Recap: My first month of having a Coach

It's been just over a month since I started working with Coach Kelsey and so far I'm really pleased.
It is, however, WINTER. I hope that we don't have too many more days that force me to be on the dreadmill...

Winter. Yuck.

So what have I noticed during the past month?

 

The first, and probably most obvious thing is that I am completely free from devising my own training plan. I could not be more pleased about this and honestly think that if this was the ONLY benefit it would be well worth the money! My self inflicted training plans are never ideal, as they mostly involve running about 8 miles, at an 8:20 pace, every day of my life. Hmmmm.

 

The second, and more important thing is that she is there to put a firm stop to my shenanigans... Run two hours on a very, very painful ankle? NO

Run 29 miles in 2 days to make it to 1600 for the year? NO!!!!

 

The third thing I most certainly notice is that the miles are getting back to where I like to see them- in the general range of 8:30's, which feels more like a normal effort now and less of a disgusting struggle. (Post MDI, being sick, etc I was having a hard time!) Also, things are feeling better after a month that was just over 100 miles. Definitely not a lot of mileage for me. I feel like my workouts are less heavy on the miles and more focused on the productivity. As previously mentioned I have also been doing core work at least 1x a week and an hour of spin weekly. This is a first for me- cross training has NEVER been my strong point! Most of my workouts involve changes of pace, which mixes things up for my legs that enjoy staying in the 8:30 range always, for every run...

 

I had a couple of minor stumbling blocks during December. I "missed" 2 long runs- one due to my iffy Achilles and the other was a scheduled skip on a day when I got a wisdom tooth extracted (ouch). With those exceptions I tried to be very faithful to the plan, I don't pay somebody to help me and then scamper around doing whatever I want!!

 

So December racked up 103 miles, 3 spin sessions, 5 core workouts and a long slushy 13 miler as my longest run. Pretty decent stuff. I imagine that January is going to raise the bar on the intensity level as Hyannis looms on the horizon. My logical goals for this month are to stay healthy, work hard on my nutrition plan (always mission impossible around here) start eating like an athlete again and not like a 13 year old boy, and to get in every one of my long runs.

So that is where I'm at for the time being. Feeling pretty good about things and very glad to have some excellent help pushing me along the way!