92- Rugged Flexibility: The Practical Skills You Need to Stay Consistent (Not Perfect)

In this episode of Miles From Review, host Kat shares practical, real-world strategies to help busy women maintain consistency in their fitness routines despite life's unpredictable challenges. Kat, an ultra-marathon runner, business owner, and mom, introduces the concept of rugged flexibility and outlines essential skills, including the 10-minute minimum, the decision matrix, and identifying an anchor week. Through personal anecdotes and client scenarios, she illustrates how adapting to life's curveballs can lead to long-term fitness success. Listeners are encouraged to define their anchor weeks, create workouts of at least 10 minutes, and use a decision matrix to assess their readiness for workouts. This episode emphasizes that fitness is about showing up consistently, not perfectly.

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00:00 Early Morning Motivation and Introduction

00:24 Welcome to Miles From Review

01:14 Surviving the Harsh Winter

02:07 Implementing Tangible Skills for Consistency

02:47 Reality Check: Adapting to Life's Curveballs

04:13 My Reality: Balancing Training and Life

10:50 Three Core Skills of Rugged Flexibility

20:15 Real-Life Scenarios and Application

23:30 Final Thoughts and Action Steps

26:15 Conclusion and Call to Action

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Transcript

0:00

It is 5:00 AM My alarm goes off for my long run. I'm training for my fourth hundred miler and first 200 miler, but I also have multiple client sessions, school pickups, and a business decision that's been weighing on me some mornings. The question isn't, will I work out? It's how do I make this work today? I'm sharing the exact skills that help me and my clients actually follow through.

Kat: 0:24

Welcome to Miles From Review, the podcast powered by Cat Fit Strength, where busy women like you find practical solutions to fuel your fitness journey with authenticity and resilience. I'm Kat, your host, a mom of two active boys, a business owner, and an ultra marathon runner and a strength trainer in her forties with nearly two decades of experience. I'm here to help you cut through the noise of fads, hacks, and quick fixes. This is a space where we celebrate womanhood and motherhood. All while building strength and resilience and reconnecting with you from a place of self-compassion and worthiness. Whether you're lacing up your running shoes to go out for a run, driving your kids to practice or squeezing in a moment for yourself, I'm right here in the trenches with you. Let's dive in.

1:12

Welcome back to Miles from Review. It is the end of January. I feel like we need to acknowledge that we've made it through January. Yes. This winter has been wintering hard and wherever you might be, you might be in the frozen tundra. Just like me here in the Northeast. The temperatures are well below average. We had a major snowfall this past week, and it feels like we are in this never ending winter. You also might be feeling your motivation is fading a bit because of all that life is throwing at you. The school cancellations, the delays in opening the e-learning that you have to juggle on top of your already packed schedule. And maybe that has resulted in you missing a few workouts. I know my workouts have not been stellar. They have been a little bit all over the place You're probably at the point where you're feeling like, how can I get it together? I want you to know you don't need more motivation, but we need to implement tangible skills. Today we're ditching all the inspirational quotes and getting practical, real world strategies to help when you want to stay consistent with your fitness Even. In the midst of managing careers, families, homes, and everything else that life throws at you. There's actually a term called rugged flexibility in action. And I'm gonna show you exactly how I use these skills daily when training for ultra marathons and running a business as well as two very active kids and a partner who has a demanding career as well. So number one, the reality check. We start January on January 1st with the best intentions, whether or not you stated a formal. Resolution or a goal, but by the end of January, we're exhausted. Whatever your commitment looks like to morning workouts, signed up for a race, or you promised yourself you'd prioritize movement more, and for the first week or two it definitely worked, but then. Enter in life's curve balls. Maybe a child got sick work deadlines, hit unplanned work, travel for you or your partner. You got your period and you just felt exhausted.'cause that's a real thing. You had three hours of sleep and all of a sudden that perfect plan just feels impossible most fitness advice gets it wrong. It assumes you have total control over your schedule, energy, and circumstances. But when you're in the thick of it juggling careers, families, homes, we know this is not a reality because there are so many uncontrollable things out there. So the shift we need to make is stop trying to force a rigid plan into unpredictable life, instead, building the skills to adapt in real time. Number two. And this one, I'm gonna paint a little bit more picture on how I apply it because the first one is really, we need to stop forcing rigid plans into an unpredictable life. And that's about being, flexible. Number two, I'm gonna paint you my reality. And I do understand that my reality is not your reality. I'm a firm believer in nobody has the same 24 hours. The fact is there are 24 hours in a day. So it's going to look different. And I'm using myself as an example as we walk through some of these skills. And at the end, I'm gonna provide you with, scenarios that might be applicable in your situation. So when I walk through it with a mind, know that I am training for an ultra marathon and maybe that is in your, bucket list at some point. Or maybe you are currently, or maybe you're like, I never ever aspire to do that. Fantastic, but I'm going to use myself as an example. This is not the benchmark. So please listen to it. Glean what works. For you and leave what doesn't work for you. And this is what I would say for anything that I am providing here. What works for you is going to be the thing that sets you up for success. Not if you are trying to force yourself into this rigid plan, it's not gonna work for you. So you have to adapt these skills to work for you. So number two, this is my reality. I'm training for a 200 miler while running a business and raising a family. My January has looked a little madic. Main season training block kicked off at the beginning of January. My fourth hundred mile race is at the end of April, and my first 200 miler is going to be at the N of May. With ultra running, you're logging serious miles every week. And long runs can take anywhere from three to six hours. And then there are strength training sessions and recovery and body work that allows for my body to stay healthy and functioning through the demands, not only with my training, but with my life. With that training, which any given week, my training can take up to eight to 10 hours a week. That is put into a full-time running a business, managing client programs, creating content, recording podcasts, showing up for my community, being present for my family. Both my kids are involved in sports band and beyond. Managing a household. And then to be blunt, and this is a real thing, dealing with my own hormonal fluctuations, energy dips, and life stress, those things all come into the picture. So some weeks, everything is flowing, runs,, strength training. Everything just seems like it is. Flowing so well and other weeks I'm making real time decisions on what is gonna get prioritized and what gets adjusted. This week we had a major snowstorm come through and that hit on Sunday, Monday. The kids were out of school. And yes, I do have the luxury of having a treadmill, and a full gym in my house. Benefits of running my business and training clients. Monday I was grateful. I hopped on my treadmill, was able to get my workout done, was able to get my strength training in, I did have. A day with the snow and school closures, all my clients canceled. So that provided immense flexibility. I was able to get caught up on a lot of things, and get my run in and get my strength training in. I was like, oh, fantastic. We're gonna nail this. Well in walk Tuesday morning. It's early morning. I'm gonna get my run in. I'm gonna pop on the treadmill. It is like single digits here. The. Trails and roads are icy. Just not conducive for going outside, forget the temperatures, but things are just not clear. Well, I get on my treadmill and it provides me with an error code. Which means it's not going to start. So here I am in a bit of a predicament. I have a full day of clients and it is frigid temperatures out and in the evening, I also have kid pickups, sport pickups. My husband is also in the midst of training for a race as well. So how do I get this done? I trained clients all day and had to quickly shift change into different clothes and force myself to get outside. It's cold out there. I really enjoy running in the warm weather. I don't mind that it's hot and humid. That to me is. Better than running in the frigid temperatures where it takes a mile and a half to two miles to warm up. But I got out there and did it, and it was amazing because it did align with me being able to quickly pick up my son from his practice, get home, and be able to cook dinner and keep the day going. Was it the run I had planned? Not just because it wasn't on the treadmill? No, but I did have to adapt. The workout for that day to shorten it so it fit into my lifestyle that is a small example. There are times where I do show up to a run to a strength training. For example, this week as well, my cycle hit, it hit hard. I'm not gonna lie, I was zapped with energy. I have been dealing with the fabulous cramps, back cramping, front cramp like it is if you know, you know, it was awful. So after I got through training all my clients, I was like, okay, I need to get a run. I need to get a strength training. So here's what I did. I had to shorten the run. That's okay. I could have pushed through and I know I have the ability to push through. If you've been a long time listener, you've heard me talk about my cycle hitting in the midst of an ultra marathon and being able to manage it. But I got out there, I was able to function in getting smiles and in the frigidness it did help that the rare case, my husband and I were able to run together. So we, you know, Ms. Reel loves company, so we suffered together with a few miles outside. And then for my strength training, you know what I did? I had to reduce sets and reps because my body just didn't have it. And this is not a reflection that I lost strength. It was I needed to meet my body where I was at because my goodness, if you know, you know, if you have and you struggle with cramps, which all women do, I will not do not compare yourself like, well, I have it worse or anything. We all deal with this, but we have to meet our bodies where it's at. And sometimes, and I have in the past needed to be like. I need a full rest day because I can't function. So little picture of my week where I had to focus on and a little bit of applicable of like how if I would've been really rigid with myself in seeing my training plan on paper and forced it, my goodness, I'd be miserable. Honestly, if you have to execute a training plan with pristine perfection. Any little thing is gonna fall apart. You're going to have a miserable life. That is just the brutal honest truth. If you have to execute any training plan to the absolute pristine perfection, your life is going to be miserable. And when you finally reach that goal, I guarantee you it's not going to be as amazing as you think it's going to be. Number three, the three core skills of rugged flexibility. So I'm gonna break down these three skills and I use'em daily. With that scenario, before, or even think of your own scenario in a week or a day where. You had to pivot a lot, these skills are going to come into play and really define that rugged flexibility and how you can maintain that consistency without getting hung up on perfection. So skill number one, it's the 10 minute minimum. It's an activation skill here. So this is your first line of defense when life gets really, really chaotic. So the skill is when your planned workout isn't happening, commit to just 10 minutes of movement. So why this works is it eliminates that all or nothing trap. It keeps your routine alive without the pressure of perfection, and it often leads to more, even if it doesn't, you're still showing up. Here's a real world example from this week. I mentioned Wednesday morning, I woke up exhausted. My cycle hit. And I had back to back client meetings. My 90 minute planned run wasn't gonna happen, to be honest. I'm gonna be very, very, very honest here. I wanted to skip my run so bad. Now side, John here, because I did my run, it was not at all costs, and we're going to get into this in the next skill here as to how I made that decision. But I. Was like, we're gonna get out. I told my husband,'cause we were running together, I said, I'd love to get in 45 minutes, but honestly I just wanna get out the door. I just wanna get moving. I'm not married to a time or anything like that. I went out and I did it and I wound up getting in 45 minutes. When you are applying this to yourself, the focus isn't to white knuckle yourself. Providing yourself with a container of, I'm just going to get started. I'm not sure where we're at, but we're just gonna enter the space. We're gonna do it for 10 minutes, and it can look like, I'm gonna start with dynamic stretching. I'm gonna do three rounds of body weight squats, or some pushups, or some planks, some foam rolling, that really allows for you to see. Where you're at and if you're gonna continue, so your action step, decide right now what your 10 minute minimum looks like. Write it down. Have it ready for those days when your full workout just isn't possible. So like I said, it could be some dynamic stretching. It could be some foam rolling, it could be some body weight movements. So if you write it down and really looking at that 10 minutes, you don't have to be precise with like. 10 minutes on the dot, but what is going to be your 10 minute minimum? So you have that skill. Number two, the decision matrix. And so this is a discernment skill. This is a skill that helps you decide, do I push, do I modify, do I rest? So it builds on that 10 minute skill. Before any workout, quickly assess four factors. Number one. Sleep quality. How did I sleep last night? Number two, life stress level. What else is demanding my energy today? Number three, physical readiness. How does my body feel right now? And number four. Cycle phase where am I in my menstrual cycle? And I'm gonna preface this here, is, this is nothing to do about cycles. Sinking. And that's a whole other podcast in of itself. So thinking about those times when your cycle hits, like it is just one of those cycles from who knows where, and it is just awful. Like, this is what I am saying. It's like take into account how is your body feeling this has nothing to do with that cycle sinking it's focusing on your physical aspects and knowing that yes, your cycle does have other things that impact your workouts. So why it works is it just removes that guilt and guesswork, so you're not quitting or being lazy. You're making an informed decision based on your data of your body. Most of us have an aura ring or a smart watch, apple watch, whatnot. That gives us biometric data on ourselves. However, our own physical data, getting a read on ourselves away from the, data that your watches or your rings provide is going to be beneficial. Rely a little bit more on that. You can also tap into that biometric data that your watch or your ring gives you, but don't look at your watch or ring and be like, oh, I'm only making decisions based on that, because that data can be skewed to how you're actually feeling. So again, going with that example, building from skill number one, how I had a 90 minute run on the schedule. My sleep quality was fantastic. I slept great. Stress level was fine. Physical readiness, my body felt great, but with my cycle it came in like a wrecking ball. I did not feel good, so I automatically reduced the time of running. When I reduced that time of running, it was like, Hey, we're gonna meet our body where it's at, and I'm getting out the door again. The 10 minute minimum was the start to get me out the door. And as I got out there, I was like, okay, I feel pretty good. I can continue past the 10 minutes and I was able to get in the 45 minutes instead of doing the 90 minutes that I had there. I still got in what I needed to it's not a lesser than thing. I showed up, I got my work in. So your action step before your next workout. Run through these four questions and notice how it changes your approach and removes that guilt skill. Number three, the anchor weak, and this is the momentum skill here. This skill builds true consistency over the months and years. The skill is instead of trying to have the perfect week, every week, identify your minimum viable week. This is your anchor week. For me, my anchor week is four runs any length or intensity, one to two strength training sessions, even if it's 20 minutes and one mobility slash recovery session. This is my bare minimum some weeks. I'm gonna exceed this and I'm gonna hit exactly what the training plan calls for. In other weeks, I am going to hit my anchor week, but as long as I'm hitting the anchor week, for most of the time, I'm aiming for 75% of the weeks out of the, you know, 52 week year. 75% of that, maybe even 80%. I'm hitting that. I'm making progress. And why it works is it's realistic and sustainable. It accounts for life's unpredictable. It focuses on the long week, not weekly, perfection. This week life has been lifeing, and the week before everything went off seamlessly. It is one of those things that I know it is a, it's not a cop out. It's a way that I know when life gets busy, I'm still able to show up for my goal. I'm still within the context of my goal, being able to show up consistently. This is something that I talk about with my clients. It's like we need to know. What the bare minimum is for life when it gets chaotic, because life is going to always life. We cannot stop life from happening as much as we have a well laid out plan. And so this is why it works. It's the 10 minute minimum, the decision matrix, and also having that anchor week. Your action step this week is define your anchor week right now. What's the minimum you can commit to that would keep you moving forward? You have to be honest and realistic. I have spent many times looking at what my realistic week is. I have from my realistic week of being one run, one strength training. I have gone from it being mobility. One strength training and a walk, it can build. It is not set in stone that that is your only bare minimum week that will serve you for the rest of your life. That is not how it works. Look at the season of life that you're in. Mine has progressively changed and a lot has to do to be quite honest with the age of my children. When my children were toddlers and infants, it was like. Getting out for a run would be remarkable, but the reality is, my quote unquote runs or my movement was walking to the park. It was looking at that as my movement piece. As they got older, I was able to incorporate more runs back in. So look at your season of life that you're. Right now, your kids could be grown,, and more independent, and your job could be demanding more, but you have to be real and honest with where you are at. This is not where you hope to be. Your bare minimum week allows you to get to where you want to go, it has nothing to do with your ability, your hopes and dreams, but this has everything to get you to there. So be honest. Really think about those times where life is very chaotic and what can you do as being your minimum. So number four, how this all plays out in real scenarios. I'm gonna walk you through some common scenarios to how these skills can apply. So I'm gonna strip back from me to really hoping that you resonate with some of these scenarios. And again, I hope you're thinking about your own life and how this can come into fruition. With these skills, it's not going to be, okay, I have these skills and they're gonna come across flawless IT skills, need intention and work to have them become more automatic. So, so scenario one, your partner is traveling for work and you're solo parenting the old approach. Skip all workouts because there's no time. The rugged flexibility approach is use the 10 minute minimum during nap time or while a kids watch a show. Adjust your anchor week expectation for this week. Use the decision matrix to determine if you have the capacity for more so, so you're utilizing all three of those skills there. Scenario two. You're exhausted from a night of poor sleep, but you have a workout Plan the old approach, force the workout and feel terrible or skip it and feel, feel guilty, rugged, flexibility approach. Run the decision, Matrix. Sleep quality is a concern. Decide, modify the workout to something restorative, or take a true rest day. No guilt. You made an informed decision. Scenario three, you miss two workouts in a row and feel like you're falling off. Old approach. I'll start fresh next week, which often becomes next month. The rugged flexibility approach. Check in. Are you still hitting your anchor week overall? Use the 10 minute minimum to reconnect tomorrow. Remember, two missed workouts does not erase your progress. Let's look at the long game here. What happens when you build these skills, this is what I want you to take away from Margaret. Flexibility. These aren't just tactics to get through tough weeks. So these skills build a lifetime of fitness. When I look back at my ultra running journey, it's not perfect training weeks. That got me here. It's the weeks I showed up imperfectly, made small adjustments and kept the relationship with my body and my training alive. To be honest, I find myself reflecting more about and being so proud of myself when my babies were infants and toddlers, that I found those small movements. And to be honest, I had a lot of guilt around not being able to get out for a run or missing workouts or not executing the training plan, perfectly, and still showing up to race day in a half marathon or a marathon, knowing that I didn't have a really good training block because my kids were little. I wish I knew those skills that I have now, because it would've erased. A lot of that guilt and shame that I carried. So the same is true for you, whether you're training for a race or trying to stay strong and healthy while managing everything else. Progress isn't built in perfect conditions. It's built in the messy middle when you're tired, when life is chaotic, when you have to choose between competing priorities, that's where these skills matter most. We are at the end of January and it's a great time to practice these skills. So January is coming to a close and all is not lost. Maybe you had a great first week of January with your goals that you set on January one, and then life happened, and you're sitting there now like, gosh, I had all these great expectations. I nailed it one week. Maybe this isn't for me. It absolutely is for you. Your actionable items right now. This weekend, it is Friday, January 30th. Find some time this weekend. Five, 10 minutes. Sit down, define your anchor week. I want you to write it down. Be specific. This is not your end all, be all, and your permanent anchor week. This is your anchor week, maybe to get you through the next four weeks. Or maybe to get you through the next four months, but define your anchor Week number two, create a 10 minute minimum workout. Have it ready. Write it down on index card, put it in your notes app and have it ready. So for those times where you have a workout scheduled, but you're just like, oof, I don't think it's gonna happen. Have it ready so you don't have to think about it. Pull it up on your phone, pull out an index card. Number three, practice the decision matrix before one workout this week. So go through, start checking in with your body. See where you're at. Ask yourself those questions. Number four, track your consistency over the week. Did you hit your anchor? Did you use your skills? This isn't about perfection. See, it's all about building that capacity to adapt, discern, and show up for yourself even when life is messy. Rugged, flexibility. It's not sexy. It's not gonna go viral on Instagram. It's not a 75 hard challenge or dramatic transformation story. But it's real and it's sustainable, and it's how people stay in fitness for the long game. And to be brutally honest, it's how I have completed, not one, not two. 300 milers already. It's what I'm working off of and how I stay grounded and connected with my own fitness routine. Because I'm not forcing a plan to be perfect. I'm constantly tuning into myself and I'm wiping away that guilt and shame while I'm building my career, raising my family, and managing a whole house. If you're realizing you need more support and structure or community to implement these skills, I'd love to help. I designed C Fit for exactly this for women who want training that meets them where they're at. Adapts to real life. Head to ww.cat.fit and learn more about my coaching or just pop up to the show notes. The link is in the show notes. If you wanna have a chat, book a call with me. I'd love to speak with you and hear where you're at and see if we would be a good fit. More importantly, if you have questions or you just want a little feedback on a challenge right now, or a skill that resonated most with you. I answer all the messages. Sometimes it takes me about 48 hours, but I will respond to you. Thank you so much for being here. Now go show up for yourself and perfectly but consistently.

Kat: 28:20

Thank you for tuning in to Miles From Review, powered by Catholic Strength. If this podcast inspires you, don't keep it for yourself. Hit follow or subscribe to stay updated on the new episodes, and leave us a review to help more women and moms discover this space. Your feedback fuels this podcast and I'd love to hear what's working for you or what topics you want to dive into Next. You can connect with me on Instagram at Cat Fit or share this episode. Road with a friend who is ready to embrace her strength. Remember, fitness isn't about perfection. It's about showing up for yourself and finding strength in every step of your journey. Until next time, keep moving forward one mile at a time.