don't have memorized every you know second and number, so you're looking at those numbers all the time. And then when I did it just this past summer, it was much more relaxed because you know we were sitting together and we could kind of like write notes to each other and we could kind of use sign language and communicate a bit better. But it's a really neat experience doing the broadcasting.
Emma:What do you like most about being a TV commentator and what is the biggest challenge?
Krista:I like that. You know it's still a way for me to stay in the sport and because I'm still running I still kind of understand what it feels like. So you know, when athletes are running I explain stuff to the common viewer that wouldn't necessarily know, like what I explained to you about your bottles and your gels and how every athlete has their own individual like some formula of what they're going to take in and talking about, like what carb loading actually looks like, like how many pieces of bread, the equivalent of that you're eating the day before, and you know people would have no idea how much you have to take in. So I like that and it keeps me in it. And you know we can kind of be nerdy and talk about stuff and know the stories of people.
Krista:But the hardest part is definitely when someone takes the lead in the race and you have no idea who they are. So we have to prepare our notes, we have to have like all their you know bios and everything about them that we can. But, like for over a hundred people, you can't know everything about everyone, where they're from and who they are. So and this happens where the lead camera man on the motorcycle will follow the person in the lead who's broken away from the pack and you look and you're scrambling and we're looking at each other and we're trying to figure out who it is and sometimes we just have to say we don't know. So that that's tough, especially if they're staying in the lead for a long time, like usually they don't keep leading because you know they're kind of a little bit in in too far ahead and they probably aren't capable of keeping that pace and they get caught.
Emma:But it's definitely a challenge when, like, the camera's on that person and we're supposed to be talking about them and we're kind of scrambling on average, like yeah, I guess then Olympic race or center race in general, how many people fluctuate between the leads Like is it like normally four people, like four or five people that break away from the pack or no?
Krista:Yeah, that's a good question. Um, usually there's like a lead pack and a chase pack. So the lead pack you'd probably see like the top 10 or 15 people that you would expect to be in that lead pack. Then you're going to see some kind of people who really should be there. Then the chase pack would be those people who know that they need to kind of like keep their distance from the pack and kind of run their own race.
Krista:So there's definitely a benefit to running with other people when you do a marathon, because, like like I said before, it gets tough, and when you're running with other people, just like a team sport, you don't feel like you're all by yourself.
Krista:So I mean, really, that group often sticks together for quite a while and then you'll start to see it thin out, where some people are kind of taking a lead and the others can't keep up with those surges or other people just fall off the pace and they're they're getting tired for for other reasons. So, um, yeah, it really varies. Like that, the year that I um did boston in 2018, um, you can hear the commentators at the beginning of the race making a comment about yuki, the man from japan who won it and they're like, oh, he's never going to be able to keep this pace, and you know they're kind of going on and on and they had to eat their words in the end because he won the whole thing yeah, he kept his pace, yep so kind of going back to the training part outside of physical training, you talked about how marathons is quite a mental sport.
Emma:What does it take to to be an elite athlete in general?
Krista:well, like for the mental part, I get that question a lot in terms of like, how do I deal with it mentally? And it's a hard one to answer just because everyone thinks differently and they're motivated in different ways. So you really have to practice in your training, like I said, where you have to get through those rough patches and find your way out and you can think of things like other people are feeling just as bad as I am. I don't want to have regrets and you have those things that you get in your head that will help you get through. But you know there's other parts to being an elite athlete.
Krista:Obviously you know you get up, you have to eat well, fuel you can't just go out the door without fueling.
Krista:You have to prepare all of your like drinks and gels that you're going to take during, and then you know what you're going to take in right after.
Krista:You want protein and carbohydrates to replenish right after, and then you know you have to come back and make your meal again, put more fuel in, and then go to like your physio or massage or chiropractor or whatever it is to to look after your body and then even like other preventative maintenance, like you know rolling, stretching, hot tub, that kind of thing, and then regular working out at the gym a couple times a week where you're lifting weights to make sure that you're strong.
Krista:So for me, like I had three kids that I was looking after during that time too, right, so there was never a dull moment. But the other thing too is like sleep is so important so I had to make sure that I could like nap in a day when, like a kid was napping, and get the others to be either in school or let them watch TV and make sure that I'm getting good sleep at night, because that just increases your risk of injury and illness if you're not sleeping right, because that's like your best form of recovery. That's just so easy to do and gives you the best outcome so easy to do and gives you the best outcome.
Xavier:So you have so much stuff to do in just one day. Was there a way that you like, like, did you like write everything down so you had like a schedule to do, or was it like you just were going how things happen, like, how did you keep your, how did you know what to do during those days Because they so busy?
Krista:yeah, I just had to be really organized and write it down. So between my husband and I, like you know, when you're looking to compete at a big event like the world championships or olympics, you're looking like years ahead. So you know. For him it was like okay, is this a big year for you for work, are you going to be at a lot of conferences or traveling a lot for sale?
Krista:So then I would kind of plan my schedule with him so that we would know like who's on kid duty, who's doing this, and you know. So there's like years and months out and then like day to day, like you know, kind of hour by hour, what you're going to do. So as long as I'm planning my workouts so I can get um, then it's going to work. Like. So if, if I had to take Leah to a hockey tournament, I would look weeks in advance and do like my long run on the Thursday before, cause I knew I'm not going to be at a hotel somewhere and try to find like a place to run 35 kilometers. It just wasn't going to work. So I would, you know, look well in advance to to map that out.
Emma:Um, so you talked about earlier about like gels and how different runners have like their own like concoctions. Do you like? What was your go-to kind of mix for your drink?
Krista:yeah, so I was sponsored by a company called elode. Um, I was like the only drink I ever used and it worked, so I never, never changed that. So, um, like, lemon was my favorite flavor. Uh, sometimes I use orange, but I wasn't really picky, so I just kind of stuck with what worked. And then I also used, uh, it's called endurance top and it was the gel, which is basically maple syrup, uh, with with some ginger and sea salt in it. So those were the two that worked for me and I, I, I never changed it because, um, I didn't need to, and and I enjoyed it and it worked well.
Emma:So what advice for so it's like for young athletes like Leah and like me and my brother? What advice do you have for young athletes who want to apply some of these high performance lessons to their own sports, whether that be running or hockey or anything else the listeners do?
Krista:Like it's.
Krista:It all depends on your age and maturity, so it has to come from from the athlete, right. I think that parents that push their kids too much, if the kid isn't responding or isn't taking the lead, then you kind of have to question why they're doing it Right. So I think it really is important when you see you know you're taking the lead, you're asking the questions, you're looking ahead at your schedule, you're packing your snacks, your bag, you're, you know, mapping it out, so that you know when you've got a night off and you know you're, you're tired, you're going to bed early, and it's not like your parents telling you. So that that's like a process, right, because I mean, ultimately, as parents and as athletes who are, you know, at this point in their life and a bit more experience, we have that wisdom and knowledge that we can kind of help you understand and grow into so that when you're an adult you gain that knowledge and can apply it yourself.
Krista:So it's it's just being organized, planning ahead, and it's like that question before with how I planned. You know, you know each day at a time, it's the same with you. Like you know your homework and like I know Leah, she does her homework on the way to practice her games, because it's going to be dark on the way home and she's usually like eating or kind of on her phone, so that when she gets home she can, you know, shower, have a snack and go to bed. You know, if you can handle it now and enjoy it now, that will grow with you as your responsibilities get deeper as you go.
Emma:Yeah, I do a lot of homework in the car too.
Krista:Yeah, you have to yeah.
Xavier:You gotta do it while you can, yeah, yeah, you gotta do it while you can, yeah, busy. So obviously you don't train, obviously like retired, but do you still do like half marathons or do you just still go and run or do any races just near here?
Krista:yeah. So last may I did, uh, 100 kilometer race in Sulphur Springs, like the Dundas Valley. So it's like this 20k loop with hills and that kind of thing and it's not really a super technical course but it's fairly hilly for what I'm used to and it's kind of something I always wanted to do, just do like the longer event. But I didn't train for it, like I trained all those years for the marathon. So I still had to train. I mean, you can't just go out and run a hundred kilometers, but I wasn't like, um, as invested as I was when I was like trying to make, you know, olympic team and and and that kind of thing. So, um, I'm going to do that again this May.
Krista:And the other thing I've been doing is pacing friends and some of the athletes that I coach in some of their workouts.
Krista:So that's a way for me to like stay fit and like I just kind of follow what workout they're doing or my coach gives me a plan to kind of work with with these goals, and I find that motivating because I really don't have any desire to like train for a race for myself. I did that for 20 years, it's. It doesn't motivate me anymore like it used to, but like going out the door and being like, okay, I'm going to pace, like I'm pacing a friend in a 30k in end of March, so I'm like figuring out what I need to do to pace her for her goals and it's still work right, like, even though I ran fast, I still have to do that work to keep, you know, to keep pacing them for the goals that they want. So that's, that's what I'm doing, and then I'm just kind of making it up, year by year, what I want to do. I don't know that I'll keep doing a hundred K, um, but it's, it's fun.
Xavier:You've done it all your life, so you must just want to keep doing it, and it's so cool, yeah, and it's normal.
Krista:Yeah, you're right. Yeah, yep.
Emma:I mean, I go crazy when I have no sports today. So I get where you're coming from.
Krista:Yeah, exactly yeah, it's just normal for you. It's what your day looks like.
Xavier:Yeah, you just have a feeling that if you don't have any sports on, you want to go do something to show that time yeah, and running is always a good option.
Krista:It's easy, just go to dinner. Well, thank you so much, just open her.
Emma:Well, thank you so much.
Xavier:Yeah, okay, yeah thank you, it was so good.
Krista:Thank you so much, bye Okay.
Emma:Thanks guys, Thank you for listening and I know all the shows. You probably listened to say this, but if you enjoyed this episode, please follow and rate the podcast.
Xavier:Also, we would love to connect with you and hear your thoughts about our episodes. You can find us on Instagram or visit our website. The links are in the show notes. Thanks for tuning in. Bye.
