Stride by Stride

“When you run alone, you run fast. When you run together, you run far.” Zambian Proverb

Welcome back, friends!  If you’re just now joining us on this journey, I’m Rebecca, and I’ve been sampling a variety of fitness activities and sharing my experiences here on TFP to encourage every woman that she can find a fitness plan to fit her personal style.

Today we’re shining the spotlight on Knoxville Endurance, a running group with a focus on personalized training plans. As a member, you are provided a personal coach who writes your workouts, tailored to your individual running goals, and participate in practices hosted in different areas of the city throughout the week alongside other runners with similar goals. In doing so, you meet many people who are around your pace and maybe meet a training partner for life!

I met my running coach, Robin, while training for a half marathon earlier this year. She coaches with Knoxville Endurance, and we hit it off immediately. As I was considering signing up for my first shot at a full marathon, I was eager to learn more about Knoxville Endurance. Just one chat over coffee with Robin at Panera, and I knew this was the game plan for me.

Since June, Robin has been writing my workouts in 3-week segments and tailoring them to my goals. Luckily, I have met several other runners around my pace that I now am able to work alongside on speed workouts and even tag alongside during my long runs!

So what does a typical week in the life of a pre-marathoner look like? Here’s what last week shaped up to be:

Monday: 5 miles at an easy pace

Tuesday: 2 mile warmup and speed drills (similar to those sprints in gym class where you had to run back and forth touching each painted line on the basketball court), 25 minute tempo run (picking a pace that you stick with for the duration of the workout), 2 mile cool down

Wednesday: Cross training (something apart from running that mixes up my workout routine to avoid boredom and prevent injury)

Thursday: 2-mile warmup, hill repeats (repeatedly sprinting up a hill and jogging down the other side), and a 2-mile cool down

Friday: 4 miles at an easy pace

Saturday: 10 miles at an easy pace (This is my long run day, and a day that I take very, very slow – much more about consistency and completion than speed)

Sunday: REST

It really helps me having someone else plan my workouts because it takes the guesswork out of my training when I barely have enough time to train, much less plan in advance to where I will be equipped to have a good race day.

Along with a tailored workout schedule, other elements to joining a running group and having a coach that I’ve found beneficial include:

Feedback. Having the eyes of a coach as I train is invaluable. She has noticed small things about my running form that I never would have seen in myself, and over time it has really improved my efficiency as a runner (aka – how easy I’m making it on my body to get from point A to point B). It is not uncommon for me to run by her doing mile repeats to her saying, “Rebecca, take a shorter stride! Look up! Relax your shoulders!”

Celebrating other runners’ victories. Each week, we receive a newsletter outlining where practices will be held for the week as well as motivational quotes and advice. The thing I look forward to the most you ask? Recorded at the bottom of each newsletter are the stats from all Knoxville Endurance athletes who participated in a race the previous weekend! “Kristi ran her Personal Record on her half marathon!” “Someone else qualified for the Boston Marathon?! Wow!” It’s so exciting to celebrate victories with others who are sharing in this journey.

I don’t know what your experience with running is. You may be a seasoned runner with three marathons under your belt. (Congrats, by the way!) Or you may have never run anything but late, and you’re starting to entertain the idea of giving this training a shot, perhaps starting with a 5k in your community. If that’s the case, you may have taken a glance at what my weekly training looks like and thought, “There is no way I’m setting back that much time to train!” Or maybe, “Is that really what it takes to run ‘right’?”. My answer to you is that your fitness goals are worth fighting for. You were fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) by a God who desires for you to know the true strength and endurance that the human body is capable of (Proverbs 31:25, Psalm 18:32). So if running sounds enticing to you, I would encourage you to search around for local running groups in your area similar to this one, especially if you’re a newbie. What better way to begin than finding a group of people who can hold you accountable?

Currently, I am training for something on my bucket list – a marathon. It won’t be easy. I’ll probably experience some exhaustion in the next coming months, but in February 2016, Lord willing and with the help of Knoxville Endurance, I will cross that elusive finish line I’ve always dreamed about (even if I’m crawling).

Will you join me in the journey?

Click here to learn more about Knoxville Endurance. If you’re not from Knoxville, use this site as a reference of what to look for locally.

Coming up, I’ll be stopping by a barre studio on one of my cross training workout days. Not exactly sure what a barre class is? Join us next time to find out!