Salt Lake City RRCA Recap & Week 10 of Chicago Marathon Training

It's so hard for me to keep up with communication and blogging while I'm on vacation, but I really have so much to share and a ton of stuff in the works. I want to start off with how amazing my super quick trip to Salt Lake City was. I literally talked and went running for 2 days straight. It left me feeling inspired and so happy with my last minute decision to attend the RRCA Coaching Certification Course.

My Awesome Class!

I got in late Thursday - past midnight - and went straight to bed. Class was at 8 am sharp the next morning, so I got up around 6:30 to start the day, make sure I had time to Uber over to the site and get some Starbucks in my system for a long day. When I arrived, we were in a U shape, all facing each other, at tables set for a few people each. People came from all over (Canada to Florida), and we had a nice mix of paces, race distances, and ages. There was so much material to cover, but the most fun part was when we did our case studies and we had to create training plans. The toughest thing to learn was "you are not coaching yourself," and this was probably my biggest take away. While every coach will have their own running philosophy based on their experiences, the real work of being a coach lies in realizing your student's goals and maximizing their abilities. 

The class ended on Friday at 5 and while a few of the attendees went up into the canyon and ran a few miles, I knew I needed to sleep before a full day of class on Saturday. I had a 3 am wake up call to meet up with Kim and Aaron who were taking me on a preview of the Revel Big Cottonwood Half Marathon course that I'm coming back to race in September. They were right on time at 3:55 and we made our way up the canyon to the top in Kim's car while Aaron left his at the bottom of their route (they were doing 18 and my route would leave me at my hotel with 16 miles). As we made our way down the canyon, I could tell why the Revel race series was known for being fast. I didn't even realize we were doing a sub 8 pace because it felt so easy. My legs would feel otherwise later on, but for the majority of the run, we chatted and enjoyed the silence of the early morning. By mile 11, my hips and calves started to tingle a bit, but we made our way to the bottom of the canyon and said our goodbyes before I went in the direction of my hotel and they split towards where Aaron's car was parked. 

so happy to have an opportunity to run with these two!

I got back to the hotel just at 7, about 40 minutes until I had to leave for day 2 of the class. By 10 am, it was hard for me to sit still in the seat with how my legs were feeling and I gulped down gallons of coffee and ate everything in sight. We did some group work that allowed us to create different programs for our case studies to then present and have the rest of the class shred apart. This exercise highlighted the different views that are out there on too much training, not enough training, catering to the athlete, etc. It was fun and enlightening. It was sad to end the class, but I got to have a quick dinner with Kim before heading straight to bed for another 3 am wake up call to catch my flight home on Sunday morning. 

Views in the canyon are gorgeous

Ricky and I planned a trip to Anza Borrego State Park  in Borrego Springs, CA to do some astro photography (Milky Way, anyone??) before my last minute decision to go to Salt Lake. The timing worked perfectly anyways because he picked me up from the airport and we headed straight down there. Needless to say, I was absolutely exhausted, so it was great that our hotel had an amazing AC and a cozy bed. It was a perfect 2 day mini vacay to reset before coming back to work on Wednesday. I had time to think about what I'd learned in class and my own training plan. Here's what week 10's training looks like for me:

Week 10 Schedule:

Monday: 4 mile recovery (treadmill)
Tuesday: 10 mile aerobic pace + stretching + planks + foam rolling
Wednesday: 7 miles (2 w/u, 3 @ GMP, 2 c/d)
Thursday: 4 mile recovery + kettlebell + yoga
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 19 mile long run (easy paced) + yoga + epsom salt bath
Sunday: 5K race - OC Fair Fun Run

I've already made it through Wednesday's workout as of posting time, and man, my legs were still hurting on my 7 miler this morning, especially during those GMP (Goal Marathon Pace) miles. I pushed through it though because I knew tomorrow would hold some rewarding recovery miles. 

I'm so pumped on all things running right now and am ready to work my butt off to be the best coach I can be :)

Do you enjoy downhill running?

Have you ever been to Salt Lake City?

J