This year’s is the 130th Boston Marathon which takes place on Apri 20th. so marathon season is in full swing! Peloton instructor Becs Gentry is in the final stretch of preparing for this marathon. We wanted to talk about her passion for fitness, training for this race, and more!
ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we delve into the Boston Marathon that is coming up, I’d like to know about your background as we know you’re a Peloton instructor and avid runner!
BECS GENTRY: I used to work in PR. I now work in fitness. I got disenchanted by PR and I discovered that I had a very strong love and passion for fitness. I trained hard and became a fitness instructor. Essentially over the past, gosh, just over 10 years my career has been fully in fitness. Before that, it was about a good mixture of the two.
AM: We have a number of our readers and community that enjoy running marathons and travel all over the world as well as race here in NY at the NY Marathon! What is it about running that you enjoy and why do you enjoy participating in marathons?
BG: I love running because it frees me. It allows me to organize my brain. It gives me freedom. It gives me a great endorphin high and I absolutely enjoy the actual motion of doing it. It’s also a really good community spirit. It’s great to meet people and it is an awesome way to keep feeling really healthy in your body too. I don’t actually really enjoy participating in marathons that much, as I know there’s a lot of people who enjoy them a lot more than I do. I find them to be very high stress environments, especially big races. I enjoy them once I’m going, but I think the lead up to it I find very, very stressful.
AM: Because we have friends who are training for marathons, we hear about their training runs and are always amazed that they can balance work, a family life, and training - what are some tips you have on achieving that?
BG: Okay, balance doesn’t exist. Balancing work, family, training life, it doesn’t exist at all. You have to understand that when you’re going into an 18-week training plan ahead of a 26.2-mile race, that some things are going to skew towards being more focused and other things are going to skew towards having much less energy put towards them. As long as you’re okay with that, then that’s cool. You just have to make sure you’re doing the best you can in every single one of those elements. The most important thing is to enjoy it all.
AM: What kind of mindset should we have as we have a number of commitments from friends, family, and work while navigating our long-term fitness goals!
BG: This is a big question a lot of people ask me and I think it is a lot about us not being full-grown adults and looking at our schedule and saying, is this the right time for me to be training for a marathon or do I have 101 commitments in my personal and professional lives that are going to impede my training and therefore make me feel miserable about the fact that I have not fully completed the training or I’ve had to skip days due to travel? So, we do need to start kind of growing up in that respect and looking at our schedules ahead and thinking this race is going to be here next year when I have potentially nothing on the cards. But this year when I have four weddings in four different countries, I have an exam, I have a potential job promotion, etc. Maybe it’s just not the right time for you. So put that into your mindset before you agree to training for a marathon. Because as I said, you want to set yourself up for success and happiness, right?
AM: Weather can be challenging especially with the snowstorms we have navigated here in NY as well as entering Spring (it climbed to 70 degrees) so we know allergy season is definitely popping up! How do we prepare for these elements while staying motivated?
BG: Weather can be really challenging! It is rough. Anyone knowing that they’re running a spring marathon is going to know that they are going to have to run through a winter. We’ve had a particularly awful winter here in New York. And trust me when I say I’ve done a lot of treadmill miles. When it flips the other way and we go from winter into spring and the trees blossom and we get all of the pollen coming out, it can really hamper people because they’re feeling those allergies come through. We’re feeling snotty, we’re feeling congested, we’re feeling itchy eyed, we can’t sleep at night because we’re trying to mouth breathe and when we’re out running, we’re feeling all those things and we’re also feeling really dehydrated because we’re also trying to breathe through our mouths while we’re running. So that’s why working with a brand like Xyzal has been amazing because it has helped me so much knowing that I can take this tablet before I go to bed and wake up feeling no repercussions of seasonal allergies and I can just get out there and do my run.
AM: You have partnered with Xyzal for the Boston Marathon. Why is allergy management something that is overlooked when it comes to race preparation?
BG: I do think allergies are something that are overlooked for marathon race prep. One in four runners is actually affected by seasonal allergies and so I don’t think the voice has been loud enough to understand that there are things that are useful for runners to use in order to keep their training really strong. But also race day, like race day is spring, so you definitely want to keep this in mind.
AM: How does training during allergy season need to be tweaked without sacrificing your performance?
BG: Marathon training during allergy season is huge because you just need to be aware of what and how you are affected by seasonal change. So for most people it will be when the trees start to bloom and there is a lot more pollen in the air. So from winter to spring people are going to really feel those allergies kicking in. You’re going to get those scratchy eyes, blocked up nose. You’re going to feel just a little bit off. So by taking a product like Xyzal the night before, it’s the first allergy medicine that you take at nighttime. This means that the night before your training, your long run or your race, you’re going to take this and you’re going to wake up feeling absolutely normal. You know, you’re not going to have all of those allergy symptoms. Also, there are many apps and obviously the weather forecast app that you can look at to double check. Say the middle of the week and you’re planning on doing a long run at the weekend, you can see the forecast, you can see if there’s going to be a high amount of pollen predicted to be in the air on the weekend or when you’re going to be doing your long run. So plan ahead, make sure you have your Xyzal by your bedside and ready to use should the allergies really be kicking off.
AM: What are the recovery aspects that should be done while you’re training so that you can stay on your training schedule?
BG: Everyone is different. There’s lots of recovery things that you may want to do that the other person may not do. I’m just going to give you a few suggestions that people can try to do. I love my Normatec recovery boots. They’re compression boots. They help provide blood flow stimulation. Therefore, you’re potentially going to have a lack of DOM, delayed onset muscle soreness, which is accumulated regularly. DOM is basically lactic acid accymulated when you work your muscles hard. So this just means that there’s a better potential for you to get up and get on with your workout without feeling sore the next day. Taking a magnesium salt, epsom salt bath after a workout is also a really, really lovely way to help the muscles relax and regenerate. Getting a massage. Most of these things are about flushing out the toxins that are generated when you stress your body out. So a massage is wonderful for that. Making sure that you’re eating well and rehydrating as part of your rest and recovery is also very, very, very important.
AM: When you are a month out or 2 weeks out from a marathon, what do you suggest should be done to get you ready for the big race?
BG: When you’re two weeks out from a marathon, that is when taper starts. Taper is a decrease in intensity of the workout routine that you have been doing throughout your training program. So you’re still going to probably be running around the same amount of days as you have been all the way through, but your intensity, i.e. how fast you run, how long you run for, will be very much different to the rest of the program. This enables your body to make the adaptations and progressions it needs in order to thrive on race day. That is one of the most important things that you do need to do is to taper and let yourself feel good ahead of the big race.
AM: The day of the marathon, what are things that you do to prepare yourself for the marathon?
BG: On the day of the marathon, there is a lot to prepare for. It’s a huge deal. I mean, you’ve been preparing for it for 18 weeks, more than likely. The night before, though, is the key to preparation, not the day of. So the night before, you want to get your whole race kit laid out. You want to make sure your bib is pinned onto your clothing. You want to make sure your gels, if you’re using them, or whatever fuel you’re using in the race, are securely in pockets or in a running belt. Like, I make sure everything is in my SPI belt. You want to make sure you know your route to the start line if you’re taking public transport, if you’re going to be getting an Uber, if you’re walking, etc. You want to also know a backup route just in case the chosen route that you are taking has anything affecting it. Make sure you know two ways to get to your starting point. You also need to know the starting times and the corral opening and closing times for your race. Both are very, very important. If you miss your closing time, it’s not like you’re not going to run. You will just have to go to the corral behind. On marathon day, that should mean that you’re basically just going to get up, get dressed, eat your breakfast and get out there. You want marathon day to be as smooth sailing as possible.
AM: Once the marathon is over are there post-training activities that you do to come down from all of that energy?
BG: Once the marathon is over, there is so much joy in that walk from receiving the medal to friends and family or to however you’re going to celebrate. A lot of people don’t really talk about the post-marathon blues, the post-race blues, because you’ve just put so much time and work into this training for such a long time. And then all of a sudden you have this void in your life. So be ready to feel a little bit kind of lost in a way when you look at your schedule and it’s not filled with miles. But also please make sure that you do give your body the grace period after running a marathon to recover. It doesn’t mean you have to stop running, but give yourself a time until you feel you want to go for a run and go for a nice, short, gentle, easy paced jog and work your way back to whatever level you want to be at.
AM: You have a lot going on from being a noted Peloton instructor, Global Brand Ambassador of HOKA, and cohost of Set the Pace Podcast for NYRR. Is there anything coming up that you want us to know about that we can keep an eye out for?
BG: Yes, a lot of things coming up. Nothing of which I’m going to be talking about right now though, but lots of races on the horizon, and lots of fun to be had…!
IG @becsgentry
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | Becs Gentry
Read the MAR ISSUE #123 of Athleisure Mag and see MARATHON PREP | Becs Gentry in mag.
