100- Start Here: The Four Running Principles for Every Woman at Every Level

We made it to 100 episodes — and to mark the milestone, Kat gets back to what started it all: running. In this episode, she shares the four principles she returns to constantly, no matter where she is in her training. Whether you're lacing up for the first time, returning after a break, or a seasoned runner wondering why you keep burning out, this one is for you.

In this episode:

• Why your cardiovascular system adapts faster than your tendons, ligaments, and bones — and why that gap causes most injuries
• The comparison trap that derails almost every returning runner (and how to get out of it)
• The sequence most runners get completely backwards: consistency → duration → intensity
• Why strength training isn't optional — especially for women who want to keep running for decades

This week's action: Pick two days to run. Keep it easy. Keep it short. That's it.

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Transcript

0:00

So Sunday I ran a check-in race and honestly it went really well. I wanna start there not to brag, but because I think it matters for what we're talking about today because here's what really well actually looked like. I ran my own race. I didn't go out too fast. I didn't prove anything to anyone, including myself. I ran the effort. I planned to run. I listened to my body the whole way, and I finished feeling strong. That's it. That's the win. And I share this because I'm not exempt from any of this. I've been running since I was a kid. Track and field, roads, trails, ultra marathons. Running is generally woven into who I am, and still I have to remind myself of the exact same things I'm going to share with you today. These aren't beginner principles that I've moved past these principles. I've come back to constantly no matter where I am in my training. So if you're just getting started, welcome. If you're returning after a break, welcome back and if you're a seasoned runner who's nodding along, wondering why you keep getting hurt or burning out, yes, this one is for you too. I am also a mom. I run a business. I know what it is To be tired, to have 25 minutes and not two hours to talk yourself into a workout and talk yourself out of a workout and then feel guilty. It wasn't more, I get the juggle and I promise. Nothing I say today is going to make you feel like you're not doing enough. My goal is to make this feel doable because it is. 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. Welcome back to Miles from Review. I am Kat, your host, welcome if you are new here and welcome back if you have been joining me weekly with this podcast. I wanna pause here for a moment because this is episode 100, and I remember recording my first episode from Miles from Review, literally not knowing if I could keep up a cadence, if I would really enjoy this. And it felt so awkward, like, who am I? What do I have to offer? Where can this go? Who will even listen? Will there be one person that even tunes in? Here we are 100 conversations about fitness, strength, life, nutrition, motherhood, all of it. You are here for it. That means absolutely everything to me. This show has grown in many ways. I truly did not expect it to. And it's grown because of you, because you kept showing up, kept sharing it, kept sending me messages, saying I needed this. Today. I truly do not take any of that lightly, not even a little bit. So I chose to make Episode a hundred about running on purpose. Running has been a part of my life longer than almost anything else. It started on a track when I was young. It has taken me to finish lines I've never imagined, including some very long ones out in the mountains running. Taught me how to be patient with myself, how to trust the process, how to keep going when everything says stop. A lot of what I know about coaching, I learned from running. So for this milestone episode, I wanted to bring you something that comes from the deepest, most honest part of what I know. And this is it. So thank you for being here for 100 of these. Let's dive into this. This episode is all about running and I'm gonna go over four points to make a tangible, if you're someone who wants to. Run or hopes to run a race if you're someone who is getting back started with running, these are for you, and if you are a seasoned runner, these are for you and I mean it. These are the points, the principles that I come back to time and time again with my running. Point number one, run slower and start with less than you think you should. I really want you to hear this because most people get this wrong from the start. Run slower. And start with less than you think, and I know how that sounds. You've carved all the time, you're motivated, you feel okay, so you push a little and then a little bit more. And then three days later, your shins, your glutes are screaming at you and you're limping wondering what happened. I've been there, my clients have been there, and it's a common story I hear from those I train or I don't train. And here's the biology aspect of it. Your cardiovascular system, your heart, your lungs, they adapt faster than your structural tissue. Your structural tissue are tendons, ligaments, and bones. Those are on a slower timeline, so when you push the pace or put on too many miles, too soon, your cardio is saying, let's go. I got you. We can do this. Well, your body, your structural tissue is saying no. Thank you. This is too much, too soon. That's when the mismatch causes injuries. Even now, when you're deep in training for a big goal, I still come back to this principle. Easy runs are supposed to feel easy, deliberately, intentionally, almost frustratingly easy. And that's not weakness, that is strategy. So keeping your efforts around a four to six out of a 10, you should feel like you could go harder. And you're choosing not to. If you're brand new to running, start with run walk intervals, 30 seconds of running, then walk until you feel ready. Repeat for about 10 to 15 minutes total. That's the whole workout. That's not the warmup. If you are more experienced and you're returning from a break, start slow with 20 easy 20 minute runs, not let me see how far I can go. 20 minutes. Slow and done. If it feels too easy, good. You're absolutely doing it right. I wanna pause real quick because if you're listening to this episode, I'm guessing getting back to running or strength training has been on your mind for a while. Maybe you've tried before and it didn't stick. Maybe you're not sure how to build a plan that actually works for your life, your schedule, your body, your goals. That's exactly what I help women do with Cat Fit. I coach beginners, returning runners, and women who've been at this for years on how to train in a way that is smart, sustainable, and actually fits into real life. Not perfect life, real life with kids, jobs, and a full calendar. Right now I am offering free 15 minute fit calls. No pitch, no pressure, just a conversation about. Where you are, what you're working toward, and whether working together makes sense. I genuinely want it to be useful whether we work together or not. You can book yours by clicking the link in the show note. All right, let's get back to point number two and, and this one hits hardest for most people. Point number two, meet yourself where you are at right now. This is equal parts, practical and mental because the mental piece is honestly where most people get stuck. Meet yourself where you are right now today. I constantly see it. Someone gets back into running and immediately starts comparing themselves to three things, what they used to be able to do, what they think they should be able to do, and what other people are posting online. And to be honest here, I've done this too. I probably far too many times that I'd like to admit, and I still get wrapped up in this as well, coming back from time off and thinking I should be further along than this. Even with everything I know, but here's what's true. Your training history reflects your capacity over time. It does not tell your body what you can handle right now, today after a gap. Those are different things and if you train like the person you used to be before your body is ready, you will get hurt or burnout, not might. Will. There's no shame in scaling back to match where you actually are. Absolutely no shame. In fact, that's the only path to making real progress because progress requires consistency and you can't be consistent if you're constantly dealing with the fallout from doing too much too soon. So it's hard. I know I'm right there with you. Let go of the comparison. Get curious with where you're at right now. That's where the work actually starts, and that's where it gets interesting. Point number three, build consistency and duration before intensity. This is a sequence I want you to actually memorize because most people get it completely backwards. Consistency first duration, second intensity. Last before any of the fancy stuff. Pace intervals, speed, work distance goals your entire job is to make running a habit. Two to three days a week, week after week, without negotiating with yourself about whether it's going to happen. That's it. That's the whole goal at the start. Once showing up feels automatic, you can start extending the duration a little longer each week, slowly and intentionally. And then after you've built both consistency and some duration, intensity gets to enter Striders strides, tempo work, pushing the pace, all valuable. This is true for beginners and is true for me right now in my own training. I have easy days that are generally easy. Even when I wanna push, because the hard days only work if the easy days actually are easy. It's the same principle at every level. The mistake I see over and over is people try to do all three in one week. They want to run three days and go longer and go faster. When week three arrives, they're exhausted, hurt, or both, and wondering what happened. Don't skip the boring part. The boring part is how you build a runner. Consistency is the whole thing. Point number four. Strength training is not optional for runners. Again, I am a lifelong runner and a strength coach for nearly 20 years. And this one is super important to me. Strength training is not a nice to have. It is not something you do when you have extra time. It is one of the most impactful things you can add to your running life, especially as a woman and especially if you wanna stay healthy enough to keep running for the long haul. Running is repetitive by nature. Every stride, the same muscles, the same joints, the same pattern over and over and over without strength work to balance it out. Weak things stay weak. Overworked things get more overworked. That's how you end up with hip flexor issues. It band problems and knee pain that seems to appear out of nowhere. They were building quietly. So strength training fills those gaps. Glutes, hip, single leg stability, posterior chain, lateral movements. These are the things that hold your form together when you're tired and absorb the force so your joints don't have to. That these are the things that make you more durable and an efficient runner over time. I lift because I still wanna be running in my sixties and seventies and beyond. That's the investment I'm making every time I go to the gym. Whether you're returning to running, keep it simple. Two days of strength work per week, maybe lower body focused, single leg movements, step up, split squats, single leg dead lifts, hip hinges, don't complicate it. Consistency. The combination of running and lifting is one of the most powerful things you can do for your body, and it doesn't require hours. It requires showing up and a bonus, it will make you faster, not in one week, but over time, a stronger runner is a more efficient runner. You'll have more to give when the intensity finally earns a place in your training. Build the engine first. And with strength training, I do understand it does take time. Running takes time. So when runners are starting out again or starting for the first time, I'd rather have you cut back on a run because it's going to help your body. As we build strength, you can always add more duration, more intensity. Over time, we need to make sure our body is ready for that. So the four points run slow and start with less than you think. Meet yourself where you actually are. Build consistency and duration before you ever touch intensity and lift, even if it's just a little, even if it's just twice a week. These aren't principles for beginners. They're principles I live by. I use them on Sunday. I'll use them next week because they do not expire. If this episode gave you something useful, if you're leaving here feeling more ready to actually start or restart or keep going, then episode 100 did exactly what I wanted it to. Here's what I want you to do this week. Pick two days to run. Keep it easy, keep it short. And if you want a real plan, something built around your life, your body, where you are actually at right now, come talk to me. The fit call is free. 15 minutes, no pressure. We'll figure out if we're a good fit to work together. You can hop into the show notes and click the link above. A couple other things I have for you, and I'll keep this quick because I know your time is very, very valuable. Number one, book a fit call. That's the primary thing I'm asking you to do. Number two, subscribe to the podcast. It generally helps the show reach more women who need to hear stuff like this. Number three, join the weekly newsletter. I really don't like the spam and I try to be useful with your time because I understand how busy you are. I may not know exactly your 24 hours, but I try to make your time useful spent with me. It goes deeper into training, strength and mindset pieces that we just don't have time to talk about on the episode, and it's one of my favorite things that I like to put out every week. And number four, stay tuned for something new. I am working on a group fitness program, something. That is very powerful built for a community of women who want structure without a high ticket price tag. And if that sounds like something you're interested, keep your ears open for more. Thank you so much for joining me for a hundred episodes, and thank you for trusting me with your fitness, your questions. Your mornings, your commutes. This show is one of the things I'm most proud of, and 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. 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. that's because of you. Here's 200 more. Keep moving and I'll see you in the next one. 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.