Ok, I promised you some exciting news – so I’ll just get right to the point… I’m a coach in the Dave’s Running 5K Training Group!
“What? Where did this come from?” you say? Let me take you back to Friday. I was out on my run. It was a “12 mile progressive run, with last 2 miles at race pace”. I plugged it into my Garmin to keep me on schedule. It was a little challenging because the high and low pace was about 15 seconds apart (example 9:30 – 9:15). My watch was beeping like crazy most of the run. First it was “slow down”. The middle part was good. The last part was “speed up”!!
Overall, it did end up being a pretty good progression – although I blame my inability to read my watch properly, and some uphill to not get mile 8 in the right range. However, my last two miles were NOT race pace 🙁 I was hoping to get them closer to 8:15, and 8:48 was the best I could do. Seriously?? I ran almost a whole marathon at 8:46 and now I can’t crack 8:30? waaaa.
That lead me down my normal path of thinking… is there something wrong with me? Do I have an illness? (hey, it happens!) Is my iron low?? (just listened to a podcast on that) Just what is wrong?
And then I got a message. It was from a friend who asked if I might be interested in being a coach for the 5K Training program with Dave’s Running. What? Me?? He thought I would be perfect for the job. Dang, that made me so happy! Then I thought, maybe being a coach was my calling for this spring. Maybe not that half marathon PR. I had been dragging my feet on committing to a couple of social events lately, and they just happened to fall on the group training days. What are the odds? Maybe it was fate 🙂 (even though I believe you make your own destiny and path in life….)
I’m very excited to be a coach for this group. Dave’s Running is a local running shop, and a “gold sponsor” for the Glass City Marathon. They organize the main training group for the Glass City marathon (both full and half training), and are hugely successful for the participants. I’ll be under the guidance of a 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier (go Evan!!), a 2000 Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier, a multiple Ironman Triathlete finisher, in addition to the very talented and experienced running staff at Dave’s Running.
So yeah, very exciting stuff for me! We had our first meeting and did a 2K time trial to get an idea what our training paces should be. I got 7:41 on my mile, and 8:17 overall. I was pretty excited to see these PRs in Strava for the run too. My run felt good and I felt strong. What a nice change of pace!! (haha)
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Q: Have you ever worked with a group training program?
Q: Have you ever had your iron level checked?
This topic still interests me! I might just check this out for the heck of it.
That’s so cool! As a coach what will you do?
I’ve never worked with a group training program, but there is one available every year for Team PAWS. Even though I don’t use the program I am part of the Facebook Group and enjoy the support/community, and last year I did email back and forth with the coach a bit!
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I’ll be assisting with a plan that is already designed for the group. There are beginners, but also people looking to improve their PR. We meet twice a week for speedwork for that group. Not sure my pace group yet, that will be based on the time trials we did. I’m really excited to be part of the group!
That’s awesome, Lisa! So how many people will you be coaching? Will they call you Coach Lisa? 🙂
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Thanks! It really was perfect timing for the opportunity. Sadly, I was not issued a whistle at the first meeting… but there’s still hope right? 🙂 We haven’t split into pace groups yet. All of that will be set up on Saturday at our next meeting. We meet twice a week for speedwork.
Sounds like a great way to connect with running, but without the pressure of a PR!
I had my iron tested when I was having some major fatigue issues a few years ago (sleeping 9-10 hours a day and still exhausted). Iron was normal, but we did discover a vitamin D deficiency. No harm in getting it tested just in case. And also, after a while my fatigue issue just went away. Still not sure what caused it.
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I stopped taking a multivitamin, but I do take a calcium & vitamin D supplement. So, not sure I’m getting enough iron or not! I think I will get it tested at my physical. I’m definitely not sleeping too much. When I hit 7 hours I’m done!
A few years ago, I was training for the NYC Marathon and my legs were just dead. I was so totally exhausted halfway through a long run that I told my partner to run ahead, get the car, and come back to pick me up. I knew something was up because I had been running well all year and this just came on fairly quickly. I went to my GP and had blood work done. Sure enough, it came back saying that I was at the low end of normal for iron but for a runner that is the same as being anemic. My GP put me on a mega-dose of iron for a month and since then all has been fine. I am sure to incorporate iron-rich foods into my diet and my multi vitamin has a small amount of iron in it.
Very interesting!!! Glad the issue got fixed.
Congratulations Lisa that’s really cool:)
I’ve never worked with a group training program but I love people and I love to teach so I think I would love to do it in the future.
I’ve never had my Iron level checked. Maybe I should do it soon.
I have never worked with a group either – although I love getting together with our Mom’s group on a random basis. The group training is really, really popular here, so I’m excited to finally get involved with it!