Monday, May 2, 2011

From Joe the Plumber to Joe the Runner

It was a very interesting weekend as I attended the 2-day RRCA coaching certification class here in Austin.  Two friends, Leah and Olga, were also taking the class which was an unexpected bonus.  The first day was a ton of theory, starting off with physiology and progressing onto nutrition, injury, psychology, coaching philosophy, skills and ethics.  The second day was much more practical as we learned about designing training cycles and progressions, then broke up into groups to design and present a training program for a fictional client - Joe the runner.

I learned a lot from the class, and it gave me a great framework to map out my training plan for November's San Antonio marathon.  Probably most useful were the tools to assign pace ranges to specific training runs and to know why I'm doing it at each stage of the training cycle (even if some of the pace translation tables reminded me of the old decompression tables from scuba 101).

So I need a guinea pig to test this out on.  Luckily, the good lady wife has been talking about getting back into running, so I may sit her down, figure out a goal race and draw out a plan for her.

It's risky, because the last time I offered my coaching advice she threw a handheld at me.

Fortunately she has a terrible aim :-)

3 comments:

Olga said...

Can you imagine what great runners we'll become now that we know all this stuff??
Seriosuly, I thought it was a great seminar with lots of info and delivered well.
When I set up schedules for others, Larry is the only one who questions me to death and throws tantrums. I also give him the hardest variety:)

Anonymous said...

I know someone else who wants to run a fast marathon that could use a coach...hint...hint.

Unknown said...

Clea,

I hope you have your handheld ready to throw at him. I will get mine out, wipe off the dust and perhaps take a few practice shots so I dont' miss next time. :-)

Love you Marky, really!

-The good lady wife.