Abstract: I start with a personal story that sparked a lesson learned about training, stress, and recovery. As runners, it’s easy to fall into the trap of doing more when things feel off—pushing harder, running farther, adding strength or fueling tweaks—until we burn out or get injured. But real, sustainable progress doesn’t come from flipping switches on and off. It comes from adjusting your training dials—volume, strength, nutrition, recovery, and life stress—with intention. This email explores how to zoom out, assess your current load, and train smarter, not harder—so you can keep running strong without hitting that wall. At the end you’ll find a special invite to join my Women’s Running Academy.

Hey Reader,

Let's start with a little story time:

It’s ok if you laugh at me a little. While I didn’t really find it funny at the time, it does make me laugh now too.

I've been back in therapy for about nine months now—a decision that came during a time when I couldn’t run, and it was driving me absolutely crazy. If you're like me, running is more than a sport. It’s the quiet space for unspooling the thoughts in my head. It’s my main go-to strategy for managing life.

But when that tool was taken away (yet again) late last summer, I had to face the fact that I needed more than just running to process what I was going through.

Last summer, while at the beach with my family celebrating what would have been our daughter Charlotte’s second birthday, I had a pretty embarrassing injury. Within minutes of arriving at the beach, while playing with William in the waves, one hit us. His head accidentally swung back and hit me right on the pubic bone—hard. The injury left me with significant bruising and swelling. It literally looked like I had a penis inside my bathing suit bottoms and I ended up sitting with ice on my crotch for the rest of the day.

That freak, split second injury, sidelined me from running for weeks! That physical pause came at an emotionally heavy time, just ahead of the second anniversary of Charlotte’s death. The timing couldn’t have been worse—or perhaps it was exactly what I needed. That push led me back to therapy, where I’ve been working on something many of us struggle with: the tendency to lean into productivity in moments of uncertainty or emotional overwhelm.

It’s a trait that’s served me well in life in many ways. Give me a problem and I’m like a dog with a bone. I will work endlessly to solve it. But sometimes that "go, go, go" mindset backfires. I push so hard that eventually the wheels fall off—and my body forces me to stop.

This got me thinking. How many runners are doing this on the regular? You hit a roadblock, you decide there has to be something more you should be doing, add that in, keep pushing forwards… until the wheels fall off completely in the form or burn out or a sidelining injury.

Stress, Recovery, and the Blueprint for Progress

The body's blueprint for progress is simple—stress the system just enough, to the edge of but still within its window of tolerance, then allow time to rest and recover so adaptations can take place. When we get the dosing right, we make gains. Little by little, week by week, over months and years—this is how sustainable progress is made.

But too much stress, too quickly, and we exceed that window. The result? Injury and burnout. And then comes the all-or-nothing thinking: we stop completely, lose momentum, try to catch back up, and the cycle repeats again and again.

Smart training isn't just about choosing the right exercises. It’s about understanding dosage, timing, and context. It’s about taking a systems-level approach and zooming out to see the big picture.

Training Dials, Not Switches

Imagine a soundboard in a recording studio filled with dials and knobs. This is your training setup.

You have a few big, critical dials:

• Training Volume: How many miles, how often, how long is each run?
• Daily Nutrition: Are you fueling adequately, regularly?
• Sleep & Recovery: Are you consistently getting restorative sleep? Are you building in true rest?
• Life Stress: What's happening outside of training?

Then you have some more, smaller optimizers. Some examples include:

• Pacing: Are you dosing the different paces for the full spectrum of physiological adaptations?
• Strength Training: Are you training your body outside of running to help you meet the physical demands of the sport? There are a lot more variables we can play with on this one. It could probably have its own tuning board on the side, but I’m keeping this as just one dial here for simplicity's sake.
• Intra Run Fueling: Are you taking in enough fueling during your longer run efforts?

If your training volume dial is cranked up too high, adjusting the smaller details—like perfect pacing or intra-run fueling—won’t help much. Similarly, if your nutrition dial is too low and you’re not eating enough to support your training demands, the rest of your plan is likely to fall short.

They play into each other too. Poor sleep or increased life stress? That volume dial probably needs to come down to allow you to stay within that window of tolerance.

Your training isn't an on/off switch—it’s a set of dials. You can turn them up or down based on your current life and body context. And that’s the key to staying in your window of tolerance.

Strength Training is a Dial NOT an On Off Switch

Strength training is a common example of where runners often get it wrong. It's treated as an on/off switch—used only in the off-season or during injury rehab, then abandoned when running resumes. Or it's ramped up too quickly, causing soreness that interferes with running and leads to inconsistency.

Strength training shouldn’t be something you just toggle on and off depending on the season. It’s not a “nice-to-have” when you’re not running as much. It’s the very thing that gives you more flexibility and resilience when your running volume starts to climb. Strength training is a dial, not an on off switch.

​Once you build a solid foundation, you can turn the strength training volume or intensity up or down based on your running load. During lower-volume training periods, turn the strength dial up to build capacity. During peak running periods, dial it down—but don’t turn it off entirely. This is how strength becomes a supportive tool rather than an added stressor.

Keep in mind a solid foundation of strength training can help give you a little more wiggle room with the running volume dial by building more resilience into your body. It supports your movement efficiency (think happy joints), connective tissue health (think happy tendons) and force production.

As a female (especially millennial or gen-x) runner it’s important to note that strength training isn’t just a performance tool. It’s a critical part how we maintain all the following as we age:

• Metabolic and hormone health
• Bone density
• Muscle mass
• Resilience and longevity in sport (and in life)

Zooming Out: Look at the big dials first!

Before diving into the trendy topics—like fueling strategies, zone 2 heart rate pacing, or electrolyte timing—zoom out. When things feel off — when you’re exhausted, burnt out, or not making the progress you want — maybe it’s not about pushing harder. Ask yourself:

• Is that volume dial turned up too far? Am I running too much for what my body is ready for right now? Am I simply trying to progress too quickly?
• Am I under-fueling for my training load?
• Are I getting enough rest, both physical and mental?
• Is life stress reducing my window of tolerance?

Because if the fundamentals aren’t in place, the fancier details won’t make up for it. And spoiler: even if you’re nailing your mid-run carb intake and hydration, it won’t matter much if you're not eating enough the rest of the day.

If you’re navigating a stressful season in life, consider that your capacity for training stress might be temporarily reduced. That doesn’t mean stop. It means adjust—turn the dial down. Stay within that adaptive window and you’ll still move forward, even if not at the pace you'd hoped for.

When your foundation is strong — meaning you’ve built up smart volume, fueled well, and laid the groundwork with strength training — then you have the freedom to play with the other dials. You can push a little harder, train a little more, chase bigger goals — because the base is there to support it.

That’s the approach we take inside the Women’s Running Academy.

In the past, this has been a 12-week group coaching intensive followed by an invite-only monthly membership. But I’m flipping the model — starting next month, the monthly membership will be open to everyone. It begins with an 8-week strength foundations phase, where we focus on:

• Efficient movement
• Strong technique and mechanics
• Building up to heavier lifts in a way that feels good in your body and supports your running — not derails it

From there, the program becomes plug-and-play based on your season and goals. Whether you're:

• In a running off-season and want to focus on building strength
• Entering a racing season and need to strategically maintain strength
• In a base building season and need a careful balance of both

…you’ll have strength programming that meets you where you are and helps you keep moving forward.

So instead of the all-or-nothing cycle — hitting strength hard in the off-season, dropping it when mileage builds, then scrambling when injuries crop up — what if you could maintain both with consistency in a way that feels good in your body and while supporting your overall health AND running training.?

That’s the goal.

Inside the Women’s Running Academy, we’ll help you tune your dials with intention. So you can push just enough to make real, consistent progress toward your goals — while finally breaking free from the cycle of injury and burnout.

​Click here to learn more and add your name to the waitlist now.

Your Coach,
Alison

Alison Marie Helms, PhD Certified Personal Trainer and Running Coach Unlock your full running potential through physics and physiology. ​Work with me.​