Bill Keefe
Age: 65
If you’re an older runner and you’re not sure you can improve, let us show you how we helped Bill turn his 5k pace into his half marathon pace and beat his blood pressure issues
Colleen Balling
Age: 59
Many runners think you have to start young. Let us show you how we helped Colleen - who didn’t start running until her late 50’s - run her first marathon and BQ
Melanie Triscott
Age: 40
If your performances are sliding and you’re not sure how to get back on track,let us show you how we helped Melanie beat her 3:18 PR from 2004 (when she was 26) at age 40
Laurie Householder
Age 45
If you’re like Laurie (you have a big family, a demanding job, and other obligations)learn how we helped her beat decision fatigue and smash all of her goals (so you can too).
Bob Muehring
Age 57
If you're struggling with injuries and your body isn't quite working like it used to, learn how we helped Bob through injuries and poor performances to 3 PR's in one year.
Chris Carey
Age 49
Learn how we helped Chris rebound from a disastrous first marathon and crush his next race - all by actually training slower (and smarter)
Here's more runner's we've helped more runners like you
Joy started working with the RunnersConnect team a little over a year ago. When she joined the team she was struggling with a variety of health issues, including:
Joy knew she needed to make a change in her health, so she signed up for a local half marathon just hoping to walk it.
But, as the race date kept getting closer, she was increasingly nervous about her ability to finish and was becoming frustrated with a lack of results.
The progression was slow enough that Joy never felt like she was taking too big of a jump. More importantly, because the plan was structured to her current fitness level each week was a challenging, yet comfortable step forward.
"By having a structured plan in place, it helped me avoid the temptation to do too much, too soon. I also felt a lot more confident. Previously, I would visit running message boards and solicit advice from other runners, but everyone had a different take on what I should be doing and I lost motivation seeing the rapid progress some runners seemed to be making. But, with a plan in place, it was a huge weight off my shoulders."
By keeping the focus on the training for that week, it prevented Joy from getting overwhelmed and believing the training plan was too daunting.
Also, each month we conducted a review by looking at her logs on our training platform. This helped her see how far she had come during that time. It can be easy to lose sight of how much progress you've made.
We helped Joy battle through the inevitable rough patches by teaching her the secret of the "reset button". She stayed very consistent and bounced back quickly from every training interruption that occurred.
Through our time working with her, Joy lost 55 pounds and is getting fitter every week. I will be the first to admit that Joy's weight loss isn't all directly related to running. Weight loss also requires hard work and dedication nutritionally.
However, I think the consistency running added to Joy's daily routine helped her stay more disciplined when it came to nutrition and prevented the peaks and valleys that often accompany weight loss.
Joy was able to wean herself, under a doctor's orders, off all her medications. Her blood pressure and cholesterol numbers were now in check naturally.
Not only does this improve Joy's quality of life and overall health, but I noticed it also had a dramatic impact on what she believed possible. Rather than accepting the status quo, Joy's outlook and self-belief is overwhelmingly positive.
Finally, Joy was able to finish her first HM - running almost the entire way. Even better, she's excited about tackling the next one, improving her time, and even training for a marathon next! You can hear what Joy was able to accomplish, in her own words, in this great video she sent us.
52:33 10K
Goal of 1:57 in the HM (Based off 10K time)
On March 28th I had no personal bests. I had come to running for the 1st time from a physiotherapist treatment regime including a "Return to Run" program to address severe calf spasm issues that have always prevented me from running in the past.
After completing the "Return to Run" program, running 5K non-stop I quickly realized I needed another plan to prevent me from doing to much, to soon and re-injuring myself.
So my primary goal on March 28th was to continue running without injury, and to run a Sub 55 10K at the Ottawa Night Race on July 13, 2013.
"This smashed even my stretch goal and I couldn't be happier. In all my races so far I've been simply amazed at what a great feeling it is being well trained and well prepared for the task at hand."
"It's eminently possible to just show up and do the distance. Lots of people do just that, some of those people even do it and finish faster than I do. But for me, being well trained means the suffering only lasts about the last quarter of the race and for a few minutes after crossing the finish line. An hour after my HM I was sitting down for a steak dinner with my buddies. The day after I was hiking through the desert with nothing but euphoria and legs feeling great."
The initial training plan that was generated for me had me a little worried about the work out days. I think my first work out was a hill routine and I was fretting about inclines and the like. But I received an unprompted introductory email from Jeff within the hour, he made some adjustments and I felt pretty confident heading into my first week of training
One of my favorite parts of RunnersConnect is to not have to worry about constructing and maintaining my own training schedule. I really enjoy all the articles and blog posts about what makes a good schedule, why things are done the way they are since they give me the confidence that training being proposed is valid.
But at the end of the day (usually a busy work day) it is absolutely awesome to just pick some goal races, answer a few questions and have the RunnersConnect tell me how to get there.
But there are lots of places to get customized training plans. Being able to connect with the coaches and other runners to ask questions about the training is unique, and invaluable.
Has never run before
Wants to finish a 5K and become healthier in general
Half Marathon - 2:10:41
Marathon - Long-Time Goal To Finish
Marathon: 3:30
"I put in 18 weeks of training, using the advanced 1 program suggested by Hal Higdon. I had aspirations to go 3:15 and qualify for Boston based on my shorter distance times...I finished at 3:30. With the exception of a few weeks off the tracks - I followed Hal's program as he suggested, but still fell of pace very hard at mile 18. Now, Boston qualifying got even faster and I need to figure out a way to get the most out of myself"
Eric struggled to stay consistent with his training thanks to a busy job and losing motivation when the goal was a long way away. His focus would peak 14-16 weeks out from the marathon but between those marathons his training was sporadic and resulted in him starting from scratch every marathon segment.
Eric followed the Hal Higdeon marathon plan, which follows a traditional old-school training structure: One VO2max or speed session early in the week, a tempo session the second half of the week, a fast run on Saturday and a long run on Sunday. As such, Eric was missing the both the concept of periodization and race-specific training.
Eric was still a relatively new runner and he didn't fully grasp the purpose of every session he was running, which lead to three issues: (1) he would sometimes run too fast (believing faster is better) and miss the mark on the purpose of the session; (2) when adjusting his schedule he didn't prioritize the workouts correctly; and (3) he wasn't fully confident in his plan and always felt like he needed to add more or run faster.
Marathon - 3:39 (qualifying standard was 3:35)
Half Marathon - 1:44
Half Marathon - 1:36:46
Marathon - 3:28:40
Marathon - 3:15
Rich was following the training of another runner who was about his ability level and basically replicating their workouts. While this certainly helped get Rich 90% of the way towards his goal the lack of specificity to his strengths and weaknesses compared to his training partner prevented him from reaching that next level.
Specifically, Rich's weakness was that he didn't have the speed (lacked the efficiency and economy) to get under 3:10. He was coming off a long period of marathon training where he neglected improving his running economy and efficiency. While his aerobic system was where it needed to be, Rich needed to work in more speed development to improve his neuromuscular system.
Because Rich needed to take a big step up in his training to reach the qualifying mark, it was important he do it gradually. Rich's original plan was an all-or-nothing approach, Instead of listening to how his body was responding to training and increasing pace or volume only when it was ready, Rich was constantly pushing his easy run pace and long run volumes, which was leading to stagnant progress.
5k - 19:10
Half Marathon - 1:24:30
5k - 16:56 (a 2 minute and 14 second improvement) *Updated 8/5/10 - Richard PR'd at 16:40
Half Marathon - 1:20:50 (a 3 minute and 40 second improvement)
5km 17:54 chip
Half Marathon in 1:23:42
30k - 2:03:10
Marathon in 2:56
Half Marathon: 2:08
5k - 27:02
I had thought about using a coach many times before but I didn't think I needed a coach at my level of running. I think training as hard as I did before my 2:08 half in the hopes of breaking 2:00 and not making that goal made me realize that I did not have the knowledge or tools to reach that goal on my own.
"I would train for a certain event and then not run again for months or even years. It was never a true passion for me. I would usually end up injured in the end from over training and, as soon as the event was over, I would quickly quit."
"Being in their world on a day-to-day basis, I never thought I was a true runner because I couldn't get below a 10:00 mile. They would make innocent comments about how they were "walking" when they were running 8:00 pace. I didn't understand that being a runner is a state of mind and my measurements of success are different from every other runner."
"Joining RunnersConnect seems to have given me the framework I needed to find the runner that had always been within me. Before RC it was like I did not trust my runs to really move me to being a better runner, so I was not completely committed to being a runner. Once I started RC and understood the method behind the plans, and trusted those methods, that is when O committed to finding out how good of a runner I could be from within. Thus my attitude toward running changed. I went from a gal that would say 'maybe I will run, maybe I won't' to a girl who works at it daily, because I know it works and each run is moving me farther along."
"Understanding the science behind the workouts and the plan helps me to trust the training when I know why I'm doing a particular workout and what the result of it should be."
"I think the biggest result I have attained since joining RC is a new ownership of my running. It is my passion now and I know I will only get out of it what I put in it."
"At the Dallas Running Club Half Marathon in the beginning of November I finally broke that 2:00 mark, with a new 1:57:35 PR."
"I was able to follow that up with a new 5k PR at the Sachse TX Turkey Trot in 26:04 (a 58 second PR)."
10 mile-58:50
Half Marathon - 1:21:40
10k - 1:13:00
Half Marathon - 2:18:00
10k - 56:56 (A 16- minute improvement!)
Half Marathon - 2:02:11
Half Marathon - 1:52
10-miler - 1:26:40
Marathon: 3:55:13
Half Marathon PR - 1:41:06
10-mile PR - 1:20:19
Marathon: 3:33
Half Marathon - 1:36
"I feel like I have hit a plateau and am looking to break through that and take my running o the next level. I feel like I have some faster race times in me, but am not sure how to ap into them. I'm really looking to improve and see what I can do. I would love to have a 3:20 ish marathon time, and qualify for New York with a 135 or better half marathon time"
Hannah is a teacher and band coordinator and therefore has a busy schedule, both during and after school as well as on weekends. She needed a schedule that helped balance her work obligations with her desire to reach the next level, which required increasing her mileage and workout intensities.
Hannah had been dealing with a bad bout of patella tendonitis. like most runners, she was treating the symptoms and not the cause of the problem, which resulted in it becoming a recurring injury.
Hannah was working with a training program run from the local store. The workouts were w�structured but she's been following the same plan for a few years so the workouts were becoming stagnant and not challenging other energy systems.
Hannah lives in Orlando and training in the summer can become a major issue. Hannah wasn't adjusting her workout times to account for the heat and was losing confidence when workouts didn't go well. This created a snowball effect and translated to overtraining and a lack of self-belief.
5k - 21:17
Half Marathon: 1:46:00
Marathon: 3:47