City Park Run Coaching

📣 Weekend Update 📣

Just a casual 28-min personal best in the marathon for Dana this weekend in Sacramento at the California International Marathon (CIM), finishing in 4:01:06. 🤯

Dana works extremely hard and has a quiet confidence about her. We knew she was ready for something special on Sunday and she executed the plan to a tee, starting out conservatively and passing over 1000 people on route to an almost perfectly even split race. And with all those rolling hills early on, this was no small feat!

Dana is knocking on the door of her Boston qualifying time and while I’ve believed in her from day one, I think she’s also beginning to believe it’s possible after this weekend.

It’s not every day you get to travel to a race with one of your athletes, and I was bursting with pride witnessing Dana’s incredible finish in person.

Congratulations Dana, and enjoy the afterglow! 🙌🎉👏











 
 
 

📣 Weekend Update, NYC Marathon 🗽📣

Sara absolutely knocked it out of Central Park yesterday, sneaking under her sub-4:30 goal time in 4:29:56! 🙌

In Sara’s words, “It was so hot, so humid, so hilly, so epic.”

Sara overcame several obstacles on the way to this start line (injury, travel stress). She also raised over $5200 for CURE Epilepsy and carried the names of all her donors on this sheet of paper! If that weren’t enough, 3 weeks before this marathon in the heaviest part of the training cycle, she ran a half marathon PB of 1:51:38 at the WFPS Run! ❤️ 💛💙

One more proud coach moment: Sara ran almost perfectly even splits for the first and second halves of this race! This is never an easy thing to do, but especially not in a first marathon. 🤯 Looking at all the carnage that happened on the streets of NYC yesterday (even among the elites) makes Sara’s result all the more impressive.

Congratulations on one heck of a stellar performance, Sara! 👏👏👏

📣 Update 📣

13.1 miles of smiles at the run with a better-than-expected finish time of 2:35! ❤️💛💙

It was so fun helping Cheryl get her running mojo back after after a tough couple of years, and can’t wait to see what comes next!

Answers to the five most common questions I received yesterday after launching our new program, It’s All About That Base.

Thank you for the overwhelming interest in this program. Can’t wait to help you lay down your training foundation.

Visit our link in the bio to register. 🔗

It’s All About That Base 

Whether you’re new to running, rebuilding after injury or time off, or dreaming of taking your fitness to the next level in 2023, focusing on your training foundation is a pivotal first step. And now is the best time!

Coach Carolyn is excited to offer a 12-week group base building program between November 14th (2022) and February 5th (2023) with three key focus areas:

1. Run Training
2. Strength Training
3. Lifestyle Training

Run Training

* Establish a running routine that is right for you, including a proper warm-up and form/technique drills
* Safely build your weekly mileage to establish a solid base you can carry into your next training cycle
* Layer in speed development workouts and aerobic endurance workouts to get your energy systems primed for the more rigorous training to come 

Strength Training

* Establish quality in the fundamental human movement patterns - squat, hinge, push, pull, rotary stability 
* Progress and make these exercises even more running-specific by adding weight and/or performing them on a single leg 
* Develop strength, power, and explosiveness
* Keep it simple because the basics will never fail you

Lifestyle Training

* Running is a lifestyle and the non-running work is just as important as the running work. Since we can only train as hard as we recover, it’s worth dialing in your: 
* Nutrition
* Sleep
* Stress 

Upon completion of this program there will be an opportunity to shift into private coaching for popular spring races if you wish:
 
* 13 weeks to WPS 
* 15 weeks to Fargo 
* 19 weeks to Manitoba Marathon

Cost: $184

This program will be limited to 30 people. Sign up before November 11th to reserve your spot.

Visit our link in the bio to register. 🔗

Distance runners need to have a well developed aerobic system if they want to do well in the sport, and running at easy efforts is the number one way to build that aerobic capacity.

If we think of the aerobic system like a car engine, easy running builds the size of the engine (number of cylinders) and hard running fine-tunes the engine (how revved up it can get).

Most people come to me for coaching only a few months before their goal race, which is too late for building aerobic capacity. Essentially, we are stuck with whatever engine size they have because we have to start the fine-tuning process to be prepared for race day.

If athletes come to me six or even eight months before their goal race, we are able to dedicate time to building the engine (i.e. running easy) and that's really when the magic happens.

At the end of the day, I'll always bet on the athlete with a plain old V8 than a revved up V4!

I'm currently developing a base training program that will run between November and February, which is ideal for anyone with a goal race in spring 2023. Stay tuned for more details coming soon.

📣 Weekend Update 📣

Candis absolutely knocked her first in-person marathon out of the park on Sunday in Chicago.

Not only did she sneak under the elusive 4-hour barrier (3:59:31), she PB’d by a whopping 18 minutes!

Congratulations on your incredible training cycle and race!

l




 
 
 

📣 Meet Cheryl 📣

Cheryl is rebuilding her running fitness after the many training and racing disruptions during COVID.

On Sunday she will run the WFPS half marathon. This photo is from 2018’s race, the last time it was held in person. Cheryl is looking forward to 13.1 miles of smiles!

📣 Meet Rachael 📣

Rachael is one of the most focused and dedicated runners I have ever met.

We had one chat last winter where I suggested a few tweaks to her training that could pay big dividends (Note: they all revolved around training smarter, not harder). She ran with it -- pun intended! -- and wound up shaving 6-minutes off her PB at the Vancouver Marathon on May 1. 

Check out Rachael's progress since getting serious about marathoning:

* 2020 - 4:09
* 2021 - 3:57
* 2022 - 3:51

The best part is, I think we've only scratched the surface of what she's capable of. Rachael is committed to her strength training, her run training, her mental training, and recovering like a lady boss.

It's been so fun to root for you, Rachael, and I can't wait to see what comes next.




       

📣 Meet Candis 📣

Candis will be running her first in-person marathon in Chicago on October 9th. She is in for a real treat because her two other cracks at the distance have both been virtual.

Candis has been an absolute pleasure to coach. She loves to work hard but (perhaps more importantly) she also has the confidence to back off when her body is asking for a modified workout or rest day. This intuition will no doubt serve her well on race day.

You've got this, Candis, and don't forget to soak up all that World Major energy!

l





 
 
 

📣 Meet Melvin 📣

Melvin is gearing up for the Chicago Marathon on October 9th.

He has an incredible work ethic and always finds creative ways to fit in his workouts and recovery (he's a shift worker...need I say more??). Melvin is also one of the most coachable athletes I have ever met and a true student of the sport. 

Let the taper begin and trust your training on race day. We'll be cheering you on every step of the way from Winnipeg.




       

Teamwork makes the dream work. It also makes doing hard things much more pleasant, and dare I say...fun. 😆

Thanks to all my City Park Run Coaching clients who kept me company this summer on the track. My hope is that:

✅ You are more comfortable stepping onto a track
✅ You feel like you belong here (just like everybody else)
✅ You understand how running fast fits into your goals as a distance athlete
✅ You had "fun" working hard with your team

PS: A side benefit to team workouts is that you start dressing alike. Only singlets and shoes allowed. 🤣