Tag: self-coaching

Choosing the Right Training Plan
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The right plan for you is out there somewhere.

You did it! After studying the calendar, Googling flights and hotels, negotiating with your family and deliberating with your running friends, you finally registered for a goal race. Yay!

Now what? Well, you probably realize you need a training plan, but how do you get one? Should you hire a coach? Consult running books? Use a “stock” training plan from the interwebs?

Let’s go through the decision-making process step-by-step. Below are the questions we need to ask ourselves in determining what kind of training plan we’re going to use to reach our goals.

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Tough Love Running Inventory Part I: Why You Need One
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Where are you in your training?I’m a statistics nerd – I love analyzing my past races, workout splits, turning points and so on. It allows me to take a real look at where my strengths and weaknesses are and to make informed decisions about how to achieve my goals, something I wasn’t always able to do.

Right now, with my daughter just a couple months old and having had a C-section I’m preparing for issues associated with being both postpartum and post-surgery, as well as having taken a nice long break from running. The good news is that taking a real look at where I am with running will be easy! Coming back from baby, burnout, injury, or any other break is an obvious time to take a running inventory, and it’s a much more objective task to assess your running performance when you haven’t been running. It’s easier to admit if you’re not in great shape or not where you want to be. It’s easier to admit that a workout felt harder when you know you haven’t been building your fitness up. It’s easier to face reality in a time when we have a great excuse!

What isn’t as easy is the far more subjective process of assessing your running ability when you aren’t starting from scratch. And it’s not even just about the numbers! There are things you can’t tell from analyzing stats and splits and there are things a coach can’t assess. But the worst part is that a really good running inventory will require an honesty with yourself that can be downright brutal. Read more >>

Why I Decided to Work With a Coach
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Is it a midlife running crisis? A cry for help? An acknowledgement of defeat? All I know is that this spring, after more than 20 years of training solo, I was ready for a change. I just wasn’t sure exactly what kind.

I’ve been running consistently for years, sometimes casually and sometimes more structured or high mileage training, but always self-directed. Sometimes my self-coaching led to PR’s, and sometimes the results were not so hot: over-training or injury.

This year, I decided it was time for change.

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Uncoachable
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La, la, la, la. I can't hear you!!!
La, la, la, la. I can’t hear you!!!

“Maybe I should get a coach,” I mused as I perused the websites of several personal running coaches who all claimed that they could help me reach my goal.

My husband sighed. Then he said, “You don’t really want a coach. You want someone to validate the choices that you’ve made with your training. You need to tell the coach, ‘Listen, I’m paying you to tell me that every decision I made was the right one.'”

Yeah, my husband knows me.

I. Am. Uncoachable.

I hate it when someone tells me what to do. I’ve had coaches in the past. It always works out the same way. First I’m excited and eager to work with them. I’m fully compliant the first month. I do everything they say. Then I’m less compliant in the second month, but more or less on track. Finally in the third month, I’m checked out of the relationship.

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Everything Every Runner Needs to Know about Jack Daniels
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Jack Daniels is currently the head coach at Wells College in upstate New York. How awesome would it be to be able to say he was your coach in college?! Image via wells-express.com

Today We’re talking about Dr. Jack Daniels, the man named “World’s Best Coach” by Runner’s World magazine. Daniels was a swimmer and shooter before he was groomed to compete in modern pentathlon bringing home medals in the 1956 and 1960 Olympics. But his mark on the world of running came after he went on to study exercise physiology and conducted the research that modernized middle and distance running training. His book Daniels’ Running Formula serves as the training bible to runners and coaches. It’s an incredibly complete reference on all aspects of training for middle and distance running. He is incredibly influential on my and many other runners’ training and has influenced just about every other running coach around.

Whether you’re a running veteran or a newbie, super fast or looking to leave the back of the pack, Jack Daniels’ training philosophies can help your running. Read on! Read more >>

Choosing a Training Plan That’s Right for You
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The first Choose Your Own Adventure book.
Choose your own adventure, indeed! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While there are many things I hope to accomplish this year, there’s only one goal that really matters to me when all is said and done: to qualify for Boston.

And if you’re wondering what “Boston” is, you’re reading the wrong blog. In fact, I bet you understand that when I say “qualify for Boston,” that’s Runnerese for I’m aiming high and need a solid training plan to get me there.

Choosing a training plan with such an important goal to achieve, is no small task, so today let’s discuss the finer points of choosing the right training plan. Read more >>

How to Coach Yourself to a Great Marathon
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Reading Rilke
Dig into those resources to coach yourself to a great marathon! (Photo credit: Underpuppy)

So you want to run a marathon, huh? That’s awesome.  But how are you going to train for it?

You could hire a coach to craft a sweet training program for you. But if you are like most runners, you don’t have or don’t want that option.  You are on your own.

Never fear!  Whether you are a beginner or running your 50th marathon, there is a plethora of valuable and inexpensive (if not free) resources available to help you every step of the way.

Today, I’ll share some of my experiences and offer some tips and ideas on how to find all the resources you need to coach yourself to a great marathon.

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