coaching

lately and lesson learned

August 4, 2014 by Kristy 9 Comments

It’s been awhile…almost 2 months to be exact.

The past 2 months have been a whirlwind. I’m going to do a seperate post on 50K training but first an update on life in general is needed.

I quit my job in early July to become a SAHM, running coach, and (former) barre instructor. More on that last part later. I was lucky to have 6 months of child care leave but I knew I wasn’t going back. I started RTLR Coaching 4 years ago with the goal of devoting more time to it once I had kids. And I loved staying home with Fiona more than I ever imagined.

In anticipation of leaving my job I decided to pursue any and every opportunity. Because adjusting to motherhood, coaching runners through a busy Fall racing season, and train for a 50K isn’t enough (this was an actual thought of mine). One of the opportunities that came up was a barre instructor position at a new studio. This was perfect – I loved barre and wanted to start teaching classes anyway. Win-win.

I started training back in April and teaching in June. What an eye-opening experience…and kudos to all you fitness instructors out there. A lot of work goes into an hour class (and a lot of work to make it look so seamless and easy). Between taking barre classes, prepping for classes, making playlists, and getting up to speed in general, I was in way over my head. WAY over my head.

The pressure to give 100% to everything was physically and mentally draining. There was so much I wanted to do with coaching but didn’t have the time. When I was with Fiona, I couldn’t turn off the to-do list in my head and just be present with her.

I finally admitted to Matt last week at dinner that I bit off more than I could chew and something needed to come off my plate. He agreed (to say I was an anxious basketcase at times is an understatement) and wondered when I was finally going to wave the white flag. The problem was that I truly enjoyed everything on my plate and, obviously, coaching and Fiona were non-negotiable.

Matt, always the voice of reason, reminded me of why I left my job in the first place: to stay at home with Fiona and grow my coaching business. Barre was taking time away from coaching and, to a much lesser extent, Fiona. It had to go. It killed me to give up such a wonderful opportunity that I loved. Had this opportunity popped up before Fiona was born or even when she was a bit older, the timing may have been better. So I slept on it, ran 20 miles on it, and then resigned. I do feel as though a huge weight has been lifted off of me but part of me is still sad about it.

unrelated but makes me laugh

Lesson learned? You can have it all but not at the same time.

New Year, New Look!

December 17, 2013 by Kristy 4 Comments

Welcome to Run The Long Road COACHING!

I am so thrilled to unveil my new website, just a few weeks shy of my 3-year blogiversary! I also can’t believe I’ve been blogging for that long…just about running?!

My intention 3 years ago was to have the blog promote my coaching business. I consistently blogged 5 times a week and, over time, I acquired new clients. The more clients I had, the less time I had to blog.

Now that I want to grow my business even more I knew I had to shift the focus of my website to more coaching-centric and less blog-centric. And it definitely needed a makeover to look more professional. It was important for me to keep the blog. I think prospective clients like to read about my training, my PRs, and my failed attempts at PRs. I have always maintained the blog as an honest look at my training – the good, the bad, and the ugly – and I intend on keeping it that way. Speaking of bad and ugly – tomorrow’s post will explain why I haven’t run since December 2nd.

I now have more coaching options, including more options for runners in the Philly area. Just in time for those New Year’s resolutions! Please spread the word if you or anyone you know would like to tackle their first race, make the jump to the marathon, or PR/BQ. As crazy as it sounds I am accepting new clients even with the impending birth of baby RTLR!

You may need to update Feedly, etc. with my new site – runthelongroadcoaching.com – so you continue to receive blog updates. My old site will also automatically redirect you to the new site.

I owe a HUGE thanks to Rita at Blog Genie. This was my second time working with her (the first was when I made the jump to self-hosted). She is amazingly talented and incredibly patient! She literally had the new site up and running in a week! I was terrified I was going to have the baby mid-design (ha ha ha, so naive of me) so I’m grateful to Rita for working quickly. It looks so professional, clean, and simply amazing!

Be Your Own Coach

May 5, 2013 by Kristy 8 Comments

Most of my running clients are half marathoners and marathoners. Some are first timers and some have a few races under their belts and are looking to improve their time.

When they first contact me, they complete a questionnaire where I ask them all sorts of questions. I call this “getting to know them more as a runner”. It’s so important that I gather as much information as possible so that I can properly develop a plan for their goal race.

When I begin to lay out a training plan and begin to work with my clients I always keep the following in mind…

Plan, plan, plan
I always tentatively plan the long runs first. I say tentatively since my training plans are highly adaptive and, in general, I only plan 3 weeks of training at a time. I would be weary of a coach that hands you a 16-week training plan at once (unless you asked for it).

Long runs are the bread and butter of any endurance training plan. I take into account tune-up races, drop back weeks, vacations, and any other things I may need to work around. It’s easier to manipulate the long runs later on if you pencil them in for the entire training plan.

Keep your eye on the prize
Speaking of tune-up races, I ask my marathon clients to keep racing to a minimum during marathon training. I generally allow 1 HM and they either race it or use it as a marathon-paced training run. Either way, it’s a great confidence booster for race day.

For chronic racers, marathon training can get a bit boring. Long runs are the priority and racing has to take a backseat temporarily.

The more you run, the better you get at it
I have my clients run as much as they can. What constitutes high mileage is unique to each runner. Thirty miles can be enough for some while 70 is enough for others. I like to have enough time during marathon training to do adequate base building…slow and gradual increases in overall mileage and long run distance. This increase in aerobic capacity will not only make you faster but will lay a solid foundation for marathon or HM-specific speed work.

There’s a time and place for speed work
Many clients want to jump right into speed work thinking it is the only thing that will make them faster. Speed work will make you faster…to an extent. Over time, without proper increases in aerobic capacity, your speed will plateau. As I said above, the right time for speed work is after we have a solid foundation of base mileage. Your body is stronger and can handle the increased stress of speed work.

When clients begin training for a HM or marathon after a period of low mileage, I begin with so-called “pre-training” to base build. After an adequate base is established, then we can layer on the speed work. I sometimes use strides and hill repeats during the base building phase just to break up the monotony of all those slow miles and to help with leg turnover.

That’s just a few of my basic principles I follow when coaching. To find out more, hire me as your coach! Winking smile

expo fun and st. pat’s

March 17, 2013 by Kristy 13 Comments

On Wednesday, I – well, RTLR Coaching – was a vendor at a local health and fitness expo. This was my first vendor gig and I was pretty pumped about it. It didn’t draw a large crowd – definitely not race expo size – but it was big enough for me to connect with local runners and other local vendors in my area.

Each vendor was provided with a 6’ table and was told to “make it look nice”. When you’re a running coach, what are you supposed to put on said table? It’s not like I’m selling merchandise or demonstrating anything. Instead, I made a nice alternating arrangement of business cards and trifold brochures I created. It took me a whole 5 minutes to set up my table.

Let’s talk about the last minute homemade sign. On Monday night Matt asked me if I had a banner or anything to hang on the table, identifying myself. Um, no. Didn’t even think of that. Ensue frantic shopping trip to Michael’s to stock up on crafty items. The result is a homemade sign that screams newbie.

Another lesson learned? In addition to ordering a banner, get a T-shirt made. When in doubt, throw on the Boston jacket!

All in all, I got to talk about running for 3 hours, which is always a good night. Hopefully I got some new clients too!

St. Patty’s Day
One of the best times of the year! Another reason to drink beer and (college) basketball!

I wasn’t sure how long I was going to run yesterday but in the spirit of SPD, I decided to make it a 17-miler. Turns out, yesterday morning was the best time to be out and about…drinking green beer.

Because the afternoon was miserable.

But not too cold for beer.

It seems the Luck of the Irish was plentiful this weekend at the races! I’ve seen numerous mentions of PRs on Twitter. I can’t wait to read the race recaps.

If you raced this weekend, brag about it! If you didn’t, brag about how much beer you drank or something else.

I had a strange urge to run a 5K this morning – that never happens – but decided on 9 recovery miles instead.

Thank you, Runner’s World!

March 6, 2013 by Kristy 21 Comments

Grab your April issue of Runner’s World and turn to page 40.

It’s me!

I am so absolutely thrilled to finally see this in print! I answered this question back in June 2012 and have been in contact regularly with the editor about when it would appear. It was definitely worth the wait.

Appearing in Runner’s World – in any capacity – was definitely something on my bucket list.

It almost happened last April during the Boston Marathon. Prior to Boston, RW was looking for so-called “Boston squeakers”, or people who barely got into Boston. I am the very definition of a squeaker – my BQ time was 3:43:46 and the cut-off for my age and gender was 3:43:46. Yep, you don’t squeak by any less than that. I received an email from Tish Hamilton (yes, Tish Hamilton!) asking if I would be available for a photo shoot at the Boston Marathon finish line the day before the race. RW was gathering “Boston squeakers” and was planning on doing a story about them. Umm, YES! Sidenote: if you know me in real life, you know that the prospect of a photo shoot makes me way more happy than it should.

I was literally on the edge of my seat with excitement. Not only was I running my first Boston, I was going to appear in Runner’s World. Does it get any better than that?!

Then the weather forecast got worse and worse (or hotter and hotter) and Tish sent an email saying the angle of the story had changed and instead RW was going to focus on the heat, not the squeakers. Photo shoot cancelled. Total bummer. I missed my shot as a RW model. BUT, I was still running Boston!

Then came an email from a RW editor in June asking if I would answer a question for their “Ask The Experts” section. Holy crap – this was even better than a photo shoot. I was appearing in RW because of coaching. I never expected this!

Thank you RW. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity and would love (love, love!) to work with you again in the future.

To those of you reading Run The Long Road for the first time – welcome! I hope you like what you see and stick around for awhile.

To those of you interested in coaching, my services are listed here. You can contact me at runthelongroad (at) gmail.com with any questions. Go ahead and check out my PR page to see how “fast” I am – I don’t mind. What I lack in speed I make up for in knowledge Smile

3 days are better than 2…

May 28, 2012 by Kristy 14 Comments

Fun and productive…that’s what you get with a 3-day weekend.

I kicked off the weekend with a 15-miler on Friday morning, my longest run since Boston. I did my same hilly, long run route but slowed down the pace significantly. There’s no need for speedy long runs right now and that is more than OK with me. I really missed just getting out there and running, with no agenda.

On Friday night we went to a wedding (see the importance of getting the long run outta the way?!). But first we swung by my brother’s house to see my niece – it was her Junior Prom. She looked beautiful!

To balance out the fun of Friday night, Saturday was all about sleeping in, no running, making up training plans, and a wee bit of shopping (GAP was having an amazing sale).

And with Sunday, we were back to fun – a BBQ at my brother’s house. In the morning I knocked out 6 miles on trails, bringing me to 40 miles for the week.

Monday morning started with 9 miles on the same trails and then extreme productivity. I made a very optimistic to-do list and, as I type this, I have just 1 item left on the list! We leave for London/Paris on Friday night so I’m trying to get as much done as possible early on in the week. And I’m squeezing another 40-mile week into 4 days of running. Fun!

Was your Memorial Day weekend fun and productive?