My name is Janet and running has been a part of my life since my elementary school days. I had a teacher who encouraged me to run and gave me the opportunity to discover my joy for this sport. I competed for many years in track, cross country running and road racing. You can read more about me in my Love Training More Coach Bio. I loved the challenge of setting personal goals, training, and striving to perform to the best of my ability.
I have always wanted to give back to the sport that gave so much to me. I was not an athlete when I was encouraged to start running. I was a shy kid and usually one of the last for picked for a team in gym class. I probably would have never signed up for running had I not been encouraged to by that teacher. Even then it took a lot of courage to step forward and do so. I thought about it for a long time before I joined.
I also remember that first year I started running. I had to train at my pace. It was hard to keep up with my teammates. I did a lot of solo running. One thing I do remember though is holding on to the belief that “If I stick with it, stay consistent, I will improve.” It wasn’t something that happened immediately. It took a few months of training (It wasn’t something that happened in 10 weeks). But with my coach in my corner I found my groove. Once I did, I loved it!
I love working with beginners so I can share what I learned firsthand as a runner and give them that opportunity to experience the joy and benefits running gave me. I welcome and encourage those who are new to running, but hesitant, to come on board and give it a try. I want to be the coach in your corner.
I have been a coach with Love Training More for 3 years now and my coaching experience to date fueled this idea to offer a specific learn to run program so that I could do it right. My coaching experience tells me that the most beginner runners are unique and have their own set of needs and motivators which are different from, for example, established runners chasing time goals.
Here’s what I have learned with my coaching experience to date: I think the program needs to be really realistic for people who are basic beginners. Although we all knew how to run when we were younger, it is not as easy for some people. People may not be particularly fit, may carry some extra weight and may be older. It may have been a long time since an individual last engaged in any formal exercise. If you are any of these people, our Learn to Run Program will be for you.
Many new beginners come to us with a goal to complete a 5km without walking. Even if these individuals are doing other activities sometimes it can be difficult to learn to run at a pace that will allow them to complete a 5k without walking. But these runners can still have so much success learning to run and learning to enjoy and love the sport of running. This doesn’t need to be the yardstick by which success is measured. At Love Training More, we follow our name and we measure success by “do you love your (new) sport?”
These are some of the challenges I identified while coaching previous beginners.
· Setting the goal of wanting to that 5k too soon
· Doing too much too soon
· Running too fast
· Worrying about how slow they looked
· Not staying consistent with the program and then trying to start back up again where they left off (which usually isn’t where the runner is in that moment)
· Being sidelined early in the game as their bodies were unable to adjust to the stress of running
· Feeling intimidated by the other runners in our Love Training More community. The support that the new runner is looking for and the questions that they have are often different from our runners training for 10k, Half and Full Marathons.
With this knowledge and experience, I’ve set out to develop a specific Learn to Run program for Love Training More.
About the Learn to Run Program
This is a program that can turn non-runners into runners. It is a program that can help those are interesting in starting running to get healthy, lose some weight or get to a place where they can run their first 5k, maybe even 10k race later this year. We are early into 2019, so for those people with these goals it is very doable.
This program is the building block to get people to a place where they can run that first race later this 2019 year.
The program starts really easy, has a great structure and gradually over 20 weeks brings participants up to running 30 min continuously. The 20 week time period really give the body and mind the time needed to adapt to the intensity and impact of running. The program also includes some basic core/strength exercises which can do at home in 10-15 min without gym equipment. There are many 10 week canned programs out there. We believe that 20 weeks is more ideal for success.
The Blue Nose Race Weekend 5km is one of the premiere local events of the spring. It’s June 9 date is now less than 20 weeks away. Our program isn’t geared specifically towards running the 5k by the Blue Nose Weekend, runners will definitely be able to run a good part of this event and there will likely be some runners who will be ready to run the entire distance. Luckily our Atlantic Canadian running scene has many 5km events scheduled over the summer months.
We have a unique Learn to Run private Facebook group for our Learn to Run Program where we will share content, information, ideas, tips and articles that are more relatable for the beginner.
Click here to learn more about Janet’s Learn to Run Program. We are excited to offer you the coupon code Janet2019 for 30% off for new to Love Training More runners. Please reach out to us for more information. We’re in your corner.
