How To Balance Life & Fitness: Training Tips from Elite Athlete Raquel Faires! Ep127

Richard Conner: [00:00:00] Hey, my friend, we all go through things that slow us down and get in the way of life and our fitness journey. And it’s how you respond to those situations. Talk to yourself and deal with negative thoughts is what’s going to help determine your success. And today we have a great interview with a certified fitness expert coach and elite athlete to share insights. That’ll help you on your journey. Hope you enjoy.

Intro/Outro: Welcome to inspire to run podcast. Here you will find inspiration, whether you are looking to control of your health and fitness, or you are a seasoned runner looking for community and some extra motivation, you will hear inspiring stories from amazing runners, along with helpful tips from fitness experts.

Now, here’s your host, Richard Conner.

Richard Conner: Hey, my friend, welcome to inspire to run podcast. I’m here today with Raquel Faires and Raquel is a certified exercise physiologist certified by the American college of sports medicine. [00:01:00] Has a bachelor’s degree in Exercise science , is a former D1 cross-country and track athlete, Category one cyclist, Personal trainer, coach, and elite DEKA athlete. Welcome to the show Raquel.

Raquel Faires: Thanks for having me.

Richard Conner: I’m so excited to have you here. And, you know, just for our listeners, Raquel and I met a couple of months ago at the DEKA World Championships in Ocala, Florida. And, you know, we had a chance to get to know each other and she just has an amazing fitness career and journey. And I’m excited to have her here to talk about, you know, her journey, her career.

And also talk about, you know, some of the things that are really important for us as runners and just folks who are involved in fitness in general. So, yeah, excited to have you here. And, you know, I just really love to hear about, you know, kind of what started your journey in this not only career in fitness, but just really your lifestyle around [00:02:00] fitness.

Raquel Faires: It’s interesting because I think about that all the time. And really it was very simple. , at my elementary school, we just like, I don’t even know if schools have this anymore, but they had a track and field day and I went to a very small christian school. So it wasn’t, it wasn’t massive, but they had a track and field day and there was a blacktop parking lot that they made us run laps around.

I don’t even know. How long they were having us run, but, , I always excelled at it. And I, I kind of vividly, like, I do vividly remember just like. Not wanting to stop and a lot of people would stop and I just kept going. , and then so once I was done at that school, I went to a larger school system and that’s then when I got involved.

, really, it started with track and field and, uh, cause I did play other sports like volleyball. And basketball, , so I played, I did track and field. I was middle distance. I did very well at [00:03:00] 800 meter, , distance to the point where, , I was, believe it or not, actually having, , teammates asked me to stop winning.

They said to give someone else a chance to win, , which I found pretty interesting. , so. You know, then we get through junior high and I get to high school and I tried to be a four sport athlete one year. So I tried to do volleyball, cross country, basketball and track and that was a lot to balance. So, in my sophomore year high school, I fully committed myself to track and field and cross country and I had.

A really awesome coach who I’m still connected with today, who kind of just really sparked, , my motivation for endurance sports. And so I did that all the way through high school. I did it in college. And then after college, I got involved in, or later in college, I got involved into triathlon and, and then it just, it all kind of took off from their triathlon to bike [00:04:00] racing to.

, power lifting, believe it or not, and now DEKA, so I, I’ve, I have a pretty extensive background in the endurance sports world, which I find that a lot of DEKA athletes have.

Richard Conner: Right. And you know, it’s, it’s interesting because I’ve only, you know, known you for a short period of time and I’ve seen you, uh, race and compete at the DEKA event. And if you, you know, if you competed anything like this kind of back then, like I could totally understand why they say, could you let someone else win?

Like you’re just an incredible

Raquel Faires: Yes.

Richard Conner: really well.

Raquel Faires: Yes. That was, uh, that’s something I clearly still remember all these years later.

Richard Conner: So, you know, so to kind of throw out, so that brings you all the way to today where you’re a personal trainer, you’re a coach, you help others reach their health and fitness goals. And, you know, through the show, we’d love to talk about mindset, movement and motivation and what are the tips and tricks and things that could help, [00:05:00] you know, the listeners who are going through their own journey.

So, you know, I’d love to hear from you. Out of all of your clients and your kind of your experience, what’s kind of the one thing that you see is a common theme, either that you need to coach them on or help them with or a common question that you get?

Raquel Faires: Well, uh, it’s interesting that you ask that because I just had a client this week, have the, I don’t want to call an issue, but this common thing that I’ve seen with, , clients is when they’re about to, when they’ve signed up for an event that is new to them or something that they’ve just been aiming for, the closer and closer it gets to the event date, they start to get really nervous.

They start to doubt themselves. They have a bad workout and they’re like. I don’t think I can do this. And the one thing that I always try to make people understand is you have to only pay attention to yourself. And the [00:06:00] reason why I say that is because a lot we’re a day and age. We’re on social media all the time.

So it’s easy for even myself or anyone else really to go on to Instagram and see the, the person who is at the, the top of their chosen sport or their recreation sport and to automatically compare themselves and then they automatically think that they can’t do it because they can’t do it at that level.

Um, or they feel that just because they had a bad workout that all of a sudden this goal that they had is not achievable. So I, this client actually just texted me this morning after I had some extensive text messaging with her and let her know that she is capable. Um, she can modify if she needs to.

We’re speaking specifically about DEKA and she texted me this morning and said, I had a great workout. I now feel a lot more confident about it. So I think it’s just a, um, A mind shift. , [00:07:00] I had a yoga instructor. I think I shared this with you that used to say, don’t compare to despair. And I’ve, I’ve always remembered that.

And what she was saying is when you are on your yoga mat. Don’t look at the person to the left of you, the right of you, or in front of you or behind you, focus on what you can do and what your body is able to do at that moment. And then that kind of, it keeps you centered. It keeps you on track to meet those goals, because then you’re not paying attention to all of this, the stuff in the outside world.

Right? So. I think that as adults, older adults, especially who are in these recreational activities, we’re not, we’re not making, really making any money from it. It is important to focus on what you can do and what you’re, what you’re capable of, not what everyone else is. And this is definitely a conversation I probably have.

I mean. At least [00:08:00] 10 times a week, given the nature of my work.

Richard Conner: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I could certainly, you know, Understand that and relate to that. And I love the coaching and the guidance that you give to your client. And I think it’s something that’s very common. And, you know, one of the sayings that, you know, we talked about on the show sometime ago that always kind of stays with me, it’s, it’s your race and your pace.

And, you know, it really just kind of, you know, exemplifies that, you know, focus on yourself, focus on where you were and where you want to be and let the chips, you know, lie where they may write at the end of the day. So, but if you’re worrying about other people, other races, other racers, I mean, there are other things, then you’re distracted from, you know, what you need to do to perform kind of in that moment.

So,

Raquel Faires: Absolutely. Couldn’t agree more.

Richard Conner: So, you know, talk to me a little bit about, you know, other. Things that might come up, you know, with, uh, with runners or with the clients, you know, one of the things that I just kind of ran into, you know, personally last year, [00:09:00] uh, was kind of around burnout, which I talked about on the show and, you know, before you even get to that point, you know, I know that sometimes some people just lose motivation, right?

To, to do their workouts or, you know, what to kind of continue with their habits. So, um, You know, I don’t know if that’s come up kind of in your experience, but I’d love to hear your viewpoint on that. And how do you help coach someone? That’s maybe just kind of losing motivation.

Raquel Faires: So, I actually have, , experienced this, and mine was in the form of Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome. So, , it went, it wasn’t just Burnout in terms of psychological motivation. It was actual chemical, physical, biological, whatever you want to call it. Um, I had back in when I was bike racing, . I, my coach was giving me workouts to do and every time she gave me a workout where I was going like into the threshold zones, I, my body [00:10:00] just could not handle it.

I, I found I was knocked off my butt from it and I, I did this for months. I kept pushing it and pushing it and of course, because physically, things weren’t working out for me. I, I was losing that motivation to train because it was so uncomfortable and I just wasn’t feeling. Like myself, , so I eventually, I didn’t get a doctor’s diagnosis, but it was pretty obvious that I was experiencing some combination of, it was adrenal fatigue syndrome and also, you know, at some level, probably burnout as well.

So what my coach and I did was, you know, it was really in the middle of a bike racing season, which is. Basically May through September every year. And so my coach and I just decided you’re not going to do any hard workouts. Um, you’re not going to ride as much. You’re going to, um, [00:11:00] focus on doing the things that you want to do.

So, , she would put on the schedule, these workouts that were called athletes choice. And so just the name of it gives you more control. It. Puts your mind at ease that what you’re choosing is right for you. And I knew at the time that was doing yoga, easy bike rides with friends, , that were talking pace, stopping on bike rides to get coffee or a treat.

And. Going to the beach a little bit more at the time I was living out in New York city and I would go out to the Hamptons on the weekend. So I would try to end my bike ride at the beach and go and enjoy myself. So I think when that happens to clients, and I do see that happen, especially people like you and I, who have kids and we’re busy and we have jobs, you have to, uh, take a step back and realize that.

You when you’re [00:12:00] burnt out having, uh, you’re not gonna get rid of your daily responsibilities. You can’t get rid of your kids. You can’t get rid of your job, but you can get rid of some of the responsibilities when it comes to training. And as you probably know, the day in and day out, uh, Mental load of training can be a lot.

And so I think directing clients to say, Hey, we’re, we’re just going to focus on getting in three workouts a week. I want it to be easy. If there’s something you really want to do, uh, then please go do it. If that means going out to the park and going for a hike that has really has nothing to do with, uh, let’s say it’s DEKA training or, uh, a bike race or a running race.

Then I want you to do that. I don’t want your mind to be focused on what’s going on with you right now and, , focusing on what you used to be able to do with running and when you felt good. So I guess giving them things that get their mind [00:13:00] off of the actual activity. If that makes sense.

Richard Conner: Yeah, it makes total sense. And again, kind of thinking about my own experience, like I, I did just that. Like I said, you know what? I’m going to do the bare minimum, which is. Got to get up and get, get to work. I got to take care of the family. Like I got to just do the basics and everything else can just wait until I got to the point where, you know, I was feeling like, okay, maybe I’m, maybe I’m kind of getting back into the swing of things.

And, you know, for me, my experience was also self diagnosed, but, you know, that’s what it really kind of felt like. So, so yes, I totally can relate to what you’re saying. And I think that’s really important for the listeners because you can get to a point where. You know, you want to do all these things and you’re juggling a lot.

And I get it trying to fit in fitness amongst everything else. It’s, it’s hard to do. So you can get to that point. So, so you got to kind of take that break and I’m just thinking about, so once you do, once you take the break, once you clear your [00:14:00] mind, you know, what are those kind of running motivational motivation tips to get you back, kind of back on your feet, back active, and kind of get back out there.

Raquel Faires: Well, one thing, so I coach, I coach cross country and, um, at Carmel high school here, which we were the state champions last year, uh, for the girls team and, um. I actually am assistant coaching, so I’m not the head coach, but, , I assistant coach with my college coach, which has really been a fun experience.

And one of the things that I like that he does is he, he doesn’t, he doesn’t care if anyone has a watch on, , he doesn’t. He doesn’t really tell anyone in the summer. I’m talking about summer training. So this is summer training is let’s be honest when there’s a lot of kids coming back from even just a month off and they haven’t really been doing much and summer training is supposed to be fun.

Right? So they come to [00:15:00] summer training. And he just says, all right, we’re just going to go out on the moan on it’s a trail we have here and we’re going to go out 10 minutes and back 10 minutes. He doesn’t say a pace. He, you know, the girls are, are talking the whole time they, um, he’s on a, he’s on a bike cause he, he can’t run with them.

I can’t run with them. Most of them either. Cause they’re very fast. And he, he. Rides his bike next to them and ask them questions. How was your day? If he knows they have a job, how’s your job going? So I think that what he does my approach with my clients is I don’t want you to look at paces. I don’t want you to look at your heart rate.

If you need to, uh, You know, turn off the pace on your watch. I would say ditch the watch, but you kind of got to know how much time you’re out or if if you just don’t want to go by time. And let’s say you just want to go out for a leisurely stroll. Then that’s what you should do. I think a lot [00:16:00] of times.

And I was, I was a dedicated runner for a very long time. And I think a lot of times people get so focused on that pace on the watch that they go out and let’s say they’re not feeling very good and they’re like, I ran 10 minutes mile. That’s so slow for me. And I’m guilty of this myself, believe me. But sometimes you have to run that way because that’s the body you’re given that day.

You can’t, if your body is saying you can’t run eight minute miles that day and 10 minutes is what you’ve got, then that’s what, that’s what you have. So I think throwing pace out through throwing a rate of perceived exertion out and just going out to enjoy it. I think you have to relearn enjoyment for that activity because that’s really what you lose and burnout is your desire and your enjoyment for it.

Richard Conner: Yeah, totally agree. And, you know, I was just thinking [00:17:00] about, I just ran with a run club for the first time this week

Raquel Faires: I saw that.

Richard Conner: So that was a lot of fun. And, you know, I don’t normally run with others. Um, I’m not a social runner. That’s, you know, that’s probably a weird thing for me to say, like I’m social, but running, I like to kind of run alone, especially for my training.

And I ran out there and it was kind of one of the first times I ran outdoors in a little while. So, you know, it’s cold here in the Northeast, so I’m outdoors. I’m running for the first time out there. And I just felt like my heart rates off the chart. Like I’m really struggling to kind of keep up and I’m like, why is this happening to me?

So just kind of like you said so I’m looking at my watch and it’s You know, I’m running sub 10 minute miles, but I’m like, I should be able to do this without feeling like I’m out of breath, but I just remembered that I had like three or four strength day training days in a row

Raquel Faires: right.

Richard Conner: and a couple of, you know, one, at least one long run the day before and then a shorter run the day before that.

So, like. Going into this, like I was not well rested, [00:18:00] recovered or anything. And I had a bunch of hard days. So I really, you know, I kind of appreciate your point about that. Like your, your watch is kind of deceiving, right? Because your paste, your pace is what your body’s able to deliver that day. And if you have something that’s going on, it’s not saying that’s, that’s how well you can perform.

It’s just how well you, you know, you’re performing that day.

Raquel Faires: And I, so my DEKA coaches, the, the queen of DEKA, Terra Jackson. And one thing that she, her response to me when I have a bad workout, and of course you just feel like you, you want to crumble and you know, everything you’ve done doesn’t matter. Now you suck because you had this one terrible workout.

And, um, I don’t remember the exact words, but in, in so many words, she tells me, don’t let one, um, You know, bad workout, take away from all the great ones you had and all the work that you’ve put in. Um, and I, I like when she says that, cause I’m like, you know what? She’s right. I, I just have to, I mean, it happened to me [00:19:00] this week.

I had a super crappy workout on Wednesday and I’m supposed to do some DEKA events tomorrow. And I was thinking to myself, if I, if this is how I’m going to feel on Saturday, I don’t even want to go do it. But. You’re everything, especially, and I go back to this, but especially people who are busy with, with kids and jobs and just every adult really, who has so much on their plate, um, you’re not going to feel good every day.

It’s just not going to happen that way. And especially with a sport like running, running is the highest impact. I mean, you’re, what is it? I forget, 80 to a hundred times your body weight is slamming down on your feet every time you, your, your foot hits the ground, you could, you could never expect yourself to feel great on every single run.

And I think people underestimate the activity that they’re doing. I mean, running is very high demanding. So I think you just, you, and I’ve gotten better at that because I used to be one of those [00:20:00] people when I would go out for runs that I would. I, I have to run seven forty fives all the time and it meant it meant nothing.

I don’t even know why I ever got caught up on that number and then i’m like, wait a minute running slower is Really fun. It’s really fun to run slower and running slow with friends is even more fun. So to backtrack a little bit, I also, so I recently saw a post last night from the high school girl who run, who won the national Nike championships this past year in Oregon.

I believe it was 77 percent of her training was zone three and lower. So in the majority of her training from July to December was zone two. So that gives you, this is the fastest female high school runner in the entire country. And she’s doing the majority of her runs at zone two.

Richard Conner: That’s incredible.

welcome. [00:21:00]

Raquel Faires: So I think that should tell us something we need to take a little pressure off ourselves.

Richard Conner: Yeah. Yeah. And I know there’s, you know, I know there’s different philosophies, um, kind of around that, but, you know, kind of having that zone two training is, is kind of the prevailing kind of philosophy around, around like how to get faster in the long run, no, no pun intended. So, you know, so I’ve been doing, you know, heart rate training with.

You know, with my coach over the last couple of years, and I feel like that’s really helped me especially do more of the endurance kind of runs that I’ve been doing, because if I try to approach it the way I used to approach it, you know, every run at a really fast pace, not necessarily race pace, but much faster than, um, what my zone two pace would be like, I don’t know if I would have ever been successful.

So, you know, so moving up to half, you know, quarter marathon, half marathon, uh, full, and then my first full marathon last year. I think having that kind of zone heart rate based training really kind of helped me accomplish that.

Raquel Faires: It [00:22:00] absolutely works.

Richard Conner: So I appreciate you sharing your experience and these stories. I mean, these are really helpful tips again, you know, for runners who are going through their journey and all of these come up for many of us. And I’d love to learn a little bit more about kind of your experiences. , you know, so like tell me what was the biggest obstacle that you face kind of in your, your fitness journey and how’d you overcome it?

Raquel Faires: I would have to say, I mean, I myself have had six stress fractures. , and, and so while I’ve had the injuries, those have been really challenging, but having kids was extremely, probably the biggest. Obviously they’re, they’re not obstacles, uh, but you get what I’m saying. Kids really changed my life.

And I know for a lot of women, I’m always posting silly stuff on my story about the challenges with kids and training. And so I had, I [00:23:00] had my kids back to back there, um, 13 and a half months apart and they’re five and six now. So there was a period of, you know, two to three years where I, I had to get my kids in the car.

I mean, I could only do training at the gym, hence why, uh, I found DEKA. Um, it is accessible from pretty much inside any gym and that’s why I got really hooked to it. So I think it was really challenging for me to, uh, juggle the. The training as well as very small children, and I, and I do see women struggle with that a lot.

And a lot of women do just throw their hands up and give up on it entirely. But I, I felt like the training, , if you want to say, kept me more centered with the kids, it enabled me to be a better parent.

And it, it just kept me organized. I felt [00:24:00] that that’s what the training did for me, but it, there is a huge struggle because we need to fuel ourselves. And if you ask any mom with young children, what is the, one of the number one things they do is. Forget to eat and I did that often and I have had still to this day.

I You’ve probably seen me post about it. I’ve gone down to do a bike workout and my blood sugar is so low I have my kids running upstairs literally grabbing snacks that we’ve bought from Costco to come down and feed me snacks while I’m on the bike because I’m shaking because my blood Sugar is so low.

So and these are just things that I forget because I’m so busy Being a mom. And so while I’ve had lots of injuries that, that I had to get past, having kids was the hardest obstacle. It really was for me injuries for me. I know, especially if they’re stress fractures, they’re, they’re going to be healed and I get through it and I [00:25:00] modify my exercises and of course, none of mine involves surgery.

So like, I know you’ve had Mickey on and he, his, his was very much more serious than mine was. But I can easily get through those, but the, the kid thing that was very challenging for me. It was, there was a lot of moments where I’ve had to just say, I can’t work out today. I’m so exhausted mentally and physically from being with the kids that I can’t do this.

But most of the time I was able to get it in, but that was my biggest obstacle.

Richard Conner: Yeah, and that’s, you know, I, so I appreciate you sharing that and that’s, you know, again, I’m sure a lot of folks are going through or have gone through and I’m, you know, I’m wondering like, what do you think helped you still do those workouts? So, you know, one of the things that you said was it helped keep you centered, um, in terms of doing the workouts and it helps you.

You know, be a better parent. So that’s kind of what was top of mind for you in terms of [00:26:00] your why. So you had a strong why, but what else, you know, really kind of helps you make sure that you get in your workouts when, you know, when you weren’t exhausted and you can make the time to do so.

Raquel Faires: Well, you know, there’s a few things and you, you and I kind of spoke about there. There’s two things for me. And I spoke to Kevin Gregory about this as well. You know, my, my current why is. I want my kids to be able to see me set a goal and follow through with it. So while they don’t know, they don’t know if I’m missing a training day.

But I know, and I feel like I need to be honest with myself and with them. So a big push for me is to know that I’m getting up and doing what I promised myself that I would do. Rewind or rewind when I didn’t have kids a big, a big why for me was, um, so I, I grew up in a household where my, my dad was an alcoholic and I was so fortunate when I was in school to [00:27:00] have.

Uh, mentors, the coaches that were mentors who took me under their wing and really kept me focused on sports because they knew that was going to kind of keep my mind off of what was going on at home. And so sports really, it really pushed me to kind of ignore what was going on, you know, understand and deal with it.

And it just, It gave me something to to aim for. It gave me it made me feel important. It made me feel valued. It just added so much meaning and purpose to my life. And, you know, even though I knew I always had to go home and and deal with my the way my dad was it. It gave me something outside of home to forget about what was, what was going on.

Now, my dad is, is over 20 years sober, so he’s not that person anymore. But, you know, you asked me in the beginning, you know, how I [00:28:00] got into endurance sports and while I was exposed to it at my school, I think that the issue that my dad had really kept me on track with the endurance sports because it just gave me something to keep my mind off of it.

So I don’t know if connected all that, if that makes sense.

Richard Conner: Yeah, yeah, totally. So that was, that was kind of the driving force for getting into, you know, your athletic journey or your fitness journey, kind of fast forward up until now, sticking with it, even though, you know, you have the, the new responsibilities of having kids and having to balance that with fitness.

And that makes a lot of sense. And it, and it’s hard, but again, you know, kind of going back to, You know, really having that wide to kind of keep you centered and moving towards that goal while balancing your other responsibilities is, is really important. And it sounds like that’s what’s helped you.

Raquel Faires: Yeah, it has it. I, you know, there’s all kinds of, there’s more things than just DEKA. There’s more than things than just running, but I [00:29:00] always encourage people pick something that you can train for. It doesn’t have to be the things I’m interested in, but pick something. Put it on your calendar. You know, Yancey preaches this all the time, and there’s so much research that supports it.

You have something on the calendar and a goal to aim for. You are more likely to stick with your training, be consistent over the long haul. And I think we, we all need that. And, uh, it’s not enough just to say, I want to go to the gym and get fit and work out every day. That’s not specific enough. You need a targeted goal.

Richard Conner: Love it. Love it. You know, I really love to hear what is the one thing that you would say to inspire to run community to keep them motivated to run or stick with their fitness journey?

Raquel Faires: I think really looking at it as, uh, a marathon, not a sprint, no pun intended that you need to look at this as a long term commitment, [00:30:00] not just a short term commitment. And I, and I think if you can look at it from that perspective. You, you’re more accepting of the days that don’t go so well, and then you’re more appreciative of the days that, that your training does go really well, if you know that if you can look over the course of 12 months and know that it’s, it’s going to be okay, then I think it gets you through all those months of training.

So, just looking at it as a marathon, not a sprint, so results don’t come quickly, they happen over time.

Richard Conner: Hey, my friend. So we had some technical difficulties as we’re winding down the conversation, but I hope you enjoyed this interview and you were inspired by Raquel’s journey. She shared so many insights with us about how to stay motivated and training tips, and also adjusting your routine to balance fitness and family.

So I appreciate you listening and I will end with Raquel sharing how [00:31:00] you can find her and follow her journey online.

Raquel Faires: So I have two things. I have, um, @coachfaires now my account is private, but I pretty much accept everyone. It’s just because I post about my kids. So it’s at coach and then F A I R E S. And then I also have @DEKA_INDY, I N D Y that I run to kind of keep. People in the Indianapolis area, um, and, you know, up to speed with the events, DEKA events that are going on around here and other events as well, running events too.

So @coachfaires and @DEKA_INDY Indy.

Intro/Outro: That’s it for this episode of inspire to run podcast. We hope you are inspired to take control of your health and fitness and take it to the next level. Be sure to click the subscribe button to join our community. And also, please rate and review. Thanks for [00:32:00] listening.