Boston Qualified! 3 Avalos siblings share training tips and stories from the event

###### Ray Avalos: [00:00:00]
Or they're like, Oh, I'm like, well, this is my brother and my sister or brother was coming from Norway. You know, we haven't seen him for a while, so we're just there. It's awesome. We feel like weather's perfect. So you could really enjoy Boston.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:00:12]
I mean, it was awesome being there. It was like really special because it was like
we put in
the work to get qualified and then everybody put in the work in training, leading up to that.
So just being, there was more of a celebration.
###### Brea Avalos: [00:00:25]
Boston is still my favorite marathon and I've run it once after all three of us ran it as well. But that first time, like with all of us being there and the entire family being there too, it was awesome.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:00:42]
Hello and welcome to the race mob podcast. This is episode number 12. I'm Kevin entrepreneur technology and fitness nerd, and the founder of race mob. I'm joined by master motivator. Founder of two legit fitness co-chair of the Tazi 100, RRC a certified coach USA track and field certified official, the incomparable Bertrand nuisance.
We are excited to welcome the Avalose siblings to the podcast. Ray, Anthony and Bree are some of the fastest and most accomplished runners. You will find Ray and Anthony have marathon times in the two forties and Bree has a marathon PR of three Oh one. For these siblings, long distance running was something that they found after becoming adults, but it was there backgrounds, hard work and determination that allowed them to really Excel at the sport.
The three siblings, not only qualified for Boston, but they were able to run Boston together and they share stories from the event, as well as all of the training, leading up to qualifying and competing against each other. If you're looking to increase your marathon times and possibly qualify for Boston, stick around to the end of the conversation, all three siblings give great tips for running from beginners to advanced.
We had so much fun recording this conversation. This episode is brought to you by race mov and inclusive community for fitness enthusiasts, whether you're brand new to fitness or a veteran athletes, we all need support, motivation and accountability for launching a brand new community sites where you'll be able to interact with our guests, coach B and myself.
And we're going to be launching a brand new training program that's led by coach B. So go to dot com. Sign up for your free account today, and you'll be notified when these projects go live. All of the show notes can be found online at dot com slash podcast. And without further ado, here's our conversation
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:02:40]
here.
We are at the race mob podcast, featuring the Avalose siblings, Ray Bri and Anthony. We're very fortunate to share this wonderful story as B3, dynamic siblings, all. Qualified for the Boston marathon and participated that story is unique.
###### Brea Avalos: [00:03:00]
Their
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:03:01]
individual journeys are unique. And with that, we'll go ahead and open up the floor.
Thank you all. Welcome. And we have Ray coming in from San Jose, California, Bri coming in from Washington DC. And Anthony all the way from Norway. Look at that. That's how we're rolling here on the race mob podcast.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:03:19]
International. That's right.
###### Ray Avalos: [00:03:22]
Thanks. We're happy to be here. This is, this is awesome. Can't wait for it.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:03:25]
Tell us about your childhood
###### Kevin Chang: [00:03:27]
Ray, why don't you kick it off since you're the oldest of the group. Tell us about growing up, where you guys grew up and what home was like.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:03:33]
Perfect. Well,
###### Ray Avalos: [00:03:33]
yeah, we're, uh, we're from San Jose, California, pretty much born and raised. My parents had been pretty young at 19 years old.
I was a first born child. Few years later, my brother came almost four years later and then Bree 10 years after me. So it's been fun. It has been a fun dynamic. We just grew together and you know, a lot of learning curves along the way. A lot of fights, a lot of cheers, a lot of, a lot of good times. So yeah, lots of
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:03:59]
feel back behind
###### Kevin Chang: [00:04:00]
were sports, always part of your childhood.
Did you guys grow up as an athletic family?
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:04:06]
We kind of grew
###### Ray Avalos: [00:04:06]
up a soccer family. Our dad was a coach, so. You know, we grew up kind of in that soccer background and it's always stayed with us, but we've always been pretty active when it comes to, you know, going on hikes with families at Elm rock park and, you know, different things like that.
It's always just been in our blood from a running aspect. We kind of just picked it up as it came along and just realize, you know, we had the lungs and quite honestly the passion for it. So pretty cool stuff.
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:04:32]
Any other runners in the family, aunts, uncles,
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:04:36]
parents, Yeah.
###### Ray Avalos: [00:04:37]
So actually my dad used to run, he did it some in case, and then some of my extended family, I had my uncles and aunts that are runners as well.
So like, you know, my uncle Mike and my aunt Charlene, uh, they're pretty active themselves. Um, and even my, my aunt Shirlene and my aunt Michelle, they were good basketball players from independence high school. So they're really good basketball. And I've never seen my grandma run, but I hear that she was like the fastest girl in her neighborhoods.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:05:06]
And you gotta give a shout out to big mama, Cindy she's getting after it. So she's got some good stuff in the tank there. So we
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:05:16]
gotta get for sure. Who's big mama. Who's
###### Kevin Chang: [00:05:18]
big mama. Tell us,
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:05:21]
yeah, Cindy, she's the hustler. So she's the basis of all our grit and everything that. We have overcoming and it's directly related to sport and long distance running.
There's these peaks and valleys. And I think that our mom really gave us that grit to keep it going when it comes to those valleys.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:05:40]
Why would you say that? What's the, what's the story there
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:05:43]
just hard work obstacles came growing up and what. You call an obstacle. It could be something that's very simple and it's easy as a child to whine and want to take the easy way out, no sob story or anything.
It was, how do you overcome this and what, what do you do to move to the next phase or how, or it's always alert. Like sometimes when we're going through some stuff, she would be smiling and laughing. This is such a great learning experience for you. Yeah. So, so I think that's all over the place with, with our mother.
Yeah.
###### Brea Avalos: [00:06:15]
I just remember a lot of times. Every single time you're going through like a big Valley we're in that moment, you think it's a big Valley? She'll like what Anthony said. She'll like, smile. And she'll be like, wait really quick. And I'll be like mid tiers. And she'll just be like, take a second, really take in this moment.
You're living right now. And so it was like really experiencing, even if something's like, Super hard. It's just, it's all a part of life and really taking it and overcoming it.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:06:42]
Do you have a moment or an example? Is there anything like in your brain that that was a tough moment.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:06:48]
Every breakup,
###### Kevin Chang: [00:06:53]
you guys are good looking bunch. I don't think he had many of those growing up.
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:06:57]
How many breakups go there? I'm going to ask how many breakups
and you guys truly, I mean, Cynthia is an absolute superhero active member to legit fitness with just her energy positivity. Hey, remember vividly when she completed her very first half marathon, her very first marathon, her very first 50 K. And this is all within the last couple of years and inspired in many cases by the three of you.
So talk about a super family and you know, your father very active as well. Clearly the love of soccer. There's so many wonderful stories that have come through that very accomplished and we'll get into those stories in greater detail. But just a very gifted and special family. So hats off to your parents, mom and dad,
###### Kevin Chang: [00:07:51]
Anthony, what was it like growing up with Ray as an older brother?
What was it like growing up with three younger sister? What was childhood like and what were, I guess when you're
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:08:02]
thinking about, I mean, I was in love with soccer from when I could kick a ball. I remember I can remember a little bit from pictures, but. I played for a team called the sharks. I think I was about just turned four.
I was number three maroon Jersey. So I fell in love with soccer from an early age. And that was kind of what I did and where I put my energy towards. And then. Looked up to my older brother who was also playing soccer. So I was always trying to follow them, whether it'd be on the side soccer field or him and his friends, riding a skateboards around, I was always trying to follow up and keep up and be kind of that younger guy.
I was always, of course younger. I played soccer growing up on the older team as well. So I always have a chip on my shoulder and I think that came a lot from Ray and. Looking up to Ray and pushing myself to beat that level. And then when I grew up playing soccer, I played with older kids and all we have these chips.
So that's kind of been what translated into my playing soccer and then also into running as well. It's a chip, but it's a good chip. So I just it's, it's what keeps me kind of moving. It's this inner battle. And then my sister, when she came along,
###### Ray Avalos: [00:09:11]
she was really good at
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:09:13]
like soccer. When she, when she wanted to do it, she was really good at running extremely athletic, but she was very heavily into dance.
So I didn't really feel that competition from her because there is kind of an inner dynamic competition between the three of us now. But then when she got into running right from dance, she was kicking ass and then you would see her like, Oh wow. This girl can get it. And then she started running. And then the thing with Bree is that even if me and my brother were men and the traditional perspective is that we're supposed to run faster.
She is not setting herself at the level of a female. She is setting herself with the level of her brothers. Great. And she scares me a little bit. Sometimes she tells me that she's going to beat me and these kind of,
###### Ray Avalos: [00:09:56]
and she probably will at one time.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:10:03]
So all in all, it was just a healthy competition between us. We grew up in a sports family and I think. It was like a, a mix of competition and looking up to each other and being each other's fans. I think we're all each other's biggest fans. So this is a big part of what keeps us going. We're sharing day on the daily, whether it's the same song to pump you up before a match or a song to run, to raise always recommending running playlist that we need to trail adventures or whatever it may be.
So. We're we're always keeping each other motivated and, and competing with each other on the back of our heads as well.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:10:38]
What do you think your parents did to raise an athletic group of kids? Do you think that they did anything special or anything that you can point to
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:10:46]
or think?
###### Ray Avalos: [00:10:47]
I think just leading by example, pretty much it just kind of what we saw, what we grew up in.
As I mentioned, like if we were going to ELAM rock park or even camping, just that outdoor environment and just the hard work of it, the same time, looking back on it at times, we used to really, yeah. You know, resent mom and dad a little bit during those tough times, but looking back on it now, I wouldn't have changed anything about it, just because it kind of made us more hungry for the things that we want in life and even just work and being competitive within our own minds.
Like my brother was saying,
###### Brea Avalos: [00:11:16]
so. I'll take it even like a layer deeper. Both our parents grew up in like, not that good of a neighborhood. My dad actually, or our dad came here when he was young from Mexico. And so they had this like grit in them to get out of the situation they grew up in. And I think you had two people who both had this drive to have a better life for themselves.
And then when they started finding success in their careers and we started, you know, becoming a more financially well off family, they still held those values of grit and you have to work for everything that you get. And I even remember, like, I think since I'm the youngest too, I, I was like at the end of all this progression of like the family.
And I even still, I had to work for every single dime my mom ever gave me and like, always like, right, like right towards the end of high school, I had to get a job and like stuff like that. So it was always something where it's like, you have to work for what you, what you're given type of mentality, fantastic
###### Kevin Chang: [00:12:16]
role models
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:12:17]
for sure.
Bree,
###### Kevin Chang: [00:12:18]
tell us a little bit about the dance that you were doing your background. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
###### Brea Avalos: [00:12:24]
So I'm the youngest by a long shot. Me and Anthony are six years apart. And then me and Ray are 10 years. Almost like exactly 10 years. We were both born in the same month, just 10 years difference right away.
They try to put me in soccer from an early age. And I was like picking daisies on the soccer field. I don't know why. And I just like, wasn't passionate about soccer. And I was like, almost like against the grain because everybody was playing soccer in my family. I wanted to do something different. And so I was like, I want to dance.
But then of course it's like, I don't know if it was me pushing for it or my mom, but like, there is still that competitive aspect. Like I couldn't just dance. I had to be on the competition team and like, and dance competitively. So I dance additively, like my whole life from there. I was kind of like living a different world from Anthony and Ray.
A lot of my childhood growing up. There was no super connection. I just remember, I always wanted to hang out with them and I like, they built a half pipe in the garage one time and I like kept trying to like pretend to skateboard just to like hang out with them. And it never really worked out. So I was always trying to like, be cool with them, but I wasn't cool enough because I was the annoying little sister and then for my running journey kind of happened.
This happy accident. I was in high school and my friend was like, Hey, I'm going out for the track team for P credits. And I was like, okay, like, I'll just go whatever. Like I was kind of in this like yes. Mode in the moment. So I was like, yeah, I'll just go. And I ended up absolutely loving track. I remember I ran because I had no stamina.
So my first distance was the 400 and I just remember like, That's kind of how running happened then it was cool because running was something at that point. Ray already was running already ran track a little bit in college and like people were starting to get rid of, to running in the family. So then from there, okay.
I had this instant connection with Ray and Ray would like teach, like, do trainings with me when I was younger to like, get me even better, like past where I was, what they're teaching me at, like in high school. And so then it started becoming fun. Then I had something that I really, really connected with my brother as well.
That was really cool to Bri. What was your,
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:14:26]
your preferred distance or distances in high school?
###### Brea Avalos: [00:14:29]
Yeah, so I did the 400 and then I got like decent at the 400. And then I don't, I think the 800 was just somebody put me in the 801 time. And then I also loved the fact that people would say it was the hardest race.
Cause the 800 apparent, like in the track world, it's like, Oh, the eight hundreds, like the longest sprint ever. And so for me, like that was something where it's like, Oh my God, I'm going to get so good at this distance. So like, I just fell in love with that distance. And that was, yeah, it was just so fun.
Like first lap stay with the pack, second lap you're to sprinting it out. That is just the best. And then from there, it transitioned into college for a bit as well. And then after college is when I got into running because my brothers were into it or I'm sorry, marathon.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:15:12]
Ray, what kind of training were you running her through or what kind of drills were you.
###### Ray Avalos: [00:15:17]
It was probably,
I
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:15:22]
think we got Hills.
###### Ray Avalos: [00:15:23]
My dad always used to make us throw up on Hill. So
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:15:27]
secret too.
###### Ray Avalos: [00:15:31]
always stay in our blood, but no, but I mean just little stuff that I learned, whether it be from where I had another good coach in high school, his name was ed coach Flores. And then even my college coach at salary stages.
So little like interval type workouts, just kind of introducing her to crazy.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:15:46]
That doesn't sound crazy. But we grew up with my dad taking us. We thought we were going to the beach, but we ended up somewhere called Paro dunes outside of Watsonville. We were getting after it on the, the Sandhills. You ain't know that's, that's a real stuff.
###### Ray Avalos: [00:16:02]
I actually still run those Hills every now and
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:16:04]
then they're
###### Kevin Chang: [00:16:06]
growing up. Like some weekends he'd, he'd take you over and there'd be competition between the three of you guys
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:16:13]
or, yeah, you can say that. My dad was also my, my soccer coach from when I was probably around six or seven. He started taking over as my soccer coach and then he was my soccer coach until I was 15.
He had a project
###### Kevin Chang: [00:16:30]
and he was successful.
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:16:33]
Let's see, live Oak high school.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:16:35]
Yeah. Live Oak high
###### Kevin Chang: [00:16:36]
school. All of fame fame,
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:16:39]
actually, that just happened a few years back. Yeah. Hall of fame.
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:16:42]
Congratulations.
###### Brea Avalos: [00:16:43]
The local newspaper
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:16:46]
Morgan Hill times. Yeah.
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:16:49]
And from there you went to.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:16:51]
Yeah, I went to Berkeley.
###### Ray Avalos: [00:16:52]
I
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:16:52]
played there for four years.
So, and then in Norway, why, why I'm here? Of course
###### Ray Avalos: [00:16:58]
we talked three times pack 10 champ, three
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:17:00]
times you have three time pack, three time pack, 10 chance. So we were, we were top 10 in the nation. All my years, never. One of the things that irks me the most is I'm sorry if anybody's playing on the Cal bear soccer team, but I never once lost the local rivals Stanford or, um, Santa Clara.
And then the other rival was the Huskies, Washington Huskies never once lost to them. And now we're dropping into them all the time. So step it up, boys.
###### Ray Avalos: [00:17:29]
Yeah.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:17:31]
Yeah. Yeah. When I was at live Oak, I started playing from when I was a freshmen and then. One three times. I was in my junior, senior year, first steamroll, all CCS, MVP of the league, also my, my junior senior year.
And then that gave me I was playing soccer. The way it's set up high school is one part of the soccer kind of Academy. But most of my time was spent with my father who grew up with a team called South 78 Pumas. We were one of the top teams in California and also, uh, got some national creds we're traveling to Texas.
Selfless Angeles around the, all around the U S playing soccer. And then I was always the youngest kid on the team. And then when I was 16, I moved to a team called Santa Clara sporting. And that's when it was my age group. And that's, that was my last two years of high school. And I think that's what really.
Gave
###### Ray Avalos: [00:18:21]
me that
kind
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:18:22]
of platform to be seen by somebody like Cal, who was one of the top teams in the nation. That was the kind of next step in my career. And then, and then went on from there, fought it out my freshman year, didn't get so many minutes and then, and then really jumped in my sophomore year and then had a real good career.
Real strong team, played with a lot of professional players that are still playing MLS or in Europe. And then I had my go follow the dream a little bit that was thinking I wasn't going to play beyond college. And then I had a little light of inspiration. Once in Norway, I got a trial, got on a second division team there.
My first year we went, we won the league and we went up to the first division. So that was, uh, another championship on the belt. And then I played for four years and then it was a good time. And then I started putting more time in my career. And then, and then that's when my running came in. So my running career is quite short.
It's most of my career has been soccer and following Ray and Bree and running and knowing that if I really wanted to get after it, you guys better see me, but then
And so my running career is quite short, but I, after I was playing soccer, I really fell in love with running. And it gave me that kind of outlet and that competitive place where I can use my energy. And instead of this team competition, I was now competing with myself and then that gave me a whole different inspiration and.
I love running the feeling of finishing the race was the best feeling that I've, I don't think I've ever experienced that feeling of finishing a race. And then I got really hungry to really dive in. And then that was the whole spark of my, my running career.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:19:58]
Well, let's get into it. Let's, let's talk about running, who was the first to start the kind of a longer distance running and was that you re we were the first one and kind of inspiring people.
And I know that you were kind of out of. Sports for a little bit. And so give us the whole story about that.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:20:15]
So,
###### Ray Avalos: [00:20:15]
you know, similar, I won't go into as the long winded, but I was a decent soccer player. Not I'll I'll measure. We won CCS my senior year. Uh, but, um, my, my junior year. I had some buddies on the track team and they said, Hey, come out, come out for track.
And I was like, Oh, just to stay in shape for soccer. And then I went out and kind of like Brie story. I really enjoyed it. So I'm stuck with that. Um, and you know, was able to make CCS, um, my first go around and cross country and track. Um, and then. You know, was able to have an opportunity to run with San Jose state.
So I did that. And then after college, you know, you're young and 20, and you don't know 20 somethings, you don't know what you're doing, trying to figure out life. And I just kind of got away from running for, it was almost seven years. And, um, I was introduced to Bertrand through my inlaws and just mutual neighborhood friends.
And he invited me to the Oakland marathon relay. Oakland running festival is actually my favorite event. Aside from Boston. It's one of the best running events I've ever been to. I just put a stamp on that. This was 2012 and right after that race, I was just really into running again. I was like this feeling.
This is a good feeling that I want to feel so. Just continued with it, started running more races, be more involved, especially with two legit, funny inspiration there. And coach B up, of course with always is inspirational leadership kind of leading the way there. So yeah, just kind of followed that journey and then got the bug.
And you then my first marathon. And when was it? 2015? I think I ran my first
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:21:46]
marathon.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:21:47]
Tell us about that first race. What was the distance at the relay and what kind of shape were you in and how'd you get into shape?
###### Ray Avalos: [00:21:54]
I never really sat on my butt that during that seven year span, I mean, I would, I would do three miles here.
Maybe pick up soccer game here, maybe a gym workout here and there. So I'd picked it up. I mean, I could definitely finish it. I'd probably ran. Seven seven, some odd minute pace or maybe a five, five mile leg did it. And it felt, and it felt good. So I knew I had it. I had that mindset. Whereas if I could train a little bit more, I could really do this.
And then that's where it just kind of, you know, the snowball effect. And I just got the bug
###### Brea Avalos: [00:22:24]
from there.
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:22:24]
From a friend perspective, from a coaching perspective and getting a chance to watch someone to raise just character above and beyond talent, but that talent to be rekindled. I was there at your very first half marathon in San Francisco.
Remember that?
You said, you know what coach? I think I want to run. For my first half marathon in San Francisco, San Francisco Hills, I want to run sub one
###### Ray Avalos: [00:22:50]
31
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:22:54]
29 and change.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:22:55]
Yeah. And we,
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:22:57]
we had a good time the night before
Shout out to our partner, uh, Becky Hernandez, who was there as well. So we won't go into that story other than it was a good time. And Ray crushed his first half marathon. So continue on.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:23:18]
From
###### Ray Avalos: [00:23:18]
there did that, got that bug found out. I could really get going again. And two, it just gave me a lot of them opportunities to progress.
And, and as I progressed, I got to a point where I was like getting faster. Um, and then I hooked up with a local running club called Wolfpack and, and that's where I really. Started to take some even more chunks off right now. My PR is one 16 and a half. I'm a two 48, your honor. I think I still have a window to get under that.
I'm kind of, I have a beautiful family. Uh, so I have a wife and two kids. I have a five year old. She just started kindergarten. That's that's another story. That's distance learning. And then I have a 10 month old. So I'm still getting out when I can right now to run. I mean, You know, but my window is small.
So my long runs right now are six miles. I can't really get out for those, you know, 10, even 20 miles that I have been. So
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:24:08]
they'll still be there. I
###### Ray Avalos: [00:24:09]
think in the next few months here, I'll be able to shift gears back and get hungry again. You said
###### Kevin Chang: [00:24:16]
you knocked off big chunks of time when you joined Wolfpack, what were some of the things that you think contributed to you?
Knocking time off?
###### Ray Avalos: [00:24:25]
One thing, uh, their workouts are, are really good, so that they're based towards different events. So of course you're definitely basing it towards your marathons or hats. The Pacific association, which is, it's like a lead within the EU USA track association. So they're gearing towards those races and they have really tough workouts.
And if you follow the schedule, which during my training cycles, I would follow them and you know, you're running with, you know, there's different group. So, you know, let's call it three or four groups and out there and you find your group and you're really pushing each other. So I think detailed workouts that are, that really have an end goal, but then at the same time, you're running with other people that are pushing
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:25:01]
as well.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:25:02]
So. What would a like week of training look like when you're really pushing it? I
###### Ray Avalos: [00:25:07]
believe in that the tempo runs a one tempo run a week, which that's just like an uncomfortable
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:25:13]
think of it as almost
###### Ray Avalos: [00:25:14]
slightly less than a race pace. And then, um, an interval workout and then a long run. And then two decent runs within that.
So five solid workouts and you could definitely throw in a six day there. But, you know, definitely three key workouts is kind of the bread and butter that I
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:25:32]
don't that cause Ray's always been pretty methodical about is training and then also on Strava and he has his methods. And then I, when I'm getting into running, I got extremely serious about that.
Bree got stressed because
###### Brea Avalos: [00:25:47]
I had to delete my. Strava account,
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:25:51]
but that's Oh, you're talking about rubbing what we're doing and it was this like method battle on. And then, and then when Boston came around, then where we're going to race for them, then we were hiding our cards. It was like a poker match. So I was like waiting for him to post his run before I post my run.
But anyway, is my thinking in terms of running, is this. I read a lot and heard a lot of podcasts about the 80, 20 running style about running slow so that when you have your, whether it be interval training or tempo runs, you do
###### Ray Avalos: [00:26:25]
have the extra
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:26:26]
gear to go into that red level and expand your capacity. I started doing that, not during Boston, but after Boston, hell Hill got gotten me in the, in the, in the hammies heartbreak kill.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I started doing it and it's this weird, like. Slowed down pace because you always like the natural thing. When you go out on the road run, you're normally running at this mid tempo and you're getting out there and you're kind of falling into this mid tempo. It's like a natural thing.
But if you just slowed down a level where it feels awkwardly slow, and then just fill that out and be able to do that for miles on end and you feel like you can run forever. And then that becomes your resting heart rate. And then that is your kind of, you're 80% of your runs. That is your. You're resting while you're running.
Say you had a hard tempo the day before the next day, just chill out for a few days and just take it easy, but extend your distance. And then when it comes time for that next a tempo run or in overrun, you're going to have that extra gear to push yourself to the next level. So you're actually gaining more by saving your body on those longer runs.
That mid zone from what I read and many people who are running know about this, but you're not getting any extra benefits in the mid zone than you are than when you're running slow. Cause it's, they're still accomplishing the same thing, but you're just putting more strain on your body.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:27:50]
I think Bertrand just talked about the 80 20 rule to me, not too long ago.
We just had Matt Fitzgerald on the podcast, not too long ago as well. It's really cool to see people that are advanced runners or who we would consider really fantastic runners, really experimenting with the 80 20 rule and having good success from it. So you said that you started doing it after Boston had the other.
Have Ray Bree, have you guys experimented with 80 20 rules? Tried it out at all.
###### Ray Avalos: [00:28:18]
Not through a cycle, but I have found myself running slower.
Oh, but actually I've talked to my brother and that's definitely something I definitely want to give it
###### Brea Avalos: [00:28:35]
a go. Yeah, that's what I think I'm the least methodical out of the three of us. I actually didn't enjoy running in college as much as I wanted to. I think when I found running is at this point where I needed it to be like a way to feel almost like powerful.
I needed that in my life. I needed a way to feel like I was here control of my life. And so for me running, it's always been like my outlet. Like it's something that I just really very much, like it's not about even the finish line. It's about like, Just being in every single mile. So when it comes to training these two, talking about training for Boston, the first race we did together, it was so stressful because they would be like, no, no, no, no, every single conversation, I would just want to see how my brother and his, his wife were doing.
And he would try and tell me about what I'm doing wrong, about my running. So let's say,
###### Ray Avalos: [00:29:24]
Rob, come on down.
###### Brea Avalos: [00:29:28]
Oh, he's like, Hey, you should do this. You should do. And it was cool because like, we were like competing and also like trying to make each other better, which was awesome. Like, it was so cool. But for me, it was just like, the biggest training that I would do is just like really high mileage and a lot of trail running.
Like a lot of, like, I would go to, I'm trying to think, like quick silver is a perfect in San Jose where I would do, like, I would challenge myself to find the biggest Hills. Around me. And those would be like my training courses. And those would be like my long runs is making sure that I'm putting in like 18 mile run.
Um, and just spending the whole day do like in Hills doing it.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:30:04]
One thing I admire about Bree, her consistency with running. And I do think that comes from like an underlying love where I can't speak for Ray, but for myself, I always have to be training for something where Bree is kind of has this natural love for running that she just does it.
And she's ready to go. If you put a race up next month, she's going to smash where I need a little bit more time to plan it out. So I think. That's one thing I do admire about Bria is the sustainability in her running. No matter if it's a race coming up or not, or is this a situation where now breeze out there getting after it?
###### Brea Avalos: [00:30:39]
The best shape I've ever gotten though, is when, like, as far as like marathon shape is when I was staying at Anthony's house in Norway for a couple months. And we were in that. What is the
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:30:51]
training
we ended up? So my wife works with the ex, like a Olympian triathlete. We ended up at like the national Olympic running group, which is one of the main clubs. And we are training. We are not in like serious running shape. We're a serious, but they're really serious people. And they were like running these workouts were crazy and we got it.
And this group, they loved us because we were from the U S it was winter time. Cold, but we're out there every day. Just getting after these crazy workouts, tempo runs, you would have like mile repeats on mile repeats and everybody's really good. So we're going in there thinking, Oh, it's just a running club.
We're going to be pushing it. And then we try to push ourselves, but we're not in that elite pack where maybe just watching them from behind, but we're on their mailing list. And I still to this day use their workouts. Cause I get every week the coach sends workout. So then I take the workouts and then I just.
I don't add the whole thing in, but I add pieces in, into my schedule and it's basically the children's and then two interval trainings per week, and one tempo run per week and then one long run. And then the other runs are just mid distance slower.
###### Brea Avalos: [00:32:06]
And Ray,
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:32:06]
I think I had interrupted you when you were going to reference your very first marathon, that experience, because it's ironic that first marathon was a podcast that we just launched in the last 24 hours.
###### Ray Avalos: [00:32:17]
Yeah. And actually just
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:32:19]
let me see what year that was. It
###### Ray Avalos: [00:32:20]
wasn't 2015. It may have been sooner, but I forget when you're 14,
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:32:24]
14, 14. Yep.
###### Ray Avalos: [00:32:26]
I thought I got the date wrong there, but yeah, first marathon, I'm the type of person where I just kind of dive into it. I'm like a trial and error guy. I think that's the same for my brother and sister.
We just, you know, We'll just go all in and we'll learn about it later and, you know, okay. To make mistakes and it's okay to, but you just got to go try. So I was like, you know what, I'm going to try my first marathon. I think I was training my peak mileage was like, I had a couple of 30 mile weeks, but most of them were like 20 something milers.
And it was, I was training for a big Sur marathon. So I got to the big Sur marathon. I went out like a speeding bullet man at the time I was in that greatest shape yet. So. I went out at six, 15 was moving for me at that time. And I went out for the first six miles and I did that and I took her down maybe six 45.
I was still on
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:33:12]
a
###### Ray Avalos: [00:33:12]
good pace. And then you hit that big Hill and yeah, I struggled to finish. I started cramping at pretty early, so I hit, I hit that 16 miles and I started started cramping and I just almost crawled the finish, but I finished, I finished my first marathon and three 12. And my goal was I wanted to try to qualify for Boston.
My first goal.
but I, I will say that that is
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:33:41]
a beautiful
###### Ray Avalos: [00:33:42]
course. And there was a lot of breathtaking moments
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:33:45]
there where,
###### Ray Avalos: [00:33:46]
you know, once you hit a wall, sometimes you're just accepting of how beautiful everything is, how beautiful the struggle is, how beautiful the surroundings are, how beautiful the things that you see around you are.
So I think it's important to just really. You know, hit the wall. And just whether, you know, it's trying to qualify for Boston or trying to compete, wait your first five, K it doesn't matter. Just kind of dive in and find your wall for that time being, and keep trying to push that wall if that's your goal.
And I think that's just kinda my mindset and, you know, to stay optimistic and persevere and just kind of dive in.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:34:20]
Well, I mean a three 12 marathon after cramping, a mile 16. I mean, some of us would kill for a three 12, so kudos to you crawling into the finish line. That is, that is not crawling into the finish line.
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###### Anthony Avalos: [00:34:52]
mob.com/referral.
So
###### Kevin Chang: [00:34:55]
talk to us about Boston qualifying for Boston, because all three of you have. And so, and we've gotten kind of nuggets of it, you know, tell us what was that journey? Who was the first to qualify for Boston? How did you bring the others along? What, what did that look like?
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:35:10]
So after
###### Ray Avalos: [00:35:11]
a big Sur, I knew I wanted to get sucked out the best place to go qualify for Boston is a renounced CIM.
So what's a CIM 2015. Yeah. And I ran a two 56, I think. So. Yeah.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:35:28]
I ran a two 56,
###### Ray Avalos: [00:35:29]
um, made it, it was awesome. So. I wish I would have had a,
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:35:34]
a
###### Ray Avalos: [00:35:34]
story for CIM that was really memorable. I mean, it's memorable being around to legit and how big the event is the awesome event. I have any cramping stories. I mean, I ran a really smart race, is able to get across the finish line.
And then I got to Boston. So Boston, uh, that was an incredible experience. Uh, they call it like the graduation of marathoning. I think, uh, all of our buddy all over Boston described that to me was that it's the graduation marathoning, which it is everywhere from, you know, getting into athlete village to everything leading up and picking up your bib to just being in the race itself.
I mean, thousands of people, what is it about 30,000 and people, but then the streets are just lined with people for the entire race. And every town has its own story. So it's, you really feel like you're going through different chapters of the race, which is just really incredible, but I will tell probably one of my most memorable stories was from my first Boston.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:36:30]
So I was crossing
###### Ray Avalos: [00:36:31]
the final mile. I was on a good pace. I was probably on a. I would say that two 45 and it's high to forties range. I crossed the last mile. Marker. There's an famous overpass. It says Boston strong on it came under that overpass and there was a slight incline. So I kind of pushed it up that incline and right as I came out, both legs locked.
Yup. And I could not move. I could not move. And I was mentally, I was having like a decent race, a few pitches here and there, but immensely I was having a good race and I locked up. And I went to the ground and I could not get up. And I was trying to, you know, stretch out and nothing was working, nothing was working.
And a guy came by me, which later I found his name is Walter Cano from Peru. He grabbed me by the hand and he said, and he looked at me in the eye and he said, keep going. That's all I said. And for some reason that energy just jolted me right up. And, and in my mind, my mind has said, start stomping your feet.
So I stopped my feet as hard as I could. And both of my legs just instantly loosened up and I was able to finish the last and finish the race pretty strong as well. I have a video coming down Boylston, and I was able to finish it at a decent pace. So never give up as a story of, of that. I have a picture of that, just the grimace on my face right before I'm about to come.
It's pretty funny,
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:37:45]
but yeah, it's cool.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:37:46]
Any theories on our thinking can overcome cramping. Any thoughts on how that is, or
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:37:52]
the mind
###### Ray Avalos: [00:37:53]
is super powerful. So if you think you're going to cramp, you're going to cramp because every time that I've cramped up, I thought about it
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:38:00]
a few minutes before a few seconds
###### Ray Avalos: [00:38:02]
before.
I've cramped. So, I mean, if you think you're going to lose, you're gonna lose. I mean, it's okay to be down, but definitely the mind's a powerful thing and just try to do things to overcome. And I don't know why I decided to stop my feet, but you know, there's ways to get out of a situation.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:38:17]
How soon after the Boston bombings was that
###### Ray Avalos: [00:38:20]
two, two years.
I believe that Boston bars were
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:38:22]
2013 We had our uncle. Mike is also a
###### Ray Avalos: [00:38:27]
crazy
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:38:28]
athlete distance man. Uh, fishermen
###### Bertrand Newson: [00:38:33]
biker
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:38:35]
biker. He ran Boston the year of the bombing. So he has a memory in this story from that, but we were there too. Yeah, it was it two years after.
###### Bre Avalos: [00:38:44]
Yeah, but you qualified after Ray, right? Or like Ray ran it one year
###### Ray Avalos: [00:38:49]
16 and then you guys had at 17.
###### Bre Avalos: [00:38:52]
Yeah. And then in an ant, I was still in college and I think you were training to qualify.
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:38:57]
Yeah. Yeah. Then I call so, so then that was around the time when I was just kind of tearing off my soccer area, getting into new things and then I ran a half marathon. Just out of courage, really? That nothing was tough and it wasn't a hit, it wasn't a San Francisco course.
I'll say that. And then I really liked running. I wasn't intending to qualify for Boston, but based on some of my trainings on Strava, Ray, Ray, Ray said. Hey, you might be able to, you're running pretty decent. You might be able to qualify for Boston. And then I was like, okay, I'll give it a go. I wasn't really thinking that it's possible.
But then I started to get into it. And then that was my kind of guiding light. So then everything in my training was okay, Boston. That's my time. I know I want to run a three Oh five as the cutoff. I don't want to make any chances because it could be lower. I'm going to run a two 59. Here's my splits. That was my goal is to run a two 59.
I was, I trained for running a two 59 in Stockholm, Sweden, relatively, somewhat flat course, but you got a couple of bridges that you have to crossover the added little, add a little bit of challenge. So I ran there in Stockholm, Sweden in 2016. And then I, I ran a two 59, 23, which was right on the dot from my, what I was going for.
So that was my first marathon was in stucco.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:40:23]
The marathon you qualified for Boston, is that right?
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:40:25]
Yeah.
###### Kevin Chang: [00:40:26]
So you were training for both the distance and also the time. Being
###### Anthony Avalos: [00:40:30]
in Europe. I like, I always have a trouble with, with Ray and breathe because I'm working now in kilometers. Cause everybody here works in Columbus per hour or kilometers per minute.
So then I knew that based on my kilometer per minute time that I would end up at, I think it was four 59, 22, and then I landed. I landed at two 59, 23, I, then I had a five minute 30 plus seconds that barrier to get into Boston's office. We were pretty sure after that race and Ray was the first one I talked to you that I think you got into Boston and then it was like, Oh, wow.
That was a big part.