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Making Adjustments - Learning how to Run Part 2 a conversatin with Trina Wilcox
22 Plays4 months ago
Trina Wilcox was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA) at the age of six. Some people would have believed that as a result running a marathon would be impossible, but with the help and support of family, friends and coaches Trina has run ten marathons (to date).
In this episode of Fit For My Age one of our Learning How to Run series Trina explains to Michael Millward some of the adjustments she made to be able to run marathons.
You will be surprised by Trina’s revelations!
Trina and Michael discuss the different ways in which they became runners. Trina also explains how she had dealt with the times that she has not been able to run because of illness or injury.
Fit For My Age is made on Zencastr.
Zencastr is the all-in-one podcasting platform, on which you can create your podcast in one place and then distribute it to the major platforms like Spotify, Apple, and Google. It really does make creating content so easy.
If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr visit zencastr.com/pricing and use our offer code ABECEDER.
Find out more about both Michael Millward and Trina Wilcox at Abeceder.co.uk
Listen to Trina's internet radio station Run Radio
Visiting Missouri
Trina is based in Missouri USA. If you would like to visit Missouri the best place to make your travel arrangements is The Ultimate Travel Club, because that is where you can access trade prices for flights, hotels and holidays. Use my offer code ABEC79 to receive a discount on your membership fee.
Matchmaker.fm
Thank you to the team at Matchmaker.fm the introduction to Trina.
If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests or if like Trina, you have something very interesting to say Matchmaker.fm is where matches of great hosts and great guests are made. Use our offer code MILW10 for a discount on membership.
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Being a Guest
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:05
Speaker
Made on Zencaster. Hello and welcome to Fit for My Age, the health and wellbeing podcast from Abecedah. This is the second in our series of programs about learning how to run. I am your host, Michael Millward, the managing director of Abecedah. As the jingle at the start of this podcast says, fit for my age is made on Zencaster. Zencaster is the all-in-one podcasting platform on which you can make your podcast in one place and then distribute it to the major platforms like Spotify, Apple, Amazon and Google YouTube Music.
00:00:45
Speaker
Zencaster really does make making podcasts so easy. If you would like to try podcasting using Zencaster, visit zencaster dot.com forward slash pricing and use my offer code, fit for my age. All the details are in the description. Now that I have told you how wonderful Zencasteries for making podcasts, we should make one. One that will be well worth listening to, liking, downloading and subscribing to. Very importantly, on fit for my age, we don't tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think.
Meet Trena Wilcox
00:01:24
Speaker
Today, my guest who I met on matchmaker dot.fm is Trena Wilcox. Trena left broadcast radio to start an internet radio station. Now, Trena spends her day with a simple routine, run, write, radio, repeat. Fitness has always been an important part of Trena's life. She has used fitness as a way to coexist with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, which like all of these conditions has an acronym JRA. Trena can look back on a successful running career. She's run numerous races, 10 marathons, three of which were the Boston marathon. And she tells me there is still more to come.
00:02:12
Speaker
Trena does her running in Missouri, USA. I have never been to Missouri. I'm sure I will one day. When I do go to Missouri, I will be sure to arrange my travel at the Ultimate Travel Club. It is where I get trade prices on flights, hotels, and holidays, and all sorts of other travel related purchases. You will find a link and a membership discount code in the description. Now that I've paid the rent,
Running Challenges and Community
00:02:43
Speaker
Hello, Trena. Hello. Thank you for having me. It is a great pleasure and a privilege. Thank you very much. I know you're very busy. And so please could we start straight away with you giving us a little bit of your backstory. All right. Well, first of all, I have to say, I hope there will be more races. I'll talk a little bit about why my racing has been on a hiatus in a little bit, but
00:03:07
Speaker
I have been active and running for 20 plus years and it was something I never thought would be a part of my life at the level that it was. You know, like you said, I had a juvenile diagnosis with rheumatoid arthritis that was age six. And so, you know, it makes being active a little more difficult And, you know, you you're not as great as the other kids, it feels like. And running was a challenge for me in middle school. I barely passed the running tests. I was last picked for teams, but with some persistence and support from family and friends and the right coaches, I was able to be active and I started
00:03:57
Speaker
running on my own. And I just thought, hey, I want to see what I can do with this. So one 5K, two 5Ks, ten 5Ks, several 10Ks, half marathons, full marathons later, it was definitely a part of my life. And it still is. It's a bit addictive. Yeah, it is.
School Sports Experiences
00:04:19
Speaker
It really is. It's one of those things that It becomes a challenge and it's a way to manage stress. It's a community. So it checks a lot of boxes. It certainly does. It ticks all of those boxes. We do it because it's a tick box test, all this sort of stuff. There's a few things that you've just said, which make me wonder, like a running test at school. Is that like, if you can't pass the running test, you don't progress at school?
00:04:48
Speaker
It was part of the curriculum. You had to, you know, like in science, you have your chapter tests or whatever. You knew we had a running test. And and i I don't even remember you had to finish a mild test in under so many minutes. And, you know, I was dragging. I was often last to come through. Wow. And it was humiliating. No lie. It doesn't feel good to be dragging when everybody else is in the locker room cleaning up. I'm laughing, not at you, but at me because I i know a little bit about what that is like. I, the only P at school was my least favorite subject. I was always picked last for any teams. It was sort of like,
00:05:32
Speaker
yeah Why am I having to do this? Part of it was because the sports that everybody had to play, you know, this is what we can afford to provide. This is what is easiest to do. But they weren't the right sports for me.
Role of Coaches and Personal Growth
00:05:47
Speaker
Yes. And I think that's something I'd love to see change is teach young people, teach people in general to have an active lifestyle, but accommodate for what's good. Not everybody's a basketball player. Not everybody's a runner, but there are ways to be active and teach us how to fit it in our lifestyle and make it at least somewhat enjoyable because it is necessary to
00:06:15
Speaker
you know, be able to fit exercise into your life. It is key, you know, exercise physical activity is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. It won't compensate for an unhealthy lifestyle and other aspects of your life, but it is an important one. And I totally agree with you that school sports activities have a key role to play in providing young people with that enthusiasm. They've found something that they're good at and they can play that game regardless of what games they might not be good at. If they can find one game that they are good at, then focus on that one. Don't force people don't force square pegs into round holes. It doesn't work. It doesn't work.
00:07:02
Speaker
but You mentioned that you had friends and family and some some special coaches who sort like started you on a journey towards towards running. Yeah, well, my favorite coach, my dad is a tennis coach and he knows what it's like to work with me, which was a student and his child that needed some adaptations. And if those were implemented and encouraged, then I could enjoy and participate. And just for example, like um he taught me to use a two handed forehand and backhand because my wrists and hands weren't super strong. And it wasn't popular at the time, but he said, you know, we can do it. People out there do it, do it. And that's one of the earlier lessons I had to, you know, accommodating in order to be able to participate.
00:07:58
Speaker
And same with running. In middle school, it was everybody go full out, run as fast as you can. In high school, thankfully, we had a PE teacher that was like, you know what? We'll go out to the track, run straight squat curves or vice versa, but do what you can do. Try to get a little bit in there and push yourself, but don't feel like you have to keep up with you know your teammate, your classmate. Do what you can. That is a really important point because when I started running, I was at true personal training at the gym that I go to in Weatherby in the UK. And one of the trainers walked up to me one day and said, we're starting a running club. Are you joining? And I felt like, no.
00:08:46
Speaker
No, what would I want to be doing with running? My whole image that came into my mind was like, there'd be all these really athletic people just so like somewhere in the distance and me trying to keep up with them sort of thing. And then there was this five minute conversation really, which stuck with me, which is exactly what you've just said. It's like, just start just start just you know we'll start off slowly you can walk you walk run you walk run and ah pace yourself followed and there was like just like you have described this learning how to
00:09:25
Speaker
um just work out what it is that you need to do to create a nice even pace for you. right Something that is going to stretch you but isn't going to exhaust you. Yes. think that Don't count yourself out by comparison. If you compare yourself and then say, nope, I'm out, you never give yourself the chance. If I would have counted myself out by comparison, I would have never achieved the marathons that I completed. And I think it's very important for no matter what you're doing, fitness, work, career, relationships, don't count yourself out by comparison. Jump in there, try, adjust if you're determined enough to do it, or if you don't like it, fine, but you tried.
Injuries and Mental Health
00:10:15
Speaker
Yes, I think the trying part of it is if you forget about the comparison, you know, I'm this height, that person is that height, so their legs are longer. You know, for every 10 of my paces, that person has gone further in 10 paces than I ever will because of the length of their legs. it's It's not a comparison, it's just I'm out here to have fun. You know, it's like I run, I don't race. Yeah. Yeah, and I think once you get into that mindset of like the whole process is fun, then you can almost run around with a smile on your face. You don't see many runners with smiles on their faces, do you?
00:10:58
Speaker
I don't know. I feel like there are a lot through here in our area. I used to joke. My husband said, he would say, I saw you running through with a smile. I said, that is not a smile. That is a wince. I'm giving it all I've got. But you are right. it does you start When you start challenging yourself, it is sometimes harder to smile through that. But I think that's a personal thing too. Yeah. Yeah. I agree with them. I'm joking a little bit. I think that once you start, you do try to stretch yourself an awful lot in it, but could we go back and talk about some of the adjustments that you've made for running and in order to be able to run with your JRA? What sort of adjustments have you had to make? Well, I just feel like I have to go at it at my own pace and
00:11:52
Speaker
I can read stuff in magazines or watch other people talk about their mileage, but I have to do what is right for me. Um, I have to wear the shoes that though are working with me and my orthotics, not whatever is most popular in the comments, you know, that kind of thing. And, um, so that's been one of the best ways that has worked for me, just doing my own thing. I'm not listening to anybody else. So there isn't really any major adjustment that you've had to make you know in order to be able to run. I feel like there probably are that I don't even realize if that makes sense.
00:12:35
Speaker
It makes an awful lot of sense yeah because everything that you've described there is if you're going to run seriously, other people have told me that it is worth investing in shoes that work for you. Don't be phased by the brand. Go to a specialist shop that knows how to provide you with the right type of shoe for the way in which your body moves. And you've just said that that is what you had to do because of your JRA. But anybody would really go and and do that to make sure that they've got the right type of shoes for running a marathon, for example. If you're just going to go and jog around the block, which is fantastic to do, then you probably don't need to invest the same amount of time in the research of the shoes. And let's be honest, the cost of shoes, these are pieces of engineering.
00:13:26
Speaker
but It's like you say, it's just the only adjustment is to do it your way. Yeah. Really. And make sure you've got exactly like anybody else would do make sure you've got the right tools in order to do the running your way. Yeah. It's really interesting. But, you know, is there anything that, you know, when you look back that you now know, which you wish you had learned earlier in terms of your running career?
00:13:58
Speaker
Um, I think that you can never prepare for injuries and setbacks. Um, you can definitely, you know, you can prepare in terms of eat well, stay fit, take care of yourself, sleep, all of that stuff. But if you do something long enough, you're probably going to get injured. We all experienced COVID 2020, those types of things you just can't plan for. And when it happens, know that the athlete in you is still there and the rest is part of your training plan now.
00:14:36
Speaker
yeah And it doesn't mean that you are less than, it just means you've got to rearrange. And I think that's very hard to do for a lot of people like me when you get used to racing this race and doing this workout. And when you've got an injury or you've got to take time off, it's frustrating and it really can mess with your mental health. It's interesting listening to you there and thinking like, yes, I get all of that.
00:15:08
Speaker
I get the fact that if you are, if you get into running and it becomes a regular part of your routine to get injured, and I agree with you, the more that you run, the more likely you are to suffer some sort of injury because you're doing something which it in reality puts a lot of strain on some key parts of your body. You have to accept that there will be times when it is good to rest. But then the bit that you said about you when you are resting, if you don't manage your rest periods and recovery periods properly, it can have an impact on your mental health. Yes. And that's scary.
00:15:56
Speaker
You know, how does it, what sort of ways does it, does the, I suppose you're going in cold turkey on, on your running is your body wants to, your body can't. And that creates that mental health impact. But how does that sort of like become obvious? How does it manifest itself? For me with, you know, I've had a stress fracture before and was in a boot and actually Once I knew what was going on, that was kind of a relief and I could see the end game. But when I was diagnosed with long COVID, I couldn't see an end game. And I didn't know how, as a runner, you teach yourself to push through pain and to push through uncomfortable but situations. I guess that's more accurate than pain. I don't mean like an injury, but even though many many do it,
00:16:50
Speaker
Yeah. The way that I have experienced that is that my brain will tell me, Oh, you're tired. Michael, you are so tired. You you are really tired, but my legs are going like, so what? Who cares if you're tired and your your legs are sort of onto this, um, they're on autopilot. They're just carrying on. And although your brain is telling you really might like to enjoy a rest, you know, and for a regular healthy runner you
00:17:21
Speaker
You're okay with knowing that and training through that, but when you have something that has impacted your health and you don't know what's going on, where the boundaries are, it's frustrating. And like I said, you don't see the end game. So you don't know what's going to happen. Am I going to be able to recover from this? Will I get back to training? Will I get back to racing? Will I get back to racing? Well, and it's. It's very frustrating because something that you have put under your control is now way out of your control.
00:18:02
Speaker
Yeah, I can see that. Yeah. The illness takes over, the injury takes over. Right. And your focus instead of fitness or running has to become, let's deal with the injury with the illness. Let's get that sorted out and get back onto what we need to do. The absence of an end, like you say, is I think, I agree with you, that is the frustrating thing. I need to know when this is going to end. Right. And that there are so many things in life that we never really know when they're going to end.
Active Lifestyles Beyond School
00:18:38
Speaker
Right. And that's, but yeah, it's it's frustrating, but it it is part of life and it is, I suppose, one of those skills that we all need to learn, especially as we're growing up. Yeah. That we can't control everything. Right.
00:18:52
Speaker
And yeah there are aspects of of running, just the process of running, where I think yeah you do end up learning more about yourself as an individual from just what is a very basic, straightforward form of exercise. You know, it's, it's part of it is this, you can achieve something that you never thought was possible. And, you know, I know that the world is full of people who had negative experiences of sport, PE, fitness training, whatever it was called at school, the world is full of people who had negative experiences of physical education,
00:19:37
Speaker
fitness at school because school PE lessons weren't tailored enough to meet the needs of anyone other than the people who were good at the sports that the school provided, right? If you weren't good at those sports, then that was a miserable time. And the other kids, the other kids, you know, spared no quarter in letting you know that, you know, you weren't any good at this, whatever it was. They don't hold back at that age. The filter is gone.
00:20:09
Speaker
I think it's, yeah, people don't know they that they don't turn the volume down on the criticism. But then as you get older and you're trying out different sports, then I think that some of those people perhaps fall the crop of themselves. But you don't have the choice when you're in school. I think lots of people put off getting involved in sports in young adulthood and later because of those negative experiences. And yet Just give it a go is the is the thing.
Social and Personal Adaptations in Running
00:20:41
Speaker
I would never have gone out running by myself. I had to to do it. I had to start by running with other people.
00:20:50
Speaker
Yeah. It's, it's a social activity might not be a team sport, but it's aspects of it, which are so, I do know a lot of runners, myself included that really like to train solo. And I, I think that kind of goes back to not wanting to exercise in front of people. I would prefer to, you know, be out there running awkward by myself. And that's just the way I like to do it. Um, but. You know, if you are motivated by getting a group of people together, then go for it. Part of that, listen, this is not really, I shouldn't really say this, but part of wanting, when the opportunity came along to start running as part of a group, one of the things that appealed was I got into my mindset. I'm bound not to be the worst one. They're bound to be someone who I can look at and go, it yeah, well,
00:21:46
Speaker
I'm doing this a little bit better than that person, all this sort of stuff, you know? And of course, when you when you look at what we're all doing, the reality is we're all as good and we're all as bad as each other. You know, there is no league table as such. We all get round. We all have our own personal time. We all know what we could have done differently that might have improved our time. We all have learned something as a result of having a conversation with someone else about what they did.
00:22:18
Speaker
Definitely. Yeah, that's what I mean about the social aspect of it. If you start running by yourself, you'll pass other runners, I'm sure, because there are lots and lots of people who run. But it's like a smile, it's a glance. its And for me, joining starting running as part of a group gave me other people to talk to about running, to hear their advice. That was one of the great things. People just giving not criticism, but just advice. It's little snippets of things that people say that make sense and you think, oh yeah, that makes, yeah, why don't I try that bit? Yeah, wasn't, I think people can be very generous in groups. Definitely.
00:23:06
Speaker
We work out all sorts of different ways of achieving what it is that we want to achieve. But, you know, from what you're saying, the thing that I am learning is that no matter what you might coexist with, whether that is something like juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, JRA, Whatever it is that you coexist with, you can make very straightforward simple adaptions in order to enable you to run. And when you think about it, those adaptions are very, very similar to what someone who isn't coexisting with the same thing that you have would also be making. Well said.
00:23:49
Speaker
Trena, it has been really very interesting talking to you about your running journey. Really do appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Thank you for letting me share. I appreciate it.
Episode Conclusion
00:23:59
Speaker
It's been great. I am Michael Millward, the managing director of Abecida. And in this episode of Fit for My Age, I have been having a conversation with Trena Wilcox, a woman who shows people how to run. You can find out more about both of us at abacida.co.uk. There is a link in the description. I must remember to thank the team at matchmaker.fm for introducing me to Trena. If you are a podcaster looking for interesting guests, or if like Trena you have something very interesting to say, matchmaker dot.fm is where matches of great hosts and great guests are made.
00:24:37
Speaker
There is a link to matchmaker.fm and an offer code in the description. The description also includes a link to Trenner's podcast, The Run Radio Podcast, where you'll find an episode with a very, very interesting guest. That'll be me. So the description is going to be well worth reading. If you've liked this episode of Fit For My Age, please give it a like and download it so that you can listen anytime, anywhere. To make sure you don't miss out on future episodes, please subscribe. And remember, the aim of all the podcasts produced by Abisida is not to tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think. All that remains for me to say is until the next episode of Fit For My Age, thank you for listening and goodbye.