Ragnar Relay Blues

It's been a little while since I last wrote. I've picked up 3 new Couch to 5k clients and have a few things in the works for summer but really my main focus right now is getting through the Ragnar Relay with a team.

Today it looks like we might have a whole team with the final addition of 2 more females and 2 males. I haven't received the guys registration fee yet so in my mind they are in limbo. The 12 passenger vans are 95% secured and there is a renewed slight hope for sponsorship. Now I just have to worry about leg placement, pace times and getting all the little crap together plus are our runners running? At this point we don't have any alternates so hopefully no one gets hurt and fingers crossed our runners have been training.

Speaking of running tonight should put me at right around 100mi. for the month. These John "Hate" Sales challenges have kept my miles up plus coaching isn't hurting either. I keep being impressed with how much all these miles, even slow ones, have helped with my pace and overall form. Hoping to keep it up for Portland!

Sales Pitch

Last month Road Runner Sports sent me an email and wanted to know if I wanted to do a Shoe/Support Clinic in their local store. I was told that it would be fun, there would be giveaways and of course a discount. I have been meaning to get down to the store to get an alternate pair of running shoes anyway so I thought it sounded like a great idea. I actually got clients to come and sold everyone on turning in their old shoes for the additional $10 discount. In retrospect maybe I should have read the exclusions.

Cutting a long story short the clinic wasn't more than a sales pitch, there was fun but not because of Road Runner (we're just fun people) , there were no giveaways and sadly most of us walked out without shoes! And not because we wanted to. However the sales staff was all friendly enough and the next day when I did the online chat with RRS the customer service representative was amazing and finally all those without shoes found their shoes... eventually.

This ends up being a happy story because I found my new universal alternate pair of shoes. So far I am loving these Newton Momentum. Not only do they feel great but the color is kick ass! I may not give up on RRS just yet but next time I'm solicited for an event I am definitely going to ask a lot more questions.

 

 

Semi-Controlled Chaos

May starts a new month of group runs.  Some have been expanded to also double as Ragnar training but I am also starting to offer a speed/form class and a trail run series.  The speed/form class I am most nervous about.  I never did track as a kid so I worry about drills and getting the intervals right for the right clients.  Thankfully the class is a basic speed/form class. I am definitely not coaching anyone to BQ but I still want to make sure I am doing everything as correct as possible. I am most excited about the trail run series.  We are holding them on the Lake Youngs Trail and should be fun and challenging.  This is a popular trail for the locals but is notorious for its steep hills.  May be good for some repeats.

Ragnar is coming up soon and we are still down 4 team members. Always leads on runners but for one reason or another they fall through.  We lost 2 good, fast runners so the whole team is a bit bummed about that but gained a runner who is currently residing in Beijing, China.  She will definitely win the award for farthest distanced traveled for a race but another team member is moving to California but flying back twice for the Rock n Roll Half Marathon and Ragnar.  She may be up for the dedication award if we had one. There is a lot to do to get this team together and now with the Boston Marathon bombings our rental vans may not have only skyrocketed in price but also are requiring some kind of clearance through Home Security?!?  We also toyed with the idea of sponsorship but have yet to get a sponsor letter together and the printing of team shirts is definitely getting held up due to this.  I'd like to control this chaos for sure but I think it just may be out of my hands.

There's A Race Picture and I'm Smiling

Today I started working with a new couch to 5k client.  She was already a friend or a well known acquaintance maybe but it was still exciting for me to start with her.  You just don't know who is going to fall in love with running and have it become their new passion or who is going to grind their way through the training only to not run again.  I find when I am working with the couch to 5k clients I tend to say "if you decide to continue" and wonder if I should stop putting that backout clause idea in their head already.  I don't want to be a pusher or make people think they need to spend a ton of money on new gear or even that I presume they will continue my services. That may be a bit of a confidence issue on my behalf more than anything though.  Confidence aside it is always a bit exciting to get someone fresh, who is themselves excited. The thrill of running your first mile, then 1st mile without stopping then first 5k! You are on top of the world!

Which brings me to something else I've been kind of pondering the last couple of days.  I recently did the Seahawks 12k and the Hot Chocolate 15k. For the most part I consider myself a middle of the road runner as far as speed.  I could get up to 9 min miles but generally could not sustain them for more than 3 miles at a stretch. These last 2 races however I felt pretty optimistic and strong.  The Hot Chocolate 15k in March was the first race I had run in a couple of months and really since I started coaching.  I started picking up my mileage in December and every month since I have added more miles. In March I ended the month with 134 or so miles, in February it was around 125 and January 110.  I really wasn't sure how all this running was going to effect me.  Running was definitely easier than before but since most of my miles are really slow client miles or LSD I didn't expect much improvement and maybe thought I was hurting my chances of being faster since I cut out my speed work sessions to run groups.

With the Hot Chocolate 15k, my husband and I truly averaged around 9:45 min mile. By itself that gain probably is not that substantial but for the amount of hills that were in that race and the fact that we ran them all I was really super satisfied with our time.  Made me mad we stopped for the bathroom though and cause our official time to average just a hair over 10 min miles.
The Seahawks race was just this past Sunday and I am so pleased with my time on this run. I averaged 9:03 min miles and felt I probably could have even gone faster.  This race also has some hills and in previous attempts those hills just tired me out. This go around I felt I still had some energy in there and was able to bound up some of the hills as opposed to slogging my way up.  I am now convinced that running all those miles and adding the Runner's Bootcamp to my Pip Running calendar twice a week for the last 6 weeks have really made a huge difference.  Also, I have been seeing Dr. Monti at Elite Sport and Spine working on imbalances and gait for awhile now.  I have no delusions of becoming a sub 6 min super 40 year old elite athlete but these last couple of races have definitely given me a new confidence about running the Portland Marathon that I did not have before.  Maybe 40 will be the new 30 and I will come out much stronger by years end. 

So It Begins...

Starting a Run Coach business and a new blog around the same time are not the easiest.  I had a whole post already written and I thought saved.  It was a great post about...something.  There were bits about running and there were bits about coaching and it was good. Some may even say Gold! But the train of thought left the moment I hit save and those beautiful words are lost in the ether.

What I want to do is chronicle about starting my business, my wonderful clients, the adventures we have on our runs and my training for the Ragnar Relay in July and my first full marathon, the Portland Marathon, in October.  Plus there will be some fun bits about my kids and husband in there but mostly just as it pertains to my running.