I was initially introduced to Lori via her blog, Through A Running Lens. I found her posts insightful, informative, and full of passion for the sport. She spoke on topics that other blogs didn't touch. When I discovered that she was a Road Runners Club of America certified coach and witnessed the results that her other clients have experienced, I was sold.
I was coming off of an 8K race (Playmakers Autumn Classic) where I felt like I did not run to my full potential and never found a rhythm. It was tremendously discouraging and the classic overachiever in me was hungry to continue to progress (in spite of the fact that I'd finished in under 50 minutes which was my goal). I knew that a change needed to be made. I felt like I'd reached my limit of what I can do on my own and was ready to take the plunge and continue to invest in the sport that has come to mean so much to me.
I was on Facebook and came across a status update on her Through A Running Lens Facebook Page where she was praising one of her clients for having an awesome Autumn Classic run and I had to inquire about her services. We went back and forth with a few emails and I was sold. I was eager to work with her and the training began almost immediately.
There's a reason why some runners get better and some don't. Lori needed solid data about who I was and what I could do as a runner so that she could formulate a training plan that would help me to get better/faster. That's difficult to do when some of my runs were inaccurate because I was running with my dog, running and talking with friends, or stopping to wait for my daughter. She was able to immediately pinpoint why I was so unhappy with my Autumn Class race and how to work on fixing it. She also suggested that I use a Garmin GPS watch to track my runs instead of an iPhone app for accuracy and so that I could track what I was doing per lap and adjust my pace as needed for the overall desired target time.
After a little digging, I decided to go and purchase a Garmin Forerunner 210 to start my training with Lori. It was $200 but has a $25 mail-in rebate if purchased by October 31, 2013. I spent some time today getting used to my new toy and mentally preparing myself for my first training run in the morning. I hope that I don't put so much pressure on myself that I don't do what I need to do. More than anything, I'm super excited about all that I will learn from Lori and to see the progress that I make while working with her. Does anyone else work with a running coach? If so, please share your experience. For the time being, it's Good Bye to running with friends, dogs, and kids and hello to pacing and intervals. It's a welcomed change...one that I know will yield results. As always, I'll keep you guys posted on the many things that are to come! |