Episode 198: She Lost Her Job Then Helped Thousands Find Their Power | Beverly Asante Puschmann | Career Coach & Founder of Her Movement
Beverly Asante Puschmann isn’t just here to help people feel better. She wants to help them live fuller, more authentic lives. Beverly shares how storytelling, cultural identity, and intentional mental health care can shape communities and create lasting change. Kara and Beverly talk about intergenerational trauma, career pivots, and what it means to serve others without losing yourself.
“I want to inspire more people to turn to running. A lot of people come to running for various reasons — a race, health, going through a rough time — and while running is great for that, they also find joy. ”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
00:00 From HR leader to laid-off overnight
01:45 Why career coaching for women of color matters
04:10 Building Her Movement from the ground up
06:00 The invisible load women carry in the workplace
08:15 Learning to bet on herself after burnout
10:00 How to start over when your confidence is low
12:20 What leadership looks like during uncertainty
14:10 Helping women reconnect with their purpose
16:00 Building career paths outside the traditional mold
18:30 Knowing when it’s time to pivot
20:00 The power of mindset coaching for women
21:30 Why community is key to personal growth
23:15 What powerful really means
25:00 Advice for anyone afraid to take the leap
I got recruited by a team of six men that were a lot older than myself and they wanted me to be their captain and we decided that we wanted to win this challenge for our company in Switzerland. We had to do a lot of steps. So then I announced I was gonna run a half marathon, and that's where like.
My half marathon career that started.
That's Beverly Asante Puschmann, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Hey guys, I am Kara Duffy, a business coach and entrepreneur on a mission. To help you live your most extraordinary life by showing you anything is possible. People who have mastered freedom, ease, and success, who are living their best and most ridiculous lives are often people you've never heard of until now.
Running can be fun and rewarding, but we are often stopped from putting on our running shoes because we're nervous and scared, especially about that first mile. Luckily, today's guest, Beverly Asante. Puschmann is here to help us. In addition to a successful career at IBM, she's a running coach and the author of Ace The Half Run Your Best Half Marathon, get in Shape, and finally tick, finish the Race Off Your Bucket List.
If you've never ran are currently out of Running Shape, I run a few races or you run regularly. You're sure to get new pro tips about running habit building. And remembering what we're capable of.
Welcome to the Powerful Ladies Podcast. Hi, Kara. Thank you. I'm really excited to be here. I am excited to talk to you today. Let's tell everyone your name, where you are in the world, and what you're up to.
Yeah, so my name is Beverly Asante. Puschmann. I am in Switzerland, and I am a runner, a coach, a businesswoman.
So that's what I'm up to out here. And you have a book out. Yes, I have a book out on half marathon running and yeah, so I guess my whole story started a long time ago. I was I, it started with nine years old and I started running actually even the book maybe before that, when I was six, I told my mom one day I'm gonna write a book.
And I, was basically when I was nine, I started running competitively. It was this thing where our sports teacher would take us down to the field and she would have us run around this field. And I always wanted to get to the end first, and it was like a co-ed class, so I had to beat all the boys and there's always one boy I couldn't beat.
But then I I counted that year that she announced a race and then I I ended up I ended up racing and I won the race. And then the next year I had to defend my title, but won the race again. And that's where the whole thing like started as a runner. Ran through college and then I ended up I knew I didn't have enough discipline to keep running after college, so I quit cold Turkey from one day to the next.
And then I didn't run for 13 years. Even though I met my husband a couple years after college and he kept saying, Bev, you really gotta start running again. And I was like, oh man. And I just didn't do it. And then it was like one day there was like the step challenge at work. We had the global corporate challenge and we ended up, I got recruited by a team of six men that were a lot older than myself and they wanted me to be their captain, so I became their captain. And and we decided that we wanted to win this challenge for our company in Switzerland. We had to do a lot of steps. So then I announced I was gonna run a half marathon, and that's where like my half marathon career that
started, I love this.
So from one former college athlete to another, I know what it's like. To have fitness and teams and practice built into life, like you don't really need to think about it. You just show up because you have to. Yeah. And I know how hard it is to suddenly go I don't really need to do that anymore, do I?
I've been doing whatever practice and training for beyond a decade at this point. Maybe I deserve a break. Maybe there's something else I should look at. What was that journey for you when you said you went cold Turkey? From being a college athlete to being like, you know what, like there's more, was it a there's more to life or were you just over it, burnt out at that point?
Oh yeah, actually, it was a bad end, to be honest with you. I ended up catching a virus at the end of the college that really put me like out cold for about four months. So I had to leave college like in my last year. Had to then come back the, for a fifth year and finish up college.
So it was actually like, it was pretty bad. It was a pretty abrupt end and it was sad because it was the last year and we were. Hoping to go to Penn Relays and we were hoping to do like really cool races. So it was kinda, it was really upsetting, that's life. Those things happen and I think afterwards it was just really hard, because I'd been more or less, sleeping like 16 hours a day.
So fitness was like at the all time low, and I, graduated, started work and it felt like I didn't have a lot of time, which like now I always think oh my gosh, I had so much time back then, yeah, I don't know. It was just it. Yeah.
And when you started, when you made the choice to run a half marathon.
Were you nervous?
Yeah, it was actually pretty funny because, so the other part, I guess I didn't tell about the story about these six gentlemen on my team, right? So they were a lot older, but they were all basically runners and cyclers, so they were all super fit, right? That was like I was like, and since I'd been a runner in the past, it's like I could.
Do that, and I have to get more steps. I'd been a sprinter in college, but I'd done a couple really long races, or at least one, and I thought to myself I think I can do this. And then, but then I, when I made that declaration in the email to these six gentlemen, I was like, oh my gosh, now I'm gonna have to do this.
And I didn't really know how to train for race like that, like i'd done one race that was around, between a half marathon and a marathon. So I kinda. I knew I could run the distance, I, I didn't know how long it takes to train for a race like that. I didn't really know how to do it.
So that was when it all started. I started researching and like trying to figure out okay, how can I like, get this done and do it, so yeah,
every time that I stop running and go back to it, it's always such a mental game for me because I, it, I get so scared because I know that.
First mile or first three miles when you like, are going to suck.
Yeah, they're gonna be really bad.
There's no way around it. Like I, it's, my body's gonna hurt, my lungs are gonna hurt, my confidence is gonna hurt. So for someone who has either never ran or hasn't ran in a long time. What tips would you give them for that first run?
Yeah, they do.
Okay. So I would say literally go super slow. If you think you're crawling and you're the slowest person in the world, you're probably got the right pace right now because especially for that like first one to three miles, it does not need to be fast, and to be honest with you, a lot of runners, particularly when they're starting out, actually a, just a lot of runners that don't train with like their training zones actually go out way too fast, right?
So that's like a pretty common mistake is that people train at a very high intensity, which is actually like then much harder to train a lot. But I would say if you're running and putting one step in front of the other, even if you're just fast walk, like that's good enough,
okay. Thank you. Yeah, I am definitely one of those people who it's like walking or sprinting. Yeah. Yeah. Having a downshift is is a whole other mental, you can only imagine the Pandora's box that opens up and it's why aren't you winning? Why aren't you going a hundred miles an hour?
Yeah.
Yeah. I know. Honestly, even when I, sometimes I have little breaks in my training too, sometimes, for example, during the pandemic I also got pretty demotivated when I was like, oh my gosh, so kinda got derailed and I didn't really do as much running.
And those first times that I went back out, I was like, oh my gosh, I am. So slow, yeah. It's fine. You just go and actually when you do set up your training zones as a runner you'll find the lowest training zone where you do a lot of your running is actually so slow that it feels like unnatural to run that slow sometimes in the beginning when you're not used to it, you know so
And what does that mean for people don't know?
What are training zones?
Yeah. It's like the intensity level at which you run. For example you would have like different I tens, so it depends a little bit on the zone system. Some zone systems have seven zones, 10 zones. A lot of 'em have three or five, so if you have a five zone system, then generally the lowest or the second zone is where you would do most of your aerobic training, depending on how they're set up. And then as you get more advanced, then you would do some faster intensities. So like maybe a zone three for one run a week and then maybe some.
Intervals in a higher zone. So that just means how fast you're running basically. And there's like also different ways to measure your intensity. So like some people measure it by pace, others by heart rate, others by power, others by like perceived intensity. So there's different ways of measuring.
Okay. Yeah I follow Rich Roll and he's talked about the LSD, the long slow distance.
Oh yeah. Yeah.
And even him talking about, or he's I cannot believe I'm moving this slow, like I'm going backwards. Yeah. So how did you make the jump from being recruited to captain these six guys to be saying, you know what?
I am actually a great running coach. Yeah. It's,
yes. Quite a leap. It takes it takes, I think a lot of it a lot of the coaching I do is actually really informal. It's not like in a formal engagement or anything. Yeah. But a lot of it is just even talking to people who are runners and just, and it's not even so much coaching them, they'll be like, oh, what about this? Or what about that? Or oh my gosh, sometimes when I go out this and that happens, and then I'll be like, oh, did you think about this? Or oh, wow. And they're like, their perspective changes.
So I think as a coach or even in anything that you do, one of the most rewarding things is if you can like, change someone's perspective on something and they're like, oh wow, I just learned something.
So do you have a count going somewhere where you're like, converted them to running, converted them to running?
I probably should keep account, but no, I don't. It's yeah, for some people it's really oh, it's oh wow, this is so cool. I wanna do it. And then for other people it's like more like it takes time to marinate the idea, I think for some people they're like.
Or I think, especially when it comes to a half marathon or a marathon, like there's plenty of people out there that're like, I could never run that far. And I had such an interesting conversation with somebody and they said, when he started running, he decided to run a half marathon because he he had a friend who had a very serious accident and needed to be airlifted.
And this organization was a nonprofit organization that did it, and he wanted to donate to this charity. So he said, Bev, I could like not even run to the nearest lamppost outside my house. That's, and I didn't think I could do this, but he wanted to donate so he figured it out.
The ma helping someone realize that they can do it. They can do it. Yeah, exactly. The human body is so amazing from the sense of how much, we it's not a 50 50 mental to physical. It's usually a 90 10,
I think it's like a 95 5 or depending where in the race you're Yeah, exactly.
It's yeah, no, it can, it really can't be. Yeah. It's so true. Most of it is mental game. And I think that's what's also so interesting about running is you also. To really get to know yourself. And a lot of times when you're running a race or preparing for a long race, you're actually spending a lot of time on your own.
Some people train with a buddy, when you're training for longer distances, a lot of times it's hard to get schedules to match that you're always running with somebody. So I think it takes, you, you learn that mental game basically.
Yeah. And then what compelled you to create the book?
Yeah. So it was also like, through these conversations I was having with people and I also, it, I just realized it was really interesting. But I was talking to some really experienced runners. I'm talking or really successful runners. They were running like one 30 half marathons, which is like a pretty good time.
And they had so some, one person I talked to, I was really surprised, but they'd never heard of a training plan. And I was like. Wow. How are you running, so like really things that as a coach you would consider, like pretty basic. These pretty successful runners hadn't, weren't leveraging these like tools in their toolbox, right?
And so I thought to myself I've read like I'm a bit of a geek, so when I get into a new topic, I read like everything on it that I can find. I thought I've collected so much information like. Let me put this together for somebody who like wants to get started or maybe somebody who's been running but hasn't done it in a very structured way.
And it's like the book, Scott, more or less, covers all the basic topics that you need to, run a half marathon, right?
Okay. And it's, the book is great for anyone who has run one before or someone who's never ran.
Yeah. It could be used by either, so it could be like literally used by somebody who's never run, ever before.
Not even just not a half marathon, but like never run before. Or it could be used by somebody who's maybe run a half marathon or two, but it didn't kinda work out the way they want. Maybe they. Didn't have a good race or, wanna do it in a more structured way, wanna improve their time.
It's more, it's targeted mainly to people who are getting started or maybe have done one or two. The information probably won't be a great surprise to very experienced runners. But even then people have read it and said even if you're more experienced, you can learn a lot.
Yeah. And from the re little research that I did, I see that you went from Duke to Switzerland. So I'm very curious, how did you end up in Zurich?
Yeah, actually it's funny, but I know I sound American, but I actually grew up here, perfect. Yeah. So actually my background is pretty mixed.
My mother is Swiss, my father's from Ghana. But I am also an American citizen because I was born in America. My parents studied there. And so I actually I do, I am also American citizen, but I did come here when I was three years old and did grow up here. So actually going to Duke was like going abroad for me.
Yeah. And and yeah, then I ended up going to Connecticut. I worked there for four years. And then I came back to Switzer. I just, I met my husband who's German and somehow it, I, we came back here
so everyone's, spreen des altogether.
Yes, exactly.
What I think is people have an impression of what Switzerland is, and I think the piece that people miss a lot when they're stereotyping Switzerland is how how many people have a fit hobby.
There's lots of people who do run or cycle, or. There's always an element of hiking, being outside, like it's just kinda ingrained into that's what you do as part of your day that I think it's overlooked sometimes, especially in the Zurich part of Switzerland. I have, I used to work in footwear and apparel, so I have a lot of people now that are at the on company, which is based there.
I lived in Germany for a while, so it's, there's this schwart, bing culture that I think gets. Stepped over when we're thinking about Swiss like banks and luxuries and where to hide your money and you're like, there's so much more to Switzerland.
Yeah, no, sports is definitely a big thing here.
And it's also true in Germany too. I. Spent a little bit of time in Germany. My husband's German. But yeah, no, absolutely. I mean it's a very, I would say very fit country. A lot of endurance sports. Yeah. There's also a lot of mountain sports, skiing. Cross country skiing and all sorts of people really do enjoy doing sports here.
And we used to be, I think some time ago the skinniest Europeans more or less. I dunno if that's still the case, but, we're getting a bit rounder here too. In general it's a relatively. Fit country. Yeah.
Yeah. How is that bred into the psyche? Is it something that starts through elementary school?
Is it generational? Like, how was running and fitness introduced to you? Where it became second nature?
Wow, that's interesting. It's actually, I can't even speak. I don't even know because, yes. Okay, so in school you do, in the public school, you have sports two times a week, normally in primary school, so they normally do swimming and and gym.
And then even now, my son's, like in seventh grade, they still do gym twice a week. So it's somehow there for me. Partly to the public school. Partly to private schools. And I was in a boarding school for the last six years and a British boarding school in but we actually had sports in seventh grade, I think four times a week, so a lot of it came, it was, we did a lot of outdoor activities, we did a lot of skiing, we did a lot of, all kinds of sports. So for me, I had that, a lot of sports all the way through high school. And then I think in the last two years we did two times a week sports.
So yeah, there was a lot of activities on the weekend. You had to go on expeditions and stuff like that. So for me, it. Was part of life. But then, like I said, I knew if it wasn't like in a structured framework, it was just gonna fall off. Yeah.
I'm sure people who are listening are very curious how growing up in Switzerland and then going to a British boarding school in Switzerland, how you have such a great American accent versus a British accent.
I know, right? So the truth of the matter is my accent was a lot more British before I went to America. Yeah. I mean it was I would say. Maybe it wasn't fully British, but it was a lot more Mid-Atlantic than now. Yeah, than I lived, I lived in the US from 18 to 27, so it really became very American, very fast.
Yep. I understand. And I think when people are having their corporate jobs or even being entrepreneurs, finding space and justifying space for running and fitness becomes. Hard. Like it's not, you don't get points for being fit at work. Usually it's like, how late did you stay? Are you traveling?
Pushing more into sacrificing yourself tends to be the Western way to be more acknowledged. I love that your company was having competitive sports. Rewards also to encourage people. So how have you set up your schedule and made running a priority for you, and how can others do that? Who are seeking it?
Yeah.
Yeah. So it also, it always depends on your life situation and, because when my son was younger, I'm not a morning person at all, but I turned myself into a morning person for about 10 years and it was probably the worst decision of my life because it doesn't work.
For me, it was really the turning point was probably one and a half years ago when my husband said, Beverly, I don't think practicing cello at seven in the mornings for you. With my son, and so he's I think I'll take that over and you sleep, but yeah, no, in that time when I was getting up early, a lot of times I would get out and go on my runs before work.
I would get to work around. I don't know, like 9, 8 30. And then I would go for a run before that. So I'd be up pretty early. I'd be like getting out there around probably like seven or a little earlier and and I'd get like all these things done before nine o'clock in the morning. And now that doesn't really work for me anymore, so I tend to run over lunch.
And then if I, what. It's harder to do is to run after work, but sometimes my schedule doesn't allow me to do anything else, so I'll just do it after work. And on the weekend I try to slot it in, whenever it fits. But I think the important thing is when people pick their schedule or commit to doing a race or preparing for something is it's just to schedule it every week. So I have this routine where every Sunday I go through my entire private and work schedule. And then I put everything on one paper. And I schedule in all my preparation time for work meetings, but then I also scheduling time, like when am I gonna do my workouts, right?
I know like tomorrow, okay, it's gonna be a busy day. So it's gonna be after work and today. I was gonna do it after work, and I have to be honest, I forgot. So I didn't do it. It doesn't always work out perfectly either. Something came up and then it just, slipped. But in general, put it in your schedule.
That's my advice. Yeah.
Yeah. And so I am just curious more about you as well, right? You are, you've had this running history, you've, you're a running coach or advisor if you don't wanna call yourself a coach. Yeah. You've written this book about running to help other people get into it. You've had a long and successful career as well.
Like you're a mom, you're a wife, like you, you really have what set seems like a well-rounded life where, what are, what do you consider your biggest victories and where are you, what are you shooting for next?
Okay. Biggest Victory's really difficult. I think, I think it's really simple.
I think my biggest victory right now, I think, we have such a great family life as a, with my husband, with my son, and I think honestly that's a foundation for probably everything I and we do in our life, so I think. That is like a real, a really big victory to me. And it doesn't have to be something I do at work or, but, and what I'm heading for next is I just wanna, I do it on the side, the coaching and the running. But I just wanna inspire so many more people to turn to running. And, there's all kinds of reasons why people come to running and people come to running.
'cause they will have a bucket list item or because they wanna get or stay fit. Some people have had like adverse life events and they've just decided oh my gosh. Let me turn to running. Or they've had a health scare. Or their doctors told 'em you should exercise.
There's all kinds of reasons, but a lot of people come to running and then really find this joy in it. And I think that's like my goal. It's just to, get as many people running as possible and to find joy in it and find this, for me, when I run it's I have to push myself to go on a run as well.
It's not like I'm like, oh gosh, I'm gonna go I still have to push myself every time, but when I come back, I feel so good. I come outta the shower and I'm like, wow, I feel good. And, you sleep well those nights, and it just, it feels so good,
I know. I, whether it's running or something else that people think they can't achieve, there's nothing more satisfying to me than showing people what they can do. Yes. It's proving people wrong is really fun too, but like really, it's showing people that. They can do it, especially when you can see it and they can't.
Yeah. There's just this magic of being like no. Like I, it's safe over here. I know it is. Yeah. Trust me. Do it. Yeah. Yeah. And there's so much access. People will often ask me, how do I get more confident? And I'm like, the only way you can get more confident is do something that you think is scary or you don't wanna do, or you're not gonna be good at, like you have to.
You have to be putting yourself in situations that you don't know how it's gonna go otherwise. Yeah. We already know the answer, so we can't give ourselves any new points.
Yeah, no, I totally agree. It's it's that pulling yourself out of the comfort zone. It's like our so gi ti she was the CEO of IBM for I think almost 10 years, and she always said, comfort and growth don't coexist.
And it's so true. You can't do something or, gain some perspective if you don't do something that's out of your. Your comfort zone, yeah. I always remember that too, and I think you have to just try something new. And that's why I did that with the half marathon.
I figured, people can do it, so I'll figure it out. I have two legs and they move. So there's gotta be a way to do it.
I love the simplicity of that. I have two legs and other people can do it. Let's go. Sometimes you just gotta believe in it. Yeah. It really is the leap of faith of humans can do this, so I'm a human.
I can do it.
Yeah.
And especially I think we make marathons and half marathons and even a 5K we make it so significant. Yeah. Like we mentally add, so we make it hard.
Yeah,
The, half marathon's not over here. Like I'm scary. No, it's just, it's not changing. Yeah. No. But we make it mean things.
I know, like when someone asked me to do a 5K recently and I was like, how hilly is it?
It's yeah.
They're like, it's really hilly. I'm like, I think I'm gonna skip that one. 'cause I, right now hills and I, I don't know if we're friends, go gimme six more months. But yeah. But it's funny how we say no to it and.
A friend of mine ran it and he was like, yeah, it totally sucked. But I finished it, it was fine. It was just okay. I know,
It's actually really interesting. Like my mom used to say this one thing to me that I always thought was so clever. Sometimes I'd come home and, I wanted to get stuff right and I would have to do this maybe task for school or something.
And I was like, really my mom, I don't know how to do this, and I might even break out in tears or whatever. And then my mom would always say Bev, had you eaten an elephant? And I was like. I think I always gave the same answer. I don't know, even I answer like 50 times and then she'd say how do you know it?
And I was like, I don't know. And then she'd say. It's very simple, Beverly, one bite at a time, it's like that, you get to a half marathon by running one step at a time, and the first day you go out on training, you're not gonna go for a 20 k run or a 13 K run. Like it's gonna be a lot shorter, so you build up and that's why it's not really a scary, it's like always that I tell people when they say I'm not fit enough. Say, start with a catch to 5K. You're running like. 60 seconds in your first run, and you build up from there.
Right?
So there's a really great habit book that I read recently, the name of which I'm not remembering at the moment, so I'll put it in the show notes. But the guy said, if you want to start a new habit, you have to give yourself a ceiling. Like you're only allowed to run for one minute. Oh, that's, and after you've done a week of one minute, you're allowed to go to five minutes.
And I think it's similar to the run in your zone two. Yeah. Idea of you can't push yourself and because you can't push yourself, it's like this frustration of it's psychologically saying I can do more. Why am I not just doing more? And because you can't, until you've proven you can do the consistency, then you are allowed to step into like wanting to do more because.
Nobody, as you said, nobody wants to run. In the moment.
Yeah.
And so if you're only allowed to run to the lamppost for a week, you'll be like I can do that.
Exactly. No, I think it's true. You gotta set yourself, it's good to stretch yourself, but also set yourself goals that you can reach.
Yeah. You know something, and that's actually really clever. I'd never thought about it that way, but I can imagine that could be quite motivating if you cap yourself at the top end, if it's a really manageable goal, because then you're like, now I can't. And then next year you wanna do more, yeah.
It's similar to, have you heard of the 75 Hard challenge?
Sounds familiar, but I can't remember.
An entrepreneur created it where for 75 days there's five things that you have to do. You have to exercise twice for a minimum of 45 minutes. One has to be outside. And then you have to stick to a, whatever diet you choose.
You have to read five, 10 pages of a book. If the drink a gallon of water. There's no alcohol. So those are the things for 75 days. And if you miss one, you have to start back at zero.
Wow.
And Oh yeah. Okay. It's, I did it last year. It sounds way harder than it is because most of us are doing some of those things already.
And like reading 10 pages, even if you're a slow reader, it doesn't actually take that long.
Yeah.
Drinking the gallon of water and even the giving up alcohol. Was actually the easiest part. 'cause you just didn't have to do something.
Yeah, exactly. The worst
thing to
do. Yes.
Yeah.
But even with that of having it set up and can I do it for this amount of time? It was really interesting seeing the consistency because you can, I think we get this idea in our heads that we have to work out for two hours a day, otherwise we're not gonna be fit. And it's yeah, but if you do five minutes of core for 365 days,
yeah.
That's a lot.
That's a lot. Yeah. I know. We don't let ourselves count these micro consistency moments as great habits that actually stay.
Yeah, no, it's really interesting. And also like doing things, I think every day is almost easier than doing them on alternate days. Yeah. Because for example, like I tend to run five times a week, but what I actually find worst, the worst is Monday when I don't run, because then I feel like I really wanna run on Monday, and then by the time it gets to choose, I'm like, I wanted to run yesterday, not today.
So it's it's like actually harder to take a day off because it feels like you're breaking the chain, and if you talk about streaking, then it's like doing it every day. Yeah. And so I feel like if it's every day, on the other hand, I have to admit, I think there's like people that are like super disciplined that can do things like regularly every day.
I'm like more the kind of person that would like. Do all of it at once and then not for the next month. Yes. I'm not so good at every day. A little bit, but I had to learn that and I I not perfect at it, but I try to.
Yeah. I'm not either. And there's actually a great book. I have it behind me.
Let me see if I can grab without my headphones falling off. Okay. Better than before. Oh, by Gretchen Rubin. Okay. She's also the author of The Happiness Project, which is a great book. Ah, yeah. But this book is so interesting 'cause it goes into all the different types of people. We might be from a habit perspective, like spender saver consistent versus do you need it to be, are you an all nothing person or are you a moderation person?
I like the idea of consistent everyday discipline. And then I do it for a while and I'm like. This is boring. Yeah. So it's like this flow, like even like I have a love hate relationship even with should I eat bread and or not? Yeah. I'm like when I am in Europe, I'm not gonna say no to bread or wine because it's really good there, but do I need it every day?
No. Yeah. So it's like how, it's like I'm trying to figure out for myself, like how to play the. 80% of the time game and see if it actually works, versus every day I'll come back and let you know. So I'm curious if that's like the five times a week training versus the seventh. I even heard an idea recently where instead of saying I'm gonna work out Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday which a lot of people pick like you said, the alternating days.
Yeah.
That you just say, I have to work out five days a week. And you can either start on Monday or you can start later, but like you have, so you choose, yeah. Is it five times in a row or is it five times when it like you have to decide or if it's like you have to get five workouts in. So if you don't do it till Saturday, looks like you're gonna do five that day.
Yeah. That might work for some types of fitness, for example, especially with running where you sometimes have really hard running days, then you need a break every so often because you know also like you. Let's say, did all of it on one day you'd be in trouble. Oh yeah. You'd be doing like intervals, a long run Tempo run and yeah, easy run.
You'd be at it for a while that,
that's like Shin splint, city Uhhuh,
yeah. Shin Splint City. Yeah. It would certainly not be a particularly good idea, I would say. No.
So many people are also talking now about how important like strength training is and as well as mental training with a meditation practice or something.
What else do you incorporate into your, running routine in quotes? 'cause I'm sure it's more than just running, like you mentioned you schedule it, so that's one habit. Yeah. But what else is in that routine for you? Okay, so
now you've asked me a question. So you caught me here. Because I have to admit, I'm really lucky.
I don't get injured when I run. I, it's, I've had very few injuries. I have had the one or the other. But really few. And so I can get away. I know myself pretty well and I, when I have anything, I stop immediately. But no, I can get away without doing a whole bunch of other stuff. But, this works for some people and for many people it doesn't work.
Yeah. But if I was really gonna do everything that I was supposed to do, then I'd be stretching and rolling and doing my core routines as well. Yeah. And so sometimes when I'm really like preparing for race and I wanna do really well, then I will do the strength training, but it does, I think a lot of runners find like they like to run and they don't like all the other stuff, so actually enjoy it.
But I just find it's a lot of time commitment. So you're already spending quite a lot of time running because if you're preparing for a race, you might be running, if you're being a bit more competitive, maybe anywhere from six. Upwards hours. When it gets really towards the end of training.
So then trying to fit in core training and stretching. It seems like a lot, even though it would be very beneficial, I know for some people it's essential, right? Yeah. Because, for example, my husband, he's he's a bit injury prone and he says, I only run. Every other day, maximum.
Never, so maximum three times a week. But he definitely always rolls. He always stretches. He, yeah, he's doing his, all his, muscle routines and everything, but, yeah. So for some people they can get away with it. It's not particularly advisable necessarily. But, I'll be honest, I, that's what I'm doing most of the
time is I'll.
Yeah. And how have you approached fitness as a family? Do you guys go out on family runs? Is it everyone's okay, we're all leaving the house. Everyone figure out your sport. Bye. Yeah
No, we actually did do that. So when my son was younger, he, didn't wanna run with us. He would take his bicycle and come along.
So for a while we would run altogether sometimes on Sunday. But then, at some point my husband got a lot fitter than I, and I was. So then for him it was a little boring to run that. No, it was also mainly because he was actually preparing for race, so he needed to run in the correct intensity zone, so then so then I was going out on my own, but then for quite a few runs on Saturdays, like a short run, my son would come along and we actually quite enjoyed like, chatting, we'd take AirPods and listen to music and chat at the same time, like one each and so yeah, no, it's definitely we do.
We like to hike together as well, and we like to ski together every so often. So we do sports as a family as well. It would be nice to do even more, and it would be really cool if we're all the same fitness level, I'm used to it. He's my son's 11 now, at some point. They're both gonna be much faster than I am, but that's okay.
That's what I think is the hardest part, especially for competitive people. When you're out there running, it's like you. Like when you're at those different paces, it's like either someone has to hang back and let you catch up or you're constantly thinking I should be running fast as them.
So I do think it's really interesting to see how that plays into the habit forming and then what it looks like. I know for myself, if I'm running in a group, I'm always sticking with it more than by myself.
Oh
yeah. But that's 'cause I like. I do having the competitiveness of, we're all pushing ourselves, but it's also a great social opportunity to just connect and run and chat and check off a couple of things at once.
Of catching up with friends and getting the run in and getting outside and it's a different level of activity For sure.
Yeah, definitely. I think running groups are a great thing and I think a lot of people can benefit from them. For some people it fits in the schedule.
For other people, it's like really difficult. Like I also just feel like I wanna spend dinner time with my family and a lot of the running groups are during dinner time. So I've not tried it so far here, but I could definitely see how it's beneficial. But it's just it's making that trade off of having dinner with a family or being out on a run with some,
with other people, sounds like a good opportunity for a mom running club. Yeah, indeed. I'm curious to know, so you have the book out now. Where can people get it, find it, and how can they just reach out to you and ask questions as well?
Yeah, so the book is ACE to Half. You can get it on on Amazon and many other online book retailers and sometimes in the store as well.
And I can be found at, I love to run race.com or also on facebook.com. I love to run race, so you can find me in those two places. And if you wanna. Questions. I also have a contact form on my website so you can reach out to me there. And I absolutely reply to all comments and questions I get. So I'm happy to hear from you.
I also have for people that are interested, there's like a little quiz on my website so you can find out how ready you are to run a half marathon if you're interested. And otherwise, if you just wanna hear from me every so often, you can sign up to my newsletter and hear from me there.
I love that. Being the powerful runner and career woman and mother and wife that you are what does powerful mean to you? And does the definition change when it's next to the word ladies?
Wow. Okay. Powerful. Okay. So I think powerful for me in my definition, like I'm a person that likes to change things and I like to change them for the better.
So I think, I feel the most powerful when I've been able to create change and make change and change something for the better. I think that's what powerful is to me. And in terms of ladies, I really what's been happening. With women getting, I wouldn't say more power, but getting a bit more equal, in the workplace, but also just, I see a lot of positive movements. And so actually this is like a very good combination. I just I see so many powerful women out there and, people can be powerful in so many ways, and it's just nice to see that people are finding their power.
Yes.
We ask everyone on the podcast where you put yourself on the Powerful Lady scale. If zero is average everyday human and 10 is the most powerful lady you can imagine, where would you rank yourself today and on average?
Oh, today and on average. Average, yeah. I think if, okay, maybe I'll answer differently.
I'll say when I really get a lot done and I change things that I could say, I feel very powerful and I'm at a 10, right? So where do I feel on average? I don't know. I, you have days where you feel less powerful and days where you feel more powerful. So maybe like around a seven or eight, somewhere in that range.
And I'd like to think that, I'd like to have more days that are 10, but, I think that's it. Yeah.
All right. Love that. It has been such a pleasure to meet you and to share your story. And you have inspired me to. Rethink my relationship with running right now. I am excited and nervous to take your quiz on your website because I'm afraid of what it might tell me.
I got a lot of work to do, I think will be the answer. But I also know that running feels amazing and it's fun. And because of running I've got to see some amazing places in the world. So there's so much that I can give to you. There is a man I had the pleasure of meeting recently who said.
Who's retired and he said, you know what? The game I'm playing now is how can I be fully physically independent at 95? And having something that you're consistent with, like running is one way to make that happen. Thank you for sharing your skills and knowledge with everybody, and I'm excited to see who else is ready to start running now.
Thank you so much. It was a great pleasure talking to you today, so it was really nice to be here. Thank you.
All the links to connect with Beverly and her book Ace the Half are in our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever listening and bonus. Leave us a rating and review. Come join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and if you're looking to connect directly with me, please visit kara duffy.com or on Instagram at Kara Duffy.
I'll be back next week with a brand new episode and a new amazing guest. Until then, I hope you're taking on me powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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