Running Long in Midlife and Beyond One 50-mile Run for a 50th Birthday

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If you are here and you never ever think you want to run— like a good friend of mine said, the only reason I would run is from a bear— if that's you, stay with me. You do not need to have a desire to run, but what I want you to understand is there's a lot of rollover and spinover, and the whole idea here is, well, number one, it's a lot of fun for somebody who is a runner, but it's also about raising the glass ceiling. Just, you can do hard things. And I know if you look behind you, you already have.

You've done a lot of hard things in your life before.

But this hard thing and what we believe to be possible for the human body, how resilient it actually is, and if you happen to have an autoimmune disease and you think you're limited by that, please stay tuned and share this with other women. So this is all about running, and if you've been here a minute, you know that running long in midlife is probably not the first thing or even the second that I would recommend to women. Yet estrogen's an advantage when it comes to tolerating more volume and for recovery. But what happens when even if you love it, your peak estrogen levels were at least a decade ago? What if you've got a crazy goal and you want to go for it? And fortunately, you know how to interpret reactions and respond accordingly. Come on this unique trail with us as I interview a friend and colleague around her idea of fun at a fun birthday party. Party for her 50th birthday that not all of us will appreciate in the same way. My guest today is Margaret Floyd Berry. She's a functional nutritionist, author, speaker, educator, and real food advocate who's been on the pursuit of the most nutritious and delicious way of eating for the better part of her adult life. Having seen family members suffer the devastating effects of chronic illness from a young age, Margaret has long had the desire to help others find a way back to optimal health and well-being. Through years of experience working with the most complex cases, including reversing her own autoimmune condition, Margaret's established a powerful system for restoring health by addressing the root cause of illness. Today, Margaret teaches fellow practitioners the same proven system she uses to get her clients life-changing results through Restorative Wellness Solutions, a 2-year comprehensive functional nutrition certification program for qualified health professionals. With over 1,200 alumni worldwide, Margaret and the Restorative Wellness Solutions team are actively working to change the way health is Delivered. Margaret is also the author of Eat Naked: Unprocessed, Unpolluted, and Undressed Eating for a Healthier, Sexier You, and The Naked Foods Cookbook. We answer a ton of questions in this episode that you probably did not wake up this morning thinking you needed the answer to, but if you are looking for a little inspiration stick with us, and I think you will learn a thing or two about how to listen to your body, which is a really important skill for a woman in midlife and beyond. I'm Debra Atkinson. You're listening to Flipping 50. I started this podcast over a decade ago to answer questions about fitness, menopause and beyond before you knew to ask them. The goal: to help accelerate your results with science and the practical application of proven protocols while living your best life. There's no more powerful health influencer in the world than a midlife woman, and it's not just about you. But the 3 generations that you influence. My unique 40-year career, including being a university senior lecturer in kinesiology, an industry subject matter expert, and an international speaker, to founder of the first and the only exclusively made-for-menopause and beyond fitness membership in the world. Every week I interview experts behind the scenes and the science of optimal hormone balancing, fitness, and longevity, and share answers to our community's questions so you can have the vitality and the energy that you want, need, and deserve. Margaret Floyd Berry, thank you so much for being in the house.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to chat about one of my all-time favorite things.

Me too. And we'll just let everybody listen over the fence as we're chatting. But first of all, for a lot of our listeners, so I mean, cat's out of the bag, we're talking about a really long run to celebrate your birthday and some women's idea of fun is not others. So I'm going to ask this question. What inspires a sane woman to want to run 50 miles for her 50th birthday?

You know, it's so funny because I really wish I had this big inspiring answer for you. I was getting back at my husband. So I turned 50 this year, and I turned 50 on a Saturday, which to me was like, oh my God, of course we're having like the party of a lifetime. And unbeknownst to me, my husband had a speaking engagement elsewhere and he was not even going to be in town. And I was like, what? How are you not here for my birthday? And then I was— so then I was trying to figure out what to do because of course I wanted the party, but I did not want to throw the party. I wanted to attend the party. And my husband happens to be a chef and an standing party thrower. So for those of you sitting out there thinking like, why would you entrust this to your husband? He's way better at this than me. Honestly, if it was just me, my poor children would never have had a birthday party in their life. So he's the one who does— he's like the minister of fun in this house. So he wasn't going to be here. And, and then we were— I was bemoaning this and had just learned this when we happened to be in Mexico with very good friends of ours. And she, my friend, had just run 40 miles to celebrate her 40th birthday the year before. And then she was telling me how she just decided to keep doing it and she did 41 for her 41st birthday. And I was like, well, wait a second, I'm a distance runner. That's exactly what I need to do. And really sitting there by the pool, we came up with this whole idea. You know, I didn't want to do it as a race. I wanted to do it nice and slowly at my own pace. And I thought, oh my gosh, I bet I could have a bunch of people come into town and James isn't going to be here anyway, so he can't complain that I'm not home and then I'm running all day, which is one of my favorite things to do is to go out and run all day. And although I just want to be clear, I've never run this many miles. Like, this is double what I've ever done before. I've done marathons, but never 50. And I had just recently moved to Boston, which is like an incredible running city. And we live just steps away from a very famous part of the Boston Marathon course, which I'm a little obsessed with. All together, I kind of cobbled together this dream birthday for me where some of my favorite people gathered. And I picked a loop that was just shy of 12 miles that had me going through that very famous part of the Boston Marathon. For marathon junkies, it's— I live right in the Newton Hills, so I was able to run the Newton Hills, which includes Heartbreak Hill, um, 4 times. And, and then different people were— I always had someone either biking with me and running with me, at least one of each, sometimes more than that. I actually sat down between laps and just, it was like an ode to running. It was an ode to this beautiful city that I live in. I had already made the declaration a few years back that I wanted to enter my 50s the fittest I had ever been, like by far. Like I wanted to look back at my 25-year-old self and think like, she could never have done this. And honestly, she could never have done this. So this was just a great way to celebrate that. And some people think I'm crazy, but it was super fun.

It is so super fun, and I love, love, love it. Okay, so talk to me about how long have you been running long? I mean, how long has endurance really been your thing?

I think endurance has been my thing honestly since high school, but it was never competitive in high school, maybe even earlier than high school. I don't honestly remember when I started running. I just don't remember not running. In high school, what I can tell you, I mean, I joined the track team for about 10 minutes. It was awful. I hated it. I didn't do well. And we didn't really have a good track program at our school anyhow. And so I was embarrassed about how I ran. And at my school, the school was a very small school but filled with athletes. I mean, I had a graduating class of 90 people and within 5 years of graduation, 4 of them had run Ironmans. That's a high percentage. 5 to 6% of our graduating class within 5 years of graduating had run Ironmans. Like, that's crazy. So that just to give you a sense of the level in our class. And I was always like the not athlete, the non-athlete, and I was shy about my legs and I didn't like to wear shorts. So I would literally run at night when no one could see me.

Oh my goodness.

But I would go. For hours. Like, I loved it. I can remember— I have a memory of a very specific Saturday night in high school, probably like grade 10 or grade 11. And I went, and there was this loop I did which is about 5, 6 miles. And I did the loop, and I came back, and my mom was in the bathtub, I remember. And I came in, I said, you know what, I'm just gonna do it again because I feel really good. And she was like, are you sure? And I was like, yeah. So I went out and I did it again. And I came back and I was like, I really want to do it again. And she's like, no, stop. Like, it's now too— like, I don't remember what time it was, but she was like, you have to stop. But like, I just wanted to keep going. I just don't want to stop doing it. I feel really good. This— I just like being out here. It's beautiful. The air feels good. My body feels good. So I've always run. It's always been my decompression. It's always been the thing that if I haven't done it in a few days, most people who are close to me can tell because I get really cranky. Now I didn't run my first marathon until deep into my 30s, and I was never trying to run fast until deep into my 40s. But, but in terms of just distance, that's just my— that's like I'm wired for it. Yeah. Okay.

So talk to me about speed. So you're one of those people who— I have a book somewhere on my shelf that is like Older, Faster, Stronger. So you are getting faster as you get older.

Definitely. Now, nobody ever coached me and nobody ever trained me, and I did not know what I was doing up until I had a very good fortune of meeting an outstanding coach, actually in the first year of the pandemic, so in 2020. So I lived in Portland at the time, and through a very— just a connection through a friend, I got connected with— his name is Steve Edwards, and he's Shalane Flanagan's husband. So anybody who knows distance runners, Shalane is a multiple-time Olympian. And, she won the New York City Marathon in 2017. So, we're talking somebody who knows running inside and out. And, out of the absolute goodness of his heart, Steve took on a small group of us, like middle-aged women. You know, when I first met him, I just wanted to run a sub-2 half marathon. It was a very sort of modest goal, but for me, that was massive. And, I'd never— I couldn't run quickly. I didn't know how. And, I'd really never even done a track workout. I mean, I said I was on the track team. I never actually worked out on a track. I went to a track meet, ran a 1500, and never went back because it was so awful. So I didn't know what a track workout was. I didn't know how to do any of these things. And it was under Steve's guidance and support that, that I actually all of a sudden was opened up to the possibility of like, oh wow, I can get faster if I train properly and know what to do. And so over the course of like I guess we worked together for like 2 and a half years. I ran a marathon with him actually, and I took an hour off, like 57 minutes off of my marathon time.

Oh my God. That is crazy. I want to back up because it dawned on me as you were talking, we might have just brushed over something that somebody doesn't acknowledge what that means. So when you said your initial goal was to do a sub 2 half marathons. So, so everybody understands, so less than 2 hours to do a half marathon. So we're talking 13 miles, right? So just to give everybody that, this is really important. So she's not lollygagging, she's definitely not walking, you know, right?

Okay, definitely not lollygagging. But also, a sub-2-hour half marathon is not this audacious, insane goal that is so wildly undoable, right? I mean, it's challenging, but it's not impossible. Because honestly, what he and I started working towards was qualifying for the Boston Marathon, which for me always felt like that's what elite athletes do. I'm not that, there's no possibility. But that became what we started working towards. And I will tell you, in that marathon where I took off 57 minutes, I came 4 minutes shy of qualifying, which was its own special little kind of pain. It was like a very exciting run, but it was also, you know, so close. But yeah, no, I could never have trained like that and challenged myself and seen what I was capable of. And I'll tell you, I ran the half marathon mark. In fact, as we were running on that particular day, we passed the half marathon mark and he goes, "Hey, what's your best time in the half?" And I said, 2:09. And he goes, oh, I just crushed that. It was at 1:51. Wow.

That's so cool. So did it change for you? So from your real early start of just going out there and just running and doing whatever, and now you're actually learning to run, did it start to be more painful and less enjoyable at any point?

Well, there were definitely moments, you know, I remember asking him, cause I have a pretty high pain threshold. And I wasn't ever sure what pain is like normal pain of running. And I had, I recognized that I had definitely held back from pushing myself, that like the natural discomfort that comes with actually challenging yourself in a running workout. Like you go to the track and you run a set of 800s, I'm just gonna be honest, it sucks. Like almost the entire time you're running other than your warmup and cool down, it hurts. But I didn't actually know that that was normal. So one of the things that working with him did was help me understand when it's appropriate to feel discomfort and when it's not. He would describe it as like, we want to make sure you're not leaking gas and, you know, or bend, don't break. I have all these little Steve-isms in my mind. But, you know, there is a point where I can still push myself and I'm still performing and I'm not like really starting to combust. Versus pushing so hard that I'm now— my performance is like dramatically deteriorating. He definitely in certain workouts would pull me off the track and be like, you're done. You've done what you can do today. And I'm not gonna— let's not break you.

Describe the pain of running. Cause somebody may be thinking, are you talking about your knee or your hip?

That's a really good point. Yeah, it's not. It's so interesting. No, it's not knees or joints. It's funny. Everyone's like, do your knees hurt? I'm like, like, no, they've never— like, I, I mean, if my knees hurt, something's wrong, right? Like, that doesn't— that isn't part of things. And it's, it's much more— it's not even that your lungs hurt. There's a level of exertion where it's just, it's really uncomfortable, right? Like, it's hard to go that fast and keep going. If you, like, think about, like, if you sprint, you can kind of all out go and then it's over pretty quickly, right? And then the flip side of that, maybe you're doing a nice long run and you're just going this really gentle, easy pace where you can have a conversation you're downloading about your week. It's like running therapy, which is awesome, and I think a vitally important part of running. You go to a track and you're doing a workout, something like an 800, at least, you know, I think if you're doing— if you're really giving it, you shouldn't be able to talk. You're just like— every energy, every cell in your body is focused on forward momentum and maintaining a pace that you can maintain. I say an 800, that's 2 times around the track, which is kind of— well, in my opinion, it's the worst distance. Even once around the track, it's like you can muscle through for once. But it's like you go to that second lap and you're like, oh God, I have to keep going. You know, speed is not my thing. I like to go longer, you know. But, but yeah, so the pain is just this, like, you're physically pushing yourself further, but it's not because your feet hurt or you might get tired. It's more of a fatigue and pushing through that. Because one of the things that distance running will really, will really do for you is teach you that so much of the fatigue is in your mind, because your brain's going to tell you you can't do it long before you actually physically can't do it. You can do so much more than you think you can. And for me, that's one of the most important pieces of doing these long distances. That was one of the most important pieces of doing this 50-mile, was because even when I decided to do it, I thought, there's no way I can actually do this. Like, no. And then I did, and it's just, it's the coolest feeling to just watch yourself physically achieve something that it just sort of bends your brain to think, how's that even possible?

So great. Let me ask you this. So I would imagine you've done some shorter things too, and you've experienced interval training, and most of our listeners have probably gotten there. But at first, when they're told, whether they're listening to me or somebody else, get breathless. To a lot of women, they've never done that before.

Yeah.

And they're like, what does that feel like? And I'm like, hmm, feels like breathless.

It's leaning over. It's, it's always the edge of like, I might throw up, but I'm not gonna throw up. I haven't actually— I did, like, I threw up on my, on my 50-mile run. I was actually very proud of myself. I've never done that before. I've been terrified of it. And it— yeah, that was because of like fuel that wanted— didn't want to stay down.

But Yeah, I've experienced that too. And that is how we are just kindred sisters. I threw up while I was doing an Ironman on the bike. And again, it was like the fuel I was taking just didn't stay in. That was it.

Out it comes.

Yeah. The next time I saw my family, I'm like, I threw up. Like, yeah.

Yeah.

Totally. So would you liken it to once somebody experiences that first time where, oh, I can get breathless, and then they'll do another one even in the same session. Your second, your third, now it's more doable and you can totally shift into that gear. Is that what you found as you train fast?

100%. Like, you— I actually always find that first interval, no matter how long it is, a 200, 400, a mile, whatever it is, the first one always just sucks. Kind of, it's just like your body's remember— even if you've done a great warm-up, you've done all the things, like your body's like, wait, what are we doing here? And then once you've done that first interval, then it's like, oh, I know what we're doing. And I can, you know, you can kind of click into it and just notice it's also, there's a lot of learning and it took me a very long time to figure out how to sort of gauge the pace based on the distance of the interval. You know, like running 400 versus 800 versus a full mile, you know, that first lap of the full mile can feel fantastic, but if you've gone out too fast and you have 3 more laps, that really sucks. So learning to— learning what those things feel like and kind of anchor them into your body. And of course, your watch is a very powerful training tool. You always know the runners who are like— I don't want to say more serious, but the ones who are like on a mission at the track because they're sort of obsessively checking their watch every corner.

Yeah, I love that. Okay, so how old were you when you did your very first marathon?

36 or 37. Okay, okay.

So there's two things at play here that we'll have to kind of look at. So how is training differently— I mean, different for your 50, which is almost double, versus a marathon? But also, I want to come back and weave into what was different about training at 36 or 37 versus training at almost 50?

Well, it's so interesting because a lot happened in my life in that time, right? So when I first trained for my first marathon, my only goal was to finish. And I trained with a group in Los Angeles called AIDS Project Los Angeles, and we were raising money for, you know, for APLA. And they would train you. I do— I say train, They would help you get to the end of a marathon without hurting yourself, right? Like, it wasn't really training. We had group runs where it would progress each week. There were track workouts that I didn't understand were important, so I didn't go to a single one. And it would be like, I did progressively longer long runs, and then I ran a couple times in the week, and that's it. And we also did a run-walk thing, and I don't really know how they calculated it. They had us run, I think, a 5K at the beginning, and they put us into different groups. So, I was in the— for the first time I did it, I was in the 10-minute mile pace group. The next time I did it, I was in the 9-minute mile pace group. And they had some formula. I can't remember what it was, but it was like 8 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking, or there was different numbers based on what pace group you were in. And so, you know, and at the time, I'd never run any distance. I remember going every long run was the longest I'd ever run in my life in that first marathon build, you know. Like, I can remember my, my husband and I met at the end of my 12-mile long run. He was handing out orange slices as I came in. And, and I, yeah, and I can just remember distinctly because at the beginning of our relationship, he'd always be like, oh, she just finished running like 8 miles. I was like, no, 12, because it was— I'm so clear that I knew, you know, every week it was just this a little bit more. So the whole thing felt incredibly new And I will say I had a ball in my first marathon. I ran San Francisco, and I didn't start to really hurt until about mile— I wasn't even really sort of, I want to say, wanting it to be over. And that's going to sound like, well, why would you do these things that you want to be over? That's a little bit a part of the whole marathon ethos. But I didn't even think that thought until about mile 17, which is actually quite remarkable for— it's pretty deep into a marathon before you start wondering when this is going to end. I didn't truly start to like hate life until about mile 22, which again, non-runners are probably thinking y'all are crazy, and we are, but, but they're comes a moment, and part of the joy of these things is overcoming that moment of thinking, like, sort of questioning all your life's choices and then coming out on the other side and seeing what you're actually made of. But it was a really different experience. Also, physically, I wasn't— I had— I was already working, so I'm a nutrition professional, and I was already working as a nutrition professional, but I was still at the very beginning of my— of that journey, right? So it was just— I feel like I was so much greener that I don't I look back at it and I think, well, I survived the marathon. I don't feel like I like trained for it specifically. So training now, it's interesting because I'm older and I feel like the quote unquote correct answer to give you is like all these additional considerations. But it's actually, I feel so much wiser, I feel so much better informed, and I feel so much smarter in my training that I actually think the burden on my body is significantly less.

Wow. Phenomenal. Hey, it's Debra. Can you think of one person who would benefit from this episode? Would you pause right now and share it? Send it directly to an individual or share it to your social media. This is how we, you and I, get a movement going and surround ourselves with women who are doing and thinking exactly what we want to do and think. The greatest work we have to do is in believing that it's possible, believing what it can look like now, in 10 years, in 20 years, and beyond. We are the first generation that collectively will strength train our entire lives and that can change the way we all age. When you surround yourself with other women who are creating strong futures, we all win. Okay, so I want to ask about that then. Do you think you're just so much more wise in what you need, listening to it and overcoming that? Your recovery is like, we can't even compare the two, like your need now versus then.

Well, then I could get away with a lot more, probably. Like, I wasn't being very intentional with recovery. I just sort of like went through the motions. I can't believe I did it with fueling the way that I did. I did— I mean, I don't even want to think about what kind of protein I was eating then. Hardly anything. And then more— I mean, even over the last few years, I've dramatically increased my protein. And I mean, there's certain things I feel like I'm constantly learning. So it's Every training effort, every build I do, I, I get better and better at understanding how to support my body so that it minimizes the impact. Now, I will say, at this stage, I cannot get away with doing the things that I did in my 30s. Like, there's just— it's just not an option. I can't ignore sleep. Not that I ever ignored sleep. I've always quite liked sleep. So, but I feel like I'm a lot more thoughtful and considerate with things, and I got a lot more toys, you know. I've got the NormaTec boots, and I got my sauna, I've got my, you know, all the things.

So talk about diet. When you're running, it's very different than, say, biking because you're jostling your stomach and your gut. I mean, runners are notorious for gut issues. And I remember when I first started running, and I think this is true like every season, if I first go a long distance, like my gut will be trashed afterwards a little bit. You know, and then I've, it's like I've broken into that and my gut will be fine for that distance. But if I go a little bit further, you know, I might suffer from that too. How did you manage your gut, keeping it calm, keeping enough fuel coming in to keep you going during that long time?

I trained for it, honestly. And I think that's the big difference. I never trained fueling historically. And now I train my fueling as much as I train my running, right? Like to me, and when I say fueling, I'm talking about all pieces of it. I'm talking about what am I eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I'm also talking about what am I eating before a workout and after a workout. And I'm also talking about on long runs, practicing eating while running, which just, I don't know that it's ever fun. It's, and you mentioned the jostling. It is really hard to be running and I look at the elite runners and they're just flying and they're like sucking back stuff. And I'm thinking this is something I have I have finally come to learn about myself and be okay with. I will walk to fuel even if I'm going for a BQ. I will walk to fuel because I would prefer it to go in and stay in and get down and take the 20 seconds to do that rather than push through. And what happened the first BQ attempt— when I say BQ, sorry, Boston qualifying attempt— my first time, so that's really pushing it in a marathon where I'm really thinking about pace. This is not like just doing it for the fun of running the marathon. This is I'm really going for it and trying to, trying to achieve a specific time And the first time I did that, I had not trained taking in fuel while running very well. And I was trying to be a real purist about eating all real food. And I had these gels. I'm not going to say the brand because they're a really good brand. I found they tasted like vomit, but they were real food. And what happened is they were in my little pouch next to me, so they got hot. So it was like hot, smelly. It was just so gross and I just couldn't do it, you know. And what I would do is I would take some and I would like hold it. And I still do this sometimes. This is my strategy. If I take in a gel or if I'm taking in something, I'll literally just hold it in my cheeks and let it just sort of slowly disintegrate and go in. But, but I ended up wildly— I think I did one, maybe two gels in the entire race for a whole marathon. That is not enough. Wow. I mean, I needed— I needed— I was— I made it across the finish line, but I was one of those people who collapsed at the end. And it's no wonder. And I look back and I think, you're so like, what were you thinking? So now I'm very specific at training. So for this 50-miler, I had my fueling dialed. I had a timer on my watch, and every 30 minutes, whether I wanted to or not, I had something to eat. And I had it timed. I had exactly what I was going to eat 30 minutes, and then 30 minutes later I'd switched back and forth from something that was— so in an ultra, we're not just eating sort of sports fuel, you're actually also eating some real food. But you don't, you don't need a lot, and you really want to do what you're going to be able to get down. So I'm going to say something here and tell you what I ate that is not something I would eat ever any other time in my life, but this, this was what I ate. I ate these gluten-free pretzels filled with peanut butter. You know those little guys? They're actually delicious.

Yeah.

And I love them, and they're like guilty pleasure. And I, you know, so it was like I would look forward to it, although they became They're a little dry, so I had to do lots of water, but that's fine. But every 30 minutes, either 2 pretzels with peanut butter, or the next one I would do a sports gel. And the one— the brand that I like is Maurten. It's just— it— I don't know what they're— I don't understand their technology, but it's like it's in your mouth and you're already feeling it in your legs before you've even swallowed. It's unbelievable. Wow.

Okay, that's amazing.

Yeah, I know, it's phenomenal. So I just did that, and it didn't matter if I wanted it or not. That alarm went off my phone, I did it.

Okay, so calculation-wise, I mean, did you come up with, I know I need X amount of carbs and the fat is something I know I can break down and digest, or where did that come from?

My last marathon and then this one, I was working— I'm very blessed to work with Zach Bitter, who's an incredible ultra marathoner, world champion, and he's a great— he's this great combination of ultra endurance athlete plus kind of biohacker. So he understands, because I actually eat quite low carb the rest of the time, so he understands these fueling strategies. So he helped me come up with all of these calculations. I honestly don't even remember the numbers. All I remember is 2 pretzels stuffed with peanut butter and a Martin gel, and you totaled it all up together. It didn't end up being much. It was maybe 40 grams of carbs an hour, which is quite low. Most people will be doing significantly more than that. I did not even drink water. I drank only electrolytes.

So what about pre and post? Now, obviously, given what you do, your diet is probably pretty stellar Anyway, but you are also managing an autoimmune disease, so talk a little bit about that. And not everybody listening with an autoimmune disease, again, would be inspired to do 50 miles.

So yeah, so as a baseline, my diet is typically very, very clean. You know, my, my one like absolute non-negotiable, I am strictly gluten-free. So that is though, that is like the thing that never moves. I will typically eat low carb, not, you know, depending on different what's going on physiologically. I don't normally go into full ketosis, but I will go much lower carb than like your typical endurance athlete, maybe like 100, 150 grams of carbohydrates in a day. 150 would be high for me. So I'm really focusing on lots of good clean veggies, lots of good clean protein. Now protein is the thing that I think is one of the most important movers especially for women, especially as we get older. And so, I do the 1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight and then fill in with carbs kind of around workouts. So, I still have enough of the old-school carb loading in me the night before a long run. If I was going to have pasta, I'm going to have pasta the night before a long run. It's going to be gluten-free and it's not going to be the same serving sizes and it's going to tons of, you know, meat and veggies and stuff, but I would have it the night before a long run. And then also some after a big effort to like replenish glycogen stores. Then another thing that I actually changed significantly was to make sure I, I'd never worked out fasted. That's something that I used to do quite a bit and I noticed I was just really depleted. So I don't eat much, but before a morning workout, whether it's strength training or a run, I will do just a little protein drink. So I'm getting like minimum 20 grams of protein in before a workout. And I do drink a little cup of coffee and sometimes I do like fancy coffee, you know, I might add in some collagen and some extras in there to like make it a little more, you know, nutrient packed. But that would be something that would be what I would do basically before a workout, whether it's a run or, or strength at the gym. And then after, I actually find after is really hard, especially after a long effort, a long run on the weekend. So anything like 2, especially— so this was the ultra, it was like I was doing like 5-hour runs. It was just like, say goodbye to my family. I'd be like, I'll see you tonight, just be out there for hours. And I'd actually find after those long runs, it's actually very hard to have the appetite to eat. So I'm a big— like, those protein drinks, I, I just— they're so helpful. So what I use, the brand Kion, Oh, I can say brands, right? Okay. I use the brand Kion and they have a whey protein that's just super, super clean. And their chocolate one, just to me, I add, I literally just have a scoop or two of that in water in my shaker bottle. And it tastes to me like chocolate milk. So, oh, and actually, as I say that, I've got to tell you what I craved this entire build for the 50 miler was milk. I would come home and drink, and I couldn't eat, but I could drink milk. And I would get really good A2 milk, which probably sounds crazy for people who know autoimmunity. And who— yeah, exactly. But my body craved it. I got really clean dairy, and it was just— oh, it would feel perfect going in. I would never— I never want— like, I'm sitting here right now, the idea of a glass of milk makes me a little nauseous. But after these long runs, it was like I was hot. I just wanted something cold. And it's got kind of the perfect ratio of carbs and a little bit of protein and some fats and some electrolytes. So, it's— in some ways, it's got all you need. You mentioned the autoimmune piece. And here's the thing with autoimmunity. Recovery is always important for anyone, for everybody, no matter what athletic pursuit you're on. With autoimmunity, it's an absolute non-negotiable. And I actually think that in some weird ways became a bit— I almost call it my superpower because there's sometimes where it really drives me nuts, but it kept me really honest. You know, like, I can't— I also know my genetics, and I honestly think if anyone is wanting to really dial in their training, whether it's for endurance or just general fitness or strength training, like, you— if you have specific fitness goals, understanding your genetics and understanding How much recovery your body actually needs, understanding, are you an athlete who is going to benefit and get fit, get fitness gains more from power versus endurance? Like actually my endurance pathways are really low, which is kind of funny given what I do. Really? So the place where I see the most improvement is, I think that's why when I started adding in speed work, I got faster quickly because I, my, that's what my body wants is that hard work. You know, but under— but I'm a big— the genetics test that I use and love is called 3x4 Genetics, and it's— it tests, gosh, what, 30-something different pathways. And they have a whole activity section where they test like one of 6 or 7 different pathways within the activity. So they're looking at things like recovery, predisposition towards soft tissue injury, a bunch of different things. There's, you know, the— whether Power or Endurance Pathways are more your thing. There's a couple of others I'm not thinking of, but they're great. It's a great educational tool. So what I know about myself from that is I know I need a lot of recovery, and you add autoimmune on top of that, and what that means is that, that just became kind of my job. Like, the training was my job, but the recovery was as my job as the training.

So good. That is so good. So when you first, how long, what was your runway, like your runway up to the 50 once you decided I'm gonna do this?

Not long enough. I think I had the idea in January. My birthday was June 1st and I didn't start the training in earnest. Well, I started it kind of, I remember, cuz we were in Mexico and I was like, well, I better go for an 8-mile run tomorrow. I can't, I gotta get going. I gotta get up to 50. So in fact, when I reached out to Zach, who I was working with at the time, and him being an ultra guy, I thought, oh, I'm gonna tell him I wanna do this and he's gonna say, don't disrespect the distance. You're nowhere near ready. You need so much more time. And he was like, oh yeah, no problem. You could probably do it this weekend. I was like, what? It didn't feel long enough, but it actually was fine. It was totally fine. It was, yeah. And it was really just focused on these, there's a little bit of speed work, but mostly it was focused on just building mileage in those long runs and building the experience. You know, in a marathon build, I will do maybe 2 long runs over 20 miles. I did 5. Wow. Into the 20s.

Wow, wow, that's huge. How much time did you put between? Did it vary?

It was always a week.

Okay.

No, it's the last one, it just built, you know, and the last sort of 6 weeks before the the actual run, it was like 5-hour run, 5-hour run, or maybe it was 4 and a half. I can't remember what the, but it was like very long run, very long run, very long. And then there was one weekend where it wasn't, there was, now I missed, there was one and you know, I, on my plan, I actually did 5 and 6 were planned, or I did 4 and 5 were planned. I can't remember the exact breakdown, but there was one that I was by myself with my kids and one of my kids got sick, so I wasn't able to do the whole thing, but it totally, it was fine. But it was only, it, there wasn't, you know how with a lot of marathon builds it gets progressively harder over 3 weeks and then you pull back for a week and kind of let the training, it wasn't like that. It was just a steady, slow increase the whole way through from the time I decided to do it until I did it.

When you were done, yeah. Was there the letdown, the post-Christmas letdown? Like, nah.

It's so funny. Now a lot of things were different. I get that after marathons. And I also, after marathons, feel like I've just been— I've just really worked myself, you know, like I kind of can't walk for a few days and I'm just sort of like, why do I do this? Like, I just beat myself up. And this is so interesting because it was so many more miles. And yet I think because I had such a different attitude around it and I went nice and easy and I took some breaks during the day. That I ended up— I mean, there was no big depression. I was so happy with everything and so happy and proud that I could do it. I don't really have intentions of doing that. It's not like I'm going to every year run my age in miles. That's not going to be a thing. And I felt like I could go running 2 days later, which was very weird. I almost felt like it didn't happen. It was a little surreal. It was like, did I just do that? Because I feel— I even went to my chiropractor who'd been supporting me through this whole thing.. And I saw him about 3 days after and he was like, it's not in your body. I can't feel it. So you asked me what's different from historic marathons to this. And one of the things completely outside of the training is that this I did for the absolute love of it. It was, I did it for the love of running, for the love of just being able to run, for the love of this beautiful city, for the love of spending time with people that I love doing something I love. It was just all about joy. And I actually think that changes a lot of things. And that's my actual, that's my goal for my next marathon that I do. I really want to do it, even if I'm trying for a Boston qualifier again, I just want to do it because I love it. Not because of the time or the proving to anyone or any of that stuff that we can kind of get caught up in accidentally.

That was so very cool. And you, you must have preempted that my next question was going to be, would you do it again?

I don't, I don't, you know, I don't right now. My answer, it's not like it's interesting because marathons, which are so much harder, it's like you barely showered and you're like already registering for the next one. I don't think so. I don't think so. I joked that when I turn 100, I'll run 100 miles, but no, I don't feel called to that. I have, I mean, talk to me when I'm 59 preparing for my 60th birthday. So, but I don't, I, what I haven't, people are like, oh, you're going to be like that ultra girl now. And you're going to go start running ultra marathons. And that doesn't call to me. It's too much time. I have young kids, it's too much time.

Well, that is my last question actually. Did training— did you find that training took a toll on your energy for showing up for work or for your relationships? I mean, you get two girls, you got a spouse, you like them.

So yeah, it can for sure. It definitely takes time away from them. So, you know, Saturday mornings, it's just— I'm just like not available on Saturday mornings when I'm training for something like that, you know. And I know that they they don't always appreciate that. And I could only do this because I have the most amazing husband who just takes Saturday mornings with them. But I will also say, I think it really, to me, having girls, it was really important to show, to model this to them. Like, they got to see me do this really hard thing. In fact, this summer they're at camp and they were there over 4th of July and there was, they ran a 4-mile race and it was really funny.

Wow.

My oldest daughter, who's 12, was like, Wow. I got to that 1-mile mark and I was ready to be done. And I thought, my mom did 50 of these things. And I thought, you bet I did. And I don't have any hopes and dreams that they're going to be— one of them wants to run, one of them doesn't. That doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is modeling to them that you can set a big audacious goal and you can work really hard. And achieve it, and that you can have a whole lot of fun in the process. I think that that is— to me, that was worth time away.

Beautiful, beautiful place to end. All right, just so that everybody can geek out, follow you, and watch over your shoulder with the other things, you're gonna pick up lots of tips about Margaret and what she does, especially those of you who are here. And I know you are here, you health coaches and fitness pros who are here to gather information for yourselves or to gather information about what we're doing here so that you can do it too. Where can they find you and follow you?

Well, so I'm sometimes active on Instagram. I'm not perfectly active on Instagram, but I'm there. I hang out. So @margaretfloydbarry. And then probably the best place to find me, kind of my overall digital home online, is margaretfloydbarry.com. That's where you can access things from my from my old consumer-facing website, as well as I do practitioner training with Restorative Wellness Solutions, where we train health professionals in how to use these advanced tools of functional nutrition. So for any— anyone who's in the health space who is interested in— that's a great place to come check out as well, which is restorativewellnesssolutions.com.

So good. Okay everybody, we'll put those links, by the way, in the show notes, and you'll find those at flipping50.com Running long in midlife. Thank you for listening. To listen to a decade of episodes and to get the show notes, visit flipping50.com where you'll be able to find all the previous episodes. And I made it super easy to make the most of your listening time and get exactly what you want to listen to as top priority by getting the top 10 episodes in the areas you most care about, like how much protein do you need, weight loss, and other 3 ultra important topics we've identified as our community's top 5. There's no more powerful health influencer in the world than you, midlife woman. So go and listen right now. Do you have a question for a podcast? A question you'd love to ask, or maybe a story you want to tell? Did you know we have a special group just for podcast question roundups and the answers? My community coaches and I provide answers daily inside of this group, but it's also where I go when I occasionally say, okay, open call for podcast questions or tell your story. Would you like to be a guest? So if you're looking for a community of women who are also interested in optimizing their health, strengthening their mindset, and looking forward to every new year, join the Flipping 50s. 50 Insiders Group. That's Flipping 50 Insiders on Facebook.